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Backup, backup, backup. Exchange and VSS backup information

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Obviously, backing up your Exchange server is quite critical.  Unfortunately, there is no magic solution to the process to backing up Exchange.  Here are a couple types of approaches:

1. Simple ntbackup process.  Ntbackup is made to work directly with the Exchange IS and safely backup Exchange storage groups while they are online.  It also backs up the current set of transaction logs.  After completion, the transaction logs are flushed and the backed up tlogs are removed. During the restore, if you have multiple backups, you need to be aware of the "Last Backup Set" and the Exchange recovery process. More info: https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;232938&Product=exch2003

2. VSS Integrated backup.  With Windows 2003 Server, the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) was introduced.  This allows hardware vendors to backup data such as databases and open files without possible data corruption.  A number of hardware vendors support this for things like snapshots and BCV's.  This requires Windows 2003, Exchange 2003, supported backend hardware, and a supported backup program.  In Windows 2003, ntbackup uses VSS as well, though it can be disabled if needed.

Getting VSS to work can be difficult due to the 3rd party software integration and the "newness" of the technology.  Working closely with the backup provider is key here.  Generally, the troubleshooting must start from this angle.

Here are some helpful hints:

- Turn on VSS debugging: You must add the following reg keys.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Debug\Tracing]
"TraceFile"="c:\\trace.txt"
"TraceLevel"=dword:ffffffff
"TraceEnterExit"=dword:00000001
"TraceToFile"=dword:00000001
"TraceToDebugger"=dword:00000000
"TraceFileLineInfo"=dword:00000001
"TraceForceFlush"=dword:00000000

- Command line tools:  vssadmin.exe, volperf.exe.

- KB article: https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822896&Product=exch2003

Keep in mind that VSS is also used to shared folders.  It is the same underlying technology, however the the Shadow Copies for Shared Folders technology is more related to self service file recovery.  More info here.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2004
    Can Windows 2003 Volume Shadow Copy Service be used with Visual Source Safe databases (also vss?) :)

    Thx

    - Alex
  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2004
    Good one. It turns out that Volume Shadow Copy Service is actually the next version of Visual Source Safe. ;)
  • Anonymous
    June 08, 2004
    And if tlogs doesn't flush after full ntbackup?
    I checked with eseutil /mk and there are tlogs commited to the databases but they still on the disk.

    The fullbackup date of the eseutil is no the last full backup of the exchange.

    clues?
  • Anonymous
    June 08, 2004
    What does the event log say at the time of backup? There will be events showing the backup of the store(s) and the logs being truncated. If this does not occur, then you should see an error in the event log.
  • Anonymous
    June 10, 2004
    Just resolved, it was my batch script. Incredible error on it, i was doing always diferentials since the last script changes. Thanks anyways for your reply.

    tomas AT ledo.net
  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2004
    Hi. Can NTBACKUP really intiate VSS backups ? We found some Q articles that said the opposite.
  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2004
    NTBACKUP does not use VSS working with Exchange. My posting here refers to 2 separate methods. One being NTBACKUP and the second using VSS. Sorry if it was not clear.
  • Anonymous
    July 16, 2004
    hello,

    I saw a presentation from Kevin Clarke (Microsoft) saying:
    "
    What can VSS back up and restore?

    Backup choices
    - Minimum selection is the storage group (SG) (to truncate log files)
    - Can snap multiple storage groups at the same time (best practice will be
    to snap individual SG)

    Restore choices
    - Entire storage group
    - Single database
    - Multiple databases from a single SG "

    Can you explain what this means? Usually the snapshots created are volume-based so a single database recovery isn't possible.

    I want to have the quick backup/quick recovery benefits of VSS but keep the ability to restore a single database without overwriting other databases within the same storage group or even worse, overwrite other storage groups!

    Thanks,

    Anthony
  • Anonymous
    July 26, 2004
    Keep in mind that VSS itself doesn't do the snapshot procedure. In most implementations, the snapshot is done for a complete volume. If multiple SG's are on one volume, then you are correct, you will essentially be doing all of them together.

    It depends on how you structure the data in the 1st place. In many cases, you can restore a single storage group, but it will really depend on the backup vendor features and the data layout.