Storage Foundation 8.0 Quick Recovery Solutions Guide for Microsoft Exchange - Windows

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (8.0)
Platform: Windows
  1. Introducing Quick Recovery for Microsoft Exchange
    1.  
      About Quick Recovery snapshot solutions
    2.  
      Advantages of Quick Recovery snapshots
    3.  
      Quick Recovery process
    4. About the components used in Quick Recovery
      1.  
        FlashSnap and FastResync
      2. Integration with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
        1.  
          The VSS framework
    5.  
      About the Solutions Configuration Center
    6.  
      Starting the Configuration Center
    7.  
      Solutions wizard logs
  2. Planning a Quick Recovery snapshot solution for Exchange
    1. System requirements
      1.  
        Storage requirements
    2. Methods of implementing Quick Recovery snapshots
      1.  
        About the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard
      2.  
        About the VSS Exchange Snapshot Scheduler Wizard
      3.  
        About the VSS Snapshot and Snapback wizards and the vxsnap utility
    3.  
      Planning your Quick Recovery solution
    4.  
      Backup types for snapshot sets
    5.  
      About logs
    6. Recommendations and best practices
      1.  
        Recommendations for Exchange storage configuration
      2.  
        Recommendations for maintenance and backups
      3.  
        SFW cluster considerations
      4. Exchange 2010 Database Availability Group (DAG) considerations
        1.  
          Using snapshot schedules in a DAG
        2.  
          Guidelines for creating passive copy snapshots in a DAG
        3.  
          Recovery in a DAG
      5.  
        Microsoft cluster considerations
      6.  
        Volume Replicator considerations
  3. Configuring Exchange for Quick Recovery snapshots
    1.  
      Tasks for configuring Exchange storage
    2.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    3.  
      Reviewing the configuration for Exchange 2010
    4.  
      Creating dynamic disk groups
    5.  
      Creating dynamic volumes
    6.  
      Pointing the database and log paths to the SFW volumes
  4. Implementing Exchange snapshot sets with the configuration wizard
    1. About the Quick Recovery Configuration Wizard
      1.  
        About snapshot sets
      2. About snapshot templates
        1.  
          Templates and multiple components
        2.  
          Templates and schedule start dates
    2.  
      Tasks for implementing snapshot sets with the configuration wizard
    3.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    4. Scheduling Exchange snapshot sets
      1.  
        System Selection panel details
      2.  
        Instance Selection panel details
      3.  
        Mount Details panel details
      4.  
        Synchronizing Schedules panel details
      5.  
        Template Selection panel details
      6.  
        Number of Snapshot Sets panel details
      7.  
        Snapshot Volume Assignment panel details
      8.  
        Snapshot Schedule panel details
      9.  
        Specifying snapshot schedule details
      10.  
        Summary panel details
      11.  
        Template Implementation panel
    5.  
      Administering or troubleshooting scheduled snapshots
  5. Scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set for Exchange
    1.  
      About scheduling or creating an individual snapshot set
    2.  
      Tasks to schedule a new snapshot
    3.  
      Tasks to create a one-time snapshot set
    4.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    5.  
      Preparing the snapshot mirrors
    6.  
      Scheduling a snapshot set
    7.  
      Creating a one-time snapshot set
    8. Refreshing a snapshot set
      1.  
        Reattaching the split-mirror snapshots
  6. Maintaining or troubleshooting snapshots
    1.  
      Viewing the status of scheduled snapshots
    2.  
      Troubleshooting scheduled snapshots
    3.  
      Deleting or modifying schedules
    4.  
      Synchronizing schedules after adding a cluster node
  7. Recovering Exchange mailbox databases
    1.  
      About recovery using Quick Recovery snapshots
    2.  
      Tasks for recovery using Quick Recovery snapshots
    3.  
      Prerequisites for recovery
    4.  
      Recovery using an Exchange 2010 passive copy snapshot in a Database Availability Group (DAG)
    5.  
      Recovery for Exchange 2010 using the VSS Restore Wizard
    6.  
      Recovery for Exchange 2010 using the vxsnap utility
    7.  
      Post-recovery steps
  8. Recovering after hardware failure
    1. About recovery after hardware failure
      1.  
        Recovery scenarios
      2.  
        Recovery tasks
    2.  
      Tasks for recovering after hardware failure
    3.  
      Reviewing the prerequisites
    4.  
      Reviewing the sample configuration for Exchange 2010
    5. Scenario I: Database and transaction logs volumes are missing
      1.  
        Identifying the missing volumes (Scenario I)
      2.  
        Deleting missing volumes from Storage Foundation
      3.  
        Replacing hardware and adding disks to the dynamic disk group
      4.  
        Changing the drive letter or mount points of the snapshot volumes
      5.  
        Restoring the Exchange 2010 mailbox database to the point in time
      6.  
        Refreshing the snapshot set (Scenario I)
    6. Scenario II: Database volumes missing, transaction logs are available
      1.  
        Identifying the missing volumes (Scenario II)
      2.  
        Deleting missing volumes from Storage Foundation
      3.  
        Replacing hardware and adding disks to the dynamic disk group
      4.  
        Changing the drive letter or mount points of the snapshot volumes
      5.  
        Restoring the Exchange 2010 mailbox database to the point in time
      6.  
        Recovering the Exchange 2010 mailbox database to the point of failure
      7.  
        Refreshing the snapshot set (Scenario II)
    7.  
      Refreshing the snapshot set
    8. Refreshing the snapshot set on the current disks
      1.  
        Reattaching healthy snapshot volumes
      2.  
        Clearing the snapshot association for volumes whose drive letters or mount points were reassigned
      3.  
        Creating snapshot mirrors of volumes whose drive letters or mount points were reassigned
      4.  
        Creating the new snapshot set
    9. Moving the production volumes to different disks and refreshing the snapshot set
      1.  
        Reattaching healthy snapshot volumes
      2.  
        Clearing the snapshot association for volumes whose drive letters or mount points were reassigned
      3.  
        Adding mirrors to volumes whose drive letters or mount points were reassigned
      4.  
        Creating snapshot mirrors of volumes whose drive letters or mount points were reassigned
      5.  
        Creating the new snapshot set
  9. Vxsnap utility command line reference for Exchange
    1.  
      About the vxsnap utility
    2. Vxsnap keywords
      1.  
        vxsnap prepare
      2.  
        vxsnap create
      3.  
        vxsnap reattach
      4. vxsnap restore
        1.  
          Recovery after hardware failure

vxsnap prepare

Creates snapshot mirrors of the volumes in the specified component and eliminates the need for multiple vxassist prepare commands. The snapshot mirrors remain attached to and synchronized with the original volumes.

Syntax

The vxsnap prepare command has the following syntax:

vxsnap prepare component=<componentName>/writer=<writerName>
[-b][source=<volume>/harddisk=<harddisk,...>] ...]
Attributes

The vxsnap prepare command has the following attributes:

component=<ComponentName>

Name of the component; for Exchange 2010, this is the mailbox database name, for example, "DB1".

writer=<WriterName>

Unique ID of the VSS writer, for example, "Microsoft Exchange Writer" or the GUID for the writer.

-b

Resynchronizes the volume in the background. A snapshot cannot be made until the resynchronization is complete.

source=<Volume>

Indicates the source volume for the snapshot mirror specified by a drive letter, drive path (mount point), or volume name of the form "\\?\Volume{GUID}\".

harddisk=<Harddisk>

Name of the disk where the snapshot mirror is prepared, for example, harddisk2.

Example

The following is an example of the vxsnap prepare command:

vxsnap prepare component=DB1/writer="Microsoft Exchange Writer"
source=L:/harddisk=harddisk2 source=M:/harddisk=harddisk3

This command creates snapshot mirrors of the volumes in an Exchange mailbox database (DB1). The snapshot mirror of the volume mounted on drive letter L: will be created on disk 2 and the snapshot mirror of the volume mounted on drive M: will be created on disk 3.