NetBackup™ for Microsoft Exchange Server Administrator's Guide

Tight NetBackup integration

See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.

Central administration

Administrators can define, back up, and restore Exchange Servers and other NetBackup client computers from a central location.

Media management

Exchange Server backups can be saved directly to a wide variety of storage devices that the NetBackup master server supports.

Minimal backup time

An administrator has the choice of to perform full or incremental backups. A full backup may take considerable time, so it may be performed infrequently. In the interim, any updates that occurred since the full backup can be quickly and incrementally backed up through a transaction log backup. In the event of a failure, the full backups and incremental backups would be restored.

During recovery, the Exchange Server updates the databases and applies each of the logged transactions to the database. After the Exchange Server recovery completes, the system is brought back to the state as it existed when the last incremental backup was performed.

Exchange Server Backup methods

NetBackup supports all Exchange Server backup methods: full backups, cumulative incremental backups, and differential incremental backups. User backups function as copy backups.

Online backups

Exchange Server data and transaction logs can be backed up without taking the Exchange Server offline. Exchange services and data remain available during the Exchange Server backup.

Automated backups

Administrators can set up schedules for automatic, unattended backups for local or remote clients across the network. These backups can be full or incremental and are managed entirely by the NetBackup server from a central location. The administrator can also manually back up the clients.

Restore operations

An administrator using the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface can browse backups and select the ones to be restored.

Support for VMware backups that protect Exchange

Users can create consistent full backups of virtual machines running Exchange Server. By default, NetBackup provides protection of the active databases in a DAG. You can restore Exchange databases and individual database objects from a VMware image. NetBackup provides support for VMware policies that use Replication Director to manage snapshots and snapshot replicas (storage lifecycle policy).

Exchange standalone server and DAG support

NetBackup for Exchange supports backups of Exchange standalone servers and Database Availability Groups (DAGs). VSS is the only backup Microsoft supports for Exchange backups.

For a DAG, NetBackup supports backups of the active and the passive VSS writer of a Database Availability Group (DAG). When NetBackup backs up the data that is replicated the benefit is that I/O effect is reduced on the active Exchange server. NetBackup accesses the replicated data and leaves the active (or live) Exchange server alone. NetBackup can back up the passive copy on a specific server, based on the list of preferred servers.

Enhancements to consistency checks of snapshot backups

For snapshot backups, NetBackup uses the Microsoft consistency check API to check the consistency of databases and transaction logs and to provide additional details. This speeds up a snapshot backup, because it allows the backup to proceed in parallel with the consistency check. For an Exchange DAG, you can disable the consistency check or ignore the check and continue with the backup.

Snapshot backups and restores

NetBackup for Exchange can perform Exchange backups and restores with snapshot methodology. With a separate Snapshot Client license, you can perform off-host backups, Instant Recovery backups, and backups with a hardware provider.

See About snapshot backups with Exchange Server.

Restores of individual items using Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)

When a backup uses GRT, users can restore individual mailbox and public folder items directly from any full database backup.

See About Exchange backups and Granular Recovery Technology (GRT).

Redirected restores of mailbox objects

You can restore mailboxes, mailbox folders, mailbox messages, public folders, and public folder items to a new location.

Redirected restores of databases

Backups can be restored to another database on the local server or on a different server.

Redirection to the recovery database (RDB)

Backups can be redirected to the recovery database.

Support for NetBackup Accelerator with VMware backups

NetBackup Accelerator can potentially increase the speed of full VMware backups. By reducing the backup time, it is easier to perform the VMware backup within the backup window. Accelerator support for Exchange currently restricts backups to the full schedule type. This restriction also exists for a VMware backup that protects Exchange without Accelerator.

Compression of backups

Compression increases backup performance over the network and reduces the size of the backup image that is stored on the disk or tape. NetBackup does not support GRT for any backups that use compression.

Encryption

The encryption feature encrypts the backup for the clients that are listed in the policy. NetBackup does not support GRT for any backups that use encryption.

Cluster support

The NetBackup for Exchange Server agent supports clustered Exchange servers; however, the agent is not cluster-aware. For information on the cluster solutions that are supported with Exchange Server, refer to your Exchange documentation.

Multi-tenant environments

Backup and recovery of Exchange Server databases are fully supported in a multi-tenant environment. NetBackup does not support restoring mailbox items into tenant mailboxes in a multi-tenant Exchange environment. To recover items pertaining to a tenant mailbox, redirect the recovery to a non-tenant mailbox.