Exchange Server Backup

[bertieuk]

I have just been handed the responsibility of backing up an exchange 2003 server. The server was not previously being backed up. I am fairly raw on exchange at the moment.

I have started daily information store backups using NTBackup.

I want to start the OS backup.....Is C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA the folder containing the Exchange Information store and can I exclude these from the separate OS / State backup.

Do I need to backup the metabase data of iis6 separately from the OS.

Should I separate any other components of the exchange server.

Daily Jobs:
Infomation Store
OS / State Backup
IIS Metabase ??????
Any Other??????

Thanks Si

 

[jonbush]

the easy way to do it is use a third party app, backupexec or arcserve would be best i suppose...then you can create a daily schedule to run in the middle of the night, all you have to do is change the tape every morning

hope this helps

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I know i've got it backed up somewhere!
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[bertieuk]

I realise that backup software is best but I dont have a copy of a 3rd party backup program available right now. My balls are on the line if this machine is not backed up right away.

Also I want to ease the recovery in the event of a failure which is why I am interested in the separate active components.......even if this doubles up on some data.

Thanks

Si

 

[TexExpat]

On the Exchange Server, the backup utility included with Windows is Exchange-enabled. When you open the Windows backup utility on the Exchange server, select that you want to choose what to back up. When that window comes up, scroll down the list below all your drives, and you will see "Microsoft Exchange Server" with a greyed out check box next to it. Expand it and expand the next level until you see the item "Microsoft Information Store" with a check box that is available for selecting. Select that to perform an online backup of your Exchange datastore. Select any other drives, files, etc. that you want to back up as well.

You will need to perform a backup like this soon for reasons other than your boss. Exchange creates log files as it goes along. These log files allow Exchange to get back up to date if you restore the most recent backup of the datastore. They will build up rapidly, and your Exchange server will stop if they fill up the drive space. Exchange deletes these files automatically after a successful online backup.

If you set up a file-level backup on the Exchange data files, it will skip them because they are open. It shouldn't harm anything, but it will not back up those files.

I hope this helps.