Standby 2003 mail server

[pwrrpdc]

I would like some opinions from this forum...I want to build a backup/disaster recovery machine for our Email. Some of my thoughts are;

1) build an exact copy on different hardware(currently attempting)

2) build a server, add it to the domain, install EXCH 2k3 and then leave it powered down until needed.

Any thoughts..or suggestions welcomed...

Thanks,,,Paul

 

[rick26]

This works great:
- Install another Exchange 2003 server
- have your backup softare backing up the Exchange Storage Groups
- setup backup-client in 2nd server to restore backups from 1st server into Recovery Storage Group (on 2nd server)
- restore Storage Groups from there to Storage Groups on the 2nd server
- if neded a single mailbox can be restored immediate
Backup software should have an Exchange 2003 'aware' agent. We use Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) and restore our backups every day! Also good to for testing your backups.