Re: Exchange 2003 Backup

Victoria,

You are correct- LiveVault is a well respected backup solution for
Exchange. However, you have contracted with USDATATRUST, which appears
to be a value added reseller of LiveVault. You have put your trust in
that company to configure and maintain the integrity of your backups
using a well respected product, LiveVault.

I would start by getting written verification from USDATATRUST that
your configuration is capturing everything the need to restore your
Exchange server. Because you are off the beaten path of what Microsoft
recommends for backups, it may be impossible for anyone but a LiveVault
expert to tell you for sure that you are configured correctly.

After USDATATRUST confirms you are configured correctly, I would
schedule a test recovery to verify the consistency of the data and
document the steps required to recover. With you not being an Exchange
Administrator, I can understand your anxiety. You may want to get an
idea of what types of failures you may need to recover from, and then
work with USDATATRUST to document the recovery procedures. And then
test, test and test some more! The worse time to do your first restore
is during an actual failure.

Here are some situations you may want to test against...

- The boss deleted an email 6 months ago that now needs recovered.
Does USDATATRUST keep archived copies of the Exchange databases, or
just the most recent copy from the snapshot 15 minutes ago? I would
recommend at least a weekly full backup be made to tape using NTBACKUP
to clear the log files (if circular logging is not already turned on)
and sent to a different offsite location.
- The Information Store won't mount due to database corruption. You
probably want to become familiar with the Exchange tools to fix
corrupted databases.
- The buidling went up in flames along with all of your Exchange
servers and domain controller. (IMPORTANT - Exchange requires an AD
domain controller, you want to make sure you account for recovering
your AD controllers as well as your Exchange servers in the event of a
disatser). You also want to become familiar with the Exchange Disaster
Recovery Guide.

WIth all of that being said, if you are paying good money to
USDATATRUST, I would have them do all of this leg work for you and just
demonstrate how to recover from these types of failures on a quarterly
basis.

David Bermingham
MCSE, MCSA:Messaging
www.steeleye.com

-
Victoria Bolton wrote:
Thankyou both for your concern, Considering the awards they have won and the
reviews and testimonials they have received I am very happy with our choice.

They were the 2005 winner for Enterprise backup and recovery service by
Windows IT Pro Magazine
"The LiveVault Online Backup Service named winner in the Enterprise
Backup/Recovery/Archive Service category of the 2005 Windows IT Pro Readers
Choice Awards"

2005 Well Connected Award winner for Network Computing
"The Well-Connected Awards are the only industry awards given by
technologists based on real-world product testing and evaluation. These
awards take the pulse of the technology industry and reflect the best of
what IT has to offer."

They are editors choice for Network computing magazine, Computer Reseller
News test center recommended. Storage Networking World gave them the Best
practices in storage award.

They also have great reviews from Infoworld, Eweek, and Microsoft Certified
Professional Magazine Online.

Thankyou for your time.

Victoria

"Niv Raz" <nivraz00@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eu0YU08jGHA.5108@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

i still recommand only to use cretificated software backup, no support
will
be from microsoft in case that the backup software isn't certified.

Niv

"Susan" <sconkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uTzWSx8jGHA.4104@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
have you tested a restore from that? I would not sacrifice traditional
online backups for a process such as that, unless I had been satisfied
that
it would allow me to recover, up to the moment of failure, in the event
of
catastrophic failure...

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]



"Victoria Bolton" <morkai at dreamwolf dot net> wrote in message
news:#mKLMo8jGHA.4368@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This backup is supposed to work without needing to do that. It
snapshots
the
directories every 15 minutes and then tracks the changes between each
snapshot.

http://www.usdatatrust.com/support/Protecting_Open_Databases.pdf

Victoria

"Susan" <sconkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uq5UOU8jGHA.1320@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
you need to be backing up the Storage Groups/Stores, not
files/directories,
for Exchange...an Exchange-aware backup problem will perform online
backups
that can be used in conjunction with existing transaction log files
in
the
event of catastrophic failure...

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]







.

Relevant Pages

  • RE: Restoring Exchange Database to a New Server
    ... if you want to recovery the information store from the older backup ... To restore Exchange mailbox, we can use the Recovery Storage Group. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Recovery network design.
    ... We discovered our backup software method from that time period doesn't support redirection to recovery storage groups in Exchange or third party recovery tools like Ontrack's PowerControls. ... In order to conserve resources the plan is to move a DC/GC/DNS server and the backup server in and out of the recovery network. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: Exchange 2003 Backup
    ... for simpely backup of Datasets you can use the ... NTBackup, regard the restore issues you are able to restore data in item ... level by using Recovery groups. ... Circular logging is enabled but I will be doing an NTbackup of exchange ...
    (microsoft.public.exchange.admin)
  • Re: Recovery network design.
    ... We are trying to build an offline recovery network for restoring old ... Exchange email backups from years ago. ... We discovered our backup software ... the backup server in and out of the recovery ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: server filling up
    ... displays the Exchange server. ... To perform an 'Exchange aware backup' only, ... tell) yesterday after i moved the 2008 log files (i didn't move the ... Outlook should never be installed on the SBS. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
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