In addition to the delivery of email the Hub Transport server also applies transport rules, performs journaling, and can optionally provide message hygiene services as well.

What Needs to be Backed Up on Hub Transport Servers?

To plan for backup and recovery of the Hub Transport server you first need to understand where the server stores its configuration and data.

Active Directory – most of the Hub Transport server configuration information is stored in Active Directory.  However there are a few exceptions to that.

System State – the system state contains information such as SSL certificates installed on the server, and service startup and dependency settings in the registry, which will be important if they have been modified from the defaults.  The system state will also include information about any other applications or agents installed on the Hub Transport server, such as antivirus and anti-spam products.

File System – the file system contains the transport queues and some of their ESE settings, log files such as message tracking logs and protocol logs, and customizations made to the local transport configuration.  The file system will also include the program files for any additional applications or agents installed on the server.

Planning the Hub Transport Server Backup

When you are planning the Hub Transport server backup strategy there are different approaches you can take depending on your requirements.

Backing up Everything

A full system backup of the server, along with a working Active Directory, encompasses all of the required information for a recovery.  However this backup takes the longest and will consume the most backup storage.

If a server failed and needed to be recovered from a full backup any undelivered messages still in the transport queue would be lost.  But it is impractical to backup the entire server multiple times a day just to protect the transport queue databases from data loss.

Depending on the Exchange environment and the backup infrastructure in place a full server recovery may take longer than simply rebuilding the server from scratch.

Backing up the Minimum

To save on backup storage and minimize the backup time frame the minimum data on the Hub Transport server can be backed up.  For most environments this would mean only backing up the transport queue databases and the log files on the file system.

Because these would be relatively fast to back up this type of backup could be performed multiple times per day to minimize the risk of losing undelivered messages.  This concern would mostly apply to high volume email environments where the transport queues are regularly backlogged.  Of course in those cases some attention should be paid to whatever performance bottleneck is causing the backlog, if it is something within the control of that organization to fix.

Backing up Nothing

A perfectly feasible backup strategy for the Hub Transport server is to back up nothing at all.  This would be practical if:

• there are multiple, redundant Hub Transport servers deployed
• the transport queues are not frequently backlogged
• the organization does not wish to retain any log files from the Hub Transport servers

If all those conditions are true then it may not be necessary to back up the Hub Transport servers at all.

Backing Up and Restoring Hub Transport Servers

For the purposes of this demonstration I’ve configured a Hub Transport server with an additional Receive Connector.

Message tracking logs are also enabled.

Recovering a Hub Transport Server

As mentioned earlier most of the critical Hub Transport server configuration is stored in Active Directory.  When a Hub Transport server has failed you can recover the server using the following process.

1. Install a new server to host the Hub Transport server role
2. Configure the server with the same name and IP address as the failed server, and join it to the domain
3. Install the Exchange Server 2010 pre-requisites
4. Perform an installation of Exchange Server 2010 using Recovery Mode

To run setup in Recovery Mode use the following command to launch Exchange Server 2010 set from an elevated command prompt.

C:\Admin\Exchange 2010>setup /m:recoverserver

Setup performs a server recovery instead of a normal installation.

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unattended Setup

By continuing the installation process, you agree to the license terms of
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. If you don't accept these license terms,
please cancel the installation. To review these license terms, please go to

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=150127&clcid=0x409/

...............
No key presses were detected.  Setup will continue.
Preparing Exchange Setup

    Copying Setup Files              ......................... COMPLETED

The following server roles will be recovered
    Hub Transport Role
    Management Tools

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

    Hub Transport Role Checks        ......................... COMPLETED
 This computer requires the 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack.
 Please install the software from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123380.

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

    Preparing Setup                  ......................... COMPLETED
    Stopping Services                ......................... COMPLETED
    Copying Exchange Files           ......................... COMPLETED
    Restoring Services               ......................... COMPLETED
    Hub Transport Server Role        ......................... COMPLETED
    Exchange Management Tools        ......................... COMPLETED
    Finalizing Setup.                ......................... COMPLETED

The Microsoft Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.
Setup has made changes to operating system settings that require a reboot to tak
e effect. Please reboot this server prior to placing it into production.

Restart the server as prompted.  When the server has finished restarting you can verify that configurations such as the additional Receive Connector and the message tracking log configuration have been recovered with the server.

However the log files themselves are not restored during a Recovery Mode install of Exchange Server 2010.

Neither are additional applications or agents that were previously installed ont he server.  For the Hub Transport server one notable item would the Microsoft Office Filter Pack.

Therefore the server is not fully recovered until all of those items, along with any further customizations to the server, have been manually applied.

Full System Backup/Restore for Hub Transport Servers

For this demonstration I used Windows Server Backup to take a full system backup of the Hub Transport server to use for bare metal restore.

This backup can take a while depending on your backup infrastructure and the amount of data involved.  However it simplifies the restore process because it restores the full system including log files, customizations, and additional applications.

The full restore brings the server back to an operational state ready for production, however it is a point in time recovery and will not include log file entries or mail items that were still in the transport queue since that point in time.

Recovering Hub Transport Servers with Minimal Backups

When the minimal backup strategy is used in conjunction with server recovery it allows you to make use of an effective hybrid approach to Hub Transport server recovery.

In this approach you combine the two techniques:

• fast, frequent backups of the transport queues and message tracking log files at regular intervals throughout the day
• restoration using Recovery Mode with and the latest backup files

To do this you run Exchange Server 2010 setup in Recovery Mode as demonstrated earlier but with an additional command line switch.

C:\Admin\Exchange 2010>setup /m:RecoverServer /DoNotStartTransport

The /DoNotStartTransport switch stops setup from starting the Microsoft Exchange Transport service when it finishes installation.

This allows you the opportunity to restore the most recent transport queue database and message tracking log files onto the server before it is put back into production use.

With this recovery model you will still need to reinstall additional applications or agents as with the previous Recovery Mode technique.

Summary

As you can see there are pros and cons to each backup strategy for the Hub Transport server role in Exchange Server 2010.  For many organizations the full system backup/restore will be the simplest choice, though it will consume the most backup storage and takes longer to back up.  For high volume environments or those with strict auditing and retention requirements the frequent backups of the transport queue database and log files may be the preferred approach instead.

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 Backup and Recovery
• What Needs Backing Up for Exchange Server 2010?
• Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• How to Configure a Relay Connector for Exchange Server 2010

This article Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery is © 2010 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

A pain point with the tool in the past has been that it can only be run on a database that is offline.  This means that an otherwise operational database needs to be dismounted to run ISInteg to fix any suspected integrity problem.  For Exchange administrators this usually means a long night running the tool outside of business hours to minimize interruption to end users.

Which is why this announcement from the Microsoft Exchange Team blog is great news.

In Exchange 2010 SP1, ISInteg is no longer a standalone program.

With the release of Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2010 two new Exchange Management Shell cmdlets will be available:

• New-MailboxRepairRequest
• New-PublicFolderDatabaseRepairRequest

Each one performs validation and fixing of integrity issues for the respective database type.

The best improvement is that the tools no longer need to run on dismounted databases.  In fact they are required to run on mounted databases.

These new ISInteg cmdlets come with some cool new functionality!

• The cmdlets work with the database mounted. It’s no longer required to unmount the database to perform an integrity check or fix database errors.
• You can repair logical corruption at the mailbox level.
• You can fix corrupt search folders.
• You can fix Aggregate Counts.
• You can fix the Provisional Fid.

Because the tools run against mounted databases, and can perform their operations at the mailbox level, mailbox repairs will only affect the owner of that mailbox instead of every mailbox user connected to that database.

Another useful new feature is that the tools now output their progress to the Event Log instead of to text files, making monitoring of repair requests much easier to manage.

Overall a big improvement and one that will benefit Exchange administrators when they are dealing with database corruption scenarios.

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 Backup and Recovery
• Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Requirements Calculator Updated
• Changing Default Mailbox Database Path in Exchange Server 2010

This article Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1 is © 2010 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Typically deployed within a secure perimeter network, or DMZ, the Edge Transport Server is basically a smart host or SMTP relay server for the organization, and can protect from viruses, spam, and also perform other rule-based actions to control the flow of email in and out of the network.

What Needs to be Backed Up on Edge Transport Servers

To plan for backup and recovery of the Edge Transport server you first need to understand where the server stores its configuration and data.

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service – each Edge Transport server runs its own instance of AD LDS, which is used to store a subset of information about recipients in the Exchange organization, as well as information about the connectors that are established between the Edge Transport server and the Hub Transport servers for mail flow.  The AD LDS database and log files are stored on the file system of the server.

Edge Configuration – the Edge Transport server configuration can be exported to an XML file for cloning between servers and for recovery purposes.  The Edge configuration file is stored on the file system of the server.  This does not include the Edge Subscription information that connects the Edge Transport server to Hub Transport servers.

System State – the system state contains information such as service startup and dependency settings in the registry, which is important if any settings have been modified from the defaults.  The System State is also important if extra third party applications or agents have been installed on the Edge Transport server, local security policies have been applied, administrative accounts or groups created or modified, and a range of other items that may be important in a recovery.

Other Files – other files such as transport queue databases and log files are also stored on the file system.

Planning the Edge Transport Server Backup

When you are planning the Edge Transport server backup strategy there are different approaches you can take depending on your requirements.

Backing up Everything

A full system backup of the server encompasses all of the required information for a recovery, however this takes longer to backup and consumes the most backup storage.

This makes it impractical if frequent backups are required throughout the day, for example in a high volume email environment the transport queue databases might be backed up every 5 minutes to reduce the risk of losing in-transit emails if the server crashed.

A full backup can also take longer to recover in some cases, however this is less of a concern if multiple Edge Transport servers are deployed.

Backing up the Minimum

A backup of just the Edge Transport configuration is the most efficient in terms of time frames and storage space, and can be run only when a configuration change has been made.

However the recovery time may be longer because a new host would need to be provisioned from scratch to import the config.

There may also be more manual intervention required because importing the configuration to a new server still requires the Edge Subscription to be set up again.  In addition, this backup strategy does not protect the transport queue databases, log files, or any third party applications and agents installed on the server.

Backing Up and Restoring Edge Transport Servers

For the purposes of this demonstration I’ve made a few changes to a default Edge Transport server install on Windows Server 2008 R2.

The default log file paths have been modified:

An Edge Subscription is in place:

.NET Framework 4 has been installed via Microsoft Update:

Exporting/Importing the Edge Configuration

The Edge Configuration can be exported and imported using a script provided with Exchange Server 2010.  The script is located in the \Scripts folder of your Exchange Server 2010 installation folder, which by default would be:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts

On the Edge Transport server launch an Exchange Management Shell and run the script to export the Edge Configuration.

.\ExportEdgeConfig.ps1 -cloneConfigData C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-edgeconfig.xml

Edge configuration is exported successfully to C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-edgeconfig.xml

For this demonstration the server operating system has been manually reinstalled to simulate a recovery scenario, and the Exchange Server 2010 reinstalled with the Edge Transport server role.

Note: the Edge Transport server can be a domain member however it is not a valid role for using Setup /m:RecoverServer to restore a failed server. In some scenarios you may encounter an error that “The Exchange Server is in an inconsistent state” when trying to reinstall the server.  If you do then click here for the solution.

When the new Edge Transport server is ready you can import the Edge Configuration to it using a script that is once again located in your Exchange Server 2010 installation folder.

Launch the Exchange Management Shell, and then run the import script to validate that the configuration can be applied.  This checks for such things as valid file system directories to confirm that that they can be recreated when the configuration is imported.

.\ImportEdgeConfig.ps1 -cloneConfigData C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-edgeconfig.xml -isImport $false -cloneConfigAnswer C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-answer.xml

Warning:Passwords will be encrypted with the default script encryption key

Validation succeeded for ConnectivityLogPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for MessageTrackingLogPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for PickupDirectoryPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for PipelineTracingPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for ReceiveProtocolLogPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for ReplayDirectoryPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for RoutingTableLogPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for RootDropDirectoryPath element of type NullableDirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for SendProtocolLogPath element of type DirectoryPath
Validation succeeded for SourceIPAddress element of type IPAddress
Validation succeeded for SourceIPAddress element of type IPAddress
Validation succeeded for Bindings element of type Bindings
Validation succeeded for Fqdn element of type FQDN

Answer File is successfully created: C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-answer.xml

Next, import the configuration file by switching the -isImport parameter to $true.

.\ImportEdgeConfig.ps1 -cloneConfigData C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-edgeconfig.xml -isImport $true -cloneConfigAnswer C:\EdgeConfig\ex2-answer.xml

Warning:Passwords will be encrypted with the default script encryption key

WARNING: The contents of the pipeline tracing log may contain sensitive information. Make sure all content is either
removed or secured appropriately.

WARNING: The command completed successfully but no settings of 'exchangeserverpro.local' have been modified.
WARNING: The following service restart is required for the change(s) to take effect : MSExchangeTransport

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Removing Receive connector "EX2\Default internal receive connector EX2".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): a

WARNING: The command completed successfully but no settings of 'IPAllowListConfig' have been modified.
WARNING: The command completed successfully but no settings of 'IPAllowListProviderConfig' have been modified.
WARNING: The command completed successfully but no settings of 'IPBlockListConfig' have been modified.

WARNING: Edge Transport servers don't use the MaxDumpsterSizePerStorageGroup, MaxDumpsterTime, MaxReceiveSize,
MaxRecipientEnvelopeLimit, and SupervisionTags parameters. Therefore, setting these parameters will have no effect.

Importing Edge configuration information Succeeded.

Note the warning that the Transport service requires a restart. This does not happen automatically, so run the following command from the Exchange Management Shell.

restart-service msexchangetransport

Although the relevant Connectors are added to the Edge Transport server when the Edge Configuration is imported, they are not correctly set up on both ends (ie on the AD Site/Hub Transport servers as well). To do this you will need to re-run the Edge Subscription process.

Create an Edge Subscription file on the Edge Transport server by running the following command in an Exchange Management Shell.

New-EdgeSubscription -FileName c:\edgesubscription.xml

Confirm
If you create an Edge Subscription, this Edge Transport server will be managed via EdgeSync replication. As a result,
any of the following objects that were created manually will be deleted: accepted domains, message classifications,
remote domains, and Send connectors. After creating the Edge Subscription, you must manage these objects from inside
the organization and allow EdgeSync to update the Edge Transport server. Also, the InternalSMTPServers list of the
TransportConfig object will be overwritten during the synchronization process.
 EdgeSync requires that this Edge Transport server is able to resolve the FQDN of the Hub Transport servers in the
Active Directory site to which the Edge Transport server is being subscribed, and those Hub Transport servers be able
to resolve the FQDN of this Edge Transport server. You should complete the Edge Subscription inside the organization in
 the next "1440" minutes before the bootstrap account expires.
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): y

Copy the XML file to an Exchange 2010 server in the organization. Launch the Exchange Management Console and navigate to Organization Management/Hub Transport. Start the New Edge Subscription task.

Select the Active Directory Site you wish to create the subscription with, and then browse and select the XML file that you copied from the Edge Transport server.

Click New to complete the Edge Subscription wizard.

The Edge Transport server role has now been recovered by:

1. Reinstalling the operating system and Exchange Server 2010
2. Importing a backup of the Edge Configuration
3. Re-establishing the Edge Subscription

By only backing up the exported Edge Configuration file this technique takes up the least backup time and storage, however the restoration is more effort (note that the use of virtualization, templates or other automated build processes would speed it up to varying degrees).

• The customized log path settings were restored
• The Edge Subscription was manually recreated
• Additional applications were not recovered and need manual reinstallation

So depending on the server there will be additional effort to bring it back to full service, if only the Edge Configuration was ever backed up.

Full System Backup/Restore for Edge Transport Servers

For this demonstration I used Windows Server Backup to take a full system backup of the Edge Transport server to use for bare metal restore.

This backup takes longer than if you were only exporting and backing up the Edge Configuration on a regular basis.  However the restore process is simpler and possibly even faster than the previous method, because the full system is being restored, although this would depending on your backup infrastructure and whether the restore media was on hand or needed to be brought in from offsite.

Once the full system restore is complete the server is ready to go, including the Exchange Server 2010 installation and all other applications and configurations on the server.

Although the Edge Subscription is restored by this method, if you test it from the Hub Transport server you may find that it is temporarily broken.

[PS] C:\>Test-EdgeSynchronization

RunspaceId                  : 6143dd90-7b9b-40f2-8120-15e58a8e2f54
SyncStatus                  : Failed
UtcNow                      : 9/08/2010 2:29:59 AM
Name                        : EX2
LeaseHolder                 : CN=EX1,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Gr
                              oups,CN=First Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=exchange
                              serverpro,DC=local
LeaseType                   : Option
FailureDetail               : The EdgeSync cookie has not been updated as expected. It may indicate EdgeSync has encoun
                              tered synchronization errors. For more information, check the EdgeSync logs.
LeaseExpiryUtc              : 9/08/2010 2:46:13 AM
LastSynchronizedUtc         : 9/08/2010 1:46:13 AM
TransportServerStatus       : Skipped
TransportConfigStatus       : Skipped
AcceptedDomainStatus        : Skipped
RemoteDomainStatus          : Skipped
SendConnectorStatus         : Skipped
MessageClassificationStatus : Skipped
RecipientStatus             : Skipped
CredentialRecords           : Number of credentials 3
CookieRecords               : Number of cookies 2

You can usually fix this by simply restarting the EdgeSync service on the Hub Transport server.

[PS] C:\>Restart-Service MSExchangeEdgeSync

The Edge Subscription should now test successfully.

[PS] C:\>Test-EdgeSynchronization

RunspaceId                  : 6143dd90-7b9b-40f2-8120-15e58a8e2f54
SyncStatus                  : Normal
UtcNow                      : 9/08/2010 2:32:16 AM
Name                        : EX2
LeaseHolder                 : CN=EX1,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Gr
                              oups,CN=First Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=exchange
                              serverpro,DC=local
LeaseType                   : Option
FailureDetail               :
LeaseExpiryUtc              : 9/08/2010 3:30:15 AM
LastSynchronizedUtc         : 9/08/2010 2:30:15 AM
TransportServerStatus       : Skipped
TransportConfigStatus       : Skipped
AcceptedDomainStatus        : Skipped
RemoteDomainStatus          : Skipped
SendConnectorStatus         : Skipped
MessageClassificationStatus : Skipped
RecipientStatus             : Skipped
CredentialRecords           : Number of credentials 3
CookieRecords               : Number of cookies 2

The Edge Transport server role has now been recovered by performing a full system restore of the server.

• The custom log path settings were restored
• The Edge Subscription was maintained
• The additional applications were also recovered

By taking full system backups of the Edge Transport server the restoration process was simplified, however the backups themselves take up more time and backup storage.

Summary

As you can see there are pros and cons to each backup strategy for the Edge Transport server role in Exchange Server 2010.  In most environments the full system backup/restore method works best as it simplifies almost every aspect of the process, with the only trade off being the extra time and storage capacity needed during backups.  The config export/import method tends to be more suited to migrating the Edge Transport server to new hardware, or adding additional Edge Transport servers into the environment.

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 Backup and Recovery
• What Needs Backing Up for Exchange Server 2010?
• Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• How to Manage AD LDS on an Edge Transport Server with ADSIEdit

This article Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery is © 2010 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Exchange Server 2010 stores information in a variety of locations and these depend on factors such as:

• Which Exchange Server roles are installed in the environment
• How many of each server role is deployed in the environment
• The Active Directory topology

Let’s take a look at each of the locations in which you will find Exchange Server information and data.

Active Directory

Exchange Server 2010 is tightly integrated into Active Directory (or in the case of the Edge Transport role, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services).

All Exchange objects including servers, recipients, groups, address lists, and many more settings are stored within Active Directory, either as attributes on an object (eg the mail attributes on a User object) or as objects within the Configuration partition of Active Directory.

This integration is beneficial because it means that some Exchange Server roles can be recovered (at least partially) using information preserved in Active Directory.

Because of this integration it is critical that Active Directory forms a part of your Exchange Server 2010 backup strategy.

System State

The System State is a collection of data on a Windows Server that includes various services and configuration information depending on its specific roles and installed features.

For an Exchange Server this includes:

• The Registry, which holds information such as the startup mode and dependencies for Exchange services
• The local security accounts manager database, which determines who can access and administer the Exchange server
• The IIS metabase, which is a critical part of the Client Access Server role
• The Cluster service configuration, which is a critical part of the Mailbox Server role when DAGs are deployed

The System State of each Exchange Server is therefore a critical part of your Exchange Server backup strategy.

File System

Although much of the Exchange Server configuration is stored in Active Directory and the System State of each server, there are also important settings stored in configuration files on the file system itself.

These settings are mostly stored within XML configuration files, and can include things such as memory usage warning thresholds or the number of mailboxes that can be moved concurrently during a migration.

The file system is also where some data is stored while in transit, such as in the Transport queue database.

This means that the file system, or at least those parts containing important Exchange information, should also be considered a critical part of your Exchange Server 2010 backup strategy.

Databases

The final pieces of the picture are the Exchange databases.  This includes both mailbox and public folder databases.

These databases contain the most important information in an Exchange Server 2010 environment, and consist of two parts:

• The database transaction logs
• The database files themselves

Although many of the other components of Exchange Server can be backed up with standard backup products, the databases require a proper Exchange-aware backup application that can perform VSS backups of the databases.

Because of the use of database replication for high availability of Exchange Server 2010 the database backup requirements will vary depending on how Exchange Server 2010 has been deployed in the environment.

However as a general statement, without backups of the databases there is a risk of critical email and public folder information being lost in a disaster.  This makes the databases another, if not the most important part of your Exchange Server 2010 backup strategy.

As you can see there are four critical parts of an Exchange Server 2010 backup strategy:

• The Active Directory, or Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
• The System State of the Exchange Servers
• The file system of the Exchange Servers
• The Exchange Server databases

In the next part of the series we’ll start to dive into how to backup and restore each of the Exchange Server 2010 server roles.

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 Backup and Recovery
• Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• Some Recent Articles

This article What Needs Backing Up for Exchange Server 2010? is © 2010 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Note: I’ve met some great backup and recovery experts, I just haven’t met any who said thats what they wanted to become when they started in IT.

Backups tend to be all steak and no sizzle, and that lack of sizzle too often means a lack of attention and financial support for an effective backup system.  The best backup systems are often in businesses that have previously suffered a serious data loss, or those where a legislative requirement for data protection and retention exists.  Even those aren’t guarantees, I’ve met plenty of customers who have lost important data and still won’t invest in their backups.

When it comes to Exchange servers backup and recovery are no less critical than any other part of the business, because so much of businesses these days runs through email.  Email is the most important communication tool in most businesses; the home of their most critical documents and records.

In short, as an Exchange Server administrator you need to make sure your servers are being backed up correctly.

This is the first part of an Exchange Server Pro series of articles on backup and recovery of Exchange Server 2010.  So let’s kick things off by taking a look at some of the fundamentals of Exchange Server backup and recovery.

General Backup and Recovery Terminology

Throughout this series I am going to be repeating some of the same terminology, and so it will help to become familiar with it if you are not already.

Backup Types

• Full Backup – a complete copy of the data being backed up.  In the context of Exchange Server 2010 this also truncates the transaction logs for databases.
• Incremental Backup – a partial copy of the data being backed up.  Contains all of the changes to the data since the last Full or Incremental backup.  When Full + Incremental backups are used a restore operation requires the last Full backup plus each of the subsequent Incremental backups.
• Differential Backup – a partial copy of the data being backed up. Contains all of the changes to the data since the last Full or Incremental backup, however unlike the other backup types does not mark the data as having being backed up.  This means that a restore operation only requires the last Full plus the last Differential backup.

Each of the backup types makes a trade off between backup and recovery speed.  Full backups are the easiest and fastest to restore from but take the longest to backup, whereas Incremental backups are usually the fastest to backup but require more effort and time to restore from.

Backup Storage

• Tape – magnetic tape backup storage comes in many different formats. It used to be the most cost effective and portable media for storing backups but these days disk can be more practical in some scenarios.
• Disk – large capacity hard disk storage is more affordable and portable these days than in years past and has many advantages over traditional tape backups.
• Cloud – this refers to an off-site, externally hosted backup service that is used for remote backup storage.  The cloud storage may be a mix of tape and disk depending on the service that is being used.
• Online – backup storage that is immediately accessible, such as a disk array connected to the backup server.
• Offline – backup storage that is on-premises but is not immediately accessible without human interaction, for example tapes that have been removed from the tape drive.
• Offsite – backup storage that is stored offsite, either at an alternate physical location for the business (eg, a school with two separate campuses) or that has been taken away by an offsite storage company.

Again each storage type makes a trade off between convenience and protection.  Online disk storage is the easiest for backup and restore but carries the highest risk of data loss if there was a disaster in the data center itself such as fire or flood.  Offsite backup storage is safe from such disasters but adds to the restore time because the media must first be transported from offsite.

Backup Planning and Management

• RPO – the Recovery Point Objective is the point in time at which you are aiming to recover data.  The RPO basically defines how much data loss the business is willing to tolerate, and so this plays an important part in designing a backup solution, particularly the scheduling of backups to meet the RPO requirements.
• RTO – the Recovery Time Objective is the amount of time in which a recovery must take place after a disaster has occurred.  Again this plays an important part in designing backup solutions to ensure that the correct infrastructure is in place to facilitate that speed.
• Backup Window – this is the time each day in which backup operations are able to be run.  For most businesses this is overnight, outside of their core business hours.  However depending on the RPO it may be necessary to run backups during business hours as well.

Other Terminology

• Bare-Metal - this refers to a type of backup that makes it possible to recover the server and its data in their entirety from a single backup.
• System State – this refers to a collection of data on a Windows Server that includes various services and configuration information that relate to its particular role, such as the Registry, boot files, Active Directory database (for Domain Controllers), cluster service information, IIS metabase, and other system files.

Exchange Server Backup and Recovery Concepts

Exchange Server 2010 itself has some specific backup and recovery concepts that Exchange Server administrators need to understand.

• VSS – the Volume Shadow-copy Service is a backup API included with Windows Server operating systems and server products such as Exchange Server 2010.  This is the only supported backup technology for Exchange Server 2010, unlike previous versions that also supported a streaming backup API.
• Active/Passive Databases – Exchange Server 2010 introduced a new high availability concept called Database Availability Groups (DAGs).  A DAG consists of multiple database copies across 2-16 Mailbox servers.  Only one copy of each database is “active” at any one time, the remainder are considered “passive”.
• Recovery Databases – this is a special database that can be used as a target for a mailbox database restore operation, allowing the administrator to mount the restored database and extract the required data from it into an active database or a PST file.
• Database Portability – the ability for Exchange Server 2010 to mount databases that have been copied or restored from other Mailbox servers.  This simplifies restore scenarios in which the original server is not available.
• Dial Tone Portability – the ability for Exchange Server 2010 to mount a temporary database with empty mailboxes for end users to continue to send and receive email while restore operations are taking place in the background.
• Log Truncation – all database operations are logged to transaction logs on the Mailbox server.  The logs can be used to recover information written since the last backup was taken if there is a database failure. When a database has been backed up all of the transaction logs that are no longer required for recovery are removed (truncated) from the server.
• Circular Logging – when this is enabled the database transaction logs are automatically truncated by the server once the database operations are written from memory to the database itself.  When circular logging is enabled the transaction logs are no longer useful for restoring data in the event of a database failure.

In the next part of the series we’ll take a look at where Exchange Server 2010 stores data that you need to protect with backups.

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• What Needs Backing Up for Exchange Server 2010?
• Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• Some Recent Articles

This article Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 Backup and Recovery is © 2010 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

What if You Never Backed Up Your Exchange Server Again?

A look at how the new replication and retention features of Exchange Server 2010 can be used so that you never need to back up your Exchange Server (though you probably still will ).  Read more…

What if You Never Backed Up Your Exchange Server Again? (Part 2)

Follow up to the previous post describing the use of lagged database copies to enable point in time recovery in case of logical corruption.  Read more…

Understanding Exchange Server Accepted Domains

Describes the concept of Accepted Domains and how each of the domain types (Authoritative, Internal Relay, and External Relay) can be used in difference scenarios.  Read more…

Protecting Distribution Groups with Exchange Server 2010 Email Moderation

Exchange Server 2007 was not very flexible when it came to protecting email distribution groups from misuse, but the new Moderated Transport feature of Exchange Server 2010 solves the problem.  Read more…

Designing an Exchange Server Database Layout

I’ve been working on database layouts for big Exchange environments lately so this topic has been on my mind a lot.  Read more…

Exchange Server 2007 Availability Service Explained

One of the more misunderstood implications of Exchange Server 2007 and 2010 is the movement away from Public Folders for storing schedule free/busy information for users of Outlook 2007 and beyond.  Read more…

9 Benefits of Hosted Antispam Services

A look at some of the benefits of choosing a hosted antispam service over on-premises solutions.  Read more…

Related posts:

• Exchange Server 2007 Backup and Recovery
• Exchange Server 2010 and the Benefits of Commercial SSL Certificates
• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery

This article Some Recent Articles is © 2009 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

• Part 1 – What needs to be backed up for Exchange Server 2007?
• Part 2 – How to backup and restore Mailbox Servers
• Part 3 – How to backup and restore Hub Transport and Edge Transport Servers
• Part 4 – How to backup and restore Client Access Servers
• Part 5 – How to recover individual mailbox items using Recovery Storage Groups

Related posts:

• Some Recent Articles
• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• How to Share an Email Domain Between Two Mail Systems
• Block Users Sending to Specific Domains with Exchange Server 2007

This article Exchange Server 2007 Backup and Recovery is © 2009 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

 

Configuring Microsoft Exchange for Fast Recovery is a free e-book available from Realtime Publishers.

Microsoft Exchange is the premiere authority for email in today’s global marketplace. With the impact email has on the workplace and corporate communications, along with the advent of Exchange Server 2007, maintaining an optimal environment is vital.  This includes building a resilient environment that can recover from unexpected interruptions.

The Essentials Series: Configuring Microsoft Exchange for Fast Recovery will provide you with the tools for configuring hardware backup and restoration strategies to help return Exchange to full function with minimal downtime.

The download is available here at the Realtime Publishers website.  There are other free ebooks available as well, but be warned you need to jump through some registration and personal information hoops to get access to them.

Related posts:

• The Ultimate Exchange Server 2007 Toolkit
• Some Recent Articles
• Exchange Server 2007 Backup and Recovery
• Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery (Book)
• Microsoft Exam 70-236: Exchange Server 2007 Configuration (MCTS)

This article Free Microsoft Exchange ebooks is © 2008 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

In the author’s own words:

 

Instead of focusing on any individual backup product, this book recommends corporate procedures and policies that need to be established for comprehensive data protection.

It provides relevant information to any organisation, regardless of which operating systems or applications are deployed, what backup system is in place, or what planning has been done for business continuity.

It explains how backup must be included in every phase of system planning, development, operation, and maintenance. It also provides techniques for analyzing and improving current backup system performance.

I’ve tangled with many different backup systems in my career and in at least half of those environments the problems with the backup systems were not due to sloppy implementation, rather they were due to unclear corporate policies and lack of high level support for a proper investment in data protection.

Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery: A Corporate Insurance Policy covers everything from basic concepts, common myths, human responsibilities, retention policies, recovery strategies, handling of media, through to advanced enterprise concepts, how to provide documentation and training, and how to monitor an enterprise backup system.

Buy it now: Amazon | CRCPress | Booktopia

Related posts:

• Some Recent Articles
• Exchange Server 2007 Backup and Recovery
• Free Microsoft Exchange ebooks
• Commvault iDataAgent and Remote Public Folders
• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery

This article Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery (Book) is © 2008 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Logic would suggest that once a DC knows it is the only DC in the Forest that it would shake off the USN Rollback blues and start humming away normally again.  Not the case unfortunately.

Rob P recently spent some time and effort with Microsoft support and came up with a solution that can be applied.

!!!Warning!!! !!!Warning!!! !!!Warning!!!

I’m not 100% sure why I’m warning you, but I’ll take Rob’s word on the matter.  Apparently this fix is quite dangerous and not for the faint of heart.  My heart is not the least bit faint, particularly when it comes to my VMWare test environment, so I didn’t mind testing this out.  At the very least you should make sure you have a backup of the server you can go back to if this doesn’t work.

To get a single domain controller out of USN Rollback:

1. Open Regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters
3. Locate the key “Dsa Not Writable”=dword:00000004
4. Delete the entire key
5. Enable replication by running repadmin /options servername -DISABLE_OUTBOUND_REPL and repadmin /options servername -DISABLE_INBOUND_REPL
6. Reboot

Once your domain controller has rebooted you should find that NetLogon is running again and repadmin /options no longer shows replication as being disabled.

I performed this test on a Windows Server 2003 R2 domain controller and I imagine it works fine on Small Business Server 2003 as well.

Related posts:

• Event ID 2095 and The USN Rollback Adventure
• Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Improved Database Integrity Checking in Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
• Exchange 2010 Setup Error – The Exchange Server is in an Inconsistent State

This article Recovering a single Domain Controller from a USN Rollback is © 2008 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com