You don't need the same hardware. A PC with enough disk and memory (512MB should be enough for DR testing) will work. You could use virtual servers as well.
Starting at windows 2000, restore programs are smart enough to not overwrite the hardware configuration part of the registry. There are a couple of caveats: 1. The boot.ini file *is* restored. This will need to be tweaked if the partition layout is different on the backed up system and the target system. 2. It only works correctly if windows is installed to the same drive and directory. This can bite you if you upgrade a server from 2000 to 2003 - remember to install win2k3 to C:\WINNT on the recovery server. 3. The HAL (hardware abstraction layer) must be "close" between the backed up server and the recovery server. 4. If the server blue-screens when you boot it after recovery, boot to the OS install CDROM and select the second repair option that comes up. 5. You will probably see some "phantom" network connections after the restore. There is a KB article on removing these. There is a KB article on restoring to dissimilar hardware. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Larry Wahlers Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 9:12 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: Proving that backups work Please forgive this question, but my boss wants me to actually prove that we can do a bare metal restore of Exchange. His exact words were: "be sure each of these mail servers will be able to be totally rebuilt if we encounter a problem that would require a Windows, Exchange and Mail DB rebuild." We have 2 Exchange 5.5 servers on Win2K and one Exchange 2003 SP1 server. We are going to apply Windows Server 2003 SP1 to the E2K3 server this weekend, and catch the two Exchange 5.5 servers up to latest patch level as well. I've already applied all that to my test Exchange 5.5 server and test Exchange 2003 server (minus the E2K3 SMTP patch, which I'm not going to apply), and verified that email works, but I'm sure he wants us to be able to prove that we can restore if we have a worst case scenario. We use Veritas Backup Exec 9 to do the full system backups and then the full Exchange backups every night (IS (for Exchange 5.5), Storage Group, System State, SRS (for E2K3)). I remember in class that in order to really prove backups work, you have to actually do a bare metal restore. To me, that means get identical (or nearly identical) hardware, put a minimum system on it, restore the server from the Backup Exec full system backup, then restore Exchange from the Backup Exec full Exchange backup. Am I missing something? Is there a more efficient way? If you've read this far, thanks for any help you can give. -- Larry Wahlers Concordia Technologies The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with.
