Agree - and I am not recommending it. Exmerge has its place, and I wouldn't say that any part of it is within your nightly backup procedure. That said, I understand some of the financial limitations we all as IT people have to deal with, and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...
themolk. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Michael B. Smith > Sent: Friday, 10 June 2005 12:31 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: RE: Brick level backups > > The problem with that is that exmerge does not do unicode > PSTs - so the mailboxes it can deal with are limited to a bit > under 2 GB. For most folks, that's probably ok tho... > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Molkentin, Steve > Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 10:27 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: RE: Brick level backups > > BLB <> exmerge. Exmerge is an application to allow you to > import/export mail from your IS. A brick level backup is the > process of backing up each individual mailbox as a file > (either to tape, hard disk, or some other media). You can use > exmerge to perform your brick level backup. > That's how I see it anyway. > > In fact, if I remember correctly, one member of the list > created a script/batch file that output every mailbox using > exmerge and then they backed up those PST's to tape (along > with the IS) EVERY night. Perhaps you could appeal for that > file, or script it yourself. > > themolk. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > > Erick Thompson > > Sent: Friday, 10 June 2005 11:57 AM > > To: Exchange Discussions > > Subject: RE: Brick level backups > > > > The problem is, we're a non-profit, so the enterprise level > software > > is generally outside of our budget. It was decided that for certain > > users, there needs to be off site copies of their email for certain > > periods, distinct from the main Exchange backups. > > > > Is a brick level backup simply using exmerge? > > > > Thanks, > > Erick > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > > Derek Harris > > Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 3:04 PM > > To: Exchange Discussions > > Subject: RE: Brick level backups > > > > There are much better archiving solutions out there than BLBs, and > > they will surely be cheaper in the long run. > > Google email archiving, check Slipstick, and here's one: > > http://sherpasoftware.com/ArchiveOverview.shtml (randomly chosen). > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > > Erick Thompson > > Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 3:32 PM > > To: Exchange Discussions > > Subject: RE: Brick level backups > > > > This is great, thanks! I can't figure out why there aren't more > > resources out there on this. I'd use it for archiving old > email, not > > for disaster recovery. > > > > Thanks, > > Erick > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > > Albert Eddie > > Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 6:02 PM > > To: Exchange Discussions > > Subject: RE: Brick level backups > > > > I thought this might be helpful.. /ALE > > > > http://www.ultrabac.com/kb6/htm/UBQ000042.htm > > > > INFO: The Pros and Cons of an Exchange Brick Level Backup > And Restore > > UBQ ID Number: UBQ000042 > > > > Last Modified: 2000-06-05 at 10:43:26 > > > > SUMMARY: > > > > Can UltraBac do a brick level (single mailbox) backup and recovery? > > > > DETAILS: > > > > UltraBac does not do a brick level backup of Exchange. The > reasons are > > > as follows: A brick level (single-mailbox) recovery > requires a brick > > level backup. A brick level backup is not designed to fully > protect an > > > Exchange server, one mailbox at a time. It is not an > alternative to a > > monolithic backup/restore. That's because the brick method > uses MAPI, > > which cannot access all of the data in the information store. > > In other words, the sum of the mailboxes is less than that of the > > store. Thus, a brick restore cannot be used to recover the > Information > > > Store after a disaster. If used, a brick level backup must > be utilized > > > in conjunction with a monolithic backup, in order to fully > protect the > > > server. > > > > When investigated with Microsoft, engineers discounted the > ability of > > any product that claims to have the ability to do single mailbox > > recovery. In order for any vendor to claim this feature, > the product > > would have to backup multiple copies of the same message. In other > > words, it would have to change the Exchange Single Instance > > architecture database. > > Removing the Single Instance architecture is possible but it would > > mean longer backup time and greater tape usage. > > > > Single Instance architecture is a method used by Exchange to reduce > > the size of the database and also to minimize disk space > fluctuation > > when users read and delete their mail messages. A case in point is > > that when a message is being sent to 100 users. If all 100 > users were > > on the same server, then Exchange would store only a single copy in > > the database, but would create a pointer in each of the 100 > mailboxes > > that the message was being sent. When the user reads and > deletes the > > mail message, only the pointer is deleted. Without the > Single Instance > > > architecture, 100 copies of the message would have to be > created. More > > > importantly is that when the users read and delete the message, it > > creates tremendous disk usage fluctuation. > > > > The problem with Single Instance architecture is that when > you restore > > > a user's mailbox, you are only restoring the pointer. > Hence, you need > > to restore the complete database so that mailbox pointer would work. > > In order to restore a user mailbox, Exchange would have to > restore all > > > messages found on each of the mailbox pointers. That is > very difficult > > > using tape technology. To accomplish a complete mailbox > restore, the > > backup software would have to remove the Single Instance > architecture > > by replacing the pointer with the message. This requires > more time for > > > the backup and also more tapes are used. Furthermore, by > replacing the > > > Single Instance architecture, what happens if one needs to > restore the > > > whole database? Will the Single Instance Architecture be maintained? > > > > Current brick level backup capabilities rely on MAPI to access each > > mailbox to re-create all of the mailbox data in the message store. > > Performance can be as slow as 8MB/min. If studies are to be > believed, > > each message is sent to an average of 4 users. > > Therefore, the size of the resulting data-file (it's not an > > information store) would increase dramatically because the > notion of a > > > single-instance does not apply. For example, using the 4:1 ratio, a > > 30GB Information Store could end up occupying 120GB on 3-4 tapes > > (assuming 40GB tapes). And that is in addition to the monolithic > > backups done for disaster recovery! > > > > As you might guess, brick level backups and restores can easily get > > out of proportion, both in time for the backups to take > place, and in > > space once the database is restored. (An Exchange database that was > > backed up brick level, when restored, could be about 4 times larger > > than it was > > originally!) > > > > MORE INFORMATION: > > > > See UBQ: UBQ000020 - Static Exchange & SQL Backups > > > > See UBQ: UBQ000022 - Defining UltraBac Account as an Exchange > > Administrator > > > > See UBQ: UBQ000029 - Exchange Single Mailbox or Single Message > > Recovery > > > > See UBQ: UBQ000038 - Exchange Stop/Start Command Lines > > > > CATEGORIES: > > > > Exchange > > > > VERSION: > > > > 2.x to 5.x > > > > Copyright UltraBac.com 1999-2001 > > > > Another of the GOOGLE hits... > > > > http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Exchange-Backup-Strategies.html > > > > > Behalf Of Erick Thompson > > > > > > Does anyone have a good link to a site about Brick level > > backups, as > > > in what they are, how they work, why they are good/bad? > > We're looking > > > at new backup strategies, and we're considering brick > level backups. > > > > 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