Craig: read the DR whitepaper <http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/administration/55/Disaster.asp> <http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/administration/55/BackupRestore. asp>
also, some thoughts on Brick Level Backups (ie. individual mailbox backup): <http://mail.tekscan.com/nomailboxes.htm> <http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq_appxf.htm> from the archives.... ************** The Top Ten Reasons why William Doesn't recommend Brick-level backups: 10. The only product he's tried it with is ArcServeIT (*shudder*) 9. Brick-level backups should be done in conjunction with regular backups therefore duplicating the process. 8. Brick-level backups don't clear the transaction logs 7. Brick-level restores (esp of the entire store) are VERY slow 6. Brick-level restores result in loss of Single Instance Storage 5. Brick-level backups do not properly maintain all of the data structures in the store that you might need for a full restore (at least Computer Associates product doesn't). 4. The alternative is so much easier and cleaner - deleted item retention. Set deleted item retention to say 30 days, a little user education and they can do their own mailbox' restore. 3. Regular use of exmerge (to pst files for backup) for important mailboxes is another alternative. 2. Section 3.11 at: <http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq_sec3.htm> says so (ok, I don't do everything I'm told either). 1. The archives at the Exchange list at swynk.com are full of Brick-level horror stories. -William Lefkovics, MCSE, A+ ************** Brick Level Backups will not cause your car to rust out or your hair to fall out. They are unlikely to make your system less reliable (but no guarantees there), nor make your normal non-brick-level backups less reliable. They do, however, use more tape, make your backup jobs take more time and wear your tape drive out faster. They give you a false sense of security that you can get something back when in fact you may not. And you often cannot get everything back from a brick level backup. Brick Level Backup is a kludgy crutch for administrators who insist on managing their Exchange systems as if they were cc:Mail or MS Mail systems. They want the benefits of a database e-mail architecture, but want to manage it as if it were a file-based system. If you follow the Ed Crowley Never Restore Method®, you can remain secure in the knowledge that you'll almost never need to do a Brick Level Restore. If, for some rare event you find that you need to restore a message or mailbox, then you have a great opportunity to practice your disaster recovery techniques on your recovery server. What? You don't have a recovery server? Well, you need one whether or not you use Brick Level Backup. In a nutshell, Brick Level Backups aren't evil. But they're completely superfluous. -Ed Crowley MCSE+Internet MVP ************** -Michèle Immigration site: <http://LadySun1969.tripod.com> Our new 2001 Miata: <http://members.cardomain.com/bpituley> Tiggercam: <http://www.tiggercam.co.uk> --------------------------------------------------------- Doglet: A dog so small it can be terrorized by an average-sized cat. --------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Chris Scharff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 3:27 PM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: Exchange Backup Modules question. Nothing will help you when you go to do a restore and find out you've been backup up a corrupt database for months.[1] Since you're only doing offline backups, your transaction logs would never be purged so you might as well leave circular logging enabled and sign up for that machete juggling class you've been considering. ;) [1] Not that we'd want that to happen to you, but there's no way to know if the database integrity is intact without doing an online backup. [2] [2] Well, almost. > -----Original Message----- > From: Michael Ahlfont [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 2:23 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: RE: Exchange Backup Modules question. > > > > > Every night we schedule the exchange services to stop at 11pm > and start at 6 am. Our email is held up at our ISP and is > delivered when our exchange server is back online at 6am. My > understanding is that if I had to do a restore, I would have > all email up until 11:00pm the night before. > I'm confused about the transaction logs. Would having > transaction logs up until the point of failure help me at all > if I'm only doing an offline back up? It sounds like I need > to have an online back up to use these transaction logs if I > were to have any hope of restoring to the point of failure. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Eric Cooper [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 1:52 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: Re: Exchange Backup Modules question. > > You can do backups without the Exchange Agents by stopping > the services and doing off-line backups. But then, you can't > restore to the point of failure (transaction logs won't be > applied to an off-line restore). The Exchange agent allows > the backup to work with the Exchange System Attendant to > backup or restore an online database. > > Eric > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Craig Manske" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Exchange Discussions" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 10:36 AM > Subject: Exchange Backup Modules question. > > > > I am seeing that most Backup Solutions have an extra MS Exchange > > Agent. > But > > some of them don't allow individual Mailbox or Public > Folder restore. > > If their Exchange Agent doesn't go into the Public and > Private IS why > > have an exchange agent, why not just back up the files with > a standard > > backup? I guess I figured that an Exchange Backup module's purpose > > was to get inside of the public and private IS and back up > individual > > stuff. > > > > Then again maybe my knowledge of Exchange is lacking. :) > > > > -cm > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > > Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp > > To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp > To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp > To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
