A block differential style backup is fine. I'm more concerned about DR scenarios where I might have to recover my entire server, including the backup drive. I don't really expect that to happen, but if it does then I have to make sure my backups are reliable. WSB doesn't seem to deal with that situation very well (where the backup drive has to be recreated), at least in my testing. If you could point me to one of your scripts that might be a better option. I just need to find something that will be suitable for the next 3 months, assuming EMC keeps to their schedule.
From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: May-11-10 11:25 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Any using MS Backup for Exchange 2010? Windows Server Backup (WSB) should be used for: [1] one-shot backups, or [2] regular backups where you dedicate one or more volumes to the backup. Like DPM, WSB will do a block differential backup, not an old-style file-based backup. This makes all backups after the first backup very fast, and it allows for many generations of backups to be stored in a relatively small space. If you want an old-style file-based backup every night, you can write a script to do it, use one of my scripts that already does this, or use some other tool. WSB isn't a good fit. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Paul Steele [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 8:53 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Any using MS Backup for Exchange 2010? Since EMC isn't releasing a Networker module for Exchange 2010 until Q4, we're investigating options that will get us by in the interim. MS Backup seems like the obvious choice, but I have serious concerns with it. Our intent was to back up each night to a local disk using MS backup, and then use Networker to back up the MS Backup data files to tape. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anyway to manage the MS Backup files. I'd like to remove save sets from the backup to keep the backup drive from getting too full. I had also hoped to be able to restore a previous backup set just in case we needed to go back to an older save set, but MS Backup doesn't seem to like any external manipulation of its data files. Even worse, I made a copy of the MS Backup data files, blew away the backup drive and recreated it, then put the MS Backup data files back in place. Unfortunately MS Backup can no longer access any of the save sets after this process. It knows the files are there, but it says the backup destination is offline. I think the reason is because the volume GUID has changed, but if that's the case it makes MS Backup very inflexible. Is there anyone using MS Backup who might have some suggestions on how to use it? Thanks!
