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Microsoft Exchange Server Database Backup (CSSB 5.x)

Summary:

Carbonite Safe Server Backup (CSSB) supports full, incremental and differential backups of Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Databases and Public Folder Databases. CSSB performs VSS based backup of Store database files (.edb and .stm), transaction logs, and checkpoint files for all the Mounted Storage Groups.

Full Backups contain the Mailbox database (.edb and .stm files), transaction logs, and checkpoint files. After a successful Full Backup, Exchange will purge all committed transaction logs. An event is logged in the Windows Application Event Logs.

Incremental Backups contain the transaction logs only. After a successful Incremental backup, Exchange will purge all committed transaction logs. An event is logged in the Windows Application Event Logs.

Differential Backups contain the transaction logs only. No logs are truncated after a successful Differential Backup.

Solution:

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How to Perform a Microsoft Exchange Server Backup

To configure Microsoft Exchange Server backups, create a new backup set and choose Exchange Database Level Backup from the list in the What would you like to back up? section. CSSB will discover all Exchange Server components (such as Mailbox) and will display them in the What would you like to back up? section in the following format:

  • MSExchange-2013\Servername\MailboxStoreName\File
  • MSExchange-2013\Servername\MailboxStoreName\Logs
  • MSExchange-2010\Servername\MailboxStoreName\File
  • MSExchange-2010\Servername\MailboxStoreName\Logs
  • MSExchange-2010\Servername\PublicFolderStoreName\File
  • MSExchange-2010\Servername\PublicFolderStoreName\Logs
  • MSExchange-2007\Servername\StorageGroupName\MailboxStoreName
  • MSExchange-2007\Servername\StorageGroupName\PublicFolderStoreName
  • MSExchange-2007\Servername\StorageGroupName\Logs
  • MSExchange-2003\Servername\StorageGroupName\MailboxStoreName
  • MSExchange-2003\Servername\StorageGroupName\PublicFolderStoreName
  • MSExchange-2003\Servername\StorageGroupName\Logs
Requirements for Backing Up a Microsoft Exchange Server
  • Exchange Backups have additional dependencies:
    • Upon creation of an Exchange backup set, a popup will appear if one or more dependencies are not installed on your system.
    • The Check Dependencies option in the Tools menu may also be used to check for Exchange backup dependencies.
  • The Volume Shadow Copy Service must be enabled. Although the Volume Shadow Service is enabled by default, it may have been turned off after Windows installation. Please refer to the Other Requirements section of the System Requirements article.
  • In Windows 2003 Small Business Server edition, the Exchange Writer is disabled by default.
    • CSSB will attempt to enable the VSS writer for you. However, a manual restart of the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service will be required.
    • If CSSB cannot enable the VSS Writer, please follow the instructions in this Microsoft article to enable the Exchange Writer: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/838183.
  • Run the command vssadmin list writers from the Windows command prompt and check that the state of the Exchange Writer is stable. If not (or if there are any VSS errors), restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store Service.
  • The latest Exchange service pack must be installed. For example: Exchange 2003 Server Service Pack 2 or later must be installed.
  • Ensure that the Exchange Storage Groups are in Mounted state.
  • Ensure that the database(s) for backup are in an Active state.
    • If a database is in an offline state backup will fail with the error "One or more databases are offline or not valid"
  • The Windows Management Framework must be installed on the system.
  • The amandabackup / CarboniteUser user is automatically assigned to the View Only Organization Management role in the Exchange Security Groups. If the amandabackup / CarboniteUser user must be added to the Exchange Security Groups manually, follow these steps:
    • Open Active Directory Users and Computers
    • For Exchange 2007: Add the amandabackup / CarboniteUser user to the Microsoft Exchange Security Groups > View Only Organization Management.
    • For Exchange 2010 and 2013: Add the amandabackup / CarboniteUser user to the Microsoft Exchange Security Groups > Exchange View-Only Administrators.
    • The Carbonite Safe Server Backup Services must be restarted after amandabackup / CarboniteUser is added to the Exchange Security Groups. Click Tools; Restart Background Service in the CSSB User Interface, or restart the Carbonite Server Cloud Controller and Carbonite Server Backup Controller manually from the Windows Services Panel.
  • Exchange circular logging must be disabled or any backups will fail. In most cases, you will not need to disable circular logging manually, as CSSB will do it for you. Circular logging allows Microsoft Exchange to overwrite transaction log files after the data contained in the log files has been committed to the database. By enabling circular logging, you reduce drive storage space requirements. However, without a complete set of transaction log files, you cannot recover any data more recent than the last full backup.
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