Carbonite Support > Microsoft Exchange Server Data...

Microsoft Exchange Server Database Backup

  • This article is for Windows only

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.

For more details about backing up Microsoft Exchange, including information on various backup settings, please refer to the Carbonite Safe Server Backup User Guide.

The sections below are collapsed. Please click the section title to open / close a particular section.

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 of backup types. CSSB will discover all Exchange Server components (such as Mailbox) and will display them in the following format. The following is not a complete list from all versions of Exchange, but rather a sample to illustrate the 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 Advanced; Tools section 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.
  • 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.
  • 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, you'll have to add it to the proper group in Active Directory.
    Please note that the following instructions are not a complete list for all versions of Exchange. These are provided as guidelines for adding the proper groups yourself. If you're not sure which group is correct, please consult Microsoft Exchange documentation for your version of Exchange.
    • 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 Advanced; Restarting your Background Service (under the Help section) in the CSSB User Interface, or restart the Carbonite Safe Server Cloud Controller and Carbonite Safe 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 successful full backup.
Feedback