Recipe11.3.Backing Up a Storage Group


Recipe 11.3. Backing Up a Storage Group

You need to back up all databases in a storage group to backup media or files.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

  1. Start the Windows Backup (Ntbackup.exe) utility. If you see the Backup and Restore wizard start page, click the Advanced Mode link.

  2. Click the Backup tab.

  3. Use the Backup destination and Backup media or file name controls to specify where you want the backup to go.

    The options you see here will vary. See the note in Recipe 11.2.


  4. In the left pane of the Backup window, expand the Microsoft Exchange Server node. Beneath it, you'll see one entry for each Exchange server:

    1. Mark the Microsoft Information Store checkbox to back up all storage groups on the server, or

    2. Expand Microsoft Information Store and check off the individual storage groups you want to back up. (Note that storage groups with no mounted databases will appear here, but if you try to back them up, the backup process will fail).

  5. Click Start Backup.

  6. In the Backup Job Information dialog box, give the backup job a description. Optionally, use the Schedule button to schedule the backup to occur at a later time.

  7. Click the Advanced button and use the Backup Type drop-down to select the backup type you want. By default, it will be a full backup. Click OK.

  8. Click Start Backup to begin the backup. The Backup Progress dialog will appear to show what's going on.

  9. When the backup completes, review the backup log to look for errors.

Using a command-line interface

  1. Create a text file with the extension .bkf containing the names of the storage groups you wish to backup.

    JET servername\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group\ JET servername\Microsoft Information Store\Second Storage Group\

  2. Run NTBackup from a command line, specifying the options file and backup target file:

    >ntbackup BACKUP "<@X:\path\filename.bks>" /f "<X:\path\target.bkf>"

  3. To see the options that the NTBackup command take, run the command:

    >ntbackup /?

Discussion

This procedure is essentially the same as the one described in Recipe Recipe 11.2; the biggest difference is that it is going to take longer, since you are backing up all private message stores as well as any public messages stores in the storage group. This is the preferred method for backing up your Exchange Servers, and should be done on a nightly basis, or in conjunction with differential or incremental backups. If you neglect to back up your storage groups on a regular basis, you may end up running out of disk space, as your transaction log files will not be purged from the file system.

See Also

Recipe 11.2 for backing up a single message store, and Recipes Recipe 11.4 and Recipe 11.5 for restoring message stores and storage groups



Exchange Server Cookbook
Exchange Server Cookbook: For Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2000 Server
ISBN: 0596007175
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 235

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