Choosing the Proper Backup Regimen

Microsoft Exchange 2003 is used by organizations to store important files and folders of information. When a server crashes, users can potentially lose hours, days, or weeks of work. Administrators are the ones in charge of protecting against data loss and should implement a disaster recovery plan that includes server backup and recovery. A proper backup regimen will help protect against loss of user data, hardware failures, and database corruption.

Creating a backup-and-recovery plan requires planning. Administrators will need to think about their Exchange organization in terms of the number of servers, storage groups, storage group organization, and the number and type of databases per storage group. After the Exchange organization has been planned and mapped out, administrators can prepare a backup-and-recovery plan that includes what data needs to be backed up, how frequently the data needs to be backed up, and so on. Although not a complete list, some items to think about when creating a plan include the following:

• Are the proper hardware, removable disk drives, tape, or optical drives, in place to perform backups?

• When is the best time to schedule backups?

• Where should backups be stored? Should backups include all server software?

• Who is responsible for the backup-and-recovery planning and operation?

• Is one set of data more important than another set?

• How quickly does data need to be recovered? Is a Service Level Agreement needed to ensure a specific server recovery time window?

Tip

Brainstorming in a group setting is a good way to be sure most backup and recovery issues are addressed. This way, everyone responsible can participate in creating a solid backup-and-recovery strategy.