After a nightmare with Symantec Backup Exec 11d/12 I am after a decent backup and restore program and wondered what you all use? I will be backing up Exchange 2003 with approximatly 1000 users and 260GB of data. I need to be able to restore multiple stores if the server goes down, something that BE isn't so good at.
Posts: 6812
Joined: 9.Jun.2004
From: Philadelphia PA
Status: offline
1. Whilst I wouldn't touch BE with a 10 foot pole it is none the less perfectly good enough for the job. If you are having a problem of the scale that you indicate with the product you need to go back to the vendor.
2. The fact that you are even attempting to recover multiple stores and are complaining that BE isn't very good at it is a worry as well.
BE is no less simple and no more complex than all of the others. If you can't handle BE then I can assure you that you're not going to be able to handle any of the others apart from the (free and included) ntbackup.exe.
Thanks, but it's not a question of not being able to handle BE, it's more a case that the software doesn't function correctly when specifying what you want it to do. The problem I had with BE was restoring to multiple stores from tape. Some it would miss and complain about permission erros and some it would complete. Then run a 2nd (identical) restore and BE would suddnly ingnore the permission error that it encountered on a previous run, restore the store correctly but then fail on one that it had previously completed on a previous restore correctly. Without any fiddling on my behalf with store or account permissions.
Yes I will be asking our vendor for help on this but I can't see me getting much of a resoloution. I was merely asking what other people use so that I could check out the product(s) myself and compare them to BE.
Posts: 6812
Joined: 9.Jun.2004
From: Philadelphia PA
Status: offline
Then I refer you to my first sentence, i.e. that I wouldn't touch BE with a bargepole that was ten feet long, possibly longer. To be honest I would just do a normal, plain ntbackup.exe of the stores to a backup file somewhere. Then you can take that file to tape or somewhere off site - whatever works for you. If you want to restore an individual store to the same place or some other server ntbackup will do that for you. Where I would spend the money is on something from (for example) Quest: www.quest.com/recovery-manager-for-exchange where you can open the bkf file, pseudo-mount the file inside it and recover individual mailboxes or items.
The backup should be as plain and simple as possible to allow for the easiest recovery in a major issue. If you want to do anything complex (and remember the only real reason you've probably got BE is for the bricks level backup since I doubt you're using NDMP) use a different application.
I agree with the above poster, I wouldnt touch BE with ten foot pole. Just so you know Acronis is currently in Beta with their new Exchange agent which will blow every product out there away...permits full restore of select mailboxes, calendar's etc down to store's, on the fly, full BU's on the fly etc...I am currently in the Beta right now and it looks to be amazing...although right now Beta 1 is VERY limited, Beta 2 should remove a lot of limitations and hopefully I can see what this program can really do...But from what I see now, Acronis is going to turn into the 'BEST' backup solution for exchange, esp with the user interface and robustness.
But we shall see!! As the above poster said, stick with NTBACKUP and try Quest, I have tried it and it seems pretty good. (and no I am not trying to sell anything...just letting you know there should be something else out soon!!)
I run BE 11d/Exchange 2007 and haven't had any problem. I can backup and restore multiple stores fine. BUT if I have a choice, I won't buy BE. I am dealing with it because our company had already made the investment in the product.
I am really impressed with Acronis trueimage server. It's good to hear that they are coming with a backup solution for exchange and possibly SQL server.
Are you still looking for a solution to your problem with exchange?
Have you tried DoubleTake, becuase if your exchange goes down your users will be automatically redirected with IP replication to a DR target server. ( High Availablility. Only takes a few minutes to be back up and running.
Or you could use an exchange archiving solution, as this would more than cater for what you want to do. As the users can still access/send emails throguh a web portal whilst you fix the problem
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What do you backup Exchange with? - 
RE: What do you backup Exchange with? - 
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