Backing up Microsoft Exchange Databases

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- Overview

- Backing up Microsoft Exchange Databases

- View Component Files

- Destination

- Alternative Locations

- Edit the Plan for this Backup

- Define Retention Rules

- Summary

- Backup Save Options

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Overview

Macrium Reflect LTSC Server Plus can perform granular backup and recovery of a local Microsoft Exchange Server. This enables point-in-time restores of whole Microsoft Exchange databases or even granular recovery of individual emails.

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Backing up Microsoft Exchange Databases

To create a backup of Microsoft Exchange databases, select the 'Backup Microsoft Exchange' option under the 'Exchange Tasks' menu on the 'Create Backups' tab.

On the first page of the Microsoft Exchange Backup wizard, in the window that opens, the Microsoft Exchange instance will be shown with its databases:

Select the items that will be backed up. For Microsoft Exchange 2010 and later, select the individual databases that will be backed up. For Microsoft Exchange 2007 and earlier, select the storage groups that will be included in the backup, this includes all the databases that are contained in the selected group.

View Component Files

Selecting the 'View component files' will display the list of files that make up the currently selected item(s). Files are grouped according to type and show last date modified along with file size. Each category of file shows the total size. Groups of files can be expanded/collapsed by clicking the plus/minus button to the left of the file type name.

Destination

The destination for the Microsoft Exchange backup is specified at the bottom of this page. The destination can be a local drive or network share specified in UNC format (\\Server\Share).

Alternative Locations

The 'Alternative Locations' option can be used to specify alternative locations for the image destination. If the primary backup location is not available when the image starts, each location specified will be tried in sequence until an available destination is found. This can be used to easily configure drive rotation, enabling images to be taken offsite for redundancy and provide extra resiliency if the primary destination is not available.

Alternative locations can be specified and added to the list of locations using the 'Add to list' button. The destinations will be attempted in the order they appear in this list. The order the destinations are attempted can be changed using the 'Up' and 'Down' buttons or removed from the list with the 'Remove' button.

Once all the alternative destinations have been specified, select 'OK' to complete the window.

Edit the Plan for this Backup

On the next page of the 'Microsoft Exchange Backup' wizard, a schedule can be created to ensure that changes to the Microsoft Exchange databases are regularly backed up.

To assist in creating a schedule, there is a set of "industry standard" schedules included with Reflect. These schedules can be selected and then edited to make them a better fit for the system that is being backed up using the 'Add Schedule', 'Edit Schedule', and 'Delete Schedule' options:

Alternatively, a schedule can be created from scratch, without a template being selected. Click the 'Add Schedule' button, then select the type of image that will be scheduled:

Three types of backup can be specified when creating a schedule. The different type of backup defines what is backed up from the Exchange database. More information about the backup types can be found here.

In the window that opens, the 'Frequency' and 'Options' for the schedule can be changed. The list of options on this page will change depending on the 'Frequency' that has been selected:

 

Selecting 'Conditions' will display additional options that can be used to determine whether the task should run:

Option	Description
Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed	If a scheduled start is missed, e.g. due to the system being powered off, the scheduled task will start when it's next possible.
Start the task only if the computer is on AC power	The task will not start if the computer is on battery power.
Stop if the computer switches to battery power	If the computer switches to battery power during the clone, the clone will stop. This option is only available if Windows Task Scheduler is selected in the 'Schedule Settings'.
Wake the computer to run this task	When selected, the system will attempt to wake from sleep to run the scheduled backup.

Any triggers that have been created are displayed on the 'Edit the Plan for this Backup' page. Triggers can be edited and deleted by selecting a trigger and then selecting one of the options below the triggers table:

Define Retention Rules

Macrium Reflect retention rules provide a powerful and flexible way to manage the lifetime and storage space used by your backups. Choose how backups are matched and how retention rules are applied to the target folder:

Retention rules are applied to the target folder of the backup by selecting one of two options:

Matching backup sets in the target folder.	Disk images are purged if they contain exactly the same partitions as the current image. Partitions are identified using the unique disk ID stored in sector 0 of the disk and the partition sector offset.  Note: For GPT disks the unique GPT disk GUID is used instead of the Disk ID
All backup sets in the target folder.	All backup sets in the target folder of the same type (disk image or file and folder) are purged according to the retention rules.

Next, select the age or number of backup types that will be kept: