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Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCING ACRONIS® RECOVERY™ FOR MICROSOFT EXCHANGE 7 1.1 WHAT IS ACRONIS® RECOVERY™ FOR MICROSOFT EXCHANGE? ................................................ 7 1.2 WHY ACRONIS RECOVERY FOR MS EXCHANGE? ........................................................................ 9 1.
5.1.4 Server Roles ............................................................................................................................. 34 5.1.5 Storage Groups and Information Stores .................................................................................. 34 5.1.6 Circular Logging...................................................................................................................... 35 5.1.7 Disaster Recovery Plan .............................................................
8.1.8 Restore Options.................................................................................................................... 78 8.1.9 Selecting Start Parameters................................................................................................... 79 8.1.10 Echo Task Selection ......................................................................................................... 79 8.1.11 Restore Summary .............................................................................
APPENDIX A. ACRONIS RECOVERY FOR MS EXCHANGE: BEST PRACTICES ................ 110 A.1 PROTECT YOUR SERVER FROM HARDWARE FAILURE, USER ERRORS AND VIRUSES ......................... 110 Scenario .......................................................................................................................................... 110 Acronis solution .............................................................................................................................. 110 A.
Chapter 1. Introducing Acronis® Recovery™ for Microsoft Exchange This chapter provides general information about a new Acronis product - Acronis® Recovery™ for Microsoft Exchange– its features and advantages. You will learn about supported databases, operating systems and platforms. 1.1 What is Acronis® Recovery™ for Microsoft Exchange? Acronis® Recovery™ for Microsoft Exchange offers a fast and reliable disaster recovery solution to protect your Microsoft Exchange data.
With Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange you can restore your crucial mailboxes or single emails from different kinds of backup – not only from brick-level backups, but from a whole-database backup archive as well. • Smaller, more manageable archives Award-winning Acronis technology provides superior image file optimization. Customizable compression rates reduce the amount of data to store and transfer, leading to direct cost savings in storage and labor.
production server (operating system and whole information store) on bare metal from bootable CD or from a PXE. • Easy Administration Intuitive wizard-driven GUI allows even non-DBAs to confidently configure and implement professional backup strategies. 1.2 Why Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange? Comprehensive recovery requires more than just a backup of information stores.
Backup can be performed while the Microsoft Exchange service is online and serving clients allowing 24/7 availability • Restore Emails from Database Level Backup Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange provides the ability to restore specific emails from database level backup • Tuning a Backup Strategy with Acronis® Recovery™ for Microsoft Exchange Assistant Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Assistant provides an intuitive GUI for easy creation and implementation of a backup strategy, even without DBA experience
• Dial Tone Recovery Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange can restore e-mail service more quickly to users (providing them with a basic "dial tone") and then restore users' previous data as it becomes available • Bandwidth Throttling Control bandwidth usage to keep the backup process transparent to network users • Notifications Configure notification via e-mail and SNMP • Automated recovery staging Every restore scenario can be executed in one step.
• x86-64 1.8 Supported Operating Systems for Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent For Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange: • Windows 2000 (SP4 Rollup 1) • Windows Server 2003 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions) • Windows 2008 Server For Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Small Business Edition: • Windows SBS 2003 • Windows SBS 2008 1.
Trial Serial Numbers Acronis allows you to have a trial serial number to be able to use Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange for 30 days without buying the product. You may obtain the trial serial number in one of the following ways: • in the CD box, distributed during promotion events • after downloading the product from the web site • after registering in installation wizard (the serial number will be sent by email) • contacting Acronis sales representatives. Visit http://www.acronis.
Chapter 2. Understanding Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange This chapter provides common information about working with Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange. 2.1 Components Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange includes the following components: • Management Tools including Management Console Acronis • Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent Recovery for MS Exchange 2.1.
Integration between Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange and Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agents 2.3 Integration with Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server Acronis Recovery products are integrated with Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server Update (build 8115 or later) that provides the ability to automatically execute preconfigured restore tasks in case of disaster.
Configuring Bare Metal Restore To restore all necessary information stores on bare metal or to create a bootable media, you need a previously created archive with required information stores backed up. After creating an archive, do the following: 1. Launch a Restore wizard to schedule a restore task and choose a Bare Metal Restore option in the first step. 2. Specify a task execution account. 3.
Chapter 3. Installation of Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange From this chapter you will learn how to install Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange components both locally and remotely. 3.1 Minimum System Requirements Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange requires the following hardware: • Pentium processor or higher • 1024 MB RAM • Mouse (required) 3.2 Security Policy 3.2.1 Credentials Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange obtains access to networked computers using Administrator credentials.
However, make sure that the option File and Printer Sharing in the Control panel -> Windows Firewall -> Exceptions is enabled on the remote computer, before the remote operation starts. 3.3 General Rules of Installation Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange components and their features can be installed in multiple configurations, in terms of distributing the components and features among the networked computers. 3.3.
Exchange components from a command line. MSI installation command and options are listed in Appendix B. 3.3.2 Installing Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent Remotely To install Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent remotely on a database server, you first need Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console installed on the local computer. The remote system must meet the requirements described in 3.1 “Minimum System Requirements”.
3. Enter a serial number for the selected product. For information about obtaining a serial number, see section 1.10 “License Policy”. The Next button will not be active until you enter a serial number. 4. Select the computer in the Computer field: enter a computer name manually or click Browse… and select the required computer from the tree. Enter a User name and password into the corresponding fields to access the selected computer.
5. The summary page displays all operations, which will be performed. Click Proceed to install Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent on the remote computer. By connecting to a remote computer with Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent installed, you can set up backup and recovery tasks, and browse logs. 3.3.3 Extracting Acronis Components Recovery for MS Exchange To install Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange from the command line, you need to extract the .
• run the Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange setup file; • in the Install Menu, right-click on the component name and select Extract; • select a location for the setup file and click Save. 3.3.4 Removing Acronis Components Recovery for MS Exchange You can remove any Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange component separately by selecting Control panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> > Remove. Component names are: Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange and Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent.
Chapter 4. Getting started with Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange This chapter will help you to start working with Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange, and will guide you through connecting to a remote server, and remote installation of Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent. 4.
Please be aware: Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange will not operate if there is no free space on the system partition, and the software does not send notices when there is no free space. 4.2 Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Workspace Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange workspace includes the Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console window - the primary tool for managing data backup/restore on local and remote computers where Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent is installed.
• Install Acronis Agents – install Acronis Agents on remote computers As soon as you are connected to a Microsoft Exchange server where Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent is installed, your workspace will show operations you can execute on this server, such as backup or restore, managing tasks, etc. In this case the main area contains operation icons divided into two groups.
4.2.2 Computers Pane The Computers pane is located on the left side of the main program window. It displays computers (with their Microsoft Exchange servers identified) which have been discovered by the system or added manually. Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console allows you to connect to a remote computer where Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent is already installed, or to install Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent remotely.
• Restore E-mails – restore separate e-mails from a previously created archive • Manage Tasks – manage tasks scheduled on a computer • Logs – open the Log Viewer window • Disaster Recovery Plan – generate step-by-step instructions on how to restore your databases in case of any kind of failure Options – open a window for editing default backup/restore options, setting text appearance (fonts), configuring notifications etc The View menu contains an item for managing the appearance of the program wind
To connect to the server click Connect to a Remote Server in the Pick a Task pane (see 4.7 “Connecting to a Remote Microsoft Exchange Server”). If Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent is not installed on a server, click Install Acronis Agents in the Pick a Tool pane (see Chapter 3 “Installation of Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange”). To add a new server to the tree pane, click Add Servers in the Pick a Tool pane (see 4.6 “Adding Servers”). 4.
4.6 Adding Servers If you cannot locate a server with the Discover Computers tool, you can add it to the tree manually. You can apply any discovery operation later as required. The operation will add newly connected servers to the list in the Computers pane. At the same time, discovery will update the current status of all computers already included in the list. You can start an Add Computer dialog to add servers to the tree of the Computers pane in several ways.
4.7 Connecting to a Remote Microsoft Exchange Server In order to perform any operation on a remote Microsoft Exchange server, you must first connect to it. Once connected, you can manage tasks: set up backup/restore options on remote database servers and schedule backup, restore and backup location clean-up tasks.
If Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console cannot connect to the remote computer which was not rebooted after installing Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent, connection must be established with explicit credentials. As soon as you connect to a database server, you can manage tasks as if it is as a local computer. 4.8 Remote Installation of Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent The remote installation of Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent is described in detail in 3.3.2.
Chapter 5. Creating Backup Archives This chapter provides general information about backup types, describes how to backup Microsoft Exchange information stores, storage groups or even mailboxes/public folders, and which options can be set using Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange. 5.1 General Information Backup is crucial to maintaining a timely and consistent record of your Microsoft Exchange servers for recovery in case of failure.
database from a full database backup to a chosen location. Enough of the transaction log is included in the backup to let you recover the database to the time when the backup finished. When the database is recovered, uncommitted transactions are rolled back. The restored database matches the state of the original database when the backup finished, minus any uncommitted transactions. For a small database that can be backed up quickly, it is convenient to use only full database backups.
5.1.4 Server Roles As a messaging system that is widely used in both large organizations and small businesses, Microsoft Exchange Server has always been scalable in both directions. However, new demands on messaging – such as compliance, security, and disaster recovery – have created new challenges for delivering a messaging system that works well in small businesses and large enterprises alike.
Thus, an individual database in Microsoft Exchange is only a dependent part of a storage group, and backing it up separately becomes pointless, because it does not guarantee a data integrity after restoring. 5.1.6 Circular Logging The Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory service and the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory service use the circular logging feature to maintain transactions in the database file (Ntds.dit).
5.1.8 Continuous Data Protection Continuous data protection (CDP, but also may be called continuous backup) technology makes it possible to save data changes automatically and uninterruptedly, restoring your data to its exact state at the moment of failure. When you choose CDP technology during the creation of a backup task, you will have to schedule only full backups. Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange controls folders with archived logs and backs up all new logs into a CDP archive.
For tape library or autoloader: As soon as the tape is full, the program automatically draws a tape from the Free or Import media pool. The above request will appear if no tapes are found in either of these pools (see next section for details). Backup and restore operations on a tape drive proceed in the same way as with other devices with the following exceptions. 1. You do not have to provide filenames for backups. 2.
• Create a backup now If you are not sure which backup strategy to choose, use Schedule a backup task with Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Assistant (selected by default). See 5.2.5 for details. If you know which backup type to use for your data, select the Schedule a backup task manually option. In this case you will have to define backup types and schedule parameters for backup tasks. Select Use continuous data protection technology option to enable CDP.
Note, this step will be skipped if in the first one you selected the Create a backup now option. 5.2.3 Selecting Items to Back Up In this step of the wizard you have to specify which items to back up. In the left pane of the window select an information store with Microsoft Exchange installed and expand it to view and specify storage groups to back up. In case an information store is selected, all associated storage groups will also be selected.
Selecting Information Stores to Back Up When selecting an information store to back up Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange will automatically back up all of the storage groups associated with this information store. A list of information stores can be obtained, with the connected user’s privileges that cannot be changed. Note, Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange does not back up the Active Directory.
5.2.
Important! Do not enter the login and password in the Folder (“ftp://login:password@ftpserver”); the product will not process this command. field Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange guarantees the integrity of the backup chain only in a separate archive. Thus, creation of a new archive will start a new chain of backups. Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange behavior does not depend on what you want to back up (the entire information store or only a separate storage group).
Click Next to continue. Acceptable Data Loss At this step specify a period of time when data changes significantly. This will help Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Assistant define the schedule for backup creation – how often to run the backup operation and which backup type to choose. Select one of the following options: • Hour – select this option if you want to back up the selected data hourly • Day - select this option if you want to back up the selected data daily Click Next to continue.
backups to create to avoid data loss (backup creation frequency), as well as when to execute the operation. In the table there are three rows representing three levels of load (High, Medium and Low), and seven columns representing the days of the week. By default the most widely used pattern is specified (selected cells are highlighted in blue). To change the value for a certain day, click the appropriate cell. Click Next to continue.
Initial Task Starting Specify a time for applying the selected scheme: • Now – select this option to execute the scheduled task immediately after you finish the wizard • On the specified date and time – the selected scheme will be applied on the specified date. Note that if there is no full backup when the first incremental backup is to be performed, a full backup will be performed independently of the actual date on which it is scheduled.
Table of Backup Strategies The table below describes different backup strategies according to your requirements for storage space and speed. The final strategy created by Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Assistant will be displayed in a Schedule page (see 5.2.6 for details). Performance Data change rate Hour Day Backup Type Quick backup and smaller archive size Quick recovery and large archive size Full Week Day Incremental 1 hour 1 hour Full Week Day Incremental 12 hours 12 hours 5.2.
5.2.8 Specifying a Task Name and Providing Comments On the Task Name and Archive Comments wizard page, you can provide a name and comments for the backup task. Enter a task name in the Task Name field to identify and organize tasks by operation (edit, delete, etc.). You may provide comments for the archives you create. The backup file size and creation date are automatically appended to the description, so you do not need to enter this information. 5.2.
5.3 Backing up Mailboxes Brick-level (document level) backup is the most flexible type of backup. It offers advanced configuration options and performs backups at folder levels and quick restoring at separate messages level, allowing the most accurate level of restore. It also supports advanced filtering during backup. Use Mailbox backup and restore when you want the flexibility to back up individual mailboxes, public folders and use mail level filters.
If you are not sure which backup strategy to choose, use Schedule a backup task with Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Assistant (selected by default). See 5.2.5 for details. If you know which backup type to use for your data, select the Schedule a backup task manually option. In this case you will have to define backup types and schedule parameters for backup tasks. To immediately run a backup task once select the Create a Backup Now option. In this case a full backup will be created.
Information on the selected item is displayed in the right pane of the window: information store name, installed operating system and the number of storage groups. Selecting Mailboxes to Back Up Choose a storage group and mailbox store from which you want to back up a mailbox. Information (size and number of mailboxes) about the selected items will be displayed on the right. In the list, specify the mailbox (or separate folders) you want to back up.
Select Exclude the following objects from the backup to enable excluding options and then select the required ones: • “Deleted Items” folder – exclude the “Deleted Items” folder from the backup file to be created • “Sent Items” folder – exclude the “Sent Items” folder from the backup file to be created • Items that were modified before – select day, month and year to exclude objects modified earlier than the chosen date • Attachments larger than – select this item and specify the maximum attachment s
5.3.5 Selecting a Backup Archive Location Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange supports the following places and media for backup destinations: • Local HDD • Network shares, SAN, NAS • FTP • Tape drives, Autoloaders, Tape libraries • Acronis Backup Server (shipped with Acronis True Image Echo™ Enterprise Server) We recommend that you store the archives of each task in a separate location to avoid confusion during recovery.
Acronis Backup Server This software application, when installed on a networked computer, automatically manages backup archives and retention policies for the specified location and ensures optimal usage of storage space. Outdated archives will automatically be deleted as specified in the retention policies set by the administrator. In addition, Acronis Backup Server facilitates the creation and execution of group backup tasks. Acronis Backup Server is shipped with Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server.
Note, Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows you to set multiple schedules for one task. For example, you should not only backup your data once a week, but also on the last day of each month. You can specify Weekly and Monthly parameters to schedule the necessary operation. 5.3.8 Backup Options Select the backup options (pre/post commands, compression level etc.). You may Use default options (see 5.4 for detailed information about backup options) or Set the options manually.
You may provide comments for the archives you create. The backup file size and creation date are automatically appended to the description, so you do not need to enter them. 5.3.10 Backup Summary The final stage of the backup is the summary window, which displays the list of operations to be performed. Click Finish to save the created schedule or start the backup creation task immediately. You will be redirected to the Task List automatically, where you can view and edit created tasks. 5.
To edit the default backup options, select Tools -> Options from the main program menu. You will also still be able to edit the backup options while creating a backup task. 5.4.1 Pre/Post Commands You can specify commands (or even batch files) that will be automatically executed before and after the backup procedure. For example, you may want to start/stop certain Windows processes, or check your data before starting the backup operation.
5.4.2 Compression Level Select the compression level for the backup. With higher compression ratios the archive file size will be smaller, but the backup process may take longer.
5.4.3 Backup Priority You can set up the backup process priority: • Low - the backup process will run slower, but it will not influence other processes running on your computer • Normal - the backup process will run with normal priority • High - the backup process will run faster, but it may influence other processes running on your computer Changing the priority of a backup process can make it run faster or slower, but it can also adversely affect the performance of other programs running simultaneously.
• AES 128 – the quickest encryption method available (set by default) • AES 192 – encryption will take longer than 128-bit, but is more secure • AES 256 – requires the most amount of time to cipher, but it is also the most secure setting available 5.4.5 Backup Type Substitution You need to create full backup of data before creating an incremental one. If for some reason a full backup does not exist, you will need to create a full backup independently of the backup strategy you have configured.
5.4.6 Bandwidth Throttling You can limit the bandwidth used by the backup process so that network resources will be available for other processes. To set the desired data transfer speed, check the Enable bandwidth throttling parameter. Select a maximum bandwidth value from the drop-down list or enter a value manually. 5.4.7 Additional Settings 1. Validate backup once it has been created When enabled, the program will verify the integrity of the archive immediately after it is created.
It will be enabled only if you create independent full backups (Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange will check the specified backup strategy). In all other cases Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange will truncate transaction logs, since creating an archive chain (full and incremental backups) is impossible with transaction logs not truncated after the first full backup.
Chapter 6. Disaster Recovery Plan It is extremely important for all organizations and users to have detailed instructions describing the process for recovering data quickly and efficiently in case of disaster – a Disaster Recovery Plan. This plan should contain all of the required information to guide someone through the recovery process.
2. Select the items you want to obtain the Disaster Recovery Plan for 3.
4. If in the previous step you selected to receive the Disaster Recovery Plan by e-mail, you will need to specify the e-mail parameters Specify the e-mail account that will be used for sending the Disaster Recovery Plan. Provide the e-mail address to which the plan will be sent and the outgoing SMTP server name. You can specify several e-mail addresses separating them by commas A Username and a password may also be needed if the SMTP server requires authentication.
In the latter case an e-mail will be sent to the address you specified or a HTML version of the Disaster Recovery Plan will be opened in your web browser after you click Finish. 6.2 Scheduling Receipt of the Disaster Recovery Plan Launch the Disaster Recovery Plan Creation wizard by clicking on the Disaster Recovery Plan operation icon in the main workspace. 1.
3. Specify the e-mail account that will be used for sending the Disaster Recovery Plan. Provide the e-mail address to which the plan will be sent and the outgoing SMTP server name. You can specify several e-mail addresses separating them with commas. A Username and a password may also be needed if the SMTP server requires authentication. You can check if the settings are correct by clicking the Send test E-Mail message button. 4.
6.3 Summary Thus, in case of disaster, you only need to take the most recent version of the Disaster Recovery Plan and follow the instructions to restore your databases.
Chapter 7. Backup Location Clean-up Sooner or later the backups you create will fill up the assigned storage space. Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows you to clean up backup locations by specifying how long to store the archive and/or the maximum number of full backups to store. By default, these options are disabled. Launch the Backup Location Clean-up wizard by clicking on the icon in the main program window. 7.
7.2 Selecting the Backup Archive Location Select the backup location you want to clean from the tree, or manually specify the path to it in the Path field below the tree. You can also select Acronis backup locations (such as Acronis Backup Server).
GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) scheme will keep three sets of backups in the selected location. This scheme, if chosen, is activated on the day the first full backup was created: all backup archives (full and incremental) for the current week (7 days starting from the day of creating the first full backup); one full backup for each week of the current month; and finally one full backup for each month of the current year.
7.5 Schedule Cleaning Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows you to schedule backup location clean-up. Specify the schedule that is the best for your needs (see Chapter 9 “Scheduling Tasks” for detailed information). 7.6 Backup Location Clean-up Summary The final stage of the backup location clean-up is the summary window, where the list of operations that will be performed is displayed. Click Finish to save the created schedule or start the backup location clean-up task immediately.
Chapter 8. Restoring the Backup Data Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange restores storage groups and mailboxes from previously created backup archives. 8.1 Restoring Information Stores Launch the Restore Information Store wizard by clicking on the restore operation icon in the main workspace. For a successful restore operation on Windows SBS 2003, you will need to set write permissions for the database folder after each update of Windows SBS 2003.
8.1.2 Specifying a Task Execution Account In this step of the Restore Data wizard, you are specifying an account that is valid on the computer where the data you want to restore is located – a task execution account. These credentials will be used during each task execution for connecting to the server. The task will run as if it was started by a specified user.
locations for the last archives created in a special folder – Recent Backup Locations - so you can easily locate the appropriate archive. You can also select specific Acronis backup locations (such as Acronis Backup Server). The following resources may also be selected as backup locations: • Entire disk or disk folder • Network share, SAN, NAS • FTP • Tapes, Autoloaders, Tape Libraries • Acronis Backup Server The number of archives in the selected folder is displayed in the right pane.
Click Next to continue. 8.1.5 Providing a Password If there are any password-protected backup archives in the location you have selected (see 8.1.3), you will need to enter the password to restore your data from the archives. Click Next to continue. 8.1.6 Restore Point Selection Specify to which state you want to restore your data. Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange offers four ways for restoring your data: • to the point of failure – the data will be restored to the state at the point of failure.
• to the time of the latest backup – choosing this option will restore your data to the state when the last backup was created. Restoring to the latest backup will be faster, than restoration to the point of failure. • to a specific point in time - Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows you to specify a date and time to restore your data from. Note, to be able to restore to a specific point in time, Microsoft Exchange transaction logs must be backed up.
Select Acronis Active Restore to immediately obtain the access to the Microsoft Exchange server. You also can restore public folders with this feature activated. Another advantage is that Acronis Active Restore may be used with all versions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (see 8.5 for details). Select Dial tone recovery in order to recover e-mail service in the first place, this will enable users to send and receive e-mail while all other data is being restored.
logs. In terms of this, we recommend you to create full backups after new databases are created. Important! While restoring an information store, e-mail service will not be available, i.e. users will not be able to send and receive e-mails. Restoring Storage Groups Choose the storage group to restore. You can restore storage groups to its original location, choose another storage group as a new location or restore to Recovery Storage Group (in this case only one storage group can be restored).
8.1.9 Selecting Start Parameters You can run a restore task manually or specify the frequency (Daily, Weekly or Monthly). See Chapter 9 “Scheduling Tasks” for detailed information. 8.1.10 Echo Task Selection When restoring on bare metal, you need to select the Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server task responsible for the restoration of system volumes and volumes where Microsoft Exchange Server is located. You can do it either immediately after Restore Data wizard completes or do it manually later.
Click Finish to save the schedule or start the restore task immediately. 8.2 Restoring Mailboxes Launch the Restore Mailboxes wizard by clicking on the restore operation icon in the main workspace. 8.2.1 Restoration Time Selection In the first step of the Restore Data wizard you decide when to run the restoration process.
8.2.2 Specifying a Task Execution Account In this step of the Restore Data wizard, specify an account that is valid on the computer where the backup archives you want to restore are located – a task execution account. These credentials will be used during each task execution for connecting to the server and for connecting to the Microsoft Exchange. Thus, the task will run as if it was started by the specified user.
Note, Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange does not protect archives form possible physical corruption. In case you try to restore data from the corrupted archive, an error message will appear and the restore task will not be executed. We recommend you to rename or delete the last archive’s slice (since the corrupted one and all subsequent slices should be renamed or deleted), and then try to execute the restore task once more.
After selecting the appropriate option click Next to continue. 8.2.7 Content Selection Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows restoring mailboxes and separate public folders. First, select a database server from the tree in the left pane. Also Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows using a filter to display only the required items in the tree. Type a word, which will help you to define the necessary folders, in the Filter field.
Restoring Public Folders Choose a Storage Group, Public Folder Store and Public Folder from which you want to restore a specific folder. Information about the selected items will be displayed on the right. In the drop-down list, specify the public folder you want to restore. Information about size, number of folders and subfolders, as well as total number of e-mails will be displayed on the right. You can restore public folders to their original location or choose another folder as a new location.
Click Next to continue. 8.2.8 Restore Options Select the options for the restoration process (Pre/Post commands, restoration process priority etc.). You can Use default options (See 8.4 “Setting Default Restore Options” for more information.) or Set the options manually. If the latter is the case, the settings will be applied only to the current restore task. 8.2.9 Selecting Start Parameters You can run a restore task manually or specify the frequency (Daily, Weekly or Monthly).
Click Finish to save the schedule or start the restore task immediately. 8.3 Restoring Individual E-mails In addition to restoring storage groups and mailboxes, Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange can restore individual e-mails. Before performing an e-mails restore operation, make sure that remote procedure call (RPC) over HTTP(s) support is installed and configured correctly. This also concerns a mailbox restoring from a database level backup. For more information visit or http://technet.microsoft.
8.3.2 Selecting a Backup Task and Point to Restore If several backup tasks use the same location to store archives, you have to select the task you want to restore from. Click the Select task… link to choose the backup task and a point to restore e-mails to. Please consider that if you choose a database level backup to restore e-mails from, it will remain mounted and no changes to the archive (deleting files, restoring, etc.) will be possible till you mount another archive or close the Management Console.
After selecting the appropriate option click OK to return to the E-mail Restoration window. 8.3.3 Setting Additional Search Options Filter Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows using a filter to display only the required items in the tree. Type a word, which will help you to define the necessary folders, in the Filter field. Only Mailboxes containing this word will be displayed in the tree below.
Please note, only the first 100 e-mails will be shown in the table (see section 8.3.4). So consider proper search options. 8.3.4 Selecting E-mail Exporting parameters Select the way you want to export selected emails from the drop-down list before starting the restoration process, and then click Restore: • To original location – e-mails will be restored to their original location (mailbox or public folder) • Save to file – select the location where e-mails will be saved and choose a type of the file (*.
8.4 Setting Default Restore Options To view or edit the default restore options, select Tools -> Options -> Default Restoration Options from the main program menu. You can also edit restore options while creating a restore task. 8.4.1 Pre/Post Commands You can specify commands or batch files to be automatically executed before and after the restore procedure. Click Edit to open the Edit Command window and input the command, its arguments and the working directory, or browse folders to find a batch file.
8.4.2 Restoration Priority You can set up the restore process priority: • Low - the restore process will run slower, but it will not influence other processes running on your computer • Normal - set by default. The restore process will run with normal priority • High - the restore process will run faster, but it may influence other processes running on your computer Changing the restore process priority may have an adverse effect on the performance of other programs running simultaneously.
8.4.3 User Account Ownership You can set association rules for mailboxes being restored. With Recreate absent accounts … checkbox selected, missing in the Active Directory accounts, whose mailboxes are being restored, will be recreated with the specified password (by default the password is P@ssw0rd). You may also disable these accounts after the restore process complete. To associate restored mailboxes with their user accounts in Active Directory, select the corresponding parameter.
While restoring to another storage group overwrite database with the same name With this parameter selected, databases will be overwritten with databases with the same name from the archive. Otherwise, restoring such databases will fail. 8.5 Acronis Active Restore or Dial Tone Recovery? Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows a faster databases recovery using two methods – Acronis Active Restore and dial tone mode. This section describes differences and advantages of each method.
Comparing Acronis Active Restore and Dial Tone Recovery Acronis Active Restore Dial Tone Recovery MS Exchange accessibility while restoring yes limited Public folders restoring yes no Supported MS Exchange editions all editions only MS Exchange 2007 Depends on logs size yes no 94
Chapter 9. Scheduling Tasks 9.1 What is a task? A task is a job you execute for a database that includes the type of operation (backup, restore, etc.), parameters of the operation (what to backup, what to restore, etc.) and a schedule (optional). Each time you want to perform an operation with specific parameters, you should create a task. Once the task is created, you can execute it manually at any time or run it on a scheduled basis (if provided).
Daily - the task will be executed daily at the specified time. You can set the following parameters: Parameter Description Recur every (…) The task execution frequency days Start time Time for starting the task.
End date Select this check box to specify the date when this schedule will be disabled Monthly - the task will be executed monthly at the specified time and day. You can set the following parameters: Parameter Description Months Select months for the task execution from the drop-down list. Then choose one of the following parameters: Days - choose this parameter to specify days of the selected months for task execution. Choose the dates from the dropdown list.
One time - the task will be executed once at the specified time and day. You can set the Start time parameter: specify the date and time to start the operation. Current time is set by default. All the settings you made are displayed in the Result field at the bottom of the window. To save your settings, click OK. To quit task scheduling without saving, click Cancel. Note, Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange allows you to set multiple schedules for one task.
Chapter 10. Managing Tasks To manage operations, click Manage Tasks in the Pick a Tool group or select the Tools -> Manage tasks menu item. All the scheduled tasks appear in the Scheduled Tasks pane in the Manage Computer Tasks window of the Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console. Information about the task name, credentials, the type of backup, its status (completed, scheduled), the task’s schedule and the date and time when it was run last is displayed.
10.1 Editing a Task To edit a task, select it in the Tasks window and click Edit Task on the left. Follow the wizard’s instructions on the screen. 10.2 Deleting a Task To delete an existing task, select it in the Tasks window and click Delete Task on the left. Follow the wizard’s instructions on the screen. 10.3 Starting a Task To begin executing an existing task immediately, select it in the Tasks window and click Start Task Now on the left. 10.
Chapter 11. Notifications Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange can notify you when a task is complete using an SNMP service or via e-mail. By default all notifications are disabled. 11.1 E-mail Notifications Specify a singular default e-mail account that will be used for notifications regarding the backup operation process. Provide the e-mail address to which notifications will be sent and the outgoing SMTP server name. A username and a password may also be needed if the SMTP server requires authentication.
Click the Additional e-mail parameters… link to specify the From and Subject fields for the notification e-mail. You can check if the settings are correct by clicking the Send Test E-mail Message button. 11.2 SNMP You can choose whether to send event log messages issued by Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange to computers running SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) management applications. To specify SNMP settings, check the Send Notification with SNMP parameter to enable SNMP notification.
Chapter 12. Viewing Logs Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange working logs. The logs provide information about scheduled task results, including failure reasons, if any. To view logs, click the Logs item in the Pick a Tool group. The log browsing window contains two panels: the left panel features the log list, and the right panel displays the selected log’s contents. You can set up list parameters to only display messages of a particular type, display particular columns, or select a sorting order.
Chapter 13. Command-line Mode Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange supports the command-line mode. The commandline user interface provides the ability to execute the following Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange functionality: backup and restore (including the ability to set options for corresponding operations). There are six operations you can run in command-line mode: • List – displays contents of a an item if specified (child items, list of archives in a specified folder, etc.
13.1 List Command Cmd.exe list [/location: [/credentials:":"] [/archive: [/password:]]] [/item:"- "] [/pit:
/credentials:: Specifies task execution account’s credentials /archive: Defines an archive within the specified location /password: Specifies a password if an archive was created with password protection /item:- Specifies a parent item information “//StorageGroup1/Database1/User/inbox” in the following format: /pit:
13.3.3 Description of Options /location: Displays an archive location’s URI. The path may be specified in one of the following ways: “C:\path\to\dir\”, “\\computer\share\dir\”, “ftp://host/mybackups/” or “bsp://host/BackupServer”.
13.4 Restore Commands 13.4.1 RestoreIS Use RestoreIS command to restore whole information stores and storage groups. In case you specify mailboxes in the item option, the operation will fail. See options’ description in 13.4.3 section. Cmd.
/storagegroup Specifies a storage group to restore. All specified storage groups will be overwritten. Note, this option is incompatible with /dialtone command /pit:
Appendix A. Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange: Best Practices This section provides instructions for best practices when using Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange. A.1 Protect your server from hardware failure, user errors and viruses Scenario The company is running several internet and intranet applications on several Windows 2000 servers using Microsoft Exchange as the back end (using different information stores). Since all transactions are stored in the database, any data loss is not acceptable.
e. Use default settings for backup f. Add the necessary comments for the task g. Save the created task To recover all data in case of hardware failure For every damaged server perform the following actions: 1. Install and configure a new server. Install the necessary Microsoft Exchange information stores on the server. 2. Install Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Agent on the server 3. Connect to the server from Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console using the appropriate credentials 4.
Only one database will be restored to the selected point in time. To recover all data in case of a virus attack For all servers perform the following actions: 1. Recover the server from viruses, reinstall the operating system or replace the server with a new one. 2. Connect to the server from Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange Management Console using the appropriate credentials 3. Launch the Restore Data wizard and follow the instructions to restore the database: a. Select a backup archive location b.
Acronis solution The database administrator should create independent tasks for different databases. While creating a task, the database administrator specifies the appropriate schedule for each database. A.4 Encrypting database archives for storage Scenario The company stores database backup archives off-site, hence they should be effectively protected (encrypted).
Appendix B. Installing Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange from command line Acronis Recovery for MS Exchange supports the Microsoft Installer utility (msiexec.exe) with all its commands. Here is the MSI installation command and options: Install Options /i Installs or configures a product.
a – reinstalls all files u – rewrites all required registry entries from the Registry Table that go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKEY_USERS registry hive m – rewrites all required registry entries from the Registry Table that go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hive s – reinstalls all shortcuts and re-caches all icons overwriting any existing shortcuts and icons v - used to run from the source package and re-cache the local package.
m - Logs out-of-memory p - Logs terminal properties v - Logs verbose output. To use v, specify /L*v + - Appends to existing file ! - Flushes each line to the log * - Logs all information except for the v option. This is a wildcard LogFile.txt - Name and path of the text log file To include the v option into a log file using the wildcard flag, specify /L*v at the command line. Example msiexec /i C:\ AcronisRecoveryMsExchangeAgent.msi /Lime logs.
/qr - Displays a reduced user interface with a modal dialog box displayed at the end of the installation /qf - Displays the full user interface with a modal dialog box displayed at the end /qn+ - Displays no user interface, except for a modal dialog box displayed at the end /qb+ - Displays a basic user interface with a modal dialog box displayed at the end /qb- - Displays a basic user interface with no modal dialog boxes Note, /qb+- is not a supported user interface level.
