Users Guide
VSS for Local Volumes
Using the Local Volumes option, an administrator can use VSS to create backups of applications without using a Replay Manager
application-specic extension; however, it is up to the administrator to determine which volumes are needed for a complete backup set.
For example, the complete backup set for an Exchange Server with separate database volumes and log volumes for a storage group
requires the manual selection of all volumes and logs for the storage group. Therefore, the administrator must know the exact layout and
location of all storage group components to create a usable backup set.
The Local Volumes option is primarily intended for backing up and restoring volume le and print environments where the les are at—
that is, the les are not in a transactional database-like environment. Servers that contain shared les or home directories can leverage the
Local Volumes backups because the restore points for local volumes can be easily exposed, allowing an administrator to recover les.
VSS for Shared Folders
VSS for Shared Folders, a similar technology built into Windows, provides the ability to back up a volume which in turn stores the shadow
copy on the volume itself in a hidden location. By default, snapshots in VSS for Shared Folders take place at 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., and
shadow copies are replaced as required by the amount of free disk space on the volume. The snapshot times can be adjusted, but the
snapshots should run no more than once every 60 minutes.
Using VSS for Shared Folders and Replay Manager on the same volumes is not recommended as this combination uses additional disk
space because VSS stores the deltas (data changes or dierences) hidden on the volume while Storage Center determines which blocks to
freeze. This is essentially duplicating eorts on the volume.
Microsoft Exchange Server
The Replay Manager Microsoft Exchange Extension can back up and restore data for Microsoft Exchange Server 2016, Microsoft
Exchange Server 2013, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
General Guidelines for Exchange Servers
Follow these general guidelines for backing up and restoring Microsoft Exchange Server data.
• Use the Replay Manager Microsoft Exchange Server Extension:
Always use the Replay Manager Microsoft Exchange Server Extension to back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Server databases;
do not use the Local Volumes extension to back up and restore Microsoft Exchange databases residing on one or more local volumes.
• Install the Exchange Verication Service on non-production servers:
Replay Manager provides an optional Verication Service that can be installed to check the consistency of the databases during backup
and restore operations. By default, the service is congured to run on the localhost; however, the best practice is to run this on a utility
server other than the production Microsoft Exchange Server. Since this service is processor, memory, and disk intensive, this load is
better suited for a non-production server so that verication does not impact mission-critical operations. Note also that although it is
possible to run the Verication Service on every snapshot that is taken, it may be more feasible to consider verifying only one backup
set per day to prevent queuing of the verication jobs.
• Congure the Exchange Verication Service:
The Exchange Verication Service uses the Exchange APIs that are used when an ESEUTIL /K command is issued on an Exchange
Server. This service checks the consistency of the databases and logs that are part of the selected backup set to make sure that they
are readable by Exchange and can be recovered through standard means such as a soft recovery.
The LUN mapping range is congurable through the Exchange Verication Setup screen. If you have LUN numbering requirements or
want to reserve certain ranges for verication, it is possible to congure it accordingly. Replay Manager allows LUN numbers 1 through
254. See for information on installing and conguring the Verication Service.
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Replay Manager Best Practices