Administrator Guide

Microsoft Exchange Server

The Replay Manager Microsoft Exchange Extension can back up and restore data for Microsoft Exchange

Server 2016, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, and Microsoft Exchange

Server 2007.

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.

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 only: If possible, include only a single database in each storage

group:

When backing up an Exchange Server, an administrator can select components at the Storage Group

level. All databases under the selected storage group will be included in the backup set. Since Replay

Manager is capable of recovering snapshots at the Storage Group level, for recoverability reasons, it is

advantageous to have a single database for each storage group.

• Use the Exchange Verification Service on non-production servers only:

Replay Manager provides an optional Verification Service that can be installed to check the consistency of

the databases during backup and restore operations. By default, the service is configured 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 verification does not impact mission-critical operations. Note also that

although it is possible to run the Verification 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 verification jobs.

• Configure the Exchange Verification Service:

The Exchange Verification 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 configurable through the Exchange Verification Setup screen. If you have LUN

numbering requirements or want to reserve certain ranges for verification, it is possible to configure it

accordingly. Replay Manager allows LUN numbers 1 through 254. See for information on installing and

configuring the Verification Service.

• Use of Expose and Restore to Recover Exchange:

Replay Manager offers two methods for recovering data: Restore or Expose. Both methods provide

immediate access to the data using the snapshots.

The Restore function provides the easiest method for recovering a Storage Group. By selecting the

restore point and then clicking Restore Backup Set, the Restore operation accesses the requested restore