Configure Exchange Mailbox Backup
Overview
StoreGrid Advanced Exchange Mailbox Plugin backs up users' mailboxes. It can backup at a folder level. You can backup all the data of a particular user (mailbox) or you can backup just a folder (like for example the inbox of an user) or you could backup a sub-folder (like for example, a sub-folder in the inbox).
StoreGrid should be running in the machine where Exchange Server is installed to create Exchange Mailbox backups. If multiple Exchange servers are used, then StoreGrid should be installed in all of them.
While StoreGrid is backing up, Exchange Server should be running. When StoreGrid is performing a backup, all the services including information store will continue to run normally. StoreGrid Exchange Mailbox Plugin extracts user's mailbox, folder or sub-folder data into separate PST files.
The Advanced Exchange Mailbox backup is not an alternative to Exchange Server backup. It instead provides optional granularity to the data to be backed up. Please note that an Exchange Mailbox restore alone cannot recover the Information Store after a disaster. It is most helpful in situations where an user loses an individual mailbox (like contacts, mails, calendar, tasks etc), in which case you don't have to restore the entire server to retrieve the mailbox. It lets you selectively restore just the mailbox, folder or sub-folder you want.
The Advanced (Plugin) Exchange Mailbox backup uses MAPI to backup users' Mailbox folders. In the Advanced Exchange Mailbox backup, the data (mailbox, folder or sub-folder) is extracted from the Exchange Server into *.PST files, which are dumped locally and then transferred to the backup server. The locally dumped files are deleted once the files are successfully transferred to the backup server.
Note:
Usually it is not enough to just backup mail boxes alone. It is recommended that you always configure the storage group for backups. You can have additional mailbox backups under the storage group so that you get additional granularity during restores wherein you can restore only a mailbox that is required. If you just configure only mailbox backups and not configure the full storage group, then if your full exchange server crashes then you will not be able to restore your exchange server at all. The best practice is to configure storage group backups and then configure additional mailbox backups for quick restores. Also for mailbox backups it is better to configure only critical mailboxes and not all mailboxes for backups as the mailbox backups takes a lot of time to backup than the full storage group itself.
Requirements
Exchange Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 / Exchange Server 2003 / Exchange Server 2007.
Exchange Server 2007 support - Since Exchange MAPI interface that StoreGrid uses for mailbox backup is available only in 32-bit version (though Exchange Server 2007 is a 64-bit application), you need to install the Microsoft's 32-bit MAPI client component and 32-bit ESEBCLI2.DLL.
Another important requirement is that the user account under which StoreGrid is installed should have enough permissions to access the users' mailboxes. Please refer Granting Mailbox Rights document on creating a new user and granting the sufficient rights to access the mailboxes.
Exchange Mailbox Backup Configuration
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Step 1: Schedule Name
Enter Backup Schedule Name: Give a name for the backup schedule. StoreGrid supports creating multiple backup schedules each with its own configuration. The backup schedule name uniquely identifies the backup. You can restore the data using the backup schedule name.
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Step 2: Select Backup Source
On the left side of the "Create Exchange Mailbox backup" Page, is the tree with the list of Users and their mailboxes and folders available in the Exchange Server. Select the Users' mailboxes or their folders or their sub-folders that need to be backed up as a part of this schedule. The mailboxes, folders and sub-folders will be listed only if advanced version of the SQL + Exchange Plugin is enabled in "Advanced Options > Plugin Settings" page.
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Step 3: Set Basic Configuration
Plugin Type : By default, "Advanced Exchange Mailbox Plugin" label will be listed for this field. This field is non-editable.
Backup Type
Same Machine: When the users mailbox contain large amount of data, it might take significant amount of time to transfer all the data to a remote backup server over WAN/Internet. In such cases, you can take backup of the Exchange mailbox data to a local external drive connected to the client machine and then physically move the external drive to the backup server location to migrate the data into the backup server. In such cases, you can select the backup type to be 'Same Machine'. Once the data is migrated to the backup server, you will have to perform Local to Remote Migration (under Administration -> Advanced Options) in the client machine to make it to run its backups to the remote server directly thereafter. Please note: You will not be able to restore from the backup data present in the local external drive. It is meant only for quickly moving the large amount data to the remote backup server. Once the data is migrated to the remote server from the external drive, the client can restore from it.
Local Backup location: Enter the location/directory path to which the backup has to be stored in the same machine. Please ensure that you have enough disk space in the configured location (where the Exchange Mailbox backup has to be saved).
Remote Server: Select this option if you want the backup data to be transferred to a backup server directly when the backup schedule runs.
Select Backup Server : This is the list of peers/backup servers on which the backup data can be stored. Unlike the regular data backup schedules in StoreGrid where multiple backup servers are supported, only one backup server is allowed for an Exchange Server backup job. If you wish to configure backup to multiple backup servers, please create separate backup jobs for each server.
Set CPU Utilization : For each backup schedule, you can also specify the CPU utilization level as Low, Medium or High. When you set the CPU Utilization to high, the backup will be really fast - but the backup process may affect the speed of other active applications. If CPU utilization is set to Low, the backup will take longer but will be done in a non-intrusive manner allowing you to comfortably work on the computer as the backup continues in the background. In general for a continuous backup, it is best to set the CPU utilization to Medium or Low. For backups which are done everyday or every week in ‘off-hours’, the CPU utilization can be set to High. Actual performance is obviously a function of your individual machine and your network. We encourage you to experiment with different settings to figure what works best for you.
Set Compression : Should the data be compressed or not.
Enable - Compresses the data to the maximum. It might reduce the rate at which the client can send data to the backup server but it might save significant bandwidth and time when the data is backed up to a remote server over a WAN/Internet with limited bandwidth speed. Also, this saves disk space in the backup server.
Disable - This option is suitable (fastest) for backing up data within a local network where bandwidth is not the limitation, but occupies more space on destination machine as no compression is being done.
Temporary location to store the backup dumps - Enter the location/directory path to which the Exchange Mailbox dumps has to be stored temporarily before uploading to the backup server. Please ensure that you have enough disk space in the configured temporary location (where the backup dump has to be saved). Please note that, backup dumps stored in the temporary location will be deleted once backup dumps are transferred successfully to the remote backup server.
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Step 4: Set Password Protection
Password Protect This Backup - This option is to enable or disable encryption of the data that is being backed up. StoreGrid uses the well known encryption algorithm, Blowfish. If enabled, a password has to be specified which will be used for generating the encryption key. Encrypting data ensures that it cannot be read in the destination machine (backup server) where your backup is stored and this is especially relevant for sensitive information.
Encryption Key Size - StoreGrid supports encryption using variable length (64 to 448 bits) keys. The key is generated using the password you provide. Basically longer the key size you give, the more difficult it is for someone to decrypt the encrypted files. For normal backup purposes, the default 64 bit encryption should be good enough.
Type Password - Provide a password here to generate the encryption key. If the password is forgotten, the data can never be recovered as the data cannot be decrypted without this password. So, please ensure that you keep your password in a safe place.
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Step 5: Full Backup Scheduling (Decide When To Do Full Backup)
This step allows you to configure the frequency at which a full backup of the selected users mailboxes has to be done. A full backup is a complete backup of the selected users mailboxe folders. Since full backups take more time to complete than an incremental backup, a full backup is typically configured to run weekly or monthly or much less frequently than the incremental backup. Configuring a full backup schedule is mandatory, i.e. this step cannot be skipped. StoreGrid will do a full backup dump of the Exchange Mailboxes whenever the full backup is scheduled and back it up.
This step has the following options from which any one can be chosen.
Run Monthly At - Choose the time and day of the month the backup should run. StoreGrid will run the backup every month on the particular day and time chosen. StoreGrid will run at the stipulated time/day only.
Run Weekly - Choose the time and the day of the week the backup should run. StoreGrid will execute the backup every week on the particular day and time chosen. Note that you can select multiple days of the week if you wish to run the backup on multiple days of the week. StoreGrid will run at the stipulated time/day only.
Run Daily - Choose the time at which the backup should run daily. This will execute the backup everyday at a time you have provided. StoreGrid will run at the stipulated time only.
Run Every Few Hours - Choose the hours/minutes interval between each time StoreGrid must run. If StoreGrid is restarted in the interim, the backup will run once the StoreGrid starts. Thereafter, StoreGrid automatically reschedules the next backup after the period you’ve set. For example, if you created a backup schedule at 10 am and set it to run every 1 hour, StoreGrid will first run the schedule at 10am and the next scheduled time will be 11am. However, if at 10.15am, StoreGrid is restarted, then the schedule will run once at 10.15am and the next scheduled time will now be set to 11.15am.
Additionally, you can also select the days in which this schedule should run. For example, if you do not want to run this backup schedule on Saturdays and Sundays, uncheck the checkbox against these days.
Run Once Only - Choosing this option will do the backup only once at the stipulated time.
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Step 6: Incremental Backup Scheduling
StoreGrid will do a Incremental backup dump of the users mailbox with respect to the previous full or incremental backup; whenever the Incremental log backup is scheduled.
This step has the following options to choose from:
Run Weekly - Choose the time and the day of the week when the backup should run. StoreGrid will execute the backup every week on the particular day and time chosen. Note that you can select multiple days of the week if you wish to run the backup on multiple days of a week. StoreGrid will run at the stipulated time/day only.
Run Daily - Choose the time at which the backup should run daily. This will execute the backup everyday at the time you have provided. StoreGrid will run at the stipulated time only.
Run Every Few Hours - Choose the hours/minutes interval between each time StoreGrid must run. If StoreGrid is restarted in the interim, the backup will run once StoreGrid starts. Thereafter, StoreGrid automatically reschedules the next backup after the period you’ve set. For example, if you created a backup schedule at 10 am and set it to run every 1 hour, StoreGrid will first run the schedule at 10am and the next scheduled time will be 11am. However, if at 10.15am, StoreGrid is restarted, then the schedule will run once at 10.15am and the next scheduled time will now be set to 11.15am.
Additionally, you can also select the days in which this schedule should run. For example, if you do not want to run this backup schedule on Saturdays and Sundays, uncheck the checkbox against these days.
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Step 7: Advanced Settings
There are four options here on how the backup should be scheduled.
Maximum Number Of Full Backups : You can specify the maximum number of full backups that need to be stored in the server. For example if you have configured a monthly full backup, then StoreGrid will take a full backup every month. After 6 months you will have 6 separate full backups in the backup server along with incremental backups under each of these 6 full backups. If your policy is to retain only backup data for 6 months, then you can configure "Store maximum of 6 full backups" here. In the 7th month, StoreGrid after finishing the 7th full backup, will delete the first full backup along with its incremental backups and retain the last 6 full backups.
Run this backup immediately after saving this configuration (thereafter, Backups will be scheduled as per the schedule stipulated) : If you enable this option, then the backup will be executed once immediately after you save the backup schedule – even if it is not the scheduled time. For example, if you configure a daily backup at 10.00 AM but you have configured the backup at 8.00 AM, then the backup schedule will be run once immediately at 8.00 AM and then as per the daily schedule at 10.00 AM).
Attempt to run this backup every 5 minutes in case of non completion because of a problem (Network error etc.) : If enabled, the user can choose to reschedule this backup every 5/10/15/20/25/30 minutes, whenever an attempted backup is incomplete because of a network error, server crash etc. The number of times a backup will be rescheduled due to an error can be configured to be in between 1-5 or unlimited, with the default setting as 5. This is to ensure that an incomplete backup is completed as soon as possible without waiting for the next actual schedule time. Note that this option is enabled by default.
Saving the configured backup
Once all the Exchange Mailboxes, folders and/or sub-folders that are to be backed up are selected and the configuration options are set, you simply need to click on the "Configure/Save Backup” button to activate the backup.
Troubleshooting Tips
Limitations
- It is recommended that only critical mailboxes be configured for backup using the StoreGrid Exchange Mailbox Backup. Backing up all the mail boxes individually takes much longer time than backing up the Entire database due to limitations of the MAPI protocol.
- Local temporary dump location configured for Exchange Server backup should not contain special characters like single quote('), double quote("), forward slash(/), backward slash(\), question(?), colon(:), asterisk(*), lesser than(<), greater than(>), pipe(|) and plus(+).
- If Exchange Mailbox backup schedule is suspended while local dump is in progress, then on resuming the same backup schedule, the dump process will not occur for the next schedule; instead the partially dumped files will be transferred to server and an error message will be reported in backup report. The schedule after that will proceed to completion.
- Please ensure that the dump location configured for the backup schedule has enough space and has valid read and write permissions to accommodate the users mailbox dump data. Also, the dump location full path should be less than 256 characters.
- If an Exchange Mailbox name(user name) contains forward slash(/) or reverse slash(\), that mailbox might not be backed up. You will need to change the full name of that mailbox without the slash characters to get them backed up.
- If any special charatacter is present in any folder name (present under a user), that character will be replaced with other set of valid characters while creating the dump file.
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