Exchange Server 2010

Transcription

1 IBM Storwize V7000 NetBackup 7 VSS Solution Symantec NetBackup 7 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Configuration and Best Practices Revised: March 2011 Version: 3.1 Page 1 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 3 Target Environment Target Audience and Assumptions... 6 Solution Description... 6 The IBM DS Open API CIM Agent... 7 IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft VSS... 7 Installation Overview... 8 System Requirements... 8 Installing the IBM VSS Provider... 9 Creating the free and reserved pools of volumes...11 Configure the IBM VSS Provider for the...12 Verifying the Installation...13 Symantec NetBackup NetBackup for Exchange - Overview and Features...14 Microsoft VSS Service overview...15 Supported VSS backup and restore types...16 VSS backup storage planning requirements...17 Validating VSS Operations before Installing NetBackup...18 Installing NetBackup Prerequisites...19 Installation Steps...19 Install the NetBackup Master and Media Servers...20 Install the NetBackup Client...21 Configuration of NetBackup for Exchange...21 Configure the Exchange Server Clients...21 Configure the Media Server disk storage...23 Configure NetBackup policies...24 Exchange Granular Recovery...28 Configuring Exchange Granular Recovery...28 Validate VSS Backup and Restore...29 Backup Procedures...29 Restore Procedures...32 Exchange 2010 DAG Restore Steps...34 Conclusion...35 Page 2 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

3 Executive Summary The cost of a critical system such as Exchange Server going offline can be severe in terms of lost data, productivity, revenue, and customer relations. The ability to back up and restore Exchange data quickly and consistently is vital to minimizing downtime. Equally important is the data assurance that comes from robust and reliable storage, backed by advanced and proven technology and features. The solution provides an advanced modular storage system with the ability to virtualize external SAN-attached storage as well as its own internal storage. The IBM Storwize V7000 solution is built on the proven IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) platform and utilizes cutting edge technology from the IBM DS8000 enterprise class storage family. The challenges of backing up data, such as meeting maintenance windows or applications having files open, is what led to the development of snapshots. Snapshot technology enables systems to "snap" a copy of data while allowing applications to continue running. Applications are paused just long enough to allow the disk system to create the snapped copy. With improvements like Symantec s granular recovery, single folders and messages or an entire Exchange database can be recovered from the same snapshot. Microsoft developed VSS (Volume Shadow copy Service) as a common framework to resolve many of the earlier hardware and software compatibility issues around snapshots. VSS is included with all recent Windows Server operating systems, and all major Microsoft server products support these features. VSS provides software and hardware vendors with a common interface model for generating snapshots. The VSS framework specifies how three distinct components interact. The three components are the VSS requestor, writer, and provider. The requestor is the backup software. The writer is the application software, in this case, which pauses its I/O to allow a snapshot of all necessary files to be taken. The provider is the specific hardware/software combination that generates the actual snapshot volume. For this solution we use the IBM VSS hardware provider. Target Environment The disk system targets medium businesses to large enterprise customers seeking enterprise-level reliability and availability. Storage virtualization, like server virtualization, is now one of the key foundations for building a flexible and reliable infrastructure solution that allows companies to better align their business and IT needs. Storage Virtualization allows an organization to implement pools of storage across physically separate disk systems (including storage from different vendors). Storage can be provisioned from these pools and migrated between pools without any downtime for the attached hosts. It provides a single set of tools for advanced copy functions such as instant copy and remote mirroring solutions. The end result is simplified management from a single interface, regardless of the underlying storage hardware. Page 3 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

4 The virtualization of storage provides several benefits for storage administrators and management including: Combining storage capacity from multiple heterogeneous disk systems into a single reservoir that can be managed as a business resource rather than separate boxes. Helps increase storage utilization by providing host applications with more flexible access to capacity. Improves productivity of storage administrators by enabling management of heterogeneous storage systems using a common interface. Improves application availability by insulating host applications from changes to the underlying physical storage infrastructure. Enables a tiered storage environment where the cost of storage can be matched to the value of data, and easily migrated between those tiers. Supports advanced copy services from higher-cost to lower-cost devices and across storage systems from multiple vendors. The disk system consists of both hardware and software. The initial version of the software is Version 6.1. The modular hardware enclosures include integrated drives of varying form factors, including both hard disk drives and solid-state drives. The solution also provides external storage virtualization, making it possible to integrate with and manage heterogeneous storage along with the Storwize V7000 storage. The Storwize V7000 system is designed to allow quick and efficient storage deployment, thanks to an easy to use Graphical User Interface, integrated drives, and interoperability with nearly any back-end SAN attached storage. The new web-based GUI, displayed below, runs on the Storwize V7000 system so there is no longer a separate console server required. The Storwize V7000 consists of a control enclosure and optionally up to four expansion enclosures initially, with plans to support up to nine enclosures later. The system also supports intermixing 3.5" and 2.5" type controller and expansion enclosures. Within each enclosure are two canisters; Control enclosures contain two Node canisters and expansion enclosures contain two Expansion canisters. The system provides a choice of up to 60 x 3.5 inch or 120 x 2.5 inch Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives for the internal storage and uses SAS cables and connectors to attach to the optional expansion enclosures. In addition to the hard disk drives, there are also internal solidstate drives (SSD s) available. Page 4 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

5 View of the web-based Graphical User Interface The Storwize V7000 also includes a new function called Easy Tier. This function takes advantage of the high performance solid-state drives, by automatically moving more active data from hard disk drives to solid-state drives using a very sophisticated algorithm. When virtualizing external storage arrays can provide up to 32PB of usable capacity. supports a large range of external disk systems similar to what the SVC supports today. The Storwize V7000 includes flexible host connectivity options with support for 8GB Fibre Channel or 1GB iscsi sessions. This is an important feature, considering many IT infrastructures are in transition to newer networking technologies. In addition, there is also a full array of advanced features including: Seamless data migration Thin Provisioning Volume mirroring Global and Metro Mirror replication FlashCopy 256 targets, cascaded, incremental, space efficient (thin provisioned) Integration with Tivoli Productivity Center Page 5 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

6 More detailed information on the Storwize V7000 disk system can be found in the IBM Storwize V7000 Introduction and Implementation guide Redbook at: Target Audience and Assumptions This document is intended for IT professionals with experience in the following areas: Microsoft Failover Clustering concepts Windows Server 2008 and R2 administration, DAGs (Database Availability Groups), backup and restore General SAN, disk systems, connectivity, and terminology IBM SAN Volume Controller concepts, which much of the Storwize V7000 is based on. Detailed descriptions of the setup and management of these systems is beyond the scope of this document. This includes Storwize V7000 setup and administration tasks, which are covered in the Installation and Users Guides available on the IBM website. Solution Description The test environment for this paper included the following:, running on Windows Server 2008 R2 IBM system x3550 M2 servers disk system IBM System Storage DS3400 backend storage. The DS3400 is just one example of additional external storage that could be virtualized by the. NetBackup 7 Enterprise Master and Media Servers NetBackup 7 Exchange Agent, Enterprise Client, and Snapshot Client The solution includes VSS backup and restore of Exchange databases and replicated copies (DAGs) via to NetBackup attached media storage, as shown in the drawing below. All Exchange and NetBackup storage is hosted on the disk system or external virtualized storage. The Windows Server hosts can be connected to the via Fibre Channel or iscsi. The new IBM VSS hardware provider, version 4.2 or later, supports iscsi VSS operations. For Fibre Channel connectivity, the IBM SDDDSM multi-pathing software should be used to manage the multiple paths. Use the latest version available from the IBM.com download site. The SDDDSM installer automatically checks for and installs the Microsoft MPIO feature. For iscsi sessions, use the built-in Microsoft iscsi initiator and the Microsoft MPIO feature to enable multi-path support. Page 6 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

7 The IBM DS Open API CIM Agent This agent comes preinstalled on the, and does not need any additional configuration. The IBM System Storage DS Open Application Programming Interface (API) is a storage management client application that supports standard LUN management activities such as LUN creation, mapping and masking, and the creation or deletion of volumes. The DS Open API supports these activities through the use of the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S), as defined by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). The DS Open API is implemented through the IBM System Storage Common Information Model (CIM) agent, a middleware application that provides a CIM-compliant interface. The DS Open API uses the CIM technology to manage proprietary devices as open system devices through storage management applications. The DS Open API allows these storage management applications to communicate with a storage unit. For this solution, the IBM VSS provider communicates through the CIM agent to manage LUN and snapshot processes on the Storwize V7000. IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft VSS The Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service can provide a point-in-time (shadow) copy of a Windows host volume while the volume is mounted and files are in use. Page 7 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

8 The following components are used to provide support for the service: The IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service and Virtual Disk Service software. This is IBM s VSS hardware provider. From here on, this document will refer to it as the IBM VSS provider. Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service For this solution, the IBM VSS provider is installed on the Exchange servers. To provide the point-in-time shadow copy, the components complete the following process: The NetBackup Enterprise Client (VSS requestor) on the Exchange server initiates a snapshot backup. This is actually launched from the NetBackup Master Server. VSS notifies the IBM VSS provider that a copy is needed. The prepares for the snapshot by reserving appropriately sized volumes from the VSS Free Pool. VSS quiesces the software applications (Microsoft Exchange Server in this case) that are writing data on the host and flushes file system buffers to prepare for the copy. The VSS volumes are mounted to the Exchange server The Storwize V7000 creates the shadow copy using the IBM s FlashCopy service. VSS notifies the writing applications that I/O operations can resume, and notifies NetBackup that the backup was successful. Backup data is copied from the VSS volumes to the NetBackup storage The VSS volumes remain mounted to the Exchange server or are released, depending on whether retention of local snapshots are specified for the backup job. If the volumes are no longer needed, they are returned to the VSS Free pool. The IBM VSS provider maintains a free pool of volumes for use as FlashCopy targets. These volumes must match the sizes of the volumes being backed up. For Exchange there is normally 1 database and 1 log volume in each backup set. Installation Overview The steps for implementing the IBM VSS provider are summarized below: Verify the OS requirements and obtain the correct software version. Verify connectivity to the Storwize V7000 cluster IP address. Install and configure the IBM VSS provider on each host. Verify the installation and finalize configurations. Create the free pool and reserve pool of volumes on the Storwize V7000. System Requirements The following software is required: Page 8 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

9 IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service and Virtual Disk Service software version 4.2 or later. See link below for download location. Server class hardware with typical production level memory and CPU resources. Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 operating system. The following editions of Windows Server are supported: o Standard or Enterprise Edition, 32-bit version o Standard or Enterprise Edition 64-bit version Note that Exchange 2010 Enterprise version only runs on Windows Server 2008 and later. This solution focuses specifically on Exchange 2010, however many functions could also apply to Exchange 2007 by following Symantec documentation. Installing the IBM VSS Provider Perform the following steps to install the IBM VSS provider: Log on to Windows as an administrator. Download the IBM VSS provider installation package (version 4.2 or later) from the following Web site: 01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=591&context=STPVGU&context=STPVFV&dc=D4 00&uid=ssg1S &loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en Launch the file that you downloaded to start the installation process. It may unpack the files first. Click on setup to start the installation and bring up the Welcome panel. Click Next to continue. The License Agreement panel is displayed. Read the license agreement information. Select whether you accept the terms of the license agreement, and click Next. The Choose Destination Location panel is displayed. Click Next to accept the default directory where the setup program will install the files, or click Change to select a different directory. Click Next. The Ready to Install the Program panel is displayed. Click Install to begin the installation and wait for the Setup Status panel to complete. The next screen to appear is the Select CIM Server panel. Page 9 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

10 Select the required CIM server if it is available in the list or select Enter the CIM Server address manually, and click Next. Note that this should be HTTPS and the IP address of your Storwize V7000 cluster. The CIM server component used by the IBM VSS provider is integrated into the Storwize V7000 cluster. The Enter CIM Server Details panel is displayed next. Enter or verify the following information in the fields: o In the CIM Server Address field, this is the IP address of the Storwize V7000 cluster. o In the CIM User field, enter the Storwize V7000 user account that the IBM VSS provider will use. This account must be assigned the Administrator role to function properly. You may also use the default superuser account or an account created specifically for this purpose. Page 10 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

11 In the CIM Password field type the password for the account, and click Next. Note: If these settings change after installation, you can use the ibmvcfg.exe tool to update IBM VSS provider software with the new settings. The InstallShield Wizard Complete panel is displayed. Click Finish. If necessary, the InstallShield Wizard prompts you to restart the system. Creating the free and reserved pools of volumes The IBM VSS provider maintains a pool of available volumes. During a snapshot the provider takes a volume from the pool, assigns it to the host, and removes it from the free pool. To successfully perform a VSS operation, there must be enough volumes in the free pool. The free pool volumes must also be the same size as the source volumes. View of the available volumes provisioned in the VSS free pool Use the Storwize V7000 management console to perform the following steps: Create a host for the free pool of volumes. You can use the default name VSS_FREE or specify a different name for both of these items. When setting up this host, use the worldwide port name (WWPN) (15 zeroes) Page 11 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

12 Create a host for the reserved pool of volumes. You can use the default name VSS_RESERVED or specify a different name. When setting up the host attachment, use the WWPN (14 zeroes) Add volumes to the free pool. Free pool volumes must be of the same size as the volumes you wish to backup. Volumes of varying sizes are permitted in the free pool. VSS will choose a volume of the appropriate size as needed. The free pool volumes cannot be mapped to any other hosts. If you do not use the default WWPNs, manually configure the IBM VSS provider to the alternate WWPNs by using the ibmvcfg.exe tool. Configure the IBM VSS Provider for the From a command prompt, change to the IBM VSS Provider directory. The default location is: C:\Program Files\IBM\Hardware Provider for VSS-VDS\ Use ibmvcfg.exe to set the ID number of the Storwize V7000 cluster with the following command: ibmvcfg set targetsvc <Storwize V7000 ID number> Note: The ID number can be found in the Storwize V7000 console, by going to System Status, and clicking on the system name, as shown below. Page 12 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

13 Verifying the Installation This task verifies that the IBM VSS provider is correctly installed. Perform the following steps to verify the installation: Click Start All Programs Administrative Tools Services from the Windows Server task bar. The Services panel is displayed. Ensure that the service named IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service and Virtual Disk Service software appears and that Status is set to Started and Startup Type is set to Automatic. Open a command prompt window and issue the following command: vssadmin list providers Ensure that the service named IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft VSS software is listed as a provider. Use ibmvcfg showconfig to verify the parameters set earlier. Use the ibmvcfg list all command to test the connection to the IBM System Storage master console. You should see all drives on the Storwize V7000 Use the ibmvcfg list free command to verify volumes in the free pool. This can also be used to confirm the expected volumes are being used during a VSS backup. You can observe them leaving the free pool and returning. If you are able to successfully perform all of these verification tasks, the IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft VSS software was successfully installed and is communicating with the storage. Page 13 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

14 Symantec NetBackup 7 This solution guide is based on IBM s proof of concept testing, and is supplemented by information from NetBackup installation and administration guides, and the online help included with NetBackup. The NetBackup guides and help files provide more in-depth information, and should be reviewed and followed along with the procedures in this guide. A comprehensive list of links to all NetBackup 7 documentation is available on the Symantec web site here: The information below is focused on VSS backup and restore only, and does not cover legacy type Exchange backups. Although there are multiple NetBackup deployment and configuration options, the configurations below are specific to this solution. This document is not intended to cover all NetBackup backup and restore options; its purpose is to show basic VSS configuration and functionality with the disk system. NetBackup for Exchange - Overview and Features NetBackup 7.0 allows you to perform granular recovery of Exchange Server mailboxes, public folders, subfolders and individual messages from a full database backup. This backup technology can serve two common recovery scenarios. From the same single pass backup you can restore entire databases, or restore individual folders and messages within a mailbox, which is often the most requested restore type. NetBackup for Exchange supports backups of Exchange 2010 standalone servers and Exchange 2010 Database Availability Groups (DAGs). VSS is the only backup type Microsoft supports for Exchange 2010 backups. For a DAG, NetBackup backs up the active or passive (copy) databases in the Database Availability Group. When NetBackup backs up the replicated copy databases the I/O impact is reduced on the active Exchange server. NetBackup accesses the replicated data and leaves the active production Exchange server alone. You can also configure a list of preferred servers within the DAG that you want to use for the backups. This solution uses NetBackup for Exchange combined with the features of NetBackup Enterprise Client and Snapshot Client. To use the Exchange database agent with Enterprise Client and Snapshot Client, you must have a license key for all of these products. The NetBackup Enterprise Client with NetBackup for Exchange can back up and restore Exchange objects by taking snapshots of the component files. Data is captured at a particular instant. The resulting snapshot can be transferred to tape or disk storage, or the snapshot image can be retained on locally attached VSS volumes for instant recovery. NetBackup includes an instant recovery feature, which combines snapshot technology with the ability to do rapid disk-based restores. Optionally, the image is retained on disk as well as backed up to storage. To perform an instant recovery, one of the following methods is used: Page 14 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

15 Files are copied back from the locally attached VSS volume to the original volume. This is the ideal method for this solution. NOTE: A patch from Symantec is required to enable restores from local VSS snapshots. You must be running NetBackup 7.0.1, and install patch number ET on the client machines (not the NBU server). Customers must contact Symantec support directly to download this patch. The volume is rolled back. This requires additional or specific Symantec components, and was not used in this solution. More information is available in the NetBackup for Microsoft Exchange Administrators Guide. For Storage Foundations for Windows, Fast File Resync (FFR) can be performed on the individual files. This also requires additional Symantec features, and was not used in this solution. VSS Features Capabilities of this solution include the following VSS features: Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 support Backup using locally attached VSS snapshots. Note: Restores from these snapshots require the Symantec patch mentioned above, in the first bullet on this page. VSS backup and streaming restore with NetBackup Media Server attached storage Granular recovery from NetBackup Media Server attached storage DAG support Restores to alternate Exchange server Restores to a Recovery Database Off-host Backup Microsoft VSS Service overview The VSS Service manages and directs the following VSS software applications: VSS Writer: This is the Microsoft Exchange Server. It is installed with the Exchange Server software and requires no configuration. VSS Requestor: This is the NetBackup Exchange agent which resides locally on each Exchange server, in conjunction with the NetBackup Enterprise and Snapshot Client. VSS Provider: This manages the volumes where the Exchange data resides. Configuration requirements are based upon the type of VSS provider used in your environment. For this solution we are using a VSS hardware provider. For more information about VSS technology, see the Microsoft Technical Reference document How Volume Shadow Copy Service Works at the following Web site: Page 15 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

16 A VSS Backup uses Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service technology to produce an online snapshot (point-in-time consistent copy) of Exchange data that can be stored on local shadow volumes or on NetBackup allocated storage. In either case the backups are controlled and cataloged by NetBackup s Master Server. Both of these storage destinations require that sufficient space be available for the snapshot. A VSS Backup means the Exchange server is not in backup mode for an extended period of time because the length of time to perform the snapshot is usually a couple of seconds rather than hours. In addition, a VSS Backup allows a snapshot of large amounts of data at one time since the snapshot works at the volume level. Supported VSS backup and restore types Persistent VSS Local Snapshot The backup is stored locally on VSS shadow volumes mounted directly to the Exchange server as a persistent snapshot. The volumes remain until removed by a NetBackup retention policy or manual deletion from the NetBackup Console. These backups are faster as data does not need to be copied to NetBackup allocated storage. Restoring this type of backup is also much faster since the Exchange data is transferred directly from disk rather than over the network. Non-Persistent VSS Snapshot to NetBackup Storage The Exchange data from the local snapshot volume is sent to the NetBackup Media server, over the network. Once the data transfer is complete, NetBackup coordinates with the IBM VSS provider to release the snapshot volume and place it back in the VSS Free Pool for reuse. Restores from this type of backup set are transferred over the network from the Media Server. Persistent VSS Local and NetBackup Storage These backups retain both a local persistent snapshot, and the data is also copied to NetBackup allocated storage. Optionally, the data could be copied from NetBackup attached storage to tape or other media. Granular recovery enabled You can enable VSS backups for granular recovery in the backup policy settings. This type of backup is currently only supported from a non-persistent snapshot to NetBackup storage. You can not restore granularly from a locally retained snapshot. During the restore, NetBackup mounts the backup image from the Media server as an NFS file system, from which granular recovery is available down to the individual folder or message level. Off-host Backup An off-host backup uses an alternate NetBackup client machine to perform the backup and move data to the NetBackup Media Server. By using transportable VSS snapshots, the initial shadow copy is mounted on the alternate NetBackup client, which could be the Media server, or Page 16 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

17 a dedicated host. This type of backup shifts the backup load from the production machine to another machine. The ESEUTIL integrity check also runs on the offhost server, avoiding the processing impact on production Exchange servers. VSS backup storage planning requirements requirements: When configuring the storage system, consider the following requirements when planning for VSS Backups: Place database files for each storage group on their own dedicated logical volume. Place logs for each storage group on their own logical volume. Do not place non-exchange data on storage volumes that are dedicated to Exchange. When using hardware snapshot providers, it is important to avoid sharing database volumes with other databases or applications. Exchange database and log volumes should be created from different storage pools on the Storwize V7000. These must also be in separate storage pools from the VSS target volumes for optimal performance. Below is a sample volume layout used for this solution. It is scaled down in size for proof of concept purposes. This configuration provides up to 6 VSS backup sets at a time, since each database backup uses 1 database and 1 log volume per snapshot. Exchange Server volumes for one database: 1 Database 100 GB 1 Log 30 GB VSS Reserved Pool volumes for six backup sets: 6 VSS Database 100 GB 6 VSS Log 30 GB NetBackup Storage, for backup sets transferred from snapshots: 1 NBU Data volume 800 GB Page 17 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

18 Validating VSS Operations before Installing NetBackup DiskShadow Testing Before installing NetBackup, it is recommended that core VSS functionality be tested first. VSS functionality can be validated with the Windows 2008 Server embedded command DiskShadow. The following are the DiskShadow tests recommended before any NetBackup components are installed. Test Non-persistent shadow copy creation and deletion. Run "DiskShadow" on a command window DiskShadow > add volume f: (Database volume) DiskShadow > add volume g: (Log volume) DiskShadow > create DiskShadow >list shadows all (This may take a few minutes) DiskShadow >delete shadows all Note: Volumes f: and g: represent the Exchange Database and log volumes. Repeat this several times. Verify the Windows Event Log contains no errors. Test Persistent shadow copy creation and deletion. Run "DiskShadow" on a command window DiskShadow >set context persistent DiskShadow > add volume f: (Database volume) DiskShadow > add volume g: (Log volume) DiskShadow > create DiskShadow >list shadows all DiskShadow >delete shadows all Note: Volumes f: and g: represent the Exchange Database and log volumes. Repeat these steps several times to ensure the VSS components are consistently stable. Verify the Windows Event Log contains no errors. After all of these tests complete without errors, you are ready for the NetBackup installation. Page 18 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

19 Installing NetBackup 7 This section covers the installation and configuration of NetBackup components for this specific solution and topology. If your environment requires a different setup, additional and broader install information is available in the NetBackup Administration Manuals. Prerequisites Windows 2008 R2 was used in this solution on all servers. Previous Windows versions are supported, depending on the type of backups needed. For a comprehensive list of which features are supported on each operating system version, please refer to the NetBackup Installation and Administration Guides. Specific minimum system requirements are in the NetBackup installation guides. It is assumed that most customers are running adequate server class hardware. The must be available in the environment, as verified above. The IBM VSS provider must be installed on the Exchange servers. Provision sufficient space for NetBackup allocated storage and enough snapshot volume sets in the VSS Free Pool. Ensure the snapshot volumes are the same size as the actual Exchange database and log volumes. Each snapshot will use one Database and one Log volume. Create a dedicated NetBackup service account in the Active Directory domain. The account must have a unique name that is not a subset or similar to any other mailbox names to ensure correct function and name resolution of the mailbox. This account must also be a member of the Domain Admin group, the Exchange Enterprise Admin group, and have an active Exchange mailbox. The account will be used later during the configuration of services on the Exchange client for granular recovery functions. The NetBackup Master and Media servers must be members of the Active Directory where the Exchange servers reside. Network File Services must be installed on the Windows Server 2008 Media server and Exchange Server nodes. NFS is a sub component of the File Services role. It does not need to be installed on the Master server. Ensure no other applications are using port 111. This is the port used by Network File Services portmap service, and is often used by other applications such as Qlogic s SAN surfer utility. Run Net Stat a n at a command line to verify the port 111 is available. Installation Steps The following is a summary of the installation steps we will follow. Install the Master and Media Server on a Windows 2008 R2 server Install the Client on each Exchange server and configure the service credentials Install patch number ET on the client machines (not the NBU server). Customers must contact Symantec support directly to download this patch. Configure the Exchange Servers as clients Configure the Media server disk storage Page 19 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

20 Configure NetBackup policies Configure NetBackup for granular recovery Install the NetBackup Master and Media Servers Although remote installation and update options are available, this document only covers installation directly from each server or client machine. Logon to the server with an account that has Windows administrative rights, and launch the NetBackup 7.0 Setup.exe program. After the license agreement, chose the Custom installation type, click Next Enter your license key, which enables selection of installation type. Select NetBackup Master Server. Note that the Master server will automatically install an instance of the NetBackup Media Server also. Click Next to continue and accept the defaults on the remaining installation screens. The installer will display a screen showing all of the default ports as shown below. Verify none of these ports are in use on your server and continue through the installation wizard. Use of the default ports are recommended. When the NetBackup Services credential screen appears, run the services under the built-in system account and set to run automatically. Enter the Master Server name when prompted, which is the same name as the server it s being installed on in this solution, click Next Page 20 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

21 Enter the Enterprise Media Manager server name when prompted, this is the same as the Master Server name. Click Next Click Install to proceed with the installation. Install Hotfix. After installation completes, download and apply the following NetBackup hotfix. This is required to resolve an issue with backups of Exchange This patch is not needed if running NetBackup version or later. Hotfix ET : Microsoft Exchange 2010 DAG backups fail with a status 26 or Microsoft Exchange 2010 standalone backups fail with a status 103. The hotfix can be downloaded from the following location: This hotfix must be installed on each Exchange server, and the NetBackup Master server. Install the NetBackup Client Follow the same steps as the Master server installation above, with the following changes: At the installation type screen, select NetBackup Client Software. Enter the correct Master and Media server names when prompted Install the NetBackup hotfix mentioned above Configure the NetBackup Client service (via the Windows services panel) to run under the credential of the NetBackup service account mentioned in the NetBackup prerequisites section above. This is required for Granular Restore functionality as the client must be able to log into Exchange mailboxes for the restores. Repeat this installation and hotfix install on all Exchange servers. If running NetBackup version or newer, this hotfix is not needed as it is included. Install patch number ET on the client machines (not the NBU server) to enable restores from locally attached snapshots. Customers must contact Symantec support directly to download the patch. This patch requires NetBackup version Note: During the client installation the Exchange and Snapshot Client agents are included. They are only available however, if a valid license key was entered which supports the features. Configuration of NetBackup for Exchange This section covers detailed configuration of the clients, Media server storage, parameters for Exchange and policy configuration. Configure the Exchange Server Clients This configuration process involves connecting to the clients from the Master Console, and setting parameters. Page 21 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

22 From the Master Console menu select Actions and click on Configure Client Enter the name of the client, which is the Exchange Server host name The Client Properties window appears, as shown below In the left pane click on Servers, add the name of the Media Server. Expand the Windows Client object in the left pane. Click on the Exchange object In the Mailbox for message level backup and restore text box, shown below, enter the name of the mailbox associated with the NetBackup service account created during the installation prerequisites section above. This is required for the granular recovery feature. Note: The NetBackup Client service on each Exchange server also needs to be running under this account. Page 22 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

23 Note: The configured client will not appear in the Clients container on the NetBackup Master Server until a NetBackup policy is configured and activated, however the client configuration is still saved and valid. Configure the Media Server disk storage This procedure configures the location for storing NetBackup backup sets on the Media server. From the NetBackup Master Server, Master Console, perform the following steps: In the Master Console left pane, expand the NetBackup Management container, then the Storage container Right click on Storage Units, and select New Storage Unit This opens the New Storage Unit dialog box, as shown below. Enter a Storage Unit name For a standard SAN attached or local disk, select Disk from the Storage Unit Type list Select Basic Disk as the Disk Type From the Media Server drop down list, select your target Media server Enter the path or browse and select the location of the storage Click Ok Page 23 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

24 Configure NetBackup policies To perform a backup, a NetBackup policy must exist to define the parameters. NetBackup policies are where much of the critical backup configuration and control resides. A policy can be configured for each backup type, location, and schedule. The following steps cover policy configuration, and available options, for this specific VSS solution. There are four tabs within the policy dialog box that must be configured. From the Master Console, in the left pane expand NetBackup Management, and right click on Policies, select New Policy Enter a name for the policy, and click Ok. The following steps cover manual policy configuration, not the use of Backup Policy Configuration wizard. The Add New Policy dialog box appears. Tab 1: Attributes In the Policy Type list, select MS-Exchange-Server Select the Storage Unit that was created in the previous steps In the Enterprise Client section, click the Perform Snapshot backups check box You may also select Perform Off-host backup here, and specify the server to use Click the Enterprise Client Options button, the below dialog box appears: Page 24 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

25 In the Snapshot method list, select VSS Set the Provider Type to 3 Hardware. This forces NetBackup to use the IBM VSS Provider, which should be the only hardware provider installed on the systems. Set the Snapshot Attribute to 1 differential. This is the standard setting for a copy-onwrite VSS approach. The IBM VSS provider starts out as a copy-on-write snapshot, with a background copy that results in a point in time copy. Once the copy is finished, the copy-on-write relationship with the production volume is terminated. In our testing, this is the setting that worked best with the IBM hardware provider. Set the Maximum snapshots to the number of snapshot sets you want to retain. This will be limited by the number of volumes configured in the VSS free pool on the IBM Storwize V7000. NetBackup will automatically delete the oldest snapshot set when this value is reached. DAG configuration In the Microsoft Exchange attributes section, shown below, select which databases in the DAG you want to backup. You can choose Active, Passive or both. Keep in mind that active or both will have more of an impact on the production Exchange server than backing up only the passive copy. Most customers will want to take advantage of backing up from the passive copy so that the production server is not touched. You also have the option of selecting a preferred server in your DAG by clicking on the Preferred server list button. Page 25 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

26 Tab 2: Schedules Click the Schedules tab, and the New button, the following dialog box opens: Page 26 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

27 Give the schedule a name, and select the Schedule and backup types The snapshot Destination is also configured here. Select Snapshots and copy snapshots to a storage unit if you want to retain local snapshots, and also have a copy saved to NetBackup allocated storage. If you select Snapshots only here, then the backup will be cataloged on the Master server, but only be stored as a local snapshot mounted on the Exchange server. Specify the destination storage unit for backups to NetBackup storage. Navigate through the Start Window, Exclude Dates and set your preferences. Click Ok to save the settings. Tab 3: Clients Click the Clients tab, and then double click on the first line. Click on the small computer icon on the far right side to open the browse window. Browse to the server name of your Exchange Server. Tab 4: Backup Selections Click the Backup Selections tab Click on New to activate the first line. You may click on the small folder icon on the far right side to browse to the Exchange server Storage Group, or directly enter text on the line. It is faster to type the target information. Enter the location of Exchange backup target in the format shown below: Note in the above illustration, that our target storage group was named First Storage Group. Enter the exact name of your target storage group(s). Click Ok to save the policy settings. Page 27 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

28 Exchange Granular Recovery There are some specific components and configurations required for granular recovery to function properly. This feature was first introduced in NetBackup version In NetBackup 7 support has been added for Exchange 2010, which now uses Exchange Web Services instead of CDO that earlier versions of Exchange relied on. Detailed granular recovery configuration is covered in the following Symantec document: All NetBackup for Exchange information can be found in the NetBackup 7.0 Microsoft Exchange Administrator s Guide at the following location: This feature uses NBFSD, which is the NetBackup File System (NBFS) service that runs on the Media server. This file system makes a NetBackup backup image (backup set) appear as a file system. This is a UNIX style file system that requires the use of Microsoft s implementation of NFS support. The following limitations exist with Exchange Granular Recovery: Only Exchange full backups are supported Instant restore is not supported with granular recovery. Backups must be made to a disk storage unit, not to tape, and granular recovery must be from a disk storage unit. You can manually duplicate the backup to tape, but you cannot restore from the tape copy. You must configure the NetBackup Client service on each Exchange server to run under the credentials of the mailbox enabled NetBackup service account. This account must have sufficient permissions to browse and restore individual mailboxes and public folders in Exchange. This was covered in the client install steps earlier. Exchange Server has a deleted item retention feature, which keeps items for a specified time after a user deletes them. Because these deleted items still exist, NetBackup includes them in the backup image, and they are available for granular recovery. Configuring Exchange Granular Recovery Follow the below steps, in order, to configure your systems for granular restore. More detailed information is available in the previously mentioned documents from Symantec. Enable Services for Network File System on the Windows 2008 Media server and Exchange Servers. This is a sub-component of Windows Server 2008 File Services Role. There are no additional configurations of NFS required after it is installed. Configure a policy for granular restore. In the Exchange policy, Attributes tab, check the Enable granular recovery box, as shown below. Page 28 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

29 Note that when you check this box, the Retain snapshots for instant recovery option grays out. This is because Granular recovery from local snapshots is not supported. Validate VSS Backup and Restore Backup Procedures During a VSS snapshot, the clients do not notice it happened, since the actual VSS freeze and thaw of the databases by the Exchange writer take less than 1 second. As a result the Outlook client will not notice any interruption or hour glassing during the backup. Follow these steps to perform a VSS backup and validate snapshot functionality: From the Master Console, in the left pane, expand NetBackup Management, and click on the Policies container. Right click on the desired policy, and select Manual backup. The below confirmation window appears. Verify the schedule and target client, and click Ok Page 29 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

30 Alternately, you may schedule the backup and verify it launches at the expected time. You can view the results of your backup test both during the process and afterwards in the Activity Monitor within the Master Console. To view the backup status, click on Activity Monitor in the left pane of the Master Console, and double click the listed job. During a VSS backup, you can verify the snapshot volume is mounted on the Exchange server, by using Windows Disk Manager. You will see disks of the same size as your Exchange database and log volumes, without a drive letter or other configuration. You can also verify the use, and release of a snapshot volume on the Storwize V7000 disk system by using the ibmvcfg command line utility. Run the following command from the IBM VSS provider directory: Ibmvcfg list free. The output is shown below. Verify there is one less set of DB/log volumes in the VSS free pool, and after the backup completes it will return to the free pool (unless it s being retained for instant restore) Page 30 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

31 The screen shot below shows the Storwize V7000 GUI view of FlashCopy s currently in progress. Note that the FlashCopy is shown directly below the source volume. Click on the FlashCopy Mappings tab to see a quick summary of all FlashCopy mappings on the system. View of VSS initiated FlashCopy source and target mappings Page 31 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

32 Restore Procedures Follow the below steps to Verify Exchange Server restore functionality: Launch the NetBackup Backup, Archive, and Restore Client. The restore can be done from the local Exchange server or the NetBackup Master Server. From the menu, select File, then Specify NetBackup Machines and Policy Type The following dialog box opens: Enter the server to use, this is usually the Master Server Enter the source and destination clients, normally the Exchange Server host name Select MS-Exchange-Server as the policy type. Click Ok to close the dialog box From the menu, click on File, then Select Files and Folders to Restore and select from Normal Backup The files and folder selection window opens. Expand the directory tree and select which backup set to restore from, and select the database or individual items to restore. On the left tool bar, click the Icon labeled Start Restore of Marked Files. The Restore Marked Files dialog box opens, with additional restore options for Exchange, as shown below. Page 32 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

33 Select Roll Forward Recovery if you want Exchange to replay both the restored logs and current logs for the database, bringing it up to the current state. Select Point-in-Time Recovery if you want Exchange to replay only restored logs, leaving the database in the same state it was in at the time of the backup. Optionally, you may click on the General tab, to specify restore to alternate locations. Once all recovery settings are configured, click on Start Restore NetBackup will ask if you want to view the status of the restore. If you select yes, a status dialog box appears. You may also check the verbose box, to see line by line progress and full information, including any error messages. The screen capture below shows the granularity available in the file restore selection, and the status window with the verbose messages enabled. These messages are also logged in the NetBackup Master server, and viewable from the Activity Monitor. Page 33 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

34 The above screen shows the level of granularity available in the mailbox folder structure with granular recovery. This is only visible from a granular recovery enabled backup. Exchange 2010 DAG Restore Steps Microsoft has outlined specific restore procedures for Exchange 2010 DAGs. The following steps apply to any backup software. You can perform these steps with the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell commands (in parentheses below) Make the database that you want to restore active (Move-Activ boxDatabase). Suspend replication for all passive copies of the database (Suspend-MailboxCopy). Dismount the active mailbox database (Dismount-Database). Restore the database and logs using the NetBackup Client as covered previously. If not performed in the previous step, mount the active mailbox database (Mount- Database). Verify the database is online without errors before starting to update or reseed to replicated database copies. Page 34 Copyright IBM Corp. 2011