Windows Server 2008 and
Windows Server 2008 Release 2 provide different tools for performing
backup and recovery procedures. The one common tool on both is Windows
Server Backup.
1. Getting Started with Windows Server Backup
You'll
use Windows Server Backup for creating backups and for recovery using
backups. You can install Windows Server Backup by following these steps:
In Server Manager, select the Features node in the left pane and then click Add Features. This starts the Add Features Wizard. On
the Select Features page, expand the Windows Server Backup Features
node, and then select the Windows Server Backup option. Do not select
the Command-line Tools option. Click Next. Click Install. When the wizard finishes installing
the selected features, click Close. From now on, Windows Server Backup
will be available as an option on the Administrative Tools menu and as
an option under the Storage node in Server Manager.
When you start Windows Server
Backup the first time, you'll see a warning that no backup has been
configured for the computer. You clear this warning by creating a backup
using the Backup Once feature or by scheduling
backups to run automatically by using the Backup Schedule feature. Only
members of the Administrators and Backup Operators groups have full
authority to back up and restore any type of file, regardless of who
owns the file and the permissions set on it.
Windows Server Backup provides extensions for working with System State and application data. All computers have system
state data, which must be backed up in addition to other files to
restore a complete working system. Windows Server Backup creates
block-level backups of application data using VSS.
When you start Windows
Server Backup, the utility connects to the local computer by default.
This allows you to easily manage backups on the local computer. The
Exchange plug-in for Windows Server Backup does not support backups on a
remote computer.
When you use Windows
Server Backup, you'll always want to create a full or copy backup rather
than an incremental or differential backup. These basic types of backups are used as follows:
Full backups
Backs up all Exchange data that has been selected, including the
related databases and the current transaction logs. A full backup tells
Exchange Server you've performed a complete backup, which allows
Exchange Server to clear out the transaction logs. Copy backups
Backs up all Exchange data that has been selected, including the
related databases and the current transaction logs. Unlike a full
backup, a copy backup doesn't tell Exchange Server you've performed a
complete backup and, as a result, the backup does not clear the log
files. This allows you to perform other types of Exchange backups later. Differential backups (not supported)
Designed to create backup copies of all data that has changed since the
last full backup. Backs up only transaction log files and not the
actual databases. Does not clear the log files Incremental backups (not supported)
Designed to create backups of data that has changed since the most
recent full or incremental backup. Backs up only transaction log files
and not the actual databases. Clears the log files after the incremental
backup completes.
You can start a backup by
selecting Backup Once on the Action menu or in the Action pane. You can
configure a backup schedule by clicking Backup Schedule on the Action
menu or in the Action pane.
The available backup
options differ somewhat between Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server
2008 Release 2. Keep the following in mind:
The Exchange plug-in for Windows Server Backup only supports full backups. You must ensure you only perform full backups. Whether
Windows Server Backup subsequently performs full or incremental backup
depends on the default performance settings that you configure. In
Windows Server Backup, click the Configure Performance Settings option
to ensure full backups are the default setting. Whether
Windows Server Backup performs full or copy backups depends on the
default VSS settings that you configure. Copy backups are the default.
To use full backups, you must specify this when creating the backup.
2. Backing Up Exchange Server on Windows Server 2008
As part of your planning
for each server you plan to back up, you should consider which volumes
you want to back up and whether backups will include system state
recovery data, application data, or both. You can create backups
manually or according to a schedule, or you can use both methods. After
you configure a disk for scheduled backups, Windows Server Backup
automatically manages the disk usage and automatically overwrites older
backups when creating new backups. After you schedule backups, you need
to check periodically to ensure that backups are being performed as
expected and that the backup schedule meets current needs.
When you create or
schedule backups, you need to specify the volumes that you want to
include, and this affects the ways you can recover your servers and your
data. As part of the backup process, you also need to specify a storage location for backups. Keep the following in mind when you are choosing storage locations:
When you use an internal
hard disk for storing backups, you are limited in how you can recover
your system. You can recover the data from a volume, but you cannot
rebuild the entire disk structure. When you use an external hard disk for storing backups, the disk will be dedicated for storing your backups and will not be visible in Windows Explorer. Choosing this option formats the selected disk or disks, removing any existing data. When you use a remote
shared folder for storing backups, your backup will be overwritten each
time you create a new backup. Do not choose this option if you want to
store multiple backups for each server. When you use removable media or DVDs
for storing manually created backups, you can recover only entire
volumes, not applications or individual files. The media you use must be
at least 1 GB in size.
You can schedule automated backups for a server by following these steps:
In
Windows Server Backup, click Backup Schedule on the Action menu or in
the Action pane. This starts the Backup Schedule Wizard. Click Next. On the Select Backup Type page, note the backup size listed under the Full Server option. This is the storage
space required to back up the server data, applications, and system
state. Volumes that contain operating system files or applications are
included in the backup by default and cannot be excluded. To back up all
volumes on the server, select the Full Server option and then click
Next. To back up selected volumes on the server, click Custom and then
click Next. If
you selected Custom, the Select Backup Items page is displayed. With
Windows Server 2008, select the check boxes for the volumes you want to
back up, and clear the check boxes for the volumes you want to exclude.
With Windows Server 2008 R2, you must click Add Items to select the
items to back up. Click Advanced Settings. Use the options on the VSS
Settings tab to specify whether you want to perform a VSS copy backup or
a VSS full backup. Click OK. After you've selected items, click Next to continue. On
the Specify Backup Time page, you can specify how often and when you
want to run backups. To perform backups daily at a specific time, choose
Once A Day and then select the time to start running the daily backup.
To perform backups multiple times each day, choose More Than Once A Day.
Next, click a start time under Available Time, and then click Add to
move the time to the Scheduled Time list. Repeat this step for each
start time that you want to add. Click Next when you are ready to
continue. With
Windows Server 2008, select the external disk you want to use for
scheduled backups. If the disk you want to use is not listed, click Show
All Available Disks. Then select the check box next to the disk you
want to use to store the backups. Each external disk can store up to 512
backups, depending on the amount of data contained in each backup. You
can select multiple disks. If you do so, Windows Server Backup rotates
among them. When you click
Next, you'll see a warning prompt informing you that the selected disk
will be formatted and any existing data will be deleted. Click Yes. On
the Label Destination Disk page, the disk that you selected is listed. A
label that includes the disk type, the server name, the current date,
the current time, and a disk size is assigned to the disk. Be sure to
record this information because you need it to identify the disk if you need to recover data from the backup stored on the disk. With external disks, you might want to attach a printed label containing this information. With Windows Server 2008 Release 2, you have these options: Backup To A Hard Disk That Is Dedicated For Backups
Allows you to specify a dedicated hard disk for backups. Although you
can use multiple disks for backups, any disk that you select will be
formatted and then dedicated only to backups. This option is recommended
because you get the best performance. If you select this option, click
Next, select the disk or disks to use, and then click Next again. Backup To A Volume
Allows you to write backups to individual volumes on a hard disk.
Because any volume you select is not dedicated to backups, it can be
used for other purposes. However, the performance of any selected
volumes will be reduced while backups are being written. If you select
this option, click Next, use the Add and Remove options to select the
volumes to use, and then click Next again. Backup To A Shared Network Folder
Allows you to specify a shared network folder for backups. With this
option, you can have only one backup at a time, because each new backup
overwrites the previous backup. If you select this option, click Next.
When prompted, click OK. Type the UNC path to the network share, such as
\\FileServer25\Backups\Exchange. If you want the backup to be
accessible to everyone who has access to the shared folder, select
Inherit under Access Control. If you want to restrict access to the
shared folder to the current user, administrators, and backup operators,
select Do Not Inherit under Access Control. Click Next. When prompted
to provide access credentials, type the user name and password for an
account authorized to access and write to the shared folder.
On
the Confirmation page, review the details and then click Finish. The
wizard will then format the disk. The formatting process might take
several minutes or considerably longer depending on the size of the
disk. On the Summary page, click Close. Your backups are now scheduled for the selected server.
You can manually back up servers by following these steps:
In
Windows Server Backup, click Backup Once on the Action menu or in the
Action pane. This starts the Backup Once Wizard. Ensure that Different
Options is selected, and then click Next again. Note
the backup size listed under the Full Server option. This is the
storage space required to back up the server data, applications, and
system state. To back up all volumes on the server, select the Full
Server option and then click Next. To back up selected volumes on the
server, click Custom and then click Next. If you selected Custom, the Select Backup Items page is displayed. With Windows Server 2008, select the check boxes for the volumes you want to back up, and clear the check boxes for the volumes you want to exclude. With Windows Server 2008 R2, you must click Add Items to select the items to back up. Click Advanced Settings. Use the options on the VSS Settings tab to specify whether you want to perform a VSS copy backup or a VSS full back up. Click OK. After you've selected items, click Next to continue. On the Specify Destination Type page, do one of the following: If
you want to back up to local drives, select Local Drives and then click
Next. On the Backup Destination page, select the internal or external
disc or DVD drive to use as the backup target. Backups are compressed
when stored on a DVD. As a result, the size of the backup on a DVD might
be smaller than the volume on the server. With Windows Server 2008, if
the backup target is a removable media drive, the backup is verified
automatically after the wizard writes the backup data. Clear the Verify
After Writing check box if you do not want to verify the backup. Click
Next. If you want to back up to a remote
shared folder, select Remote Shared Folder and then click Next. On the
Specify Remote Folder page, type the UNC path to the remote folder, such
as \\BackupServer18\backups.
If you want the backup to be accessible to everyone who has access to
the shared folder, select Inherit under Access Control. If you want to
restrict access to the shared folder to the current user,
administrators, and backup operators, select Do Not Inherit under Access
Control. Click Next. When prompted to provide access credentials, type
the user name and password for an account authorized to access and write
to the shared folder.
With
Windows Server 2008, specify whether you want to perform a copy backup
or a VSS full backup. Choose Copy Backup if you are using a separate
backup utility to backup application data. Otherwise, choose VSS Full
Backup to fully back up the selected volumes, including all application
data. Click
Next and then click Backup. The Backup Progress dialog box shows you
the progress of the backup process. If you click Close, the backup will
continue to run in the background.
3. Performing a Full Server Recovery
Often, you may find that the
fastest and easiest way to recover an Exchange server is to start from
scratch, install a fresh operating system, and then run Exchange Setup
in recoverserver mode. That said, both Windows Server 2008 and Windows
Server 2008 Release 2 include startup repair features that can recover a
server in case of corrupted or missing system files. The startup repair
process can also recover from some types of boot failures involving the
boot manager. If these processes fail and the boot manager is the
reason you cannot start the server, you can use the installation disc or
a recovery partition to restore the boot manager and enable startup.
If Startup Repair fails and you
are not able to start the server, you can attempt to recover the server
using the recovery tools. When you install Windows Server 2008 R2, the
Setup program automatically installs additional components that can be
used for recovery and troubleshooting startup in this partition. Because
of this, the Windows recovery tools are always available on computers
running Windows Server 2008 R2. These tools include:
System Image Recovery Performs a full
recovery of the computer using a system image created previously. If
your other troubleshooting techniques fail to restore the computer and
you have a system image for recovery, you can use this feature to
restore the server from a system image. Windows Memory Diagnostics
Performs diagnostics on the server's memory. If memory hardware errors
are causing startup or other problems with the server, you can use this
tool to identify the problem. Command Prompt Allows you to work with any command-line tools that are available, including DiskPart.
As an administrator, you can use
these tools to recover computers. You can boot the server and initiate
recovery by following these steps:
During
startup, press F8 to access the Advanced Boot Options screen. If the
computer has multiple operating systems, you'll see the Windows Boot
Manager screen. Select the operating system to work with, and then press
F8. On the Advanced Boot Options menu, use the arrow keys to select Repair Your Computer, and then press Enter. The
computer will load the recovery options. In the System Recovery Options
dialog box, select a language and keyboard layout, and then click Next. To
access recovery options, you need to log on using a local administrator
account. Select the local administrator to log on as, type the password
for this account, and then click OK. In
the System Recovery Options dialog box, note the location of the
operating system, and then choose the appropriate repair option. If you
want to perform a system image recovery, select the related option, and
then perform steps 5 to 8 of the next procedure.
If Startup Repair fails and you
are not able to start the server, you can attempt to recover the server
from a system image by following these steps:
Insert
the Windows disc into the DVD drive, and turn on the computer. If
needed, press the required key to boot from the disc. After Windows
loads files, the Install Windows Wizard should appear. Specify the language settings to use, and then click Next. Click
Repair Your Computer. Setup searches the hard disk drives for an
existing Windows installation and then displays the results in the
System Recovery Options Wizard. If you are recovering the operating
system onto new hardware, the list should be empty and there should be
no operating system on the computer. Click Next. With
Windows Server 2008, click Windows Complete PC Restore to start the
Windows Complete PC Restore Wizard. With R2, the Restore Your Computer
option is selected by default, and you can click Next to continue. Click Use The Latest Available … (Recommended) and then click Next. Or click the alternative option, and then click Next. If you chose to restore a different backup, on the Select The Location Of The Backup… page, do one of the following: Click
the computer that contains the backup you want to use, and then click
Next. On the Select The Backup To Restore page, select the backup you
want to use and then click Next. To browse for
a system image on the network, click Advanced, and then click Search
For A System Image On The Network. When you are prompted to confirm that
you want to connect to the network, click Yes. In the Network Folder
text box, specify the location of the server and shared folder in which
the system image is stored, such as \\Server21\Images\Exchange, and then
click OK. To
install a driver for a backup device that doesn't show up in the
location list, click Advanced, and then click Install A Driver. Insert
the installation media for the device, and then click OK. After Windows
installs the device driver, the backup device should be listed in the
location list.
On the Choose How To Restore The Backup page, perform the following optional tasks and then click Next: Select
the Format And Repartition Disks check box to delete existing
partitions and reformat the destination disks to be the same as the
backup. Click the Exclude Disks button and then select the check boxes associated with any disks you want to exclude from being formatted and partitioned. The disk that contains the backup you are using is automatically excluded. Click Install Drivers to install device drivers for the hardware to which you are recovering. Click
Advanced to specify whether the computer is restarted and whether the
disks are checked for errors immediately after the recovery operation is
completed.
On
the Confirmation page, review the details for the restoration and then
click Finish. The Wizard then restores the operating system or the full server as appropriate for the options you've selected.
4. Recovering Exchange Server
In cases where you only need to recover Exchange data, you don't need to initiate a full
server recovery. Instead, you can recover an Exchange database to the
point of failure by restoring the most recent full backup.
With this in mind, you can recover Exchange data by following these steps:
Start Windows Server Backup. In the Action pane or on the Action menu, click Recover. This starts the Recovery Wizard. On
the Getting Started page, specify whether you will recover data from
the local computer or another computer/location and then click Next. If you are recovering
data from another location, specify whether the backup you want to
restore is on a local drive or a remote shared folder, click Next, and
then specify location-specific settings. When you are recovering from a
local drive, on the Select Backup Location page, select the location of
the backup from the drop-down list. When you are recovering from a
remote shared folder, on the Specify Remote Folder page, type the path
to the folder that contains the backup. In the remote folder, the backup
should be stored at \\BackupServer\WindowsImageBackup\ComputerName. If
you are recovering from the local computer and there are multiple
backups, on the Select Backup Location page, select the location of the
backup on the drop-down list. On
the Select Backup Date page, select the date and time of the backup you
want to restore using the calendar and the time list. Backups are
available for dates shown in bold. Click Next. On
the Select Recovery Type page, select Files And Folders and then click
Next. On the Select Items To Recover page, under Available items, click
the plus sign (+) to expand the list until the Exchange folder you want
is visible. Click a folder to display the contents of the folder in the
adjacent pane, select each item that you want to restore, and then click
Next. On
the Specify Recovery Options page, under Recovery Destination, specify
whether you want to restore data to its original location (non–system
files only) or an alternate location. For an alternate location, type
the path to the desired restore location or click Browse to select it. Next,
choose a recovery technique to apply when files and folders already
exist in the recovery location. You can create copies so that you have
both versions of the file or folder, overwrite existing files with
recovered files, or not recover items that already exist. On the Confirmation page, review the details and then click Recover to restore the specified items. Keep the following in mind: If
you restore Exchange data to its original location, Windows Server
Backup and the backup plug-in automatically handle the recovery process.
This means they dismount any existing databases, replay logs into
recovered databases, and mount databases for you. All backed up
databases must be restored together. You cannot restore a single
database. If
you restore Exchange data to an alternate location, Windows Server
Backup and the backup plug-in do not handle the recovery process. This
means you need to manually work with the data and restore it. While this
requires more work, you can restore a single database as well as
individual mailboxes.
Recovering data from an alternate location is a multipart process that requires the following:
Use Windows Server Backup to recover a mailbox database. At the Exchange Management Shell prompt, create a recovery database using New-MailboxDatabase with the –Recovery parameter. Use Restore-Mailbox to extract data from the recovered database and restore it to its original database.
Each Mailbox server can have
only one recovery database. To create the recovery database, use
New-MailboxDatabase with the –Recovery parameter. You can create a
recovery database named RecoveryDB on MailServer28 as shown in this
example:
New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name RecoveryDB -Server MailServer28
Here, the database files and
log files are created in the default Exchange path. You also can set
these paths using –EdbFilePath and –LogFolderPath as shown in this
example:
New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name RecoveryDB -Server MailServer28
-EdbFilePath 'D:\Exchange\database\recovery.edb'
-LogFolderPath 'D:\Exchange\database'
You use Restore-Mailbox to
extract data from a restored database. Restore-Mailbox works only with
disconnected mailboxes. The disconnected mailboxes are specified as the
recovery sources, and the recovery targets are connected mailboxes in an
active mailbox database. Thus, you extract data from a disconnected
source mailbox and move it to a connected target mailbox. The source and
target mailboxes must be in the same Active Directory forest.
Example 1 provides the syntax and usage for Restore-Mailbox, and Table 2 provides an overview of how the related parameters are used. Many of the parameters act as filters. Keep the following in mind:
With
–AllContentKeywords, you can search the subject, message body, and
attachment content for the keyword or keywords you specify. For example,
you could search the subject, message body, and attachment content for
the keywords "Dataset" or "Shareholder" using –AllContentKeywords "Dataset", "Shareholder". With
other filters like –AttachmentFilenames, –ContentKeywords,
–RecipientKeywords, –SenderKeywords, and –SubjectKeywords, you look at a
specific part of mail items for a matching keyword or keywords. For
example, you could use –ContentKeywords to search the message body and
attachments of mail items for the keyword "Report" or "Inventory" using -ContentKeywords "Report", "Inventory". Multiple
filters restrict the search. For example, you could look for message
subjects containing the keyword "Analysis" that also have the keyword
"Report" in the message body or attachments using –SubjectKeywords "Analysis" –ContentKeywords "Report". With
–ExcludeFolders and –IncludeFolders, the MAPI folder paths are locale
specific. The English folder paths are \Inbox, \Drafts, \SentItems,
\Notes, \JunkEmail, \DeletedItems, and \Archive. With
–StartDate and –EndDate, the start date for the search must be before
the end date. Specify the date to use in short date format mm/dd/yyyy,
such as 05/01/2010 to specify May 1, 2010.
Example 1. Recovering mailbox data
Syntax
Restore-Mailbox -Identity MailboxId -RecoveryDatabase DatabaseId
{AddtlParams}
Restore-Mailbox -Identity MailboxId -RecoveryDatabase DatabaseId
-RecoveryMailbox MailboxId -TargetFolder FolderName {AddtlParams}
{AddtlParams}
[-AllContentKeywords Keywords] [-AttachmentFilenames FileNames]
[-BadItemLimit Limit] [-ContentKeywords Keywords] [-EndDate DateTime]
[-ExcludeFolders MapiFolderPaths] [-GlobalCatalog GCServer]
[-IncludeFolders MapiFolderPaths] [-Locale LocaleCode] [-MaxThreads
NumThreads] [-RecipientKeywords Recipients] [-SenderKeywords Senders]
[-StartDate DateTime] [-SubjectKeywords Subjects]
[-ValidateOnly <$true | $false>]
Usage
'Restores TonyG's mailbox from the recovery database
Restore-Mailbox -Identity TonyG -RecoveryDatabase RecoveryDb
'Restores LisaN's mailbox to the Restored folder in TonyG's mailbox
Restore-Mailbox -Identity LisaN -RecoveryDatabase RecoveryDb
-RecoveryMailbox TonyG -TargetFolder Restored
'Restores items with the subject keyword Report, and with the message
'location either in the Inbox or Calendar folder.
Restore-Mailbox -Identity DonH -RecoveryDatabase RecoveryDb
-SubjectKeywords "Report" -IncludeFolders \Inbox,\Calendar
'Restores all the mailboxes in the EngDatabase mailbox database from
'RecoveryDB, if they are present.
Get-Mailbox -Database EngDatabase | Restore-Mailbox -RecoveryDatabase
RecoveryDb
|
Table 2. Parameters Used with Restore-Mailbox| Parameter | Usage |
|---|
| AllContentKeywords | Specifies
the filters for the subject, message body, and attachment content. If
your search criteria are part of the subject, message body, or
attachment content, results are returned. | | AttachmentFilenames | Specifies
the filter for the attachment file name. You can use wildcard
characters in the string, such as *.doc, to export items that have a
.doc extension. | | /BadItemLimit | Specifies the number of corrupted items in a mailbox to skip before the export operation fails. | | /ContentKeywords | Specifies the keyword filters for the message body and attachment content in the source mailbox. | | EndDate | Specifies
the end date for filtering content that will be exported from the
source mailbox. Use the short date format mm/dd/yyyy, such as 05/15/2010
to specify May 15, 2010. | | ExcludeFolders | Specifies
the list of folders to exclude during the export, such as Calendar.
Folders aren't localized and must be excluded for each included locale. | | GlobalCatalog | Specifies the global catalog to use to search for the target mailbox. | | Identity | Specifies the identity of the target mailbox. You can use the mailbox name or GUID. | | IncludeFolders | Specifies
the list of folders to include during the export. Folders aren't
localized and must be excluded for each included locale. | | Locale | Specifies the locale setting on a message to restore. Only messages with the specified locale setting are extracted. | | MaxThreads | Specifies the maximum number of threads to use for the export. | | RecipientKeywords | Specifies
the keyword filters for recipients of items in the source mailbox.
Finds the search string even if it's part of a word. | | RecoveryDatabase | Specifies
the recovery database from which you're restoring the mailbox. You can
use the database name, GUID, or server name\database name. | | RecoveryMailbox | Specifies the mailbox to be used as the source mailbox. Required if the source mailbox is different from the target mailbox. | | SenderKeywords | Specifies the keyword filters for senders of items in the source mailbox. Finds the search string even if it's part of a word. | | StartDate | Specifies
the start date for filtering content that will be exported from the
source mailbox. Use the short date format mm/dd/yyyy, such as 05/01/2010
to specify May 1, 2010. | | SubjectKeywords | Specifies the keyword filters for subjects in the source mailbox. Finds the search string even if it's part of a word. | | TargetFolder | Specifies
the mailbox folder that's created on the mailbox specified. Required if
the mailbox being restored is different from the target mailbox. | | ValidateOnly | Evaluates
the conditions and requirements necessary to perform the operation and
then reports whether the operation will succeed or fail. No changes are
made. |
|
