Configure Microsoft Exchange Server Backup

MS Exchange Server Backup

OnlineBackup offers you MS Exchange Server backup in an effective manner with the help of the Microsoft Exchange Server plugin. This option enables the user to configure MS Exchange Server backups. Once configured, the scheduled backup data will be sent to the backup server.

MS Exchange Server plugin utilizes Volume Shadow Copy Services API (VSS API) for backing up all your Exchange Server data. The Exchange Server plugin will stream your backup data directly to the backup server you have configured. Exchange Server contains critical data such as E-mails, Contacts, Calendar, etc. Backing up these data is a must as they might lead to data loss. When you back up the databases individually, you can manage your storage requirement in a flexible manner. For example, critical data such as E-mails may be backed up more frequently and can be restored with minimal data loss.

Things to note before you configure an Exchange Server Backup

• Make sure the databases you are going to backup is in a mounted state, else it is not eligible for backup. 
• The database that you are backing up must be online.

Supported Versions

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003
• Microsoft Exchange Server DAG 2016, 2013, 2010

• Go to the Backup tab and select MS Exchange Server from the top menu

Step 1: Configuring MS Exchange Servers

• Clicking on the MS Exchange Server option will redirect to Choose MS Server(s) page. The Exchange Server plugin will detect the Exchange Server present in the client machine and list them for backup.
• From the list of available databases in the Exchange Server list, select the required databases for the backup process. You can select more than one database for the backup schedule. Click Next to configure Full Backup.
• Select one or more Exchange servers from the list shown and click next to proceed with Full Backup Scheduling.

Step 2: Configure Scheduling

• Configuring a full backup of your Exchange Server data is a must and cannot be omitted. A full backup is necessary because OnlineBackup will directly stream your Exchange Server database(s) when a full backup is configured and will transfer the data directly to Vembu Cloud. Once the full backup is completed, the log files that are older than the full backup starting time will be purged.

• Users can configure their backup schedules flexibly based on their requirements. They can choose from Hourly/Daily/Weekly options for backup schedules.

• Run Hourly?- This option will let the user run full backup in hourly time intervals. A user can select the weekdays and time interval between backup schedules.
• Run Daily?- This option will let the user run a full backup once a day and the user can specify the time at which full backups should run every day.
• Run weekly- This option will let the user run a full backup once in a week and the user can specify the day and time of their choice when to perform full backups in a week.
• Run Monthly?- This option will let the user run a full backup once a month and the user can specify the day, time and month of their choice for full backup schedules.

Full Backup retention

• You can specify the count for the maximum number of full backups to be retained. For example, when you set the count as 2 for retaining the full backups in the backup server, only the latest 2 versions of the full backup will be maintained at all times. The default value is 2 for full backup retention and the retention count ranges from '01' to '99'.
• Once done with scheduling full backups, click Next to proceed to configure Synthetic Full Backup.

Step 3: Synthetic Full Backup Scheduling

By default, synthetic full backup scheduling is enabled and it is recommended. But if required, a user can also disable it. Additionally, an option to enable incremental and differential backup is provided and the user can enable one of the two methods when required.

• You can edit the Synthetic Full Backup Scheduling configuration, select the Edit option. By default Synthetic Full Backup is enabled.

Scheduling

You can configure your backup schedules flexibly based on your requirements. You can choose from Monthly/Weekly options for backup schedules.

Run Monthly- This option will let you run the full backup once a month. Specify the day, time and month of your choice for full backup schedules.

Run Weekly- This option lets you run a full backup once a week. Specify the day and time of your choice to perform full backups in a week. Click Save once you have configured the schedule. 

• You can further configure two types of backup schedules from the drop-down list which are:
• Incremental Log Backup
• Differential Log Backup

Incremental Log Backup

Incremental Log Backup is a backup type which backs up only the Log files with respect to the last full, synthetic or incremental backup. This backup runs faster than the other types of backup because only the changed log files with respect to the last completed backup happen. Typically, you can schedule this type of backup more than you schedule a full or synthetic backup due to the speed of the backup. The log files will not be retained and will be deleted once the incremental backup is completed. This backup type is optional and will be disabled by default.

• Click the Edit option to configure the incremental log backup schedule
• The configure scheduling options define the frequency of the incremental log backup job. You can choose the backup schedules by choosing between Daily/Weekly/Run Every Few Minutes options
• If you want to run your backup every day, select Run Daily option and select the time period in which the backup has to occur
• If you want to run your backup every week on a specific day and time, choose the Run Weekly option. Select the time frame and day when you want to run the backup
• You can choose the 'Run Every Few Minutes' option to run the backup at regular intervals on any specific day(s). You have the Select all days option which will select all the days in the week and backup will run on all days. If you don't want to run your backup on all days, then manually select the days in which you want to run the backup. Click Save to save your backup schedule configurations

Differential Log Backup

• Differential Log Backup is a backup type that backs up only the Log files with respect to the last full, synthetic or an incremental backup. The difference between this backup type and Incremental Log Backup is that the log files will not be deleted once the incremental backup is completed. Hence this backup type will take a longer time to complete than the incremental backup type. Differential backups are configured to be scheduled more frequently than a Full and Synthetic Full Backup.
• This backup type is optional and will be disabled by default.

• Click the Edit option to configure the differential log backup schedule.
• The Configure Scheduling options define the frequency of the backup job. You can choose the backup schedules by choosing between Daily/Weekly/Run Every Few Minutes options
• If you want to run your backup every day, select Run Daily option and select the time period in which the backup has to occur.
• If you want to run your backup every week on a specific day and time, choose the Run Weekly option. Select the time frame and day when you want to run the backup
• You can choose the 'Run Every Few Minutes' option to run the backup at regular intervals on any specific day(s). You have the Select all days option which will select all the days in the week and backup will run on all days. If you don't want to run your backup on all days, then manually select the days in which you want to run the backup. Click Save and proceed to configure encryption settings.

Step 4: Review Configuration

• The last step in the MS Exchange Server backup configuration is to enter the backup schedule name. OnlineBackup supports creating multiple backup schedules each with its own configuration. The backup schedule name will uniquely identify the backup. While restoring your backup data, you need to choose the data to be restored using its schedule name.
• Review the configuration provided and enter an appropriate name for the backup schedule. Once done, click Save the Backup to initiate the backup progress as per schedule configured and it gets completed successfully.

• You can verify the progress of your backup in the progress schedule window. In the List Jobs page, click the arrow mark next to your backup schedule to open the backup progress window. The overall progress of your backup along with details such as :

• Job Name - Name of your backup job
• Backup Server - The backup server to which the backup is currently happening
• Warning - Warning if any
• Reconnection Attempts - The count of the number of times OnlineBackup client attempted to reconnect to the backup server
• Transfer Rate - Rate at which the backup data is transferred to your backup server. (Bytes,KB,MB,GB)
• Original Size of the file - The actual size of your backup file
• Added, Modified, Deleted, Skipped files and Folders count
• Time Left - Time remaining for your backup to complete.

• You can abort your backup if not required from the Abort option available in the List Jobs page. You will get a pop up as shown below. Click Yes to Abort your backup.

• You can Abort your backup from the backup progress window page also. Select the Abort (-) option in that window. You will be alerted with a pop-up as shown below. Click OK to abort your backup.