4sysops - Review: Securing Microsoft Exchange with Symantec Backup Exec 11d and Continuous Protection Server (CPS)

Backup Exec 11d now offers CDP functionality for Microsoft Exchange. In this third post of my series about Backup Exec 11d, I will explain how one can backup Exchange with Symantec Continuous Protection Server (CPS).

Backup Exec is only able to backup up Exchange continuously if the CPS agent is installed on the Exchange server. However, you have to configure the corresponding backup job in Backup Exec, not in CPS, like with CDP backups of files.

You create a normal Backup Exec job to secure the Exchange server. The settings for Exchange backups have a new option which allows you to specify the intervals between recovery points. The minimum interval is 15 minutes. Therefore, Backup Exec 11d only supports near continuous data protection for Exchange backups while it can secure files continuously, i.e. whenever a file changes.

As backup destination, you have to use a backup-to-disk folder. This folder is managed by Backup Exec, not by the CPS. This is another difference when compared to file backups with CPS. This means that you have to setup a second backup job that secures the data of the backup-to-disk folder to the tape library.

Restores of Exchange data also have to be configured in Backup Exec. You can restore the complete Information Store or each mailbox individually. Backup Exec supports brick-level backups, i.e. you can restore single items like individual e-mails.

So, CDP backups of Exchange are managed with the user interface of Backup Exec. You create the backup jobs there, monitor them there and use it for restores. This is quite different to CDP backups of file servers with CPS.

In the next post of this series, you’ll read the conclusion of my review about Backup Exec 11d and CPS .

Articles in this series: