Snapshot Backups with Exchange 2007 and AD?

[JasonVmware]

Hello All,

Just wondering if the best practices has changed any in ESX4 as far as snapshots for backups go. Is it still a bad idea to take a snaphot of your Exchange and AD server? As I know in the past restoring from a snapshot in a complete failure situation was not reccomended for AD or Exchange. Has this changed at all or has anyone tested this in greater detail?

Also as far as backups go is it still best practice to do a file level backup of AD and Exchange with your Backup softwares agent (IE. Backup Exec 12.5 Exchange agent / AD agent, ect)

[VMmatty]

I don't believe the recommendations have changed with respect to Exchange and snapshots. You can still have some trouble if you try to restore from the snapshot.

As far as file level backup, you'll still need something that will flush your Exchange logs so something like Backup Exec is still useful. The same is true with domain controllers and backing up with Backup Exec for easy restore.

[JasonVmware]

Thanks for the response. So then best practice is still to just install a fresh OS and restore from file level backups (Backup Exec, ect). Is it even a good idea to take the odd snapshot of a Exchange server or AD server incase of a complete failure for a quick restore procedure, or should this still be avoided ?

[VMmatty · Accepted solution]

A lot really depends on how you have Exchange setup. Do you have your database and logs on VMDK files? RDMs? All of these things will make a difference on how you protect the VM. I believe there is no one size fits all backup strategy for VMs and various applications, so it all depends on what your environment looks like.

I have environments that use snapshots and vRanger to backup Exchange VMs. But the strategy for restoring depends on what actually happens as to what method is used for restore.

[JasonVmware]

If you do have one Exchange2007 server with all the roles on it and restore the entire machine after a complete failure from a snapshot backup(vRanger, Backup Exec AVVI agent, ect), is there any known problems from this restore procedure?

[VMmatty]

I think there is always some risk associated with doing a full VM restore of an application that has heavy I/O or contains critical data like Exchange. That said, if you have multiple backup strategies in place you can limit your exposure and give you more options should there be a major failure. I don't know of a specific restore procedure for Exchange mailbox servers (or HTS/CAS as well) when run in a virtual machine.

For example, if everything is on VMDK files then you can use vRanger or Veeam Backup (or even just VCB) to perform full VMDK backups. If you are also using Backup Exec with Granular Restore Technology to backup Exchange, you also have the option of restoring everything from there once you get the VMDK files restored (and if there is a problem with that recovery). And if you have your database and logs on, for example, iSCSI LUNs presented as either RDMs or using the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator inside the guest, you have the added option of SAN level snapshots to go with it.

Here are some good links for you to be aware of as you start to think about your different backup options:

Exchange servers freeze when taking quiesced snapshots: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=596216...

VMware's internal case study on their Exchange 2007 virtualization project: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/solutions/08Q4_VM_Exchange_Server_2007_VI3_WP.pdf

Finally, to go back to your original post regarding AD - you can take snapshots and backup domain controllers, but most of the time rolling back to a snapshot can lead to some pretty bad consequences. Here is a Microsoft KB article on considerations when virtualizing AD.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794