Use Windows Server backup to back up and restore Exchange data

Microsoft ExchangeServer2010 includes a plug-in for backing up Windows server. With this plug-in, you can create a backup based on the volume Copy Service (VSS) for Exchange data. You can use Windows Server backup to back up and restore the Exchange database. To become an efficient Exchange administrator, you must have a thorough understanding of the backup content, the location where the backup is stored, and how to restore the backup. For more information about the content to be backed up in Exchange2010, see learn about backup, recovery, and disaster recovery.

The new plug-in is provided in the form of an executable file named WSBExchange.exe, Which is configured to run in the form of a service named "MicrosoftExchange Server Extension for WindowsServer Backup" (WSBExchange. This plug-in is automatically installed on all the Exchange2010 mailbox servers and is manually started by default. This plug-in enables Windows Server backup to create Exchange-aware VSS backup.

Note:

To use this plug-in, you must install the WindowsServer backup function. However, you should not install the Windows Server BACKUP command line tool. These tools require earlier Windows PowerShell command line interfaces, which are not compatible with Exchange2010. When Windows Server backup is installed, WBAdmin.exe is also installed. This command line tool can be run from the Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe.

For detailed steps to back up an Exchange server using Windows Server backup, see using Windows Server backup to perform an Exchange backup.

For detailed steps to restore data from a backup obtained by using Windows Server backup, see use Windows Server backup to restore an Exchange backup.

Before using Windows Server backup to back up Exchange data, you are advised to familiarize yourself with the following functions and options of this plug-in:

• The backup is only based on VSS. You cannot use a Windows Server backup with or without a plug-in to create a streaming scalable storage engine (ESE) backup.
• The backup using Windows Server backup occurs at the volume level. To back up the database and its log stream, you must back up the entire volume including the database and log. If you do not back up the entire volume that contains the data, you cannot back up any data.
• The backup must be run locally on the server being backed up, And the plug-in cannot be used for remote VSS backup. There is no Windows Server backup or remote management of this plug-in. However, you can use the remote desktop service or terminal service to remotely manage backups.
• You can create a backup on a local drive or remote network sharing.
• Only full backup can be performed. Log truncation occurs only when the complete backup of the volume containing the Exchange database is successful.
• When restoring data, you can only restore Exchange data. This data can be restored to its original or standby location. If the data is restored to its original location, the WindowsServer backup and plug-in automatically process the recovery process, including detaching any existing database and replaying logs to the recovered database.
• The restoration process does not support database recovery (RDB ). However, you can manually move the recovered data from the standby location to the RDB if needed ).
• When restoring Exchange data, all the backed up databases must be restored together. A single database cannot be restored.

Use Windows Server backup on the Database Availability group member

If the server that hosts the data to be backed up is a member of the Database Availability Group (DAG) and carries both active and passive database copies, you must disable the Microsoft Exchange replication service VSS writer. If the Microsoft Exchange replication service VSS writer is enabled, the backup operation fails.

To disable the Microsoft Exchange replication service VSS writer, perform the following steps:

Important:
If you need to use another backup solution to back up the passive database copy on the server where the Microsoft Exchange replication service VSS writer is disabled, You need to delete the previous registry entry, then restart the Microsoft Exchange replication service.

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