Continuous Backup for Exchange Server with DPM 2007 (Part 2)

If you missed the next parts in this article series please read:

 

 

 

DPM 2007 Configuration

 

After the completion of the DPM installation process, these are the required configuration tasks:

 

 

  • Add one or more disks to the storage pool.
  • Install a protection agent on each computer that you want to protect.
  • Create one or more protection groups.

 

The following procedures detail how to accomplish the previous tasks.

 

 

  1. Log on to the DPM server with a domain user account that has local administrator rights. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007, and then click Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
  2. DPM 2007 requires a disk that is dedicated to the storage pool (a disk on which you install DPM cannot be added to the storage pool). Although a pre-existing volume on a storage pool disk may have free space, DPM can use only space in volumes that it creates. To make the entire disk space available to the storage pool, delete any existing volumes on the disk, and then add the disk to the storage pool.
    In DPM Administrator Console, in the Management task area, on the Disks tab, in the Actions pane, click Add.
    As we saw in part 1, my DPM server has an entire disk available to use with DPM 2007, so I’ll add that entire volume to the storage pool. As I do that, I get a warning stating that the disk will be converted to dynamic (Figure 1). After clicking Yes, the disk will show up as belonging to the DPM storage pool (Figure 2).

 


Figure
1: Warning

 


Figure
2: DPM Storage Pool Disks

 

 

  1. To install a Protection Agent, in DPM Administrator Console, in the Management task area, on the Agents tab, in the Actions pane, click Install. The Protection Agent Installation wizard appears and guides you through the process of creating the protection agent. On the Select Computers page (Figure 3), select one or more computers from the Computer name list, click Add, and then click Next.

 


Figure
3: Select Computers

 

 

  1. On the Enter Credentials page (Figure 4), type the user name and password for a domain account that is a member of the local administrators group on all selected servers and click Next. On the Choose Restart Method page (Figure 5), select the method you will use to restart the computers after the protection agent is installed. The computer must be restarted before you can start protecting data. Click Next.

 


Figure
4: Enter Credentials

 


Figure
5: Choose Restart

 

 

  1. On the Summary page (Figure 6), click Install to begin the installation. On the Installation page, the results appear on the Task tab to indicate whether the installation is successful or not (Figure 7). Click Close.

 


Figure
6: Summary

 


Figure
7: Agent Installation

 

 

  1. After the protected server restarts, it will appear as an Unprotected computers with protection agent (Figure 8). If that server didn’t have all the required prerequisites, the installation process would fail and you would see a popup error (Figure 9). On the other hand, if the agent is installed, it will now appear on the Add/Remove Programs (Figure 10) and there will be a new service running on that machine (Figure 11).

 


Figure
8: DPM Agents

 


Figure
9: DPM Agent installation error

 


Figure
10: Add/Remove Programs

 


Figure
11: DPM Agent Service

 

 

  1. Before creating the Protection Group, since we’re protecting an Exchange Server, we must copy the ese and eseutil files (usually located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Bin) to the DPM Server. The versions of eseutil.exe and ese.dll that are installed on the computer running the most recent edition of Exchange Server must be the same versions that are installed on the DPM server. The following table shows all possible scenarios to determine the correct version of eseutil.exe and ese.dll that you must install on the DPM server. The files should be copied to the \DPM\bin folder under the path where you installed DPM 2007 (Figure 12).

 

 

 

DPM Server Protecting:

 

DPM Processor

 

Copy the Exchange Server Version of Eseutil.exe and Ese.dll from:

 

  • Exchange Server 2007 (64-bit)
 

32-bit

 

Exchange Server 2007

 

  • Exchange Server 2007 (64-bit)
    And
  • Exchange Server 2007 (64-bit) and Exchange Server 2003
  •  
 

32-bit

 

Exchange Server 2007 (32-bit version). The Exchange Server 2007 version binaries work with both versions of Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2003 databases.

 

You can obtain this version from the Exchange Server 2007 Setup DVD or on the Exchange Server TechCenter Web site.

 

  • Exchange Server 2007 (64-bit)
    Or
  • Exchange Server 2007 (64-bit) and Exchange Server 2003
  •  
 

64-bit

 

Exchange Server 2007

 

  • Exchange Server 2003
 

32-bit

 

Exchange Server 2003

 

  • Exchange Server 2003
 

64-bit

 

Exchange Server 2003

 

Table 1: Scenarios determining eseutil.exe and ese.dll versions

 


Figure
12: ese and eseutil files on the DPM server

 

 

  1. To create a Protection Group, in DPM Administrator Console, in the Protection task area, in the Actions pane, click Create protection group. The New Protection Group Wizard appears and guides you through the process of creating the protection group (Figure 13). Click Next.

 


Figure
13: New Protection Group Wizard

 

 

  1. On the Select Group Members page, verify that all computers that store data you want to protect are displayed in the Available members box. In the Available members box, expand the server nodes to display the available data sources on each server and to see available Exchange storage groups. Place a check mark in the box next to each storage group you want to include. As you select data sources, your selections appear in the Selected members box (Figure 14). Click Next.

 


Figure
14: Select Group Members

 

 

  1. On the Select Data Protection Method page, select I want short-term protection using check box for short-term protection and then select the media you want to use from the drop-down list. Since we do not have a tape library attached to the DPM server, only Disk is available for short-term protection (Figure 15). Click Next.

 


Figure
15: Select Data Protection Method

 

 

  1. On the Specify Exchange Protection Options page, select the Run Eseutil to check data integrity check box to check the integrity of the Exchange Server databases (Figure 16). This will offload the backup consistency checking from the Exchange Server to the DPM server which means the I/O impact of running eseutil on the Exchange Server during the backup itself is eliminated. If you didn’t previously copy the eseutil file, as mentioned on step 7, you’ll see an error (Figure 17). Click Next.

 


Figure
16: Exchange Protection Options

 


Figure
17: Error eseutil

 

 

  1. On the Specify Short-Term Goals page (Figure 18), select the retention duration for data recovery in the Retention range box. In the Synchronization frequency section, select the frequency of the incremental backups or Just before a recovery point to configure DPM to perform an express full backup just before each scheduled recovery point. To modify the recovery point schedule for a data source, click Modify next to the desired data source. Select your desired times and week days (Figure 19) and click OK. Click Next.

 


Figure
18: Short-Term Goals

 


Figure
19: Express Full Backup Schedule

 

 

  1. DPM will display its recommended disk allocations (Figure 20). This step enables you to allocate how much of the disk storage pool will be used to protect these particular data sources. You should allocate the DPM replica volume to slightly larger than the amount you expect each data source to grow in the short term. Sizing the recovery point volume will determine how many previous recovery points are available for rapid, disk-based restore. To allocate disk storage, do one of the following: To accept the recommended allocations, click Next. To change a recommended allocation, click Modify, adjust the allocations (Figure 21), click OK, and then click Next.

 


Figure
20: Disk Allocation

 


Figure
21: Modify Disk Allocation

 

 

  1. On the Choose Replica Creation Method page (Figure 22), select when you want DPM to execute the initial replication of your data and click Next.

 

 

  • Select the Automatically option to have DPM replicate the data across the network. Select Now to have DPM immediately begin copying the data from the computers you are protecting to the DPM server; Select Later to start the initial copy at a later time if you want to schedule the job to run only during periods of light network traffic.
  • Select Manually to use tape, USB storage, or other portable media to transfer the baseline data to the DPM server.

 


Figure
22: Replica Creation Method

 

 

  1. On the Summary page (Figure 23), review the tasks that DPM is set to perform to create the protection group and then click Create Group. Review the confirmation page (Figure 24) and click Close.

 


Figure
23: Summary

 


Figure
24: Protection Group Creation Status

 

DPM will immediately create the first replica of the storage groups (Figure 25) and will show an OK protection status if it succeeds (Figure 26).

 


Figure
25: Exchange replica in progress

 


Figure
26: Exchange Protection Group

 

Summary

 

Although configuring Data Protection Manager 2007 and creating an Exchange Protection Group is not difficult, the agent installation requires a restart of your production servers, so it must be very well planned.

 

In the next part of this article, we’ll look into some other configuration options and we’ll cover the backup process in more detail.

 

Related Links

 

 

 

If you missed the next parts in this article series please read:

 

 

 

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