Accessing Exchange Data from VMware Snapshots

Access Exchange Data on a Virtual Machine

Exchange data, such as mail messages, can be restored from an offline point-in-time virtual machine snapshot to reduce impact to the production Exchange Server. To mine Exchange data on a virtual machine, do the following:

Setup Backup Proxy computer and exchange server Virtual Machine

The addresses of both computers must be network resolvable.

Backup Proxy Computer

The backup proxy computer is used to create the snapshot of the Exchange data on the virtual machine. It also is used to run the snap mining job. This proxy computer must satisfy certain requirements, as listed in System Requirements. In addition, ensure that the proxy computer and the Exchange Server virtual machine are members of the same domain.

On this proxy computer, install the following:

After installing, the components in CommCell Console are displayed as follows:

exchange server virtual Machine

This virtual machine has the Exchange data that you wish to mine. The Exchange Server has already been installed on this machine. Install the following:

After installing, the components in CommCell Console are displayed as follows:

Configure Virtual Server iDataAgent and Discover exchange server Virtual Machine

The following steps are performed on the backup proxy computer.

1. Configure an instance of the Virtual Server iDataAgent as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the Agent and click All Tasks | Create New Instance.
  3. Enter an Instance Name and select Vendor Type.
  4. Click Virtual Center.
  5. Enter a valid Host name for the Virtual Center.
  6. Click Configure Password and enter User Name and Password of Virtual Server. Click OK.
  7. Click OK.
2. Discover the Exchange Server virtual machine as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the backupset and select Properties.
  3. Click the Guest Hosts Configuration tab.
  4. Click Discover.
  5. Scroll through the list and select the Exchange Server virtual machine you wish to mine.
  6. Click OK.
  Click the Virtual Machine column to sort the machines alphabetically.

Create magnetic library and storage policy

The following steps are performed on the backup proxy computer.

1. Create a magnetic library if one has not already been configured as follows:
  1. From the Tools menu in the CommCell Console, click Control Panel.
  2. Double click Library & Drive Configuration.
  3. Select the MediaAgent(s) whose devices you want to detect or display, and then click OK.

    NOTES

    • If a device has already been configured for the MediaAgent, the system displays the device in the Library & Drive Configuration window.
  4. Click OK to continue.
  5. Click OK again if prompted.
2. Create a storage policy as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click Storage Policies | New Storage Policy.
  2. Follow the prompts displayed in the Storage Policy Wizard:
    • Click Data Protection and Archiving for type of Storage Policy and click Next.
    • Click No for Legal Hold and click Next.
    • Enter a name in Storage Policy Name and click Next.
    • Enter the Primary Copy name and and click Next.
    • Select the library that was created in Step 1 and click Next.
    • Select the MediaAgent and click Next.
    • Configure device stream and retention criteria (default is infinite) and click Next.
    • For deduplication, select No and click Next.
    • Confirm the selections and click Finish.

Configure and create a snapshot of Exchange data

The following steps are performed on the backup proxy computer.

1. Enable SnapProtect as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to <Client>.
  2. Right-click the client and select Properties.
  3. Click on the Advanced tab.
  4. Select the Enable SnapProtect option to enable SnapProtect backup for the client.
  5. Click OK.
2. Configure the content of the subclient as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the sublcient and click the Content tab.
  3. Click Configure.
  4. In the Guest Hosts Configuration dialog, select the Exchange Server virtual machine and click OK.
  5. Click OK.
3. Assign the storage policy to the subclient as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the subclient and click Properties.
  3. Click the Strorage Device tab.
  4. In Storage Policy, select the storage policy as created in Create Magnetic Library and Storage Policy.
  5. Click OK.
4. Enable SnapProtect and snap mining for the subclient as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the subclient and click Properties.
  3. Click the SnapProtect Operations tab.
  4. Select SnapProtect option to enable SnapProtect backup for the selected subclient.
  5. Select the relevant snap engine from the Available Snap Engines drop-down list.
    Ensure that the snap engine has been configured in Array Management. To configure it, click Enter Array Credentials and click Add.
  6. Specify the IP address of the Host by clicking Select ESX server for snap mount.  Select a Host IP address and click OK.
  7. Select Application aware backup for granular recovery option to enable snap mining for the selected subclient.
  8. Optionally, select the Truncate ExDB Logs to prune Exchange Database logs that are no longer needed and prevent them from growing to an unmanageable size.  This is recommended.
  9. Click OK.
Keep in mind that once snap mining is enabled for a subclient, it cannot be reversed.
5. Configure the backup type and transport mode for the subclient as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the subclient and click Properties.
  3. For Backup Type, select Disk Level.
  4. In Transport Mode for VMWare, select Auto.
  5. Click OK.
 
6. Run the SnapProtect backup job as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | Virtual Server.
  2. Right-click the subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click Full.
  4. Click OK.
In Job Controller, you can view the progress of the job. Double-click the job to view the job details.

Configure and run snap mining job

The following steps are performed on the Exchange Server virtual machine.

1. Configure the subclient of the Exchange Mailbox iDataAgent as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | <Exchange server client> | Exchange Mailbox.
  2. Right-click a subclient and click Properties.
  3. Click the Content tab.
  4. Click Perform backup using mining off snapshot.
  5. Choose the client computer on which the snapshot was created in Client.
  6. Choose Virtual Server as the Agent that was used to create the snapshot. 
  7. Choose the Instance of the Virtual Server iDataAgent that was used to create the snapshot.
  8. Choose the Backupset of the Virtual Server iDataAgent that was used to create the snapshot.
  9. Choose the subclient of the Virtual Server iDataAgent in subclient to use that was used to create the snapshot.
  10. Click Proxy Client and from the pulldown menu, select the proxy computer that will be used to run the snap mining data protection job. You must choose a proxy computer for running the data protection job; it cannot be run from the Exchange Server virtual machine itself. If desired, an additional proxy computer could be used for running the data protection job instead of the backup host proxy. It would have the same requirements as the backup host proxy.
  11. Click OK.
2. Run the snap mining job as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers | <Exchange server client> | Exchange Mailbox.
  2. Right-click a subclient and click Backup.
  3. From the CommCell Console, right-click the subclient and click Backup.
  4. Select Full as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  5. Click OK.

browse and mine exchange data

The following steps are performed on the Exchange Server virtual machine.

1. Browse and mine Exchange data as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the subclient and click Browse Backup Data.
  2. Click OK.
  3. Select data to restore in the Browse window and click Recover All Selected...
  4. Click one of the following in the Restore Options window:
  • Click To Mailbox to restore data to a mailbox. Choose whether to restore to original or different client computer and the same or different path.
  • Click To PST to restore the data to a PST file. Choose whether to restore the PST file to a local or network drive.
  1. Click OK.

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