Advanced – Microsoft Exchange Database iDataAgent Backup

Table of contents

Related Topics

Full Backups

Incremental Backups

Differential Backups

Pause Consistency Checks During Backups

Scheduling A Backup

Managing Jobs

Restarting Jobs

Controlling Jobs

Command Line Backups

Log on to the CommServe

Perform the Backup

Generate the Command Line Script from the CommCell Console

Additional Options

Scheduling

Provides comprehensive information on scheduling jobs.

Job Management

Provides comprehensive information on managing jobs.

 

Full Backup

Full backups provide the most comprehensive protection of data.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Full as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller.  When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Incremental Backup

An incremental backup contains only data that is new or has changed since the last backup, regardless of the type. On average, incremental backups consume less media and use less resources than full backups. 

The illustration on the right clarifies the nature of full and incremental backups.

Follow steps given below to perform an incremental backup:

  To perform an incremental backup, the Pre-selected Backup Type must have been configured for incremental backups during installation.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Pre-Selected Backup Type as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller.  When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Differential Backup

A differential backup contains only the data that is new or has changed since the last full backup. Like incremental backups, differential backups also consume less media and use less resources than full backups. Differential backups are cumulative. This means that each differential backup contains all changes accumulated since the last full backup. Each successive differential backup contains all the changes from the previous differential backup.

The illustration on the right demonstrates the nature of differential backups. For simplicity, assume there is a file system that contains six files as represented in the figure.
  To perform a differential backup, the Pre-selected Backup Type must have been configured for differential backups during installation.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Pre-Selected Backup Type as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller.  When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Pause Consistency Checks During Backups

Pause points allow Exchange system resources to be made available periodically to other processes (e.g. send and receive e-mail messages) during the following:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. Click the Data tab and select the Perform Consistency Check option.
  5. Select the Throttle check for 1 second option and enter the number of I/O operations to complete before the throttle check is performed.
  6. Click OK.

Scheduling A backup

1.
  • Navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  • Right-click the
  • Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
 
2.
  • Click Schedule to schedule the backup for a specific time.
  • Click Configure to set the schedule for the backup job. The Schedule Details dialog displays.
 
3. Select the appropriate scheduling options.  For example:
  • Click Weekly.
  • Check the days you want the run the backup job.
  • Change the Start Time to 9:00 PM
  • Click OK to close the Schedule Details dialog
  • Click OK to close the Backup Options dialog

The backup job will execute as per the schedule.

Managing Jobs

Once you initiate the backup operation, a backup job is generated in the Job Controller. Jobs can be managed in a number of ways. The following sections provide information on the different job management options available:

Restarting Jobs

Jobs that fail to complete successfully are automatically restarted based on the job restartability configuration set in the Control Panel. Keep in mind that changes made to this configuration will affect all jobs in the entire CommCell.

To Configure the job restartability for a specific job, you can modify the retry settings for the job. This will override the setting in the Control Panel. It is also possible to override the default CommServe configuration for individual jobs by configuring retry settings when initiating the job. This configuration, however, will apply only to the specific job.

Backup jobs for this Agent are resumed from the point-of-failure.

Configure Job Restartability at the CommServe Level

  1. From the CommCell Browser, click Control Panel icon.
  2. Select Job Management.
  3. Click Job Restarts tab and select a Job Type.
    • Select Restartable to make the job restartable.
    • Change the value for Max Restarts to change the maximum number of times the Job Manager will try to restart a job.
    • Change the value for Restart Interval (Mins) to change the time interval between attempts for the Job Manager to restart the job.
  4. Click OK.

Configure Job Restartability for an Individual Job

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database
  2. Right-click the Subclient and select Backup
  1. Click Advanced.
  2. In the Advanced Backup Options dialog box, click the Job Retry tab.
  3. Select Enable Total Running Time and specify the maximum elapsed time before a job can be restarted or killed.

    Select Kill Running Jobs When Total Running Time Expires to kill the job after reaching the maximum elapsed time.

  4. Select Enable Number Of Retries and specify the number of retries.
  5. Click OK.
  

Controlling Jobs

The following controls are available for running jobs in the Job Controller window:

Suspend

 Temporarily stops a job. A suspended job is not terminated; it can be restarted at a later time.

Resume

 Resumes a job and returns the status to Waiting, Pending, Queued, or Running. The status depends on the availability of resources, the state of the Operation Windows, or the Activity Control setting.

Kill

 Terminates a job.

Suspending a Job

  1. From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Suspend.
  2. The job status may change to Suspend Pending for a few moments while the operation completes. The job status then changes to Suspended.

Resuming a Job

  1. From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Resume.
  2. As the Job Manager attempts to restart the job, the job status changes to Waiting, Pending, or Running.

Killing a Job

  1. From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Kill.
  2. Click Yes when the confirmation prompt appears if you are sure you want to kill the job. The job status may change to Kill Pending for a few moments while the operation completes. Once completed, the job status will change to Killed and it will be removed from the Job Controller window after five minutes.

Command Line Backups

You can perform backups of Exchange Databases from the command line interface.

Command line backups enable you to perform backup operation on multiple clients simultaneously. In order to run the backups from command line, you need an input xml file which contains the parameters for configuring the backup options. This input xml file can be obtained from one of the following ways:

Log on to the Commserve

To run command line operations you must first login to the CommServe as follows:

Perform the Backup

  1. Download the backup_template.xml file and save it on the computer from where the command will be executed.
  2. Execute the saved .xml script using qoperation execute command.

    qoperation execute -af backup_template.xml -backupLevel  FULL -subclientName xxxxx -clientName xxxxx

  1. Verify the status of the job using the following command:

    qlist job –j JOBID

  2. Once the job completes, logout from the CommServe using the qlogout command.

    qlogout [-cs commserver] [-all] [-tf tokenfile] [-tk token] [-h]

Examples

Performing a Full Backup

qoperation execute -af backup_template.xml -backupLevel  FULL -subclientName subclient1 -clientName client1
Performing an Incremental Backup

qoperation execute -af backup_template.xml -backupLevel  INCREMENTAL -subclientName subclient1 -clientName client1

Generate the Command Line Script from the CommCell Console

In addition to the parameters provided in the template xml file, if you want to include additional options for the backup, you can do so by selecting the required options from the CommCell Console and generate the command line xml script for the backup. 

Follow the steps given below to generate a script which you can use to perform a backup from the command line interface:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database iDataAgent | defaultBackupSet.
  2. Right click the default subclient and click Backup.
  1. Select the required backup options which you want to execute using the script.
  2. Click Save as Script.
  1. Enter the location where you want to save the script or click Browse and navigate to the location.

    The script will be saved as a .xml file and a .bat file is created.

    If a file with the same name already exists in the specified location, the .xml file will be created with a timestamp. However, the .bat file will overwrite the existing file.

  2. Enter the username and password for the user account which you want to use to perform the backup.

    By default, the user account which you have used to login to CommCell console is used for performing the backup. However, if the user account does not have access to any application or database, click Use a different account.

  3. Click OK.

Additional Options

Several additional options are available to further refine your backup operations. The following table describes these options, as well as the steps for configuring them.

Be sure to read the overview material referenced for each feature prior to using them.

Option Description Related topics
Startup Options The Job Manager will use the startup priority setting when allocating the required resources. This is useful if you have jobs that are very important and must complete, or jobs that can be moved to a lower priority.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Startup.
  2. Select Default Priority. You can select Change Priority for a job, between 0 (highest priority) and 999 (lowest priority).
  3. Select Start up in suspended State to specify the selected job to start in the Job Controller in a suspended state.
  4. Click OK.
 Refer to Job Priority and Priority Precedence. 
Job Retry Options The Job Retry option helps in configuring the retry behavior of the backup jobs. You can specify the maximum elapsed time before a job can be restarted or killed and the maximum number of restart attempts.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Job Retry.
  2. Select Enable Total Running Time and specify the maximum elapsed time in hours and minutes.
  3. Select Number Of Retries and specify the number of retries. Based on this number, the Job Manager attempts to restart the job.
  4. Select Kill Running Jobs When Total Running Time Expires. The job will be killed when the job is still in running status even after reaching the maximum elapsed time.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Job Management.
Start New Media The Start New Media option helps in starting the backup/archive operation on a new media.

This media management feature provides a degree of control over where the data physically resides.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Media.
  2. Select Start New Media.
  3. Click OK.
 Refer to Start New Media. 
Mark Media Full The Mark Media Full on Success option marks the Media as Full, 2 minutes after the successful completion of the backup/archive. This feature prevents any other data being written to the same media.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Media.
  2. Select Mark Media Full on Success.
  3. Click OK.
 Refer to Export Media.
Allow other Schedules to use Media Set The Allow Other Schedules to use Media Set option allows jobs that are part of the schedule or schedule policy and using the specific storage policy to start a new media. It also prevents other jobs from writing to the same set of media.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Media.
  2. Select Allow Other Schedules To Use Media Set.
  3. Click OK.
 Refer to Creating an Exportable Media Set.
Extend Job Retention This option allows you to extend the retention end time of the selected job. You can extend the retention period to infinite period or for a specified number of days. You can also extend to storage policy default period.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Media.
  2. Select any of the following Extend Job Retention period options: Infinite/Number of days/Storage Policy default.
  3. Click OK.
  
Data Path Options Data Protection operations use a specific data path (Library, MediaAgent, Drive Pool, and Drive) to perform the backup operations as configured in the CommCell. By default, the system automatically identifies the data path for the backup operations.
The following are some of the important situations where you may need to change the data path:
  • When the preferred MediaAgent, library or drive pool is not available during the backup
  • When you need to use a different MediaAgent, library or drive pool for load balancing purposes.
  • When you need to direct that backup to a particular location for compliance purposes.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Data Path.
  2. Select the MediaAgent and Library.
  3. Select the Drive Pool and Drive for optical and tape libraries.
  4. Click OK.
 Refer Change Data Path.
Vault Tracker The VaultTracker feature provides the facility to manage media that are removed from a library and stored in offsite locations. The VaultTracker function provides the following capabilities in your day-to-day operations:
  • Identifies media that must be sent off-site for storage or brought back from off site locations.
  • Automatically moves the media in sequence in the library and provides a pick-up list for the operators.
  • Identifies and tracks the media during transit.
  • Records and tracks the movement of media not used by all MediaAgents or Foreign Media.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select VaultTracking.
  2. Select the necessary options.
  3. Click OK.
 Refer to VaultTracker  or  VaultTracker Enterprise.

 
Alerts The Alert option is used for setting up the criteria to raise notifications/alerts for job statuses such as failure, success, or any other conditions triggered by the backup job. Adding alerts helps the user or the user group to get the notification automatically about the status of the backup job.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | Exchange Database.
  2. Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Advanced.
  1. Select Alert.
  2. Click Add Alert.
  3. From the Add Alert Wizard window, select the Threshold and Notification Criteria. Click  Next.
  4. Select the Notification Types. Click  Next.
  5. Select the Users and User Groups. Click  Next.
  6. Verify the Summary.
  7. Click Finish.
  8. Click OK.
 Refer to Alerts.
Command Line Backups Command Line Interface enables you to perform backups from the command line. The commands can be executed from the command line or can be integrated into your own scripts or scheduling programs. In addition, you can also generate scripts for specific operations from the CommCell Console using the Save As Script option. These scripts can later be executed using the commands from the command line interface. Refer to Command Line Interface.
CommCell Readiness Report The CommCell Readiness Report provides you with vital information about the condition of your CommCell. Refer to CommCell Readiness Report.
Backup Job Summary Report The Backup Job Summary Report provides the details of all the backup jobs of clients. Refer to Backup Job Summary Report.