tsm dp for exchange 6.3 with storwize v7000 v1.9 final

TSM for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange 6.3 with IBM Storwize V7000

Page 1 IBM System Storage Copyright IBM Corp. 2011

Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange 6.3

with IBM Storwize

V7000

Installation and Configuration Guide

Published: October 2011 Version: 1.9


Page 2 IBM System Storage

Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 Target Environment ................................................................................................................... 3

IBM Storwize V7000 ............................................................................................................... 4 IBM System x3650 M3 ........................................................................................................... 6 Target Audience and Assumptions ......................................................................................... 7 Solution Description ............................................................................................................... 7

VSS Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 8 Configure VSS Pools on the Storwize V7000 ......................................................................... 9 The IBM VSS Hardware Provider ..........................................................................................10

Installation .........................................................................................................................10 Configuration .....................................................................................................................12 Verification ........................................................................................................................12

Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange 6.3 .........................................13 Overview and Features .........................................................................................................13 Installation .............................................................................................................................14

Pre-requisite Software and Configurations ........................................................................15 Configuration .........................................................................................................................15

Backup and Restore Verification ...............................................................................................21 Exchange Backups ...............................................................................................................22

DAG Backup Recommendations .......................................................................................23 Exchange Restores ...............................................................................................................24

General DAG Database Restore Procedure ......................................................................24 TSM Data Protection for Exchange Restore Procedure .....................................................24 Mailbox Restore ................................................................................................................27

Steps to Restore Mailbox Items ......................................................................................27

Restore Files Only .............................................................................................................30 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................30 Appendix A. The TSM Server Macro Configuration File ...........................................................31



Introduction Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange is one of several Tivoli products designed to provide enterprise level, application-aware backup and restore capabilities for products like Microsoft Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, and Windows file systems. These critical business applications demand reliable backup and restore, archiving and disaster recovery options. Data Protection for Exchange, with its powerful Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Server integrated features, meets these needs in an efficient and easy-to-use package. This solution covers one specific configuration, other options are available. Although we used Exchange 2010 and a VSS hardware provider, Exchange 2007 and the built-in Windows software provider are also supported. Exchange data is backed up using Microsofts Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and the IBM VSS hardware provider at the hosts and transferred over the network to the TSM server. The benefit of snapshots is keeping the impact on running applications to a minimum, allowing seamless data protection during business hours. The IBM Storwize V7000 provides a reliable, flexible, and intelligent storage platform for Exchange Server and TSM Data Protection for Exchange, backed by advanced and proven technology and features. The IBM Storwize V7000 is an advanced modular disk system with the ability to virtualize external SAN-attached storage and its own internal storage. The Storwize V7000 disk system is built on the proven IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) platform and utilizes cutting edge data protection and virtualization technology from the IBM DS8000 enterprise class storage family. By participating in Microsofts Windows Hardware Quality Labs Certification (WHQL) and the Exchange Solution Reviewed Program Storage (ESRP), the Storwize V7000 is a proven storage platform for enterprise class Exchange 2010 deployments. The following ESRP documents provide detailed capacity and performance guidelines for medium to large Exchange 2010 configurations: 32,000 Mailbox Exchange 2010 ESRP 60,000 Mailbox Exchange 2010 ESRP

Target Environment The IBM Storwize V7000 disk system targets medium businesses to large enterprise customers seeking enterprise-level reliability and availability. TSM Data Protection for Exchange, with its TSM server integration, is particularly suited for medium to large Exchange environments that require robust scheduling and automation of backups and movement to tape devices. Storage virtualization, like server virtualization, is now one of the key foundations for building a flexible and reliable infrastructure solution that allows companies to better align their business and IT needs. Storage Virtualization allows an organization to implement pools of storage across physically separate disk systems. The Storwize V7000 is even capable of virtualizing storage from different vendors. Storage can be provisioned from these pools and migrated between pools



without any downtime for the attached hosts. It provides a single set of tools for advanced copy functions such as instant copy and remote mirroring solutions. The end result is simplified management from a single interface, regardless of the underlying storage hardware.

The virtualization of storage provides several benefits for storage administrators and management including:

Combining storage capacity from multiple heterogeneous disk systems into a single reservoir that can be managed as a business resource rather than separate boxes

Helps increase storage utilization by providing host applications with more flexible access to capacity

Improves productivity of storage administrators by enabling management of heterogeneous storage systems using a common interface

Improves application availability by insulating host applications from changes to the underlying physical storage infrastructure

Enables a tiered storage environment where the cost of storage can be matched to the value of data, and easily migrated between those tiers

Supports advanced copy services from higher-cost to lower-cost devices and across storage systems from multiple vendors

IBM Storwize V7000 The IBM Storwize V7000 disk system consists of both hardware and software. The modular hardware enclosures include integrated drives of varying form factors, including both hard disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD). The solution also provides external storage virtualization, making it possible to integrate with and manage heterogeneous storage along with the Storwize V7000 storage.

The Storwize V7000 system is designed to allow quick and efficient storage deployment, thanks to an easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI), integrated drives, and interoperability with nearly any back-end SAN attached storage. The new web-based GUI as shown below runs on the Storwize V7000 system so there is no longer a separate console server or management software installation required. Simply point a web browser to the cluster IP address that has been configured on the Storwize V7000 system in order to access this GUI. The Storwize V7000 consists of a control enclosure and optionally up to 9 expansion enclosures. The system also supports intermixing 3.5" and 2.5" type controller and expansion enclosures. Each enclosure houses two canisters; Control enclosures contain two Node canisters and expansion enclosures contain two Expansion canisters.



The system provides a choice of up to 120 x 3.5 inch or 240 x 2.5 inch Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives for the internal storage and uses SAS cables and connectors to attach to the optional expansion enclosures. In addition to the hard disk drives, there are also solid-state drives (SSDs) available, which are small form factor 2.5 inch drives.

The Storwize V7000 also includes a new function called Easy Tier. This function takes advantage of the high performance solid-state drives, by automatically moving the most active data from hard disk drives to solid-state drives using a very sophisticated algorithm. There is also an option to enable monitoring of a specific storage pool, and Easy Tier can evaluate and predict how SSD drives will improve performance. This allows storage administrators to determine the potential benefit before purchasing SSD drives. When virtualizing external storage arrays the Storwize V7000 can provide up to 32PB of capacity and supports a large range of external disk systems. The Storwize V7000 includes flexible host connectivity options with support for 8GB Fibre Channel or 10GbE iSCSI sessions. This is an important capability, considering many IT infrastructures are mixed or migrating to newer and faster storage networking technologies. In addition, there is also a full array of advanced features including:

Seamless data migration, to internal or external arrays

Thin provisioning



Volume mirroring, thin mirroring

Global and Metro Mirror replication, in box or between two Storwize V7000s

FlashCopy

with 256 targets, cascaded, incremental, space efficient (thin provisioned)

Integration with Tivoli Productivity Center More detailed information on the Storwize V7000 disk system can be found in the IBM Storwize V7000 Introduction and Implementation guide Redbook at: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg247938.html?Open Another excellent resource is the IBM Storwize V7000 Information Center at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/storwize/ic/index.jsp

IBM System x3650 M3

IBM System x3650 M3 servers were used for this solution. The x3650 M3 offers outstanding performance for your mission-critical applications. Its energy-efficient design supports more cores, memory and data capacity in a scalable 2U package thats easy to service and manage. With more computing power per watt and the latest Intel Xeon processors, you can reduce costs while maintaining speed and availability. Key features include:

Energy efficient 2U chassis Up to two 3.33 GHz six-core (3.46 GHz four-core) Intel Xeon 5600 series processors

with QuickPath Interconnect technology, up to 1333 MHz memory access speed Up to 192 GB RDIMMs or 48 GB UDIMMs high-performance, DDR-3 memory Internal storage flexibility with up to 16 2.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs Up to 4 PCIe slots

The x3650 M3 makes an excellent choice for an Exchange 2010 server that can meet the growth and availability needs of the medium to large environments. More information on the IBM System x3650 can be found at: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/hardware/rack/x3650m3/index.html



Target Audience and Assumptions This document is for IT and storage professionals with the following experience:

Windows Server 2008 and R2 administration and monitoring Exchange Server 2010 backup and restore concepts Exchange Server 2010 DAG configuration and management General SAN, disk systems, host connectivity and terminology Microsoft VSS framework features, utilities, and functionality Basic SVC or Storwize V7000 concepts and administration

Detailed descriptions of the setup and management of these systems is beyond the scope of this document. This includes Storwize V7000 setup and administration tasks, which are covered in the IBM Storwize V7000 Installation and Users Guides available on the IBM website.

Solution Description This solution used the following components:

IBM system x3650 M2 servers IBM Storwize V7000 disk system, firmware level 6.2.0.1 IBM SDDDSM multi-path software, version 2.4.3.1-1 IBM VSS Hardware Provider, version 4.2 Tivoli Storage Manager - Data Protection for Exchange, version 6.3 Tivoli Storage Manager server, version 6.3 Exchange Server 2010 SP1 with Database Availability Groups (DAGs) configured Windows Server 2008 R2 Microsoft Loadgen (Exchange artificial workload generator)

Although this solution provides detailed installation and configuration guidelines, it does not cover every configuration option or procedure. The illustration below summarizes the test configurations used. All Exchange and TSM storage is hosted on the IBM Storwize V7000 disk system. The Windows Server hosts can be connected to the IBM Storwize V7000 via Fibre Channel or iSCSI. The IBM VSS hardware provider version 4.2 or later supports the use of both Fibre Channel and iSCSI connected VSS operations. For Fibre Channel connectivity, the IBM SDDDSM multi-path software must be used to manage the multiple paths correctly. Use the latest version available from the IBM.com download site. The SDDDSM installer also automatically checks for and installs the Microsoft MPIO feature if needed. For iSCSI sessions, use the built-in Microsoft iSCSI initiator with the Microsoft MPIO feature to enable multi-path support.



VSS Preparation Before installing TSM software components, the VSS environment must be configured. The following steps are included in this section:

Configuring VSS storage pools on the Storwize V7000 Installing the IBM VSS Hardware Provider on each Exchange server Configuring the IBM VSS Hardware Provider Verify the IBM VSS Hardware Provider installation

Although the software supports use of the built-in Windows software VSS provider, this specific solution utilizes the IBM VSS Hardware Provider to handle snapshot processing at the disk array level.



Configure VSS Pools on the Storwize V7000 The IBM VSS Hardware Provider maintains a free and a reserved pool of volumes. When a shadow copy is created, the IBM VSS Hardware Provider software selects a volume in the free pool, assigns it to the reserved pool, and then removes it from the free pool. This protects the volume from being overwritten by other VSS requests. These pools are implemented on the Storwize V7000 as virtual hosts, as outlined below. To successfully perform a Volume Shadow Copy Service operation, there must be enough volumes in the free pool, and they must be of the same size as the source volumes. Use the Storwize V7000 management tool to perform the following steps:

1. Create volumes to be used exclusively for VSS snapshots. They must be the same size as your Exchange database and log volumes

2. Create a virtual host for the free pool of volumes. Give it a descriptive name such as VSS_FREE and assign it the worldwide port name (WWPN) of 5000000000000000 (15 zeroes)

3. Create a host for the reserved pool of volumes. Give it a name such as VSS_RESERVED and assign the WWPN of 5000000000000001 (14 zeroes)

4. Assign the volumes to the VSS_FREE host created, this virtual host is also known as the VSS free pool

Restriction: The free pool volumes cannot be mapped to any other hosts. Free pool volumes must be of the same size as the volumes being backed up (source disks). They can be thin provisioned volumes, as long as the physical maximum capacity on those volumes is the same size as the source disks. Volumes of varying sizes are permitted in the free pool. The VSS provider will use a volume of the appropriate size as needed that matches the source volume size. NOTE: If you do not use the IBM VSS hardware provider default WWPNs 5000000000000000 and 5000000000000001, then you must manually configure the IBM VSS Hardware Provider software to use the alternate WWPNs with the ibmvcfg.exe tool.



The IBM VSS Hardware Provider For this solution, the IBM VSS Hardware Provider is installed on each Exchange server. The hardware provider maintains a free pool of LUNs for use as FlashCopy targets and a reserved pool of LUNs which are disks currently hosting snapshots. The following software and versions are required to support all functionality of this solution:

IBM VSS Hardware Provider, version 4.2 or later

IBM Storwize V7000 software version 6.1 which is included pre-installed on the Storwize V7000

FlashCopy function which is included with the base IBM Storwize V7000 installation

During the installation process, a Storwize V7000 user account with Administrator rights will be needed to setup access for the hardware provider.

Note: The Storwize V7000 uses the CIM accounts for its security. As a result, any administrator level account being used for the Storwize V7000 management tool logon can be used as the VSS Hardware Provider account.

Installation Perform the following steps to install the IBM VSS Hardware Provider:

1. Log on to Windows as an administrator. 2. Download the latest IBM VSS installation package (v 4.2 or later) from the following Web

site: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S4000372&rs=1113

3. Double click on the name of the file that you downloaded to start the installation process.

The Welcome panel is displayed 4. Click Next to continue. The License Agreement panel is displayed. You can click Cancel

at any time to exit the installation. To move back to previous screens while using the wizard, click Back

5. Read the license agreement information. Select whether you accept the terms of the license agreement, and click Next. If you do not accept, you cannot continue with the installation. The Choose Destination Location panel is displayed

6. Click Next to accept the default directory where the setup program will install the files, or click Change to select a different directory. Click Next. The Ready to Install the Program panel is displayed

7. Click Install to begin the installation. To exit the wizard and end the installation, click Cancel. The Setup Status panel is displayed



8. The Select CIM Server panel is displayed

9. Select the required CIM server or enter the CIM Server address manually, and click Next. The Enter CIM Server Details panel is displayed

Note: You must use the integrated CIM Server on the Storwize V7000

10. Enter the following information in the fields:

o In the CIM Server Address field, type the IP address of the Storwize V7000 controller cluster. This forces the IBM VSS Hardware Provider to communicate directly with the integrated CIM on the Storwize V7000 over HTTPS on port 5989 (default port)



o In the CIM User field, type a user name that the IBM VSS Hardware Provider will use to access to the CIM agent on the Storwize V7000. You may also use the default superuser account or an account created specifically for this purpose. You may also use any administrator level account that you use to login to the Storwize V7000 management tool, as these are also CIM accounts

11. Enter the account password In the CIM Password field, and click Next Note: If these settings change after installation, you can use the ibmvcfg.exe tool to update IBM VSS provider software with the new settings. If you do not have the CIM agent server, port, or user information, contact your CIM agent administrator

12. The InstallShield Wizard Complete panel is displayed 13. Click Finish. If necessary, the InstallShield Wizard prompts you to restart the system

Configuration

1. From a command prompt, change to the IBM VSS Hardware Provider directory. The default location is: C:\Program Files\IBM\Hardware Provider for VSS-VDS

2. Use ibmvcfg.exe to set the Storwize V7000 ID with the following command:

ibmvcfg set targetSVC

The Storwize V7000 ID (16 hexadecimal digits) can be found using the management GUI through System Status, then clicking the system name.

Verification This task verifies that the IBM VSS Hardware Provider software is correctly installed. Perform the following steps to verify the installation:

1. Go to the Windows Services panel and verify there is a service named: IBM System Storage Support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service

2. Verify that the service status shows Started and the Startup Type is Automatic 3. Open a command prompt window and issue the following command:

vssadmin list providers

4. Verify there is a provider listed as: IBM System Storage Volume Shadow Copy Service

Hardware Provider 5. Use the ibmvcfg showcfg command to verify the parameters set earlier 6. Use the ibmvcfg list command to test the connection to the IBM System Storage

master console. The output should be a list of LUNs on the Storwize V7000 7. Use the ibmvcfg list free command to verify the volumes are available in the

VSS_FREE pool If you are able to successfully perform all of these verification tasks, the IBM VSS Hardware Provider software was successfully installed.



To further verify VSS functionality, during the backups the non-persistent VSS snapshots can be observed in Windows Disk Manager. The snapshots of the database and log volumes show up as mounted online volumes temporarily, and are automatically removed after the data is transferred to the TSM Server.

Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange 6.3 This guide is based on IBM ISV solution lab proof of concept testing and is supplemented by information from the TSM installation and configuration guides. The Tivoli documentation provides more in-depth information and should be reviewed and followed in conjunction with the procedures in this guide. For the most up to date information and additional details on Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange, please visit the TSM Information Center at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tsminfo/v6/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.itsm.relnotes.doc%2Frelnote_dpexc611.html

Overview and Features Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange is designed around ease of use, and takes advantage of the familiar Microsoft MMC graphical interface. Most of the initial configuration and management is driven by easy to use wizards, replacing much of the manual file editing that was required in earlier versions. The product is also referred to in this document as Data Protection for Exchange, for simplicity. Data Protection for Exchange can be used with Tivoli FlashCopy Manager which provides local snapshot capabilities and management. This solution is focused only on the Data Protection for Exchange product. Solution guides covering Tivoli FlashCopy Manager can be found here: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/solutions/isv/index.html#microsoft Because the testing for this solution was based on pre-release software, the Data Protection for Exchange software was bundled with the TSM FlashCopy Manger 3.1 (FCM) software. As a result many of the screen shots show the FCM interfaces. The two applications use the same underlying software components; however they have separate configuration wizards. They can be used individually or combined depending on your backup needs and the type of licensing purchased. The released products will ship as individual software packages. On the next page is a table that compares the two products and their supported capabilities individually and combined.



Tivoli Storage Exchange Backup Capability Matrix

Function FCM Only

DP/Exchange Only

FCM + DP/Exchange

Legacy (streaming) backups (Exchange 2007 only) No Yes Yes

VSS - Store snaps LOCAL (persistent) Yes No Yes

VSS - Store snaps on a TSM Server No Yes Yes

VSS - Offloaded backups to TSM No No Yes

VSS - Uses FCM "Virtual Server" Yes No No

Centralized Policy No Yes Yes

Centralized Scheduling No Yes Yes

MMC Interface Yes Yes Yes

Configuration Wizards Yes Yes Yes

VSS Instant Restore (Volume-level restore) Yes No Yes

Mailbox Restore (IMR) Yes Yes Yes

TSM Data Protection for Exchange includes the backup and restore features that Exchange administrators have come to expect. These features include:

Support for standalone and replication based Exchange configurations

Individual mailbox and item level recovery capability

Backup from active or passive DAG databases

Tivoli Storage Manager server integration for long term backup management

Restore to the original server and file location

Restore a copy to an alternate server or location

Restore files only feature

Support for Recovery Storage Group (RSG) or Recovery Database (RDB)

Installation This section provides an overview of the installation process. The software installer automatically checks for and installs prerequisite software.

1. Logon as administrator and launch the install executable on the Exchange server 2. Complete the installation wizard steps, which are self-explanatory and easy to follow 3. After the install completes, review the summary page and verify there are no errors

After the product is installed, there is a configuration wizard that must be completed before the system is ready to start protecting Exchange. The details of this configuration are covered in the following section.



Pre-requisite Software and Configurations To use the Mailbox Restore and/or Mailbox Restore Browser you will need to have the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 6.5.8147.0 (or later) package installed on the system. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e17e7f31-079a-43a9-bff2-0a110307611e&displaylang=en Also verify the following:

Make sure Data Protection for Exchange is running under an account with membership in the Organization Management group (Exchange 2010)

The above domain account must have an active Exchange mailbox

Make sure all standard Windows OS level patches and components are up to date

The TSM installer will check for additional software components and install them as needed

Configuration The software package includes all of the client-side TSM software components needed for this solution, including Data Protection for Exchange and the TSM Backup / Archive Client (the VSS requestor). The Data Protection for Exchange configuration wizard is covered below, which automates the entire configuration process, including settings on the TSM Server. Note: For the proof of concept testing and screen shots below, the pre-release version of TSM Data Protection for Exchange was accessed through the FlashCopy Manager MMC. The released product will have the same MMC, but it will be labeled as Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail - Data Protection for Exchange. Follow the below steps to complete the configuration.

1. From the Windows Start > All Programs > Tivoli FlashCopy Manager menu, select FlashCopy Manager Management Console

2. When the MMC loads the first time, the configuration wizard appears. There is an optional check box to disable automatically starting the wizard

3. To start the wizard manually, from the MMC left panel, expand the tree and navigate to Configuration > Wizards.

4. Select TSM Configuration to open the Data Protection for Exchange wizard



5. Click the Exchange Server box, click Next

6. The requirements check runs and displays the status. If anything is not ready, a link to more information is available. Resolve any errors and click Next to continue



7. Specify the node names. There are two nodes needed per Exchange server. One is for

the server itself (server name), referred to as the VSS Requestor node name; the other is the Data Protection for Exchange node name (server name_exc).

8. Enter the TSM server information, the IP and port number (default is usually fine), and select Yes on the offer to let the wizard configure the TSM server. This is a nice feature that automates the creation of TSM server node accounts and other required settings

9. Enter the TSM Server Administrator account. The default is admin, with a password of admin (or obtain the account information from your TSM Server administrator) Optionally, you may view or edit the TSM Server configuration macro file, which shows the configurations that will be completed automatically (See Appendix A.) Click Next to continue



10. On the custom configuration screen, select Default, and click Next



11. At this point, the wizard configures all settings selected and displays a status summary when it finishes. Verify the status is green for all items. If it is yellow or red, click on the link provided for guidance. These links provide very detailed information that usually resolves the issue. After any issues are resolved, click Next to continue

Note: When running the configuration wizard on subsequent Exchange servers in an environment, there may be some warning messages regarding TSM Server configuration status. This is normal because some of the objects specified in the TSM Server macro file have already been created or configured. In these cases, the setting is just skipped and logged.

12. The final summary page appears. Check the box to Run VSS diagnostics when this wizard finishes, and click the Finish button



13. The VSS Snapshot testing screen appears. Select the volumes to test and click Next

14. Verify all VSS tests finish successfully



15. In the MMC go to Protect and Recover data, right click on the Exchange server, and select properties

16. This brings up the Data Protection Properties dialog box

17. Go to the General object and set the following to enable individual mailbox restores:

Specify the temporary database and log directories. This must have adequate space to store the entire database and logs. A separate volume on the Storwize V7000 may need to be provisioned for this

Specify the temporary mailbox alias used for the restore process

Specify the Client Access Server (CAS) Exchange role server

18. Select the other restore options as needed. Backup mailbox history is required for Mailbox Restore. Click OK to finish

Backup and Restore Verification The primary purpose of this guide is to cover the installation and configuration steps for implementation with the IBM Storwize V7000, and to validate the features work as expected. Covering every backup and restore option, as well as the day to day TSM Server administration, is beyond the scope of the paper. Proof of concept backup and restore operations were tested to ensure functionality with the Storwize V7000. Follow the steps in this section to validate your installation and learn the backup and restore procedures.



For more detailed coverage of backup, restore, and administration options, please reference the Tivoli Storage Manager Information Center at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tsminfo/v6/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.itsm.relnotes.doc%2Frelnote_dpexc611.html

Exchange Backups The following section shows how to test your installation by backing up Exchange databases in a DAG configuration, as this is what most Exchange 2010 environments are running. The process is similar with a stand-alone Exchange configuration. One of the benefits of using DAGs and TSM Data Protection for Exchange is the ability to perform backups of the passive database copy, further eliminating impact on the production Exchange servers. For the proof of concept testing, one DAG was configured with 2 servers and 1 database copy. During the backup testing, LoadGen provided the mailbox workload, simulating a user load on the servers during the backups. The screen below shows a backup being configured on the server hosting the passive database copy.



Complete the following steps to test Exchange backups.

1. From the TSM Data Protection for Exchange MMC, select the Exchange server to back up

2. Right click on the database to be backed up, and select the Backup Method of VSS and the Backup Location of TSM

3. In the right panel, click on the type of backup to perform, such as Full Backup; clicking on the backup type starts the backup job

4. As the backup job begins, progress can be observed in the Task List. More information and a progress bar is available in the Task Details panel as shown below

DAG Backup Recommendations To avoid increasing the load on the active databases, perform backups from a server with a passive copy of the databases. This requires a few more steps during the recovery process, since restores can only be done against active databases. To simplify the restore procedure, perform backups from the servers with an active copy of the database.



Exchange Restores Restores in a DAG environment must be performed against the active database. This is a Microsoft design requirement. When it comes to restoring DAG based databases, there are some standard restore steps that must be followed regardless of the backup software used. We will list these steps next, followed by the TSM specific restore process.

General DAG Database Restore Procedure You can perform these steps with the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell commands (shown in parentheses)

1. Make the database that you want to restore active (Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase) 2. Suspend replication for all passive copies of the database (Suspend-MailboxCopy) 3. Dismount the active mailbox database (Dismount-Database) 4. Perform the restore using the TSM Data Protection for Exchange process covered

below and return here to continue the remaining steps 5. If not performed in the previous step by the backup software, mount the active mailbox

database (Mount-Database) 6. Verify the database is online without errors before starting to update or reseed to

replicated database copies 7. Update or reseed all replicas (Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy). This step avoids potential

transaction log synchronization problems that might arise if replication were resumed directly

8. Resume Replication 9. Move the active database back to the desired server (Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase)

TSM Data Protection for Exchange Restore Procedure The following steps are completed from the TSM Data Protection for Exchange MMC. Ensure the above DAG recovery steps 1 through 3 are completed.

1. In the left panel, select the Exchange server name 2. In the center panel, click on the Recover tab 3. Wait for the list of backups to appear 4. Select the backup and click on Show Restore Options as shown below. Select the

restore options appropriate for your recovery goals



5. In the right panel, click on Restore to begin recovery 6. Before the recovery starts a pop up message is displayed, shown below, covering some

general VSS related recovery information. Most of this does not apply to our solution as configured, since we are not using Instant Restore. If FlashCopy Manager were being used along with Data Protection for Exchange, then these warnings would apply.



7. Click Yes to continue with the recovery 8. The software detects that the restore involves a DAG database copy, and prompts for

confirmation with the below message

9. Click Yes to continue with the recovery 10. Monitor the progress in the Task Details panel. When it completes verify the database is

mounted on the Exchange server 11. Continue with steps 6 through 8 in the previous section on general DAG based database

restore procedures



Mailbox Restore Individual mailbox restores are a common email administration request in most Exchange environments. Having the ability to quickly and simply restore a single mailbox or items within the mailbox makes the Exchange administrators daily job much easier. The mailbox restore feature has some pre-requisites as covered earlier and noted again below. The specific settings are configured on the Properties > General page for each Exchange server in the MMC.

The MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects package

Specify the temporary database and log directories. This must have adequate space to store the entire database and logs. A separate volume on the Storwize V7000 may need to be provisioned for this

Specify the temporary mailbox alias used for the restore process

Specify the Client Access Server (CAS) Exchange role server

Data Protection for Exchange must be running under an account with membership in the Organization Management group (Exchange 2010)

The above domain account must have an active Exchange mailbox Note: The Mailbox Restore Browser is for interactively restoring mailboxes and mail items, while Mailbox Restore is for batch restore operations. Either feature can be used to restore individual items or entire mailboxes. Both features also support the use of filters to help find specific mail messages to restore. In the example below, the Mailbox Restore Browser is used to demonstrate the granular recovery capability.

Steps to Restore Mailbox Items The mailbox restore feature is started from the TSM Data Protection for Exchange MMC. Follow the below steps to restore individual items from a mailbox.

1. In the left panel, select the Exchange server name 2. Click on the Recover tab 3. Click on the View options to view either the Mailbox Restore Browser or Mailbox

Restore as shown below



4. A dialog box appears with the list of mailboxes, as shown below. Click on the desired mailbox, set the Backup Date/Time, and click OK



5. Wait while the database is restored to the temporary database location. This can take

some time depending on the size of the database 6. Once the database is restored, the mailbox contents are displayed in a browser view as

shown below

7. Select all at the top level, a folder, or individual items in a folder 8. Right click on the item to be restored and select the desired restore option to start the

restore 9. A dialog box appears showing the progress and final status of the recovery operation, as

shown on the next page. Click Close and verify the item was restored to the mailbox.



Restore Files Only A new feature in version 6.3 is the Restorefiles command for VSS backups. This command can be used to recover data from VSS backups without interrupting the Exchange Server. Use the command to restore VSS based backups as flat files to a specified directory. An Exchange Server does not need to be installed or accessible from the machine that performs the restorefiles command. Files can be restored to any directory on the same machine as the Exchange Server. The flat files can also be restored to a network share accessible to the machine where the restorefiles command is executed. This is a powerful command line tool with many syntax options. Due to its complexity, it will not be covered here. Please consult the TSM Data Protection for Exchange user guide for a full explanation of the command, and a list of syntax options and examples.

Conclusion This solution addresses enterprise requirements for highly available Microsoft Exchange 2010 environments. Microsofts VSS framework is designed to enable instant point-in-time snapshots of Exchange databases and replicas. The IBM FlashCopy function and IBM VSS Hardware Provider handle snapshot processing, minimizing the impact on server resources. IBM servers and disk systems like the Storwize V7000 provide the processing throughput, interoperability, advanced availability and management features needed in larger Exchange deployments. TSM Data Protection for Exchange provides a powerful combination of fast Exchange backups and full featured backup management by the TSM Server.



Appendix A. The TSM Server Macro Configuration File This is a sample of the file that is generated by the TSM Data Protection for Exchange configuration wizard. The wizard creates this file based on the input provided and automatically configures these settings on the TSM Server. These settings are generally a good starting point; however they may need to be adjusted on the TSM server to meet the specific needs of a given environment. The file can also be edited before finishing the configuration wizard. Please consult the TSM Server documentation, or your TSM Server administrator for additional details on these options and how to re-configure any of these settings on the TSM server. /*====================================================================*/ /* This macro is generated as part of the TSM configuration wizard. */ /* A TSM administrator can use this information as an example of one way to */ /* to configure TSM to support application data protection. */ /*====================================================================*/ /*====================================================================*/ /* If needed, define a stgpool and volume for exchange */ /*====================================================================*/ define stgpool fcm_spexc disk define spacetrigger stg stgpool=fcm_spexc define volume fcm_spexc fcm_volexc1.dsm formatsize=100 /*====================================================================*/ /* If needed, create policy domains for the dp components exchange */ /*====================================================================*/ define domain fcm_pdexc define policy fcm_pdexc standard define mgmt fcm_pdexc standard standard assign defmgmtclass fcm_pdexc standard standard define copygr fcm_pdexc standard standard standard dest=fcm_spexc verexists=2 verdeleted=1 retextra=30 retonly=60 validate policy fcm_pdexc standard activate policy fcm_pdexc standard /*====================================================================*/ /* If needed, register node for the vss requestor */ /*====================================================================*/ register node L22-3650-2 L22-3650-2 update node L22-3650-2 L22-3650-2 backdelete=yes forcep=yes



/*====================================================================*/ /* If needed, register an exchange node */ /*====================================================================*/ register node L22-3650-2_EXC L22-3650-2_EXC domain=fcm_pdexc update node L22-3650-2_EXC L22-3650-2_EXC backdelete=yes domain=fcm_pdexc forcep=yes grant proxynode target=L22-3650-2_EXC agent=L22-3650-2 /*====================================================================*/ /* End of macro */ /*====================================================================*/



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tsm dp for exchange 6.3 with storwize v7000 v1.9 final

Documents

ibm storwize v7000 page

mail data protection

ibm system x3650 m3

ibm vss hardware provider

exchange backups

tivoli storage manager

configuration guide

vss pools