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backup of Exchange VM, log file question, only care about bare metal restore

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I have a scenario where I'd like to do regular live flat backups of a Hyper-V host (just the host and all files, not specifically the Hyper-V VMs). The host contains an Exchange server.

Am I correct to assume that I would be able to restore the VM files manually if needed and my Exchange server would be intact? No issues with the database?

Am I also correct to assume that I would want to enable Circular Logging in Exchange for this scenario?

Thanks!

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You would be able to restore VM files manually. Just check (once) after the backup that there is a message regarding VSS usage in the Event log in guest OS with Exchange.

regarding logging:
Simplest way is to enable Circular Logging in this case.

Hi -

I am not seeing any messages regarding VSS in the Event Viewer logs on either of my 2 VMs (one Windows Server 2008 with Exchange 2007, the other Windows Server 2012 R2).

I am seeing an Event Log entry on the host OS (Windows Server 2012 R2) around the time that the backup completes that says "The VSS service is shutting down due to idle timeout".

Please advise.

Thanks!

If there is no messages regarding VSS in the Event logs, then VMs will be in crash-consistent state. It is the same state as if you suddenly power off Hyper-V host (e.g. no electricity).

I think you need to restore VM files from such backup and verify that you can use such VM after recovery (VM is successfully booted, Exchange is running, etc)