Acronis BR 10 build 1169 Flush Exchange 2007 Logs
I need to confirm a how Acronis BR works with Exchange 2007, I have enabled Microsoft VSS backup and have been able to perform a VSS aware backup of Exchange 2007. My event logs shows that the VSS Writer works and a copy backup is taken, however because this is a copy backup the transaction logs are not flushed.
I need to confirm that if I want a true Exchange aware backup then I need to use Acronis Backup for Exchange and not use Acronis Backup and Recovery?
Is this correct and this is why Acronis have the two specific products for exchange and SQL?
Thanks
Kyle
Yana,
Thanks for the clarification on the VSS aspect, I still need to know is Acronis BR can flush the transaction logs on a suspended backup. I have tested the config suggested and the transaction logs remain.
Does Acronis BR have the ability to tell Exchange to flush the log files or is this planned for a future release?
Without this option the backup can only make Full Backups of Exchange with Circular logging enabled and this does not provide the level of protection required.
Hello Kyle!
Thank you for your reply. I completely share your concern.
Unfortunately currently there is no possiblility for Backup and Recovery to tell Exchange to flush the log files, everything will be backed up as it is. Transaction logs can be truncated only by Acronis Recovery for Exchange and MS SQL products.
In future we plan to release Recovery for Exchange in addition to Backup and Recovery products, so yes, it is planned for future releases, though still we do not have any timeframes when this is ready.
Let me know if something's confusing you, I will be glad to clarify!
Thank you.
Kyle,
Thanks for asking the question - I was looking for exactly the same thing. Except i need Acronis to NOT flush my logs (I am using different product for Exchange aware backup and couldn't have both of them flushing the logs). So I am happy with the answer.
The one thing I still don't understand is what happens if I run Incremental backup of a system with Exchange 2007. I looked in the log, and the pre and post capture commands are carried out. But then when I look at the EDB file sizes, they are the same as the last Full backup. Lets say I run Full backup backup at 2:00 AM and then Increment every hour. If I lose my database at 5:00 PM, will I be able to restore to the 4:00 state, or to the 2:00 AM (last Full) state?
Yana, your explanations are very clear. Can you please help with this one?
Thank you.
Pavla
Dear Pavla,
Welcome to our Forum, we're glad you joined us! I will surely be glad to assist you and answer all your questions.
You will definitely be able to restore your database alongside with the system to 4:00 state. Incremental archive actually is backing up not the files and folders and system, but the changes made to the drive since the last full/incremental backup. Thus your database may not show any changes, since incremental backup refers not to DB folders and services, but to the harddrive snapshot.
When product creates a backup, the following sequence of actions is performed: creating a snapshot -> separating the snapshot to several blocks -> assigning has value (checksum) to every block -> ...
When product creates an incremental backup, it follows the very same steps, and then instead of proceeding with the backup directly it verifies the checksums of the previous backup snapshot with the most recent snapshot - and backs up sectors that were changed.
I tried to simplify the explanation (backup process has more steps and more complicated, but these stages are the main ones), but should it anyway seem complicated - let me know, I will be glad to clarify!
Thank you.