Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server
2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2007-08-24
Having familiarized yourself with the various disaster recovery concepts, it is important to select a disaster recovery strategy. The disaster recovery strategy you select also influences your backup strategy. If your Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 organization encounters a problem that requires the recovery of a server that is running Exchange 2007 (for example, if a fire destroys one of your servers), there are three recovery options from which you can select:
- Restore the server You can restore the
server from a full computer backup set, and then restore your
Exchange databases. A full backup set includes a backup of
System State data, the Exchange binary files, and most of the
data on your hard disks.
- Rebuild the server You can rebuild the
server completely. This option involves performing a new
installation of Windows Server running Exchange 2007
in Disaster Recovery mode, and then restoring your Exchange
databases. This option assumes that Active Directory directory
service is still available in Exchange 2007 in Disaster
Recovery mode.
- Use a standby server You can use a
standby recovery server as part of the rebuild the server
strategy. This option involves keeping recovery servers available
with the operating system and other software installed. Having
standby recovery servers available reduces the time it takes to
rebuild a damaged server.
In addition to choosing a server recovery strategy, to maximize your flexibility of recovery options when you must perform a full server recovery, consider the following issues:
- Priority of protecting Active Directory and
Exchange database data Take extra
precautions to make sure of the safety of your
Active Directory data and Exchange databases, which include
both Exchange database files and transaction log files. If you have
protected both of those sets of data, you will have additional
options for recovering your Exchange data. Focus your resources on
making sure that you protect those two items. Everything else is
secondary.
- Preparedness for being able to re-create configuration data
manually if it becomes necessary Although
running Setup /mode:RecoverServer can help you bring up a
functional server, it may not preserve every custom setting or
leave connectors functional. Therefore, you should be prepared to
re-create any Exchange configuration settings in the event that you
cannot recover those settings stored in Active Directory. If
you can manually reconfigure the server, you have additional
recovery options if a disaster occurs. Reconfiguring the server
involves such tasks as reconfiguring your connectors, making
metabase modifications, and making registry modifications.
Note:A primary benefit to making Windows backup sets is that it lets you preserve the registry and other configuration settings on your servers. However, such a restore requires hardware that is similar to the system being restored.
In addition to the strategies discussed earlier, there are new features in Exchange 2007 that enable more recovery options and scenarios, including:
- Improved backup and restore When you
use local continuous replication (LCR) or cluster continuous
replication (CCR), Exchange 2007 enables you to offload
Exchange-aware Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) backups from the
active copy of a database to a passive copy of a database.
- Database portability Database
portability provide several features, including the ability to port
and recover a database on another server in the Exchange
organization. Database portability enables faster disaster recovery
strategies to be implemented for both site-level disasters and
hardware failures for Exchange 2007 servers.
- Dial tone portability When a database,
server, or datacenter is lost, you can use dial tone portability to
provide access to a new dial tone database on another server in the
Exchange organization.
For More Information
For more information about continuous replication, see Local Continuous Replication, Cluster Continuous Replication, and Standby Continuous Replication.
For more information about backup and restore options and strategies, see Database Backup and Restore.
For more information about database portability, see Database Portability.
For more information about dial tone portability, see Dial Tone Portability.