Exchange Mailbox Protection

When creating a backup job, there are some global settings that should be configured in BackupAssist. If they are not configured, you will be prompted to complete them during the creation of your first backup. It is recommended that this is done in advance.

BackupAssist's settings can be entered and modified using the selections available in the Settings tab. Clicking on the Settings tab will display the selections as icons. Four of these are used when creating new a backup job and each one is described below:

Backup user identity

Backup jobs require an administrator account with read access to the data source, and full read-write access to the backup's destination. It is recommended that a dedicated backup account is created for this purpose. The account's details are entered here and your backup jobs will be launched using these credentials. The account's permissions will be validated both when the backup user identity is entered and when the job is executed. If no account is specified or the account has insufficient permissions, the backup job will fail and note the error in the backup report.

Before setting up mailbox backups in BackupAssist, we recommend that you make sure that you are using a dedicated backup user identity that has permission to access your Exchange Server. Refer to our Exchange user identity article

Please also refer to the resource, Backup User Identity for Exchange mailbox backups when planning an Exchange Mailbox solution.

Email server settings

This menu item is used to enter the details of the SMTP server used by BackupAssist to send email notifications. The SMTP server must be configured if you want to have an email Notifications step included when you create a backup job.

Email address list

This menu item is used to define and store the email addresses of potential notification recipients. The list will be used to populate the recipient selection screen when configuring an email notification for a backup job. Any email addresses entered during the creation of a new notification are automatically added to the Email address list.

Network paths

This option allows you to enter access credentials for networks, domains and drives that the default account (specified in the Backup user identity) does not have access to. Enter or browse to the location and add it to the Path list. The Edit option will allow you to enter an authentication account, specifically for that path. When you create a backup job to a remote location, that location will be automatically added here.

Having multiple connections to a resource using the same logon credentials can generate a Windows error, such as the BA260 NAS error. It is therefore recommended that you avoid having mapped shares on the computer running BackupAssist that are the same as the paths configured in BackupAssist.

Client Access Server Backups

With Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft has allowed administrators to separate Exchange Server roles onto individual servers to achieve better load balancing and resiliency.

A key role relevant to backup software is the introduction of the Client Access Server (CAS) role, which changes the way client software communicates with mailboxes on a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 installation. Whilst roles were introduced in Exchange Server 2007, they did not affect the way BackupAssist operated.

The Client Access Server handles the first point of contact between client software and the Exchange Server. If the CAS role is moved to a separate server from that which houses the mailboxes, then the BackupAssist job must be configured appropriately.

A backup job configuration is shown in the example below. Two Exchange Servers, EXCH01 and EXCH02, plus a Workgroup PC. EXCH01 has the CAS role and host the public folders, whereas EXCH02 will host the mailboxes only. BackupAssist will be installed on the Workgroup PC.

Roles

• CAS Client Access Server DNS Domain Name System
• HT Hub Transport MBX Mailbox
• PF Public Folders

If all roles are installed on a single Microsoft Windows Server, as is the case with a default Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 installation, then the Client Access Server does not need to be explicitly set in the BackupAssist job. In order to back up public folders they must be on the same server which has the CAS role installed. Either the CAS role may be installed on the server with the Public Folder database, or the Public Folder database may be moved to the server which has the CAS role installed.

For Windows 7 / 8 & Server 2008/ 12 & SBS 2008/11

· Selecting an appropriate PST format is important, as a PST file in one format cannot be converted to the other.

• Unicode PST using Outlook (recommended)

You should not install Microsoft Outlook if the Exchange MAPI client is already present on the machine; first remove the Exchange MAPI client and then install Outlook.

• ANSI PST using Exchange

To use this option you must have the Exchange MAPI client installed on your machine. The MAPI client cannot be installed if Microsoft Outlook is already present on the machine.

BackupAssist provides a facility to automatically install the Exchange MAPI client:

a. Select ANSI PST using Exchange

b. Click the blue Install help link.

c. A new window will appear. Click the Install button to install the Exchange MAPI client.

d. BackupAssist will download the Exchange MAPI client and install it on your machine.

The following instructions describe how to create an Exchange mailbox backup job using the BackupAssist Exchange Mailbox Add-on.

Note: Exchange Granular Restore is the recommended tool for protecting mailboxes and mail items in Exchange 2013, 2010 and 2007. This restore-based solution supersedes the backup-based Exchange Mailbox Protection solution - but both are supported.

Launch BackupAssist and follow the steps outlined below:

1. Select the Backup tab, and click Create a new backup Job

2. Select Exchange Mailbox Protection

If this is the first time you have created a backup job, you will be asked to provide a Backup user identity if one has not been defined. See the section above, BackupAssist settings , for guidance.

3. Selections: Add the Exchange Server to BackupAssist and select the mailboxes as explained below.

a. Specify the backup user identity: The link above Add Exchange Server, will display the user identity that will authenticate with the Exchange Server. We recommend that you make sure that you are using a dedicated identity that has permission to access your Exchange Server.

b. Add Exchange Server: If you are on a server running Exchange, the local Exchange Server will appear for selection.

To add an Exchange Server that is not on your local machine, use the search field to type in the name of the Exchange Server you want to connect to. Any servers that your Backup user identity has access to administer, and are on your domain, will appear in a popup window.

Put a tick on the Exchange Server/s required and select Add

c. Add Client Access (CAS) Server

The Client Access Server must be added separately when the CAS role is on a separate machine to the mailboxes. To learn more, refer to the section, Client Access Server backups .

• If you want to add a CAS Server, select the link - connect directly
• Change the method of connection from Connect directly to Use Client Access Server
• Enter the name or IP address of the server running the CAS role, and click OK.
• Click Add Exchange Server and select the Exchange Servers to back up.
• Once you have added the Exchange Server/s they will appear on the selections screen.

d. Check the Backup individual mailboxes checkbox for each server that you want to backup.

• A field will appear under each server, which you can add selected mailboxes to.

e. Click Select mailboxes to back up, and a mailbox selection pop-up window will appear, containing all the mailboxes on that server.

f. Tick the mailboxes you want to back up, and click Ok.

• The mailboxes will appear in the selection field under the server.
• BackupAssist will back up all PST files associated with that mailbox.

g. Check the Backup public folders checkbox to back up your Exchange Serves Public Folders.

h. Review your selection and click Next.

4. Destination media: This step is skipped because Exchange only supports local and network paths.

5. Schedule: This screen is used to select when and how you would like the backup job to run, and how long you would like the backup to be retained for.

The schedule Daily is the only scheme available and is selected by default. Exchange Mailbox Protection schedule is modified by the Grouping method selected in the destination screen.

Click Next.

6. Setup destination: This screen is used to configure the location of the local or network share to be used as the backup destination. It is also used to configure how the mailboxes will be backed up to that location.

a. Directory path: Enter the backup's directory path.

b. Grouping method: Choose a grouping method from the drop-down menu. Grouping methods determine how mailbox backups are stored and provide options to back up mailboxes in groups according to different time periods. A monthly grouping method is ideal for organizations with a high volume of mail as it is easier to locate email for specific dates.

• To learn more about grouping methods, refer to the section, Grouping mailbox data .

c. PST Format: Selecting an appropriate PST format is important, as a PST file in one format cannot be converted to the other.

• Refer to the preceding sections to determine the best option:

PST format selection for Windows 7, 8, Server 2008/12 & SBS 2008 /11

d. Set mailbox rights. Choose whether BackupAssist should attempt to automatically set mailbox rights on your Exchange Server using the available checkboxes.

For Exchange 2007/2010 Servers: Most Exchange 2007 and 2010 setups do not require this option for mailbox backups to run successfully. This option should only be enabled when advised by the BackupAssist Technical Support team.

e. Once the set destination configurations are finished, click Next.

Mail Server: If you have not configured an SMTP mail server for BackupAssist, you will be prompted to provide those details after the backup destination step has been completed. See the BackupAssist settings section on page 11 for guidance.

7. Notifications: Once a backup job has completed, BackupAssist can send an email to inform selected recipients of the result. This email notification can be enabled during the creation of a backup job, if the mail server has been configured.

To enable email notifications:

a. Select, Add an email report notification.

b. Enter recipients into the Send reports to this email address field.

c. Enter recipients into the Also send reports to this email address field. You can then select the condition under which the email should be sent, using the drop-down box.

After the backup job has been created, you can modify the notifications by adding and removing recipients, setting additional notification conditions and including print and file notification types.

8. Prepare media: This step will be skilled because removable media cannot be used.

9. Name your backup: Provide a name for your backup job, and click Finish.

Your Exchange Mailbox Protection backup job has now been created.

Important: The first mailbox backup will be of the full contents of all selected mailboxes. For that reason, after creating your backup job, we recommend that you perform a manual export of the selected mailboxes. See the section, Exchange Mailbox backup management for more information.

Important: Once a backup job has been created, it should be reviewed and run using the Manage menu. See the section, Exchange Mailbox backup management for more information.

Important: Once the backup has been created, the backup verification process will run. To learn more about this process, visit our online Backup verification page

 

If you want to restore mail items using a System Protection, File Protection or File Archiving backup of an Exchange Server, please refer to the Exchange Granular Restore quickstart guide.

This section provides instructions on how to restore Microsoft Exchange mailboxes using backups created with the Exchange Mailbox Add-on.

Mailboxes must be restored independently of other data. If you need to restore other data such as files or applications, as well as Exchange mailbox data, you need to complete this as a separate restore.

To restore Exchange mailboxes and public folders using the BackupAssist Restore Console:

1. Start BackupAssist

2. Select the Restore tab

The Restore tab has a Home page and a Tools menu. The Home page is the default screen and the recommended starting point for performing a restore. The Tools menu should only be used by experienced administrators or users being assisted by technical support.

3. From the Home page, select Exchange.

This will open the Restore > Exchange screen and display the restore types to choose from

4. From the Restore > Exchange screen, select Mailbox Protection Restore (.pst)

The next screen will display all mailbox backups, created using the Exchange mailbox Add-on.

5. Select the Backup to restore from.

The backups can be filtered using the following time period tabs:

• Last 7 days tab, displays backups created in the last 7 days.
• Last 30 days tab, displays backups created in the last 30 days.
• All tab, displays all Exchange Server backups catalogued by BackupAssist.
• Custom tab, displays backups made between the dates specified in show backups between.

Click on the backup you want to restore from.

6. Restore Console - backup and mailbox selection

The Restore Console will open and load that backup.

The Browse tab is used to browse the contents of the backup. You can also select a different backup using the Select a backup to browse drop down box. The backups available will be the ones that were displayed on the Exchange Server Restore screen.

The Browse tab is ideal if you know the backup and date that you want to restore from, or if you want to restore an entire backup set.

a. Select the Browse tab.

b. Use the Select a backup to browse, drop-down box to choose the backup to restore from.

c. Use the calendar to select the date you want to restore from.

d. Using the middle pane, to select the server/s tick box and click on the server name.

e. The mailboxes will appear in the right pane. Select the mailboxes to restore

f. Use the Restore mail dated fields to select the date range to restore from. BackupAssist will restore all backed up mail in that range, from all PST files associated to that mailbox.

g. Click Restore to at the bottom right of the window.

7. Restore Console - restore destination selection

When you select Restore to, a window will open showing the Restore to destination and the Restore options fields.

a. Review Restore to and make your selection.

• Original location : The mailboxes selected for restore will be copied directly back into the Exchange Server that they were originally exported from.
• Alternate server : The mailboxes selected for restore will be copied to an alternate Exchange Server of your choosing. Click the Select button to choose an alternate server to restore to. If no Exchange Servers are detected, click the Select button to search for one.
• Alternate path : All mailboxes will be restored as separate PST files to a single folder of your choosing. You can have all your mailbox PST backups. You can then open up any of the PST files extracted with Outlook and drag-and-drop the required mail items back a the user's live mailbox. This option is useful if your PST backups are distributed across multiple folders (e.g. you used a grouping period or modified your mailbox backup directory between backup runs).

b. Review Restore options and make your selection.

If you choose to restore your mailboxes to either their original location or an alternate server, you can click the Configure restore button to change how mailboxes are restored. Here you can individually specify which mailbox each PST mailbox backup should overwrite in your Exchange Server. This is useful if an Exchange Server mailbox has been renamed since being backed up, or if you want to overwrite one mailbox with another.

c. Selecting Create a log file listing all processed files, will create a file that lists the success or failure of each file. The log is opened by selecting the log file’s link in the backup report.

d. Queue all backup jobs when a restore is running, is selected by default.

e. Click the Restore button to restore your data. The restore will run from the destination window and a Report link will appear once the restore has finished.

f. Select Done.

Your Exchange mailbox restore has now been completed.

Manually restoring PST files and Public folders in Outlook

Opening PST files

Use this method of mail restoration for simple scenarios where a user has deleted one or more items, and needs to retrieve the information quickly.

1. Copy the appropriate PST file to a location that is accessible to the relevant user's computer.

E.g.: copy the PST to 'Users Shared Folders', another network share or an external hard drive:

2. From the user's computer, run Outlook and select File menu > Open > Outlook Data File:

3. Browse for the PST file in the location it was copied to in Step 1:

4. From this PST file you can view the email messages and drag-and-drop the mail items back into the original folders:

Restoring Public Folders

You can restore public folders directly back into your Exchange Server using the BackupAssist Restore Console (see section 5.2). You can also, however, manually restore public folder items from PST files in Outlook. This method is great for simple scenarios where a user has deleted one or more items from a public folder, and needs to retrieve the information quickly. You can also use this method to restore the contents of an entire public folder.

To manually open and restore a Public Folder PST backup in Microsoft Outlook:

1. Copy the appropriate PST file to a location that an Exchange administrator can access. The computer used to access this file must have Microsoft Outlook installed and be logged into by a member of the same domain as the Exchange Server.

2. Launch Outlook and click Mailbox-[username] under the "Mail Folders" list on the left-hand pane. This will display the "Outlook Today" window.

3. From "Outlook Today", click Customize Outlook Today and then click Choose Folders.

4. In the folder selection, check the public folders you wish to restore your PST backup to. Click OK.

5. Click Save changes on the "Customize Outlook Today" screen.

You should now notice a new link to your Public Folders on the "Outlook Today" page under the "Messages" column. Click the Public Folders link to view the available items.

6. Open the PST containing the Public Folder items you wish to restore. To do this navigate to File > Open > Outlook Data File from the top menu and browse to the location of your Public Folder PST backup.

7. You should now have two Public Folder items listed under "All Folders". The first is the backup you have just opened, which you can tell from the server name and archiving period contained in the heading (in the example below: SBS2008-DEV for July-September 2009) . The second is your Exchange Server's Public Folder.

8. To restore your Public Folder data from your backup, simply select mail items or folders from your within your archive folder and then drag-and-drop them back to the Exchange Server's Public Folder:

Once you have created a backup job, you can modify the settings and access advanced configuration options using the Manage menu.

To access the backup management screen:

1. Select the BackupAssist, Backup tab.

2. Select Manage from the top menu. A list of all backup jobs will be displayed.

3. Select the backup job you want to modify, and select Edit.

4. Select the required configuration item on the left. Key configurations are described below.

To learn more about the backup management options, see the Backup tab whitepaper.

Manually running a backup job

After a new Exchange mail backup job has been created, you should perform a manual mailbox data export, and then be manually run the job ensure it works as intended. The instructions for how to perform a manual Exchange mailbox data export are provided below.

After this has been completed:

1. Select the backup job, and select Run.

2. You will be prompted to Rerun a past backup or to Run a future backup now.

3. When the backup job starts, the screen will change to the Monitor view.

4. Once the backup has been completed, select the Report button and review the results.

Exchange Servers

The Exchange Servers screen can be used to:

• Add additional exchange servers to your backup job.
• Select additional mailboxes.
• Enable the backup of public folders if this was not selected when the backup job was created.

Performing a manual Exchange mailbox data export

The first mailbox backup will be of the full contents of all selected mailboxes. For that reason, after creating your Exchange mailbox backup job, we recommend that you perform a manual export of the selected mailboxes. Depending on the size of your Exchange Server and the mailboxes selected, the initial export may take some time to complete. It is best to run this export manually at a time when the server is not being heavily utilized.

1. Select Exchange Servers from the left menu.

2. Scroll to the Mailbox export status and click Perform manual export.

A new window will appear where you can select what periods of mail data you want to export. The periods available for selection are sorted according to the grouping method defined.

If a grouping period is not selected, e-mails within that date range will not be backed up during the manual export. By default, the latest grouping period is the only period selected.

3. Select the data to export.

If you want to export multiple grouping periods, hold down the SHIFT key and select each individual grouping period. To backup all mailbox data on your Exchange Server you will need to select all of the available grouping periods.

4. After you have selected the appropriate periods, click OK to begin exporting mailbox data to PST files in the Exchange mailbox directory.

5. If the mailbox exports fails, click Report to determine what errors occurred.

Once you have completed a successful export of all mailbox data, BackupAssist will keep PST files up to date by automatically scheduling exports each time your backup job is scheduled to run. These automatic exports merge new mail data into the existing PST files.

Export options

The Export options screen can be used to configure advanced options such as:

• Select folders to be excluded during the backup.
• Have folders backed up without date restrictions.
• Delete original messages after they have been exported.
• Specify the Domain Controller if Exmerge is used.

Concurrent backup

This feature allows two backup jobs to run at the same time.

Concurrent backup combinations:

• Two File Archiving backup jobs can run at the same time if both have ‘Enable concurrent backup’ selected.
• An SQL Protection or Mailbox Protection backup job, with ‘Enable concurrent backup’ selected, can run concurrently with a System Protection, File Protection or File Archiving backup job. The File Archiving backup job does not need to have ‘Enable concurrent backup’ selected. (System Protection and File Protection do not have an ‘Enable concurrent backup’ option).
• An SQL Protection and a Mailbox Protection backup job can run at the same time, in any combination, if both have ‘Enable concurrent backup’ selected.
• In all cases, only two backup jobs can run concurrently.

Concurrent backup considerations:

• If two concurrent backups are scheduled to start at the same time, one backup will start first and begin preparing the job. Once the preparation phase has completed, the second backup will start
• If a third scheduled backup job has 'Enable concurrent backup' selected, it will be queued and run once one of the two existing concurrent backup jobs has finished.

Concurrent backup limitations:

• Only two backup jobs can run concurrently.
• Concurrent backups cannot write to the same destination device (e.g. local drive, NAS, RDX etc.).
• If another backup job is already running when the concurrent backups are scheduled to start, then one of the concurrent backups will start if it meets the criteria defined in the concurrent combinations section.
• A backup job cannot run concurrently if it is backing up a Hyper-V environment or an Exchange server using VSS (VSS enabled).