Independent disks vs application-aware processing

[patboy29]

Hi all,

I have a large Exchange 2010 DAG environnement. All the database vDisks are configured as independent persistent in VMware. This mean that they will be excluded from the backup. Is this also mean that the Application-Aware processing will also be excluded for Exchange 2010?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi,

Application-aware image processing triggers VSS writers inside the guest OS, so it doesn't matter what type of disks you have for a VM. VSS process will be triggered for the application installed inside the guest.

Thanks!

[veremin]

I'm just wondering whether there is any specific reason to configure them as independent persistent disks. Thanks.

[patboy29]

Hi,
We do not want to backup all the database and logs vdisk because these disks (11 x 2TB) are provision as "Thick - Eager Zeroed" which could take a considerable amount of time to complete the backup and it will create a very large backup file for nothing. The backup of these vDisk for servers that are member of a DAG is not a requirement because we already have multiple copy of the DB on other mailbox servers. We only need to backup the OS, the mailboxes, the Database and flush the Exchange logs.

Thank you for the answer

[patboy29]

Unfortunately, the Exchange backup is not working. During the backup it fail to create a VSS snapshot and Veeam B&R switch to Persistent snapshot. The backup job completed successfully, but I'm unable to restore anything from Exchange application items. The Veeam explorer for Exchange start and it give an error "The following databases are not attached:" it list all the Exchange databases.

Here is the errors found in the backup job logs:

Error VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout at Veeam.Backup.VssProvider.CVssControl.Unfreeze(Guid jobId, UInt32 ttl)
Error at Veeam.Backup.Core.CViGuestVssFreezer.Unfreeze(Boolean createPersistentVssSnapshot, Boolean snapshotSuccessed)
Info Checking if VSS persistent snapshot allowed. Result: True
Info An error has occured while unfreezing guest: VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout. Trying to witch to persistent snapshot.

In the event viewer of the Exchange mailbox server I see logs (Event ID: 2046, 963) confirming a successful backup of the databases. The Exchange databases logs are also flushed. but the backup file size is not representing a size appropriate for the data that was supposed to be backed up. At this point, I don't know if there is a link between the independent persistent vDisks and this behavior.

Also, Veeam explorer for Exchange create a folder C:\VeeamFLR and it try to put Exchange restored databases on that folder. Is it possible to force Veeam Explorer for Exchange so it use a larger drive (not the C:\)?

[foggy]

Unfortunately, the Exchange backup is not working. During the backup it fail to create a VSS snapshot and Veeam B&R switch to Persistent snapshot. The backup job completed successfully, but I'm unable to restore anything from Exchange application items. The Veeam explorer for Exchange start and it give an error "The following databases are not attached:" it list all the Exchange databases.

Switching to persistent snapshot is expected in case of VSS freeze timeout. However automatic database mount in VEX is not possible for such backups (databases were not properly frozen). You can fire up full VM restore and open databases manually from VEX.

Also, Veeam explorer for Exchange create a folder C:\VeeamFLR and it try to put Exchange restored databases on that folder. Is it possible to force Veeam Explorer for Exchange so it use a larger drive (not the C:\)?

There's a registry key for that, however, this folder's contents does not take any disk space, anyway, as it is used just to mount the backup images under it.