Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
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homerjnick
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Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by homerjnick »

Hi there...I'm new to Veeam and we have recently deployed it...no issues and works fine...it is a great solution for our virtual backups and replication.

A quick question on SureBackups.

Yesterday I created my first Applications Group and Virtual Lab and tested restoring an email from the latest backup of our virtual Exchange server and it worked a treat...it takes 30 minutes to powered up 2 domain controllers and then the Exchange itself before you can restore.

Currently we use CommVault to restore emails for users but we do not have the facility to search by sender, subject etc and thus require the user to tell us when it was either received or deleted.

Our first line support will benefit by using Veeam to restore emails but having to wait 30 minutes each time the lab does its work is not feasible.

I noticed you can schedule a SureBackup to start but can you schedule for it to stop?

I assume the best method here would be to start a SureBackup job in the morning before our core Helpdesk is active and leave it running all day so first line support can restore emails from the powered on cloaked backup of Exchange but naturally I would want to power it down after core hours.

Can I do this automatically? Or I am going about this the wrong way?

PS. We are a small company of around 250 employees and thus cannot afford more expensive solutions! We were quoted at £20,000 to enable CommVault to index the Exchange server...
Gostev
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Gostev »

homerjnick wrote:I assume the best method here would be to start a SureBackup job in the morning before our core Helpdesk is active and leave it running all day so first line support can restore emails from the powered on cloaked backup of Exchange but naturally I would want to power it down after core hours.

Can I do this automatically? Or I am going about this the wrong way?
Sure, this is possible and even covered as one of the usage scenarios in the sticky FAQ, under the User Directed Recovery. You just create the dedicated Application Group with "Keep VM running selected", and use it in the dedicated SureBackup job for that scheduled to start in the morning. The job will power down automatically when the backups kick in, so you don't have to worry about that - it is all going to be fully automated, just as you want.
homerjnick
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by homerjnick »

I found that...thanks for that...it answer my query nicely...

Q: How do I enable users to restore their own items from latest backup?
A: Essentially, you need to create ever-running SureBackup job with application in question, and provide convenient DNS name to it.
1. Create new application group with VMs running required application and its dependencies.
2. Create new SureBackup job with "Keep application group running" option selected, and schedule it to run after each backup.
3. Open settings for Virtual Lab used by SureBackup job, and edit static IP mapping feature to map isolated IP address of required VM to some unused IP address in the production network.
4. Update production DNS and assign simple DNS name to the IP address chosen earlier, for example "exchange-yesterday".
With that in place, any user in the production environment will be able to access the server running from latest backup in the isolated environment by this DNS name. Any VMs published in such a way will be running until the next backup job is started. The next run of backup job will stop any linked SureBackup jobs, and perform backup. Then, SureBackup job will start using the newly created latest backup file according to its schedule, and again runs for the whole day until the next backup. Effectively, you will have a copy of application running from last night's backup always available to users behind easy to remember DNS name - enabling them to logon to familiar user interface and recover any data they need. This system will require no maintenance whatsoever.
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Cokovic »

That way you've got always the latest Backup available. But what if a user requires an item from an older backup? :wink:
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Gostev »

Most of the times, you will need the latest backup. But in that rare case, you just need to start the SureBackup job to the required restore point.
Cokovic
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Cokovic »

This is what i wanted to point out. You have to shutdown your running SureBackup job and start one with the required restore point and after that restart again the latest one. Apart from that the running SureBackup job consumes resources.

In our case we had to start 2 DCs, 1 CAS and several DB server which took approx. 50 - 60 mins to start. Quite too long for us. Finally we've decided to use a combination of Veeam FileLevelRestore and a third party product which can extract mails directly from an Exchange DB. That way i can fire up any available restore point with the FileLevelRestore-Wizard within seconds and access the DB with the third party product to extract the needed items back into the production environment. No need to extract any files from the backup or start a lab :)
homerjnick
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by homerjnick »

Agreed that this takes too long to restore an email.

But I scheduled a Sureback to start at 8am and my backjup job that is linked to the SureBack kicks in at 7pm and I thought the backup stops the VirtualLab but it doesn't...when my backup went to run I get:

Storage 'Exchange2012-03-04T190023.vbk' is locked by running session 'Exchange Server'

So the backup can't run because my cloaked powered on Exchange server has locked it....
homerjnick
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by homerjnick »

Cokovic wrote: and a third party product which can extract mails directly from an Exchange DB.
Which one do you use?
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Cokovic »

Mmmmmh thats strange. In all my testings i've made so far the Surebackup job was shut down when the backup job started, But i must admit that i've tested it only with V5. I will give it a shot with v6 if i got the time for it.

The third party product we're using is Kroll Ontrack PowerControls for Exchange.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Vitaliy S. »

No matter which version you use (v5 or v6), the backup job will power down automatically when the backups kick in.

Nick, if you do not see that happening, please involve our support team in further investigation.
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Re: Scheduling a SureBackup

Post by Cokovic »

Tested this today and is working as expected. Manually started the Surebackup job and when the normal backup job started the Surebackup job was stopped.
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