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lobo519
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Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by lobo519 »

Today I have 2 exchange 2007 mailbox servers and a client access server that I replicate to a colocation which is connected via site to site VPN for DR.

I am planning up upgrading to Exchange 2010 or 2013 in the next few months and I am trying to decide if using a DAG in place of the Veeam replication is a good idea or not.

Basically I am thinking of having an active mailbox server in my main site and a passive mailbox server at the colocation.

Has anyone else made the switch? How efficient is a DAG over the WAN compared to a Veeam replication job?

Any thoughts are appreciated!
Andreas Neufert
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by Andreas Neufert » 1 person likes this post

hi...
Exchange DAG and Veeam Replication addresses 2 different things.

Exchange DAG is a single point replica with support for mail restore from it's softdelete cache.
Veeam Replica is a multipoint disaster recovery solution that will work also when you have a software bug or deleted the wrong things manually.

DAG is nearly continous and a good option if you WAN link and DNS configuration is ready for this scenario. Use Veeam Backup to have a disaster recovery solution + long term backup archive and single mail restore.

Kombination fits perfect when you backup the inactive DAG database side .... See other DAG discussions in this Forum.

CU Andy
davidb1234
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by davidb1234 »

Microsoft will not support your exchange environment if you use virtual snapshot technology and DAG technology at the same time.
zoltank
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by zoltank » 1 person likes this post

davidb1234 wrote:Microsoft will not support your exchange environment if you use virtual snapshot technology and DAG technology at the same time.
Incorrect in regards to Veeam.

This seems to come up in every Exchange 2010 thread. When Application Aware Image Processing is turned on it Veeam it will use VSS to quiesce the system before creating the snapshot, and using VSS is the Microsoft support method of Exchange 2010 backup.
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by zoltank »

Another consideration, and an important one for me, is an Exchange DAG does not create an exact copy of your data the way Veeam replication does. A DAG uses the log files to build completely discrete and separate databases on each server (which is why there is always a size discrepancy between DAG databases), so any logical corruption in a database on one server will not be carried over to the other database(s).

For performance and ease of maintenance, you may want to consider creating a DAG on the local network, and then use Veeam replication for DR.
lobo519
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by lobo519 »

Thanks for the input everyone! One of my initial thoughts was to do DAG locally then replicate but storage then becomes a huge consideration. If I were to say do this:

Server 1: Local
DB1 - Active
DB2- Passive

Server 2: Local
DB1-passive
DB2 Active

Just replicate Server 1 so as to reduce storage requirements at the colocation. Obviously in additional there would be regular backups as well. Also I would think I could just backup one of these servers instead of both??
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by zoltank »

You can bring up your email with just one DAG member. If you have the space its obviously best to back both up, but you only NEED one for DR. I've also found that if your performance allows it having all the active databases on the same server trends to make things easier.
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Re: Exchange DAG or Veeam Replication?

Post by Andreas Neufert »

Yes, a single DAG member will boot the OS but you have to start the Exchange information store service manually because other member and witness disk are not up.
Also a single DAG member (with all inactive databases) are good enough for Veeam Explorer for Exchange single mail restore.
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