Public folder backup after October 1st 2022 still possible?

[Mike Resseler]

Hey all,

We are looking into possibilities to bring this functionality to MFA, but so far we are not at this point yet. We keep investigating. What we know for sure is that there is no investment on GRAPH API's for public folders, but we are looking at another potential method. Can't promise anything though at this point in time

[ahi]

Sorry to hear that, I do would like to know how the competitors do this. Since we are still informed that we can't use application registration alone to do this. But as I said, we are continuously talking to them (MSFT)

I don´t know how they are doing this exactly, but what we know: It is working! We currently backup our public folders with this competitor solution via an Azure AD App and OAuth 2.0. We would like to stay with Veeam, but this is essential for us and imho many companies.

[Mike Resseler]

I wish I could promise you we would have it quickly, but unfortunately I can't at this point in time. Hopefully our current investigation will tell us something quickly

[ahi]

Any news on this case?

[Polina]

Hi ahi,

We're currently working on the support for public folders with modern auth. Please stay tuned for our product updates.

[ahi]

Sorry, but this is the same information we have been hearing for months. Our license is about to expire and without concrete information that the public folders can be backed up again in the shortest possible time, we will not renew it and switch to a competing product with the complete M365 backup. Our public folders have not been backed up for 3 months now and this is an unacceptable situation.

[Polina]

I fully understand your concerns, but unfortunately, I cannot provide you with an ETA for this feature. It's in development and will be rolled out as soon as ready.

[kmax]

Hi,
We have the same problem: Our public folders have not been backed up for 3 months now and this is an unacceptable situation
It would be nice if veeam support would handle this with high priority. Many customers still use public folders.

[Mike Resseler]

As Polina said, there is a new method that we are using and it is being developed. We will try to release this as early as possible

[kmax]

Any news about the release?
thx

[Polina]

Hi Markus,

We consider delivering this support in a patch for v7, but there's no ETA for now.

[eikee]

Any news on this one? We have customers that really need that feature.

[Polina]

As said above, it's coming in v7. No estimates on the date yet.

[jburger316]

I will be checking back monthly to see if there have been any new updates. Hey, guess what!? It's been a month - any new updates? Thanks!

[Mildur]

Yes. We have released the update with Public Folder backup today

https://www.veeam.com/kb4425

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 requires new permissions for the backup of public folder. You may add them manually in Azure. Or you can go through the organization properties in the VB365 console and let VB365 update them for you for the existing application.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=70

Best,
Fabian

[DDIT]

Hi Fabian,

I was pleased to read this is now available. I have downloaded and upgraded our VBO to 7.0.0.3968 P20230704 as per https://www.veeam.com/kb4425

I have also assigned the additional permission (Exchange.ManageAsApp) to the Azure app, documented here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... anageAsApp

However, I'm stuck on this page https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=70, specifically "If you plan to back up public folder mailboxes, the Veeam Backup account must have a valid Exchange Online license and an active mailbox within the Microsoft 365 organization."

Which account might this be? It's late on a Friday. My brain is obviously not working efficiently today. Thanks in advance.

[Regnor]

This was a requirement before when you configured your organization to use legacy/basic authentication. With modern authentication this is obsolete and you no longer have a backup account.

[DDIT]

@Regnor. Ok, thanks.

Could you kindly explain how I can select the Public Folders for backup in the new VBO version please? Again, this doc https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=70, says "You can select only the root public mailbox when backing up public mailboxes. The child folders of the selected public mailbox will be backed up as well." and on this page https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... tml?ver=70, under Organization Object Types says "Users = Consists of shared mailboxes, public mailboxes and users."

When I edit my VBO job, I click Add, Users, but don't see my Public Folder mailboxes in the list, I only see genuine users. What am I missing?

Thanks!

[Regnor]

Have you also added the AAD application to the Global Reader Role?
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... pplication

[DDIT]

Yep, I had done that.

[Regnor]

Could you try to edit the organization in VB365, click through the existing configuration and make sure "Grant this application required permissions and register its certificate in Azure AD" is checked? This way Veeam should add missing permissions, if there are any. If you afterwards still don't see the public folder mailboxes, I would suggest to contact support.

[DDIT]

Bingo! Now I see it.

This Primary PF mailbox was not showing before, but your tip worked... refreshing the Org with that "Grant this application..." box checked worked! Many thanks. As per the docs linked above, only the primary PF mailbox should be selected, as secondary mailboxes will get backed up automatically.

[DDIT]

The first backup with PF's included just finished, showed this error...

Processing mailbox PFMbx_1_34601bb1@<company>.onmicrosoft.com failed with error: Failed to access public folders.. There are no public folder servers available

I'll open a support case.

[Mike Resseler]

@DDIT
Do you have a support case ticket ID?

[DDIT]

@Mike Resseler, Support Ticket: 06181594

Support have asked me to do two things...
1. Enable extended logging, then re-create the issue.
2. Revalidate the org, creating a new application and new certificate.

Re #2, I did re-validate the Org as my last troubleshooting step mentioned above, which is what made the Primary PF appear in the list. I also renewed the certificate, which is required to continue through the wizard to complete re-validation. I haven't however created a new application. Is that really necessary? I would need to re-assign all the permissions presumably?

I will do #1 now and respond via the ticket.

[DDIT]

@DDIT
Do you have a support case ticket ID?

The support case isn't going so well. I have been passed between 3 engineers. I provided the extended logging logs and it was suggested I had missed a permission to assign, but when I went back to double-check, the permission had indeed been granted. I provided screenshots of the Azure application, and the permissions assigned. I was then asked to assign the app the Global Reader role, which again I had already done. The latest suggestion was to grant my service account Owner rights on all PF's - I was provided a PS script to run - but completing this, I'm still getting the exact same error when I run the job "Failed to access public folders.. There are no public folder servers available".

[ian0x0r]

Watching this post in anticipation your issue gets resolved . Also hoping the outcome is not to have to recreate the AAD App registration!

[Regnor]

At least in my case it worked without recreateing the App, so this shouldn't be mandatory.

grant my service account Owner rights on all PF's

This looks odd to me as modern app-only authentication doesn't use a service account.
Just to be sure, you're public folders are local in Exchange Online and remote in a hybrid organization?

[DDIT]

Just to be sure, you're public folders are local in Exchange Online and remote in a hybrid organization?

Correct.

Meanwhile, this support case has progressed. I was reminded that the service account needs a mailbox in the same tenant as the Public Folders, which it did not. See here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbo36 ... ganization

So, I created the mailbox and assigned a Microsoft365 license. The backup now processes the PF mailbox successfully and the job completes successfully. However, the statistics show 0 items backed-up, and a data size of 0kb. When I try to view the Public Folders using Outlook Web, it simply doesn't work - nothing shows on screen and I get no errors. For a working account, I can browse the public folders and add these to favourites list. This is odd because I'm sure I gave the service account 'owner' permissions at the root level of the PF mailbox in an earlier troubleshooting step. I will continue to investigate this on my side. I did also provide Veeam support with extended logging of this behaviour so perhaps that can spot the issue before I do.

[DDIT]

Ok, so this was a permissions issue on the Public Folders. I don't understand why the owner permissions I assigned earlier in my troubleshooting steps didn't help, but having added the user to a group we had already setup (which had ownership permissions at the very top level and all subfolders) seems to have done the trick. The PF's are now visible in Outlook Web, and having restarted the job in VBO365, it is progressing with the backup. Will need to wait a while for it to finish and report. Hope this journey helps others...!