Protecting Exchange 2010 with EMC RecoverPoint and Replication Manager

 

Regular database backups of Microsoft Exchange environments are critical to maintaining the health and stability of the databases. Performing full backups of Exchange provides a database integrity checkpoint and commits transaction logs. There are many tools which can be leveraged to protect Microsoft Exchange environments, but one of the key challenges with traditional backups is the length of time that it takes to back up prior to committing the transaction logs.

Additionally, the database integrity should always be checked prior to backing up: to ensure the data being backed up is valid. This extended time often can interfere with daily activities – so it usually must be scheduled around other maintenance activities, such as daily defragmentation. What if you could eliminate the backup window time?

EMC RecoverPoint in conjunction with EMC Replication Manager can create application consistent replicas with next to zero impact, that can be used for staging to tape, direct recovery, or object level recovery with Recovery Storage Groups or third party applications. These replicas leverage Microsoft VSS technology to freeze the database, RecoverPoint bookmark technology to mark the image  time in the journal volume, and then thaw the database in a matter of less then thirty seconds – often in less than five seconds.

EMC Replication Manager is aware of all of the database server roles in the Microsoft Exchange 2010 Database Availability Group (DAG) infrastructure and can leverage any of the members (Primary, Local
 Replica, or Remote Replica) to be a replication source.

EMC Replication Manager automatically mounts the bookmarked replica images to a mount host running the Microsoft Exchange tools role and the EMC Replication Manager agent. The database and transaction logs are then verified using the essentials utility provided with the Microsoft Exchange tools. This ensures that the replica is a valid, recoverable copy of the database. The validation of the databases can take from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the number and size of databases and transaction log files. The key is: the load from this process does not impact the production database servers. Once the verification completes,
EMC Replication Manager calls back to the production database to commit and delete the transaction logs.

Once the Microsoft Exchange database and transaction logs are validated, the files can be spun off to tape from the mount host, or depending on the retention requirement – you could eliminate tape backups of the Microsoft Exchange environment completely. Depending on the write load on the Microsoft Exchange server and how large the journal volumes for RecoverPoint are, you can maintain days or even weeks of retention/recovery images in a fairly small footprint – as compared to disk or tape based backup.

There are a number of recovery scenarios that are available from a solution based on RecoverPoint and Replication Manager. The images can be reversed synchronized to the source – this is a fast delta-based copy, but is data destructive. Alternatively, the database files could be copied from the mount host to a new drive and mounted as a recovery storage group on the Microsoft Exchange server. The database and log files can also be opened on the mount host directly with tools such as Kroll OnTrack for mailbox and message-level recovery.

How To: Replicating VMware NFS Datastores With VNX Replicator

 

To follow up on my last blog regarding NFS Datastores, I will be addressing how to replicate VMware NFS Datastores with VNX replicator. Because NFS Datastores exist on VNX file systems, the NFS Datastores are able to replicate to an off-site VNX over a WAN. 
Leveraging VNX replicator allows you to use your existing WAN link to sync file systems with other VNX arrays. VNX only requires you to enable the Replication license of an offsite VNX and the use of your existing WAN link. There is no additional hardware other then the replicating VNX arrays and the WAN link.
VNX Replicator leverages checkpoints (snapshots) to record any changes made to the file systems. Once there are changes made to the FS the replication checkpoints initiates writes to the target keeping the FS in sync.
Leveraging Replicator with VMware NFS DS will create a highly available virtual environment that will keep your NFS DS in sync and available remotely for whenever needed. VNX replicator will allow a maximum of ten minutes of “out-of-sync” time. Depending on WAN bandwidth and availability, your NFS DS can be restored ten minutes from the point of failure.
The actual NFS failover process can be very time consuming: once you initiate the failover process you will still have to mount the DS to the target virtual environment and add each VM into the inventory. When you finally have all of the VMs loaded, next you must configure the networking.
Fortunately VMware Site Recovery Manager SRM has a plug-in which will automate the entire process. Once you have configured the policies for failover, SRM will mount all the NFS stores and bring the virtual environment online. These are just a few features of VNX replicator that can integrate with your systems

One Million Reasons to Backup

At a recent event I was talking with the director of a 10 person non-profit, and she mentioned an important database she was trying to convert to a newer format. "Where is it kept?" I asked. "On my computer" she said. "Where else?" And then I got that look — the look that says "what do you mean — where else?" Ah. How much would it cost to replace that data? Perhaps a million dollars, which is her approximate annual fundraising income. So one more time, for you folks who have not done so — Back up your work. Please.

Google engineers did a scientific study (it's a PDF) of failure in consumer grade hard disks and found that over 56% of drives that failed didn't raise any concerns using their built-in error checking hardware. What does this mean for you? Well, when your hard disk's time is up you probably won't know it until it happens. Which is why you should back up constantly.

Jennifer Walzer, President of BackupMyInfo.com, a New York-based service provider for small business backup, told me that a common problem is "People will set up a backup — tape, CD, extra hard drive, online - and they think it is great, only to find out that it hasn't been running right. They are not testing to make sure it works. We do hand holding and monitor to ensure backups run every day."

Recently, she had a customer who runs a party and event-planning business lose 10 years worth of Quickbooks data when the owner's computer crashed. They were able to restore to another computer in the office in seconds.

"We keep multiple versions of your data and we don't delete what you delete on your side until you specifically ask us to," said Walzer. Small business can backup their offices for $55 to several hundred dollars a month. However, this is a higher level of service than a simple desktop backup, with 24 hour support.

For those looking for more simple solutions, SugarSync, Carbonite, and Mozy are very popular choices. Drew Garcia, VP of Product Management of Sharpcast, makers ofSugarSync, told me "We have lawyers, contractors, real estate developers, graphic designers, and they have important data backed up, plus they use other features such as road warriors relying on the mobile app via Blackberry, iPhone, or Windows Mobileto get their documents on the go."

Sugar Sync has real time sync — you make a change to a document and it is immediately uploaded to the cloud. Some graphic designers use sharing functionality to show work to clients via a browser. This sharing can be "View only," or permissions can be set to allow collaborators to download a document, change and re-upload it. This sharing can be done among employees or with those outside the company.

Garcia is hearing road warriors adopt Netbooks, and they use Sugarsync to sync important files from their main computers, edit them, and sync back.

The three solutions mentioned above allow backup of a certain amount of data at a fixed price. For those working with Windows and Office 2007,http://www.officelive.com gives you up to 5GB of free storage for Word, Powerpoint, Excel files. With an add-in, you can save directly from these programs to your online storage area and you can access the files anywhere there's a net connection and a browser.

Don't end up like the presenter I saw at a conference last week whose laptop had been taken from the coatroom at the reception the night before. She was lucky she had emailed her slides to the conference organizer. Please backup. Go do it now. Share your tips for backup via the comments.