Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 virtual machine protection ...FILE/Xchange2013_VMware... · Exchange Server 2013, and are host or guest-initiated depending on individual VSS software

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2013

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 virtual machine protection using IBM Tivoli

Storage FlashCopy Manager

For VMware ESX 5.1 environments with the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3

Eric B. Johnson

IBM Systems and Technology Group ISV Enablement

August 2013

Stay connected with IBM System Storage

Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | RSS feeds | → Forum | → Community | → More communities

http://twitter.com/ibmstorage

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2018491&trk=anet_ug_grppro

http://www.facebook.com/groups/37153201060/

http://www.youtube.com/ibmstorage

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/news/storage.rss

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=846

http://storagecommunity.org/

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/community/index.html

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 virtual machine protection using IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager © Copyright IBM Corporation, 2013

Table of contents

Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1

Microsoft Windows Server VSS framework ............................................................................ 2

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 ................................................................................................ 3

Recent IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 enhancements and new features ............................................. 5

VMware vSphere 5.1 ................................................................................................................. 5

Microsoft Exchange 2013 DAG enhancements ...................................................................... 6

FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 Exchange features ........................................................................ 7

Test environment description.................................................................................................. 8

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager prerequisites ........................................................... 9

IBM XIV pool snapshot sizing considerations ........................................................................................ 10

IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS v2.3.2.2 guest installation ............................................. 12

IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS v2.3.2.2 guest configuration ......................................... 16

Machine Pool Editor guest addition of the IBM XIV Storage System .............................. 16

Machine Pool CLI VMware configuration ........................................................................ 18

IBM XIV VSS Hardware Provider verification ........................................................................................ 18

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager installation ............................................................ 21

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager configuration ........................................................ 26

VMware consideration ........................................................................................................................... 32

FlashCopy Manager DAG protection .................................................................................... 34

Back up Microsoft Exchange 2013 DAG passive database .................................................................. 34

Restore Exchange Server 2013 DAG database .................................................................................... 35

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager granular mailbox restores ................................... 37

FlashCopy Manager Mailbox Restore prerequisites .............................................................................. 37

FlashCopy Manager mailbox restore ..................................................................................................... 39

Summary ................................................................................................................................. 42

Resources ............................................................................................................................... 43

Trademarks and special notices ........................................................................................... 44


1

Abstract

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 harnesses the combined power of the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 advanced snapshot technologies and Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) framework to deliver fast application-aware backups and restores for VMware vSphere 5.1 virtual data centers. As demonstrated in this white paper, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 database availability group (DAG) virtual machines (VMs) with VMware raw device mapping (RDM) Exchange data and log disks are easily and rapidly protected from within the guest operating system (OS). Since guest-initiated VM application data protection is practically identical to traditional physical machine application data protection, administrators do not have to further complicate existing, familiar backup routines.

This white paper shares IBM-specific installation, configuration, and best practice guidelines that elevate virtual Microsoft Exchange Server DAG high availability (HA) by helping to prepare customers for worst-case data loss or corruption scenarios where business-critical email recovery is urgent and vital. While only Exchange Server 2013 DAG backup and restore topics are revealed, many mutual concepts can be applied to Microsoft Exchange stand-alone configurations.

Lastly, this solution appeals to mid- to large-size VMware organizations with Microsoft messaging, IBM XIV Storage Systems, and backup administrators seeking additional insight and data loss prevention strategies to help ensure continuous, healthy, production email access. Advanced experience with IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager, Microsoft Exchange Server, VMware, and IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 administration is recommended. However, technical reviews and supplemental resources are provided throughout the following sections.

Introduction

For most modern businesses, email plays a pivotal role in allowing them to communicate with existing and

new customers. Email also helps foster both customer and coworker relationships and collectively, that is

why Microsoft® Exchange Server is classified as a business-critical application. If email communication is

severed either internally or externally, that can lead to substantial monetary loss or depending on the

duration, the complete demise of a company. As with all business-critical applications, steps must be

taken to prevent the negative impact caused by outages – the greater the outage, the greater the impact.

So historically, information technology (IT) administrators pursued primitive data protection tactics as HA

options were rather limited, in early developmental stages, or just did not exist. The necessity to protect

business data eventually led to the inception of backup and restore software that presented early backup

administrators with many challenges.

At the top of the list of early backup challenges for all types of files including email, administrators often

encountered lengthy backup and restore durations combined with an inability to back up open files. This

frequently created dreadful dilemmas. More often than not, administrators debated which was more painful

– data loss or data protection and recovery. As a business itself and impacted by this dilemma similar to its

vocal customers, Microsoft, working closely with its partners, decided to build a data protection foundation

that would benefit all of its customers and partners. In order to do so, Microsoft knew it had to alleviate as

many of these initial backup and restore problems as possible.


2

Microsoft Windows Server VSS framework

Fortunately, Microsoft came up with the idea to develop the Volume Shadow Copy Service framework,

commonly referred to as the VSS framework. VSS origins stem from an obvious realization that

simultaneously addresses customer requirements. The ability to rapidly and consistently back up and

restore data is crucial to contemporary business survival because unplanned critical data outages often

have debilitating financial consequences.

By standardizing the VSS framework, not only do customers benefit but backup software and hardware

vendors also benefit from a universal VSS architecture which minimizes financial impact for all parties by

reducing customer downtime, decreasing support requests for all parties, and paring and simplifying

backup software test and development cycles. All said, Microsoft provides the VSS foundation for all

Microsoft Windows® users (dating back to Windows Server 2003) but ultimately, the backup software and

hardware vendors must provide solution-specific snapshot technologies that embrace it.

Essentially, storage array snapshot technology enables a point-in-time block-level data copy with minimal

impact to production systems or applications typically viewed from two basic perspectives. From the

physical or virtual machine OS perspective, snapshots are used to create crash-consistent backups. VM

crash-consistent backups are typically host-initiated and do not account for application transaction states.

From the application perspective, snapshots can be used to create application-consistent backups. In

order for this to work correctly, applications (that provide VSS writers) are briefly quiesced to allow the disk

subsystem to concurrently create snapped copies of application data and log volumes. This helps to

ensure that there is no pending I/O or uncommitted application transactions (in memory or transaction

logs) during the snapshot process which could be lost during crash-consistent backups. Thus, all

application I/O is flushed to disk during the quiesce process.

Application-consistent backups are especially important for database applications, including Microsoft

Exchange Server 2013, and are host or guest-initiated depending on individual VSS software support.

Comparing proponents of guest with host-initiated snapshot backup strategies show that both have

unique, valid, and compelling cases that merely boil down to preference.

This white paper focuses on guest-initiated VM snapshot backup strategies that represent key IBM®

Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager supported data protection methods. For the most part, this guest-

initiated VM backup solution simulates familiar, comprehensive physical server backup mechanisms by

simplifying application-consistent data protection and offering numerous rich capabilities, including the

flexibility to easily remap application data and log RDM disks to other virtual or physical machines.

No matter whether backups are guest- or host-initiated, the ability to use local snapshot volumes for high-

speed data protection without negatively impacting production services combined with the ability to

eliminate network latency and bandwidth penalties makes VSS backups very appealing. On closer

examination, (the following) four distinct VSS components make all of these rapid backup processes

possible as illustrated in Figure 1:

VSS service: The VSS service is part of the Windows operating system and acts as a

communication hub or interpreter for all of the framework components.

VSS requestor: The VSS requestor is the backup software represented by the IBM Tivoli

Storage FlashCopy Manager application.


3

VSS writer: The VSS writer in this solution is represented by the Microsoft Exchange

Server VSS Writer service, which is installed by default during the messaging software

installation.

VSS provider: The VSS provider is represented by the hardware/software combination

that generates the actual snapshot volume. In this case, the snapshots are generated by

the IBM XIV® Storage System VSS provider and the actual storage system itself.

Figure 1: Microsoft VSS framework

Acting as the hardware provider in the VSS framework, the IBM XIV Storage System uses extremely

efficient redirect-on-write snapshot technology in comparison to the average copy-on-write snapshot

design. The redirect-on-write technology eliminates double write performance penalties commonly

associated with copy-on-write snapshots. Copy-on-write snapshots write twice, the first time to the

reserved snapshot pool space and the next time to the original source volume. The snapshot pool space

maintains the original source data and thus the point-in-time copy is preserved. However, the host does

not receive a write acknowledgement until both writes take place. Conversely, the redirect-on-write

technology preserves the original source data and redirects new writes or changes to the reserved

snapshot pool space. The snapshot performance is significantly improved and the creation time is greatly

reduced, all while consuming no additional disk space until the original source data changes.

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3

In addition to its VSS capabilities, the IBM XIV virtual storage design includes multi-level data protection

starting with simple host write operations. To expound, a host write is temporarily mirrored between the

cache of different modules before the XIV Storage System acknowledges the host write. After the host

receives the write acknowledgement, it can proceed with additional read/write operations while the XIV

Storage System destages the original cached data to the member disks of each individual module. This

process enables the data to be always protected against possible module failures even before the data is

destaged using 1 MB XIV partitions.

IBM XIV partitions are the fundamental building blocks used to create volumes and incorporate primary

and secondary mirrored data copies mapped to separate disks. Using sophisticated data distribution

algorithms that preserve data redundancy and performance equilibrium, XIV partitions are automatically

and dynamically distributed across all disks (up to 180). As the distribution algorithms pseudo randomly


4

distribute the data across all of the spindles, there is no logical unit number (LUN) locality of reference to a

particular disk or subset of disks, essentially eliminating hot spots regardless of workload changes over

time. As a result, the IBM XIV Storage System self tunes in response to application I/O patterns and

configuration and capacity changes, all while maintaining maximum data protection.

Data protection is also reinforced using IBM XIV predetermined data distribution algorithms, which help

ensure fast recovery from major and minor faults using prefailure detection and proactive corrective

healing. In the event of module or disk failures, global spares striped across all disks quickly redistribute

data back to a fully redundant state. During such events, the performance impact is notably minimized and

further enhanced by the XIV core and enterprise-class data protection mechanisms.

IBM XIV multi-level data protection employs active/active N+1 redundancy of all data modules, disks,

interconnect switches, and battery backup uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units. The XIV system also

contains an automatic transfer switch (ATS) for external power supply redundancy. A built-in UPS complex

consisting of three UPS units protects all disks, cache, and electronics with redundant power supplies and

fans, which further promotes Microsoft Exchange database availability and reliability.

Finally, the IBM XIV Gen3 unique and sophisticated storage design is very user-friendly and requires

minimal administrative effort. The storage management utilities are categorically intuitive and pleasant to

use so much so that IBM continues to develop almost identical graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for other

members of its storage portfolio in response to customer popularity. This unique evolutionary architecture

coupled with truly uncomplicated management software is vastly improved with the XIV Storage System

Gen3 family and helps provide the following key benefits:

Up to four times the throughput (10 GBps) of the previous XIV generation, improving

performance for business intelligence, archiving, and other I/O-intensive applications

Up to three times improved response time of the previous XIV generation, enabling faster

transaction processing and greater scalability for online transaction processing, database,

and email applications

Industry-leading rebuild times in the event of disk or module failures (less than 60 minutes

for 2 TB drives)

Innovative snapshot functionality that includes snap-of-snap, restore-of-snap, and a nearly

unlimited number of snapshots

Non-disruptive maintenance and upgrades

Per host/cluster quality of service (QoS) capability to prioritize workloads based on

business criticality

Power to serve even more applications from a single system with a substantial hardware

upgrade that includes an InfiniBand® interconnect, larger cache (up to 360 GB of

combined memory), faster SAS disk controllers and increased processing power—plus,

each Gen3 interface module delivers 8 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) and 1 Gb iSCSI

connectivity

Boost highly random application workloads up to 4.5 times with optional solid-state drive

(SSD) cache

With the XIV family’s all-inclusive pricing model, there are no hidden costs for multipath

software or replication features — specifically, every XIV includes the following features

with purchase: snapshot capability, thin provisioning, asynchronous and synchronous data

replication, advanced management, performance reporting, monitoring and alerting, and


5

full support of Microsoft technologies including GeoClustering, Volume Shadow Copy

Services and Multipath I/O (MPIO).

Recent IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 enhancements and new features

Building upon an existing strong foundation, the new XIV Gen3 enhancements provide the following

improvements:

Provided new cloud and virtualization enhancements

10 GbE iSCSI host connectivity

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 support for new features such as Hyper-V, VSS,

and failover clustering

Improved storage system, self-optimization, and performance

Reduce disk rebuilds by 60% during heavy workloads, fully utilized 2 TB drives

can be rebuilt in 26 minutes

Faster sequential read performance up to 13.7 GBps, enabling high service-level

agreements for VM cloning, multimedia, and backup workloads

Up to 15 six-core Intel® Xeon® processors providing 90 physical cores or 180

logical cores using the Hyper-Threading technology

Decreased total cost to ownership (TCO) through greater energy efficiency and capacity

optimization

Promotes green data center strategies by lowering carbon footprints and

aggregate power consumption by up to 16% with new power supply units - now

available with model 214

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) UNMAP space reclamation

VMware vSphere 5.1

At the time of this publication, VMware vSphere 5.1 is the latest industry-leading virtualization platform

release from VMware. This latest VMware product addition includes new compute, storage, network,

availability, security, automation, and management enhancements and features. In order to further

accelerate this platform evolution, IBM XIV and Tivoli developers work closely with VMware to provide an

in-depth integration with its storage products portfolio which has resulted in the following enhancements:

vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI) support

vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) support

vCenter Server Plug-in

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Data Protection for VMware vCenter plug-in

vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP) support with Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual

Environments

Site Recovery Adapter for VMware Site Recovery Manager

IBM XIV native storage integration with VMware is included with standard IBM XIV licensing and many

enhancements are enabled by default. However, some require downloading additional software, drivers or

plug-ins. Furthermore, additional licensing fees are required for IBM Tivoli products and while detailed

host-initiated backups using these products are beyond the scope of this white paper, they are listed as


6

supplemental data protection solutions that can be combined to protect Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

physical or virtual machines.

Microsoft Exchange 2013 DAG enhancements

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 DAGs leverage some of their diverse HA features using failover cluster

technology to form a group of up to 16 member servers that can each host mailbox databases to provide

automatic database-level recovery from server or database failures. Microsoft introduced DAGs in

Exchange Server 2010 and continues to improve their HA and resiliency with the latest Exchange Server

2013 design enhancements. As with other Microsoft business-critical applications, more customers

continue to migrate from physical to virtual Exchange implementations including DAGs. While many IT

departments still maintain only physical Exchange environments, more hybrid (mixed physical and virtual)

as well as purely virtual data center implementations continue to emerge. Additionally, more HA

implementations are starting to take advantage of the following Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 DAG

enhancements as they update to the latest software release:

Large reduction in IOPS - Due to a database copy checkpoint depth increase from 5 to

100 MB, aggressive passive copy pre-reads are significantly reduced. In the past, DAG

passive copy input/output operations per second (IOPS) were roughly equal the active

copy IOPS but are now approximately 50 percent less due to the referenced checkpoint

change, while still providing rapid database failover capability.

Managed availability – Tightly integrated, internal monitoring and recovery-oriented

features help prevent failures by triggering proactive administrative alerts, initiating

automatic server failovers, and restoring services.

Managed Store – The newly-renamed Exchange Server 2013 Information Store

processes are now written in C# and tightly integrated with the Microsoft Exchange

Replication service to provide higher availability and improved resiliency.

Support for multiple databases per disk - Exchange Server 2013 supports a mix of

active and passive databases on the same volume.

Note: When performing VSS backups, the entire volume is snapped. This behavior

impacts the types of restore strategy since instant restores replace all databases and files

on a volume with a point-in-time copy. Instant restores can be performed for a single

active copy and multiple passive copies on the same volume but all passive copies need

to be reseeded. Therefore, administrators might want to limit each volume to a single

database copy and place log files on separate, dedicated volumes for administrative and

performance considerations.

Automatic reseeding – With the ability to define Exchange 2013 spare disks,

administrators can quickly and automatically restore database redundancy after a disk

failure that triggers automatic reseeding of all passive database copies that normally

reside on the failed disk.

Automatic recovery from storage failures – In addition to the Exchange 2010 bugcheck

behaviors, Exchange 2013 includes recovery behaviors for long I/O times, excessive

replication service memory consumption, and severe cases where system threads cannot

be scheduled.

Lagged copy enhancements – Lagged copies now have moderate self-healing

capabilities using automatic log play down during a variety of problems such as page


7

patching and low disk space. Lagged copies can also use the safety net queue that stores

copies of messages that were successfully processed by the server, (formerly the

transport dumpster), making recovery or activation much easier.

Single copy alert enhancements – Now, a native function within Exchange, the single

copy alert is integrated into the managed availability system components.

DAG network auto-configuration – In addition to manual configuration options, DAGs

can also distinguish between Message Application Programming Interface (MAPI) and

replication networks and configure DAG networks automatically.

Site resilience – Improved and simplified site resilience enables easier data center

switchovers by decoupling DAG mailbox and client access recoveries, including removing

past namespace limitations as a single point of failure.

Refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638137%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx for further details

about Exchange Server 2013 DAG high availability and site resilience.

FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 Exchange features

The vast majority of customers who implement high availability solutions such as Microsoft Exchange

Server DAGs do not underestimate the potential for database outages, corruption, or data loss and pursue

additional safety measures. In order to further mitigate business-critical application risks, IT administrators

employ complementary data protection methods such as those provided by VSS backup solutions. IBM

Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager falls into the VSS backup solution category and can provide additional

data protection insurance for virtual or physical Exchange DAG or stand-alone deployments. FlashCopy

Manager embraces the VSS framework and IBM XIV Gen3 advanced snapshot technology to help

VMware messaging environments protect their virtual data centers. One way that FlashCopy Manager

accomplishes this is by allowing administrators to back up Microsoft Exchange DAG servers by defining

common policies. Beginning with FlashCopy Manager 3.2.x, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 DAG

environments can be protected by allowing administrators to:

Back up DAG databases to a common node. The backups can be managed by a single

policy regardless of which DAG member (server) performed the backup.

Coordinate backups between DAG members so that only one copy is backed up per

backup cycle.

Reduce the production Exchange DAG server load by setting backup preferences for a

healthy passive database copy unless none is available. If a healthy passive copy is

unavailable, the backup uses the active database copy. Whether the backup is taken from

the active or the passive copy, the backup is managed as a single entity.

Also, the latest (at the time of this publication) Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 release specifically

added the following enhancements for Microsoft Exchange:

Authorized program analysis report (APAR) fixes

Added support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

Added support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP3

Added support for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (applicable to stand-alone Microsoft

Exchange Server solutions because VMware vSphere 5.1 only supports Windows Server

2008 failover clustering required for DAGs)


8

Added support for Windows Management Framework 3.0

Added support for MAPI 6.5.8309.0

Test environment description

The ensuing list of solution components was used purely for VSS backup functionality testing:

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (CU1)

Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1 v6.5.8320.0

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Guest Clustering

Note: VMware vSphere 5.1 does not support Windows Server 2012 guest clusters.

VMware ESX 5.1 hosts and a vCenter Server 5.1 VM

− Microsoft Exchange Server VM RDM log and data disks configured for physical

compatibility mode only using round-robin (VMware) managed paths due to stand-

alone Exchange instances.

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1

− FlashCopy Manager guest-initiated VSS backups only support VMware RDM

disks and host-initiated support is beyond the scope of this paper.

IBM XIV VSS Provider for Windows 2.3.2.2

IBM System x®3550 M2 servers (hardware availability only)

Brocade 825 host bus adapters (HBAs)

IBM SAN24B-4 FC switches

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 11.2.0.a

For detailed main product deployment guidance, refer to the “Resources” section at the end of the white

paper.


9

Figure 2 provides the overall test solution layout.

Figure 2: Guest-initiated FlashCopy Manager Exchange 2013 DAG VM test implementation with IBM XIV storage

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager prerequisites

The following all-encompassing list of data protection prerequisites is required for IBM Tivoli Storage

FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 to successfully back up and restore Exchange Server 2013 virtual machines in

a VMware 5.1 environment:

Install the VMware tools on all guests.

Confirm that the vSphere web services are running on the ESX hosts or vCenter Server

by connecting to:

https://ESX_Host_or_vCenter_IP_Address/mob

Configure a VMware user account with the following administrative privileges:

− Host > Configuration > Storage partition configuration

− Virtual machine > Configuration > Raw device

− Virtual machine > Configuration > Change resource

− Virtual machine > Configuration > Add or remove device

Note: For testing purposes, the vCenter default admin@System-Domain

account was used.

Reminder: VMware user accounts are case sensitive.

Configure the Microsoft Exchange guest data and log volumes as VMware RDMs in the

physical compatibility mode only.


10

Reminder: FlashCopy Manager guest-initiated VSS backups and restores

only support RDMs that basically simulate physical server data protection

mechanisms.

Configure Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 guest clustering as part of the Exchange 2013

DAG implementation.

Determine the appropriate IBM XIV pool snapshot reserve space.

Install and configure the IBM XIV VSS Provider for Windows v2.3.2.2 on each Exchange

2013 guest.

Note: Only IBM solution-specific configuration guidelines are detailed in the following section as VMware

and Microsoft advanced expertise is assumed.

For further Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 details, visit the following website:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979799%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

IBM XIV pool snapshot sizing considerations

Before creating snapshots on the IBM XIV system, proper storage pool sizing should be completed to

accommodate future snapshot requirements. Estimate the necessary pool snapshot reserve size based on

data change rates, required snapshot retention policies, and the anticipated number of snapshots.

Fortunately, IBM XIV snapshot planning accuracy is somewhat forgiving because it is rather easy to non-

disruptively modify the pool snapshot reserve space. Simple snapshot sizing adjustments can be made

periodically to avoid under- or over-allocation of space.

To further assist with IBM XIV snapshot planning, there are several noteworthy considerations. After a

pool’s snapshot reserve becomes totally depleted, the IBM XIV system systematically deletes snapshots in

an orderly fashion based on deletion priorities and age until the snapshot reserve once again contains

adequate free space. Thus, it is important to ensure sufficient snapshot space to prevent unwanted

snapshot deletion from occurring, especially during backups. As a general rule of thumb, the minimum

required snapshot space is (17 GB * number of required snapshots) + 17 GB. For simple backups that

generate a single non-persistent snapshot per LUN, this rule of thumb is usually sufficient. However, if

there are frequent data changes or highly random writes to the source LUNs during the backup process,

additional snapshot space might be needed. Other considerations include: host-mounted, write-enabled

snapshot volumes, asynchronous replication, snapshots saved as part of a disaster recovery rollback

strategy, and other respective snapshot growth sources.

Note: In-depth IBM XIV snapshot utilization is beyond the scope of this paper. To change the amount of IBM XIV pool space reserved for snapshots, perform the following quick steps:

1. Launch the IBM XIV GUI from the Windows Start menu:

Click Start All Programs IBM XIV GUI 4.x IBM XIV GUI and log in.

2. Click XIV System to go to the XIV Storage Management view.

3. Move the mouse over the third icon on the left side of the window to view the Pools menu and

click Storage Pools (as shown in Figure 3).


11

Figure 3: XIV Storage management pools menu

4. Right-click the storage pool and click Resize (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: XIV storage management resize pool


12

5. Enter the required snapshot size and click Update (refer to Figure 5) to finish.

Figure 5: XIV storage management resize pool dialog box

Note: When IBM XIV pools are initially created, the snapshot size defaults to 10% of the pool size. Modify

the pool snapshot size according to meet individual backup requirements.

IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS v2.3.2.2 guest installation

In order for IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager to use hardware snapshots, the IBM XIV Provider for

Microsoft Windows VSS must be installed and configured properly for all of the Exchange Server 2013

guests. Perform the following steps on all of the database VMs to be protected:

1. Download and launch the IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS installation wizard by

double-clicking xProvSetup_2.3.2.2_for_Windows-x64.exe.

2. Select the preferred installation language and click OK (refer to Figure 6).

Figure 6: Figure 6: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard language selection


13

3. In the InstallShield Wizard that appears, click Next (refer to Figure 7).

Figure 7: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard

4. Accept the terms of the software license agreement and click Next (refer to Figure 8).

Figure 8: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard software license agreement


14

5. Use the default folder or provide a new installation destination folder and click Next (refer to

Figure 9).

Figure 9: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard destination folder

6. Retain the post install operations default selection and click Next (refer to Figure 10).

Figure 10: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard post install operations


15

7. To begin the installation, click Install (refer to Figure 11).

Figure 11: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard ready to install the program

8. Confirm the successful installation of IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS and click

Finish (refer to Figure 12).

Figure 12: IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS InstallShield Wizard completed


16

IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS v2.3.2.2 guest

configuration

After the IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS installation has successfully completed, the

Microsoft Exchange guests must be configured for VSS. First, each guest operating system (OS) must be

configured to use the xProv HW VSS Provider Windows service to communicate with the actual storage

system. Second, set the additional required VMware parameters for the VMs within each guest OS.

Machine Pool Editor guest addition of the IBM XIV Storage System

The Machine Pool Editor is a separate application that gets installed during the IBM XIV Provider for

Microsoft Windows VSS installation that configures the guest to connect to the storage system. The

Machine Pool Editor has both graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line interface (CLI)

versions with both demonstrated in this section.

1. From the menu bar in the Machine Pool Editor window that is launched as a result of step 6 of

the IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS installation, click File New System (refer to

Figure 13).

Figure 13: Machine Pool Editor menu bar selection


17

2. Enter an IBM XIV Storage System username, password, and IP/hostname in their respective text

fields and click Add (refer to Figure 14).

Figure 14: Machine Pool Editor add storage system

Note: The default IBM XIV Storage System admin user account was used for testing and any of

the (up to three) IBM XIV management IP addresses can be entered in the IP/Hostname field.

The test environment did not use data replication. So, the Enable Replicated Snapshots check

box was not selected

3. Confirm the newly added IBM XIV Storage System and close the Machine Pool Editor (refer to

Figure 15).

Figure 15: Machine Pool Editor systems


18

Machine Pool CLI VMware configuration

To perform VMware guest-initiated backups and restores, an additional IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft

Windows VSS configuration step is required to establish proper communication with the vSphere web

services of either the ESX or vCenter server. This allows hardware snapshots to be generated from

the Microsoft Exchange Server VM data and log RDM disks.

For the VMware-specific VSS guest configuration, administrators must use the Machine Pool CLI

version because the settings cannot be modified using the GUI version. Perform the Machine Pool

edits from a Windows command line using elevated local administrator privileges.

1. To determine the available commands and syntax of MachinePoolCLI.exe, view the application

help from the IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS installation source. All command

syntax examples use the following default installation path:

C:\Program Files\IBM\IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows Volume Shadow

Copy Service\.NET

MachinePoolCLI.exe /?

Usage:

MachinePoolCLI /a <user> <password> <IP> [/rs|replicate_snapshots]

MachinePoolCLI /d <machine_serial_number>

MachinePoolCLI /l [/v]

MachinePoolCLI /ae <username> <password> <esx host|vCenter name(IP)>

MachinePoolCLI /de

MachinePoolCli /le

2. Configure guest IBM XIV VSS communication for either an ESX or vCenter server.

MachinePoolCLI.exe /ae admin@System-Domain password 192.168.101.222

Connecting to ESX Server or vCenter with SSL......

Successfully connected to ESX Server or vCenter.

Successfully added ESX Server or vCenter, url:'https://192.168.101.222/sdk',

user: 'admin@System-Domain'

3. Confirm the IBM XIV connection with the guest and the newly created VMware credentials:

MachinePoolCLI.exe /l

Serial Name Version IP(1) IP(2) IP(3) User Mirror Snapshots

7820064 N/A N/A 192.168.101.252 192.168.101.251 192.168.101.253 admin N/A

MachinePoolCLI.exe /le

ESX Server | vCenter URL: https://192.168.101.222/sdk

ESX Server | vCenter User: admin@System-Domain

For further IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS installation and configuration details, review the

following guide:

http://delivery04.dhe.ibm.com/sar/CMA/SDA/03q0y/0/XIV_Provider_for_MS_VSS_2.3.2_IG.pdf

IBM XIV VSS Hardware Provider verification

After the IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Windows VSS has been installed, confirm hardware-based

snapshots can be triggered by the guests. There are two types of snapshots, persistent and non-

persistent, that are commonly used for backup solutions and both can be tested using the native Microsoft

Windows DiskShadow or Vssadmin utilities. Since both utilities function practically the same, only the

DiskShadow utility is demonstrated.


19

Note: This IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager single-tier backup solution uses only local persistent

snapshots that reside on the guests and remain until deleted by administrators. For multitier backup

solutions that use an IBM Tivoli Storage Manager server, non-persistent snapshots are used because the

data is copied remotely to the backup server. Incidentally, both IBM Tivoli products integrate seamlessly

with each other and can leverage the power of both local snapshots and a proven enterprise-class

backend storage manager.

Perform the following steps to establish whether guest-initiated snapshots are fully functional by confirming

that the shadow copy or snapshot provider ID matches the IBM XIV VSS HW Provider ID:

1. In the Windows Start menu, click Run.

2. Type CMD and press Enter.

3. At the command prompt, run the DiskShadow utility:

PS C:\Users\administrator.VIRTUALDOMAIN> diskshadow

Microsoft DiskShadow version 1.0

Copyright (C) 2007 Microsoft Corporation

On computer: 2008GClus01, 6/5/2013 9:20:31 PM

4. Ensure that the IBM XIV VSS HW Provider is listed as a provider:

DISKSHADOW> list providers

* ProviderID: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}

Type: [1] VSS_PROV_SYSTEM

Name: Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0

Version: 1.0.0.7

CLSID: {65ee1dba-8ff4-4a58-ac1c-3470ee2f376a}

* ProviderID: {d51fe294-36c3-4ead-b837-1a6783844b1d}

Type: [3] VSS_PROV_HARDWARE

Name: IBM XIV VSS HW Provider

Version: 2.3.2.2

CLSID: {36b44895-4453-4238-af14-e0be34b9f1e8}

Number of providers registered: 2

5. To test for persistent snapshots, run the following commands:

DiskShadow >set context persistent

DiskShadow > add volume L:

DiskShadow > add volume M:

DiskShadow > create

Alias VSS_SHADOW_1 for shadow ID {b19ca9d0-c3b9-4a37-897e-35dc7bd26235} set as

environment variable.

Alias VSS_SHADOW_2 for shadow ID {7097f22d-a550-40a9-a3a6-691a3567e44a} set as


Alias VSS_SHADOW_SET for shadow set ID {36bba8c2-cf13-4e93-88bf-21869f45cba2} set

as environment variable.

Querying all shadow copies with the shadow copy set ID {36bba8c2-cf13-4e93-88bf-

21869f45cba2}

* Shadow copy ID = {b19ca9d0-c3b9-4a37-897e-35dc7bd26235}

%VSS_SHADOW_1%

- Shadow copy set: {36bba8c2-cf13-4e93-88bf-21869f45cba2}

%VSS_SHADOW_SET%

- Original count of shadow copies = 2

- Original volume name: \\?\Volume{5911d59e-bbdc-11e2-af9b-

0050568d5b55}\ [L:\]

- Creation time: 6/6/2013 6:51:49 PM

- Shadow copy device name: \\?\Volume{cfbc2df8-cefd-11e2-9d12-

0050568d5b55}

- Originating machine: x2013vm01.rootdomain.com


20

- Service machine: x2013vm01.rootdomain.com

- Not exposed

- Provider ID: {d51fe294-36c3-4ead-b837-1a6783844b1d}

- Attributes: No_Auto_Release Persistent Hardware

* Shadow copy ID = {7097f22d-a550-40a9-a3a6-691a3567e44a}

%VSS_SHADOW_2%

- Shadow copy set: {36bba8c2-cf13-4e93-88bf-21869f45cba2}

%VSS_SHADOW_SET%


- Original volume name: \\?\Volume{5911d5a5-bbdc-11e2-af9b-

0050568d5b55}\ [M:\]

- Creation time: 6/6/2013 6:51:49 PM

- Shadow copy device name: \\?\Volume{cfbc2df9-cefd-11e2-9d12-

0050568d5b55}



- Not exposed


- Attributes: No_Auto_Release Persistent Hardware

Number of shadow copies listed: 2

Note: Volumes L: and M: represent messaging log and data volumes. Repeat DiskShadow

testing for all guests and verify that the Windows system event logs contain no errors.

6. Additionally, run the following command to list all snapshots.

DiskShadow >list shadows all

7. Run the following command to return to the original state by deleting the snapshots:

DiskShadow >delete shadows all

8. To test for non-persistent snapshots, run the following commands:

DiskShadow > add volume L:

DiskShadow > add volume M:

DiskShadow > create

Alias VSS_SHADOW_1 for shadow ID {46815636-0716-4e49-b8e9-56128f3950ca} set as


Alias VSS_SHADOW_2 for shadow ID {8fa811ad-2a77-493f-8a66-ae1d1c45da32} set as


Alias VSS_SHADOW_SET for shadow set ID {8ed96997-563d-46b8-bea8-679cf8b2dbbe} set

as environment variable.

Querying all shadow copies with the shadow copy set ID {8ed96997-563d-46b8-bea8-

679cf8b2dbbe}

* Shadow copy ID = {46815636-0716-4e49-b8e9-56128f3950ca}

%VSS_SHADOW_1%

- Shadow copy set: {8ed96997-563d-46b8-bea8-679cf8b2dbbe}

%VSS_SHADOW_SET%


- Original volume name: \\?\Volume{5911d59e-bbdc-11e2-af9b-

0050568d5b55}\ [L:\]

- Creation time: 6/6/2013 7:35:27 PM

- Shadow copy device name: \\?\Volume{cfbc2e01-cefd-11e2-9d12-

0050568d5b55}



- Not exposed


- Attributes: Auto_Release Hardware

* Shadow copy ID = {8fa811ad-2a77-493f-8a66-ae1d1c45da32}

%VSS_SHADOW_2%

- Shadow copy set: {8ed96997-563d-46b8-bea8-679cf8b2dbbe}

%VSS_SHADOW_SET%


21


- Original volume name: \\?\Volume{5911d5a5-bbdc-11e2-af9b-

0050568d5b55}\ [M:\]

- Creation time: 6/6/2013 7:35:27 PM

- Shadow copy device name: \\?\Volume{cfbc2e02-cefd-11e2-9d12-

0050568d5b55}



- Not exposed


- Attributes: Auto_Release Hardware

Number of shadow copies listed: 2

Note: Volumes L: and M: represent messaging log and data volumes. Repeat DiskShadow testing for all guests and verify that the Windows system event logs contain no errors.

9. Run the following command to list all snapshots.

DiskShadow >list shadows all

10. Run the following command to return to the original state by deleting the snapshots.

DiskShadow >delete shadows all

The aforementioned tests should confirm that the guest core VSS framework components are installed

and functioning properly. After successfully running the VSS snapshot tests on all of the guests, IBM Tivoli

Storage FlashCopy Manager can be installed.

Note: Separate persistent and non-persistent snapshot tests can be run during the IBM Tivoli Storage

FlashCopy Manager configuration, but familiarity with a command-line utility such as DiskShadow is

recommended.

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager installation

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager must be installed on all Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 VMs that

require guest-initiated data protection using hardware snapshots.

1. Launch the IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Windows InstallShield Wizard by double-

clicking SetupFCM.exe located on the installation media or source package.

2. Specify the preferred installation language and click OK (refer to Figure 16).

Figure 16: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard language selection

3. The InstallShield wizard prompts administrators with a pending requirement for Microsoft

ReportViewer 2010 Redistributable. Click Install (refer to Figure 17).


22

Figure 17: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard pending requirement

4. The Microsoft ReportViewer 2010 Redistributable Setup wizard launches. Click Next (refer to Figure 18).

Figure 18: Prerequisite Microsoft ReportViewer 2010 Redistributable Setup wizard

5. Accept the license terms and click Install (refer to Figure 19).


23

Figure 19: Microsoft ReportViewer 2010 Redistributable Setup license terms

6. After the installation is complete, click Finish (refer to Figure 20).

Figure 20: Microsoft ReportViewer 2010 Redistributable Setup installation is complete


24

7. The IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager - InstallShield Wizard launches. Click Next (refer to Figure 21).

Figure 21: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard welcome page

8. Accept the terms of the license agreement and click Next (refer to Figure 22).

Figure 22: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard software license agreement


25

9. Use the default folder or provide a new installation destination folder and click Next (refer to Figure 23).

Figure 23: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard destination folder

10. To begin installation, click Install (refer to Figure 24).

Figure 24: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard ready to install the program


26

11. After the installation is complete, click Finish (refer to Figure 25).

Figure 25: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager InstallShield Wizard completed

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager configuration

Configure the IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager identically for all Microsoft Exchange Server guests.

For the test solution, each VM uses FlashCopy Manager to manage local system snapshots without using

a Tivoli Storage Manager server. Configure individual virtual data centers accordingly but multitier Tivoli

Storage Manager (TSM) server configuration details are beyond the scope of this white paper.

1. When the IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager application is launched for the first time, a

configuration welcome screen appears. Select the Standalone option and click OK (refer to

Figure 26).

Figure 26: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager configuration wizard welcome

Note: Select the Do not show at startup check box to skip the configuration wizard each time the

application starts.


27

2. Select the Exchange Server check box to configure the Tivoli data protection type and click

Next (refer to Figure 27).

Figure 27: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Standalone Configuration Wizard data protection selection

3. Confirm that the status of all the requirements shows passed and click Next (refer to Figure

28).

Figure 28: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Standalone Configuration Wizard requirements check


28

4. Select Default as the type of VSS requestor service configuration and click Next (refer to Figure

29).

Figure 29: Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Standalone Configuration Wizard for VSS requestor services

5. Confirm that the status of all stand alone configuration operations shows Passed and click Next

(refer to Figure 30).

Figure 30: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Standalone Configuration details


29

6. Notice that the status of Exchange Server for Tivoli Data Protection changed to Configured,

indicating the successful completion of the configuration. Retain the default selection of the Run

VSS diagnostics when this wizard exits check box and click Finish (refer to Figure 31).

Figure 31: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Standalone Configuration Wizard completion

7. After the FlashCopy Manager VSS Diagnostics Wizard appears, select the IBM XIV volumes to

test and review the VSS providers by clicking Show VSS Information. After clicking, the option

changes to Hide VSS Information (refer to Figure 32).


30

Figure 32: FlashCopy Manager VSS Diagnostics Wizard snapshot volume selection and VSS information

8. In the VSS information field, click Writers to view their state. After reviewing the VSS

information, click Next (refer to Figure 33).

Figure 33: FlashCopy Manager VSS Diagnostics Wizard snapshot volume selection and writers


31

9. Confirm that the VSS snapshot tests pass for each selected volume and click Next (refer to

Figure 34).

Figure 34: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager VSS Diagnostics Wizard

10. During the previous VSS snapshot tests, use the Windows Disk Management Microsoft

Management Console (MMC) to validate the snapshots from the guest front end (refer to

Figure 35). Also, use the XIV GUI to validate the snapshots from the storage back end (refer to

Figure 36).

Figure 35: Windows 2008 R2 guest Disk Management volumes and identically named shadow copies or snapshots

Figure 36: IBM XIV GUI volume snapshot during VSS snapshot testing


32

Note: The snapshot naming convention begins with VSS and the corresponding time stamp should

match the VSS Diagnostics Wizard snapshot test.

11. Confirm the completion and successful results for all of the selected volumes and click Finish


Figure 37: IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager VSS Diagnostics Wizard completed

VMware consideration

In order to accommodate enterprise-scale virtual deployments that require a substantial number of shadow

copies, a VSS snapshot just-in-time import option is available. The following list of FlashCopy Manager

benefits is provided when the option is enabled:

VSS snapshots are imported to a host only when needed by FlashCopy Manager

operations or explicitly mounted by the user

Avoids consuming limited host system resources to make it practical to maintain a large

number of snapshot backup versions (especially in VMware virtual machines where SCSI

device limits on the ESX host can be quickly reached)

Adds an option that will modify the FlashCopy Manager behavior so that LOCAL

persistent VSS snapshots are not automatically imported but rather are imported to the

host when needed by the FlashCopy Manager operation

New parameter in the configuration file:

IMPORTVSSSNAPSHOTSONLYWhenneeded=[Yes|No]


33

To enable this VSS snapshot just-in-time import option using the FlashCopy Manager console, perform the

following steps:

1. Expand the FlashCopy Manager console left pane navigation tree and right-click the Exchange

Server and click Properties (refer to Figure 38).

IBM Tivoli Data Protection IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Dashboard

Protect and Recover Data Exchange Server Properties

Figure 38: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server properties

2. Click the VSS Backup page in the Data Protection Properties window and select the Import

VSS snapshots only when needed check box and click OK.

Figure 39: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server VSS backup properties


34

FlashCopy Manager DAG protection

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager provides two fundamental VSS backup methods for protecting

Microsoft Exchange DAGs. Since many customers prefer to back up Exchange DAG passive copies from

a secondary site and the basic active copy data protection concepts are identical, only passive copy

methods are covered in this white paper. The steps in this section provide a high-level FlashCopy

Manager workflow for protecting and restoring Exchange Server 2013 DAG passive database copies only.

Similar steps can be performed on Exchange DAG active database copies or stand-alone Exchange

deployments.

Back up Microsoft Exchange 2013 DAG passive database

Perform the following steps to back up a Microsoft Exchange 2013 DAG passive database.

1. Launch the FlashCopy Manager (MMC) from the Windows Start menu:

Click Start All Programs Tivoli FlashCopy Manager FlashCopy Manager

Management Console.

2. If the FlashCopy Manager Local Configuration Wizard welcome screen appears, click Close.

3. In the navigation tree of the MMC left pane, perform the following step to view the Exchange

Server databases (refer to Figure 40).

Click IBM Tivoli Data Protection IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager

Dashboard Protect and Recover Data Exchange Server.

4. In the MMC center pane, click the Protect tab and select the DAG database (refer to Figure 40).

5. In the MMC lower-right pane, under the DAG database name, click Full Backup (refer to Figure

40).

6. In the MMC middle pane, at the bottom, click the Task List or Task Details tab to view and

confirm that the DAG database full backup completed successfully (refer to Figure 40).

Figure 40: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server 2013 DAG database full backup


35

Restore Exchange Server 2013 DAG database

Perform the following steps to restore the Exchange Server 2013 DAG database:

1. Use the Exchange Admin Center or Management Shell to activate the database copy to restore

(Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase).

Note: Additional Exchange administrative steps might be required for certain types of messaging

database or disaster recovery (DR) site failures that are beyond the scope of this paper.

2. Suspend replication for all passive database copies (Suspend-MailboxDatabaseCopy).

3. Dismount the active mailbox database (Dismount-Database).

4. Use the Microsoft Windows Services MMC or Exchange Management Shell to disable and stop

the Microsoft Exchange Replication and Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller services for

all of the DAG members.

Note: If these Microsoft Exchange services are not stopped before the FlashCopy Manager

restore, a similar open file backup error might occur:

FMV1050E Before performing the VSS instant restore, FCM cannot lock the volume 'M:'.

Note: If the messaging administrator does not want to stop the Microsoft Exchange Replication

and Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller services, VSS instant restores can be disabled

and VSS fast restores can be used instead. VSS fast restores are slower since they use an OS-

level file copy instead of snapshot reversions.

5. Use the FlashCopy Manager command line or GUI to restore the database and logs but for the

restore options, ensure that the Mount Databases After Restore option is set to False (refer to

Figure 41).

Figure 41: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server 2013 DAG database restore

6. Use the Microsoft Windows Services MMC or Exchange Management Shell to start the

Microsoft Exchange Replication and Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller services for all

of the DAG members.


36

7. Use the Exchange Admin Center or Management Shell to mount the active mailbox database

(Mount-Database).

8. Verify the active database is healthy before updating the passive database copies (Get-

MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus).

Note: The Exchange Management Admin Center in conjunction with preferred email client mailbox

access can also be used to confirm the healthy database restore.

9. Update or reseed all of the passive database copies (Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy -

DeleteExistingFiles). This step avoids transaction log synchronization problems which may

result if replication is resumed directly.

10. Move the active database to the required server (Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase).


37

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager granular

mailbox restores

By default, when FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 performs Exchange Server database VSS full backups,

administrators have the ability to restore individual mailboxes. However, unlike VSS instant restores,

mailbox file-level copies are necessary. FlashCopy Manager takes advantage of the Exchange Server

2013 recovery database (RDB) feature to complete mailbox restores.

An Exchange RDB is mounted as an atypical mailbox database that non-disruptively extracts and merges

user mailboxes with the sole purpose of providing granular recovery capabilities. This popular Exchange

recovery feature allows messaging or backup administrators to restore individual emails without

interrupting user mailbox access. As such, a FlashCopy Manager mailbox restore triggers the creation of

the Exchange recovery database from the local VSS backup and does not modify existing user emails but

recovers corrupted, accidentally deleted, or lost emails and their corresponding file attachments, which is

an extremely common user request that can be quickly and easily resolved.

During a FlashCopy Manager mailbox restore, administrators can use the Exchange Management Shell to

confirm the recovery database creation as depicted in bold, underlined font:

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-MailboxDatabase

Name Server Recovery ReplicationType

---- ------ -------- ---------------

dagmbxdb1 X2013VM01 False Remote

dagmbxdb2 X2013VM01 False Remote

x2013vm03sdb1 X2013VM03 False None

TSMRDB-X2013VM01 X2013VM01 True None

Refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876954%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx for further details

about Microsoft Exchange Recovery Databases.

FlashCopy Manager Mailbox Restore prerequisites

In order to use the FlashCopy Manager Mailbox Restore or Mailbox Restore Browser features, configure

the following prerequisites:

1. Install the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1

v6.5.8320.0 or later on all VMware Exchange Server 2013 guests.

2. Launch the FlashCopy Manager (MMC) from the Windows Start menu:


Management Console.


4. Expand the management console left pane navigation tree and right-click Exchange Server

and click Properties (refer to Figure 42).

IBM Tivoli Data Protection IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager Dashboard

Protect and Recover Data Exchange Server Properties


38

Figure 42: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server properties

5. Select the General page of the Data Protection Properties window (refer to Figure 43).

6. Enter the values in the Temporary log and database restore path, alias of temporary

mailbox, and Exchange client access server fields. Retain the default selections for the

Restore mail messages as unread and Back up mailbox history (required for mailbox

restore) check boxes. Click Apply and then click OK (refer to Figure 43).

Note: The domain account for the temporary mailbox alias must have Exchange Organization

Administrator privileges and contain an active, configured mailbox.

Figure 43: Configure FlashCopy Manager for Exchange Server 2013 mailbox restores


39

Note: The temporary log and database restore paths must point to locations with sufficient free

space to contain the entire mailbox database and log files or the restore will fail.

FlashCopy Manager mailbox restore

Perform the following steps for FlashCopy Manager mailbox restore.

1. Launch the FlashCopy Manager (MMC) from the Windows Start menu.


Management Console


3. In the navigation tree of the MMC left pane, perform the following steps to view the Exchange

Server (refer to Figure 44).

Click IBM Tivoli Data Protection IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager

Dashboard Protect and Recover Data Exchange Server.

4. In the MMC center pane, click the Recover tab and select the preferred database backup set


5. In the MMC center pane View menu, under Database Restore, click Mailbox Restore Browser


Note: The FlashCopy Manager Mailbox Restore feature has slight, obvious differences compared

to the Mailbox Restore Browser search capability. So it is not covered in this white paper to reduce

self-explanatory, overlapping steps.

Figure 44: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server Mailbox Restore Browser

6. In the Search field of the Select Source dialog box, enter the name of the mailbox to restore


Note: To simplify the procedure, the search mechanism automatically locates all mailboxes

containing the entered characters as soon as they are typed.


40

Figure 45: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server Mailbox Restore Browser search

7. Select the mailboxes from the list, set the required time frame, and click OK.

8. During the Restoring database… phase which can take a little while, the Exchange RDB is

created and mounted in the previously defined temporary database restore path.

9. After the Exchange RDB is successfully created, the results pane displays the user mailbox

data.

10. Select the mailboxes, folders, or messages to restore (refer to Figure 46).

Figure 46: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server Mailbox Restore Browser user message selection


41

11. In the Actions pane, select the required restore type.

12. The Restore Progress dialog box opens and displays the status details. After the restore is

complete, click Close (refer to Figure 47).

Figure 47: FlashCopy Manager Exchange Server Mailbox Restore Browser restore progress

13. Use the preferred email client to confirm the successful restore.


42

Summary

By implementing highly available Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 DAG solutions and employing

additional VSS backup methods that use IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager 3.2.1 and IBM XIV

Storage System Gen3 advanced snapshot technology, customers can help meet the most demanding

email service-level agreements. Combined, the demonstrated solution and VSS framework components

provide non-disruptive application consistent backups that help to meet or exceed challenging production

uptime requirements.

The simplicity of FlashCopy Manager Exchange guest-initiated backups provides extremely flexible and

favorable backup administration workflows that align with industry-leading, user-friendly VMware and IBM

XIV management interfaces. VMware vSphere 5.1 Exchange DAG solutions are quickly and painlessly

safeguarded using guest-initiated data protection mechanisms that emulate routine physical server backup

practices.

Refer to the “Resources” section for supplementary in-depth information about each of the solution

products.


43

Resources

The following websites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this paper:

What’s New in Exchange 2013 technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj150540%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

Database Availability Groups (Exchange Server) technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979799%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

Backup, Restore, and Disaster Recovery (Exchange Server 2013) technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876874%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

Exchange Solution Review Program (ESRP) -- Storage technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/ff182054.aspx

What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1? vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/vmware-what-is-new-vsphere51.pdf

Microsoft Clustering on VMware vSphere: Guidelines for Supported Configurations kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1037959

IBM XIV Storage System ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/xiv/index.html

IBM XIV Provider for Microsoft Installation Guide delivery04.dhe.ibm.com/sar/CMA/SDA/03q0y/0/XIV_Provider_for_MS_VSS_2.3.2_IG.pdf

IBM disk storage systems ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/?lnk=mprST-dsys-usen

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/storage-flashcopy-mgr

FlashCopy Manager Virtualization Support ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21433737

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Version 6.4 Information Center pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tsminfo/v6r4/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.itsm.fcm.vm.doc%2Ft_protect_fcmvmw.html

IBM solutions from independent software vendors, partners and solution providers ibm.com/systems/storage/solutions/isv/

Stay connected with IBM System Storage

Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | RSS feeds | → Forum | → Community | → More communities

http://twitter.com/ibmstorage

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2018491&trk=anet_ug_grppro

http://www.facebook.com/groups/37153201060/

http://www.youtube.com/ibmstorage

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/news/storage.rss

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=846

http://storagecommunity.org/

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/community/index.html


44

Trademarks and special notices

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2013.

References in this document to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them

available in every country.

IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business

Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked

terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these

symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information

was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A

current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at "Copyright and trademark information" at

www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the

United States, other countries, or both.

Intel, Intel Inside (logos), MMX, and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States,

other countries, or both.

INFINIBAND, InfiniBand Trade Association and the INFINIBAND design marks are trademarks and/or

service marks of the INFINIBAND Trade Association.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind.

All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM

products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance

characteristics may vary by customer.

Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from a supplier of these products, published

announcement material, or other publicly available sources and does not constitute an endorsement of

such products by IBM. Sources for non-IBM list prices and performance numbers are taken from publicly

available information, including vendor announcements and vendor worldwide homepages. IBM has not

tested these products and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, capability, or any other claims

related to non-IBM products. Questions on the capability of non-IBM products should be addressed to the

supplier of those products.

All statements regarding IBM future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice,

and represent goals and objectives only. Contact your local IBM office or IBM authorized reseller for the

full text of the specific Statement of Direction.

Some information addresses anticipated future capabilities. Such information is not intended as a definitive

statement of a commitment to specific levels of performance, function or delivery schedules with respect to

any future products. Such commitments are only made in IBM product announcements. The information is

presented here to communicate IBM's current investment and development activities as a good faith effort

to help with our customers' future planning.


45

Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled

environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon

considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the

storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an

individual user will achieve throughput or performance improvements equivalent to the ratios stated here.

Photographs shown are of engineering prototypes. Changes may be incorporated in production models.

Any references in this information to non-IBM websites are provided for convenience only and do not in

any manner serve as an endorsement of those websites. The materials at those websites are not part of

the materials for this IBM product and use of those websites is at your own risk.

Documents

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 virtual machine protection ...FILE/Xchange2013_VMware... · Exchange Server 2013, and are host or guest-initiated depending on individual VSS software