Verifying databases

What database verification provides

Database verification uses a Microsoft Exchange utility that verifies that the databases in a backup have not incurred physical-level corruption. For Exchange 2000 and 2003, verification also checks that the transaction logs associated with the backup have not incurred physical-level corruption.

For more information about physical and logical level corruption, see your Microsoft Exchange documentation.

Caution
NetApp strongly recommends that you restore only from backups whose databases have been verified.

Methods of verifying backups

SnapManager provides the following ways to verify your backup databases:

You can verify the databases at the same time the backup is created with SnapManager Backup.
This method is simple and makes sure that all your backups are verified. However, it significantly increases the time required to complete the backup.

In addition, because the Microsoft utility used for the verification is CPU-intensive, performing the verification on the Exchange host system during peak usage could affect Exchange performance.
You can manually verify the databases in one or more backups.
For more information about manual database verification, see Verifying backup databases.
You can schedule the databases in a backup to be verified at some later time.
This method allows database verification to be done when it does not affect performance or delay later backups. However, if the backup is needed for a restore before the verification is done, you must either delay the restore for the verification or restore an unverified backup.

For more information about scheduling database verification to happen later, see Deferred verification.
For all of the preceding methods, the verification can be done on the Exchange host system or on a remote verification system.
Performing the verification on a remote system minimizes the impact of verification on Exchange system resources and backup schedule.

For more information about setting up a remote verification system, see Remote verification.

Microsoft utility used to verify backup files

The Microsoft utility used to verify SnapManager backup databases and transaction logs verifies page-level integrity of the databases. The utility used depends on the version of Exchange you are using:

Exchange 2000 or 2003
For Exchange 2000 or 2003, SnapManager uses the Microsoft utility eseutil to verify the Exchange database files in a backup set. This utility is installed automatically with Microsoft Exchange in the \Exchsrvr\bin directory.
Exchange 5.5
For Exchange 5.5, SnapManager uses the Microsoft utility esefile to verify the Exchange database files in a backup set. This utility is in the Support folder of Exchange 5.5 SP4 and must be manually installed.

Backup verification status

SnapManager Restore shows you a list of the backups that have been taken. For each backup, the date and time of the backup is displayed, as well as one of these symbols:

Green check-mark
The databases in backups shown with this symbol are verified.
Yellow question mark
The databases in backups shown with this symbol are not verified.
Red exclamation mark
The databases in backups shown with this symbol failed verification and cannot be restored.
File with a red X (Exchange 2000 or 2003 only)
The databases in backups shown with this symbol are verified, but the transaction logs for the backup failed verification. If you need to restore from backups with this symbol, contact NetApp Global Services.

Note
You can also determine whether the transaction logs for a specific backup have been verified by opening the Restore tab and selecting that backup. The transaction log verification status is displayed (for Exchange 2000 and 2003 only) as part of the backup information in the right pane.