About Exchange options and Exchange System Manager

This topic describes considerations for using certain Exchange and Exchange System Manager features in a SnapManager environment:

Moving Exchange data

To display the time of the last full backup of a given database, use the SnapManager Configuration Wizard rather than Exchange System Manager.

Attention
Do not use the Exchange System Manager to move Exchange databases or transaction logs for any Exchange system that has been configured using SnapManager. Doing so prevents SnapManager from functioning correctly.

Displaying the time of the last full backup

To display the time of the last full backup of a given database, use the SnapManager Restore tab rather than Exchange System Manager.

Note
When managing an Exchange 2000 server from a machine that has the Exchange Server 2003 version of Exchange System Manager installed and non-VSS Snapshot copies are used, ESM might not display the date of the last backup. For details, see About Exchange System Manager.

Using the SnapManager Restore tab

To view the time of the last full backup using the SnapManager Restore tab, complete the following steps.

Step	Action
1	In the SnapManager user interface, select the Restore tab.
2	In the left navigation pane, click to expand the view for the Exchange server name (if needed).
3	In the left navigation pane, double click the storage group name to expose the available backup sets.
4	In the left navigation pane, double click the backup set name to display its properties in the right pane.
5	Note the time stamp information included in the right pane: Name Displays the backup set name. If SnapManager is configured to use unique backup naming (the default setting) as opposed to generic naming, the backup name includes the date and time stamp. Backup Date and Time Displays the date and time at which the backup was taken.

About Exchange System Manager

The version of Exchange System Manager (ESM) that ships with Exchange Server 2003 supports a new feature that allows the administrator to view the last time that a full backup of particular Exchange database took place. This time stamp information is displayed on the database Properties page in the "Time of last full backup" field. ESM 2003 can be used to manage both Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 servers.

For an Exchange 2003 database, ESM 2003 displays a date and time stamp, whether the backup was taken with SnapManager for Microsoft Exchange (VSS Snapshot copy) or via a streaming method such as NTBackup.

For an Exchange 2000 database, ESM 2003 displays a time and date stamp only if the backup was created using a streaming type of backup application such as NTBackup. ESM 2003 does not display a time and date stamp if you are managing an Exchange 2000 server from a machine that has the Exchange Server 2003 version of ESM installed and non-VSS Snapshot copies are used. This is because SnapManager 3.2 for Microsoft Exchange supports Exchange 2000 on Windows 2000 Server (but not on Windows Server 2003), and VSS Snapshot copies are not available in Windows 2000.

Triggering Exchange page zeroing and deleted item retention

Exchange includes the following two optional features that depend on the complete read of every database page during a backup:

Page zeroing is used by high-security installations. This feature provides the ability to zero out database pages that were deleted.
Deleted item retention settings enables you to mark items and mailboxes for deletion after they are backed up.
Attention
If you need to ensure that deleted items are archived into at least one backup set, select the "Do not permanently delete mailboxes and items until the store has been backed up" option. However, be aware that this option overrides the "Deleted item retention" intervals for items and mailboxes. Therefore, to be able to recover deleted items without having to restore and extract Exchange data from tape, do not permanently delete mailboxes and items until the store has been backed up.

Because SnapManager uses Snapshot technology, and therefore does not read every page during a backup, these features are not triggered when only SnapManager is used to perform backups.

You can cause these Exchange features to be triggered by scheduling a periodic backup using a standard backup utility, such as NTBackup, and that the extra backup operation adheres to the following characteristics:

Make sure that the backup you use for this purpose is a copy or differential backup. Performing any other type of backup causes existing SnapManager backups to become unusable for up-to-the-minute restores.
Make sure that the extra backup operation is not performed at the same time as a SnapManager backup.