Example: Using a Windows backup utility to archive SnapManager backups

You can use a script to mount a Snapshot copy of the LUNs that contain the Exchange databases, then back up the databases using Windows NTBackup, unmount the LUNs, and back up the SnapInfo directory.

Assume that you use a script in the following environment:

The script is run on the computer running Exchange and SnapManager.
The drive letter for the Exchange database is S:
The Snapshot copy is mounted as drive V:
The drive letter used for the LUN mount must be available when you run the script.

The following script mounts a Snapshot copy of the LUNs that contain the Exchange databases, and it backs them up using Windows NTBackup. It then unmounts the LUNs and backs up the SnapInfo directory. The /N and /D options are used to show the name of the tape and the description options.

REM Mount a LUN backed by the Snapshot copy of the Exchange
REM database as drive letter V:\.
sdcli snap mount -k s -s %1 -d v
REM Use NTBackup to back up the database files. The path
REM to the databases in your environment might be different.
ntbackup backup "V:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\mdbdata" /N %1 /D %2
REM Dismount the Snapshot copy mounted as drive letter V:\.
REM The below example is shown with an optional parameter (-f)
REM to forcefully disconnect the drive letter.
sdcli snap unmount -d v -f
REM Use NTBackup to back up the snapinfo directory.
REM This backup appends the media so as not to
REM overwrite the database backup. The path to the
REM snapinfo directory is passed as the third
REM parameter on the command line used to launch
REM this script.
ntbackup backup %3 /T%1 /A

To run this script using the SnapManager Run Command After Operation feature, use the following command:

C:\SnapManager Scripts\scriptname.txt $ExchSnapshot $InfoSnapshot

The command-line parameters %1 and %2 might provide values similar to the following, respectively:

exchsnap__SRVR3_01-20-2006_12.05.58__Daily
eloginfo__SRVR3_01-20-2006_12.05.58__Daily

If you prefer not to use the Run Command After Operation feature and you are not using the unique naming convention for your backups, you can hard code the Snapshot copy names into the script.

For example, the dump command for the database might look like this, for an Exchange server named SRVR3:

rsh storagesystem1 dump 0f nrst0a

/vol/Exch/.snapshot/exchsnap__SRVR3__recent__Daily/exch1db.lun