Backing up Exchange Server data by using VSS

By using Microsoft™ Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), you can back up Exchange Server data and mount the backup if required.

Before you begin

You must have a VSS provider that is configured for your environment.
If you back up Exchange Server databases in a Database Availability Group (DAG) environment, and you want to back up your databases to a common node, ensure that you set up a DAG node name (DAGNODE).
Tip: Backing up DAG databases to a common node is helpful when you want to manage backups with a single policy, regardless of which DAG server completes the backup.
You can set up the DAG node name in the DAG Node field in the TSM Node Names page of the IBM Storage Protect™ configuration wizard, or in the Back up DAG databases to common node field in the General properties page for your Exchange Server workload.

Start Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and click Exchange Server in the navigation tree.
On the Protect tab, select one or more databases to back up. Alternatively, click the Protect Data shortcut in the start page of MMC.
1. Filter the list of available databases in the results pane by entering a keyword in the Search field.
2. If you are running backup operations in an Exchange Server DAG environment, you can back up an active database copy or passive database copy. View the copy status in the DAG Status column on the Protect tab.

Specify the backup options. If the backup options are not displayed, click Show Backup Options.

To use offloaded backups, set the Offload option to True.
If you use offloaded backups, specify the remote client node,RemoteDSMAGENTNode, that runs the VSS offloaded backups on a remote computer. This option applies only to VSS backups.This option applies only to the IBM Storage Protect configuration.

Select Skip Integrity Check and choose one of the following options.

Table 1. Options for integrity checking
Task	Action
Bypass integrity checking for all database and log files	Select Yes
Run integrity checking to verify that all database and log files are free of errors	Select No This option is the default.
Bypass integrity checking for database files only if at least two valid copies of a database (one active and one passive copy) exist in a DAG	Select Skip Database Check If Healthy
Bypass integrity checking for database and log files only if at least two valid copies of a database (one active and one passive copy) exist in a DAG	Select Skip Database And Log Check If Healthy

If you are scheduling the backup of databases in an Exchange Server DAG, set the Minimum Backup Interval value to the minimum amount of time, in minutes, before a backup of another copy of the same DAG database can begin. The default value is 0, which means that you can back up the database again immediately after a backup operation of that database is complete. The time of the last database backup is determined from the Exchange Server and not the IBM Storage Protect server.
This option specifies that only one database copy can be backed up within a time frame. This option prevents all members in a DAG from backing up the database. Specify this setting for tasks that are scheduled to run when you click Run Scheduled.
If you are scheduling the backup of databases in an Exchange Server DAG, set PreferDAGPassive option to True to skip the backup for an active database copy unless no valid passive copy is available. If no valid passive copy is available, the backup is created from the valid active database copy.
Specify this setting for tasks that are scheduled to run when you click Run Scheduled.

In the Actions pane, click Backup Destination to specify whether you want the data to be backed up to your local server, an IBM Storage Protect server, or both.
Optional: Choose a mode for the current task:
- Run Interactively: Click this item to run the current task interactively. This selection is the default.
- Run Scheduled: Click this item to convert the current action into a scheduled task. When you select this item, the schedule wizard runs the command that is required to complete the task.
To create the backup, select the backup action in the Actions pane.
You can run a full, copy, incremental, or differential backup with the VSS backup method.