VSS backup characteristics

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Backups can be stored on local shadow volumes, an IBM Storage Protect™ server, or at both locations. You can define different policy settings for each backup location.

You can offload backups from IBM Storage Protect server storage to another system as resource relief for production servers. In addition, you can restore backups to flat files.

Databases must have unique names. If a database has the same name as another database, but the capitalization differs, the software does not differentiate between case.

When you back up Exchange Server data by using Data Protection for Exchange Server, VSS backups have the following characteristics:
  • Backups provide an Exchange Server database integrity check function, but do not provide a zeroing function.
  • You can run full, copy, differential and incremental backups.
  • You can restore a backup to a local disk only on the same system.
  • You can back up Exchange Server Database Availability Group (DAG) databases under a common DAG node name, regardless of which DAG member runs the backup. You can create the backup from an active or passive copy. When you back up data to a common node, the backups are managed by a common policy, and you can restore the backup to any Exchange Server under the same DAG node.