Adding an Exchange application server

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When you register Exchange Server, an inventory of Exchange databases is added to IBM Storage® Protect Plus. When the inventory is available, you can start to back up and restore your Exchange databases and run reports.

About this task

To register an Exchange application server, you need the IP address or host name.

Restriction: You can assign only one application server or file server per host. For example, if you register a host as a Microsoft Windows™ file system, you cannot register the same host as a Microsoft SQL Server or a Microsoft Exchange Server.

Procedure

To add an Exchange application server, complete the following steps:
  1. In the navigation panel, expand Manage Protection > Databases > Exchange.
  2. On the Exchange page, click Manage Application Servers, and then click Add Application Server to add the host system.
  3. In the Application Properties form, enter the IP or host address in the Host Address field.
  4. Obtain the certificate thumbprint and verify that the certificate thumbprint matches the thumbprint of the certificate on the host. Click Get SSL certificate thumbprint.Get SSL certificate thumbprint

    Get the SSL certificate thumbprint for the Windows-based host. You must complete this step when registering servers for the first time or if the certificate on the server changes. This setting will only be visible if you set the global preference Windows Clients Port (WinRM) used for application and file indexing to 5986. For more information about global preferences, see Configuring global preferences.

    The HTTPS listener must be enabled on the host. You must create a self-signed certificate and then enable the HTTPS listener if it is not already enabled. For more information, see How to configure WinRm for HTTPS.

    When upgrading to IBM Storage Protect Plus 10.1.9, systems that are already registered in the previous version are set to trust on first use (TOFU) and the certificate thumbprint will automatically be added to the registration information in the catalog.

    SSL certificate thumbprint

    The SSL certificate thumbprint is displayed here. Confirm that the certificate thumbprint matches the thumbprint of the certificate on the host that you are adding.

  5. Enter a user ID in the format of active directory domain and user account (domain\user), and the associated password.
    This user must have the correct Exchange roles and privileges. For more information about Exchange privileges, see Privileges.
  6. In the Maximum concurrent databases field, set the maximum number of databases per service level agreement (SLA) policy that can be backed up concurrently. The default is 10. Valid values are 1 - 99.

    This value might be higher or lower than the number of databases that are associated with an SLA policy. For example, if an SLA policy has 10 associated databases and this value is set to 2, a backup operation occurs for only 2 of the 10 databases at the same time. As each backup operation completes, a second backup operation starts until all databases are backed up. If an SLA policy has 5 associated databases and this value is set to 10, all 5 database backup operations occur at the same time.

    This option applies only to SLA policies that are associated with multiple databases. For SLA policies that are associated with only one database, this option provides no function.

    The maximum number of concurrent database backup operations is limited by your environment. Some things to consider are the vSnap server configuration, network bandwidth, and the physical disk configuration of your IBM Storage Protect Plus server.

    For guidance about tuning your IBM Storage Protect Plus environment for best performance, see the IBM Storage Protect Plus Blueprints.

  7. Click Save, and repeat the steps to add other Microsoft™ Exchange instances to IBM Storage Protect Plus.
    Important: In a database availability group (DAG) environment, register all Exchange application servers in the DAG.

What to do next

When you add your Exchange application server to IBM Storage Protect Plus, an inventory is automatically run on each instance. Databases must be detected to ensure that they can be backed up, and you can run a manual inventory at any time to detect updates. For instructions about running a manual inventory, see Detecting Exchange databases by running an inventory. For instructions about setting up Exchange database backup jobs, see Defining a Service Level Agreement backup job.