Installing and configuring for Microsoft Exchange Server data protection in a VMware environment

When you install these software offerings, no specific instructions are needed to protect Microsoft Exchange Server workloads that are running in a VMware ESXi virtual guest machine. Install and configure Data Protection for VMware before you install Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server.

About this task

Follow the installation and configuration instructions that are provided with each software package.

If you install Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server before Data Protection for VMware, you cannot specify the VMware datacenter node in the Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server configuration wizard because the field is disabled.

The following configuration tasks are specific to the configuration options that you must protect Microsoft Exchange Server workloads that are running in a VMware ESXi virtual guest machine. These options can be set after you complete the initial configuration.

Before you configure to protect Microsoft Exchange Server workloads that run in a VMware ESXi virtual guest machine, complete this checklist:
  • Verify that Microsoft Exchange Server databases and mailboxes are hosted on VMware virtual disks.
  • Verify that no data is hosted on raw device mapped (RDM) disks in physical compatibility mode, independent disks, or on disks that are attached directly to the guest through in-guest iSCSI.

Procedure

  1. Outside of the VM guest, in the data mover, configure Data Protection for VMware to protect Microsoft Exchange databases and mailboxes.
  2. Within the guest, verify that Data Protection for VMware is configured to enable the restore of individual Microsoft Exchange databases and mailboxes.
  3. Within the guest, configure Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server to complete Microsoft Exchange database and mailbox backups and restore individual Microsoft Exchange databases and mailboxes from a virtual machine backup.

What to do next

The information that follows might not exactly apply to your environment. You can adjust the configuration for your environment. The following details describe the scenario that is used:
The following list summarizes the scenario:
Machine name
EXC10
VSS requestor node name
EXC10_VSS
Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server node name
EXC10_EXC
Virtual machine
vm_exc10
Data mover node names
datamover10 and datamover20
Datacenter node name
datacenter10
VM file space
\VMFULL-vm_exc10