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Microsoft Exchange database backup and restore requirements: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus V10.1.5

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

This document details the Microsoft® Exchange database backup and restore requirements for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Version 10.1.5.

Content

This document is divided into linked sections for ease of navigation. Use the following links to jump to the section of the document that you require:


General

Before you register a Microsoft Exchange Server with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, ensure that the system environment meets the following requirements.



 


Configuration

Application versions

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 CU16 and later CU and maintenance levels: Standard or Enterprise editions
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 CU5 and later CU and maintenance levels: Standard and Enterprise editions
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 and later maintenance levels: Standard and Enterprise editions

Microsoft Exchange database availability groups (DAG) are supported.
 

Operating systems

  • Windows Server 2012R2 and later maintenance levels (64-bit kernel): Standard and Datacenter editions
  • Windows Server 2016 and later maintenance levels (64-bit kernel): Standard and Datacenter editions
  • Windows Server 2019 and later maintenance levels (64-bit kernel): Standard and Datacenter editions

Windows Server 2019 with the Server Core option is supported. However, the granular restore feature is not supported by the Server Core installation option.
 

Additional notes

Install the latest Microsoft Exchange Server patches and updates in your environment.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports Microsoft Exchange Server running on a physical (bare metal) server, also in a virtualization environment. The following virtualization environments are supported:

  • VMware ESX guest operating system
  • Microsoft Windows Hyper-V guest operating system



 


Incremental backups

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses update sequence number (USN) change journal technology for incremental backups in a Microsoft Exchange Server environment. The USN change journal provides write range tracking for a volume when the file size meets the minimum file size threshold requirement. The changed bytes offset and length extent information can be queried against a specific file.

To enable write range tracking, the system environment must meet the following requirements:

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 or later
  • New Technology File System (NTFS) Version version 3.0 or later

The following technologies are not supported for changed bytes tracking:

  • Resilient File System (ReFS)
  • Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol
  • SMB Transparent Failover (TFO)
  • SMB 3.0 with scale-out file shares
     

By default, 512 MB of space is allocated for USN change journaling. In addition, when journal overflow is detected, the allocated space doubles in size when an overflow is detected, to a maximum of 2 GB.

The minimum space required for shadow copy storage is 100 MB, although more space might be required on systems with increased activity.

A base backup of a file is forced when the following conditions are detected:

  • Journal discontinuity is reported. This can occur when the log reaches its maximum size, when journaling is disabled, or when the cataloged USN ID is changed.
  • The file size is less than or equal to the tracking threshold size, which by default is 1 MB.
  • A file is added after a previous backup.



 


Software

  • Ensure that a supported version of a Windows 64-bit operating system is installed.
  • The following prerequisites from Microsoft are required and must be installed before you use IBM Spectrum Protect Plus:
    • Windows PowerShell 4 or later
    • Windows Management Framework 4 or later
  • When you use Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and the granular restore feature, the minimum level that is supported for Microsoft Exchange Messaging API (MAPI) Client and Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) is version 6.5.8320.0.
    Note: MAPI and CDO are required for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 only.
  • When you use the granular restore feature with Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 or 2019, Microsoft 32-bit Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2019 is required.
  • The following prerequisites from Microsoft required and are installed automatically by the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus granular restore feature, if not already present on your virtual machine:
    • 32-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable Package
    • 64-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable Package
    • 32-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable Package
    • 64-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable Package
    • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
    • Microsoft ReportViewer 2012 SP1 Redistributable Package
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 System CLR Types
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2014 System CLR Types
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2016 System CLR Types
    Tip: Installation of these prerequisites might require a system restart. To avoid a system restart, ensure that these prerequisites are installed before you start the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus granular restore feature.



 


Registration

Register each Microsoft Exchange Server with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus by name or IP address.
Restrictions: The IP address must be reachable from the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and from the vSnap server. The fully qualified domain name of each Microsoft Exchange Server must be resolvable and can be routed from the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and from the vSnap server. The fully qualified domain name of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server must be resolvable and can be routed from the Microsoft Exchange servers.

The user identity must have sufficient rights to install and start the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Tools Service on the node. These rights include Log on as a service rights. For more information, see the Microsoft article: Add the Log on as a service Right to an Account



 


Privileges

To use an Exchange database, an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user must have the following permissions:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server is protected by role-based authentication. For the Microsoft Exchange agent to work in your IBM Spectrum Protect Plus environment, you must set up the appropriate privileges.
  • The Encrypting file system (EFS) must be enabled in the local or group domain policy, and a valid Domain Data Recovery Agent (DRA) certificate must be available.
  • Exchange digital certificates must be installed and configured for the mailbox browser to function during a granular restore operation. Ensure that the current Exchange certificates are installed and configured correctly in your environment.
    Tip: With Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, the Exchange Server is configured to use Transport Layer Security (TLS) by default. This TLS security encrypts communication between internal Exchange servers, and between Exchange services on the local server.

For more information, see Exchange Server Privileges



 


Ports

The following ports are used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agents users. The ports use secure connections (HTTPS or SSL).

Table 1. Communication ports when the target is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
5985 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) IBM Spectrum Protect Plus appliance Microsoft Exchange Server Provides access to the Microsoft Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service for Windows-based servers.
5986 TCP IBM Spectrum Protect Plus appliance Microsoft Exchange Server Provides access to the Microsoft Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service for Windows-based servers.


 

Table 2: Communication ports when the initiator is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user.
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
32601 TCP Microsoft Exchange Server vSnap server The Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service vSnap target port that is used for mounting LUNS for backup and recovery operations
137 User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Microsoft Exchange Server vSnap server vSnap Server Message Block (SMB) or Common internet file system (CIFS) target port that is used for mounting file system shares for transaction log backup and recovery operations
138 UDP Microsoft Exchange Server vSnap server vSnap SMB or CIFS target port that is used for mounting file system shares for transaction log backup and recovery operations
139 TCP Microsoft Exchange Server vSnap server vSnap SMB or CIFS target port that is used for mounting file system shares for transaction log backup and recovery operations
4432 TCP Microsoft Exchange Server vSnap server Port that allows the agent to communicate with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus for sending alerts in case of log backup failures
445 TCP Microsoft Exchange Server vSnap server vSnap SMB or CIFS target port that is used for mounting file system shares for transaction log backup and recovery operations

1 iSCSI initiator is required on this node.
2For Microsoft Exchange Server, this port is available in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus V10.1.4 and later.



 


Hardware

Table 3. Minimum hardware requirements
System Disk Space Disk Space for Granular Restore Operations
x64: Compatible hardware that is supported by the operating system and Microsoft Exchange Server A minimum of 500 MB of disk space for the product to be installed At least 2.1 GB disk space for extra Microsoft prerequisites, which are installed automatically



 



 

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Document Information

Modified date:
19 November 2019

UID

ibm11071986

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