NetBackup for Exchange backup types

This topic describes the types of backups you can schedule for backups of Exchange Server.

Note:

Incremental backups fail if database circular logging is configured for the Exchange Server. See Microsoft's Exchange Server Administration Guide for more information on how to configure circular logging.

Note:

Incremental backups back up the Exchange transaction logs. Therefore, since Exchange 2007 and earlier maintains transaction logs at the storage group level, NetBackup performs incremental backups of storage groups, not individual databases within storage groups. NetBackup lets you configure incremental schedules for individual databases. The backup job still runs according to the configured incremental schedules, but the job logs warnings for attempted incremental backups of these objects.

Table: NetBackup for Exchange backup types

Type of backup	Description
Full backup	This schedule type backs up the Exchange Server database and associated transaction logs. Exchange truncates all committed transaction logs after NetBackup notifies it that the backup succeeded. In replicated environments, the truncation is scheduled and does not occur immediately. By default, transaction logs are not truncated for Instant Recovery backups. You can enable the truncation of logs for this type of backup or you can perform a backup to a storage unit. See About truncating Exchange transaction logs with Instant Recovery backups. See Truncating Exchange transaction logs by performing a backup to a storage unit.
Differential incremental backup	Includes the changes since the last full or differential incremental backup. After NetBackup notifies it that the backup succeeded, Exchange truncates all committed transaction logs. The truncation of the transaction logs sets the context for the next backup. For backups of databases, storage groups, or the entire Information Store, the backup only includes the transaction logs. This type of schedule is not supported for Exchange 2003 pre-SP1 snapshot backups. Individual items cannot be restored for this type of backup if Enable granular recovery is enabled. To perform a full restore the data that is needed is contained in multiple NetBackup images. One image for the full backup and another image for each differential incremental that was performed.
Cumulative incremental backup	Includes the changes since the last full backup or differential incremental backup. (However, most configurations do not mix cumulative and differential incremental backups between full backups.) Exchange does not truncate the logs when the backup is completes. When a series of cumulative incremental backups follows a full backup, transaction logs remain intact since the last full backup. For backups of databases, storage groups, or the entire Information Store, the backup only includes the transaction logs. For Exchange 2007 and earlier, you also can use this schedule type to back up changes to the mailboxes or the Public Folders. This type of schedule is not supported for Exchange 2003 pre-SP1 snapshot backups. Individual items cannot be restored for this type of backup if Enable granular recovery is enabled. Consider an Exchange Server data recovery scenario where the transaction logs are all intact. You only need to restore the database from the last full backup and the last cumulative incremental backup. During recovery, Exchange Server replays all the logs that are in the log folder.
User backup	A user backup is not automatically scheduled and is initiated on the target client computer. It is like a snapshot (or a copy backup) of the databases at a given point in time. This backup does not affect the content of ongoing full and incremental backups. Transaction logs are not truncated for Exchange 2003 SP1 and later snapshot backups, but are truncated for Exchange 2003 pre-SP1 snapshot backups . For streaming backups, you can configure user backups to truncate the logs. You may want to consider creating a separate policy for user backup schedule types. Then you can easily separate user-directed and scheduled backups when you restore files. If you decide to create separate policies for user backup schedule types, the considerations are similar to those for automatic backups. A backup selections list is not needed because users select the files to restore.