Backing up Exchange is a tricky answer. There are different factors that are involved in the backing up of Exchange.
So I am going to parse what you listed here and you can tell me if I am wrong.
Running 3 active nodes and 1 passive node yes?
Is your OS 2003?
Do you want to use VSS Snapshot backups of your server or do you want to do streaming backups of your server?
I can speak from the Exchange database streaming side of things, which is how I have my Exchange servers setup. I find this method to be effective and useful. Works rather well for me. I typically backup about 4 storage groups at a time per server. ( I run a 6 active 2 passive node clusters)
I myself haven't run into any problems with this scenario. I get very reliable backups with this method. I backup both Exchange 2003 and 2007 servers with this method. Mind you in 2010 its no longer supported. (Databse Streaming of backups that is.)
A side from that, it is pretty much same rules as any other backup software. backup during non-peak hours. (Evenings and weekends. Especially fulls.) Hard set your network configuration settings, don't leave them on Auto. try to have them on fairly fast equipment. You don't want disk I/O to be a bottle neck.
I personally use Weekly full and daily Incremental with my Exchange servers, but you do what is best for you. Most of my 2003 servers complete in about 4 to 5 hours with about 1tb to 2tb of data depending on the server.
Hardware will al become a factor in how fast it backs up, from how fast is your storage node, what type of tape drives your using, to the capacity of Exchange server etc.
Paul, just curious as to how you do multiple exchange backups per server at one time. We have a 4 active, 2 passive setup, with 4 storage groups on each of the 4 servers, for a total of 16. We just start the backups with the default MSEXCH:, and it runs each backup server sequentailly, sg1, then, 2, 3, and 4. Do you find that your servers can handle running multiple storage groups backing up at the same time? If you don't mind, can you go more into the detail of how you are setup? We are looking at reducing our backup times, and multiple backups of the same server sounds good, if would work.
Sorry for the late response and not sure you will see this.
In our Exchange 2003 environment we are configured that we specifiy just the Storage Group name individually in our SaveSets. Under each of those SG's there is typically 4 mailbox databases. So although we show the SG being backed up, I know underneath is 4 databases in the SG that are being done. I do not believe the 4 databases that are underlying are all sending data at once. It is a sequential thing in that respect. Reason I know this because I do have all 4 sg's running at once and they are streaming to tape.
Exchange 2007 is setup with 6 active 2 passive scenario. With these I list out each SG as well in the saveset. But the difference here is, that each SG only has one database assigned to it.
The heart of your question though comes down to performance. And honestly, I don't think wether you list the saveset as MSEXCH: or break them down, will help much in the way of speed when it comes to backing up the server.
Factors for speed:
Tape Speed
Drive Speed
Network
These will be the driving factors in how fast you can backup.
My Exchange 2003 servers for example backup over copper via 2 Storage Nodes to fiber attached LTO IV drives. They do about anywhere from 8MB to 12MB per second per stream. I myself can live with that. You figure thats roughly 32MB to 48MB per second total on the whole server.
My Exchange 2007 clusters are Dedicate Stroage Nodes. They have the fiber LTO IV tape drives zoned into them. The Exchange 2007 clusters are also attached to EMC Clarion's. I now get the benefit from drive and tape speed, and being fiber attached. When these exchange servers begin to backup locally across the fiber I typically see about 25MB to 32MB per second per stream. Obvioulsy this has been an optimal configuration for us.
Local drive sets typically cause backups to run slower, and topping it off over copper slows it a bit more. So in the end, it all comes back to I/O. Also note, if I do full backups during primetime hours, My SAN delivers, but my customers can suffer as I can eat up as much as 80% of the SAN infrastructure to try and get a backup done.
ble1
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October 7th, 2009 16:00
HacknDos1
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October 8th, 2009 12:00
So I am going to parse what you listed here and you can tell me if I am wrong.
Running 3 active nodes and 1 passive node yes?
Is your OS 2003?
Do you want to use VSS Snapshot backups of your server or do you want to do streaming backups of your server?
I can speak from the Exchange database streaming side of things, which is how I have my Exchange servers setup. I find this method to be effective and useful. Works rather well for me. I typically backup about 4 storage groups at a time per server. ( I run a 6 active 2 passive node clusters)
I myself haven't run into any problems with this scenario. I get very reliable backups with this method. I backup both Exchange 2003 and 2007 servers with this method. Mind you in 2010 its no longer supported. (Databse Streaming of backups that is.)
A side from that, it is pretty much same rules as any other backup software. backup during non-peak hours. (Evenings and weekends. Especially fulls.) Hard set your network configuration settings, don't leave them on Auto. try to have them on fairly fast equipment. You don't want disk I/O to be a bottle neck.
I personally use Weekly full and daily Incremental with my Exchange servers, but you do what is best for you. Most of my 2003 servers complete in about 4 to 5 hours with about 1tb to 2tb of data depending on the server.
Hardware will al become a factor in how fast it backs up, from how fast is your storage node, what type of tape drives your using, to the capacity of Exchange server etc.
noladave
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March 26th, 2010 08:00
Paul, just curious as to how you do multiple exchange backups per server at one time. We have a 4 active, 2 passive setup, with 4 storage groups on each of the 4 servers, for a total of 16. We just start the backups with the default MSEXCH:, and it runs each backup server sequentailly, sg1, then, 2, 3, and 4. Do you find that your servers can handle running multiple storage groups backing up at the same time? If you don't mind, can you go more into the detail of how you are setup? We are looking at reducing our backup times, and multiple backups of the same server sounds good, if would work.
thanks.
HacknDos1
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May 10th, 2010 14:00
David,
Sorry for the late response and not sure you will see this.
In our Exchange 2003 environment we are configured that we specifiy just the Storage Group name individually in our SaveSets. Under each of those SG's there is typically 4 mailbox databases. So although we show the SG being backed up, I know underneath is 4 databases in the SG that are being done. I do not believe the 4 databases that are underlying are all sending data at once. It is a sequential thing in that respect. Reason I know this because I do have all 4 sg's running at once and they are streaming to tape.
Exchange 2007 is setup with 6 active 2 passive scenario. With these I list out each SG as well in the saveset. But the difference here is, that each SG only has one database assigned to it.
The heart of your question though comes down to performance. And honestly, I don't think wether you list the saveset as MSEXCH: or break them down, will help much in the way of speed when it comes to backing up the server.
Factors for speed:
Tape Speed
Drive Speed
Network
These will be the driving factors in how fast you can backup.
My Exchange 2003 servers for example backup over copper via 2 Storage Nodes to fiber attached LTO IV drives. They do about anywhere from 8MB to 12MB per second per stream. I myself can live with that. You figure thats roughly 32MB to 48MB per second total on the whole server.
My Exchange 2007 clusters are Dedicate Stroage Nodes. They have the fiber LTO IV tape drives zoned into them. The Exchange 2007 clusters are also attached to EMC Clarion's. I now get the benefit from drive and tape speed, and being fiber attached. When these exchange servers begin to backup locally across the fiber I typically see about 25MB to 32MB per second per stream. Obvioulsy this has been an optimal configuration for us.
Local drive sets typically cause backups to run slower, and topping it off over copper slows it a bit more. So in the end, it all comes back to I/O. Also note, if I do full backups during primetime hours, My SAN delivers, but my customers can suffer as I can eat up as much as 80% of the SAN infrastructure to try and get a backup done.