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Exchange Brick Level Backup

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by jabulani

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I have a couple of questions about backing up Exchange using ARCServe.

I am currently backing up Exchange but only at IS and DS level.

Ig I do a Brick level backup, is it necessary to keep backing up the IS separately as will

2. Does a brick level backup save 2 copies of user mailboxes, one as part of the IS and a second as individual mailboxes or does it just allow mailbox level access, in other words would I increase my tape useage by adding brick level backup?

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by tony.colgrove

A brick level individually backs up items in each users mailbox, each into its own "brick" area. So a disadvangate of brick level is you lose the single instance storage of Exchange's IS.
A brick level does not back up the store as a whole database file like the normal IS and DS backup. You do not get any of the DS in brick level.
If you do a brick level you do need to still do a full IS and DS backup for two reasons.
1- To purge your committed transaction logs.
2- To provide a recovery point of the IS incase of corruption. With a brick level restore you might not fix the corruption.
*Also on average the store (IS and DS) backs up at approx 10X the speed of brick level.
The normal backup uses the stores ESE for backup, while a brick level requires ArcServe to use MAPI commands to open each mailbox, and then back them up.
I hope I have addressed your question properly, if not please drop me an email and I can try to answer your questions further.
My Recommendation: Backup the IS and DS everyday, do a brick level if you have the time available in your backup schedule and also have the available space on your backup tapes.

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