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Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide PDF

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Summary of Content for Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide PDF

PowerProtect Data Manager 19.10 Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide

March 2022 Rev. 01

Notes, cautions, and warnings

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid

the problem.

WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

2020 - 2022 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Preface.........................................................................................................................................................................................6

Chapter 1: PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview...................... 10 PowerProtect Data Manager overview........................................................................................................................ 10 Supported Internet Protocol versions...........................................................................................................................10 Introducing the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent.............................................................................. 10 Microsoft Exchange Server application agent and File System agent coexistence........................................... 11 Prerequisites........................................................................................................................................................................ 11 Firewall and port considerations..................................................................................................................................... 11 Role-based security........................................................................................................................................................... 12 Data-in-flight encryption.................................................................................................................................................. 12 PowerProtect Data Manager new deployment overview........................................................................................ 13 PowerProtect Data Manager existing deployment overview..................................................................................13

Chapter 2: Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent.........................................15 Microsoft Exchange Server data protection and replication requirements.........................................................15 Protecting a stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server............................................................................................. 15 Protecting Microsoft Exchange Server DAG environments....................................................................................16 Install and configure the application agent.................................................................................................................. 16

Prerequisites..................................................................................................................................................................16 Install the Microsoft application agent....................................................................................................................17 Uninstall the Microsoft application agent with the setup file........................................................................... 18 Configure the Microsoft Exchange Server operations....................................................................................... 18

Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent....................................................................................25 View application agent details..................................................................................................................................26

Support for existing Microsoft application agent backups with PowerProtect Data Manager..................... 27 Supporting existing Microsoft application agent backups with PowerProtect Data Manager.................27 Using the backup discovery tool for PowerProtect Data Manager management of existing

backups......................................................................................................................................................................28

Chapter 3: Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection.................................................................30 Add protection storage ...................................................................................................................................................30

View the storage unit password............................................................................................................................... 31 Enable an asset source.................................................................................................................................................... 32

Disable an asset source..............................................................................................................................................32 Delete an asset source.....................................................................................................................................................33 Recommission the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent........................................................................ 33 Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host.........................................................................................34 Add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection...................................................34 Cancel an application agent protection job.................................................................................................................39 Extended retention........................................................................................................................................................... 40 Edit the retention period for backup copies............................................................................................................... 42 Delete backup copies........................................................................................................................................................42

Retry a failed backup copy deletion........................................................................................................................43 Export data for deleted backup copies.................................................................................................................. 43

Contents

Contents 3

Remove backup copies from the PowerProtect Data Manager database.................................................... 44 Enable the Microsoft application agent after hostname change...........................................................................44 Manage the PowerProtect agent service................................................................................................................... 45

About the PowerProtect agent service................................................................................................................. 45 Start, stop, or obtain the status of the PowerProtect agent service............................................................ 46 Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service installations.............................................................................. 46 Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service operations.................................................................................46 Register the PowerProtect agent service to a different server address on Windows.............................. 47 Recovering the PowerProtect agent service from a disaster.......................................................................... 47

Manage the cloud tier operations with PowerProtect Data Manager................................................................. 48 Add a cloud tier schedule to a protection policy................................................................................................. 49 Tier the PowerProtect Data Manager backups from DD to the cloud...........................................................49 Restore the cloud tier backups to DD....................................................................................................................50

Chapter 4: Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases...............52 Performing self-service backups of Microsoft Exchange Server databases......................................................52 Back up Microsoft Exchange Server with the Windows PowerShell backup cmdlet.......................................52

Syntax to perform stand-alone server backups...................................................................................................52 Syntax to perform federated backups................................................................................................................... 53 Optional parameters for the Backup-Exchange cmdlet.....................................................................................54

Listing backups and save files........................................................................................................................................56 List backups with the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet..........................................................................................56 List backups and save files with the msagentadmin administration command............................................58

Reading the backup object from Windows PowerShell cmdlet output................................................................59 Output formats............................................................................................................................................................ 59 EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDatabase object attributes....................... 60 EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object attributes.........................................60

Formatting the list of backups........................................................................................................................................61

Chapter 5: Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups.....................................62 Restore a Microsoft Exchange Server application host.......................................................................................... 62 Prerequisite for Microsoft Exchange Server restore operations...........................................................................62 Restoring Microsoft Exchange Server databases.....................................................................................................62

Restore a backup to the source database............................................................................................................ 63 Restore a backup to an alternate database.......................................................................................................... 63 Optional parameters for the Restore-Exchange cmdlet....................................................................................64

Performing granular-level restores............................................................................................................................... 66 Mount backups............................................................................................................................................................ 66 Browse and recover granular-level data with ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server.........................67 Managing mounted backups with the Mount Service system tray icon........................................................68

Performing granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server........................................................... 69 Prerequisites for granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server............................................69 Commands for granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server............................................... 70

Appendix A: Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting...............................71 Troubleshooting storage units........................................................................................................................................ 71 Troubleshooting backup failures when credentials include a backslash character (\)..................................... 71 Troubleshooting PowerProtect Data Manager UI display of localhost.localdomain hostname...................... 72 Troubleshooting agent registration ..............................................................................................................................72

4 Contents

Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service operations.......................................................................................73 Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service installations.....................................................................................73 Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server backups.............................................................................................74 Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server restores............................................................................................ 75

Contents 5

Preface As part of an effort to improve product lines, periodic revisions of software and hardware are released. Therefore, all versions of the software or hardware currently in use might not support some functions that are described in this document. The product release notes provide the most up-to-date information on product features.

If a product does not function correctly or does not function as described in this document, contact Customer Support.

NOTE: This document was accurate at publication time. To ensure that you are using the latest version of this document,

go to the Customer Support website.

Product naming Data Domain (DD) is now PowerProtect DD. References to Data Domain or Data Domain systems in this documentation, in the user interface, and elsewhere in the product include PowerProtect DD systems and older Data Domain systems. In many cases the user interface has not yet been updated to reflect this change.

Language use This document might contain language that is not consistent with Dell Technologies current guidelines. Dell Technologies plans to update the document over subsequent future releases to revise the language accordingly.

This document might contain language from third-party content that is not under Dell Technologies control and is not consistent with the current guidelines for Dell Technologies own content. When such third-party content is updated by the relevant third parties, this document will be revised accordingly.

Website links The website links used in this document were valid at publication time. If you find a broken link, provide feedback on the document, and a Dell employee will update the document as necessary.

Purpose This document describes how to configure and use the Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager with the Microsoft application agent to back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Server. The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides additional details about configuration and usage procedures.

Audience This document is intended for the host system administrator who configures and uses the PowerProtect Data Manager with the Microsoft application agent to back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Server.

Revision history The following table presents the revision history of this document.

Table 1. Revision history

Revision Date Description

01 March 22, 2022 Initial release of this document for PowerProtect Data Manager version 19.10.

6 Preface

Compatibility information Software compatibility information for the PowerProtect Data Manager software is provided at the E-Lab Navigator.

Related documentation The following publications are available at Customer Support and provide additional information:

Table 2. Related documentation

Title Content

PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide Describes how to configure the software.

PowerProtect Data Manager Deployment Guide Describes how to deploy the software.

PowerProtect Data Manager Licensing Guide Describes how to license the software.

PowerProtect Data Manager Release Notes Contains information on new features, known limitations, environment, and system requirements for the software.

PowerProtect Data Manager Security Configuration Guide Contains security information.

PowerProtect Data Manager Amazon Web Services Deployment Guide

Describes how to deploy the software to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

PowerProtect Data Manager Azure Deployment Guide Describes how to deploy the software to Microsoft Azure.

PowerProtect Data Manager Google Cloud Platform Deployment Guide

Describes how to deploy the software to Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

PowerProtect Data Manager Cloud Disaster Recovery Administration and User Guide

Describes how to deploy Cloud Disaster Recovery (Cloud DR), protect virtual machines in the AWS or Azure cloud, and run recovery operations.

PowerProtect Data Manager Cyber Recovery User Guide Describes how to install, update, patch, and uninstall the Dell EMC PowerProtect Cyber Recovery software.

PowerProtect Data Manager File System User Guide Describes how to configure and use the software with the File System agent for file-system data protection.

PowerProtect Data Manager Kubernetes User Guide Describes how to configure and use the software to back up and restore namespaces and PVCs in a Kubernetes cluster.

PowerProtect Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide

Describes how to configure and use the software to back up and restore the data in a Microsoft Exchange Server environment.

PowerProtect Data Manager Microsoft SQL Server User Guide

Describes how to configure and use the software to back up and restore the data in a Microsoft SQL Server environment.

PowerProtect Data Manager Oracle RMAN User Guide Describes how to configure and use the software to back up and restore the data in an Oracle Server environment.

PowerProtect Data Manager SAP HANA User Guide Describes how to configure and use the software to back up and restore the data in an SAP HANA Server environment.

PowerProtect Data Manager Storage Direct User Guide Describes how to configure and use the software with the Storage Direct agent to protect data on VMAX storage arrays through snapshot backup technology.

PowerProtect Data Manager Network Attached Storage User Guide

Describes how to configure and use the software to protect and recover the data on network-attached storage (NAS) shares and appliances.

PowerProtect Data Manager Virtual Machine User Guide Describes how to configure and use the software to back up and restore virtual machines and virtual-machine disks (VMDKs) in a vCenter Server environment.

Preface 7

Table 2. Related documentation (continued)

Title Content

VMware Cloud Foundation Disaster Recovery With PowerProtect Data Manager

Provides a detailed description of how to perform an end-to- end disaster recovery of a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environment.

PowerProtect Data Manager Disaster Recovery Best Practices Guide

Provides guidance and best practices for a PowerProtect Data Manager server disaster-recovery solution.

PowerProtect Data Manager Public REST API documentation Contains the PowerProtect Data Manager APIs and includes tutorials to guide you in their use.

vRealize Automation Data Protection Extension for Data Protection Systems Installation and Administration Guide

Describes how to install, configure, and use the Dell EMC vRealize Data Protection Extension.

Typographical conventions The following type style conventions are used in this document:

Table 3. Style conventions

Formatting Description

Bold Used for interface elements that a user specifically selects or clicks, for example, names of buttons, fields, tab names, and menu paths. Also used for the name of a dialog box, page, pane, screen area with title, table label, and window.

Italic Used for full titles of publications that are referenced in text.

Monospace Used for: System code System output, such as an error message or script Pathnames, file names, file name extensions, prompts, and syntax Commands and options

Monospace italic Used for variables.

Monospace bold Used for user input.

[ ] Square brackets enclose optional values.

| Vertical line indicates alternate selections. The vertical line means or for the alternate selections.

{ } Braces enclose content that the user must specify, such as x, y, or z.

... Ellipses indicate non-essential information that is omitted from the example.

You can use the following resources to find more information about this product, obtain support, and provide feedback.

Where to find product documentation The Customer Support website The Community Network

Where to get support The Customer Support website provides access to product licensing, documentation, advisories, downloads, and how-to and troubleshooting information. The information can enable you to resolve a product issue before you contact Customer Support.

To access a product-specific page:

1. Go to the Customer Support website.

8 Preface

2. In the search box, type a product name, and then from the list that appears, select the product.

Knowledgebase The Knowledgebase contains applicable solutions that you can search for either by solution number (for example, KB000xxxxxx) or by keyword.

To search the Knowledgebase:

1. Go to the Customer Support website. 2. On the Support tab, click Knowledge Base. 3. In the search box, type either the solution number or keywords. Optionally, you can limit the search to specific products by

typing a product name in the search box, and then selecting the product from the list that appears.

Live chat To participate in a live interactive chat with a support agent:

1. Go to the Customer Support website. 2. On the Support tab, click Contact Support. 3. On the Contact Information page, click the relevant support, and then proceed.

Service requests To obtain in-depth help from a support agent, submit a service request. To submit a service request:

1. Go to the Customer Support website. 2. On the Support tab, click Service Requests.

NOTE: To create a service request, you must have a valid support agreement. For details about either an account or

obtaining a valid support agreement, contact a sales representative. To find the details of a service request, in the

Service Request Number field, type the service request number, and then click the right arrow.

To review an open service request:

1. Go to the Customer Support website. 2. On the Support tab, click Service Requests. 3. On the Service Requests page, under Manage Your Service Requests, click View All Dell Service Requests.

Online communities For peer contacts, conversations, and content on product support and solutions, go to the Community Network. Interactively engage with customers, partners, and certified professionals online.

How to provide feedback Feedback helps to improve the accuracy, organization, and overall quality of publications. You can send feedback to DPAD.Doc.Feedback@emc.com.

Preface 9

PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview

Topics:

PowerProtect Data Manager overview Supported Internet Protocol versions Introducing the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent Microsoft Exchange Server application agent and File System agent coexistence Prerequisites Firewall and port considerations Role-based security Data-in-flight encryption PowerProtect Data Manager new deployment overview PowerProtect Data Manager existing deployment overview

PowerProtect Data Manager overview Use PowerProtect Data Manager with the application agent to perform the following operations:

Automate the configuration of the application agent backup policy and protection storage settings. Create a catalog of backups that the application agent creates. Then monitor that catalog data to determine if retention

policies are being adhered to. Manage the life cycle of backups that the application agent creates. Ensure that the backups are marked for garbage

collection, based on the rules of the retention policy.

PowerProtect Data Manager does not change the way that the application agent works. DBAs, system administrators, or backup administrators create the backups and perform the restore operations.

Supported Internet Protocol versions PowerProtect Data Manager only supports the use of IPv4 addresses.

Using an IPv6 address can result in errors or other unexpected behavior. When configuring devices to connect over the network with PowerProtect Data Manager, use only IPv4 addresses.

Introducing the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent The Microsoft application agent enables an application administrator to protect and recover the Microsoft Exchange Server application data on the application host. PowerProtect Data Manager integrates with the Microsoft application agent to check and monitor backup compliance against protection policies. PowerProtect Data Manager also enables central scheduling for backups.

You can install the Microsoft application agent on a Windows Microsoft Exchange Server host by using the install wizard. Install and configure the application agent provides instructions.

NOTE:

PowerProtect Data Manager supports the coexistence of the Microsoft application agent and the File System agent on

Windows.

1

10 PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview

To enable the discovery and scheduling of backups with PowerProtect Data Manager, you must approve the client in the

PowerProtect Data Manager UI. Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent provides more information.

The Microsoft application agent does not support the MetaCacheDatabase (MCDB) feature in Microsoft Exchange Server

2019. Ensure that you do not enable MCDB in Microsoft Exchange Server 2019.

Software compatibility information for the PowerProtect Data Manager software and application agents is provided in the E-Lab Navigator.

Microsoft Exchange Server application agent and File System agent coexistence PowerProtect Data Manager only supports the coexistence of the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent with the File System agent on Windows.

When the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent and the File System agent coexist and both agents are installed and registered to the same PowerProtect Data Manager instance, the following workflows are supported:

For File Systems:

Use File-based backup (FBB) instead of Block-based backup, and provide a dummy exclusion filter in the protection policy. In the File System protection policy backup, do not include Microsoft Exchange Server.edb and log file assets.

For Microsoft Exchange Server, run a Microsoft Exchange Server full backup only.

Prerequisites Ensure that your environment meets the requirements for a new deployment or update of PowerProtect Data Manager.

Requirements: NOTE: The most up-to-date software compatibility information for the PowerProtect Data Manager software and the

application agents is provided in the E-Lab Navigator.

A list of hosts that write backups to DD systems is available. DDOS version 6.1 or later and the PowerProtect DD Management Center are required. All models of DD systems are

supported.

NOTE: PowerProtect DD Management Center is required with a DDOS version earlier than 6.1.2. With DDOS version

6.1.2 or later, you can add and use a DD system directly without PowerProtect DD Management Center.

Application agent 19.10 or earlier is required. License: A trial license is provided with the PowerProtect Data Manager software. Dell EMC Data Protection Suite

Applications, Backup, and Enterprise customers can contact Dell EMC Licensing Support for assistance with a permanent PowerProtect Data Manager license.

Large environments require multiple PowerProtect Data Manager instances. Contact Champions.eCDM@emc.com for assistance with sizing requests.

The PowerProtect Data Manager 19.10 download file requires the following: ESXi version 6.5, 6.7, or 7.0. 8 vCPUs, 18 GB RAM, one 100 GB disk, and one 500 GB disk. The latest version of the Google Chrome browser to access the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. TCP port 7000 is open between PowerProtect Data Manager and the application agent hosts.

Firewall and port considerations Table 4. PowerProtect Data Manager port requirements

Description Communication Port

SSH communications Bi-directional communication between the SSH client and the PowerProtect Data Manager appliance.

22 TCP/UDP

PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview 11

Table 4. PowerProtect Data Manager port requirements (continued)

Description Communication Port

RestServer Bi-directional communication between the HTTP client and the PowerProtect Data Manager appliance.

8443 TCP

UI redirect Inbound only. 80 TCP

443

LDAP Outbound only. 389 TCP/UDP

636 TCP

Discovery (devices) Outbound between the PowerProtect Data Manager appliance and the device.

3009 TCPStorage Direct and DD system

5989 TCPSMI-S

PowerProtect Data Manager agent

Bi-directional communication between the database hosts and the PowerProtect Data Manager appliance.

7000 TCP

Embedded VM Direct service

Outbound. 9090 TCP

Role-based security PowerProtect Data Manager provides predefined user roles that control access to areas of the user interface and to protected operations. Some of the functionality in this guide is reserved for particular roles and may not be accessible from every user account.

By using the predefined roles, you can limit access to PowerProtect Data Manager and to backup data by applying the principle of least privilege.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Security Configuration Guide provides more information about user roles, including the associated privileges and the tasks that each role can perform.

Data-in-flight encryption PowerProtect Data Manager provides centralized management of backup and restore encryption for application agents. Backup and restore encryption is supported for both centralized and self-service operations where applicable.

You can ensure that the backup and restore content is encrypted when read on the source system, transmitted in encrypted form, and then decrypted before it is saved on the destination storage. This prevents another party from intercepting private data.

PowerProtect Data Manager only supports encryption in-flight for Microsoft SQL Server with Application Direct, Microsoft Exchange Server, Oracle RMAN, File System, SAP HANA, and network attached storage (NAS) workloads. This is a global setting that is applicable to all supported workloads. For File System agents, restore encryption is supported for image-level restore only. For Microsoft SQL Server agents, restore encryption is supported for database-level restore only.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide and PowerProtect Data Manager Security Configuration Guide provide more information about encryption in-flight, such as how to enable the feature and important considerations to understand before enabling.

12 PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview

PowerProtect Data Manager new deployment overview Familiarize yourself with the high-level steps required to install PowerProtect Data Manager with the application agent.

Steps

1. Design how to group the backups, based on the storage requirements and retention policies.

The account team can help with backup storage design.

2. Install PowerProtect DD Management Center.

PowerProtect Data Manager uses PowerProtect DD Management Center to connect to the DD systems. The DD Management Center Installation and Administration Guide provides instructions.

NOTE: PowerProtect DD Management Center is required with a DDOS version earlier than 6.1.2. With DDOS version

6.1.2 or later, you can add and use a DD system directly without PowerProtect DD Management Center.

3. Install PowerProtect Data Manager from the download file.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Deployment Guide provides instructions.

4. Add external DD systems or PowerProtect DD Management Center to PowerProtect Data Manager.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides instructions on how to add protection storage.

5. Install the application agent on the appropriate hosts and connect them to PowerProtect Data Manager according to the instructions in the next "Enabling" chapter.

DBAs should perform this operation.

6. Add new or approve pending agent requests in the PowerProtect Data Manager according to the instructions in the next "Enabling" chapter.

7. After the approval of agent requests, PowerProtect Data Manager must run a discovery operation to discover the assets.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides information.

8. Add a protection policy for groups of assets that you want to back up.

NOTE: After you create a centralized protection job, the first backup is a full backup.

9. Monitor protection compliance in the PowerProtect Data Manager dashboard.

PowerProtect Data Manager existing deployment overview Familiarize yourself with the high-level steps required to install PowerProtect Data Manager with the application agent in an existing environment.

Steps

1. Install PowerProtect DD Management Center.

PowerProtect Data Manager uses PowerProtect DD Management Center to connect to the DD systems. The DD Management Center Installation and Administration Guide provides instructions.

NOTE: PowerProtect DD Management Center is required with a DDOS version earlier than 6.1.2. With DDOS version

6.1.2 or later, you can add and use a DD system directly without PowerProtect DD Management Center.

2. Install PowerProtect Data Manager from the download file.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Deployment Guide provides instructions.

3. Add external DD systems or PowerProtect DD Management Center to PowerProtect Data Manager.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides instructions on how to add protection storage.

4. Update the application agent or uninstall and then reinstall the application agent on the hosts and connect them to PowerProtect Data Manager. Follow the instructions in the next "Enabling" chapter.

PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview 13

DBAs should perform this operation.

NOTE: Ensure that the configuration file config.cfg in the installation folder contains the mandatory parameter

setting BACKUP_TYPE=BlockBasedBackup.

5. Add new or approve pending agent requests in the PowerProtect Data Manager according to the instructions in the next "Enabling" chapter.

6. After the approval of agent requests, PowerProtect Data Manager must run a discovery operation to discover the assets.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides information.

7. Add a protection policy for groups of assets that you want to back up.

NOTE: After you create a centralized protection job, the first backup is a full backup.

8. Monitor protection compliance in the PowerProtect Data Manager dashboard.

14 PowerProtect Data Manager for Microsoft Application Agent Overview

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

Topics:

Microsoft Exchange Server data protection and replication requirements Protecting a stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server Protecting Microsoft Exchange Server DAG environments Install and configure the application agent Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent Support for existing Microsoft application agent backups with PowerProtect Data Manager

Microsoft Exchange Server data protection and replication requirements PowerProtect Data Manager can manage and monitor data protection and replication for Microsoft Exchange Server assets through integration with the Microsoft application agent.

After installing the Microsoft application agent, review the following information for additional requirements before adding the Microsoft application agent as an asset source in PowerProtect Data Manager and discovering the Microsoft Exchange Server assets.

Verify that the environment meets the following requirements:

Ensure that all clocks on the Microsoft Exchange Server host, domain controller, and PowerProtect Data Manager are time-synced to the local NTP server to ensure discovery of the backups.

Ensure that the Microsoft Exchange Server and the PowerProtect Data Manager system network can see and resolve each other.

Ensure that port 7000 is open on the Microsoft Exchange Server host. Ensure that DNS is configured correctly on the application agent host for the Microsoft Exchange Server. Ensure that DNS is configured correctly on the PowerProtect Data Manager host and the name resolution matches.

Protecting a stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server Learn how to configure protection of a stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server.

Steps

1. Add storage for DD Management Console or the external DD.

Add protection storage provides information.

2. Install the Microsoft application agent on the Microsoft Exchange Server host.

Install and configure the application agent provides information.

3. Configure the required user privileges on the Microsoft Exchange Server host.

Configure users with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool provides information.

4. Add or approve the Microsoft application agent in PowerProtect Data Manager. Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent provides information.

5. Discover the Microsoft Exchange Server application host.

Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host provides information.

6. Create a protection policy to protect the assets of the Microsoft Exchange Server host.

2

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 15

Add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection provides information.

NOTE: You cannot perform a backup to a secondary DD device. You can only restore from a secondary DD device.

Protecting Microsoft Exchange Server DAG environments Learn how to configure the protection of Microsoft Exchange Server database availability group (DAG) environments.

About this task

On each node in the DAG, repeat the steps to install the Microsoft application agent, and then add and discover the application host in PowerProtect Data Manager.

CAUTION: Protection of the nodes in a DAG requires that all the nodes be registered to the PowerProtect Data

Manager server.

Steps

1. Add a storage system.

Add protection storage provides information.

2. Install the Microsoft application agent on each node in the DAG.

Install and configure the application agent provides information.

3. Configure the required user privileges on each node in the DAG.

Configure users with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool provides information.

4. Add or approve the Microsoft application agent on each node in the DAG. Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent provides information.

5. Discover each Microsoft Exchange Server application host.

Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host provides information.

6. Create a protection policy to protect the assets of the Microsoft Exchange Server hosts.

Add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection provides information.

NOTE: You cannot perform a backup to a secondary DD device. You can only restore from a secondary DD device.

Install and configure the application agent

Prerequisites

Ensure that an Microsoft Exchange Server environment meets the following prerequisites before you install the Microsoft application agent:

Install the following applications on the Windows host: Microsoft Exchange Server .NET Framework 4.0 or later

If you are installing ItemPoint for granular-level recovery, install .NET Framework 4.5.

In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Agent Downloads from the System Settings menu, select the Microsoft application agent download package, msappagent1910_win_x64.zip, and then download the package to the Windows Microsoft Exchange Server host.

Log in to the Microsoft Exchange Server host as an Administrator to install the Microsoft application agent.

16 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

Install the Microsoft application agent

Learn how to install the Microsoft application agent.

About this task

NOTE: In DAG environments, you must install the Microsoft application agent on each node in the DAG.

Steps

1. In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI:

a. Select Agent Downloads from the System Settings menu. b. Select the Microsoft application agent download package, msappagent1910_win_x64.zip.

c. Download the package to the host where you want to install the Microsoft application agent.

NOTE: To verify the authenticity and integrity of the downloaded package, follow the instructions in the PowerProtect

Data Manager Security Configuration Guide.

2. Open msappagent1910_win_x64.zip with WinZip.

3. Use WinZip to extract the msappagent1910_win_x64.zip file.

4. In the extracted directory, launch emcmsappagent-19.10.0.0.exe. The installation wizard appears.

5. On the Welcome Wizard page, select I agree to the license term and agreements, and then click Next.

6. On the Change Install Location page, perform one of the following tasks: To install the Microsoft application agent in the default directory, leave the installation location as is.

The default installation directory is C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSAPPAGENT.

To specify a different installation location, perform the following steps:

a. Click Change. b. In the dialog box that appears, specify the installation location. c. Click OK.

NOTE: When you choose to install the Microsoft application agent in a non-default directory, all the application

agent files are installed in the specified directory, including the lockbox files.

7. Click Next.

8. On the Configure Installation Options page, specify the following options as required to integrate the Microsoft application agent with PowerProtect Data Manager for centralized or self-service protection of Microsoft Exchange Server data:

To install the Microsoft application agent software, select Application Direct. To enable granular-level restores, select ItemPoint.

This option installs ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server, which you can use to perform granular-level restores.

Specify the PowerProtect Data Manager appliance details by performing the following steps: a. Select PowerProtect Data Manager. b. In the Appliance hostname or IP address field, type the hostname or IP address of the PowerProtect Data

Manager server.

NOTE: If you specify a hostname or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) with an underscore (_) for the

PowerProtect Data Manager server, then the communication will be done by the system's IP, if provided by

the system on registration.

c. To enable the PowerProtect Data Manager communications port 7000, ensure that the Configure the Windows Firewall option is selected under Common Core Components. This option is selected by default.

NOTE:

When the Configure the Windows Firewall option is enabled, the installation creates the Windows firewall

rule that allows inbound and outbound connections for the agent service process. Installation of the Microsoft

application agent requires port 7000 on the Microsoft Exchange Server and port 8443 on PowerProtect Data

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 17

Manager to be open bidirectionally. These ports enable communication between the Microsoft application agent

and PowerProtect Data Manager.

If the File System agent is already installed and firewall rules are configured, then the Configure the Windows

Firewall option is selected by default but disabled for the Microsoft application agent.

9. Click Install >.

10. On the Complete the Setup page, click Finish.

Uninstall the Microsoft application agent with the setup file

About this task

To uninstall the Microsoft application agent for Microsoft Exchange Server with the setup file, perform the following steps.

NOTE: If a granular-level restore was performed since the last reboot of the host, Microsoft application agent requests

a reboot during an uninstall operation. The Microsoft application agent installs and uses the Eldos CBFS driver for granular-

level restores. The Eldos CBFS driver is loaded during the granular-level restore operation. Microsoft requires the driver to

be unloaded before you start the uninstall operation.

Steps

1. Launch emcmsappagent-19.10.0.0.exe.

2. On the Install Modification page, select Remove, and then click Next.

3. On the Configure Uninstallation Options page, click Remove.

4. On the Complete the Setup page, click Finish.

Results

The firewall rule created during installation for PowerProtect Data Manager communications port 7000 is removed automatically during the uninstall operation.

Configure the Microsoft Exchange Server operations

You must complete the required configurations to enable the backup and restore operations in an Microsoft Exchange Server environment. The following topics provide the product configuration details.

Configure users with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool

In order to protect a stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server or Microsoft Exchange Server database availability group (DAG) with the Microsoft application agent you must configure an account with the required privileges.

The App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool simplifies configuring security group memberships by ensuring that users have all the required Active Directory security group memberships and PowerShell management roles.

The App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool enables you to create or reset account permissions with the necessary privileges to perform backup and recovery operations on an Microsoft Exchange Server. After installing the Microsoft application agent, use the tool to create an account, or to modify, validate, and update existing account privileges.

To use the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool, you must be logged in with domain administrator permissions. You can use an existing non-administrative user to run the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool only if you select Skip Active Directory Authentication and configure the user on each Microsoft Exchange Server node. This option skips the Active Directory authentication and authorization operations for the user, and only sets the user as the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent user account in the registry for backup and recovery operations.

The Microsoft application agent uses the user account that is set in the registry by the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool to perform backups and database or granular-level recovery.

To create a Microsoft Exchange Server application agent administrator account, the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool performs the following steps:

Creates an Active Directory user account. Creates a custom Microsoft Exchange Server security group, which is EMC App Agent Exchange Admin Roles.

18 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

Adds the user account to the groups that are listed in the following table.

Table 5. Permissions that the Exchange Admin Configuration tool configures

User group Microsoft Exchange Server role

Security group membership on the application agent client computer

Local Administrator

Security group membership on Domain Controller Domain User

Exchange Security Group membership EMC App Agent Exchange Admin Roles, which include: Database Copies Databases Mailbox Import Export View-Only Configuration

Configuring an administrative user

You can perform the following actions after clicking Configure Admin User:

Create a Microsoft Exchange Server application agent Admin user, configure the permissions that are required for Microsoft Exchange Server backup and recovery (both database and GLR), and set the user account in the registry.

Update an existing Microsoft Exchange Server Admin user's permissions to those that are required for Microsoft Exchange Server backup and recovery (both database and GLR), and set the App Agent Exchange administrator account in the registry.

Set an existing user as an App Agent Exchange Admin account in the registry.

Configure an administrative Microsoft Exchange Server backup account

You can configure an administrator user with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool by creating an account, or by using an existing account.

Steps

1. In the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration window, click Configure Admin User.

2. Under Action, select one of the following options: Create new adminCreate a Microsoft Exchange Server user account for Microsoft application agent backup and

recovery operations. Configure existing userUse an existing Microsoft Exchange Server user account for Microsoft application agent

backup and recovery operations.

3. Type the User Name and Password.

4. If you are creating an account:

a. In the Confirm Password field, retype the password. b. From the Database list, select the Microsoft Exchange Server database for which the user will perform backups and

recoveries.

5. (Optional) Select Create ContentSubmitters security group.

This option creates a ContentSubmitters Active Directory security group. This option is unavailable if a ContentSubmitters group is already created in the Active Directory. This option is available only on Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and later.

6. (Optional) If you are configuring an existing user, select Skip Active Directory Authentication.

This option skips the Active Directory authentication and authorization operations for the user, and only sets the user as the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent user account in the registry for backup and recovery operations.

NOTE: This option should be selected when you manually configure a user.

7. Click Configure. The output window shows the status of the configure operation, including any warning or error messages.

Results

The user receives the necessary permissions to backup and restore the Microsoft Exchange Server database. View the configured user in the Properties window of the Microsoft Exchange Server security group, on the Members tab.

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 19

Configuring an administrator in a parent and child domain environment

Consider the following when configuring a user in a parent and child domain environment.

In a parent child domain environment, when you create a user in a child domain, then the user is added to the Active Directory of the child mailbox server. However, the user inherits the security group membership from the parent domain.

The App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration Tool does not support user configurations for the following scenarios:

To create a user in the parent Active Directory from a child mailbox server. To create a user in the child Active Directory from a parent mailbox server. To create a user from a child or parent mailbox server in a different domain of the same forest.

Manually configure a user in these scenarios.

Examples of administrative user configurations

This section provides examples of configuring an administrator with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool.

Configuring or modifying an Admin user

1. In the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration window, click Configure Admin User. 2. Complete the Configure Admin User page. 3. Click Configure. 4. Verify that all the configurations are correctly set by running the System Configuration Checker.

Manually configuring a Microsoft Exchange Server backup Admin user

1. Configure the user manually in Active Directory, and ensure that the user has the appropriate roles and rights, as described in Configure users with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool.

2. In the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration window, click Configure Admin User. 3. On the Configure Admin User page, perform the following steps:

a. Select Configure Existing User. b. In the User Name and Password fields, type the required information. c. Select Skip Active Directory Authentication. d. Click Configure.

Configuring a non-administrative user

You can create an Microsoft Exchange Server backup user with non-administrative privileges.

In order to configure a non-admin Windows user to perform Microsoft Exchange Server protection operations, you must create a domain user and assign that user the required privileges with the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool.

NOTE: You can use a non-administrative user to run the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool only if you select

Skip Active Directory Authentication and configure the user with the tool on each Microsoft Exchange Server node.

Creating a non-administrative domain account for creating Microsoft Exchange Server backup users

You can create Microsoft Exchange Server backup users with a non-administrative Windows account if it is configured with the required privileges.

Prerequisites

You must be logged in to a domain controller as an administrative domain user.

Steps

1. Create a new domain user.

Once created, the user is listed in the Active Directory Users and Computers window.

2. Open the user Properties window, and in the Members Of tab, ensure that the user is added to the following user groups:

User right Description

Remote Desktop Users Allows the user to remotely connect to a domain controller.

Account Operators Allows the user to create domain user accounts.

20 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

The user is also a member of the Domain Users group by default.

3. Open the Group Policy Management Editor window, and under Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment, grant the user the following rights:

User right Description

Allow log on locally Allows the user to log on to all domain controllers in the domain.

Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services

Allows the user to log on to all domain controllers in the domain through Remote Desktop Services.

Account Operators Allows the user to create domain user accounts.

4. To apply the changes, log out of the domain controller.

Configure a non-administrative Microsoft Exchange Server backup account

You can use the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool to configure a non-administrative Windows account to perform Microsoft Exchange Server backup and recovery.

Prerequisites

Log in to a domain controller with a user who can create domain accounts. Creating a non-administrative domain account for creating Microsoft Exchange Server backup users provides details on how to configure a non-administrative user with the required privileges.

Steps

1. Create a new domain user.

Once created, the user is listed in the Active Directory Users and Computers window.

2. Open the user Properties window, and in the Members Of tab, ensure that the user is added to the following user groups:

User right Description

Remote Desktop Users Allows the user to remotely connect to a domain controller.

Organization Management Allows the user administrative access to the Microsoft Exchange Server organization.

The user is also a member of the Domain Users group by default.

3. Perform the following steps on each Microsoft Exchange Server that you want to back up, including all servers that are part of a database availability group (DAG):

a. Log on to the Microsoft Exchange Server as a local Administrator. b. In Computer Management > Local Users and Groups, add the new user to the Administrators group. c. To apply the changes, log out of the Microsoft Exchange Server. d. Log on to the Microsoft Exchange Server as the new user. e. Launch the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool. f. In the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool window, click Configure Admin User. g. On the Configure Admin User page, perform the following actions:

i. Select Configure existing user. ii. Enter the credentials for the user created in step 1. iii. Select Skip Active Directory Authentication. iv. Click Configure.

Results

The user is set in the registry and assigned the non-administrative permissions that are required for Microsoft Exchange Server backup and recovery.

Updating the administrator password and registry

Click Update Admin Password to modify the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent administrator account password and update the registry.

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 21

Validating an existing administrator

Use the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration tool to verify whether a Microsoft Exchange Server application agent administrator account is correctly configured.

About this task

NOTE: Validating an existing administrator in a parent and child domain environment can fail because the tool might try to

contact Active Directory to validate credentials from the registry.

Steps

1. In the App Agent Exchange Admin Configuration window, click Validate an existing Admin.

2. In the User Name and Password fields, type the required information.

3. Click Validate. A window that lists the Microsoft Exchange Servers in your environment opens.

4. Select each server that the user must back up or recover, and then click OK. The window closes and the validate operation starts. The output window shows the status of the operation including any warning or error messages.

Results

The output window shows the results of the validate operation.

Import the configuration file

Use the Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet to import the configuration parameters needed to perform a specific operation to an object.

Import the configuration parameters to an object that you can use to perform operations such as backups, listing backups, mounting backups, and restores by using the corresponding cmdlets.

NOTE: When multiple protection policies exist, the cmdlet prompts you to select from a list of storage options. Type the

number of the target storage option that includes the required DD, storage unit, and username.

Use the following syntax to import the configuration file parameters with the Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet:

= Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile [-Backup [ ]] [- Configfile ] [-Identity [ ]] [-Restore ] [ ]

where:

Specifies the object that contains the configuration parameters to use with other cmdlets.

-Backup

Specifies that the configuration parameters needed to perform the backup using the Backup-Exchange cmdlet will be imported. This parameter applies only to the PowerProtect Data Manager integrated backup workflows for self-service backups.

-Configfile

This parameter is only used for restores of existing backups of an onboarded existing stand-alone deployment. Do not use this parameter for the PowerProtect Data Manager backups and restores. This parameter specifies that the configuration parameters will be imported from the user-specified configuration file, which was used for the existing backups of the onboarded deployment. Existing backups are Microsoft application agent backups that were performed before integrating the application agent with the PowerProtect Data Manager and before adding an asset to a PowerProtect Data Manager protection policy. Specify the pathname of the configuration file with this parameter.

-Identity

This optional parameter is only used with the -Backup parameter. This parameter specifies that the configuration parameters needed to perform the backup of the specified database using the Backup- Exchange cmdlet will be imported. Specify the database identity with this parameter.

22 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

-Restore

Specifies that the configuration parameters needed to list, mount, and restore the backups will be imported. This parameter applies to the PowerProtect Data Manager integrated backup workflows for both self-service and centralized backups.

Specifies any combination of the following common PowerShell parameters: Verbose Debug ErrorAction ErrorVariable WarningAction WarningVariable OutBuffer PipelineVariable OutVariable The following Microsoft article provides information about the common PowerShell parameters:

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216

To obtain the full help information about the cmdlet, run the following command:

help Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile -full

Set the lockbox for Microsoft Exchange Server

When you first use the PowerProtect Data Manager UI to add the Microsoft application agent and create the protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server data protection, the PowerProtect Data Manager automatically configures the lockbox for the Microsoft Exchange Server.

In the following cases, you can re-register the lockbox for the Microsoft Exchange Server by using the Set Lockbox button in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI:

The existing lockbox is corrupted and you want to re-register the lockbox. A new storage unit has been configured and you want to register the lockbox for the storage unit settings.

To re-register the lockbox for the Microsoft Exchange Server in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI:

1. Go to Protection > Protection Policies. 2. Select the protection policy for the Microsoft Exchange Server, and click Set Lockbox.

A message appears, stating that the lockbox has been configured and the job will start in the specified policy window.

Add settings for centralized backups of Microsoft Exchange Server DAG

For centralized backups of databases in a Microsoft Exchange Server DAG, add the required settings for the type of backup and the server order list.

About this task

You can specify one of three types of DAG backups:

Passive backup Active backup Preferred passive backup

NOTE: The default backup type is preferred.

You can also specify the server order list for the order in which the DAG servers are backed up.

Perform the following steps to specify the settings for centralized Microsoft Exchange Server DAG backups.

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 23

Steps

1. Create a file named userlockbox.cfg in the required directory:

When the Microsoft application agent is installed in the default directory, create the userlockbox.cfg file in the C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\common\lockbox directory.

When the Microsoft application agent is installed in a non-default directory, add the common\lockbox subdirectory in the installation directory and create the userlockbox.cfg file in the \common\lockbox directory.

Ensure that the userlockbox.cfg file exists on each node in the Microsoft Exchange Server DAG.

2. In the userlockbox.cfg file, add the following parameter settings:

Specify the type of DAG backup in the backuptype parameter setting. The valid parameter setting is active, passive, or preferred. For example:

backuptype=passive

NOTE: If you do not set this parameter, the backup type is preferred by default:

backuptype=preferred Specify the DAG server order list in the serverorderlist parameter setting. The valid parameter setting is a comma-

separated list of node names. Use only the short name, not the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), for each node name. For example:

serverorderlist=node1,node2

Configure the parallelism for centralized Microsoft Exchange Server backups

You can configure the parallelism setting for a centralized backup of Microsoft Exchange Server databases by setting the clientParallelism parameter value in the userlockbox.cfg file on the Microsoft Exchange Server host.

About this task

The default parallelism setting for a centralized Microsoft Exchange Server backup is 16. You can override this default setting with the clientParallelism parameter setting in the configuration file.

NOTE: For a self-service Microsoft Exchange Server backup, you can specify the parallelism with the -Parallelism parameter setting in the Backup-Exchange PowerShell cmdlet, described in Back up Microsoft Exchange Server with the

Windows PowerShell backup cmdlet.

Based on the number of CPUs on the host and the parallelism setting, the application agent uses the following effective parallelism value for a centralized Microsoft Exchange Server backup:

With 10 or more CPUs, the effective parallelism equals the minimum of the number of CPUs and the parallelism setting, minus 4. For example, with 12 CPUs and a parallelism of 16, the effective parallelism value is 8 (12 minus 4).

With 4 to 9 CPUs, the effective parallelism equals the minimum of the number of CPUs and the parallelism setting, minus 2. For example, with 8 CPUs and a parallelism of 10, the effective parallelism value is 6 (8 minus 2).

With fewer than 4 CPUs, the effective parallelism equals the number of CPUs. For example, with 2 CPUs, the effective parallelism value is 2.

If the effective parallelism value is 8, then 8 threads are created for the Microsoft Exchange Server backup, with each thread assigned to transfer either an EDB file or the related log files. An asset transfer is complete only when an EDB file and the related log files are both copied to the DD system. Using 8 threads, effectively 4 assets are backed up in parallel from the host.

You can set the clientParallelism parameter in the configuration file according to the following steps.

Steps

1. Ensure that the file named userlockbox.cfg is located in the required directory:

When the Microsoft application agent is installed in the default directory, the userlockbox.cfg file must be located in the C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\common\lockbox directory.

24 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

When the Microsoft application agent is installed in a non-default directory, the userlockbox.cfg file must be located in the \common\lockbox directory.

The userlockbox.cfg file must exist on each node in an Microsoft Exchange Server DAG.

2. In the userlockbox.cfg file, set the clientParallelism parameter to the required parallelism setting. Ensure that the parameter is set in the file on each node in a Microsoft Exchange Server DAG. For example:

clientParallelism=10

Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent You can use the PowerProtect Data Manager UI to add a Microsoft Exchange Server application agent for data protection, approve and reject pending agent requests, and edit and delete existing agents.

Steps

1. Select Infrastructure > Application Agents.

The Application Agents window appears.

NOTE: If the PowerProtect agent service was able to register during the installation, the Microsoft Exchange Server

host is already listed and does not need to be added.

2. Click Add. The Add Application/FS Agent window appears.

3. Select one of the following options:

Add FQDN or CSV Filename.

If you select Add FQDN, perform the following steps: a. Type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the application agent. b. Specify the date until which the application agent is preapproved. c. Click Save.

If you select CSV Filename, perform the following steps: a. Click the Choose File icon.

NOTE: The contents of the .csv file must be in the following format, for example:

"ppdm.dell.com" "ppdm2.emc.com" "ppdm.dellemc.com"

The Explorer window appears.

b. Select the .csv file, and then click Open.

The file appears in the Application/FS Agents window.

c. Select the date until which the application agent is preapproved. d. Click Save.

If you have disabled Auto Allow List, perform the following steps:

NOTE: The Auto Allow List option is disabled by default. When Auto Allow List is enabled, all

preapproved application agents are automatically approved.

a. Select the required application agent. b. Click one of the following options:

Approve Reject Edit, then make the required changes.

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 25

Remove c. Click Save.

Next steps

Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host describes how to set the host credentials before you schedule a backup.

View application agent details

Use the Application Agents window in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI to monitor the registration and update status of application agents, and view details for individual application agents.

To view application agent details, from the left navigation pane, select Infrastructure > Application Agents.

Agent Registration Status displays the total number of application agents that are awaiting approval, approved, registered, or rejected.

Agent Update Status displays the total number of application agents that are up-to-date, available, scheduled, in progress, or failed. You can also view information about scheduled updates by clicking the arrow at the end of the row. The Schedules table appears and displays the following information:

Update/Precheck Name Date and Time Schedule Status Host Count Actions

The lower table in the Application Agents window displays information about individual application agents. The following table describes the available information.

Table 6. Application agent information

Column Description

Details Click in the Details column to view details and summary information for the application agent, including registration status.

Host The name of the application agent host.

IP The IP address of the application agent host.

Registration Status The registration status of the application agent: Waiting Pending Registered Approved Rejected Expired Acceptingcerts

OS The operating system of the application agent host.

Agent Types The application agent type.

Current Version The current version of the application agent.

Update Status The update status of the application agent host: Up to Date Available Scheduled In Progress Failed Not Supported

NOTE: In this release of PowerProtect Data Manager, the update status of application agents is always Up to Date.

26 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

Table 6. Application agent information (continued)

Column Description

Registered Date The date that the application agent was registered in PowerProtect Data Manager.

Created Date The creation date of the application agent.

Filter and sort information

Use the filtering and sorting options to find specific application agents, and to organize the information that you see.

You can filter and sort the information that appears in table columns. Click in the column heading to filter the information in a table column, or click a table column heading to sort that column.

Use the Search field to filter application agents based on a search string. When you type a keyword in the Search field, the PowerProtect Data Manager UI filters the results as you type. To clear the search filter, remove all keywords from the Search field.

Support for existing Microsoft application agent backups with PowerProtect Data Manager The Microsoft application agent provides the capability to onboard existing stand-alone deployments, including their existing backups, to PowerProtect Data Manager. Existing backups are Microsoft application agent backups that you performed before integrating the Microsoft application agent with the PowerProtect Data Manager software and before adding an asset to a PowerProtect Data Manager protection policy.

NOTE:

Onboarding of Microsoft Exchange Server backup copies to PowerProtect Data Manager is supported only from backups

performed with Microsoft application agent 4.7 and later.

You can onboard up to three previous months of existing backups.

Retention lock is not supported for discovered existing backups in PowerProtect Data Manager.

Onboarding of DD Boost-over-FC backups is not supported.

With the onboarding capability, PowerProtect Data Manager provides the following centralized features:

Visibility of both existing backups and any new self-service or PowerProtect Data Manager policy-driven backups of onboarded assets.

Automatic configuration of target protection storage based on the PowerProtect Data Manager protection policies that are used for your database.

All the other functionality that is provided for PowerProtect Data Manager protection policies.

When you create a protection policy, the PowerProtect Data Manager software can either create or reuse a storage unit on the specified DD system backup host, subject to limitations. All subsequent backups of assets in that protection policy go to this storage unit. This implementation uses scripts to override the storage unit information that is provided in any running backup with the storage unit information from PowerProtect Data Manager.

Supporting existing Microsoft application agent backups with PowerProtect Data Manager

Learn how to support the existing Microsoft application agent backups.

Steps

1. Run the backup discovery tool, AgentBackupDiscovery.exe, to enable management of existing Microsoft application agent backups with PowerProtect Data Manager.

Using the backup discovery tool for PowerProtect Data Manager management of existing backups provides information.

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 27

NOTE: This step enables the discovery of old backup copies that the Microsoft application agent created during

self-service backups with stand-alone deployments.

2. Register and approve the Microsoft application agent in PowerProtect Data Manager.

Manage the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent provides information.

After a few minutes of approving the Microsoft Exchange Server host, older backup copies are discovered. Depending on the number of backups, the discovery and subsequent visibility of the backups in PowerProtect Data Manager can take some time. The retention time for the discovered backup is the same as the expiration time when the backup was performed.

3. Discover the Microsoft Exchange Server application host.

Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host provides information.

4. Create a protection policy to protect the Microsoft Exchange Server host. For onboarding assets, only a subset of databases can be onboarded. It is not mandatory for all the databases on the host to be onboarded.

Add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection provides information.

The first backup after onboarding must be a full backup:

The first centralized backup is automatically promoted to a full backup. The first self-service backup is automatically performed as a full backup.

NOTE: You cannot perform a backup to a secondary DD system device. You can restore only from a secondary DD

system device.

5. Perform a self-service backup of the Microsoft Exchange Server databases. Onboarded assets can be part of either a centralized or self-service protection policy.

Performing self-service backups of Microsoft Exchange Server databases provides information.

Using the backup discovery tool for PowerProtect Data Manager management of existing backups

To enable the PowerProtect Data Manager management of existing backups after you have updated from a previous version of Microsoft application agent or onboarded the current version, you must run the backup discovery tool, AgentBackupDiscovery.exe. Existing backups are Microsoft application agent backups that you performed before integrating the Microsoft application agent with the PowerProtect Data Manager software.

At the end of an update of the Microsoft application agent with the installer, the wizard displays a message about running the AgentBackupDiscovery.exe tool to discover existing backups and manage them in PowerProtect Data Manager software.

CAUTION:

Onboarding of Microsoft Exchange Server backup copies to PowerProtect Data Manager is supported only from

backups performed with Microsoft application agent 4.7 and later.

Retention lock is not supported for discovered existing backups in PowerProtect Data Manager.

You cannot use the backup discovery tool to discover existing DD Boost-over-FC backups.

If you delete a Microsoft Exchange Server database before onboarding but the database backup copies exist on

the DD system, then after onboarding, PowerProtect Data Manager will not manage those backup copies.

After you run the backup discovery tool, you can continue to use the existing backup scripts to perform the

Microsoft application agent backups. Ensure that all the databases backed up with a particular script are added

to a single protection policy.

To discover the existing backups by using the backup discovery tool, perform the following steps.

1. Ensure that you have added in PowerProtect Data Manager the DD that was used for the existing backups prior to the PowerProtect Data Manager integration. Ensure that you have discovered the storage unit that was used for the backups.

2. In the Microsoft application agent installation directory, C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSAPPAGENT\bin, run AgentBackupDiscovery.exe as the administrator.

The Discovery of existing backups dialog box appears.

28 Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent

NOTE: If the program does not start but displays the following message, an ongoing backup discovery process is

running, as invoked by the PowerProtect Data Manager:

Backup discovery is in progress. Please wait for it to complete.

When the discovery process is complete, you can run the backup discovery tool.

3. In the DD system list in the dialog box, select the appropriate DD IP address or hostname, storage unit, and username for the existing backups that you want the PowerProtect Data Manager software to discover.

NOTE: Select only one storage unit at a time. After discovery is complete for the storage unit, you can run the backup

discovery tool again to discover the backups of another storage unit.

4. In the Client hostname field, you can change the client hostname from the default local hostname as needed.

To enable the backup discovery when the host is part of a DAG, specify the Windows cluster name.

5. In the Backup discovery time period field, select the number of months for the time period, as the time in the past when the backups were performed. You can select 1 month, 2 months, or 3 months for the time period.

6. In the Application field, select Exchange as the application. 7. After you have specified the required field values, click Generate.

When the PowerProtect Data Manager software completes the generation of the backup metadata or breadcrumbs, the following message appears in the dialog box. Depending on the number of old backups, the generation of breadcrumbs can take some time:

Breadcrumbs generated successfully.

The retention time for the discovered backup will be same as the expiration time set when the backup was taken.

Enabling the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent 29

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

Topics:

Add protection storage Enable an asset source Delete an asset source Recommission the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host Add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection Cancel an application agent protection job Extended retention Edit the retention period for backup copies Delete backup copies Enable the Microsoft application agent after hostname change Manage the PowerProtect agent service Manage the cloud tier operations with PowerProtect Data Manager

Add protection storage Add and configure protection storage to use as a target for protection policies. Adding protection storage requires the Administrator role.

Prerequisites

NOTE:

When adding a High Availability PowerProtect DD system, observe the following points:

Do not add the individual active and standby DD systems to PowerProtect Data Manager.

In the Address field, use the hostname that corresponds to the floating IP address of the High Availability PowerProtect

DD system.

The High Availability PowerProtect DD system is verified with the root certificate.

About this task

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides more information about protection storage and related concepts:

High availability options Smart Scale system pools, a single interface to a flexible group of pool members Working with protection storage Working with storage units

Steps

1. From the left navigation pane, select Infrastructure > Storage.

The Storage window appears.

2. In the Protection Storage tab, click Add.

3. In the Add Storage dialog box, select a storage system (PowerProtect DD System or PowerProtect DD Management Center).

For a system pool, select DDMC.

4. To add a High Availability PowerProtect DD system, select the checkbox.

3

30 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

5. Specify the storage system attributes:

a. In the Name field, specify a storage name. b. In the Address field, specify the hostname, fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or the IP address. c. In the Port field, specify the port for SSL communication. Default is 3009.

6. Under Host Credentials click Add, if you have already configured protection storage credentials that are common across storage systems, select an existing password. Alternatively, you can add new credentials, and then click Save.

7. If a trusted certificate does not exist on the storage system, a dialog box appears requesting certificate approval. Click Verify to review the certificate, and then click Accept.

8. Click Save to exit the Add Storage dialog and initiate the discovery of the storage system.

A dialog box appears to indicate that the request to add storage has been initiated.

9. In the Storage window, click Discover to refresh the window with any newly discovered storage systems. When a discovery completes successfully, the Status column updates to OK.

10. To modify a storage system location, complete the following steps:

A storage system location is a label that is applied to a storage system. If you want to store your copies in a specific location, the label helps you select the correct storage system during policy creation.

a. In the Storage window, select the storage system from the table. b. Click More Actions > Set Location.

The Set Location window appears. c. Click Add in the Location list.

The Add Location window appears. d. In the Name field, type a location name for the asset, and click Save.

Results

PowerProtect Data Manager displays external DD systems only in the Storage window Name column. PowerProtect Data Manager displays PowerProtect DD Management Center storage types in the Managed By column.

View the storage unit password

PowerProtect Data Manager provides a script to retrieve the password for a storage unit that you configured as a backup target.

Prerequisites

This task requires the name of the PowerProtect DD MTree where the storage unit resides.

Steps

1. Connect to the PowerProtect Data Manager console as an admin user.

2. Navigate to the /usr/local/brs/puppet/scripts directory.

3. Obtain the storage unit password by typing the following command:

python get_dd_mtree_credential.py MTree-name For example:

python get_dd_mtree_credential.py ppdm-1910-blrv034d018-75914 ==============PowerProtect DD MTree credential============== Full MTree path: /data/col1/ppdm-1910-blrv034d018-75914 User name: ppdm-1910-blrv034d018-75914 Password: IwWXT#DC93m={XV+K ========================================================

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 31

Enable an asset source An asset source must be enabled in PowerProtect Data Manager before you can add and register the asset source for the protection of assets.

About this task

Only the Administrator role can manage asset sources.

In some circumstances, the enabling of multiple asset sources is required. For example, a vCenter Server and a Kubernetes cluster asset sources must be enabled for Tanzu Kubernetes guest cluster protection.

There are other circumstances where enabling an asset source is not required, such as the following:

For application agents and other agents such as File System and Storage Direct, an asset source is enabled automatically when you register and approve the agent host. For example, if you have not enabled an Oracle asset source but have registered the application host though the API or the PowerProtect Data Manager user interface, PowerProtect Data Manager automatically enables the Oracle asset source.

When you update to the latest version of PowerProtect Data Manager from an earlier release, any asset sources that were previously enabled appear in the PowerProtect Data Manager user interface. On a new deployment, however, no asset sources are enabled by default.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager user interface, select Infrastructure > Asset Sources, and then click + to reveal the New Asset Source tab.

2. In the pane for the asset source that you want to add, click Enable Source. The Asset Sources window updates to display a tab for the new asset source.

Results

You can now add or approve the asset source for use in PowerProtect Data Manager. For a vCenter server, Kubernetes cluster, SMIS Server, or PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot Manager tenant, select the appropriate tab in this window and click Add. For an application host, select Infrastructure > Application Agents and click Add or Approve as required.

NOTE: Although you can add a Cloud Snapshot Manager tenant to PowerProtect Data Manager in order to view its health,

alerts, and the status of its protection, recovery, and system jobs, you cannot manage the protection of its assets from

PowerProtect Data Manager. To manage the protection of its assets, use Cloud Snapshot Manager. For more information,

see the PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot Manager Online Help.

Disable an asset source

If you enabled an asset source that you no longer require, and the host has not been registered in PowerProtect Data Manager, perform the following steps to disable the asset source.

About this task

NOTE: An asset source cannot be disabled when one or more sources are still registered or there are backup copies of the

source assets. For example, if you registered a vCenter server and created policy backups for the vCenter virtual machines,

then you cannot disable the vCenter asset source. But if you register a vCenter server and then delete it without creating

any backups, you can disable the asset source.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Asset Sources, and then select the tab of the asset source that you want to disable. If no host registration is detected, a red Disable button appears.

2. Click Disable.

Results

PowerProtect Data Manager removes the tab for this asset source.

32 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

Delete an asset source If you want to remove an asset source that you no longer require, perform the following steps to delete the asset source in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

About this task

Only the Administrator role can manage the asset sources.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Asset Sources, and then select the tab for the type of asset source that you want to delete.

2. Select the asset source name in the asset source list, and then click Delete.

3. At the warning prompt that appears, click Continue. The asset source is deleted from the list.

Results

PowerProtect Data Manager removes the specified asset source in the Asset Sources window.

Any associated assets that are protected by the protection policy are removed from the protection policy and their status is changed to deleted. These assets can be deleted automatically or manually. The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides details on how to remove assets from PowerProtect Data Manager.

The copies of assets from the asset source are retained (not deleted). You can delete the copies from the copies page, if required.

Recommission the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent You can use the procedure in this topic to register and recommission the Microsoft application agent with the PowerProtect Data Manager server.

About this task

To register the application agent back to the same PowerProtect Data Manager server after you delete an asset source, complete the following steps.

Steps

1. Go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.

2. Use the Change option for the Microsoft application agent to recommission the Microsoft Exchange Server application agent.

3. In the installation wizard, select the PowerProtect Data Manager option.

Results

After the installation completes, the Microsoft application agent is re-registered to the PowerProtect Data Manager server.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 33

Discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host After you register an application host with PowerProtect Data Manager, the host appears in the Asset Sources window. Then you can select the host and perform discovery. For application hosts, discovery is required if you want to schedule a backup. Assets must also be discovered for the centralized copy management of self-service backups.

About this task

Perform the following steps to discover a Microsoft Exchange Server application host as an asset source in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

Steps

1. Select Infrastructure > Asset Sources.

The Asset Sources window appears.

2. Select the agent host tab.

3. After you select the host, click Discover.

The Initiate Discovery dialog appears with an option to immediately start a full discovery of the assets on the host.

NOTE: On the agent host tab, you can click Discover at any time if any additions or other changes to your Asset

Sources have taken place outside of the PowerProtect Data Manager environment. Asset discovery is also initiated by

default after registration of the host to PowerProtect Data Manager and at hourly intervals. Discovery time is based on

networking bandwidth. Each time you initiate a discovery process, the resources that are discovered and those that are

handling the discovery impact the system performance.

4. Click Yes.

Results

If the application host is properly configured and discovery is successful, the database assets can now be added to a PowerProtect Data Manager protection policy.

Add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection Use the PowerProtect Data Manager UI to add a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server database protection.

Prerequisites

Before you perform a backup on a weekly or monthly schedule from the protection policy, ensure that the PowerProtect Data Manager time zone is set to the local time zone. If the PowerProtect Data Manager time zone is not set to the local time zone, the weekly or monthly backup still runs but is triggered based on the PowerProtect Data Manager time zone.

The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides more information about working with storage units, such as the relationships between storage units and policies, and applicable limitations.

If applicable, complete all of the virtual network configuration tasks before you assign any virtual networks to the protection policy. The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides more information.

Steps

1. In the left navigation pane, select Protection > Protection Policies.

The Protection Policies window appears.

2. Click Add.

The Add Policy wizard appears.

3. On the Type page, specify the new protection policy group fields, and then click Next:

34 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

NameType a descriptive name for the protection policy, for example, Exchange Prod Databases.

NOTE: The name that you specify becomes part of the DD MTree entry.

DescriptionType a short description for the protection policy, for example, Exchange Prod Daily Backups.

TypeSelect Microsoft Exchange.

4. On the Purpose page, select one of the following options to indicate the purpose of the new protection policy group, and then click Next:

Centralized ProtectionThe backup is triggered according to the schedule. PowerProtect Data Manager manages the complete protection life cycle.

Self-Service ProtectionThe backup is triggered manually from the Microsoft Exchange Server. PowerProtect Data Manager manages the complete protection life cycle.

ExclusionAny assets that are added to this type of protection policies group are excluded from the data protection operation.

5. On the Assets page, select the unprotected assets that you want to add to the backup of this protection policy group. The window enables you to filter by asset name to locate the required assets.

NOTE: A Microsoft Exchange Server database asset can be protected by only one protection policy at a time.

6. Click Next.

If you selected Exclusion on the Purpose page, the Summary page appears. Skip to the final two steps.

If you selected Centralized Protection or Self-Service Protection, the Objectives page appears for creating the protection policy backup configuration.

7. On the Objectives page, complete the steps for the specified type of protection policy group:

For Centralized Protection:

a. Click Add under Primary Backup.

The Add Primary Backup dialog appears.

b. On the Target pane of the Add Primary Backup dialog, specify the following fields:

Storage NameSelect a backup destination from the list of existing DD systems, or select Add to add a system and complete the details in the Storage Target dialog.

Storage UnitSelect whether this protection policy should use a New storage unit on the selected DD system, or select an existing storage unit from the list. Hover over a storage unit to view the full name and statistics for available capacity and total capacity, for example, testvmpolicy-ppdm-daily-123ab (300 GB/1 TB).

When you select New, a new storage unit in the format policy name hostname unique identifier is created in the storage system upon policy completion, for example, testvmpolicy-ppdm-daily-123cd.

NOTE: The Space field indicates the total amount of space, and the percentage of available space, on the

storage system.

Network InterfaceSelect a network interface from the list, if applicable. Retention LockMove the Retention Lock slider to the right to enable retention locking for these backups on

the selected system. PowerProtect Data Manager uses Governance mode for retention locking, which means that the lock can be reverted at any time if necessary. Toggling the Retention Lock slider on or off applies to the current backup copy only, and does not impact the retention lock setting for existing backup copies.

NOTE: Primary backups are assigned a default retention lock period of 14 days. Replicated backups, however,

are not assigned a default retention lock period. If you enable Retention Lock for a replicated backup, ensure

that you set the Retain for field in the Add Replication dialog to a minimum number of 14 days so that the

replicated backup does not expire before the primary backup.

c. On the Schedules pane of the Add Primary Backup dialog:

i. Specify the following fields to schedule a synthetic full backup of this protection policy:

Create a Synthetic Full backup everySpecify how often to create a synthetic full backup. A synthetic full backs up only the data that has changed since the last backup, to create a new, full backup.

Retain forSpecify the retention period for the synthetic full backup.

You can extend the retention period for the latest primary backup copy by using the Extend Retention schedule. For example, your regular schedule for daily backups can use a retention period of 30 days, but you can apply extended retention to keep the backups taken on Mondays for 10 weeks. Step 8 provides instructions.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 35

NOTE: For database backups, PowerProtect Data Manager chains the dependent backups together. For

example, the synthetic full backups are chained to their base full backup. The backups do not expire until

the last backup in the chain expires. This ensures that all synthetic full backups are recoverable until they

have all expired.

Start and EndThe activity window. Specify a time of day to start the synthetic full backup, and a time of day after which backups cannot be started.

NOTE: Any backups started before the End time occurs continue until completion.

ii. Click Add backup if you want to periodically force a full (level 0) backup, and then specify the following fields to schedule the full backup of this protection policy:

NOTE: When you select this option, the backup chain is reset.

Create a Full backup everySpecify whether you want to create a weekly or monthly full backup. Repeat onDepending on the frequency of the full backup schedule, specify the day of the week or the date

of the month that the full backup will occur. Retain forSpecify the retention period for this full backup. Start and EndThe activity window. Specify a time of day to start the full backup, and a time of day after

which backups cannot be started.

NOTE: Any backups started before the End time occurs continue until completion.

d. Click Save to save the changes and return to the Objectives page.

The Objectives page updates to display the name and location of the target storage system under Primary Backup.

NOTE:

After completing the backup schedule, you can change any schedule details by clicking Edit under Primary

Backup.

When a new asset is added to a protection policy during a scheduled backup window, the backup starts right

away. However, if an asset is added to a protection policy outside of the scheduled backup window, the backup

does not start until the next time that backups are configured to run.

If a new asset is added to a protection policy that has a weekly or monthly backup schedule and the current time

is within the scheduled Start and End times, the backup runs right away, regardless of the date. If the current

time is not within the scheduled Start and End times, the backup does not start until the next time that backups

are configured to run.

For Self-Service Protection:

a. Click Add under Primary Retention.

The Add Primary Retention dialog appears.

b. On the Target pane of the Add Primary Retention dialog, specify the following fields:

Storage NameSelect a backup destination from the list of existing DD systems, or select Add to add a system and complete the details in the Storage Target dialog.

Storage UnitSelect whether this protection policy should use a New storage unit on the selected DD system, or select an existing storage unit from the list. Hover over a storage unit to view the full name and statistics for available capacity and total capacity, for example, testvmpolicy-ppdm-daily-123ab (300 GB/1 TB).

When you select New, a new storage unit in the format policy name hostname unique identifier is created in the storage system upon policy completion, for example, testvmpolicy-ppdm-daily-123cd.

NOTE: The Space field indicates the total amount of space, and the percentage of available space, on the

storage system.

Network InterfaceSelect a network interface from the list, if applicable. Retention LockMove the Retention Lock slider to the right to enable retention locking for these backups on

the selected system. PowerProtect Data Manager uses Governance mode for retention locking, which means that the lock can be reverted at any time if necessary. Toggling the Retention Lock slider on or off applies to the current backup copy only, and does not impact the retention lock setting for existing backup copies.

NOTE: Primary backups are assigned a default retention lock period of 14 days. Replicated backups, however,

are not assigned a default retention lock period. If you enable Retention Lock for a replicated backup, ensure

36 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

that you set the Retain for field in the Add Replication dialog to a minimum number of 14 days so that the

replicated backup does not expire before the primary backup.

c. On the Retention (Self Service) pane of the Add Primary Retention dialog, change any required retention times.

By default, all backup types have the same retention time. To change the retention times for specific backup types, clear Set the same retention time for all backup types and change the Retain For field values as required.

d. Click Save to save the changes and return to the Objectives page.

The Objectives page updates to display the name and location of the target storage system under Primary Retention.

NOTE: After completing the backup retention setting, you can change the setting by clicking Edit under

Primary Retention.

8. Optionally, extend the retention period for the latest primary backup copy:

Extended retention provides more information.

a. Click Extend Retention next to Primary Backup or Primary Retention. An entry for Extend Retention is created below Primary Backup or Primary Retention.

b. Under Extend Retention, click Add. The Add Extended Retention dialog appears. c. Extend the retention of a full primary backup copy everySpecify the preferred recurrence for the extended

retention backup schedule. d. Repeat onDepending on the frequency of the backup schedule, specify the day of the week, the date of the month, or

the date of the year that the extended retention backup will occur. e. Retain forSpecify the retention period for the backup. You can retain an extended retention backup for a maximum of

70 years. f. Click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.

9. Optionally, replicate the backups to a remote storage system:

a. Click Replicate next to Primary Backup, Primary Retention, or Extend Retention. An entry for Replicate is created to the right of the primary or extended retention backup schedule.

NOTE: PowerProtect Data Manager supports replicating an extended retention backup only if the primary backup

already has one or more replication stages. Also, for replication of an extended retention backup, you can only select

the DDs that are used by the replication stages based on the primary stage.

For example, if there are 6 DDs available (DD001-DD006), and the primary backup is on DD0001:

Replicate1 based on the primary backup is replicated to DD002

Replicate2 based on the primary backup is replicated to DD003

Extended retention backup is backed up to DD001

Replicate3 based on the extended retention backup must be replicated to DD002 or DD003.

b. Under Replicate, click Add. The Add Replication dialog appears.

NOTE: To enable replication, ensure that you add a remote DD system as the replication location. Add protection

storage provides detailed instructions about adding a remote DD system.

c. Complete the schedule details in the Add Replication dialog, and then click Save to save the changes and return to the Objectives page.

NOTE: The schedule frequency can be every day, week, month, or x hours for replication of the primary backup,

and every day, week, month, year, or x hours for replication of the extended retention backup. For daily, weekly, and

monthly schedules, the numeric value cannot be modified. For hourly, however, you can edit the numeric value. For

example, if you set Create a Full backup every 4 hours, you can set a value of anywhere 1 to 12 hours.

All replication copies of the primary backup schedule will use the same retention period, and by default, this retention period is inherited from the Retain For value of the synthetic full backup schedule. To specify a different retention period for all of the replication copies of this primary backup schedule, click Edit, change the value in the Retain For field, and then click Save. This retention period will be applied to all of the replicated copies (synthetic full and full) of this primary backup schedule.

10. Optionally, add a cloud stage for a primary, replication, or extended retention backup schedule for the purpose of moving backups from DD storage to cloud tier:

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 37

a. Click Cloud Tier next to Primary Backup or Extend Retention or, if adding a cloud stage for a replication schedule that you have added, click Cloud Tier under Replicate. An entry for Cloud Tier is created to the right of the primary or extended retention backup schedule, or below the replication schedule.

b. Under the entry for Cloud Tier, click Add. The Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog appears, with summary schedule information for the parent node to indicate whether you are adding this cloud tier stage for the primary backup schedule, the extended retention backup schedule, or the replication schedule.

c. Complete the schedule details in the Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog, and then click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.

Add a cloud tier schedule to a protection policy provides detailed instructions for adding a cloud stage for a primary, replication, or extended retention backup schedule.

NOTE: In order to move a backup or replica to the cloud tier, schedules must have a retention time of 14 days or more.

Also, discovery of a DD system configured with a cloud unit is required.

11. Click Next. The Options page appears.

12. On the Options page, select the additional options that are required for the policy:

Data Consistency CheckSelect one of the following options to enable the consistency checking of the Microsoft Exchange Server database and logs:

NoneNo consistency check is performed. AllBoth the database and logs are checked for consistency. DatabaseOnly the database is checked for consistency.

NOTE: A consistency check of only the database does not ensure the complete consistency of the backup, but

the check takes less time to perform.

LogsOnly the logs are checked for consistency.

The Microsoft Exchange Server consistency check occurs at backup time and verifies that the database and its transaction logs do not contain errors, such as on-disk data corruption. The consistency check improves the Microsoft Exchange Server backup quality and performance, validating that the backup is viable and will not cause issues when restored.

NOTE: Consistency checking can affect the backup performance and increase the backup window.

TroubleshootingSelect this option to enable the debug logs for troubleshooting purposes.

13. Click Next. The Summary page appears.

14. Review the protection policy group configuration details. You can click Edit next to any completed window's details to change any information. When completed, click Finish. An informational message appears to confirm that PowerProtect Data Manager has saved the protection policy. When a new protection policy is created, PowerProtect Data Manager performs the first full backup and subsequent backups according to the specified schedule.

15. Click OK to exit the window, or click Go to Jobs to open the Jobs window to monitor the backup of the new protection policy group.

You can monitor and view detailed information in the Jobs window for both centralized and self-service backups and restores of database application agents.

NOTE: The Cancel and Retry options are not available for self-service jobs that are created by database application

agents.

Results

From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI left navigation pane, you can select Jobs > Protection Jobs to view the Protection Jobs window, which displays the protection job group status. You can also click the job ID in the Protection Jobs window to view the Job ID Summary window, which displays the status of each asset job.

The status of an asset job is Skipped when the asset is present in the Microsoft Exchange Server host but unavailable for backup because it is offline or in a restoring, recovery pending, or suspect state. You can see the reason for the Skipped status in the details section of the Job ID Summary window.

When all the assets in a job group are skipped, the job group status appears as Skipped in the Protection Jobs window. When some but not all assets in a job group are skipped, the job group status appears as Completed with Exceptions.

38 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

NOTE: When at least one asset in a job group has the Failed status, the job group status appears as Failed.

Cancel an application agent protection job Starting with PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9, you can cancel an application agent protection job from the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. The job must be in a queued or running state. The protection job runs for a primary backup that is configured through an application agent protection policy.

About this task

You can perform two types of application agent job cancellations in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI:

Cancellation of a job group that includes one or more asset jobs. Cancellation of an individual asset job.

NOTE:

When a job completes before the cancel request reaches the application host, the status of the canceled job transitions to

either success or failure.

You can cancel many other types of jobs, in addition to protection jobs. The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration

and User Guide provides more information.

Perform the following steps to cancel an application agent protection job in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI left navigation pane, select Jobs > Protection Jobs.

The Protection Jobs window opens to display a list of protection jobs and job groups.

2. In the Protection Jobs window, perform the required type of job cancellation:

To cancel a job group:

a. In the Protection Jobs window, select the required job group and click Cancel.

A job group warning prompt appears.

b. Click OK at the prompt.

You can monitor the job group cancellation in the Protection Jobs window. The job group status changes to Canceled when the cancellation of all the asset jobs is complete.

To monitor the cancellation of individual asset jobs within the job group, click the job ID in the Protection Jobs window. The Job ID Summary window opens, where you can view the status of each asset job.

To cancel an asset job:

a. In the Protection Jobs window, click the job ID.

The Job ID Summary window opens to display the job details of the assets in the job group.

b. In the Job ID Summary window, select the required asset job and click Cancel.

A job warning prompt appears.

c. Click OK at the prompt.

You can monitor the asset job cancellation in the Job ID Summary window. The asset job status changes to Canceled when the job cancellation is complete.

NOTE: When the cancel request for a job cannot be completed, an informational alert is displayed.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 39

Extended retention You can extend the retention period for the primary backup copy for long term retention. For example, your regular schedule for daily backups can use a retention period of 30 days, but you can extend the retention period to keep the full backups taken on Mondays for 10 weeks.

Both centralized and self-service protection policies support weekly, monthly, and yearly recurrence schedules to meet the demands of your compliance objectives. For example, you can retain the last full backup containing the last transaction of a fiscal year for 10 years. When you extend the retention period of a backup in a protection policy, you can retain scheduled full backups with a repeating pattern for a specified amount of time.

For example:

Retain full yearly backups that are set to repeat on the first day of January for 5 years. Retain full monthly backups that are set to repeat on the last day of every month for 1 year. Retain full yearly backups that are set to repeat on the third Monday of December for 7 years.

Preferred alternatives

When you define an extended retention stage for a protection policy, you define a set of matching criteria that select preferred backups to retain. If the matching criteria do not identify a matching backup, PowerProtect Data Manager automatically retains the preferred alternative backup according to one of the following methods:

Look-backRetain the last available full backup that was taken before the matching criteria. Look-forwardRetain the next available full backup that was taken after the matching criteria.

For example, consider a situation where you configured a protection policy to retain the daily backup for the last day of the month to extended retention. However, a network issue caused that backup to fail. In this case, look-back matching retains the backup that was taken the previous day, while look-forward matching retains the backup that was taken the following day.

By default, PowerProtect Data Manager uses look-back matching to select the preferred alternative backup. A grace period defines how far PowerProtect Data Manager can look in the configured direction for an alternative backup. If PowerProtect Data Manager cannot find an alternative backup within the grace period, extended retention fails.

You can use the REST API to change the matching method or the grace period for look-forward matching. The PowerProtect Data Manager Public REST API documentation provides instructions. If there are no available backups for the defined matching period, you can change the matching method to a different backup.

For look-forward matching, the next available backup can be an ad-hoc backup or the next scheduled backup.

Selecting backups by weekday

This section applies to centralized protection policies. Self-service protection policies have no primary backup schedule configuration.

When you configure extended retention to match backups by weekday, PowerProtect Data Manager may identify a backup that was taken on one weekday as being taken on a different weekday. This behavior happens where the backup window does not align with the start of the day. PowerProtect Data Manager identifies backups according to the day on which the corresponding backup window started, rather than the start of the backup itself.

For example, consider a backup schedule with an 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. backup window:

Backups that start at 12:00 a.m. on Sunday and that end at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday are identified as Saturday backups, since the backup window started on Saturday.

Backups that start at 8:01 p.m. on Sunday and that end at 12:00 a.m. on Monday are identified as Sunday backups, since the backup window started on Sunday.

Backups that start at 12:00 a.m. on Monday and that end at 6:00 a.m. on Monday are identified as Sunday backups, since the backup window started on Sunday.

In this example, when you select Sunday backups for extended retention, PowerProtect Data Manager does not retain backups that were taken between 12:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. This behavior happens even though the backups occurred on Sunday. Instead, PowerProtect Data Manager selects the first available backup that started after 8:00 p.m. on Sunday for extended retention.

If no backups were created between 8:01 p.m. on Sunday and 6:00 a.m. on Monday, PowerProtect Data Manager retains the next alternative to extended retention. In this example, the alternative was taken after 6:00 a.m. on Monday.

40 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

Extended retention backup behavior

When PowerProtect Data Manager identifies a matching backup, automatic extended retention creates a job at the beginning of the backup window for the primary stage. This job remains queued until the end of the backup window and then starts.

The following examples describe the behavior of backups with extended retention for centralized and self-service protection.

Centralized protection

For an hourly primary backup schedule that starts on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. and ends on Monday at 6:00 p.m. with a weekly extended retention schedule that is set to repeat every Sunday, PowerProtect Data Manager selects the first available backup starting after 8:00 p.m. on Sunday for long-term retention.

The following diagram illustrates the behavior of backups with extended retention for a configured protection policy. In this example, full daily backups starting at 10:00 p.m. and ending at 6:00 a.m. are kept for 1 week. Full weekly backups are set to repeat every Sunday and are kept for 1 month.

Figure 1. Extend retention backup behavior

Self-service protection

For self-service backups, PowerProtect Data Manager uses a default backup window of 24 hours. For a backup schedule that starts on Sunday at 12:00 p.m and ends on Monday at 12:00 p.m. with a weekly extended retention schedule that is set to repeat every Sunday, PowerProtect Data Manager selects the first available backup that is taken between 12:00 p.m. on Sunday and 12:00 p.m. on Monday for long-term retention.

Replication of extended retention backups

You can change the retention time of selected full primary backups in a replication stage by adding a replication stage to the extended retention backup. The rules in the extended retention stage define the selected full primary backups. Review the following information about replication of extended retention backups.

Before you configure replication of extended retention backups, create a replication stage for the primary backup. Configure the replication stage of the extended retention and match this stage with one of the existing replication stages

based on the primary backup. Any changes to a new or existing storage unit in the extended retention replication stage or the replication stage of the primary backup is applied to both replication stages.

The replication stage of extended retention backups only updates the retention time of replicated backup copies and does not create any new backup copies in the replication storage.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 41

Edit the retention period for backup copies You can edit the retention period of one or more backup copies to extend or shorten the amount of time that backups are retained.

About this task

You can edit the retention period for all asset types and backup types.

Steps

1. Select Infrastructure > Assets.

2. From the Assets window, select the tab for the asset type for which you want to edit the retention period. If a policy has been assigned, the table lists the assets that have been discovered, along with the associated protection policy.

3. Select a protected asset from the table, and then click View Copies. The Copy Locations pane identifies where the backups are stored.

4. In the left pane, click the storage icon to the right of the icon for the asset, for example, DD. The table in the right pane lists the backup copies.

5. Select one or more backup copies from the table, and click Edit Retention.

6. Select one of the following options: To select a calendar date as the expiration date for backups, select Retention Date. To define a fixed retention period in days, weeks, months, or years after the backup is performed, select Retention

Value. For example, you can specify that backups expire after 6 months.

NOTE: When you edit the retention period for copies that are retention locked, you can only extend the retention

period.

7. When satisfied with the changes, click Save. The asset is displayed in the list with the changes. The Retention column displays both the original and new retention periods, and indicates whether the retention period has been extended or shortened.

Delete backup copies In addition to deleting backups upon expiration of the retention period, PowerProtect Data Manager enables you to manually delete backup copies from protection storage.

About this task

If you no longer require a backup copy and the retention lock is not enabled, you can delete backup copies prior to their expiration date.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Assets.

2. From the Assets window, select the tab for the asset type for which you want to delete copies. If a policy has been assigned, the table lists the assets that have been discovered, along with the associated protection policy.

3. Select a protected asset from the table, and then click View Copies. The Copy Locations pane identifies where the backups are stored.

4. In the left pane, click the storage icon to the right of the icon for the asset, for example, DD. The table in the right pane lists the backup copies.

5. Select one or more copies from the table that you want to delete from the DD system, and then click Delete.

A preview window opens and displays the selected backup copies.

6. For all asset types, you can choose to keep the latest backup copies or delete them. By default, PowerProtect Data Manager keeps the latest backup copies. To delete the latest backup copies, clear the check box next to Include latest copies.

7. To delete the backup copies, in the preview window, click Delete.

NOTE: The delete operation may take a few minutes and cannot be undone.

42 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

An informational dialog box opens to confirm the copies are being deleted. To monitor the progress of the operation, click Go to Jobs. To view the list of backup copies and their status, click OK.

NOTE: If the data deletion is successful but the catalog deletion is unsuccessful, then the overall deletion job status

appears as Completed with Exceptions.

When the job completes, the task summary provides details of each deleted backup copy, including the time that each copy was created, the backup level, and the retention time. The time of copy creation and the retention time is shown in UTC.

An audit log is also generated and provides details of each deleted backup copy, including the time that each copy was created, the backup level, and the retention time. The time of copy creation and the retention time is shown in UTC. Go to Alerts > Audit Logs to view the audit log.

8. Verify that the copies are deleted successfully from protection storage. If the deletion is successful, the deleted copies no longer appear in the table.

Retry a failed backup copy deletion

If a backup copy is not deleted successfully, you can manually retry the operation.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Assets.

2. From the Assets window, select the tab for the asset type for which you want to delete copies. If a policy has been assigned, the table lists the assets that have been discovered, along with the associated protection policy.

3. Select a protected asset from the table, and then click View Copies. The Copy Locations pane identifies where the backups are stored.

4. In the left pane, click the storage icon to the right of the icon for the asset, for example, DD. The table in the right pane lists the backup copies.

5. Select one or more backup copies with the Deletion Failed status from the table, and then click Delete.

You can also filter and sort the list of backup copies by status in the Copy Status column.

The system displays a warning to confirm you want to delete the selected backup copies.

6. Click OK. An informational dialog box opens to confirm that the copies are being deleted. To monitor the progress of the operation, click Go to Jobs. To view the list of backup copies and their status, click OK.

7. Verify that the copies are successfully deleted from protection storage. If the deletion is successful, the deleted copies no longer appear in the table.

Export data for deleted backup copies

This option enables you to export results of deleted backup copies to a .csv file so that you can download an Excel file of the data.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Assets.

2. From the Assets window, select the tab for the asset type for which you want to export results of deleted backup copies. If a policy has been assigned, the table lists the assets that have been discovered, along with the associated protection policy.

3. Select one or more protected assets from the table and then select More Actions > Export Deleted Copies.

If you do not select an asset, PowerProtect Data Manager exports the data for deleted backup copies for all assets for the specific asset type.

4. Specify the following fields for the export:

a. Time Range

The default is Last 24 Hours.

b. Copy Status

In order to export data for deleted backup copies, the backup copies must be in one of the following states:

DeletedThe copy is deleted successfully from protection storage, and, if applicable, the agent catalog is deleted successfully from the agent host.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 43

DeletingCopy deletion is in progress. Deletion FailedCopy deletion from protection storage is unsuccessful.

NOTE: You cannot export data for backup copies that are in an Available state.

5. Click Download. If applicable, the navigation window appears for you to select the location to save the .csv file.

6. Save the .csv file in the desired location and click Save.

Remove backup copies from the PowerProtect Data Manager database

This option enables you to delete the backup copy records from the PowerProtect Data Manager database, but keep the backup copies in protection storage.

About this task

For backup copies that could not be deleted from protection storage, you can remove the backup copies from the PowerProtect Data Manager database. Removing the backup copies from PowerProtect Data Manager does not delete the copies in protection storage.

Steps

1. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Assets.

2. From the Assets window, select the tab for the asset type for which you want to delete copies. If a policy has been assigned, the table lists the assets that have been discovered, along with the associated protection policy.

3. Select a protected asset from the table, and then click View Copies. The Copy Locations pane identifies where the backups are stored.

4. In the left pane, click the storage icon to the right of the icon for the asset, for example, DD. The table in the right pane lists the backup copies.

5. Select one or more backup copies with the Deletion Failed status from the table, and then click Remove from PowerProtect. The system displays a warning to confirm you want to delete the selected backup copies.

6. Click OK. An informational dialog box opens to confirm that the copies are being deleted. To monitor the progress of the operation, click Go to Jobs. To view the list of backup copies and their status, click OK.

7. Verify that the copies are deleted from the PowerProtect Data Manager database. If the deletion is successful, the deleted copies no longer appear in the table. The backup copies remain in protection storage.

Enable the Microsoft application agent after hostname change After the hostname of the Microsoft application agent host is changed, you must update the lockbox setting for the protection policy and add assets back to the protection policies.

About this task

Perform the following steps to enable the Microsoft application agent operations after the hostname is changed.

Steps

1. From the C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\AgentService directory:

a. Unregister the Microsoft application agent from PowerProtect Data Manager by running unregister.bat.

b. Register the Microsoft application agent with PowerProtect Data Manager by running register.bat.

2. Delete the existing agents.clb* lockbox files in the C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\common\lockbox directory.

44 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

NOTE: If the Microsoft application agent is installed to a non-default path, delete the agents.clb* files in the

lockbox subdirectory of the installation directory.

3. In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, configure the lockbox:

a. In the left navigation pane, select Protection > Protection Policies. b. On the Protection Policies page, select the applicable protection policy in the list and click Set Lockbox.

4. From the protection policy, remove any assets that were protected under the old hostname.

NOTE: Until steps 4 through 6 are followed, any asset that was protected under the old hostname is no longer

protected under the new hostname.

5. Run a manual discovery.

6. Add any asset now in an available state back to the protection policy.

Manage the PowerProtect agent service The PowerProtect agent service provides important functionality for the application agent operations with the PowerProtect Data Manager.

Review the following topics to ensure that you enable and manage the PowerProtect agent service functionality as required for application agent operations.

About the PowerProtect agent service

The PowerProtect agent service is a REST API based service that is installed by the application agent on the application host. The agent service provides services and APIs for discovery, protection, restore, instant access, and other related operations. The PowerProtect Data Manager uses the agent service to provide integrated data protection for the application assets.

This section uses to represent the PowerProtect agent service installation directory. By default, the agent service installation location is C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\AgentService on Windows and /opt/dpsapps/agentsvc on Linux. All files that are referenced in this section are the relative paths to the agent service installation location.

The PowerProtect agent service performs the following operations:

Addon detectionAn addon integrates the application agent into the agent service. The agent service automatically detects the addons on the system for each application asset type and notifies the PowerProtect Data Manager. While multiple addons can operate with different asset types, only one agent service runs on the application host. Specific asset types can coexist on the same application host.

DiscoveryThe agent service discovers both stand-alone and clustered database servers (application systems), databases and file systems (assets), and their backup copies on the application agent host. After the initial discovery, when the agent service discovers any new application systems, assets, or copies, the agent service notifies the PowerProtect Data Manager.

Self-service configurationThe agent service can configure the application agent for self-service operations by using information that is provided by the PowerProtect Data Manager. When you add an asset to a protection policy for self-service or centralized protection, or modify the protection policy, including changing the DD Boost credentials, the PowerProtect Data Manager automatically pushes the protection configuration to the agents.

Centralized backupsThe agent service performs the centralized backups as requested by the PowerProtect Data Manager.

Centralized restoresThe agent service performs the centralized restores as requested by the PowerProtect Data Manager.

NOTE: In the current release, the centralized restores are only available for the File System agent, Microsoft SQL agent,

and Storage Direct agent.

Backup deletion and catalog cleanupThe PowerProtect Data Manager deletes the backup files directly from the protection storage when a backup expires or an explicit delete request is received and no dependent (incremental or log) backups exist. The PowerProtect Data Manager goes through the agent service to delete the catalog entries from the database vendor's catalog and the agent's local datastore.

NOTE: Deletion of any backup copies manually or through the command line is not recommended. PowerProtect Data

Manager deletes all the expired copies as needed.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 45

The agent service is started during the agent installation by the installer. The agent service runs in the background as a service and you do not interact with it directly.

The config.yml file contains the configuration information for the agent service, including several parameter settings that you can change in the file. The config.yml file is located in the directory. For example, you can set the preferred-node-timeout parameter to increase the timeout value (in seconds) for the operation that finds the preferred node for the assets. The default timeout value is 120 seconds:

preferred-node-timeout: 120

The agent service periodically starts subprocesses to perform the discovery jobs. You can see the type and frequency of these jobs in the jobs: section of the config.yml file. The job interval unit is minutes.

The agent service maintains a datastore in the /dbs/v1 directory, which contains information about the application system, assets, and backups discovered on the system. The size of the datastore files depends on the number of applications and copies on the host. The agent service periodically creates a backup of its datastore in the /dbs/v1/backups directory, as used to recover the datastore if this datastore is lost.

NOTE: The size of each datastore backup is the same as the datastore itself. By default, a backup is created every hour.

To save space on the file system, you can reduce this datastore backup frequency for large datastores. By default, the

datastore backup is retained for one week. You can change the datastore backup frequency, retention period, and backup

location in the config.yml file.

Start, stop, or obtain the status of the PowerProtect agent service

The PowerProtect agent service is started during the agent installation by the installer. If needed, you can use the appropriate procedure to start, stop, or obtain the status of the agent service.

On Windows, you can start, stop, or obtain the status of the PowerProtect agent service from the Services Manager, similar to other Windows services. The name of the service in the Services Manager is PowerProtect Agent Service.

Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service installations

A PowerProtect agent service installation might fail with the following error message:

Service 'PowerProtect Agent Service' (AgentService) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services.

Possible causes of the installation failure are as follows:

The installation was attempted on a passive node of a Failover Cluster Instance (FCI). The installation was canceled and a rollback left some stale entries of PowerProtect agent services.

As a workaround, clean up the PowerProtect agent service entries, and retry the installation.

Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service operations

To troubleshoot agent service operations, you can check the agent service log file OpAgentSvc- .log, which is created in \logs on Windows and /logs on AIX or Linux. To modify the log level and retention of temporary files, you can modify specific parameter settings in the config.yml file.

About this task

To modify the log level and retention of temporary files, you can perform the following steps.

Steps

1. Stop the agent service by using the appropriate procedure from the preceding topic.

2. Open the config.yml file in an editor.

3. Modify the log-level settings in the following parameters, as required:

46 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

NOTE: These parameters are listed in order of decreasing number of messages in the debug information output. The

default log-level is INFO.

DEBUG INFO WARNING ERROR CRITICAL

4. To retain the temporary files, set the keepTempFiles parameter to True in the config.yml file.

NOTE: The agent service and application agent communicate through the temporary files, which are typically deleted

after use but can be useful for troubleshooting purposes. Do not leave the keepTempFiles parameter set to True

permanently, or the temporary files can use excessive space on the file system.

5. Start the agent service by using the appropriate procedure from the preceding topic.

Register the PowerProtect agent service to a different server address on Windows

The PowerProtect agent service is registered to a particular PowerProtect Data Manager server during the agent installation by the installer. If needed, you can register the agent service to a different PowerProtect Data Manager server address. If there are multiple agents installed on a host, all agents will be re-registered to the new PowerProtect server.

The agent service can only be registered to a single PowerProtect Data Manager server.

On Windows, perform the following steps to register the agent service to a different server address.

1. To unregister from the current PowerProtect Data Manager server, go to the C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\AgentService directory and run unregister.bat.

2. In the dbs\v1 directory, rename the copies.db file to copies-backup.db.

3. To register the agent service to the different server address, run register.bat and provide the new PowerProtect Data Manager server IP address or hostname.

4. Verify the agent registration status:

a. In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Application Agents.

b. In the Application Agents window, select the entry that contains the agent hostname and ensure that the status is Registered.

5. To perform asset discovery for the agent:

a. In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Infrastructure > Asset Sources.

The Asset Sources window appears.

b. Select the Exchange Server Host tab. c. Select the agent hostname and click Discover. At the confirmation prompt, click Yes.

When you select Infrastructure > Assets, the Assets window displays the discovered assets.

Recovering the PowerProtect agent service from a disaster

You can perform self-service restores of application assets by using a file system or application agent, regardless of the state of the agent service or PowerProtect Data Manager. The information in the this section describes how to bring the agent service to an operational state to continue if a disaster occurs and the agent service datastore is lost.

The agent service periodically creates a backup of its datastore in the /dbs/v1/backups repository. If all these backups are lost, the agent service can still start. The agent service discovers all the application systems, assets, and backup copies on the system again, and notifies PowerProtect Data Manager. Depending on when the failure occurred, the agent service might not be able to find older backup copies for some asset types. As a result, the centralized deletion operations might fail when cleaning up the database vendor catalog or removing older backups that are taken before the asset is added to PowerProtect Data Manager.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 47

By default, the agent service backs up consistent copies of its datastore files to the local disk every hour and keeps the copies for 7 days. Each time the agent service backs up the contents of the datastore, it creates a subdirectory under the /dbs/v1/backups repository. The subdirectories are named after the time the operation occurred, in the format YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS_epochTime.

By default, the datastore repository is on the local disk. To ensure that the agent service datastore and its local backups are not lost, it is recommended that you back up the datastore through file system backups. You can also change the datastore backup location to a different location that is not local to the system. To change the datastore backup location, update the values in the config.yml file.

Restore the PowerProtect Data Manager agent service datastore

Prerequisites

NOTE: Ensure that the agent service is powered off. Do not start the agent service until disaster recovery is complete.

About this task

You can restore the datastore from the datastore backup repository. If the repository is no longer on the local disk, restore the datastore from file system backups first.

To restore the datastore from a backup in the datastore backup repository, complete the following steps:

Steps

1. Move the files in the /dbs/v1 directory to a location for safe keeping.

NOTE: Do not move or delete any /dbs/v1 subdirectories.

2. Select the most recent datastore backup.

The directories in the datastore backup repository are named after the time the backup was created.

3. Copy the contents of the datastore backup directory to the /dbs/v1 directory. After the copy operation is complete, the /dbs/v1 directory should contain the following files: copies.db objects.db resources.db sessions.db

4. Start the agent service.

Manage the cloud tier operations with PowerProtect Data Manager The PowerProtect Data Manager cloud tier feature works in tandem with the Cloud Tier feature to move PowerProtect Data Manager backups from DD systems to the cloud. This provides long-term storage of PowerProtect Data Manager backups by seamlessly and securely tiering data to the cloud.

From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, you configure cloud tier to move PowerProtect Data Manager backups from DD to the cloud, and you can perform seamless recovery of these backups.

Cloud storage units must be pre-configured on the DD system before they are configured for cloud tier in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. The DDOS Administration Guide provides more information.

48 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

Add a cloud tier schedule to a protection policy

You can add a cloud tier schedule to a protection policy for Microsoft Exchange Server centralized and self-service backups to cloud tier.

Prerequisites

Ensure that a DD system is set up for cloud tiering.

About this task

Both Microsoft Exchange Server centralized and self-service protection policies support cloud tiering. You can create the cloud tier schedule from primary, replication, and extended retention stages. Schedules must have a retention time of 14 days or more.

Cloud tiering happens at 00:00 UTC each day. Depending on your time zone, this time may be within business hours and thus cloud tiering may impact available network bandwidth.

Steps

1. Log in to PowerProtect Data Manager with administrator credentials.

2. From the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, select Protection > Protection Policies, and then click Add.

The Add Policy wizard appears.

3. On the Type page, enter a name and description, select Microsoft Exchange as the type of system to back up, and click Next.

4. On the Purpose page, select from the available options to indicate the purpose of the new protection policy, and then click Next.

5. On the Assets page, select the assets to be protected with this policy, and then click Next.

6. On the Objectives page, click Add under Primary Backup if the primary backup schedule is not already created, and fill out the fields in the Target and Schedules panes on the Add Primary Backup dialog.

NOTE: There is no minimum recurrence required for the cloud stage. However, the cloud tier schedule requires a

minimum retention period of 14 days in the Retain for field.

7. Click Cloud Tier next to Primary Backup or Extend Retention or, if adding a cloud stage for a replication schedule that you have added, click Cloud Tier under Replicate. An entry for Cloud Tier is created to the right of the primary or extended retention backup schedule, or below the replication schedule.

8. Under the entry for Cloud Tier, click Add. The Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog appears, with summary schedule information for the parent node. This information indicates whether you are adding this cloud tier stage for the primary backup schedule, the extended retention schedule, or the replication schedule.

9. In the Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog, set the following parameters and then click Save:

Select the appropriate storage unit from the Cloud Target list. For Tier After, set a time of 14 days or more.

The protection policy schedule is now enabled with cloud tiering.

10. Click Next to proceed with the remaining pages of the Add Policy wizard, verify the information, and then click Finish. A new job is created, which you can view under the Jobs tab after the job completes.

Tier the PowerProtect Data Manager backups from DD to the cloud

Once you add the Microsoft Exchange Server database assets to a protection policy that contains a cloud tier stage, you can perform tiering of these assets by using the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

Steps

1. Log in to PowerProtect Data Manager with administrator credentials.

2. Select Infrastructure > Assets > Exchange Databases.

3. On the Type Assets page, select the asset, and then click View Copies.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 49

4. Select the DD system where the PowerProtect Data Manager backups for the Microsoft Exchange Server reside, and then select Full protection copy which is older than 2 weeks.

5. Click Tier to tier the backups.

A new job is created, which you can view under the Jobs tab after the job completes. When you monitor the cloud tier progress of backup copies for the asset job, the status remains in the running state until the data movement occurs from the DD system.

6. Log in to the DD system, and obtain the storage unit details by running the command data-movement policy show. For example:

# data-movement policy show

Mtree Target(Tier/Unit Name) Policy Value ----------------------------------------- ---------------------- ----------- ------- /data/col1/rman137-blrv136g140-840dd Cloud/ecs-unit app-managed enabled /data/col1/rman134-copy-blrv136g138-61900 Cloud/ecs-unit app-managed enabled /data/col1/rman-11-blrv136h010-7014f Cloud/ecs-unit app-managed enabled

7. Run the data-movement start mtrees command for the particular MTree. For example:

# data-movement start mtrees /data/col1/rman137-blrv136g140-840dd

After the successful data movement to the cloud, the cloud tier monitoring job completes. After some time, on the Assets > View Copies page, the Location field of the protection backups changes to Cloud.

The DDOS Administration Guide provides more details about cloud tier data movement.

Restore the cloud tier backups to DD

The restore operations of backups that have been tiered to the cloud are identical to normal restore operations.

The PowerProtect Data Manager software recalls a copy of the backup from the cloud to the local (active) tier of the DD system, and then performs a restore of the backup from the active tier to the client. The status appears as Cloud. After the restore, the backup copy is removed from the cloud tier, and is stored on the active tier of the DD system for a minimum of 14 days, after which the backup may be returned to the cloud, depending on the protection policy.

Recall and re-tier the cloud tier backup

You can restore directly from a cloud tier backup. You can also manually recall the cloud tier backup and then restore from the local copy.

The direct restore from the cloud tier backup is identical to a normal restore operation. PowerProtect Data Manager software recalls the backup from the cloud tier to the local (active) tier and then restores the recalled backup.

NOTE:

When a backup is recalled from the cloud tier to the active tier, the copy is removed from the cloud tier.

You can restore from a cloud tier backup to either a backup stage or replication stage. For restore to a replication stage,

ensure that you select a cloud tier enabled DD.

As an alternative, you can manually recall the backup from the cloud tier and restore the local copy:

1. In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, go to Infrastructure > Assets and select the Exchange Databases tab. 2. Select the required asset, and then click View Copies. 3. Select the backup in the cloud, click Recall, and then specify how long to keep the copy on the active tier.

A job is created to recall the backup copy from the cloud tier for the selected asset. The copy moves from the cloud tier, and the status changes from Cloud to Local_Recalled.

4. Select the recalled asset, and then click Restore.

50 Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection

To re-tier the recalled copy, select the recalled copy and click Re-tier.

To change the retention period for the recalled copy, select the recalled copy and click Edit Recall Retention.

Managing Storage, Assets, and Protection 51

Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases

Topics:

Performing self-service backups of Microsoft Exchange Server databases Back up Microsoft Exchange Server with the Windows PowerShell backup cmdlet Listing backups and save files Reading the backup object from Windows PowerShell cmdlet output Formatting the list of backups

Performing self-service backups of Microsoft Exchange Server databases To enable self-service protection, when you create the Microsoft Exchange Server protection policy, select Self-Service Protection.

When performing a self-service backup of non-replicated DAG assets, the backups appear under the DAG asset.

Back up Microsoft Exchange Server with the Windows PowerShell backup cmdlet The Microsoft application agent supports full and incremental block-based backups.

NOTE: For self-service backups, do not select assets from multiple protection policies in the same backup request. This is a

limitation of the Microsoft application agent.

Use the Backup-Exchange PowerShell cmdlet to back up the Microsoft Exchange Server to a DD server.

To perform specific backup-related and restore-related operations, the Microsoft application agent also supports the ddbmadmin.exe command besides the msagentadmin.exe command. However, the ddbmadmin.exe command is deprecated.

All cmdlets support the standard common PowerShell parameters. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ dd901844(v=vs.85).aspx provides the list of common parameters and their descriptions.

NOTE: In the syntaxes, the parameters that are enclosed in square brackets, [ and ], are optional.

Syntax to perform stand-alone server backups

Use the following syntax to back up a stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server:

[ ] | Backup-Exchange -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup -ClientName -DataDomainHost -DataDomainHostPath / -DataDomainUser [ ]

where:

(Optional) Specifies the configuration object that was imported using the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet.

4

52 Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases

NOTE: For self-service backups with protection policies created through PowerProtect Data

Manager, run the Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet with the -Backup parameter

to import the backup parameters to the object. When multiple protection policies exist, the cmdlet

prompts you to select from a list of storage options and you must select the storage unit for the

self-service backup that was created in the protection policy.

-ClientName

Specifies the FQDN of the Microsoft Exchange Server to use for indexing the backup.

You can use the -C or -CN alias for the -ClientName parameter.

-BackupViaBlockBasedBackup

Specifies that the backup is a block-based backup.

You can use the -BBB alias for the -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup parameter.

-DataDomainHost

Specifies the DD server hostname.

You can use the -S, -SH, -DDHost or -StorageHost alias for the -DataDomainHost parameter.

-DataDomainHostPath /

Specifies the full path to the DD storage unit for the backup. The DD user must have appropriate access rights to this path.

You can use the -Path, -DevicePath, -StoragePath, -StorageHostPath, or -DataDomainPath alias for the -DataDomainHostPath parameter.

-DataDomainUser

Specifies the DD username.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host. -DDUser, -StorageUser You can use the -DDUser or -StorageUser alias for the -DataDomainUser parameter.

Example stand-alone backup command to the DD host ledmd035.lss.example.com

Backup-Exchange -ClientName ledmf175.msapp.com -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup -DataDomainHost ledmd035.lss.example.com -DataDomainPath /SU_DD163 -DataDomainUser DD163_user

Example stand-alone backup command with a configuration object

$serverinfo | Backup-Exchange

Syntax to perform federated backups

Use the following syntax to perform a federated backup of a database availability group:

[ ] | Backup-Exchange -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup -ClientName -DataDomainHost -DataDomainHostPath / -DataDomainUser {[-BackupActive] | [-BackupPassive] | [-BackupPreferred]} [-IncludeStandaloneDatabases] [-ServerOrderList ] [ ]

where:

(Optional) Specifies the configuration object that was imported using the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet.

NOTE: For self-service backups with protection policies created through PowerProtect Data

Manager, run the Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet with the -Backup parameter

to import the backup parameters to the object. When multiple protection policies exist, the cmdlet

prompts you to select from a list of storage options and you must select the storage unit for the

self-service backup that was created in the protection policy.

Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases 53

-ClientName

Specifies the FQDN of the database availability group instance to use for indexing the backup.

You can use the -C or -CN alias for the -ClientName parameter.

-BackupViaBlockBasedBackup

Specifies that the backup is a block-based backup.

You can use the -BBB alias for the -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup parameter.

-DataDomainHost

Specifies the DD server hostname.

You can use the -S, -SH, -DDHost or -StorageHost alias for the -DataDomainHost parameter.

-DataDomainHostPath /

Specifies the full path to the DD storage unit for the backup. The DD user must have appropriate access rights to this path.

You can use the -Path, -DevicePath, -StoragePath, -StorageHostPath, or -DataDomainPath alias for the -DataDomainHostPath parameter.

-DataDomainUser

Specifies the DD username.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host. -DDUser, -StorageUser You can use the -DDUser or -StorageUser alias for the -DataDomainUser parameter.

{-BackupActive | -BackupPassive | -BackupPreferred}

(Optional) Specifies that the database backup preference is either active (-BackupActive), passive (-BackupPassive), or preferred (-BackupPreferred).

-IncludeStandaloneDatabases

(Optional) Specifies to include stand-alone databases and public folder databases in back up.

-ServerOrderList

(Optional) Specifies the preferred Microsoft Exchange Server order list if you have to select multiple copies.

Separate multiple servers with commas.

Example federated backup command

The following command backs up the database TestDB and the Mailbox Database 1250665181 in DAG1 to the DD host ledmd035.lss.example.com:

Backup-Exchange -Identity TestDB,'Mailbox Database 1250665181' -ClientName DAG1.msapp.com -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup -DataDomainHost ledmd035.lss.example.com -DataDomainPath /SU_DD163 -DataDomainUser DD163_user -Preferred -ServerOrderList node1, node2 -IncludeStandaloneDatabases

Example federated backup command with a configuration object

The following command backs up the Microsoft Exchange Server by using a configuration object:

$serverinfo | Backup-Exchange -Identity TestDB,'Mailbox Database 1250665181'

Optional parameters for the Backup-Exchange cmdlet

The following list describes the optional parameters for the Backup-Exchange cmdlet:

-Incremental

Specifies that the backup level is a block-based incremental backup.

If you don't specify this parameter, the backup is taken at level full.

-Retention + {d | m | w | y}

Specifies the period in which to retain a backup. After the period passes, the backup expires.

The default retention period is 30 days. The maximum retention date is 2/7/2106.

54 Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases

The -Retention parameter accepts a + followed by an integer followed by one of the following time indicators: d specifies a retention period in days.

w specifies a retention period in weeks.

m specifies a retention period in months.

y specifies a retention period in years.

For example, -Retention +20d specifies to retain the backup for 20 days.

-Identity

Specifies the identity of the database to back up. If you do not specify this parameter, the operation backs up all databases.

-LockBoxPath

Specifies the folder that contains the lockbox file, which contains encrypted information about the registered hosts and the corresponding usernames in pairs. Each pair is associated with a password that backups use.

You can use the -LB or -LBPath alias for the -LockBoxPath parameter.

-DebugLevel <1_through_9>

Specifies the debug level for the backup. The default value is 0 (zero).

You can use the -DL or -D alias for the -DebugLevel parameter.

-DeleteDebugLogsInDays

Deletes debug log files that are older than the specified number of days. The valid range is between 1 and 32767.

By default, debug logs are deleted after 30 days. Regularly deleting debug logs prevents the log folder on the installation drive from becoming too large.

This parameter only deletes debug logs named in the default format and located in the logs folder at \MSAPPAGENT\logs.

-Verbose

Indicates the verbose output. In this context, the standard output stream of the Microsoft application agent appears.

You can use the -vb alias for the -Verbose parameter.

-VeryVerbose {True | False}

Increases the volume of the verbose output.

To use this parameter, you must also specify the -Verbose parameter.

The default value is False.

-ExeFileName

Specifies the full path to the application program executable msagentsv.exe.

Use this option only to diagnose. In normal operations, the cmdlet automatically locates the installed application.

-AsJob {$true | $false}

Runs the cmdlet as a background job.

The command returns an object that represents the job, and then displays the command prompt. You can continue to work in the session during the job.

You can use the -AJ or -Job alias for the -AsJob parameter.

-JobName

Specifies a friendly name for the job when you use this parameter with the -AsJob parameter. If you do not specify the -AsJob parameter, the -JobName parameter is ignored.

You can use the name to identify the job against other job cmdlets such as, Stop-Job.

-Parallelism

Specifies the parallelism setting for the backup.

Based on the number of CPUs on the host and the parallelism setting, the application agent uses the following effective parallelism value for the backup:

Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases 55

With 10 or more CPUs, the effective parallelism equals the minimum of the number of CPUs and the parallelism setting, minus 4. For example, with 12 CPUs and a parallelism of 16, the effective parallelism value is 8 (12 minus 4).

With 4 to 9 CPUs, the effective parallelism equals the minimum of the number of CPUs and the parallelism setting, minus 2. For example, with 8 CPUs and a parallelism of 10, the effective parallelism value is 6 (8 minus 2).

With fewer than 4 CPUs, the effective parallelism equals the number of CPUs. For example, with 2 CPUs, the effective parallelism value is 2.

If the effective parallelism value is 8, then 8 threads are created for the backup, with each thread assigned to transfer either an EDB file or the related log files. An asset transfer is complete only when an EDB file and the related log files are both copied to the DD system. Using 8 threads, effectively 4 assets are backed up in parallel from the host.

Listing backups and save files You can list backups and save files with the Windows PowerShell Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet or with the msagentadmin administration list commands.

List backups with the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet

To list Microsoft Exchange Server backups, use the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet.

Use the Get-ExchangeBackup PowerShell cmdlet with the following syntax to list Microsoft Exchange Server backups on a DD server:

[ ] | Get-ExchangeBackup -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup -DataDomainHost -DataDomainUser -DataDomainHostPath / -ClientName [ ]

where:

(Optional) Specifies the configuration object that was imported using the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet.

NOTE: For PowerProtect Data Manager centralized and self-service workflows, run the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet with the -Restore parameter to import the configuration

parameters to the object.

-BackupViaBlockBasedBackup

Specifies to list the block-based backups.

You can use the -BBB or -BlockBasedBackup alias for the -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup parameter.

-ClientName

Specifies the FQDN of the stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server or database availability group instance to use for listing the backup.

You can use the -C or -CN alias for the -ClientName parameter.

-DataDomainHost

Specifies the DD server hostname.

You can use the -S, -SH, -DDHost or -StorageHost alias for the -DataDomainHost parameter.

-DataDomainHostPath /

Specifies the full path to the DD storage unit to query for the backups. The DD user must have appropriate access rights to this path.

You can use the -Path, -DevicePath, -StoragePath, -StorageHostPath, or -DataDomainPath alias for the -DataDomainHostPath parameter.

-DataDomainUser

56 Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases

Specifies the DD username.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host. -DDUser, -StorageUser You can use the -DDUser or -StorageUser alias for the -DataDomainUser parameter.

NOTE:

Depending on the number of backups and network performance, the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet may require

significant time to list the backups.

For the listing of backups, use the Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet only with the -Restore parameter.

Listing of backups with Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFIle -Backup produces invalid results.

Due to excessive property length, property values might not be completely visible and shown in the dots after a fixed

length. In this case, use the FormatEnumerationLimit and Format-List parameters to increase the property length

and to see the full property values.

Formatting the list of backups describes multiple formatting options and filters.

The -ExcludeClientNameResolution parameter, as described in the next topic, is mandatory for IP-less DAG

restores with PowerProtect Data Manager integrated workflows (both self-service and centralized).

Optional parameters for the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet

The following list describes the additional parameters for the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet:

-ExcludeClientNameResolution

NOTE: The -ExcludeClientNameResolution parameter is mandatory for IP-less DAG

restores with PowerProtect Data Manager integrated workflows (both self-service and centralized).

Uses the client name that is provided as-is without converting it to the fully qualified domain name (FQDN).

Use this parameter to list backups taken with Microsoft application agent version 4.5 or earlier that use the short name as the client name.

You can use the -ExcludeCNResolution alias for the -ExcludeClientNameResolution parameter.

-Before

Lists only the backups that were taken on or before the given date or time.

If you do not specify a value, the value defaults to the current date and time.

-After

Lists only the backups that were taken on or after the given date or time.

-Limit

Limits the results to the specified number of backups.

-LockBoxPath

Specifies the folder that contains the lockbox file, which contains encrypted information about the registered hosts and the corresponding usernames in pairs. Each pair is associated with a password that backups use.

If you do not specify this parameter, the default installation path is used, which is C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\common\lockbox.

You can use the -LB or -LBPath alias for the -LockBoxPath parameter.

-Debug

Indicates the PowerShell debug, which enables the debug output. By default, the cmdlet pauses on every debug output.

You can use the -db alias for the -Debug parameter.

-DebugLevel <1_through_9>

Specifies the debug level. The default value is 0 (zero).

Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases 57

You can use the -DL or -D alias for the -DebugLevel parameter.

-Verbose

Indicates the verbose output. In this context, the standard output stream of the Microsoft application agent appears.

You can use the -vb alias for the -Verbose parameter.

-VeryVerbose {True | False}

Increases the volume of the verbose output.

To use this parameter, you must also specify the -Verbose parameter.

The default value is False.

-ExeFileName

Specifies the full path to the application program executable file, that is, msagentadmin.exe.

Use this option only to diagnose. In normal operations, the cmdlet automatically locates the installed application.

-AsJob {$true | $false}

Runs the cmdlet as a background job.

The command returns an object that represents the job, and then displays the command prompt. You can continue to work in the session during the job.

You can use the -AJ or -Job alias for the -AsJob parameter.

-JobName

Specifies a friendly name for the job when you use this parameter with the -AsJob parameter. If you do not specify the -AsJob parameter, the -JobName parameter is ignored.

You can use the name to identify the job against other job cmdlets such as, Stop-Job.

List backups and save files with the msagentadmin administration command

The Microsoft application agent supports list commands to view backups and save files.

List backups or save files using the msagentadmin administration command with the following syntax:

msagentadmin administration {--list | --listfiles} --ddhost " " --ddpath "<name_and_path_of_storage_unit>" --dduser "<DD_Boost_username>" --appID " msapp_bbb" [ ]

where:

{--list | --listfiles}

Specifies the type of list operation. You must only specify one of the following parameters: --listfiles specifies to list save files on the storage unit.

--list specifies to list backups.

You can use the -s alias for the list parameter.

--ddhost " "

Specifies the name of the server that contains the storage unit, to which you backed up the databases.

--ddpath "/ "

Specifies the name and the path of the storage unit, to which you backed up the databases.

--dduser " "

Specifies the username of the DD Boost user.

--appID "msapp_bbb"

Specifies the application ID (namespace) to locate backups. Specify msapp_bbb for Microsoft Exchange Server.

You can use the -n alias for the --appID parameter.

58 Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases

Reading the backup object from Windows PowerShell cmdlet output Learn how to read the Windows PowerShell cmdlet output.

The output of the cmdlets to perform backups (Backup-Exchange), list backups (Get-ExchangeBackup), and remove backups (Remove-ExchangeBackup) is a backup object.

The Get-ExchangeBackup and Remove-ExchangeBackup cmdlets list arrays of backup objects.

Output formats

Learn about the various output formats available for Windows PowerShell cmdlets for backup operations.

Table Format

The default format of the EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object is a table, which contains the BackupDateTimeUTC, BackupID, ClientName, Successful, and BackupDatabases columns.

Consider the following example:

Table format output from the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet

$serverinfo | Get-ExchangeBackup -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup

BackupDate TimeUTC BackupID ClientName Successful BackupDatabases ---------- ------- -------- ---------- ---------- --------------- 3/14/2016 4:38:54 PM 1457973534 exchangehost.myorg.com True {TestDB, Mailbox Database 1250665181}

List format

The list format displays all attributes with the backup date and time according to the local time zone, except the static image information.

Use the Format-List parameter to enable the list format output.

Consider the following example:

Table format output from the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet

$serverinfo | Get-ExchangeBackup -BackupViaBlockBasedBackup | Format-List

ExchangeVersion : 2013 BackupDateTimeUTC : 10/20/2016 4:37:16 PM BackupDatabases : {183c4310-6910-4c0f-bf8c-d152560035d9, 82da2fb5-866e-4b26- a360-0f15ddfec475, 6efb90ca-279e-4e52-9784-e0861ec5c362} Level : full BackupID : msapp_bbb:1476981436 Successful : True ClientName : ledmf175.msapp.com DataDomainHost : ledmd035.lss.example.com DataDomainHostPath : /SU_DD163 RecoverPointHost : Bookmarks : {}

Wide format

The wide format displays only the BackupDateTimeUTC attribute.

Use the Format-Wide parameter to enable the wide format output.

Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases 59

Consider the following example:

Wide format output from the Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet

$serverinfo | Get-ExchangeBackup -Before (Get-Date).AddDays(-5) -Limit 3 | Format-Wide

6/10/2016 12:45:18 PM 6/10/2016 12:43:36 PM 6/3/2016 3:39:53 PM

EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDataba se object attributes

The EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDatabase object lists information for a single database.

The following table lists the attributes that the EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDatabase object contains:

Table 7. Attributes of the EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDatabase object

Attribute Description

Identity The identity of the database.

Guid The GUID of the database.

BackupID The backup ID of the individual database.

Though you can use this attribute to restore an individual database, the Microsoft application agent recommends you to use the general or overall BackupID to perform restores.

DatabaseFileBackupID The backup ID of the EDB backup. In the case of a block-based backup, this attribute is different from the BackupID attribute.

You cannot use this backup ID to perform restores.

LogFilesBackupID The backup ID of the log folder backup. In the case of a block-based backup, this attribute is different from the BackupID attribute.

You cannot use this backup ID to perform restores.

EdbFilePath The original path of the backed up EDB file. This attribute corresponds to Get-Datatabase | Format-Table EdbFilePath during the backup.

LogFolderPath The original folder of the backed up log files. This attribute corresponds to Get-Database | Format-Table LogFolderPath during the backup.

EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object attributes

The EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object lists an array of database backup objects.

The following table lists the attributes that the EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object contains:

Table 8. Attributes of the EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object

Attribute Description

BackupDateTimeUTC The date and time of the backup in UTC.

BackupDatabases An array of EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDatabase objects.

60 Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases

Table 8. Attributes of the EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackup object (continued)

Attribute Description

BackupID The ID of the backup. Each ID has the backup technology and a colon as the prefix.

In the case of block-based backups, the prefix is msapp_bbb:.

If you do not specify a prefix for a backup ID in any of the Microsoft Exchange Server backup operations, the default prefix is msapp_pp:.

BookmarkName Empty list.

ClientName The FQDN of the Microsoft Exchange Server.

DataDomainHost The DD server name.

DataDomainHostPath The full path to the DD storage unit.

ExchangeVersion The version of the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Level The backup level, which is always FULL even in the case of incremental block-based backups.

StaticImages An array of EMCExchangeBackupRestore.BackupData.ExchangeBackupDDStaticImage objects.

Successful $true, if the backup is successful.

Formatting the list of backups If the BackupDatabases column values are truncated and include dots at the end, you can increase the windows and buffer length in the Microsoft Exchange Server management shell.

In addition to increasing the length, you can use the following commands to better format the output and filter the output:

To display the full output:

Get-ExchangeBackup | format-table -AutoSize To list only the backups that contain a specific database:

$list = Get-ExchangeBackup | format-table -AutoSize

$list = foreach($obj in $list) { foreach($bkup in $obj.BackupDatabases){ if($bkup.Identity -EQ "DatabaseName"){ Write-Output $obj } } }

To list the backups that occurred on a specific date:

$list | where BackupDateTimeUTC -CMatch "6/14/2020"

To perform various types of comparisons, you can use the following flags:

"CGE"Greater than or equal to a specific value. "CGT"Greater than a specific value. "CLE"Less than or equal to a specific value. "CLT"Less than a specific value.

Performing Self-Service Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server Databases 61

Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups

Topics:

Restore a Microsoft Exchange Server application host Prerequisite for Microsoft Exchange Server restore operations Restoring Microsoft Exchange Server databases Performing granular-level restores Performing granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server

Restore a Microsoft Exchange Server application host You can perform database or granular-level restores directly to the Microsoft Exchange Server application host using the Microsoft application agent.

Prerequisite for Microsoft Exchange Server restore operations You must run the set-mailboxdatabase cmdlet to allow a Microsoft Exchange Server database to be restored from a backup.

Run the set-mailboxdatabase PowerShell cmdlet with the following syntax prior to any restore operation:

set-mailboxdatabase -AllowFileRestore $true

where:

Specifies the name of the database that is the target for the restore operation.

-AllowFileRestore $true

Specifies to allow restore operations for the database.

NOTE: Run this command for each target database for the restore operation.

The Microsoft documentation provides more information on the set-mailboxdatabase cmdlet.

Restoring Microsoft Exchange Server databases The Microsoft application agent supports the following types of database restores:

Normal restore: Restore of a database to the original source database. Alternate database restore: Restore of a database to another database that is different from the source database.

You can view the list of backups and then restore only the required backups by using the backup IDs. Listing backups and save files provides information about how to list backups.

5

62 Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups

Restore a backup to the source database

Use the Restore-Exchange cmdlet with the following syntax to restore a database to the source location (normal restore):

[ ] | Restore-Exchange -NormalRestore -Backup -ClientName -DataDomainHost -DataDomainHostPath / -DataDomainUser

where:

(Optional) Specifies the configuration object that was imported using the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet.

NOTE: For PowerProtect Data Manager centralized and self-service workflows, run the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet with the -Restore parameter to import the configuration

parameters to the object.

-NormalRestore

Specifies that the database is being restored to the original source location.

You can use the -Restore alias for the -NormalRestore parameter.

-Backup

Specifies the backup to restore using the backup object.

You can retrieve the backup object from the Backup-Exchange or Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet output.

-ClientName

Specifies the client name that was used for the backup.

You can use the -C or -CN alias for the -ClientName parameter.

-DataDomainHost

Specifies the hostname of the DD server that contains the backups.

You can use the -S, -SH, -DDHost or -StorageHost alias for the -DataDomainHost parameter.

-DataDomainHostPath

Specifies the full path of the DD storage unit that contains the backups.The DD user must have appropriate access rights to this path.

You can use the -Path, -DevicePath, -StoragePath, -StorageHostPath, or -DataDomainPath alias for the -DataDomainHostPath parameter.

-DataDomainUser

Specifies the DD username.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host. -DDUser, -StorageUser You can use the -DDUser or -StorageUser alias for the -DataDomainUser parameter.

Restore a backup to an alternate database

NOTE: Before you perform a copy or alternate database restore, ensure that the target database exists.

Use the Restore-Exchange cmdlet with the following syntax to restore a database to an alternate location (copy restore):

[ ] | Restore-Exchange -CopyRestore -Backup -Identity -RestoreDatabaseIdentity -ClientName -DataDomainHost -DataDomainHostPath / -DataDomainUser [ ]

where:

Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups 63

(Optional) Specifies the configuration object that was imported using the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet.

NOTE: For PowerProtect Data Manager centralized and self-service workflows, run the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet with the -Restore parameter to import the configuration

parameters to the object.

-CopyRestore

Specifies that the database is being restored to an alternate location.

You can use the -Alternate alias for the -CopyRestore parameter.

-Backup

Specifies the backup to restore using the backup object.

You can retrieve the backup object from the Backup-Exchange or Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet output.

-Identity

Specifies the identity of one or more databases to restore.

-RestoreDatabaseIdentity

Specifies the target identity of the alternate database to restore to.

You can use the -RestoreDB, -Target, -RDB, or -RestoreDatabaseID alias for the -CopyRestore parameter.

-ClientName

Specifies the client name that was used for the backup.

You can use the -C or -CN alias for the -ClientName parameter.

-DataDomainHost

Specifies the hostname of the DD server that contains the backups.

You can use the -S, -SH, -DDHost or -StorageHost alias for the -DataDomainHost parameter.

-DataDomainHostPath

Specifies the full path of the DD storage unit that contains the backups.The DD user must have appropriate access rights to this path.

You can use the -Path, -DevicePath, -StoragePath, -StorageHostPath, or -DataDomainPath alias for the -DataDomainHostPath parameter.

-DataDomainUser

Specifies the DD username.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host. -DDUser, -StorageUser You can use the -DDUser or -StorageUser alias for the -DataDomainUser parameter.

Optional parameters for the Restore-Exchange cmdlet

The following list details the optional parameters for the Restore-Exchange cmdlet:

-ExcludeClientNameResolution

Uses the client name that is provided as-is without converting it to the fully qualified domain name (FQDN).

Use this parameter to restore a backup taken with Microsoft application agent version 4.5 or earlier that uses the short name as the client name.

You can use the -ExcludeCNResolution alias for the -ExcludeClientNameResolution parameter.

-Confirm:{$true | $false}

Specifies whether to enable confirmation prompts for the operation. The default value is $true.

-PointInTime:{$true | $false}

64 Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups

Specifies whether to perform a point-in-time-restore operation. The default value is $true.

You can use the -PIT alias for the -PointInTime parameter.

-ExchangeServer

Specifies the short name of the Microsoft Exchange Server, for example, ledmf999, if the name is different from the local hostname.

If you do not specify a value, the parameter takes the local hostname by default.

-DataDomainVDiskUser

Specifies the DD vdisk user.

If you do not specify this parameter, the value defaults to the -DataDomainUser value.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host.

You can use the -DDVDiskUser, -VDiskUser, or -VDU alias for the -DataDomainVDiskUser parameter.

-LockBoxPath

Specifies the folder that contains the lockbox file, which contains encrypted information about the registered hosts and the corresponding usernames in pairs. Each pair is associated with a password that backups use.

You can use the -LB or -LBPath alias for the -LockBoxPath parameter.

-Debug

Specifies to enable the PowerShell debug output. By default, the cmdlet pauses on every debug output.

-DebugLevel <1_through_9>

Specifies the debug level for the backup. The default value is 0 (zero).

You can use the -DL or -D alias for the -DebugLevel parameter.

-DeleteDebugLogsInDays

Deletes debug log files that are older than the specified number of days. The valid range is between 1 and 32767

By default, debug logs are deleted after 30 days. Regularly deleting debug logs prevents the log folder on the installation drive from becoming too large.

This parameter only deletes debug logs named in the default format and located in the logs folder at \MSAPPAGENT\logs.

-Verbose

Indicates the verbose output. In this context, the standard output stream of the Microsoft application agent appears.

You can use the -vb alias for the -Verbose parameter.

-VeryVerbose {True | False}

Increases the volume of the verbose output.

To use this parameter, you must also specify the -Verbose parameter.

The default value is False.

-ExeFileName

Specifies the full path to the application program executable, that is, msagentrc.exe.

Use this option only to diagnose. In normal operations, the cmdlet automatically locates the installed application.

-AsJob {$true | $false}

Runs the cmdlet as a background job.

The command returns an object that represents the job, and then displays the command prompt. You can continue to work in the session during the job.

You can use the -AJ or -Job alias for the -AsJob parameter.

-JobName

Specifies a friendly name for the job when you use this parameter with the -AsJob parameter. If you do not specify the -AsJob parameter, the -JobName parameter is ignored.

You can use the name to identify the job against other job cmdlets such as, Stop-Job.

Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups 65

Performing granular-level restores To recover granular-level Microsoft Exchange Server data, you must first mount the backup using the Mount- ExchangeBackup PowerShell cmdlet. Once the backup is mounted, you can browse and recover granular items, such as mailboxes or folders, with ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server.

NOTE: To recover granular-level Microsoft Exchange Server data on a proxy server where the Microsoft Exchange Server

is not installed, follow the instructions in Performing granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server.

Mount backups

To perform granular-level restores, you must first mount the backups.

Use the Mount-ExchangeBackup cmdlet with the following syntax to mount backups:

[ = ] Mount-ExchangeBackup -Backup -ClientName -DataDomainHost -DataDomainHostPath / -DataDomainUser [ ]

where:

(Optional) Specifies the name of the mount object when using a configuration object.

(Optional) Specifies the configuration object that was imported using the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet.

NOTE: For PowerProtect Data Manager centralized and self-service workflows, run the Import- ExchangeBackupConfigFile cmdlet with the -Restore parameter to import the configuration

parameters to the object.

-Backup

Specifies the backup to restore using the backup object. You must specify the backup object.

You can retrieve the backup object from the Backup-Exchange or Get-ExchangeBackup cmdlet output.

-ClientName

Specifies the client name that was used for the backup.

You can use the -C or -CN alias for the -ClientName parameter.

-DataDomainHost

Specifies the hostname of the DD server that contains the backups.

You can use the -S, -SH, -DDHost or -StorageHost alias for the -DataDomainHost parameter.

-DataDomainHostPath /

Specifies the full path of the DD storage unit that contains the backups.The DD user must have appropriate access rights to this path.

You can use the -Path, -DevicePath, -StoragePath, -StorageHostPath, or -DataDomainPath alias for the -DataDomainHostPath parameter.

-DataDomainUser

Specifies the DD username.

Full credentials are retrieved from the lockbox to authenticate with the host. -DDUser, -StorageUser You can use the -DDUser or -StorageUser alias for the -DataDomainUser parameter.

66 Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups

Result

The backup is mounted in a path similar to the following:

C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSAPPAGENT\tmp\BBBMountPoint\131248297060279537_{4A60AF18-86ED-4BBD- A1C9-2618F1AC1041}_5832\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Mailbox\DB2\ The mounted items are unmounted after you restart the host.

Browse and recover granular-level data with ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server

Prerequisites

Before you use ItemPoint for granular-level recovery, ensure that the backup is mounted.

About this task

The ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide provides more information on performing granular-level recovery of Microsoft Exchange Server data.

Steps

1. Launch ItemPoint.

2. In ItemPoint, launch the Restore wizard.

3. On the Source Selection page, select the source and specify the EDB and log file path from the mounted volume that contains the Microsoft Exchange Server backup data as shown in the following figure, and then click Next.

Figure 2. Selecting the source path in ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server

4. On the Target Selection page, click Skip.

Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups 67

Figure 3. Selecting the target path in ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server

5. Follow the Data Wizard prompts to complete the granular-level recovery.

The ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide provides more information.

Next steps

Once the granular-level recovery is complete, dismount the backup.

Managing mounted backups with the Mount Service system tray icon

After a mount operation succeeds, the Mount Service system tray icon appears as shown in the following figure.

Figure 4. Mount Service system tray icon

Right-click the Mount Service icon, and select any of the following options to perform corresponding tasks according to your requirement:

Dismount Backups: Dismounts the mounted backups. Mount Details: Lists the mounted backups with mount details. Extend Timeout: Extends the timeout of the mount. The default value is 8 hours.

List Microsoft Exchange Server mounted backups using the Mount Service system tray icon

To list the mounted block-based backups, right-click the Mount Service system tray icon, and click Mount Details.

68 Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups

Dismount Microsoft Exchange Server backups using the Mount Service system tray icon

To dismount the mounted block-based backups, right-click the Mount Service system tray icon, and then click Unmount Backups.

Performing granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server Starting with version 19.8 of PowerProtect Data Manager and Microsoft application agent, you can perform the granular- level restore of a Microsoft Exchange Server data backup on a proxy server where the Microsoft Exchange Server is not installed. After you meet the prerequisites, you must run the required commands and mount the backup using the Mount- ExchangeBackup PowerShell cmdlet. Once the backup is mounted, you can browse and recover the granular items, such as mailboxes or folders, with ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server.

The granular-level Microsoft Exchange Server restore operations on the proxy server provide the following capabilities for a Microsoft Exchange Server administrator:

You can grant specific user group privileges to the system account and user account that will perform the restore operations.

You can run the appropriate commands to mount the Microsoft Exchange Server backups and copies on the system where the Microsoft Exchange Server is not installed.

You can view the Microsoft Exchange Server backups and copies at a granular level in ItemPoint when you perform the restore without the Microsoft Exchange Server.

You can perform the granular-level Microsoft Exchange Server restores of full and incremental backups that were performed through centralized or self-service protection policies.

Prerequisites for granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server

Before you perform the granular-level restore of a Microsoft Exchange Server backup on a proxy server without the Microsoft Exchange Server, you must meet the following prerequisites:

Ensure that you have the client name, storage unit name, and storage unit user of the protection policy:

To obtain the storage unit name login to the Microsoft Exchange Server node, run the following command:

$servercofig=Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile -backup

Select the correct option, and note the details of the DD, storage unit, and client name from the command output.

To obtain the DD Boost user of the storage unit login to the DD, run the following command:

ddboost storage-unit show

Note the name of the user.

Ensure that you have the password for the DD user that originally performed the Microsoft Exchange Server backup. View the storage unit password provides information on how to retrieve the password.

Ensure that the lockbox file contains the required DD parameter settings that were used for the Microsoft Exchange Server backup.

Sample contents of the lockbox.txt file are as follows:

CLIENT=IPDAG2016.E16.COM DEVICE_PATH=/Sree_cbp1_proxy_glr_test1-ppdm-58-127-012fc/PLCTLP-5e3aa6fe-af47-4b96- b16d-21e8503c8d30 DEVICE_HOST=10.118.211.52 LOCKBOX_PATH="C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\common\lockbox\" DDBOOST_USER=Sree_cbp1_pro-ppdm-58-127-012fc BACKUP_TYPE=blockbasedbackup

Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups 69

Commands for granular-level restores without Microsoft Exchange Server

To perform the granular-level restore of a Microsoft Exchange Server backup on a proxy server without the Microsoft Exchange Server, you must first create the lockbox and then run the following commands to obtain the backup object and mount the backup:

1. To connect to the DD where the backup is stored for which the granular-level restore must be performed, run the following command:

msagentadmin administration -P -z C:\Lockbox\lockbox.txt 2. To import the configuration parameters to the object, run the following command, where $s contains all the configuration

parameters to the object:

$s=Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile -ConfigFile C:\Lockbox\lockbox.txt 3. To save the backup to the variable $backups, which is used to mount the backup for the granular-level restore, run the

following command:

$backups = $s | Get-ExchangeBackup 4. To mount the Microsoft Exchange Server database backup including the databases and log files from a DD, run the following

command:

$s | Mount-ExchangeBackup -Backup $backups[0] -Verbose To complete the granular-level restore, you can use ItemPoint as described in Browse and recover granular-level data with ItemPoint for Microsoft Exchange Server.

70 Performing Restores of Microsoft Exchange Server Backups

Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting

Topics:

Troubleshooting storage units Troubleshooting backup failures when credentials include a backslash character (\) Troubleshooting PowerProtect Data Manager UI display of localhost.localdomain hostname Troubleshooting agent registration Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service operations Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service installations Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server backups Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server restores

Troubleshooting storage units Review the following issues related to storage units in PowerProtect Data Manager.

Discrepancy between storage unit capacity reported in PowerProtect Data Manager and DD Virtual Edition

Due to differences in space calculation (physical capacity vs. logical capacity), there is a discrepancy between storage unit capacity reported in PowerProtect Data Manager and DD Virtual Edition. For example, the DD storage unit capacity displayed in the Protection > Storage > Manage Storage window of the PowerProtect Data Manager UI might be greater than the amount displayed in DDVE.

To determine storage unit capacity, use DDVE instead.

Creating storage unit fails when maximum MTree and Users count on DD system reached

When you add a protection policy or create a storage unit in PowerProtect Data Manager, storage unit creation fails if you reach the maximum MTree and Users count on the selected DD system. PowerProtect Data Manager enables you to finish adding a protection policy without a storage unit. However, if you subsequently run a backup with this protection policy, the backup process is suspended indefinitely with no error message.

To continue backup operations, you must perform a cleanup on the DD system.

Troubleshooting backup failures when credentials include a backslash character (\) When you enter credentials that include a backslash character (\) for an application agent in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, the backups fail.

For example, when you enter a password for the operating system or database user that includes the backslash character, subsequent backups fail with the following error message:

systemErr: Unable to log in.

A

Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting 71

This error might occur when updating the password for a storage unit.

To resolve this issue, type \\ (double backslash) instead of \ (single backslash) when you enter the credentials for an application agent in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

Troubleshooting PowerProtect Data Manager UI display of localhost.localdomain hostname In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, the Application Agents, Asset Sources, and Protection Jobs windows might list the asset primary hostname as localhost.localdomain instead of the expected FQDN.

The display of localhost.localdomain as the hostname in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI windows might occur when you specify the host's actual FQDN setting for the loopback address in the /etc/hosts file. For example, when you add the following settings in the /etc/hosts file, the first setting value, localhost.localdomain, appears as the hostname in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI windows, instead of the actual FQDN:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6 127.0.0.1 blrv027d233.blr.lab.emc.com blrv027d233

Ensure that the host's actual FQDN is not specified for the loopback address and do not specify hostnames that start with "local" in the /etc/hosts file.

Troubleshooting agent registration Review the following information that is related to troubleshooting agent registration issues.

On Windows, if the agent fails to establish a connection with the PowerProtect Data Manager server, agent registration might fail with the following error message:

During a network connectivity test, the agent is unable to reach the PowerProtect Data Manager server by using ping.

1. If the ping command is blocked in the environment, the agent registration can still complete successfully. Review the agent service logs at INSTALL_DIR\DPSAPPS\AgentService\logs to verify that the registration is successful. If the registration is successful, the status of the agent host indicates Registered in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. 2. If the ping command is not blocked in the environment, the agent registration might not complete successfully because a network connection cannot be started. If this occurs, complete the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

On Linux or AIX, if the agent fails to establish a connection with the PowerProtect Data Manager server, agent registration might fail with the following error message:

During a network connectivity test, the agent is unable to reach the PowerProtect Data Manager server by using ping and curl.

1. If the ping command is blocked in the environment and curl is not installed, the agent registration can still complete successfully. Review the agent service logs at /opt/dpsapps/agentsvc/logs to verify that the registration is successful. If the registration is successful, the status of the agent host indicates Registered in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. 2. If the ping command is not blocked in the environment, the agent registration might not complete successfully because a network connection cannot be started. If this occurs, complete the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

If agent registration fails with these error messages, complete the following operation:

1. Use any network packet tracing tool to trace the packets from the agent system to PowerProtect Data Manager. 2. Start the packet tracing between the source IP of the agent system and the destination IP of PowerProtect Data Manager. 3. Start the network traffic between the agent system and PowerProtect Data Manager.

Wait 10 to 15 seconds.

72 Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting

4. Analyze the captured packets. 5. Look for SYN and SYN_ACK packets to see if a 3-way handshake is being performed.

Determine whether the source agent or the destination PowerProtect Data Manager is blocking the connection.

If network traffic is blocked, contact your network security team to resolve the port communication issue.

Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service operations To troubleshoot agent service operations, you can check the agent service log file OpAgentSvc- .log, which is created in \logs on Windows and /logs on AIX or Linux. To modify the log level and retention of temporary files, you can modify specific parameter settings in the config.yml file.

About this task

To modify the log level and retention of temporary files, you can perform the following steps.

Steps

1. Stop the agent service by using the appropriate procedure from the preceding topic.

2. Open the config.yml file in an editor.

3. Modify the log-level settings in the following parameters, as required:

NOTE: These parameters are listed in order of decreasing number of messages in the debug information output. The

default log-level is INFO.

DEBUG INFO WARNING ERROR CRITICAL

4. To retain the temporary files, set the keepTempFiles parameter to True in the config.yml file.

NOTE: The agent service and application agent communicate through the temporary files, which are typically deleted

after use but can be useful for troubleshooting purposes. Do not leave the keepTempFiles parameter set to True

permanently, or the temporary files can use excessive space on the file system.

5. Start the agent service by using the appropriate procedure from the preceding topic.

Troubleshooting PowerProtect agent service installations A PowerProtect agent service installation might fail with the following error message:

Service 'PowerProtect Agent Service' (AgentService) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services.

Possible causes of the installation failure are as follows:

The installation was attempted on a passive node of a Failover Cluster Instance (FCI). The installation was canceled and a rollback left some stale entries of PowerProtect agent services.

As a workaround, clean up the PowerProtect agent service entries, and retry the installation.

Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting 73

Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server backups Review the following issues related to Microsoft Exchange Server backups in PowerProtect Data Manager.

PowerProtect Data Manager fails to delete stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server backups from the UI

If you onboard existing stand-alone Microsoft Exchange Server backups, then the deletion of the backups in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI fails. The following type of error message appears in the logs:

gwstat: Failed to open file/directory: \\?\C:\Program Files\DPSAPPS\MSAPPAGENT\logs\ .log

To resolve this issue, run the following Microsoft Exchange Server management shell commands to list the backups and delete a specific backup:

1. msagentadmin administration -P -z C:\Lockbox\Lockbox.txt 2. $serverconfig=Import-ExchangeBackupConfigFile -ConfigFile C:\Lockbox\Lockbox.txt 3. $backups=$sc | Get-ExchangeBackup 4. $serverconfig | Remove-ExchangeBackup -Backup $backups[x] -Verbose An error message appears in the last command output, but you can ignore the message.

PowerProtect Data Manager UI does not report failed self-service backups of Microsoft Exchange Server databases

When a partial failure occurs during self-service backups of Microsoft Exchange Server databases, the PowerProtect Data Manager UI only displays jobs for successful backups. The UI does not display jobs for failed backups.

Incorrect backup volume size shown in backup logs for block based backups

A message in the backup logs for block based backups displays incorrect backup volume size.

The PowerProtect Data Manager UI displays the correct backup volume size.

For a backup on an ReFS volume, the amount of space consumed can display as much higher than the actual backup size

When you click View Copies in the Infrastructure > Assets window of the PowerProtect Data Manager UI for a backup on an ReFS volume, the amount of space consumed can display as much higher than the actual backup size. This increase is due to the amount of space a block based backup (BBB) layer reserves for database and log files.

Ensure that you have sufficient storage space that accounts for the amount reserved by the BBB layer.

Backup job duration value is missing for centralized backup

A centralized Exchange backup succeeds, but the backup job duration at the asset level appears as 0 ms on the Step Log tab and Details tab in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

The Step Log tab and Details tab appear in the Job ID Summary window, which you can access by selecting Jobs > Protection Jobs and clicking the job ID next to the job name.

As a workaround, view the correct backup duration in the Duration column in the left pane that has a grid format.

74 Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting

Issue occurs with onboarded backup copies

You might encounter an issue with onboarded Exchange backup copies.

PowerProtect Data Manager does not delete any Exchange backup copies that are onboarded but not associated with a protection policy, even when the backup copies are expired.

Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server restores Review the following issues related to Microsoft Exchange Server restores in PowerProtect Data Manager.

Microsoft Exchange Server shell does not display expected command prompt after point-in-time restore

After a successful Microsoft Exchange Server point-in-time restore, the Microsoft Exchange Server shell becomes suspended and does not display the expected command prompt.

Perform either of the following operations to restore the Microsoft Exchange Server shell:

Terminate the nsriscsi.exe processes manually in the Task Manager.

Relaunch the Microsoft Exchange Server shell to perform other operations.

Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices and Troubleshooting 75</

Manualsnet FAQs

If you want to find out how the PowerProtect Dell works, you can view and download the Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide on the Manualsnet website.

Yes, we have the Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide for Dell PowerProtect as well as other Dell manuals. All you need to do is to use our search bar and find the user manual that you are looking for.

The Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide should include all the details that are needed to use a Dell PowerProtect. Full manuals and user guide PDFs can be downloaded from Manualsnet.com.

The best way to navigate the Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide is by checking the Table of Contents at the top of the page where available. This allows you to navigate a manual by jumping to the section you are looking for.

This Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide consists of sections like Table of Contents, to name a few. For easier navigation, use the Table of Contents in the upper left corner.

You can download Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide free of charge simply by clicking the “download” button in the upper right corner of any manuals page. This feature allows you to download any manual in a couple of seconds and is generally in PDF format. You can also save a manual for later by adding it to your saved documents in the user profile.

To be able to print Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide, simply download the document to your computer. Once downloaded, open the PDF file and print the Dell PowerProtect 19.10 Data Manager Microsoft Exchange Server User Guide as you would any other document. This can usually be achieved by clicking on “File” and then “Print” from the menu bar.