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BP1013 Best Practices for Enhancing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Data Protection and Availability 44
8 Best practice recommendations
We recommend the integration of Dell EqualLogic snapshots managed by Auto-Snapshot Manager as
a complementary solution to Microsoft Exchange 2010 data protection. The benefits of this solution
include reducing the over-provisioning of resources for backup activities on Microsoft Exchange
production servers and curtailing the RTO allowed by an infrastructure correctly integrated with a
traditional backup system.
Overall, the usage of Smart Copy snapshots addresses the challenges of both regular operations and
critical situations. They are able to increase the level of protection by supporting a highly available
environment, reducing the need for additional mailbox database copy deployments in a local
datacenter.
Some things to keep in mind when planning to integrate these technologies into a production
messaging infrastructure are as follows:
Plan for achievable RTO
Smart Copies streamline the recovery process when used in conjunction with transactional log
backup sets provided by a third-party backup tool. The combination of these two technologies
can considerably shrink the recovery time based on traditional technologies alone. Verify the
level of integration with the third-party backup tool to integrate with.
Aggressively reducing the RTO has the disadvantage of requiring more snapshots to be
created and can increase capacity requirements of your primary storage.
Understand the RPO requirements
Smart Copies provide brick level recovery capability in minutes. It is a best practice to match
the frequency of the snapshots with the RPO when possible. If the RPO requirements are too
granular, coordinate the snapshot creation process with native Exchange Server recoverable
items to achieve a good compromise.
Monitor the production infrastructure
Informed decisions can only be made when you know the characterization of the workload.
Before implementing a Smart Copy plan, monitor and understand the amount of load on the
messaging environment, the rate of change, and the number of hourly/daily transaction logs
produced per database.
Test the recovery process
Smart Copies have an intuitive GUI and provide command line options for operation. The
integration with third-party backup tools can be limited or not, depending on the solution
selected. Implement a recovery plan and test it regularly to verify that every choice is
appropriate for your environment. The recovery of a production environment is a stressful
process and to be successful it requires preparation.
Smart Copy snapshots versus SAN snapshots