Exchange server and NT Backup

[Andy Rigby]

I use NT Backup to backup my Small Business Server every night to a
DAT tape.

The log file each night always shows some Exchange Server files that
are not backed up because they are in use, eg:

File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\AP0.LOG is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\BF0.LOG is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB000003.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB000005.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB000008.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB000009.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB00000A.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB00000B.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB00000C.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB00000D.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.
File \exchsrvr\MTADATA\DB00000E.DAT is in use. It has been skipped.

Is this a problem? If (God forbid) I ever needed to restore the entire
server from backup, would Exchange not work because these files were
not backed up? I thought that NT Backup was aware of Exchange Server
and could therefore cope with open files gracefully??

Andy Rigby
admini...@angellsound.co.uk

[Stuart Fox]

Those files will be recreated dynamically when you do the rebuild and
restore (if in any event it crashes...)

Cheers

Stu

"Andy Rigby" <admini...@angellsound.co.uk> wrote in message
news:395b68e1....@news.demon.co.uk...

[Tim Cox]

Are you backing up FROM the exchange server or a different server? Once
Exchange is installed NT Backup (on exchange server) IS exchange aware and
will backup correctly. You need to do an online backup...not offline as it
appears you are doing. See here
http://www.microsoft.com/Exchange/techinfo/backuprestore.htm for more info.

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[Stuart Fox]

The reason those files aren't being backed up is because they are locked
open by the MTA, not because he is necessarily doing an offline backup.

The other thing to do is to check the command line syntax of your backup
job - run ntbackup /? for the Exchange options.
ntbackup backup IS \\servername DS \\servername C: D:

Etc

Stu

"Tim Cox" <T...@NoSpamCstone-adv.com> wrote in message
news:uNdxDNe4$GA.246@cppssbbsa04...

[Tim Cox]

I have been doing online backups for 1 1/2 years and have NEVER seen an
error because a file was "locked open". The whole idea behind an online
backup is that it can backup all necessary information while services are up
and running. Also, below are some entries from my online backup. THe word
FILE is not used...

\\EXCHANGE\E$\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\\edb00D97.log
\\EXCHANGE\D$\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\PRIV.pat
\\EXCHANGE\D$\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\PUB.pat
Backup completed on 6/26/00 at 10:46:45 PM.

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"Stuart Fox" <stua...@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8jg19t$aog$1...@supernews.com...

[Stuart Fox]

The online backup is purely a backup of the directory and information
stores, it doesn't backup the MTA queue files (which is what those files
are). Those files get hit by the standard file level backup, and because
the MTA has locked them when the backup tries to read them, it doesn't back
them up. No big deal, because when you do the restore, the MTA will
recreate the queue files...
I've been doing online backups for 4 years, and have seen plenty of files
fail because the files are locked open - try backing up a SQL database with
NT backup.

Stu

"Tim Cox" <T...@NoSpamCstone-adv.com> wrote in message

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