How to backup Microsoft Exchange Server

We can use Windows Server Backup to back up and restore Exchange server. Exchange includes a plug-in for Windows Server Backup that allows us to make Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)-based backups of the Exchange data.

Note: The Windows Server Backup feature must be installed on the local computer.

Use Windows Server Backup to back up Exchange

1. Start Windows Server Backup.
2. Select Local Backup.
3. In the Actions pane, click Backup Once… to start the Backup Once Wizard.
4. On the Backup Options page, select Different options, and then click Next.
5. On the Select Backup Configuration page, select Custom, and then click Next.
6. On the Select Items for Backup page, click Add Items to select the volume(s) to be backed up, and then click OK.
7. Click Advanced Settings. On the Exclusions tab, click Add Exclusion to add any files or file types you want to exclude from the backup.

8. On the VSS Settings tab, select VSS full Backup, and then click OK, and then click Next.

9. On the Specify Destination Type page, select the location where you want to store the backup, and then click Next.
   • If we choose Local drives, the Select Backup Destination page appears. Select an option from the Backup destination dropdown, and then click Next.
   • If we choose Remote shared folder, the Specify remote folder page appears. Specify a UNC path for the backup files, configure access control settings. Choose Do not inherit if you want the backup to be accessible only through a specific account. Provide a user name and password for an account that has write permissions on the computer hosting the remote folder, and then click OK. Alternatively, choose Inherit if you want the backup to be accessible by everyone who has access to the remote folder. Click Next.
10. On the Confirmation page, review the backup settings, and then click Backup.
11. On the Backup Progress page, we can view the status and progress of the backup operation.
12. Click Close to exit the Backup Progress page at any time. Any backup in progress will continue to run in the background.

How to verify the backup:

To verify that you’ve successfully backed up the data, do any of the following:

• On the server on which Windows Server Backup was run, the last backup status will be displayed, which should say Successful. We can also verify that the backup completed successfully by viewing the Windows Server Backup logs.
• Open Event Viewer and verify that a backup completion event was logged in the Application event log.
• Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell to verify that each database on the selected volume(s) was backed up successfully:

  Get-MailboxDatabase -Server <ServerName> -Status | Format-List Name,*FullBackup

  The SnapshotLastFullBackup and LastFullBackup properties of the database indicate when the last successful backup was taken, and if it was a VSS full backup.

This completes the Exchange Server backup tutorial. Enjoy using Exchange Server!

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