This article provides instructions on how to troubleshoot and resolve issues with backup failures of Microsoft Exchange Information Store while using Acronis Backup Advanced.
Solution
Follow these steps to troubleshoot issues with Backup of Microsoft Exchange Information Store:
- Get familiar with MS Exchange Information Store in the About part.
- Check for known issues in the Known issues part.
- Follow to Troubleshooting part to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.
About
Microsoft Exchange Information Store is a storage platform that is used to manage numerous types of information within an Exchange Server deployment.
Introduced in Exchange 2000, the Exchange Information Store, also known simply as the "Exchange store," is primarily comprised of mailbox and public folder databases in the Exchange 2010 version, though in past versions storage groups and transaction logs have played a large part as well.
Mailbox databases contain data for individual mailboxes and their contents. Public folder databases contain all the data that make up public folders in a particular Exchange setup. The Information Store is effectively managed by manipulating each of these core components. The Exchange Information Store was discontinued in Exchange 2013 in favor of the Managed Store.
The information store, which is the key component for database management in Exchange Server, is actually two separate databases. The private information store database, Priv.edb, manages data in user mailboxes. The public information store, Pub.edb, manages data in public folders.
Private store consist of .edb and .stm files. The .edb file is the main repository for the mailbox data. The .edb file is accessed by Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) directly. The fundamental construct of the .edb file is the b-tree structure. The ESE 4 KB pages are arranged into tables that form a large database file containing Exchange data.
The .stm or streaming media file is used in conjunction with the .edb file to comprise the Exchange database. Both files together make up the database, and as such, they should always be treated as a single entity.
The information store works with the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) and the database engine to ensure that all user actions are recorded on the server's hard disk.
As Exchange Server is transaction-based, performing a file-level or offline backup of the database files on disk can cause data inconsistency. The best way to ensure that you are preserving all data in the system, including transactions that have not yet been flushed to disk, is to perform regular online backups.
Known Issues
Troubleshooting
Follow step-by-step instructions below to troubleshoot the issue.
1. Verify the state of Services & User credentials
User specified for Acronis Managed Machine Service and in What to back up > Access credentials should have necessary rights to perform backup:
- Log on as service;
- Adjust memory quotas for a process;
- Replace a process level token.
The user should have all necessary permissions on the Exchange Server: Acronis Backup 11.5: Necessary User Accounts to Back Up Microsoft Exchange Server
2. Verify the state of the VSS components
To check the state of VSS components [VSSadmin list writers / VSSadmin list providers / VSSadmin list shadowstorage] at the command prompt, type the following:
- VSSadmin list writers > c:\writers.log & then press ENTER;
- VSSadmin list providers > c:\providers.log & then press ENTER;
- VSSadmin list shadowstorage > c:\shadowstorage.log & then press ENTER.
Now you can find all the information about VSS components in specified log files.
3. Verify that the Exchange environment works correctly
Check that the Exchange environment works correctly using ESEutil tool (backing up a corrupted MS Exchange database is not possible).
In the Exchange Management Console navigate to the database and dismout it (! the database will be unavailable for users while dismounted, in a production environment plan a maintenance window):
Note database path:
At the command prompt, type the following:
ESEUTIL /k Database.edb – Performs a checksum test of a Database (where Database.edb is the path to the database you want to check).
To perform a checksum test on a log file, specify the lof file in the command, e.g.:
Eseutil /K E0100000321.log (where E0100000321.log is the path to the log you want to check)
To perform a checksum test on all log files with prefix E01, run:
Eseutil /K E01
ESEUTIL /g Database.edb – Performs an integrity check of a Database (where Database.edb is the path to the database you want to ceck).
For more information see Microsoft Technet: Exchange Server Database Utility Guide
4. Collect System Report
As described in Acronis Backup 11.7/11.5 Generating System Report, if this fails for any reason, you can use this AcronisInfo Utility tool.
When all the steps above have been executed & all the information has been collected, contact Acronis Support.