MailStore Server supports two methods to perform a full backup of the email archive including all user settings: the MailStore integrated backup feature and the use of external backup software.
Which method best suits the needs of your business depends on your preferences as well as your system environment. In smaller environments without a designated administrator, the integrated backup feature has the advantage that no extensive configuration needs to be performed in order to make sure that the backup is successfully completed and that all pertinent data and directories are included. To be able to transfer the data (for example to Digital Audio Tape), it is necessary to integrate the backed up data into another system backup.
When using external backup software (e.g. Symantec Backup Exec, Windows NTBackup or Acronis True Image,) a few measures have to be taken to be able to create a successful backup. However, it has the advantage that the MailStore Server data can be integrated into existing backup strategies without having to perform a separate system backup.
In MailStore’s Administrative Tools under Storage Locations, older archive stores can be write-protected. Write-protected archive stores remain available to all users (although they cannot be moved or deleted) and no longer have to be included in ongoing backup procedures. These archive stores can be stored on cost-efficient storage media. More information about archive stores and storage locations is available under Storage Locations.
Each archive store in MailStore consists of three components:
While folder information and meta data as well as email headers and contents are a unit that requires consistency, full text indexes can be reconstructed if needed.
In addition to the archive stores, the MailStore master database (MailStoreMaster.fdb) must be backed up as well because it contains all configuration settings of the users and profiles.
MailStore has built-in technology to perform a full backup of the archive.
A full backup contains all archived emails and all program settings such as users and privileges. Restoring such a backup is sufficient to completely reinstate the original archive without having to perform any further configurations.
When using the integrated backup feature, MailStore only supports standard archive stores. If you are using advanced archive stores, a full backup can only be performed using external backup software.
To create a complete database backup, proceed as follows:
The archive cannot be accessed while a backup is in progress. Trying to access the archive will generate the error message "Due to maintenance the server is currently unavailable."
The MailStore Server service provides external backup software using Microsoft Volume Shadow Service with a so-called Volume Shadow Service Writer (VSS Writer). The external backup software can use it to create consistent backups of the MailStore master database and all standard archive stores. If this method succeeds, however, largely depends on the backup software which is used.
To verify if the appropriate VSS events were initiated in MailStore during a backup, open the system protocol in the Windows event viewer and search for the following events:
If these events cannot be found in the system protocol, no consistent backup using Volume Shadow Service was performed.
In this case please make sure that the MailStore Server service is stopped during the backup using external backup software. Please refer to your backup software’s documentation to learn how to stop services before performing backups and how to restart services upon their completion.
Advanced archive stores allow you to store individual components of the archive store data in different locations. For example, folder information and meta data can be stored in an SQL database while saving email headers and contents in the file system. Depending on the storage locations, the order can be crucial for a consistent backup.
Folder information and meta data as well as email headers and contents were stored in the same location:
If all data of an advanced archive store is stored in the same location (file system or SQL database), the consistency of this location must be kept in mind. This can be done using the Volume Shadow Service or appropriate database backup software, for example.
Folder information and meta data as well as email headers and contents were stored in different locations:
The order of the backup is crucial for the consistency of the archive store backup. Please adhere to the following order:
This ensures that upon recovery, for all folder information and metadata there exist the corresponding email headers and contents, and that data integrity is maintained.
This section describes how a database backup of the entire email archive, which was created using the integrated backup feature, can be restored. Information about archiving individual files (in EML or MSG format) is available in the chapter Archiving Emails from External Systems.
A database backup which was created using the integrated backup feature contains all archived emails and program settings such as users and privileges. Restoring such a backup is sufficient to completely reinstate the original archive without having to perform any further configurations.
An operative installation of MailStore Server is required to restore a database backup. Please proceed as follows:
Additional archive stores may exist which will not have been restored to the archive after following these steps. In this case, please proceed as follows:
Article ID: 289
Created On: Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 12:30 AM
Last Updated On: Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 2:21 AM
Authored by: KB Admin01 [[email protected]]
Online URL: https://kb.quikbox.com/article.php?id=289