IBM DS6000, DS8000 manual Executive Summary, Importance of Exchange VSS Solutions

Executive Summary

Customers rely on Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, and various internet/intranet applications as key business applications. Even short periods of unexpected downtime can have a serious impact. The capability of backing up and restoring data quickly and consistently is essential. The problems in backing up large amounts of data, such as backup jobs frequently overflowing their backup window, and having open file and application issues, led to the development of snapshots.

The capability to take snapshots has been around for several years. Snapshots allow administrators to “snap” a copy of data while allowing applications to continue running. Applications are paused just long enough to allow the disk system to create the snap copy. These volumes could then be mounted to another server for backing up to various storage devices. Snapshots, however, depended on tight hardware and software compatibility which was often problematic, inducing errors that were difficult to track and resolve. In addition, the vendors needed to support various versions of SQL Server, Microsoft® Exchange, Windows® Server, and myriad other applications.

Microsoft developed VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) as a common framework to resolve these issues. Available in Windows Server 2003, software and hardware vendors now have a common interface model for generating snapshots. The VSS framework specifies how three distinct components should interact. The three different components are the VSS requestor, writer, and provider. The requestor is the backup software, such as the Backup Exec Agent. The writer is the application software such as SQL Server or Exchange Server that pause to allow the snapshots to be taken. The provider is the specific hardware/software combination that generates the snapshot volume, in this case, the IBM System Storage™ DS Hardware Provider.

The Importance of Exchange VSS Solutions

Businesses have grown to rely on access to their Microsoft Exchange servers to address the increasing demands of mobile computing, global business and electronic commerce. They depend on Exchange e-mail, group scheduling, and calendars for critical business communication and key business processes. E-mail also supports vital applications needed for functions such as workflow, collaboration, and knowledge management. According to Microsoft, nearly 45 percent of business-critical information is housed in e- mail and e-mail-attached documents.

Exchange 2003 VSS Backup Solution	Page 5	David West, David Hartman
For IBM Storage DS8000/DS6000		©Copyright IBM Corp. 2007
And Symantec Backup Exec 11d