Hi -

When creating a protection group, I accidentally gave a very small Exchange database a much larger portion of the storage pool than it needs. I will shortly be removing this item. How can I recover the space in the storage pool?

Also, in the same protection group as the databases I am backing up the Bare Metal and File Volume level data for the same server. If I have the entire volume selected for file backup that the Exchange database resides in, will DPM attempt to back up the MDB at the file level? I believe it is aware and will not but want to confirm.

Thanks!

Hi,

When you stop the protection in DPM you will have the option to "Delete replica on disk" which will remove your protected items from the storage pool and you will not longer be able to perform restore on the item.

And if you have selected the entire volume where you Exchange DBs resides DPM will back them up as ordinary files. It is however not recommended to protect your Exchange DBs this way.

Kind Regards
Markus Eliasson

Markus - Thanks for the reply.

My consultant tells me that using Backup Exec, they normally backup the catalog data found here:

e:\Mailbox Database\CatalogData-hdfhsdf

However, to back THAT up, I would need to backup the Mailbox Database Folder located right above it, which would mean I need to backup the Exchange Databases at the Volume level.

I see no recommendation on Technet in the DPM documentation on how to do this. I also do seem to recall the DPM should be aware enough NOT to back up the Exchange databases at the File level even if the folders are selected. I am and have been backing up the databases and logs with DPM and do not see any errant issues with having the relevant Database and Transaction log drives also being selected at the file level. I can say that I see the option to restore the file level backups, so that has been happening as well.

Would the best practice be to simply not backup those volumes at the file level? Should I modify the protection group not to backup those drives at the volume level?

Thanks!