Best Practices and Recommendations

Please consider the following recommendations:

  1. Active Directory server should be protected by regular full Window System Backup at least once every two weeks.

  2. To ensure optimal backup/restoration performance, it is recommended that the temporary directory folder is set to a local drive with sufficient free disk space and must be on another location other than Drive C: (e.g. Drive E:).

  3. The periodic backup schedule should be reviewed regularly to ensure that the interval is sufficient to handle the data volume on the machine. Over time, data usage pattern may change on a production server, i.e. the number of new files created, the number of files which are updated/deleted, and new users may be added etc.

    Consider the following key points to efficiently handle backup sets with periodic backup schedule.

    • Hardware - to achieve optimal performance, compatible hardware requirements is a must. Ensure you have the backup machine’s appropriate hardware specifications to accommodate frequency of backups,

      • so that the data is always backed up within the periodic backup interval

      • so that the backup frequency does not affect the performance of the production server

    • Network - make sure to have enough network bandwidth to accommodate the volume of data within the backup interval.

    • Retention Policy - also make sure to consider the retention policy settings and retention area storage management which can grow because of the changes in the backup data for each backup job.

  4. Perform test restores periodically to ensure your backup is set up and performed properly. Performing recovery test can also help identify potential issues or gaps in your recovery plan. It's important that you do not try to make the test easier, as the objective of a successful test is not to demonstrate that everything is flawless. There might be flaws identified in the plan throughout the test and it is important to identify those flaws.

  5. To provide maximum data protection and flexible restore options, it is recommended to configure:

    • At least one offsite or cloud destination

    • At least one local destination for fast recovery

Please consider the following recommendations specific for:

Microsoft Exchange Server

The following are some best practices or recommendations we strongly recommend you follow before you start any Microsoft Exchange Server Database 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019 backup and restore.

  1. System State backup must be performed regularly for the domain controller of the Exchange DAG setup.

  2. Scheduled backup is required if you choose to back up with DAG option, as AhsayOBM on all DAG members will base on the scheduled backup time to start backups on individual DAG member at the same time.

    A DAG backup cycle is considered complete only when scheduled backup on all DAG members have been carried out. An email report will be generated when a complete DAG backup cycle has taken place.

    Please keep in mind that manual backup will only be considered as individual mail-level backup, and therefore will not be counted as part of the DAG backup cycle.

  3. The MS Exchange Server Backup module will protect the Exchange server at the database level. If a full system backup (for bare-metal recovery) is required, please consider setting up a MS System Backup for each DAG member server.

  4. To back up mailbox database within an Exchange DAG, AhsayOBM is required to be installed on each DAG member with mailbox role (e.g. servers that are hosting the mailbox databases). It is not necessary to install AhsayOBM on Exchange server with CAS (Client Access Server) role only.

Microsoft Exchange Mailbox

The following are some best practices or recommendations we strongly recommend you follow before you start any Exchange Server 2013 / 2016 / 2019 Mail Level backup and restore.

  1. Mail Level Backup must be utilized in conjunction with Database Level Backup to fully protect an Exchange Server.

  2. For AhsayOBM installed on Exchange Server, enable scheduled backup jobs when system activity is low to achieve the best possible performance.

  3. The remote backup machine should be on the same LAN as the MS Exchange server for optimal backup and restore performance.

  4. Distributed Backup Solution: For backup of multiple or mass backup sets, to achieve better backup performance and to minimize any unnecessary loading on the Exchange server, please consider deploying AhsayOBM on remote backup machines as distributed backup solution instead of on the MS Exchange server.

  5. Handling Large Number of Mailboxes: There are two options in backing up large number of mailboxes:

    Dividing the mailboxes into multiple smaller backup sets

    By default, the MS Exchange 2013 / 2016 / 2019 mail level backup module can back up a maximum of 4 mailboxes concurrently (4 concurrent backup threads), while backing up a maximum of 4 mail items concurrently per mailbox (4 concurrent backup threads). Therefore, each backup set supports a maximum of 4x4=16 backup threads at a time. By splitting up all mailboxes into separate backup sets, the more backup sets, the faster the backup process can achieve.

    Example 1: There are 100 mailboxes that need to be backed up, you can divide 20 mailboxes into one backup set.

    Backup Set Name Mailbox Number
    Backup-Set-1 No. 1 -- 20
    Backup-Set-2 No. 21 -- 40
    Backup-Set-3 No. 41 -- 60
    Backup-Set-4 No. 61 -- 80
    Backup-Set-5 No. 81 -- 100

    If there are new mailboxes added, you can create new backup set for the new mailboxes.

    Example 2: There are 100 mailboxes that needs to be backup, you can divide mailboxes into backup sets in alphabetical order.

    Backup Set Name Mailbox Name Starts with:
    Backup-Set-1 A -- E
    Backup-Set-2 F -- J
    Backup-Set-3 K -- O
    Backup-Set-4 P -- T
    Backup-Set-5 U -- Z
    Note: If there are new mailboxes added, you can add the new mailboxes into the original backup set by the corresponding alphabetical order.

    Increasing the number of backup threads available

    Apart from splitting up one large Exchange Mail Level backup set into multiple smaller backup sets, another approach is to increase the number of threads available for the backup job.

    The number of backup threads is 4 by default. The number of backup threads can be increased (or reduced) by adding the following setting in the AhsayOBM afc.opt file located in:

    C:\Program Files\AhsayOBM\afc.opt:

    In this example, the number of threads will be increased from 4 to 8.

    core.action.BackupExchangeMailCmd.maxConcurrentSubCmd=8

    To configure the number of threads, follow the instructions below:

    1. Make sure there are no active backup/restore jobs running.

    2. Close the AhsayOBM GUI application.

    3. Stop the Ahsay Online Backup Manager services.

    4. Go to the following directory/folder, and look for the "afc.opt" file.

      C:\Program Files\AhsayOBM

    5. Open the "afc.opt" file using a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++.

    6. Add the following setting and save the file:

      core.action.BackupExchangeMailCmd.maxConcurrentSubCmd=8

    7. Start the Ahsay Online Backup Manager services.

    If you choose to use this option, it is strongly recommended to use with AhsayOBM deployed on a remote backup machine running on the same LAN as the MS Exchange 2013/2016/2019 server to minimize the load on the Exchange server.

    The maximum number of threads you can set is entirely dependent on the free resource available (CPU and memory) on each individual MS Exchange server or remote backup machine. In some cases, using more threads may have the opposite effect as it may end up overloading the MS Exchange server or the staging machine.

    There are Pros and Cons in choosing an option for handling large number of mailboxes.

    Options in Handling Large Number of Mailboxes Pros Cons
    Dividing the mailboxes into multiple smaller backup sets Splitting up all mailboxes into separate backup sets will result to faster backup process.

    • Creation of multiple backup sets is required, and the individual mailboxes have to be manually selected which can be time consuming.

    • Requires user maintenance of the multiple back sets as the deleted mailboxes need to be unselected and new mailboxes need to be added which can also take time to complete.
    Increasing the number of backup threads available

    • Does not require splitting up large number of mailboxes into multiple back up sets.

    • Maximum number of concurrent backup threads can be configured easily.

    		 The number of threads that can be set will rely on the available resource (CPU and memory) on each individual MS Exchange server or remote backup machine. Thus, using more threads may overload the MS Exchange server or the remote backup machine.