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Top Ten Microsoft Exchange Storage and Protection Tips for SMBs
Microsoft Exchange is an integral part of daily business in many small and medium businesses (SMBs). The following tips can help you keep Exchange running smoothly and let you bounce back quickly from hardware failures that could threaten your Exchange server.
1. Step up to RAID
Storing Exchange data on a server disk or a non-RAID external disk array leaves you vulnerable to data loss as a result of hardware failure. A failed disk could cause you to lose all the e-mails sent after your previous backup. Storing backups on a RAID disk array, such as an EMC CLARiiON AX150, provides SMBs with a new level of advanced functionality and protection for Exchange data.
2. Make sure your storage can scale to meet your needs
An SMB needs the flexibility to quickly and easily increase disk space for Exchange storage or backup. Select a storage option, for example a shared storage disk array, that enables you to easily add extra disks or upgrade to higher capacity disks as available storage space is consumed.
3. Choose iSCSI or Fibre Channel
Whether you opt to use iSCSI or Fibre Channel depends on the needs of your business. iSCSI is a natural choice for most SMBs. It keeps costs down by using commodity cables with standard GigE ports and switches, which are also easier to set up and configure for most IT departments.
4. Ensure Highly Availability
High availability is essential for Exchange. If your server goes down, communication stops and productivity falters. An Exchange protection strategy must allow for quick and easy recovery from a server failure. Having a failover plan enables you to switch services to a second Exchange server if the primary Exchange server goes down.
5. Protect everything: server, Storage Group, mailboxes, e-mails
Use backup and recovery software that provides three-tiered protection for Exchange. At the highest level, you need to back up valuable operating system settings protecting the server, and you must be able to create a disaster recovery CD for the server.
6. Automate recovery of your Exchange server
Restoring Exchange can be a complex process, comprising multiple steps that must be completed in a particular order. Unless you understand the inner workings of Exchange, it?s not easy. Select backup software that automates the recovery process and makes it easy to restore a single e-mail, a user?s mail-box, or an entire Exchange server.
7. Utilize disk for fast backups and rapid restores
You can protect your Exchange server in less time when utilizing disk as a backup destination. Backing up to tape is a cumbersome process. Tapes must be tracked, located, and loaded. It takes time for tapes to start, advanced to the correct position, and stop. With disk, backups can be streamed to the media at a constant speed.
8. Take advantage of Microsoft?s migration tool when upgrading to Exchange Server 2003
When upgrading from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003, use Microsoft?s ExDeploy tool, which is located on the Exchange CD-ROM in the supportexdeploy directory. This utility leads you through the entire Exchange Server 2003 upgrade process, significantly reducing the time and effort required to upgrade to Exchange Server 2003, while avoiding costly errors.
9. Use two sets of backup tapes
Make two copies of your backup media and store one in a secure, offsite location to guard against catastrophic events such as fire, flood, earthquake, or other disasters that might destroy your onsite Exchange backup media. Rotate your onsite/offsite backup media at regular intervals, bringing the offsite media up to date when you bring it onsite..
10. Protect offsite tapes with AES encryption
Protect your offsite backup media with 128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing Exchange data and sensitive e-mails if backup media is lost, stolen, or misplaced. AES encryption also ensures compliance with an increasing number of government and industry regulations designed to protect private information and prevent identify theft.
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