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simonpa71
Asked: 2015-08-25 03:03:24 +0800 CST

Windows Server Backup is doing incremental instead of full backup of Exchange data

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I am backing up an Exchange Server database to a backup volume on Windows Server 2012 R2, using Windows Server Backup.

I mostly followed the tutorial shown at http://exchangeserverpro.com/backup-exchange-server-2013-databases-using-windows-server-backup/

I hope to backup data, and also remove old Exchange log files.

The backup is successful, but the log files are not being removed/truncated.

Exchange does not record a full backup in the database settings page. The "Details" panel for the last backup records the last backup as VSS Full backup, successful, but in the "items" list, both C and D are described as "Backup Type": "Incremental".

I cannot find any further settings to control if backup is "Full" or "Incremental" except on the VSS settings, which is set to Full.

Any suggestions?

windows-server-2012-r2

1 Answers

  1. After various experiments, I discovered a few things that are needed to make this work.

    1. first and foremost, the first version of Exchange Server 2013 (RTM) cannot do this. You will need at least CU1 to fix the problem. Thanks to this link for pointing it out. http://www.networksteve.com/exchange/topic.php/Backup_Exchange_2013_fails_Vss_writer_problems/?TopicId=44033&Posts=2. So update to latest version first.
    2. backing up folders with mailboxes is not sufficient. You must backup the whole Volume to get Full backups.
    3. backing up Volumes with mailboxes is not sufficient either. Exchange Server wants you to backup the transaction log files as well (in my case another whole Volume), according to this other link: https://www.reddit.com/r/exchangeserver/comments/1xukf5/do_we_need_to_backup_exchange_transaction_logs/
    4. I also set the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service to automatic start, though I am not sure it is necessary.
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