HP SureStore T20 - Verify of backup encounters inconsistency

[PETER COOLING]

Win2003 backup results in
"Verify of backup encounters inconsistency "
during a backup of
C:
D:
exchange information store
system state
Verify of C: OK
Verify of D: OK
Verify of exchange infomation store - FAILS!

Microsoft suggest the T20 might not be compatible with Windows server 2003.
The tapes & drive have been replaced.
The backup procedure works fine with a similar system which has an AIT drive.

Any ideas?

[Pieter 't Hart]

exchange information store is a "database".
like many databases you cannot backup these directly with windows-backup.

The only way to do this with windos-backup you should shutdown the exchange-services.
did you ?
if not, during your backup, the information-store is changed by the exchange-server and the verify (file on tape matches file online) fails.

you need an additional product and even then a specific "add-on" to backup the exchange information-store online

Pieter

[Joseph T. Wyckoff]

A favorite strategy is divide and conquer...

Backup Exchange separately.

When Microsoft says that the exchange installation installs DLL's for NTBACKUP - thats great. But, as noted above, an open file backup of a database is prone to failure.

Separate the file system backup from the "HOT" backup of exchange - you may get different results.

Also, look to service packs for Windows,a nd for Exchange - again, Exchange provides a DLL, and Windows provides NTBACKUP - if either mis-behave the backup is at risk.

Since it is windows 2003, you can consider using VSS to do "hot backups" - I still haven't figured out the details on this, and I don't think the current vesion of Exchange really synchronizes well yet - thats supposed to be THE NEXT VERSION...

Good Luck.