EMC NetWorker discussion <NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU> wrote on 
07/01/2008 01:03:47 PM:

> On Jul 1, 2008, at 12:40 PM, Jonathan Walsh wrote:
> 
> > I wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction with this.  I'm
> > trying to set sizes for the CFIs in an environment with > 200 hosts.
> >
> > I'm OK on sizing for file data but have been asked what the difference
> > would be if we were to have 'Brick Level' backups as well as Storage 
> > Group
> > backups.
> >
> > Sizing when backing up an SG is relatively simple as there are 
> > relatively
> > few files albeit many logs.  However, in an environment with > 35,000
> > users, I believe that the difference for 'Brick Level' backups would 
> > be
> > dramatic.
> >
> > Am I being overly negative on this..?
> 
> Are you referring to backing up an Exchange server? If so, I suggest 
> that your question is probably irrelevant. Why? Unless you are running 
> a very small Exchange server, doing brick level backups will take too 
> long to complete. When the Exchange 2003 server here held only 200 or 
> so users and around 200GB worth of their email, I tried doing a brick 
> level backup. That backup was still running nearly two days before I 
> stopped it. If you cannot not do brick level backups in a reasonable 
> time then it makes no sense to do them at all, in which case, your 
> question is a moot point. If your Exchange server is small, you can 
> get away with doing brick level backups; however, the hit on extra 
> disk space to maintain the resulting CFI entries probably will be 
> minimal. You might also try looking into the new VSS Exchange backup 
> method, which I haven't tried yet, so I can't comment on it.

Set the Deleted Items Retention to something reasonable (aka the 
"dumpster", and users can recover mails they've even deleted out of their 
trash. Backup just the Info Store. In 3 years of using BackupExec to 
backup Ex2003 for 60 users, I only once had to restore the whole IS, and 
then export out the specific mailbox I wanted. 

Search for the "Ed Crowley Never Restore Method"; it works wonders for 
most people.

<http://tinyurl.com/4rkwgv>

To sign off this list, send email to listserv AT listserv.temple DOT edu and 
type "signoff networker" in the body of the email. Please write to 
networker-request AT listserv.temple DOT edu if you have any problems with this 
list. You can access the archives at 
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html or
via RSS at http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?RSS&L=NETWORKER