Re: [BackupPC-users] Can $Conf{DumpPreUserCmd} and $Conf{DumpPostUserCmd

Jessie,

It is possible to issue the commands from Linux to stop / start Exchange as you require if you use a third-party utility.
See http://eol.ovh.org/winexe/index.php for the details.
You may also be able to use the utility and back up Exchange without stopping the Exchange server *at all* by using the "shadow copy" feature of Windows. See http://www.goodjobsucking.com/?p=62 for an example of such an implementation.

Note: the version of winexe at the link above requires a glibc version of 2.9 or greater. An alternate version which supports a glibc version of 2.3.4 or later can be found at http://eol.ovh.org/winexe/winexe-static-081123-glibc-2.3.4.bz2 , but I haven't tested it completely - your mileage may vary.

Regards,
Peter

Jessie M. Bunker-Maxwell wrote:

Can $Conf{DumpPreUserCmd} and $Conf{DumpPostUserCmd} be used to stop and start Exchange Server 5.5 on a Windows NT 4.0 Server as part of a BackupPC job?
We are just beginning to use BackupPC running on a Debian Linux server to backup our Exchange Server 5.5 databases via rsyncd running on the Windows NT 4.0 server where Exchange is installed.

Currently, we have bat files scheduled to run on our Windows NT 4.0 Exchange Server to stop Exchange services before the BackupPC job runs and start Exchange services afterwards. But this means we're estimating the length of time needed for the backups and scheduling these jobs with a safe margin in either direction.

I am concerned that: 1) we are leaving our Exchange database down longer than necessary; and 2) if something goes wrong and the procedures that stop or start the Exchange database run while BackupPC has the Exchange files open for backup, we may corrupt our Exchange data (am I being paranoid here?).

It would be nice if the BackupPC job itself could issue the "net stop" and "net start" commands and I'm assuming I would use the $Conf{DumpPreUserCmd} and $Conf{DumpPostUserCmd} but I don't understand from the documentation how this would be done if you're issuing commands to a Windows server. Maybe this is not possible?

Can someone tell me if/how I could use $Conf{DumpPreUserCmd} and $Conf{DumpPostUserCmd} to remotely stop and start Exchange?

Does anyone know if there is any risk around attempting to stop or start the Exchange services while BackupPC has the files open for backup?

Thanks much.

Jess

Jessie M. Bunker-Maxwell
Network Access Services
Santa Cruz Public Library
224 Church St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
v: 831-420-5764
f: 831-459-7936
e: jessb AT santacruzpl DOT org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA
-OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise
-Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation
-Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD
http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H

_______________________________________________
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
List:    https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:    http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/

Re: [BackupPC-users] Can $Conf{DumpPreUserCmd} and $Conf{DumpPostUserCmd} be used to stop and start Exchange Server 5.5 on a Windows NT 4.0 Server as part of a BackupPC job?