Best Practices for Backup

• Expect longer backup duration in the first full backup that gets the data from Microsoft Exchange Online server through a WAN link.
• As the backup duration for the first full backup is long, ensure required configuration for hardware, network, and resource (for example, disk space on destination, memory, CPU, and so on) availability during the backup to avoid disruption due to any environmental failures.
• Resume backup from the breakpoint during any of the following scenarios:
  • Ensure that a backup is not running during a planned outage or network downtime. If running, then you need to cancel the backup. When you cancel, the backup retains the recovery point backed up partially and the next backup schedule can resume from the breakpoint.
  • If during backup the machine encounters an unexpected shut down or process termination, the recovery point of the running job is removed. Start the backup again. Backup does not start from breakpoint. All data is backed up again.
• We always recommend to use one node with auto-protection mechanism to protect all mailboxes, including newly created mailboxes after creating the Plan.
• In Arcserve UDP, the supported size of the protected data is limited to 8 Terabytes (Compressed) by default. To configure the size, you can create the following registry value on the proxy node:
• [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Arcserve\Unified Data Protection\Engine\AFBackupDll\<NodeGUID>]
• " VirtualDiskSize "=dword:00000002
• The above example sets the size to 2 TB.
• Note: Increasing the size of the virtual disk converts the next incremental backup job to full and also impacts the speed of the following jobs:
• Copy to tape, Replication, Copy Recovery Point to cloud.
• Select the size of virtual disk based on your current source data size and its growth.
• For example: If the total size of all users is 5 TB and average data growth per day is 1%, that is 50 GB, you need 5 TB + 50GB * 30days = 6.5 TB of disk space to accommodate first full and 30 daily incremental backups for a month.
• As a result, the minimum size of the disk required is 7 TB (uncompressed). To retain more recovery points, use the same method to calculate the size.
• Use the throttling schedules properly to ensure backup gets desired bandwidth during off business hours. Run a small backup with just few users to assess the network utilization by the backup job and set the throttle values accordingly.
• Ensure that the backup account meets the mandatory prerequisites. For more information, view link.
• If the network link used to connect the Exchange Online server is unstable and results in frequent backup cancelation, configure Recovery Point Retention policy to retain a large number of non-merged sessions.
• Default value for daily incremental backups: 7
• Default value for manual backups: 31
• Configure the backup schedule(s) to retain at least one daily, weekly, and monthly backup.
• Ensure that setup has sufficient licenses. You can manage license using license manager. For details, Refer Q.4 in the FAQ section.