Mittweida University Exploits Bacula’s Exchange Backup Performance
The Challenge
Mittweida University of Applied Sciences needed to find a backup and recovery solution that was reliable with a broad range of specific features, yet at the same time deployable at a realistic price. “We were using the Bareos solution, but got to the point where we needed a backup solution that could do more, such as backup Microsoft Exchange. Not only that, but we needed an advanced, granular Exchange backup solution that also provided data recovery at the mailbox level” said Matthias Lühr, IT Manager at Mittweida University.
The Solution
Mittweida University has a wide range of data types that need to be backed up, including different operating systems, databases and application-specific data. Therefore, a broad and flexible backup solution was needed. But backing up specific data – while also having the ability to easily recover data – was also on the requirements list of Mittweida University’s IT department. “Because we needed features such as single mailbox restore, we seriously started considering Bacula Enterprise as the right solution for us. It has native compatibility with Microsoft Exchange and special features for backing up, management and recovery of Exchange”, said Matthias.
“We tested Bacula Enterprise to make sure it would really do what we needed, and we did it in the form of a Proof of Concept. During this evaluation period, the Bacula Systems support team gave us the help we needed to get our system working in the way we wanted. They fixed all our issues and were very responsive” said Matthias. “
“The solution worked well, and we made the decision to deploy Bacula”, said Matthias. “Bacula Enterprise gives us instant visibility into our Exchange backups along with the ability to recover single mailboxes really quickly. We could not find any other vendor that can do this so well”.
Some of the special advantages of Bacula’s Exchange restore technology are:
- Recovery of hard deleted items, with speed and ease using Bacula Enterprise’s advanced Exchange backup tool
- Application-item recovery
- One-click mailbox restores, using either the dedicated GUI or the BWeb Management Suite for help desk operators
- Use Bacula Enterprise on your existing Bacula Microsoft Exchange backups, including even your old Exchange backups. For example, you can backup Exchange 2010 — with no additional metadata or backups required
- Relocate restored mails into either the mailbox or into a sub folder
“Bacula Enterprise Exchange backup software restores all of our mailboxes. We use all backup levels: Full, and Incremental level backups, too. Bacula’s Exchange restore also has an interface that is simple and easy to use” said Matthias.
The Results
Bacula Systems annual subscription automatically includes access to high quality support, which means Mittweida University is connected to a uniquely qualified and skilled team of Bacula professionals with deep experience running Bacula in production, at scale on the most demanding workloads. “All of the issues or special concerns related to our specific IT environment were quickly dealt with, and I was impressed with Bacula Systems support team” said Matthias.
Management and operation of Bacula Enterprise can be via either text interface, or BWeb™ Management Suite GUI. This means that users have a choice of interface at all times, and can ‘mix and match’ as they please. BWeb is a web-based backup management software for Bacula Enterprise that saves time and resources. “We can very quickly and easily find the files we need – and restore easily” said Matthias.
What’s next for Mittweida University? “We back up to both tape and disk. Next, we plan to add in use of our VTL and NFS system into the Bacula environment, said Matthias.
Modules and Tools Adopted:
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