The disaster recovery processes for backing up and restoring Exchange 2000 clusters are similar to the processes for backing up and restoring data on stand-alone Exchange servers. This is because, in an Exchange 2000 cluster, multiple computers (nodes) collectively perform the services of one Exchange 2000 virtual server; therefore, these services can be owned at any time by any of the active nodes in the cluster.
However, even though the recovery processes are different for Exchange clusters, the backup sets you need to create to prepare for a disaster are nearly identical to those for a stand-alone Exchange 2000 server.

To successfully back up Exchange 2000 clusters, you must first determine what kind of server recovery strategy you want to perform for each node in the cluster - restore the node, rebuild the node, or rebuild the node using a stand-by recovery server.
For example, if you are going to use the "restore the server" method to recover your nodes, you will need a full computer backup set and Exchange database backups of each Exchange virtual server.

If you are going to use the "rebuild a server" method to rebuild the nodes, you will need

• a Windows backup set,
• Exchange database backups for each Exchange virtual server, and
• any dynamic data backups for each node.

After you ensure that your backup strategy includes creating backups for each node in the cluster, you must also ensure that your backup strategy includes backing up the data on your cluster's shared disk resources. The shared disk resource that maintains the consistency of your cluster is the quorum disk resource.

For information about how to back up the quorum disk resource, see "Backing Up the Quorum Disk Resource" later in this chapter.
For information about how to back up shared disk resources that contain your Exchange 2000 database files and log files, see "Backing Up the Exchange Databases on Your Shared Disk Resources".

You do not need to restore the backups described here for every disaster that may occur in your clustering environment. For example, if a single node in a cluster fails as a result of a hardware problem, it is relatively easy to replace that server by introducing a new node into the cluster (either a newly rebuilt cluster node or a stand-by cluster node).
In this case, you would not need to restore any backups because if the maximum number of nodes for the cluster has not been exceeded, you can add new to a cluster at any time.
However, if a different type of disaster occurs (for example, a complete cluster failure, a damaged quorum disk resource, or damaged Exchange databases) you may need to use one or more of your backups. For detailed information about Exchange 2000 cluster restore processes, see "Restoring Exchange 2000 Clusters".

To secure your Exchange 2000 clusters, it is important to back up specific information on your servers in the cluster. This section provides detailed descriptions and procedural information about the following Exchange 2000 clustering topics:

• Preparing a server to replace a failed node
• Backing up a cluster's shared disk resources
• Backing up the Exchange databases on your shared disk resources
• Maintaining informational records about your clusters

1. Expand Microsoft Exchange Server,
2. Expand the server you want, and then
3. Expand Microsoft Information Store.

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition
• Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server