The ability to restore data and servers depends on the quality of your backups. Therefore, it is important to verify the success of your backup procedure. To maximize the reliability of your backups, verify that the backup occurred without errors and that you made a quality backup of the data.

To verify that the backup occurred without errors

1. When the backup job is complete, ensure that the Backup Progress dialog box shows Status: Completed
   The Backup Progress dialog box
2. Click Report to view the log file of the backup to see if any errors occurred during the backup process. The following is an example of a backup log file without errors:
   

   ----------------------

   Backup Status

   Operation: Backup

   Active backup destination: File

   Media name: "Media created 5/28/2001 at 3:55 PM"

   Backup of "System State"

   Backup set #1 on media #1

   Backup description: "Set created 5/28/2001 at 3:55 PM"

   Backup Type: Copy

   Backup started on 5/28/2001 at 4:02 PM.

   Backup completed on 5/28/2001 at 4:03 PM.

   Directories: 124

   Files: 1993

   Bytes: 269,844,005

   Time: 1 minute and 27 seconds

   ----------------------

   Verify Status

   Operation: Verify After Backup

   Active backup destination: File

   Active backup destination: E:\Backups\Systate Backups\sys1.bkf

   Verify of "System State"

   Backup set #1 on media #1

   Backup description: "Set created 5/28/2001 at 3:55 PM"

   Verify started on 5/28/2001 at 4:03 PM.

   Verify completed on 5/28/2001 at 4:04 PM.

   Directories: 124

   Files: 1993

   Different: 0

   Bytes: 269,844,005

   Time: 25 seconds

   ----------------------

3. Check the backup log for errors. Make sure there are no errors in the backup log file.
   Note Each session of Backup adds information to this log file. You may have to scroll to the bottom of the log file to find the log information that relates to the most recent backup.
4. If you enabled verification for this backup job, view the Verify Status section of the log file to verify that the correct files were backed up.
5. Close the backup log file, and then click Close.
6. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.
7. In Event Viewer, in the console tree, click Application Log. In the details pane, make sure there are no errors reported in the application log that indicate the backup was unsuccessful.
   Note To expedite your search, look for the log files that indicate when the backup and verification processes started and completed.
8. Close Event Viewer after you have checked for errors.
   Checking both the backup log and the application log in Event Viewer is important in verifying the success of a backup. You should research and resolve errors or inconsistencies in the logs as soon as possible.

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