(!) Express full backup feature is used only in advanced editions of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5.
Use of the express full backup method requires the "Deduplication for Microsoft Exchange Server" add-on and the storage node to be installed. The add-on is purchased separately. However, you do not need to purchase and install this add-on if Agent for Windows and its deduplication add-on are already installed on your Exchange server.
The express full backup method allows creating full backups of Exchange information stores, storage groups, or databases in deduplicating vaults. With this method, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 backs up only the changes that have occurred since the previous full backup. The data that has not changed is replaced with links to it in a newly created backup.
As compared to regular full database backups:
- The express full backups are created much faster and occupy less space.
- The number of I/O requests to the production server is significantly reduced.
The Express Full Backup method is based on monitoring Exchange database files performed by Acronis Express Backup Driver.
Beginning from the first regular full backup, the driver monitors all modifications performed on the database file. The driver determines the offsets and regions of the database file which have been modified by Exchange and stores information about these modifications in the list of changed file regions.
At the next backup, the driver provides the list to the agent and the agent starts to back up only the data corresponding to this list. The agent transfers only the changes and the data that cannot be deduplicated (transaction log files and database page headers). Since the unchanged data is already stored in the deduplicating vault, the agent only adds links to this data. After that, deduplication at target is performed in the same way as for disk-level and file-level backups.