Exchange Server 2003 backup software to backup and restore Exchange 2003/2007/2010.

How to backup MS Exchange Server 2003 with NTbackup?

Exchange administrators are required to do regular or day-by-day backup Exchange Server. This can be easily accomplished by use of the built-in Exchange backup software - NTBACKUP.EXE found on your Exchange 2003 server.

Generally, there are two ways to backup MS Exchange Server 2003: Online backup and Offline backup.

Online Backup - "Online" means the Information Store is still mounted and the Exchange server is operational while the backup is performed. Backing Exchange databases won't interrupt the regular work of it. Users can still access mailbox and the Exchange is Online and available for transactions.

Another advantage of this method is that the Exchange store is checked for corruption at the file-system level. This check is done by verifying the checksums on each 4 KB (Kilobyte) block or page in the database. If there is a checksum failure, backup will terminate. Exchange will not allow you to back up an Exchange store with a wrong checksum in it.

Offline Backup - "Offline" means it has to shut down the Exchange Information Store service and performing COPY procedures on the Exchange databases (Public Folder or Mailbox stores) while the backup is performing. Using an Offline Backup provides a method to restore the Exchange system to its last known state or specific "point in time", and is usually considered to be less attractive than the Online backup.

Some disadvantages to performing an Offline backup include:

You must stop IS services (You do not need to stop the IS if you only want to backup the store, for that you can simply just dismount it. However if you want to backup the log files you do need to stop the IS service).
Users will not be able to access their mailboxes during the offline backup.
Log files that contain transactions already written to the database files will not be purged after the completion of the backup.
The database is not checked for corruption during an Offline backup. You might have a corrupt database and backup sets that cannot be used to restore your server to full functionality.

However, there are situations to use offline backup than online backup:

The "online backup" failed and you'd better make an Offline backup in situations where an online backup might fail.
Or the backup software does not support Exchange Online backup APIs, requiring you to dismount the Exchange 2003 mailbox and public folder stores before you backup the server.

To perform an online backup of Exchange Server 2003 follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Run, type NTBACKUP and click Ok (or press Enter).

If the Backup or Restore Wizard appears, on the Welcome to the Backup or Restore Wizard page, click Advanced Mode. Then click Backup Tab.

On the Backup tab expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand server name (you should see your own server name of course... duh), expand Microsoft Information Store, and select the correct Storage Group's check-box or the entire Information Store check-box.

Note: It is always best to backup an entire Storage Group rather than individual Stores, and if possible, try to back up the entire IS in one job, although lack of time or storage might force you to selectively backup just parts of the IS at a time.

On the Backup Destination choose the right storage. Then make sure you enter a descriptive name for the backup job and click on the Start Backup button.

In the Backup Job Information window, make sure you have your settings right and start to backup Exchange 2003.

Note: At Advanced button, you can select the Backup Type.

EaseUS Todo Backup supports Exchange backup, refer to the tutorial How to backup Exchange 2003/2007/2010 with EaseUS Todo Backup?