VSS Backup and Restore

Topic Last Modified: 2006-11-28

The Volume Shadow Copy Service feature in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 can be used to create applications that back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. VSS provides an infrastructure that enables third-party storage management programs, business programs, and hardware providers to cooperate in creating and managing shadow copies. Solutions based on this infrastructure can use the shadow copies to backup and restore one or more Exchange Server 2007 databases.

VSS coordinates communication between VSS Requestors (for example, backup applications), VSS Writers (for example, the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007), and VSS Providers (system, software, or hardware components that create the shadow copies).

To use VSS to backup Exchange Server 2007, the backup application must include an Exchange Server 2007-aware VSS requestor. Because the backup program that is bundled with Windows Server 2003 has no Exchange Server 2007-aware requestor, organizations must use third-party backup applications that does include an Exchange-aware requestor or create a custom requestor.