#diskshadow

Exchange Backup Craziness – Log File Cleanup

“Often, you hear about something weird and un-supported, and feel like you have to share it”.

I often get calls and questions regarding backups and Exchange Server, and most backup technologies are not always working as required or as you would expect, but that’s off-topic.

One of the most common stories is that without a working Exchange Server backup, when you perform massive mailbox moves or…

Hello World,

On account of actually deleting my original post about 45 minutes into writing it, this post will be somewhat shorter than planned. But heck, you guys prefer succinct and to the point anyway RIGHT!!!

The Challenge - If copy a Hyper-V VHD file while a program is using a file it is possible/likely that the file in question on that copy will be corrupted garbage or inconsistent. This little technique looks at allowing you to create consistent copies of VHDs without compromising their integrity (or the integrity of the files contained therein).

The Solution - Enter Diskshadow. This handy dandy command line tool allows you direct access to the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). VSS in turn will allow you to create a non-destructive consistent Snapshot of Hyper-V VHD files. The other part of this trick is to copy the files from the Snapshot and not the real file to your copy location. In this way the real VHD file is never touched during the copy process.

How do you actually do it - Tune in to tomorrow's episode when you will hear Shaun say...WOW I'm sure glad I didn't delete THIS post half way through.