Exchange SnapManger Newbie Question

[KEVINKELLING]

Not much experience with NetApp SnapManager -- so this should be a simple question...

Exchange 2003/Windows 2003 (I know) running on vSphere 5 on a VMFS volume...

I understand that SnapManager can work as a VSS hardware provider when *direct* NetApp storage is used, but what about VMFS?  We are able to get quiesced backups using SMVI but the VSS function is not telling Exchange to truncate the logs.  Does installing SnapManager (includes VSS provider) change this at all or is there no way to have Exchange (on VMFS) truncate logs from a VSS (SVMI) backup?

Thanks!

[spence]

That is not within the VSC(SMVI) feature set.  In order for Exchange to truncate logs and utilize the VSS architecture you will need to implement SnapManager for Exchange using ESX RDM LUNs or iSCSI guest connect LUNs and move your Exchange databases and logs onto those NetApp LUNs.  Now you can implement SnapDrive (integrate with vCenter and SMVI enabled) and SME within the guest VMs and still have your Exchange databases in VMDKs if you want by where a SME job would trigger a SMVI snapshot, but this would not be my recommendation. 

[GWILMINGTON]

I believe that SnapManager for Exchange requires that the LUNs are provided via SnapDrive to leverage it's benefits.  If you're using VMFS, SnapManager won't do you any good.  But yes, SnapManager will truncate logs just fine.