Appendix G - Backing up and restoring Microsoft Antigen for SMTP Gateways

  • Article

 

Applies to: Microsoft Antigen

The following topics describe the recommended backup and restore procedures for Microsoft Antigen for SMTP Gateways:

  • About backups
  • Preparing files for backup
  • Backing up data files
  • Restoring data files

About backups

A backup is a copy of data that is used to restore and to recover lost data after a system failure. By using suitable backups, you can recover from many failures that include the following conditions:

  • Media failure
  • User errors, such as when a file is deleted by mistake
  • Hardware failures, such as a damaged disk drive or the permanent loss of a server
  • Natural disasters

Preparing files for backup

To keep a copy of the most up-to-date versions of Antigen files and registry data, create a batch file and then create a scheduled task to keep the version information up to date.

After completing these steps, the server will be configured to automatically export versions of Antigen files and registry data.

To create a batch file

  1. In Windows Explorer, locate the following folder:

    drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP

  2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Text Document.

  3. Type AntigenDiagnostics.bat for the file name, press ENTER, and then click Yes.

  4. Right-click the AntigenDiagnostics.bat file, and then click Edit.

  5. In Notepad, edit the batch file to include a command to start the Antigen Diagnostic tool (AntigenDiag.exe) in order to obtain registry and file information for Antigen. The contents of the AntigenDiagnostics.bat file should resemble the following:

    cd drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP
AntigenDiag.exe /c /reg Antigen

    Note

    If you are not sure about the location of the Antigendiag.exe file, perform a search operation to find the location, and then use it to replace the path in the sample .bat file.

  6. On the File menu, click Save, and then close Notepad.

  7. Double-click the AntigenDiagnostics.bat file.

  8. In Windows Explorer, locate the following folder:

    drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP\log\Diagnostics

  9. Make sure that a file that is named AntigenDiag-ServerName-Date-Time.zip is created as a result of running the batch file.

    Note

    The placeholders ServerName, Date, and Time represent the actual server name and the date and time when the log file is created.

To create a scheduled task in order to keep the version information up to date on a computer running Windows Server 2003 or 2000

  1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Scheduled Tasks.

  2. In Scheduled Tasks, double-click Add Scheduled Task.

  3. In the Scheduled Task wizard, click Next.

  4. On the Click the program you want Windows to run page, click Browse.

  5. In the Select Program to Schedule window, locate and then double-click the AntigenDiagnostics.bat file that you previously created.

  6. In the Type a name for this task box, type a schedule name, select an acceptable interval, and then click Next. For example, use the following name and interval for the task:

    Antigen Diagnostics

    Weekly

  7. On the Select the time and date you want this task to start page, set an appropriate start date and time, and then click Next. For example, configure the following settings:

    Start HH:MM:SS AM/PM

    Every: X weeks on: Saturday

    where HH:MM:SS is the hour, minutes, and seconds; and X is the number of weeks.

  8. On the Enter the name and password of a user page, provide the credentials for a user who has permissions to the server, and then click Next.

  9. On the You have successfully scheduled the following task: schedule name page, click Finish.

Backing up data files

To make sure that you can recover Antigen, back up the following folder. Be sure to include all files within the folder:

  • drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP

Restoring data files

After you select the restoration strategy that is most applicable to your environment, you can perform the appropriate restoration tasks. The recovery procedures that you perform depend on the following factors:

  • The kind of disaster or failure that may occur
  • The kind of backups that are available
  • The time that you can spend to perform the recovery

After the whole system has been restored to an earlier state, you can recover the Incidents database and the Quarantine database along with your configuration settings. You can also create templates in order to deploy configuration settings to servers in your enterprise. (For more information about creating templates, see Using templates.) Then, you can use these templates and Microsoft Forefront Server Security Management Console (FSSMC) or Antigen Enterprise Manager (AEM) in order to help you quickly recover from a failure.

Note

The steps outlined in the following procedures provide general instructions for performing specific tasks; for more detailed instructions, see the Forefront Server Security Management Console User Guide or the Antigen Enterprise Manager User Guide.

Important

If you use AEM to manage your Antigen servers, you cannot deploy the General Options settings as described in the following steps. Instead, you must configure the General Options settings on each of your Antigen servers manually, as described in the standalone environment procedure. Otherwise, the following steps for restoring data files are the same for both FSSMC and AEM.

To restore data files in an environment that is running FSSMC or AEM

  1. On the server that you want to use for configuring the Antigen templates, upload the Template.adb file to FSSMC.

  2. In FSSMC, configure the General Options settings.

  3. Restore the failed SMTP server.

  4. On the SMTP server that you restored, follow these steps:

    1. Install Antigen for SMTP Gateways and all related hotfixes or rollups that were installed at the time of the backup.

    2. Deploy the FSSMC deployment agent.

    3. Deploy the “Template” package to the SMTP server.

    4. Deploy the “General Options” package to the SMTP server.

    5. Restore the Incidents.mdb database and the Quarantine folder to a temporary location.

    6. Stop the AntigenService service.

      Note

      Stopping this service stops the Antigen services, causing mail to stop being scanned by Antigen. Mail will continue to flow unscanned. To prevent mail from flowing unscanned, you must stop the Microsoft SMTP services.

    7. In Windows Explorer, locate and open the following folder:
      drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP

    8. Rename the Incidents.mdb file to Incidents.old.

    9. Rename the Quarantine folder to QuarantineOld.

    10. Move the Incidents.mdb file and the Quarantine directory from the temporary location to the following folder:
      drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP

    11. Start the Antigen and SMTP services.

To restore data files in a standalone environment

  1. Select the server that you want to use for configuring your Antigen for SMTP Gateways templates.

  2. Restore the failed SMTP server.

  3. On the SMTP server that you restored, follow these steps:

    1. Install Antigen and all related hotfixes or rollups that were installed at the time of the backup.

      Note

      You can compare the file versions against the VerAntigen.csv file that is located in the latest AntigenDiag backup.

    2. Restore the Template.adb file, the Incidents.mdb file, and the Quarantine directory to a temporary location.

    3. Stop the AntigenService service.

      Note

      Stopping this service stops the Antigen services, causing mail to stop being scanned by Antigen. Mail will continue to flow unscanned. To prevent mail from flowing unscanned, you must stop the Microsoft SMTP services.

    4. In Windows Explorer, locate and open the following folder:
      drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP

    5. Rename the Incidents.mdb file to Incidents.old.

    6. Rename the Quarantine folder to QuarantineOld.

    7. Rename the Templates.adb file to Templates.old.

    8. Move Templates.adb, Incidents.mdb, and the Quarantine folder from the temporary location to the following folder:
      drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP

    9. Start the Antigen and SMTP services.

    10. At a command prompt, type the following command and then press ENTER:

      cd drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Antigen for SMTP AntigenStarter t

      Note

      The AntigenStarter t command loads the templates from the Templates.adb file.
      Because the General Options settings have registry values that are associated with them, they cannot be recovered in a standalone environment. It is recommended that you compare your registry settings against another server in your organization or against the Reg_AntigenSoftware.txt file that is located in the latest AntigenDiag backup, and then manually configure the General Options settings by using the Antigen Administrator. (For more information about configuring General Options, see General Options.)
      It is recommended that you do not copy Antigen database (.adb) files from another server. If you do this, the associated globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) of the databases will have conflicts.

Appendix F - Using multiple SMTP disclaimers

Appendix H - Antigen security updates and configuration changes overview