There has been a lot of discussions in the Exchange ecosystem (see comments on this post and other posts on our blog for example) about the fact that Windows Server 2008 built-in backup application (Windows Server Backup) is not Exchange-aware. Even though we have also clarified that the limitation does not apply to Windows Small Business Server 2008, we still kept getting a lot of open and honest feedback on the subject, which we greatly appreciate. Background
About 2 years ago, when the Exchange team started testing Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008, we found that the built-in backup application had changed dramatically. Decisions that drove that change by the Windows team are not the subject of this post, but it is fair to say that the Windows team did not make the decision lightly.
When we evaluated the features of Windows Server Backup, it was clear that the backup and restore experience on Windows 2008 would not be the experience that existing Exchange customers have been used to for so long. Because we had feedback from several customers who told us they would rather get a more full-featured backup solution for their Exchange servers, a decision was made not to provide an Exchange-aware backup solution for Windows 2008 in Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1.
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