Veeam 8 online backup Lotus Domino

Since Lotus Domino is an application non-VSS aware, the DBs consistency must be guaranteed during the Veeam 8 backup Lotus Domino process.

Using Lotus Domino as corporate messaging system, the databases consistency is guaranteed running custom quiescing scripts (pre-freeze and post-thaw) stored in C:\Windows in the Domino Server during the backup job.

Directory location where the scripts should be located inside the VM depending on the version of ESXi.

To perform a Lotus Domino online backup, a single script can be used instead with the procedure explained by Andreas Neufert (Veeam Solution Central Architect EMEA).

Procedure

Using a text editor like Notepad, create a script with the commands to drop the connected users and flushing the cache in Domino.

rem --------------------------------------------------------------
rem   Company:  NOLABNOPARTY
rem   Script:   VeeamBackup.bat
rem   Date:     25/11/2014
rem --------------------------------------------------------------

"C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Domino\nserver.exe" -c "drop all"
timeout /t 5 /nobreak

"C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Domino\nserver.exe" -c "dbcache flush"
timeout /t 5 /nobreak

Net Time \\%computername% >> C:\scripts\logs\veeambackup.log

Save the file as VeeamBackup.bat.

Create a directory C:\scripts in Veeam server local drive and copy the VeeamBackup.bat file.

Now open Veeam Backup and Replication 8 and click Backup Job button to create a new backup job.

Assign a Name to the backup job then click Next.

Click on Add button to add the VM Lotus Domino to the backup . Click Next to continue.

Select the Backup repository and the Backup mode. Click Next to continue.

Thick Enable application-aware processing option and click on Applications button.

Select the VM to configure then click Edit.

In General tab, select Perform copy only option then click Scripts to move to next tab.

Select Require successful script execution option to enable the scripts fields. Click Browse button next to Pre-freeze script and select the file previously created.

Select the file script created then click Open.

Click OK twice to save the settings.

From the drop-down menu, set the Credentials then click Next.

Specify the job scheduling options then click Create.

Click Finish to exit the wizard.

To manual execute the backup, right click the new created backup job and select Start.

The backup job runs the pre-freeze script (VeeamBackup.bat) to drop all the connections and flushing the cache.

In Lotus Domino the commands in the pre-freeze script are executed.

Veeam backup safely creates the snapshot keeping all the DBs consistent.

The process completes successfully.

This solution keeps all the configurations inside Veeam server making the overall backup process centralized (scripts included) and with a better control.