In Chapter 1, Planning an Exchange Server 2013 Infrastructure, we touched briefly on the subject of backups and disaster recovery. So it's high time for us to dig a bit deeper.

When designing an Exchange infrastructure, one of the topics lying on the discussion table always includes backups. Now, what is it that turns this subject into an object for discussion?

Well in my opinion this is because everyone knows that taking backups is critical, yet a lot of organizations don't always follow the best practices. One particular thing that frequently pops up is the question whether or not backups are regularly tested. Because after all, what is the point in taking backups if you never performed a restore? How about finding out your backups are invalid, right at the moment when you need to restore them? Not particularly a situation I'd like to see myself end in.

Ask yourself the same question. Do you test your backups regularly? If you honestly answered "No we don't even have such a plan...