We are trying to setup federated Exchange database backups using EMC Avamar 6.1. As part of the process of setting up federated backups, Avamar wants to create its own clustered service/application under the Failover Cluster that gets created when setting up a DAG. This clustered resource will have its own name and IP address. Is this supported by Microsoft?
I have not before encountered this approach to backing up Exchange databases in a DAG configuration. The vendor's explanation is that backup requests for databases in the DAG will be sent to the client which gets created as a clustered resource under the DAG. That client will determine which Exchange mailbox server owns the passive copy of the database to be backed up and then it will forward the backup request to desired Exchange Server and the backup will start.
I found this quote in a TechNet article which made me pause before deploying this solution:
"This failover cluster is used exclusively by the DAG, and the cluster must be dedicated to the DAG. Use of the cluster for any other purpose isn't supported."
Has anyone encountered this situation or another product which requires adding resources to the underlying failover cluster? Is it sensible to proceed with this?