Exchange 2003 using the Recovery Storage Group to restore a Single Mailbox

Exchange 2003 supports Recovery storage groups to restore data from a single mailbox. In previous the previous versions of Exchange, you would have to bring up a test server, restore a full Exchange backup, and then extract the required information into PSTs using tools like Exmerge. Once the extraction was done, this information would have to be then imported into the production Exchange server. Being long and tiring, this wasn’t the most popular administrative job. In this post I will walk you through steps on how to use Recovery Storage Group.

Note: This post is written under the assumption that a good, working backup of Exchange is available to complete the recovery of data.

Steps:

1. Open Exchange System Manager.

2. Expand Servers container and then right click on <ServerName>. Select New and click on Recovery Storage Group.
clip_image002

3. A screen shot of the dialog box that will come up is given below:
clip_image004

The system will automatically set the paths for the transaction logs and the system path (chk). However, you can use the browse button to relocate these files. We would recommend selecting a drive that has adequate free space to store the restored information. Once you have provided the required file paths, click on OK. If you go back to the Exchange System Manager, you should now see the Recovery Storage Group under the server object.
clip_image006

4. Right Click on Recovery Storage Group and click on Add Database to recover.

clip_image008

5. You can now select the database you would like to restore information for.

clip_image010

NOTE: In a typical SBS setup you will see only one database.

Select the Database and click on OK.

6. This should bring you back to the Exchange System Manager. If you need to change the location of the restored information, go into the properties of the mailbox you added, and use the Database tab to change file location.
clip_image012

This option could also be of use if you want to replace your existing databases with new ones and merge the data. Old Stores can be mounted in recovery storage group manually and there is no need to run tools like Exmerge to export the information.

7. The mailbox store that you want to restore information for would appear with a red “Down” arrow. This is because the system is still waiting for you to add the database files at the location specified.
clip_image014

8. Run NTBACKUP and Select the Backup you want to restore. Expand your <ServerName>\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group. Uncheck Public Folder Store because RSG can restore Mailbox Stores only.
clip_image016

You may also choose to uncheck Log files and restore the Mailbox Store Database only. New Log Files can be created afterwards (For More Information, please see Step 9).

Click On Start Restore and complete the restore process.

NOTE: The Exchange Information Store automatically redirects all restore operations to the Recovery Storage Group if a Recovery Storage Group exists on the server. When a Recovery Storage Group is created on a server, Exchange checks to see if the database that is selected for the restore operation is present in the Recovery Storage Group. If it is present, the database files are restored to the Recovery Storage Group. If it is not present, the restore operation stops.

9. You will need to put in the path

clip_image017

10. Then run the esutil /cc and make sure you use quotes on the pathname (see example below) 

clip_image019

11. Now right click on Mailbox Store under Recovery Storage Group and Mount the stores.
clip_image021

You will get a warning as shown below:
clip_image023

Click on Yes, and let the system complete mounting the restored Mailbox Store.

The system will create a new chk file and a new set of log files if you unchecked the option for the log files during the restore. If you chose to restore the log files as well, you should not see this warning.

12. Now select Mailbox Store under Recovery Storage Group and click on Refresh. Once it expands you will find a subfolder by the name Mailboxes. Select Mailboxes. In the right pane, right click on the mailbox you would like to restore, and then click on Exchange Tasks.
clip_image025

NOTE: Multiple Mailboxes can also be selected by holding the CTRL key when selecting mailboxes.

13. On the wizard that comes up, select the option to Recover Mailbox Data, and click on next.
clip_image027

14. Click on Next again.
clip_image029

15. Select appropriate option on Recover Mailbox Data dialog box:
clip_image031

Choose between Merge Data and Copy Data. Merge Data will compare the contents of existing mailbox and would only restore any missing items. Copy Data will restore everything from the backup Mailbox under a Folder by the name “Recovered Data <Date & Time>” under User’s Inbox. A screenshot of the copy option is included here:
clip_image033

16. On Task in Progress dialog box you can check if the process completed or not.
clip_image035

Log Files are located under:

<Installation Drive>:\Documents and Settings\<LoggedInUser>\My Documents\ExchanegTaskWizard.

At this point you could check the user’s mailbox to verify if emails have been successfully restored.

Credit: Karan Rustagi’s

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Office 365 Deployment Tool Office Download fails “Could not Install”

Image
Problem: you run the setup.exe /download download.xml and fails immediately with “Couldn’t install” You make sure all the settings are correct (see other blogs) and find nothing wrong Solution: Change drives and run it as an administrator again. For example above i am in the F:\OfficeDeploy directory which is the same directory I have the download.xml directing the download to. If i Change to the c: and run the same command again it works The Office Data folder was created and updated as shown below:
Read more

FRS to DFSR Post Cleanup “File Replication NtFrs Stopped”

Image
After successfully migrating from FRS to DFSR you get the File Replication NtFrs service is Stopped error on the local servers AD DS Services list. In the Event logs you may see Event id 13575 13577. You can confirm your migration completed by opening a cmd prompt as administrator and typing in: dfsrmig /getmigrationstate After your migration to DFSR is completed and you have given your servers ample time to propagate this service is no longer required. Since it is set to “Automatic”, as shown below” it shows in logs as a false positive error. Edit the File Replication Service and change it to “Disabled”, as shown below: Once it is listed as “Disabled” it will no longer show in the Console as an “error” Note : it may take some time to clear from the active view
Read more

Domain Migration SubinACL /Migratetodomain How To:

Caution : DO NOT run this on Domain Controller C:\ and only run on roaming profiles folders, or my docs shares day of migration to avoid ownership change issues. Confirm Domain trust is in place and users and groups have been migrated Test ping of olddomain.org from new domain Test ping of newdomain.org from olddomain Add newdomain.org domain controller host records to olddomain.org including reverse DNS records Confirm the user running the app is a domain admin in BOTH domains Download SubinACL here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23510 /Migratetodomain- command will add the permissions of the new user to the old files and folders for example if jimbob@olddomain.org was migrated to the new domain jimbob@newdomain.org and you run the command below any file or folder in that path that has jimbob@olddomain.org will add Jimbob@newdomain.org with the exact same permissions. This is a safer way to migrate by keeping the old and new permissions intact while a
Read more