Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is critically important to your organization. If a server crashes, you are faced with the possibility of every user on that server losing days, weeks, or even months of work. To protect Exchange Server and your users’ data, you need to implement a backup and recovery plan. Backing up Exchange Server can protect against database corruption, hardware failures, accidental loss of user messages, and even natural disasters. As an administrator, it’s your job to make sure that backups are performed and that backup media is stored in a secure location.
Backing up and recovering Exchange data is a bit different than backing up other types of data, primarily because Exchange Server 2003 has different units of backup and recovery than Microsoft Windows. You not only work with files and drives, you also work with the information store and the data structures it contains. As you know from previous chapters, the information store can contain one or more storage groups and in turn, each storage group can contain one or more databases.
To create a complete backup of an Exchange server, you must back up the following:
Exchange configuration data, which includes the configuration settings for the Exchange organization. You take configuration settings from the Exchange directory database (Dir.edb), Active Directory, the Windows registry, and the Key Management Service database (if installed). Configuration data doesn’t include any user data.
Exchange user data, which includes Exchange mailbox store databases, public folder store databases, and transaction logs. If you want to be able to recover mailbox and public folder stores, you must back up this data. User data doesn’t contain Exchange configuration settings.
State data for the operating system, which includes essential system files needed to recover the local system. All computers have system state data, which you must back up in addition to other files to restore a complete working system.
Folders and drives that contain Windows and Exchange files. Normally, this means backing up the root drive C, which is the special partition for Exchange Server.
Storage groups and databases are the units of backup and recovery for the information store. Storage groups are the smallest units of backup, and mailboxes are the smallest units of recovery. This means you have the following backup and recovery options for the information store:
Backup options
You can back up the entire information store.
You can back up sets of storage groups.
You can back up individual storage groups.
Recovery options
You can recover the entire information store.
You can recover sets of storage groups.
You can recover individual storage groups.
You can recover groups of databases.
You can recover individual databases.
You can recover individual mailboxes.
The ability to recover an individual database from backup is a great improvement over Microsoft Exchange 5.0 and Exchange 5.5, and there are some fundamental issues you should know about before you try to recover individual databases. These issues pertain to transactions, transaction logs, and transaction logging modes.
Exchange Server uses transactions to control database changes. You can think of a transaction as a logical unit of work that contains one or more operations that affect the information store. If all the operations in a transaction are successfully executed, Exchange Server marks the transaction as successful and permanently commits the changes. If one or more of the operations in a transaction fails to complete, Exchange Server marks the transaction as failed and removes any changes that the transaction created. The process of removing changes is referred to as rolling back the transaction.
Transaction logs are units of storage for transactions. Exchange Server writes each transaction to a log file and maintains the log files according to the logging mode.
Exchange Server has two logging modes:
Standard. With standard logging, Exchange Server reserves 5 MB of disk space for the active transaction log. Transactions are committed or rolled back based on success or failure. Once the contents of the log reaches 5 MB, Exchange Server creates a new log file. Because the transaction logs are maintained until the next full backup, you can recover Exchange Server to the last transaction.
Circular. Circular logging works much like standard logging with one key distinction: Exchange Server overwrites transaction log files after the data they contain has been committed to the database. Overwriting old transactions reduces Exchange’s disk space requirements. However, without the old transactions, you can’t recover Exchange Server up to the last transaction. You can recover Exchange Server only up to the last full backup.
Note
The active transaction log is named E##.log where ## is the unique identifier for the storage group. Additional transaction logs are named E######.log, where ###### is a numerical value that increases for each new log file, such as E000001.log, E000002.log, and E000003.log for logs associated with the first storage group and E010001.log, E010002.log, and E010003.log for logs associated with the second storage group.
The ability to recover mailboxes selectively from backup is an improvement over Microsoft Exchange 2000, and as with recovering databases, there are some fundamental issues you should know about before you try to recover individual mailboxes. These issues pertain to recovery storage groups.
Recovery storage groups are special types of storage groups that are reserved for recovery operations. Using a recovery storage group, you can restore mailboxes from any of the regular storage groups in an Exchange organization. You can recover individual or multiple mailboxes at the same time, provided the databases for those mailboxes are in the same storage group. You cannot, however, use recovery storage groups to restore public folder databases.
The server on which you create the recovery storage group must be in the same administrative group as the server for which you want to recover mailboxes. If you need to recover mailboxes stored on multiple Exchange servers, you don’t have to create a recovery storage group on each server. Instead, you can create one recovery storage group for each administrative group.
Note
Don’t confuse this recovery procedure with those used with Mailbox Recovery Center. You use Mailbox Recovery Center to recover deleted, disconnected, or otherwise unavailable mailboxes, as long as those mailboxes are available for recovery from an existing mailbox store. You use the recovery storage group to recover mailboxes from a previous backup of a mailbox store.
Creating a backup and recovery plan for Exchange Server 2003 requires forethought on your part. You need to plan the following:
The number of Exchange servers to use in your organization. Do you need multiple servers to ensure high availability? Do you need multiple servers to improve performance? Do you need multiple servers because the organization spans several geographic areas?
The number of storage groups for each Exchange server, as well as how the groups are organized. Do you create storage groups for each department or division in the organization? Do you create storage groups for different business functions? Do you create separate storage groups for public folders and other types of data?
The number and type of databases (data stores) for each storage group. Do you create separate data stores for different departments, divisions, and business functions? Do you create separate data stores for different types of public folder data?
Once you’ve planned the Exchange organization, you can create a backup and recovery plan to support that organization. You’ll need to figure out what data needs to be backed up, how often the data should be backed up, and more. To help you create a plan, consider the following:
How important is the mailbox or public folder store you’re backing up? The importance of the data can go a long way in helping you determine when and how the data store should be backed up. For critical data such as a department’s mailbox store, you’ll want to have redundant backup sets that extend back for several backup periods. For less important data, such as public folders for newsgroups, you won’t need such an elaborate backup plan, but you’ll need to back up the data regularly and ensure that you can recover the data easily.
How quickly do you need to recover the data? Time is an important factor in creating a backup plan. You might need to get critical data, such as the primary mailbox store, back online swiftly. To do this, you might need to alter your backup plan. For example, you might need to create multiple mailbox stores and place them in different storage groups on different servers. You could then recover individual databases, individual storage groups, or individual servers as the situation warrants.
Do you have the equipment to perform backups? If you don’t have backup hardware, you can’t perform backups. To perform timely backups, you might need several backup devices and several sets of backup media. Backup hardware includes tape drives, optical drives, and removable disk drives.
Who will be responsible for the backup and recovery plan? Ideally, someone should be the primary contact for the Exchange backup and recovery plan. This person might also be responsible for performing the actual backup and recovery of Exchange Server.
What is the best time to schedule backups? Scheduling backups when system use is as low as possible speeds the backup process. However, because you can’t always schedule backups for off-peak hours, you’ll need to carefully plan when data is backed up.
Do you need to store backups off-site? Storing copies of backup tapes off-site is essential to recovering Exchange Server in the case of a natural disaster. In your off-site storage location, you should also include copies of all the software you might need to recover Exchange Server.
As you’ll find when you work with data backup and recovery, there are many techniques for backing up data. The techniques you use depend on the type of data you’re backing up, how convenient you want the recovery process to be, and more.
You can perform backups online (with Exchange services running) or offline (with Exchange services stopped). With online backups, you can archive the following:
Exchange configuration data
Exchange user data
System state
Files and folders that contain Windows and Exchange files
With offline backups, you can’t archive Exchange configuration or user data. This means that you can only archive the following:
System state
Files and folders that contain Windows and Exchange files
Real World
With Exchange Server Enterprise Edition running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, you have the option of using the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to perform online backups. VSS creates point-in-time snapshots of data at the beginning of the backup process. The snapshot data is then used to create the backup rather than working with the server’s hard disk. This allows normal operations to continue while the backup occurs and ensures that the backup is consistent, even if the data changes while the backup is in progress. Shadow copies of Exchange data can only be made if the backup software you are using supports the Exchange VSS extensions. Although Windows Backup supports the Windows VSS extensions, allowing you to make shadow copies at the operating system level, it does not support the Exchange VSS extensions at the time of this writing. Until this is remedied, you must use third-party backup software if you want to take advantage of VSS.
The basic types of backups you’ll want to perform with Exchange Server are as follows:
Normal/full backups. Backs up all Exchange data that has been selected, including the related data stores and the current transaction logs. A normal backup tells Exchange Server you’ve performed a complete backup, which allows Exchange Server to clear out the transaction logs.
Copy backups. Backs up all Exchange data that has been selected, including the related data stores and the current transaction logs. Unlike a normal backup, a copy backup doesn’t tell Exchange Server you’ve performed a complete backup and, as a result, the log files aren’t cleared. This allows you to perform other types of Exchange backups later.
Differential backups. Designed to create backup copies of all data that has changed since the last normal backup. Only transaction log files are backed up and not the actual data stores. The log files aren’t cleared. To recover Exchange Server, you must apply the most recent normal backup and the most recent differential backup.
Incremental backups. Designed to create backups of data that has changed since the most recent normal or incremental backup. Only transaction log files are backed up and not the actual data stores. The log files are cleared once the incremental backup is completed. To recover Exchange Server, you must apply the most recent full backup and then apply each incremental backup after the full backup. You must apply transaction logs in order.
Caution
You cannot perform incremental or differential backups with circular logging enabled because circular logging allows Exchange Server to overwrite log files, which makes it impossible to reliably restore from the transaction logs.
In your backup plan you’ll probably want to perform full backups on a weekly basis and supplement them with nightly differential or incremental backups. You might also want to create an extended backup set for monthly and quarterly backups that are rotated to off-site storage.
Windows provides a backup utility, called Backup, for creating backups on local and remote systems. Backup has special extensions that allow you to create online backups of Exchange Server 2003. You use Backup to do the following:
You create backups using the Backup utility’s Backup tab or the Backup Wizard. Both techniques make use of default options set for the Backup utility. You can view or change the default options by clicking Tools and then selecting Options. The account you use for backup and restore should be a member of both the Backup Operators and Server Operators groups.
You can access the Backup utility in several ways:
Select Run from the Start menu. In the Run dialog box, type ntbackup and then click OK.
Select Programs or All Programs as appropriate from the Start menu, select Accessories, select System Tools, and then select Backup.
The first time you use the Backup utility, it starts in basic wizard mode. As an administrator, you’ll want to use advanced mode because it gives you more options. Clear the Always Start In Wizard Mode check box and then click Advanced Mode. You should now see the main Backup Utility interface. As shown in Figure 12-1, the standard interface has four tabs that provide easy access to key features. These tabs are as follows:
Welcome. Introduces Backup and provides buttons for starting the Backup Wizard, the Restore Wizard, and the Automated System Recovery Wizard.
Backup. Provides the main interface for selecting data to back up. You can back up data on local and mapped network drives.
Restore And Manage Media. Provides the main interface for restoring archived data. You can restore data to the original location or to an alternate location anywhere on the network.
Schedule Jobs. Provides a month-by-month job schedule for backups. You can view executed jobs as well as jobs scheduled for future dates.
The procedures you use to work with the Backup Wizard are similar to those you use to back up data manually. You can perform backups with Exchange Server online or offline. For online backups, verify that the Exchange System Attendant and Microsoft Information Store services are running before starting a backup. For offline backups, verify that all Exchange services are stopped before performing a backup.
You start and work with the wizard by completing the following steps:
Start the Backup utility in advanced mode and then click Backup Wizard on the Welcome tab. If wizard mode is enabled, click Advanced Mode and then click Backup Wizard.
Click Next. Select Back Up Selected Files, Drives, Or Network Data and then click Next again.
As shown in Figure 12-2, choose the user data you want to back up. You make selections by selecting or clearing the check boxes associated with a particular drive or folder. When you select a top-level folder, all the subfolders are selected. When you clear a check box for a top-level folder, check boxes for the related subfolders are cleared as well. Key backup options for Exchange Server are as follows:
To create a full backup that includes all Exchange servers in the organization, you need to select the Microsoft Information Store node of each individual server. Expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand the node for the first server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store. Afterward, expand the node for the next server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store, and so on.
To back up specific Exchange servers, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand the node for the server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store.
To back up all user databases on a specific Exchange server, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand the node for the server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store.
To back up individual databases on an Exchange server, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand a server, expand Information Store, expand the storage group you want to work with, and then select the database to use.
To back up all databases used by Exchange 5.5 users, expand Microsoft Exchange Server and then select Microsoft Site Replication Service.
To back up individual databases used by Exchange 5.5 users, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand a server, expand Microsoft Site Replication Service, and then select a storage group.
If you want to back up configuration data, choose additional items. Key options are as follows:
To back up Exchange Server 2003 and Windows settings, select all hard disk drives where Windows and Exchange Server are installed. Normally, this means backing up the root drive C and the drives used by Exchange Server.
To back up the Windows registry and Active Directory settings, expand My Computer and then select System State. System State includes essential system files needed to recover the local system. All computers have system state data, which you must back up in addition to other files to restore a complete working system.
To back up Key Management Services data, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand all servers running this service, and then select Key Management Service wherever applicable. You must also back up the system state data, which contains public keys for users in the organization.
Click Next, and then select the Backup Media Type. Choose File if you want to back up to a file. Choose a storage device if you want to back up files and folders to a tape or removable disk.
Select the backup file or media you want to use. If you’re backing up to a file, select a location from those available or click Browse to specify a file location and name. If you’re backing up to a tape or removable disk, choose the tape or disk you want to use. Afterward, type a name for the backup you are creating, such as Exchange Backup January 2004.
Click Next. Click Advanced if you want to override default options or schedule the backup to be run as a job. Then follow Steps 8 through 11. Otherwise, skip to Step 12.
Select the type of backup to perform. The available types are Normal, Copy, Differential, Incremental, and Daily. Click Next.
You can now set the following options for verification and compression and then click Next:
Verify Data After Backup. Instructs Backup to verify data after the backup procedure is completed. If selected, every file on the backup tape is compared to the original file. Verifying data can protect against write errors or failures, but requires more time than a backup without verification.
Use Hardware Compression, If Available. Allows Backup to compress data as it’s written to the storage device. The option is available only if the device supports hardware compression and only compatible drives can read the compressed information, which might mean that only a drive from the same manufacturer can recover the data.
Set options for copying data to the designated file, tape, or removable disk. To add the backup after existing data, select Append This Backup To The Existing Backups. To overwrite existing data, select Replace The Existing Backups. If you’re overwriting data, you can specify that only the owner and an administrator can access the archive file by selecting Allow Only The Owner And Administrator Access. Click Next.
Determine when the backup will run. Select Now to run the backup now and then click Next. Select Later to schedule the backup for a specific date. If you want to schedule the backup for a later date, type a job name, click Set Schedule, and then set a run schedule. When you click Next, you’ll have to enter an account name and password to add it to the schedule. This account must have Backup Operator privileges or be a member of a group that has Backup Operator privileges.
Click Finish to start the backup. You can cancel the backup by clicking Cancel in the Set Information and Backup Progress dialog boxes. When the backup is completed, click Close to complete the process or click Report to view the backup log.
Note
Backup selection scripts and backup logs are stored in %Userprofile%Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftWindowsNT NTBackupData. Backup selection scripts are saved with the .bks extension. Backup logs are saved with the .log extension. You can view these files with any standard text editor, such as Notepad.
You don’t have to use a wizard to back up Exchange Server 2003. You can configure backups manually by completing the following steps:
You can perform backups with Exchange Server online or offline, provided that you keep in mind the following:
You can perform online backups only when key Exchange services are running. Verify that the Exchange System Attendant and Microsoft Information Store services are running before starting a backup.
You can perform offline backups only when all Exchange services are stopped. Verify that all Exchange services are stopped before starting a backup.
Start Backup. If wizard mode is enabled, click Advanced Mode and then click the Backup tab shown in Figure 12-3. Otherwise, just click the Backup tab.
Clear any existing selections on the Backup tab by selecting New from the Job menu and clicking Yes when prompted.
Choose the items you want to back up by selecting or clearing the check boxes associated with a particular drive or folder. When you select a top-level folder, all the subfolders are selected. When you clear a check box for a top-level folder, check boxes for the related subfolders are cleared as well. Key backup options for Exchange Server are as follows:
To create a full backup that includes all Exchange servers in the organization, you need to select the Microsoft Information Store node of each individual server. Expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand the node for the first server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store. Afterward, expand the node for the next server that you want to back up, select Microsoft Information Store, and so on.
To back up specific Exchange servers, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand the node for the server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store.
To back up all user databases on a specific Exchange server, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand the node for the server that you want to back up, and then select Microsoft Information Store.
To back up individual databases on an Exchange server, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand a server, expand Information Store, expand the storage group you want to work with, and then select the database to back up.
To back up all databases used by Exchange 5.5 users, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, and then select Microsoft Site Replication Service.
To back up individual databases used by Exchange 5.5 users, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand a server, expand Microsoft Site Replication Service, and then select a storage group.
If you want to back up configuration data, choose additional items. The key options are as follows:
To back up Exchange Server 2003 and Windows settings, select all hard disk drives where Windows and Exchange Server are installed. Normally, this means backing up the root drive C and the drives used by Exchange Server.
To back up the Windows registry and Active Directory settings, expand My Computer and then select System State. System State includes essential system files needed to recover the local system. All computers have system state data, which you must back up in addition to other files to restore a complete working system.
To back up Key Management Services data, expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand all servers running this service, and then select Key Management Service wherever applicable. You must also back up the system state data, which contains public keys for users in the organization.
Use the Backup Destination drop-down list to choose the media type for the backup. Choose File if you want to back up to a file. Choose a storage device if you want to back up files and folders to a tape or removable disk.
In Backup Media Or File Name, select the backup file or media you want to use. If you’re backing up to a file, type a path and file name for the backup file or click Browse to find a file. If you’re backing up to a tape or removable disk, choose the tape or disk you want to use.
Click Start Backup. This displays the Backup Job Information dialog box shown in Figure 12-4. You use the options in this dialog box as follows:
Backup Description. Sets the backup label, which applies to the current backup only
Append This Backup To The Media. Adds the backup after existing data
Replace The Data On The Media With This Backup. Overwrites existing data
If The Media Is Overwritten, Use This Label To Identify The Media. Sets the media label, which is changed only when you’re writing to a blank tape or overwriting existing data
Click Advanced if you want to override the default options. The advanced options are as follows:
Backup Data That Is In Remote Storage. Archives placeholder files for Remote Storage with the backup. This ensures that you can recover an entire file system with necessary Remote Storage references intact.
Verify Data After Backup. Instructs Backup to verify data after the backup procedure is completed. If selected, every file on the backup tape is compared to the original file. Verifying data can protect against write errors or failures.
If Possible, Compress Backup Data To Save Space. Allows Backup to compress data as it’s written to the storage device. This option is available only if the device supports hardware compression, and only compatible drives can read the compressed information, which might mean that only a drive from the same manufacturer can recover the data.
Automatically Backup System Protected Files With The System State. Backs up all the system files in the %SystemRoot% folder, in addition to the boot files that are included with the system state data.
Backup Type. The type of backup to perform. The available types are Normal, Copy, Differential, Incremental, and Daily.
Click Schedule if you want to schedule the backup for a later date. When prompted to save the backup settings, click Yes. Next, type a name for the backup selection script and then click Save. In the Scheduled Job Options dialog box, type a job name, click Properties, and then set a run schedule. Skip the remaining steps.
Note
Backup selection scripts and backup logs are stored in %Userprofile%Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftWindowsNT NTBackupData. Backup selection scripts are saved with the .bks extension. Backup logs are saved with the .log extension. You can view these files with any standard text editor, such as Notepad.
Click Finish to start the backup operation. You can cancel the backup by clicking Cancel in the Set Information and Backup Progress dialog boxes.
When the backup is completed, click Close to complete the process or click Report to view the backup log.
With the Windows Backup utility, you can restore Exchange Server 2003 using the Restore Wizard or the Restore tab within the Backup program. You can perform recovery on individual databases and storage groups or on all databases on a particular server. The recovery procedure you use depends on the types of backups you have available.
If you use normal backups and differential backups, you can recover an Exchange database or storage group to the point of failure by completing the following steps:
Restore the most recent normal (full) backup as described in the sections of this chapter entitled "Recovering Exchange Server with the Restore Wizard" or "Recovering Exchange Server Manually." Don’t set the Last Backup Set option, and don’t mount the database after restore.
Restore the most recent differential backup as described in the sections of this chapter entitled "Recovering Exchange Server with the Restore Wizard" or "Recovering Exchange Server Manually." Be sure to set the Last Backup Set option and mount the database after restore. This starts the log file replay after the restore completes.
Check the related mailbox and public folder stores to make sure that the data recovery was successful.
If you use normal backups and incremental backups, you can recover an Exchange database or storage group to the point of failure by completing the following steps:
Restore the most recent normal (full) backup as described in the sections of this chapter entitled "Recovering Exchange Server with the Restore Wizard" or "Recovering Exchange Server Manually." Don’t set the Last Backup Set option, and don’t mount the database after restore.
Apply each incremental backup in order. Restore the first incremental backup created after the normal backup, then the second, and so on, as described in the sections of this chapter entitled "Recovering Exchange Server with the Restore Wizard" or "Recovering Exchange Server Manually."
When restoring the last incremental backup, be sure to set the Last Backup Set option and mount the database after restore. This starts the log file replay after the restore completes.
Check the related mailbox and public folder stores to make sure that the data recovery was successful.
To recover Exchange Server 2003 with the Restore Wizard, follow these steps:
Restore system and configuration data before restoring the user data by following these instructions:
When restoring configuration data, stop all services being used by Exchange Server as well as Internet Information Services (IIS) services—IIS Admin, Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and World Wide Web Publishing Service. Exit Exchange System Manager. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.
When restoring user data, dismount the affected data stores before starting the recovery operation. During recovery, Exchange services are stopped temporarily.
When recovering an entire server, make sure that you restore drives, system state data, Exchange configuration data, and Exchange user data.
Start the Backup utility in advanced mode and then click Restore Wizard on the Welcome tab. If wizard mode is enabled, click Advanced Mode and then click Restore Wizard.
As shown in Figure 12-5, you can now choose the data you want to restore. The left view displays files organized by volume. The right view displays media sets. If the media set you want to work with isn’t shown or there is no media information, click Browse, and then type the path to the catalog for the backup.
To recover Exchange data, select the Information Store storage groups you want to restore. Each storage group must be selected individually. If you want to restore an individual mailbox store or the log files for a storage group, expand the storage group node and then select the mailbox store and log file nodes as appropriate.
To recover regular file data, select the check box next to any drive, folder, or file that you want to restore. You can’t restore regular file data and Exchange data in the same operation. You need to restore each in turn and probably want to start with the regular file data.
To restore system state data, select the System State check box and boxes for other data you want to restore. If you’re restoring to the original location, the current system state is replaced by the system state data you’re restoring. If you restore to an alternate location, only the registry, system volume, and system boot files are restored. You can restore system state data only on a local system.
Click Next. In the Restore To field, type the name of the computer on which you want to restore files, such as Mailer1, or click Browse to search for the computer.
In Temporary Location For Log And Patch Files, enter the folder path for a temporary restore location, such as C:Temp.
If this is the last backup set you need to recover, select Last Backup Set and Mount Database After Restore.
Click Next. If they’re available, you can choose to restore security and system files using the following options:
Restore Security Settings. Restores security settings for Exchange data, files, and folders on NTFS volumes.
Restore Junction Points, Not The Folder And File Data They Reference. Restores network drive mappings but doesn’t restore the actual data to the mapped network drive. Essentially, you’re restoring the folder that references the network drive.
When Restoring Replicated Data Sets, Mark The Restored Data As The Primary Data For All Replicas. Useful if you’re restoring replicated data and want the restored data to be published to subscribers. If you don’t choose this option, the data might not be replicated because it will appear older than existing data on the subscribers.
Click Next, and then click Finish. If prompted, type the path and name of the backup set to use. You can cancel the backup by clicking Cancel in the Operation Status and Restore Progress dialog boxes.
When the restore is completed, click Close to complete the process or click Report to view a backup log containing information about the restore operation.
Always check the related mailbox and public folder stores to make sure that the data recovery was successful.
You don’t have to use the Restore Wizard to recover Exchange Server 2003. You can recover Exchange data manually by completing the following steps:
Restore system and configuration data before restoring the user data by following these instructions:
When restoring configuration data, stop all services being used by Exchange Server as well as IIS services (IIS Admin, NNTP, SMTP, and World Wide Web Publishing Service). Exit Exchange System Manager. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.
When restoring user data, dismount the affected data stores before starting the recovery operation. During recovery, Exchange services are stopped temporarily.
When recovering an entire server, make sure that you restore drives, system state data, Exchange configuration data, and Exchange user data.
Start Backup. If wizard mode is enabled, click Advanced Mode and then click the Restore And Manage Media tab. Otherwise, just click the Restore And Manage Media tab.
Choose the data you want to restore, as shown in Figure 12-6. The left view displays files organized by volume. The right view displays media sets. If the media set you want to work with isn’t shown or there is no media information, right-click File in the left pane and then select Catalog File. You can then type the path to the catalog for the backup.
To recover Exchange data, select the Information Store storage groups you want to restore. Each storage group must be selected individually. If you want to restore an individual mailbox store or the log files for a storage group, expand the storage group node and then select the mailbox store and log file nodes as appropriate.
To recover regular file data, select the check box next to any drive, folder, or file that you want to restore. You can’t restore regular file data and Exchange data in the same operation. You need to restore each in turn and probably want to start with the regular file data.
To restore system state data, select the System State check box and check boxes for other data you want to restore. If you’re restoring to the original location, the current system state is replaced by the system state data you’re restoring. If you restore to an alternate location, only the registry, Sysvol, and system boot files are restored. You can restore system state data only on a local system.
Use the Restore Files To drop-down list to choose the restore location. The options are as follows:
Original Location. Restores data to the folder or files it was in when it was backed up.
Alternate Location. Restores data to a folder that you designate, preserving the directory structure. After you select this option, enter the folder path to use or click Browse to select the folder path.
Single Folder. Restores all files to a single folder without preserving the directory structure. After you select this option, enter the folder path to use or click Browse to select the folder path.
Specify how you want to restore files. Click Tools, and then select Options. This displays the Options dialog box with the Restore folder selected. The available options are as follows:
Do Not Replace The Files On My Computer (Recommended). Select this option if you don’t want to copy over existing files.
Replace The File On Disk Only If The File On Disk Is Older. Select this option to replace older files on disk with newer files from the backup.
Always Replace The File On My Computer. Select this option to replace all files on disk with files from the backup.
Click Start Restore. This displays the Restoring Database Store dialog box.
In the Restore To field, type the name of the computer on which you want to restore files, such as Mailer1, or click Browse to search for the computer.
In Temporary Location For Log And Patch Files, enter the folder path for a temporary restore location, such as C:Temp.
If this is the last backup set you need to recover, select Last Backup Set and Mount Database After Restore.
Click OK to start the restore operation. If prompted, enter the path and name of the backup set to use. You can cancel the backup by clicking Cancel in the Operation Status and Restore Progress dialog boxes.
When the restore is completed, click Close to complete the process or click Report to view a backup log containing information about the restore operation.
Always check the related mailbox and public folder stores to make sure that the data recovery was successful.
You use recovery storage groups to restore mailboxes selectively from any of the regular storage groups in an Exchange organization. The process of using a recovery storage group to restore mailbox data works like this:
Create a recovery storage group in the administrative group that contains the server or servers for which you want to restore mailboxes.
Add the databases you want to recover to the recovery storage group, keeping in mind that the databases must be from the same storage group.
Use a backup utility, such as Windows Backup, to restore the mailbox databases and then mount the recovery database in the recovery storage group you previously created. Mailboxes in the recovery storage group are disconnected and are not accessible to users.
Use the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge Wizard to select the mailboxes to restore and restore them to the original mailbox store database. The wizard copies data from the mailboxes in the recovery databases and merges it with data in the corresponding mailboxes in the specified database.
When you are finished using the recovery storage group, dismount the recovery databases. By dismounting the recovery databases, you allow normal recovery operations of Exchange server to resume.
Although restoring mailboxes from backups is a lengthy process, it is the best way to selectively recover mailboxes from backup. Keep in mind that you don’t have to use recovery storage groups to recover all the mailboxes in a given mailbox database. In this case, you simply restore the entire mailbox database.
Regardless of whether you are using Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition or Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, each Exchange server in your organization can have a recovery storage group. If you need to recover mailboxes stored on multiple Exchange servers, you don’t have to create a recovery storage group on each server. Instead, you can create one recovery storage group for each administrative group in your Exchange organization.
Before you create a recovery storage group, plan carefully for the additional storage requirements. During the recovery process, two types of files are created:
Transaction. Transaction files, stored in the transaction log location, are given the file prefix R00 by default. These files are created when you mount the recovery database. You’ll find a transaction checkpoint file that contains recovered file fragments (R00.chk), a temporary log file that is used as temporary workspace for processing transactions (R00tmp.log), and a transaction log file that is the primary transaction log file for the recovery group. The total space required for transaction files is at least as much as that of the databases for which you plan to restore mailboxes.
System. System files, stored in the system path location, include the rich-text database (.edb) file, the streaming Internet content (.stm) file, and log files for mailbox store databases. These files are created when you restore and then mount the recovery database. The total space required for system files is the same as that of the original mailbox store database and logs files.
To create a recovery storage group, follow these steps:
In System Manager, expand the Servers node. Right-click the server you want to work with, point to New, and then select Recovery Storage Group. Remember, the recovery storage group must be in the same administrative group as the server for which you want to recover mailboxes.
You should now see the Properties dialog box shown in Figure 12-7. In the Name field, type a name for the recovery storage group.
You’ll see the default location for the transaction log and the system path. If you want to change the location of these files, use the Browse buttons to the right of the related fields to set new file locations.
Click OK to create the recovery storage group. Although you can right-click the associated node in System Manager and select Properties to view the settings, you cannot change the settings. This means the system path and transaction log location are fixed, and the only way to change the settings is to delete the recovery storage group and then re-create it.
After you create the recovery storage group, you can add the databases containing mailboxes you need to restore. When you add databases to the recovery storage group, you are marking the databases for recovery. While in the recovery state, any restore operation on the database is written to the recovery storage group rather than to the Exchange Information Store.
To specify the database to recover, complete the following steps:
In System Manager, right-click Recovery Storage Group and then select Add Database To Recover. The Select Database To Recover dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 12-8. Select the database you want to use and then click OK.
The Properties dialog box for the database you selected is displayed. Confirm that this is the database you want to use and then click OK.
To add more databases to the recovery storage group, repeat Steps 1 and 2. Keep in mind that all the databases must be from the same storage group.
Once you mark databases for recovery, you should restore them using Windows Backup, making sure to apply the last full (normal) backup and any subsequent differential or incremental backups as necessary. When the restore operation is complete, you can mount the database to the recovery storage group. To do this, complete the following steps:
Start Windows Backup. If wizard mode is enabled, click Advanced Mode and then click the Restore tab. Otherwise, just click the Restore tab.
Expand the backup media containing the last full backup of the Exchange server Information Store and then select the storage group that contains the databases you want to work with. If you want to restore an individual mailbox store, expand the storage group node and then select the mailbox store and any associated log files.
Click Start Restore. This displays the Restoring Database Store dialog box.
In the Restore To field, type the name of the computer on which you want to restore files, such as Mailer1, or click Browse to search for the computer.
In Temporary Location For Log And Patch Files, enter the folder path for a temporary restore location, such as C:Temp.
If this is the last backup set you need to recover, select Last Backup Set and Mount Database After Restore.
Click OK to start the restore operation. When the restore is completed, click Close to complete the process. Keep in mind the databases aren’t recovered to the Exchange Information Store—they are written to the recovery storage group.
Tip
If you need to apply differential or incremental backups, repeat Steps 2 through 7, making sure to select the correct backup media. With differential backups, you only need to restore the last differential backup. With incremental backups, you must restore each incremental backup sequentially, starting with the first one made after the last full (normal) backup.
In System Manager, expand the administrative group you want to work with and then select Recovery Storage Group.
In the Details pane, right-click a database and then select Mount Store. Confirm the action by clicking Yes. Repeat this step to mount any other databases to the recovery storage group.
Now that you’ve recovered the databases and mounted them, you can use the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge Wizard to select mailboxes and restore them. The wizard copies data from the mailboxes in the recovery databases and merges it with the existing data in the mailboxes of the original database.
Before you can use the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge Wizard, you might need to install it by completing the following steps:
Insert the Exchange Server 2003 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
Start and open a command prompt and then type xcopy d:SupportUtils I386ExMerge*.* "%ProgramFiles%ExchsrvrBin" where d is the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive and %ProgramFiles%ExchsrvrBin is the path to the bin directory for Exchange Server enclosed in quotation marks.
The following files should be copied successfully to the bin directory:
ExMerge.exe. The executable for the Mailbox Merge Wizard
ExMerge.ini. An initialization file for the Mailbox Merge Wizard
ExMerge.rtf. A summary on using and working with the Mailbox Merge Wizard
Once the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge Wizard is installed, you can use it to select and extract mailbox data by completing the following steps:
Click Start and then select Run. In the Open prompt of the Run dialog box, type the path to ExMerge.exe, which should be %ProgramFiles% ExchsrvrBinExmerge, and then click OK.
Click Next. Select Extract Or Import (One Step Procedure) and then click Next.
On the Source Server wizard page shown in Figure 12-9, type the name of the server on which you created the recovery group, such as Mailer1, in the field provided.
Click Options to display the Data Selection Criteria dialog box. Use the options in this dialog box to specify what data to export and how data should be handled. Five tabs are provided:
Data. Specify which data from the source store to use. Select User Messages And Folders to copy all user data; Associated Folder Messages to copy folder rules, folder views, and other associated messages for folders; Folder Permissions to overwrite any existing permissions with those of the source mailbox; and Items From Dumpster to copy items in the Deleted Items folder.
Import. Specify whether to copy, merge, or replace data. With copy, all messages in the source mailbox are copied to the target mailbox, which could result in duplicate messages in the target mailbox. With merge, the wizard checks to see if a source message exists in the target mailbox before copying it and if it does, the message isn’t copied. With replace, the wizard checks to see if a source message exists in the target mailbox before copying it and if it does, the message is deleted from the target and then copied from the source mailbox.
Folders. Specify folders that should be processed. To specify that folders shouldn’t be processed, click Modify under Ignore These Folders and then add available folders to the selected folder lists. To explicitly specify folders that should be processed, click Modify under Process Only These Folders and then add available folders to the selected folder lists.
Dates. Specify whether the message date is used to filter messages. By default, message dates aren’t used to determine whether messages are processed. You can limit the date range by selecting Dated and then entering start and end dates in the From and To fields, respectively.
Message Details. Specify the exact message subjects or file name of attachments you are looking for. Multiple subjects and attachment names can be specified.
Click Next. On the Destination Server wizard page, type the name of the destination server in the field provided. This server should be the same as the original server, meaning the server from which the backup was made.
Click Next. On the Database Selection wizard page, select the recovery storage group you want to work with and then click Next again.
On the Mailbox Selection wizard page, select the mailboxes to recover as shown in Figure 12-10 and then click Next. You can use Shift and Ctrl to select multiple mailboxes.
On the Locale Selection wizard page, select the default language to use when connecting to a mailbox that has not yet been created. This controls the language used for the default folders of any mailbox that is created. Click Next.
On the Target Directory wizard page, click Change Folder and then use the Browse For Folder dialog box to specify a temporary folder for the mailbox PST files that need to be created. Confirm that the disk space available and required values are adequate using the fields of the Disk Space pane and then click Next.
To save settings and options for next time you use the wizard, click Save Settings and then click Next. Otherwise, just click Next.
Click Finish. The wizard exports the data into PST files and then imports the data into the designated mailboxes. If errors occur, you can check the merge log (ExMerge.log) file, which is created in the %ProgramFiles%ExchsrvrBin folder, to determine what error occurred and how to correct it if necessary.
When you are finished using the recovery storage group, dismount the recovery databases by selecting the recovery storage group in System Manager, right-clicking the mounted database, and then selecting Dismount Store. Confirm the action by clicking Yes when prompted to continue. By dismounting the recovery database, you allow normal recovery operations of Exchange Server to resume.
As an additional step, you can delete the recovery database to remove references to it in Exchange Server. Right-click the database and then select Delete. Deleting the database does not remove the system and transaction files used by the database. You must delete these files yourself.