To protect a Microsoft Exchange Server against data loss, Cove Data Protection (Cove) offers two methods of data protection:
- Microsoft 365 domain protection of the Exchange service. See Microsoft 365 protection for details
- MS Exchange as a data source using Backup Manager
Exchange database protected by using the Exchange data source via Backup Manager can be recovered in two ways:
- Restore to a local drive and mount the database as Recovery database
Use this option to restore specific items or mailboxes from a protected Exchange database from a previous backup session, within the Backup Manager retention time or from an archive session
- In-place restore when the original database is replaced in the still available storage group
This is useful only when the recovery of the complete Exchange database is required, for example in the case of a disaster or corruption
Restore to a local drive
Requirements and recommendations
- Backup Manager must be installed on the same machine where the Exchange Server is running
- (Optional) The Virtual Drive can be used to mount the Exchange database
- (Optional) The LocalSpeedVault may also be used to improve the performance
Instructions/example
Restore mailbox data using an Exchange recovery database is supported by Microsoft. This procedure is for the Exchange versions 2010 SP1, 2013 and 2016 or similar, see the Microsoft TechNet site for full information.
The step-by-step example below is based on information from Microsoft at the time of documentation. Please note that these instructions may differ slightly, depending on a number of factors
The following instructions use these example parameters:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Exchange Administrator username/mailbox | Administrator |
| Recovery mailbox for recipient | Kate James |
| Folder used for recovered items on target mailbox | RecoveredItems |
| Exchange database name for this mailbox | MailboxDB01 |
| Database transaction log file prefix | E00 |
| Local drive for restored database | D:\Restored |
| Exchange Recovery database name | RecoveryDB |
You must replace these example values with those relevant to your recovery
- Restore the Exchange database using the Backup Manager to a local drive:
- Start the Backup Manager
- Navigate to the Restore tab, then select Exchange from the list of data sources
- Select the required session date and time
- In the recovery selection, select the whole storage group (this is necessary to complete the recovery)
- Select Restore to new location
- Type or browse to the location you wish to restore the database to
- Click Restore to begin the recovery process
- Once the recovery is complete, close the Backup Manager and proceed to the next step
- Check Exchange database shutdown state. For an Exchange online backup, the saved database will have the expected Dirty Shutdown state. In this example, the transaction log files 0x3f71-0x3f71 are required for recovery.
See also this Microsoft Blog post for more information
ESEUTIL /MH "D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\File\MailboxDB01.edb" Created ulVersion: 0x620,20 DB Signature: Create time:06/24/2016 21:28:41.584 cbDbPage: 32768 dbtime: 14923861 (0xe3b855) State: Dirty Shutdown Log Required: 16241-16241 (0x3f71-0x3f71) Log Committed: 0-16242 (0x0-0x3f72)
- Bring the Exchange database to the Clean Shutdown state
ESEUTIL /R E00 /D "D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\File" /L "D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\Logs" /S "D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\Logs" Initiating RECOVERY mode... Logfile base name: e00 Log files: D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\Logs System files: D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\Logs Database Directory: D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\File Performing soft recovery... Restore Status (% complete) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----| ................................................... Operation completed successfully in 0.891 seconds.
- Create an Exchange recovery database for the restored database and transaction log files. Use the Exchange Management PowerShell to execute these commands:
New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name RecoveryDB -Server $env:COMPUTERNAME -EdbFilePath "D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\File\MailboxDB01.edb" -LogFolderPath "D:\Restored\Exchange Server\MailboxDB01\Logs" Name // Server // Recovery // ReplicationType ---- // ------ // -------- // --------------- RecoveryDB // ServerName // True // None
- Mount the Exchange Recovery database and check the state:
Mount-Database -Identity RecoveryDB Get-MailboxDatabase -status | FT name,server,recovery,mounted,LastFullBackup Name // Server // Recovery // Mounted // LastFullBackup ---- // ------ // -------- // ------- // -------------- MailboxDB1 // ServerName // False // True // 8-3-2017 10:09:48 RecoveryDB // ServerName // True // True
- Get list of mailboxes in the mounted RecoveryDB database
Get-MailboxStatistics -Database RecoveryDB | ft –auto DisplayName // ItemCount ----------- // --------- Teri Snow // 55 Ernesto Stephens // 57 Kate James // 63
- Restore mailbox for Kate James, all restored items are saved in the original Kate James mailbox, in the subfolder RecoveredItems. The restore request is queued and processed by the Exchange Mailbox Replication service (MRS). After completion, cleanup this request
New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase RecoveryDB -SourceStoreMailbox "Kate James" -AllowLegacyDNMismatch -TargetMailbox "Kate James" -TargetRootFolder RecoveredItems Get-MailboxRestoreRequest Name // TargetMailbox // Status ---- // ------------- // ------ MailboxRestore // sales.local/UsersExchange/Kate James // Completed et-MailboxRestoreRequest -Status Completed | Remove-MailboxRestoreRequest
After the mailbox restore, the complete structure for the mailbox Kate James is restored in the target mailbox. The user can search the missing emails or other items in this folder structure and move them back to the original folder.
See the Microsoft documentation for more information, like specific selection for the restore request.
In-place restore
Requirements
- Backup Manager must be installed on the same machine where the Exchange Server is running
- The original data stores must be available
Important
During the in-place Exchange recovery all the previous data gets overwritten except for transaction logs. Logs that have not been backed up are added to the recovered version.
The original storage groups must be available (even if they are corrupted).
Instructions
To recover MS Exchange databases to the original location:
- Start the Backup Manager
- Navigate to the Restore tab, then select Exchange from the list of data sources
- Select the required session date and time
- In the recovery selection, select the whole storage group (this is necessary to complete the recovery)
- Select Restore to original location
- Type or browse to the location you wish to restore the database to
- Click Restore to begin the recovery process