I need to do an offline restore of our exchange 2003 server to recover a users mailbox. I cannot do this on the domain, so need to do an offline restore, do the following steps sound about right.

Install 2003 server onto a pc.

Backup existing AD controller, using NTbackup including the AD and system state, restore this backup onto the fresh pc.

Install exchange 2003, and service packs. Shouldnt need adprep/domprep as this should be taken care of by restoring the current AD.

Install arcserve and the exchange agent, and just restore the system from backup tape.

what else do I need to do? what about the install of exchange, do settings etc. need to match the current server. The current exchange server is not a domain controller, so I will be restoring onto a server with a different name than the current exchange box.

Hi, Manny,

the only way I've ever got this to work is by using a server with the same name as the original, on an isolated network. As far as I remember, the setup has to be identical on the recovery box to that on the original.

I've only ever used EMC Networker, though, rather than Arcserve.

Cheers, Phil

Hi Manny,

The AD and server name don't matter.

What you do need to get right is the structure of the Exchange organisation - same org name, administrative groups, storage groups, database names and also the physical database filenames. We just use ntbackup for Exchange backup/recovery, so arcserve etc might give you a bit more flexibility on the naming - but I doubt it.

We have our recovery server in an AD forest of its own so that it can sit on the live network for convenience.

Make sure you have "this database can be overwritten by restore" set on the database you want to recover. You may find you'll need to run "eseutil /cc" before you can mount the store, but that will depend on how your backup agent does things.

Sorry if this is a bit patchy - it's from memory and I haven't touched Exchange for quite a while!

Phil - what do you think of the Networker agent for Exchange? We're thinking of going that route as we use Networker for everything else...

Anything to be aware of?

I am going to have a play with this tomorrow hopefully. Any more comments/advice welcome.

Have a search on Technet for Exchange disaster recovery white paper. I think they've redone it all for Ex 2003, but there was a very useful white paper for Ex 2000 that covered every type of restore you might want to do.

EDIT: this looks promising: Exchange 2003 Disaster Recovery Operations Guide

I am running through things as we speak,

so far I have installed 2003, restored the domain controller and fixed all the drivers. The network drivers must be working, and configured with a static IP address otherwise DNS wont work and you cant access the AD.

Things I have discovered,

Must make DC a global catalogue as this one was not, must also be operations masters for all roles (already was),

Need to add IIS, SMTP, NNTP and ASP.net to the DC before install of exchange will proceed.

Currently exchange is now installing.

update.

doesnt work.

I installed exchange, but when I load up the system manager I can see the new server, but I can also see the original one in the live domain listed.

The public info store has started, but I cant mount the blank installed private store. The reason being that the files priv.edb and priv1.stm dont exist. I tried creating a new store, and although it says its created the files for that dont exist either.

On top of this the usermanager exchange properties are all pointing at the wrong box.

more info

I decided to try and go the 2 server route instead, replicating the existing exchange box on another pc.

Only problem is AD is broken, I cant join the mini domain from the other installed server, I get the message saying the domain controller cannot be contacted.

I need to force some settings using ntdsutil but how?

I dont know what exactly but I had something simillar in a DR test last year but it was fixed for me by the DR company using ntdsutil. It had something to do with server roles and replication. I have deleted the other DC from AD sites and services but still have the problem. There are some errors relating to replication in event log.

Phil - what do you think of the Networker agent for Exchange? We're thinking of going that route as we use Networker for everything else...

Anything to be aware of?

The latest version is pretty good, and very easy to set up.

the only thing to watch out for is if you back up individual mailboxes -Networker has to tell Exchange to extract each one to a .pst file before backing it up -and this can be quite a slow process, especially if you try and do a lot in parallel. If you're looking at Exchange 2003, I'd also look at Recovery Storage Groups, which make life a lot easier.

Drop me a PM if you want any more info.

phil

The latest version is pretty good, and very easy to set up.

the only thing to watch out for is if you back up individual mailboxes -Networker has to tell Exchange to extract each one to a .pst file before backing it up -and this can be quite a slow process, especially if you try and do a lot in parallel. If you're looking at Exchange 2003, I'd also look at Recovery Storage Groups, which make life a lot easier.

Drop me a PM if you want any more info.

phil

Thanks Phil. I'm not involved in the Exchange side of things anymore, but I do have the pleasure of the DR stuff. Brick backups will happen over my dead body. (To be fair, the Exchange guys don't want them either.)

Have go some success, managed to get everything working. Had to install exchange onto another pc called the same name as the current server.Information stores (priv and pub) wouldnt mount on completion of restore. Ran eseutil /p on the public info store and its working ok, so now doing the same thing on priv1.edb. The reason is, I have no log files so need to force the database to be consistent, as it currently said the state as "dirty shutdown".

All done, the repaired information store mounted perfectly.

Perhaps you can come and fix ours, the wonderful IT department managed to loose 3 weeks of emails.

All done, the repaired information store mounted perfectly.

Manny,

For next time, I've got an excellent document on using recovery Storage Groups -any use to you?

Phil