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Restore Exchange Mailbox Backup Data

Overview

ACCDataVault can restore mailbox data to an Exchange Server. This section gives the details on restoring individual or multiple users' mailbox to an Exchange Server. It can be done from a ACCDataVault backup server using recent full or incremental backups. The data is first restored to a local drive and then to an Exchange Server without any interruption to the live Exchange Server.

The mailbox restore cannot be used to recover Exchange Server Information Store(s). During disaster recovery, mailbox can be restored to an Exchange Server only after the Storage Group(s)/MailStore(s) are recovered.

Before restoring mailboxes, please ensure the following:

  1. The Exchange Server must be running.

  2. Select just the specific mailboxes that you want to restore instead of the entire Mailbox Store /Public Folder.

  3. Ensure that the Default Information Store[i.e. MailBox Store in First Storage Group] and the user's Information Store are mounted in your exchange server.

Note:

  1. Usually it is not enough to just backup mail boxes alone. It is recommended that you always configure the storage group for backups. You can have additional mailbox backups under the storage group so that you get additional granularity during restores wherein you can restore only a mailbox that is required.

  2. If you just configure only mailbox backups and not configure the full storage group, then if your full exchange server crashes then you will not be able to restore your exchange server at all.

  3. The best practice is to configure storage group backups and then configure additional mailbox backups for quick restores. Also for mailbox backups it is better to configure only critical mailboxes and not all mailboxes for backups as the mailbox backups takes a lot of time to backup than the full storage group itself.

How to get here in the ACCDataVault Web Console?
 In the top menu, select: "Restore". It will display the "List Of Backup For Restore" page. In the Action column of the (Exchange Mailbox) Backup Schedule, click on the Restore icon.

Requirements

Exchange Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 / Exchange Server 2003 / Exchange Server 2007.

Restore Exchange Mailbox Backup Data

Restoring Exchange Mailbox in ACCDataVault is quite simple and can be easily done following the steps mentioned below:

  • Step 0: Decide how to restore

    The user can select to restore the exchange mailbox directly from the backup server or from the previously restored data stored in the local folder.

    This step has two options :
    - Restore data from backup server
    - I have previously restored data from my backup server to a local folder. I now want to use this data to restore the Exchange Mailbox.

    1. If the second option is selected (to restore user mailbox data to Exchange Server from the previously restored data), then please ensure

      1. Exchange Mailbox backup data was restored from backup server locally through the menu "Server Admin ->Customer Management->Customer Name->Client Name->List of Backups->Actions->Proceed to Restore Backup" and transferred to client machine.
        or

      2. You had previously chosen the option "Restore the data to the local disk only and do not automatically restore the data into the exchange server (I will separately restore the 'locally restored data' into the Exchange Server later).

    2. Enter the local restore location and click "Submit Location" button to restore user mailbox data to Exchange Server from the local folder.

  • Step 1: Choose a backup server in case of multiple servers.

    This step allows you to choose the backup server if the replication feature was enabled in backup server for this client. This step has the following options:

    • Backup Name - The backup name is a non-editable field.

    • Backup Server - The backup server is non-editable if the backup schedule is backing up to only one server. But if the replication feature is enabled in the backup server for the client and replication server name is added/discovered in client machine, then choose the server from the choice box.

  • Step 2: Select Version To Restore

    Choose full or incremental backup versions based on the timestamp. A tree with a parent node represents a full backup and under it is a leaf node with timestamp representing an incremental backup. The leaf-node with the earliest timestamp represents the time when the full backup was done and all other time stamps represent incremental backup on top of that full backup. You can choose any version based on the timestamp for restore. Note that the tree in Step 3 loads the users' mailbox files based on the timestamp/version selected here. By default, the tree in step 3 is loaded for the latest backup of the backup schedule.

  • Step 3: Select backups for Exchange Mailbox restore

    ACCDataVault will list the files based on the timestamp/version you have chosen in the "Step 2". Choose appropriate mailbox to be recovered/restored to an Exchange Server from ACCDataVault backup server. In this step select the users' mailbox folders to be restored from the server.

  • Step 4: Confirm Restore Settings

    • Password - If the backup schedule is password protected, provide the password here.

    • Restore Location - Specify the location for restore. The restored files will be saved in this location but with their full original path - that way you know exactly where these files were in the first place!. Make sure the directory you provide for restore has enough disk space and has valid read and write permissions. It is recommended to provide an empty directory or a new directory path for the local restore location.

      Important : The directory specified in the restore location for restoring mailbox data must not contain the original or previously restored files or else the restore will fail.

  • Step 5: Confirm Exchange Mailbox Restore Settings

    This step restores the backed up mailbox data to the Exchange Server. By default the option "After restoring data from the backup server, continue to automatically restore the data into the Exchange Mailbox" is selected. This will restore the data to the Exchange Server. Alternatively, if you choose "Restore the data to the local disk only and do not automatically restore the data into the exchange server (I will separately restore the 'locally restored data' into the Exchange Server later)" the data will be in the specified restore location and will not be restored to the Exchange Server.

    • Exchange Server Name - Name of the Exchange Server from which users' mailboxes were configured for backup and to which data is to be restored.

  • Restore and Cancel Button - Once all the options are set and the users' mailbox to be restored are selected, click on the Restore button to restore the Exchange Mailbox. The status of the restore operation will be displayed in a pop-up browser window.

Troubleshooting Tips


Limitations

  1. The local restore location path name should not exceed the 256 character limit.
  2. The local restore location and the directory should not contain any of the previously restored files in it.
  3. ACCDataVault does not allow restoring the selected mailbox to an alternate Exchange Server. If needed, .PST files can be restored to alternate Exchange Server manually after restoring the files to local disk from backup server.
  4. While restoring the complete contents of the selected folder to the original mailbox folder, the existing folder contents will not be deleted prior to performing the restore and restore process will append all emails to the folders. It may result in duplicate email items within the original folder.
  5. Search and restoring individual mails is not supported, however restoring up to mailbox folders is supported using ACCDataVault Exchange Mailbox plugin.
  6. ACCDataVault will not be able to restore the user mailbox, if the user is deleted from the Active Directory and from the Exchange Server.
  7. Previous schedules cannot be restored in the client side after changing the dump location.
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