Disaster recovery for Exchange Server 5.5

This procedure guides you through a complete restoration of Exchange Server 5.5 using Backup Exec. You should have already performed all the appropriate preparation.

See Preparing for disaster recovery of Exchange Server.

Always log on to Windows using the Administrator account (or an Administrator equivalent) during this procedure.

To properly recover Exchange, the Directory Store needs to be restored to a server that has the same computer name, and Domain, Organization, and Site name as the original. If these conditions are not met, the recovery will not be successful. Even if the only Directory Store backup available is of the original Directory Store, restore it, and then backfill changes from another server in the site.

If you use Intelligent Disaster Recovery, you can use Intelligent Disaster Recovery to recover your Exchange server.

See About Microsoft Exchange recovery notes.

To perform disaster recovery for Exchange Server 5.5

  1. Recover the Windows server first.

    See Returning to the last known good configuration.

    Make sure you restore the Exchange Server files that existed on all disk partitions.

    When the Windows server disaster recovery procedure is complete (after the last restart), recover the Exchange server.

  2. On the Exchange Server, click Start > Settings > Control Panel.

  3. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.

  4. Right-click Microsoft Exchange Directory service, and then click Properties.

  5. Restart the computer.

    Upon restart, a message is displayed stating that not all services could be started.

  6. Double-click the Microsoft Exchange Directory service, and then change the Startup Type to Automatic.

  7. Click OK.

  8. Verify that the Exchange System Attendant service is started.

  9. Start Backup Exec.

  10. Catalog the tapes that contain the latest full, incremental, and differential backups of the Exchange Stores you want to recover.

  11. On the navigation bar, click the arrow next to Restore.

  12. Click Restore.

  13. On the Properties pane, under Source, click Selections.

  14. On the restore selections list, select the latest full backups of the Directory and Information Stores for restore.

  15. Select all subsequent incremental Directory and Information Store backups.

    If differential backups are to be restored, only the last differential Directory and Information Store backups (the newest) need to be selected.

  16. On the Properties pane, under Settings, click Microsoft Exchange.

  17. Check Restore public folder and Restore private mailboxes.

  18. Uncheck No loss restore (do not delete existing transaction logs).

  19. Start the restore job.

  20. After the restore has completed, insert the Microsoft Exchange Server installation CD into the CD-ROM drive, open a command window, and copy the contents of the \setup\your processor type\bootenv directory on the Exchange CD to the \exchsrvr\mtadata directory on your hard drive:

    For example, assuming your Exchange installation is on drive C, your CD-ROM drive is drive D, and your processor type is Intel, you would type the following in a command window:

    copy d:\setup\i386\bootenv\*.* c:\exchsrvr\mtadata
    

    If you use File Manager or Windows Explorer to copy the files, you must remove the READ ONLY file attribute from the files after you copy them. If you do not remove this file attribute, the Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent service will not start.

  21. Using a command window, execute the following:

    \EXCHSRVR\BIN\ISINTEG -PRI -test mailbox, message, folder

    \EXCHSRVR\BIN\ISINTEG -PUB -test mailbox, message, folder

    \EXCHSRVR\BIN\MTACHECK

    If these diagnostics report errors, refer to your Exchange documentation regarding these utilities.

  22. Click Start >Settings>Control Panel.

  23. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.

  24. Start all of the Exchange services that have Automatic as a Startup Type.

    This should include the following:

    • Microsoft Exchange Directory

    • Microsoft Exchange Information Store

    • Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent

    • Microsoft Exchange System Attendant

  25. After the Exchange server is back online, it is recommended that you use the Exchange Administrator to run the Directory Store/Information Store (DS/IS) consistency adjuster in order to resolve any inconsistencies. Results of the consistency adjustment can be found in the Windows Event Log.

    For more information about the DS/IS consistency adjuster, refer to your Microsoft Exchange Server documentation.

  26. After completing the restore, it is recommended that a full backup of the restored databases be performed.