Is a replica PDC really necessary to restore a single mailbox ???

[gavman]

Lots of conflicting ideas on this one - I have rebuilt a replica exchange server and done a restore through Arcserve.
Everything is identical - before restoring I deleted the contents of dsadata and mdbdata, stopped all services except MTA and it still won't restore. Also can't restart the services. I inherited this problem and think that the problem may be because the original exchange server was also a BDC - I rebuilt the replica as a BDC as well - any good ideas out there? Have not yet tried a replica PDC but will if this is DEFINITELY the way to go....

 

[david902]

eek, time to rebuild, what happend to the BDC when your PDC goes topsey turvey ! your exchange server will be your PDC. Talk about security issues !!!! This issue is certainly more critical than restoring an exchange server ( from tech point of view, not users )

ya can't have two PDC's in the same domain, you will need to build a seperate network and move your tape drive/pc into the other dummie domain, whether this is possible, depends on hardware.... and you wouldn't be able to run regular backups while the tape drive /pc in in the dummie domain....

 

[soonerland]

If I understand what you are asking, should this BDC be a PDC for the restore purposes? The answer would definitely be NO.

As for the restore issue and starting services, you need to have the exact same structure when building a test bed like this. It should be off the network though.

 

[Vos]

In the past, I've been able to restore the information store by building a server in a test domain on the same network. The only requirement is that it has the exact same org name and site name as the Exchange server. After you restore the IS, you'll need to setup the permissions on the new box, but it's better having your restore box become the PDC of your production domain.

 

[gavman]

Thanks for all the response.
Soonerland: I wasn't planning on promoting the BDC/Exchange server to a PDc in the test domain. I wanted to know if it was necessary to build a (separate) replica PDC on the test domain with a backup of the SAM database.
Vos: can you expand on the permissions aspect?
David902: I am aware of the security issue here and will be making recommendations to change the setup ASAP.
The question still is - do I need to have a PDC on my test domain to restore a single mailbox from backup?