Recover Single Mailbox

[hotblacktar]

Hello
I have Exchange 5.5 running on NT Server 4 with the latest service packs.

I need recover a single user's mailbox and in order to do so I am instructed by MS to build a recovery server identical to the production mail server and restore the entire IS.

In article Q163713 MS states that the recovery server needs to be in a "lab" and to give the same Site and Organization name as the production server. Does this mean that the recovery cannot be on the network with the production Exchange server? If it is on the network is it possible to give the recovery server the same Site and Org name without disturbing the production server?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Zelandakh]

It has to be same org, site and server name to restore correctly. It therefore has to be different physical LAN or you'll get all hell breaking loose.

What backup software are you using? Can't you restore from there?

 

[hotblacktar]

ArcservIT 6.61. I am not sure what you mean by "Can't you restore from there?" I can restore from that location but I don't want to overwrite the IS on the production server with a backup tape from a few days ago since I only need to restore a single user who erased some sub-folders in his Inbox.

So I should build a mini replica of my production network for this and possibly other recovery scenarios?

 

[Zelandakh]

Doesn't ArcServe do brick level restore? I don't know the product as I'm a Backup Exec user...

 

[Zelandakh]

You need a brick level backup solution to be able to do this regularly...

 

[hotblacktar]

I do not do Brick Level. Just the whole Information Store.

 

[gslist]

Can you not recover the deleted folders from the dumpster? This assumes you have set that option to ON and have enough days left before the messages are fully deleted.

gslist

 

[davewright100]

If you don't mind spending about £600 try looking at Ontrack's PowerControls - restore the .edb from the necessary day then open PowerControls.

You can restore to a .pst or an active mailbox.

Dave

 

[maxmanbug]

As long as you give your backup server a unique name it does not have to be in a different domain, but it MUST be set up with the same OS and SP. We have a dedicated backup server for our Exchange restores (big company, lots of requests). You set up the Exch Admin EXACTLY as it appears in your environment and restore to that server. You then create a profile to extract the backup info and import it into the users existing mailbox. If you only do this occasionally you may not want to keep the configuration on the server but since it does require a lot of set up you can leave the box sitting there with no adverse effects.

 

[maxmanbug]

Forgot to add the most important piece DO NOT JOIN the site, that will make it a real pain for you.