Reinstallation of failed 2003 server (exchange).. help?

[markm75]

I'm reinstalling our failed 2003 exchange server.. do i have this procedure correct?:

Reinstall the OS.. do not join to domain yet.. right click server name in ADUC, reset account.. then join rebuilt server to domain..

Install Exchange 2003 to where we used to have it (same path, but move our existing mailbox files out of there initially).. do standard install.. install latest service patch that we were using...

Then dismount the store..

Copy our mailbox files to the proper location and remount..

At this point it should be back up and running?

Do i also still need to reset all the SMTP settings that we had before.. or will those somehow get imported from the mailbox files or Active Directory?

Thanks for the help

 

[RichardHuang]

After reinstalling the server and joining the domain, I would do disasterrecovery install instead of clean install on this server. The exchange installation will pickup all the old settings (including all policies, smtp settings, etc) from AD and if your information store still good, it will use them directly. I have done this one time on a crashed server and it worked like a charm....

 

[markm75]

Cool.. very useful thanks..

So all I should need is my two mdb files (public and private) mailbox files?

IE: I dont need the other files from the other directories? (they were corrupted , most of them)..

Do I somehow import them during the recovery.. or do they need to go to a certain path before hand..

Thanks again

 

[RichardHuang]

The datagbase/stm files are all you need, and they should be in the same path like before, because the AD remembers the old settings.

 

[58sniper]

install the OS and then restore the system state from backup.

install Exchange using the /disasterrecovery switch

restore data from backup

enjoy the weekend.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[pghebreyesus]

did this help you ? I am about to do the same thing ...please let me know ..

 

[markm75]

Sorry.. haven't had a chance to follow up..

Yep.. worked out fairly well.. though I think our database was corrupt... so i did the dreaded eseutil /p command after all was said and done.

I also used the /disasterrecovery switch after doing the initial install on the sp2 setup (update.exe )..

Then restored the database to its original location and in the end we were back up and running.

A few things still needed to be set manually..

These included IIS settings (Importing the ssl cert)... Importing certs into the local stores so that things like Activesync and rpc over http would work again..

Running through the whole RPC over http setup steps..

I think that was it..

Otherwise, all regular smtp settings were retrieved from AD.. just make sure you reset the account, then install the OS and join to the domain for that machine.. do not delete the computer account from AD.. or this will create a fun mess, as i found out one time before