restore public folders to diff exchange server

[prha]

Hi.
I had some trouble with my exchange server which resulted in exchange being reinstalled and the server renamed. During this process I lost the public folders.
I have a backup on DLT tape of all the public folders. I am trying to restore them via Backupexec, with an Exchange redirection but it fails. It seems to have a problem with the fact that the server the folders were backed up from no longer exists.
Even when I try to restore to 2nd Exchange folder that has not been renamed, it fails.
Does anyone know a way around this? It seems like something that should be pretty straight forward yet I fails every time?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[nifterz]

what folder are you renaming and what is the message you are reciving ? is it access denied? when i tested backup exec for our network i was using 10d and was backing up exchange and restoring to a second server for disaster recovery test.

i had some problems at first with access denied errors but found if i renamed the infomation store as the same as the first server it restored all no problem. i cannot say the same for 11d as i have yet to test this but maybe the same.

have you managed to restore anything with the redirect?

 

[prha]

Hi,

It's not the folder I am renaming. I am trying to restore all the public folders to a server which I have renamed. (used to be serverA, now it's called serverB.)
The restore job I set up is to restore all the public folders to the new server.
When I go through the log file, it lists all the public folders and contents one by one, with the following:
V-79-57344-33928 - Access denied - unable to restore directory "directory".
I have tried adding an alternative account in credentials with sufficient rights, but this also fails, with same message.
Even when I try to restore without redirecting, even though it says that it will fall back to the main agent server, it fails.

Many thanks for the advice.

 

[nifterz]

ok if the infomation store was called

infomation store (severA)

when backed up and now you are trying to restore to

infomation store (serverB)

rename it to infomation store (serverA)

 

[prha]

Will give that a go. Just want to check a few things though.
Will that not have implications on the exchange services? (I am a bit nervous to change things on live Exchange) Do I literally, right click the Public Folder store (Server1) and rename to Public Folder store (server2)?
Does it not matter that the main mailbox store or the server name is called Server1?
I guess I'm a bit dubious as to whether this will work as I am having so much trouble restoring, and also am worried about having an impact on the live mail server.
I have not found any advice on the web at all to tell me something so simple...
Thanks for your help.

 

[nifterz]

basicly this is what i done.

backed up infoamtion store (serverA)= Live server

installed exchange onto server B = recovery server

renamed infomation store on server B to infomation store (server A)

restored data with no access denied errors

renamed server B to server A and was back in business

bit of a Black art i know lol

 

[prha]

Hi,

I managed to find a spare server with exchange etc installed. I renamed and restored, then exported to .pst and restored via import of .pst
Thanks for all the advice.
I'm sure public folders never used to be this much hassle!

 

[steveot]

Its always been this way this is a limitation of Microsoft not Backup Exec.

 

[nifterz]

No worries glad you got it sorted in the end. i will be testing 11d soon on a disaster recovery so im sure i will be having fun and games again

 

[badmandan]

Hi nifterz and prha,

I think you two fabulous people may just have saved me hours and hours of work! ... i would be extremely grateful if you could clarify some issues for me:

Did you create a second email server in your domain to restore to? (i.e not in a child domain or trusted external domain)

Is it safe to create a second email server whilst the original server is still running in the same domain, and in constant use? ( will it cause any harm to my domain/active directory or users if i install a second server on the domain to restore to?)

How did you configure your second server? - did you build it, service pack it, and then redirect the database to it?

On the restore email server does the exchange organisation and administrative group name have to be identical to the original server?

Any other pointers or tips will be very gratefully received.

Thank you in advance for any help rendered.


further details follow if that helps...

regards

dan




My setup
I have to restore a public folder information database so that i can get at one public folder that some user has deleted. My original server (called 'email') is operational and in use.

I have read from Symantec that i have to create a separate domain complete with 'trusts' to the original domain. Then redirect my database to the new email server in the new domain. This seems to be very time consuming. Is there another method?

 

[prha]

Hi,

Best to recreate the server completely separately. We recreated everything the same, domain name, IP addresses, server name etc. Exchange settings, folder stores etc. This way we ensured the restore worked. Then export all public folders to a PST and restore that to the live Exchange server via outlook with permissions.
I restored to my mailbox and then moved them to the public folder store one by one.

hope this helps

 

[badmandan]

Hi prha,

Thanks for the tips! i had a look at the MS site and found that one domain can only have one exchange orgaisation. Thus i have created a new domain complete with exchange server (as per veritas instruction) and am going to follow the guide here:

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/247985.htm

Im only installing the exchange server at the moment and hope to start the restore process tomorrow. Ill keep the thread posted with my results.

Kind Regards
Dan

 

[nifterz]

hello,

You can restore to another server with a difefrent name but it is a nightmare to mount the database, you have to use ESEUTIL to repair it first and that can take a long time to do its thing, depending on the size of the database.

dont know if you will have any problems being a different domain but deffently have the restore server with the same netbios name as the one you backed up and all should restore fine