Restoring an Exchange Server...

[PHead2]

I'm trying to restore an excahnge server. I've got the latest version of backup exec with patches and all that...

I installed the OS and then restored everything from tape.

My problem is that there's alot of problem's with the restored server. The drivers aren't the correct ones and I can't get the coferencing server to start.

Is there a specific order things should be restored in?

I thought I'd get a mirror image of the server from when I backed it, but this isn't at all the case...

 

[flosofl]

I just got done doing this and there is a lot to do.

1 - are you doing "hot" backups using the Veritas Exchange Agent?
2 - Do you do any "cold" backups of the Info Store?

Here's how I did it - I took the old server offline. I installed (NOT restored from tape) Win2000 on new hardware. I used the same NetBIOS name/IP Address and put it in the Directory Tree. I then installed Exchange (in this case 5.5 but should work for 2000) and made sure all the same patches/service packs were installed (both exchange and win2000). I then shut down all services. I did a cold restore of the exchange datafiles. Fired up the services. Tested it and then restore to the last "hot" backup. All in all about 18GB in 5 hrs.

Now, technically I could have restored the entire server from tape (providing I had the EXACT same hardware), but I did not have identical hardware to work on, and felt any troubleshooting due to hardware issues would take longer. Incidently, I have restored entire systems (data, OS, system state, etc...) without problems using Veritas. (and these were Domain Controllers in an Active Directory tree).

I hope this helps...

flosofl

 

[jlta]

there is a way of restoring to a machine with a different name, etc but its not exactly easy. We have a pc set up with win2k sp2 and exchange server all set up on it just waiting for an exchange restore. Basically what i do is restore the information stores striaght onto the pc into the right locations then stop and start the exchange services - this will fail and return an error. Usually the same one every time. From there i jump onto another pc to trouble shoot the problem. I use MSDN (PC ver not net ver) which is pretty handy for doing this kind of work.

Once that problems out of the way i stop and restart the services again. This will fail again... but give a different error. Usually it takes about 3 or 4 error codes before the store is going and once youve done it a few times you learn which error is which and how to solve them.

All the errors have pretty basic fixes like running an exe with a few switches.

If anyone knows a better way of restoring an information store, i would really like to hear it. Because after doing one restore and setting it all up, i cant seem to get it going again without reinstalling windows and exchange.

 

[PHead2]

I wound up following the procedure in the first reply more or less - I installed everything and just restored the essential things, but I was hoping I could do a full restore from tape. I was restoring to the exact same machine the backups were made from.

My first try involved installing the bare minimum (OS and NIC drivers) and then restoring the system state followed by the C: drive and then the information store and logs.

As soon as I restored the system state the display went back to the default setting you get if you have no driver (16 colors, 640x480) and my NICs disapeared from their control panels (I could still use them though, I just couldn't configure them). I couldn't configure the display settings either. I tried reinstalling the drivers but it didn't help.

I went ahead and resotred everything else just to see what I ended up with (this was all for test, I'm evaluating backup options right now).

I couldn't get many of the services to start and I there was no ability to configure many things that needed configuring.

I did email Veritas, they recommended re-applying any service packs and rebooting the server. I never got a chance to try this (I ended needing that server) but will run through this again when I get a chance...