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From: underice on 22 Mar 2010 11:08
Hi all,

I'm having an issue trying to recover data from a crashed Exchange
2003 Server.

I rebuilt the server (same domain/computer name) and rebuilt all the
mailboxes as they were before.

I recovered the .edb and .stm files and ran eseutil to make sure it
was shut down clean and there wasn't any corruption. I used the /mh
switch

Exchange 2003 is at service pack2

I've copied the .edb and .stm files to the recovery storage group
folder

Then added a recovery storage group from within Exchange system
manager.

But no mailbox store appears, I've let it sit for a couple hours (10
gb database) but nothing ever appears.

I'm not sure what's happening here. It should be pretty straight
forward but nothing ever shows up..

Ideas? I'm running out of ideas...

Thanks!
From: M on 22 Mar 2010 17:48
Hello:

To be blunt, you did this the wrong way. The RSG is not intended to be used
in the situation that you've described.

If you want to recover a crashed Exchange server, you need to run setup with
the DisasterRecovery switch.

Basically what happens with this switch is that once you've renamed the
recovery server to the same name as the failed production server and added
it to the domain, the /DisasterRecovery switch will pull all Exchange Server
configuration data from AD for the failed server and restore it to the
recovery server after installing the Exchange binaries.

Some important requirements are that the OS patch levels, Exchange required
components, and partition configurations are identical on both servers.

Based on info from
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Recovering-Failed-Exchange-2003-Member-Server-Using-Disaster-Recovery-Switch.html,
here's what you need to do in a nutshell:
1.) If the failed server's hard drive is accessible and functioning, try to
make an offline copy of the databases just in case the restore fails.
2.) Reset the failed Exchange server's computer account in ADUC.
3.) Set up the recovery server.
a. Make sure the disk volumes are set up with exactly the same drive letters
as that of the failed server and that the OS is installed in the exact same
path. The drives must have at least as much space as the failed server's
drives.
b. Perform a regular OS install using the same OS version and computer name
as that of the failed server's. Since you reset the computer account, the
duplicate name should not be an issue. Give the recovery server the failed
server's IP address.
c. Install the same OS SPs and hotfixes. There are no special parameters
needed for these.
d. Install the same backup/restore software and updates that were on the
failed server.
e. Install Exchange with the /DisasterRecovery switch to the exact same path
as that of the failed server.
f. Install the same Exchange SPs and hotfixes as those on the failed server.
IMPORTANT: SPs should be installed with the /DisasterRecovery switch also.
4.) The /DisasterRecovery switch recreates the storage groups and stores on
the new server, but does not mount the stores. Delete the Recovery Storage
Group as this could cause issues, per the article.
5.) Restore all the databases and then mount them and verify that you can
access them from several clients (Outlook, OWA, OMA, etc).

--
Regards,
M
MCTS, MCSA
http://SysAdmin-E.com

"underice" <tom(a)highlandsupport.com> wrote in message
news:c7960af0-c1eb-4c11-beeb-1b5446b7684b(a)z11g2000yqz.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm having an issue trying to recover data from a crashed Exchange
> 2003 Server.
>
> I rebuilt the server (same domain/computer name) and rebuilt all the
> mailboxes as they were before.
>
> I recovered the .edb and .stm files and ran eseutil to make sure it
> was shut down clean and there wasn't any corruption. I used the /mh
> switch
>
> Exchange 2003 is at service pack2
>
> I've copied the .edb and .stm files to the recovery storage group
> folder
>
> Then added a recovery storage group from within Exchange system
> manager.
>
> But no mailbox store appears, I've let it sit for a couple hours (10
> gb database) but nothing ever appears.
>
> I'm not sure what's happening here. It should be pretty straight
> forward but nothing ever shows up..
>
> Ideas? I'm running out of ideas...
>
> Thanks!


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