Disaster Recovery for a Single Mailbox
Nicolas Macarez wrote:
I have an issue with a user who has deleted the Sent Items folder in
his mailbox (Microsoft Outlook 2003 SP2) - still less than seven days
ago, default time of retention in Exchange.
I don't see how. The delete option isn't available for default folders.
Unfortunately, he has done a hard delete (SHIFT+Del) and the registry
settings DumpsterAlwaysOn was not set prior to the disaster.
So the Recovery Deleted Items feature in Outlook is of no use.
My platform is :
Production server: Dell PowerEdge 2850 running W2K3 SP1, Exchange 2K3
SP2, acting as a DC for the domain. Recovery Storage groups were set
up a few months ago.
Backup server with a nice backup of the System State and the Exchange
Database (37 GB), not too old.
Spare server: Dell PowerEdge 850 with a clean install of W2K3 SP1 -
nothing more.
At that step I have two options:
++ Either use the Recovery Storage Groups and use the ExMerge utility
to extract a nice PST for the user who lost his Sent Items folder.
Pros: Standard procedure
Cons: Downtime of the server (I need to dismount the First Storage
Group database). I am a bit nervous to take the risk to work on the
production server for the purpose of the recovery of a single folder
of a single mailbox of a single user...
++ Either try the following:
Since I have a spare server (Dell PowerEdge 850) I thought it would
be nice to proceed as follows:
1. Clean install of W2K3 SP1 on the spare server (same name, same IP
address, same domaine name, not connected on the LAN - of course, in
order to avoid DCs talking to each other).
2. Restore of the System State from the production server on the spare
server
3. Installation of Exchange Server 2K3 on the spare server
4. Restore of the Exchange database on the spare server
5. Extraction of the mailbox with the ExMerge utility from this new
Exchange restored database.
The issue is that my spare server is all messed up after the restore
of the System State. I do have the AD proper (users and computers)
but since the hardware is different and the registry was also
restored, the server is acting weirdly (event IE doesn't work), let
alone try to install Exchange.
Am I really stuck to use the RSG?
A lot of these questions are better asked in microsoft.public.exchange.admin
--
Brian Tillman
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