Restoring Exchange 5.5 from off line backup

Why are you running a /P against the database?
Is the Directory Service started when you ran ISINTEG -PATCH?

Anyway lets try to resolve your problem.
You will not be able to use the DIR.EDB from the original server on this server. The reason being that the actual Exchange Service account does not exist on this recovery server. The original account has a SID that is hardcoded into the DIR.EDB upon install.

So remove Exchange 5.5 completely from the recovery server.
Reboot.
Install Exchange 5.5. Make sure you use the same ORG and SITE names as the original. You can check these by looking at the properties of each. What you want is the DIRECTORY NAME. The ORG is case sensitive.

Apply the same Exchange service pack as the original server has.
Stop the Information Store service.
Rename the MDBDATA folder on ALL drives to MDBDATA.ORG. Create a new MDBDATA folder wherever you renamed one.
Place the offline copy of the PRIV.EDB and PUB.EDB into the appropriate folder.
Try to start the IS service. You should get a -1011 error.
Open a command prompt and change to the EXCHSRVR\BIN folder.
Run the following:
ISINTEG -PATCH
Start the IS service.
You will need to run a DS/IS consistency check to create directory objects for each mailbox and public folder.

Hope this helps.

That an interesting way of doing it.

I like the rename thing...

I'm in the process of re-installing Exchange. Our database is 18gig, so it will take some time moving it over.

I'll keep you posted... Thanks.

My other question to you is, if I use NTBACKUP on the exchange server to backup the IS, how do I use it to restore to another server??

Did I stump you on this one??

Joeteck

You will be able to restore provided the server name is the same as the original server.
Because it must be the same name, the recovery server must be on a different network.

Ok, I was able to get the database online!!!
But since the directory is empty how do I get to use them again?

This is completly worthless without the directory...

The database is A-OK, but not useable..

What kind of restore is this? Not a very good one, thats for sure.

Any additional help would be great.

I can't imagine that no one had to restore an exchange server....

Is there a way to patch the DIR.EDB file?

Joeteck

I'm sorry, but I've been at this for a long time, and I'm very frustrated with it.

On a NT 4.0 system, it is much easier.

I'm trying to do a disastery / recover plan and I need to be able to restore from a backup.

What's the point of backing up data, if you can't use it??

Thanks for understanding my frustration.

Joe

You stated:
"Ok, I was able to get the database online!!!
But since the directory is empty how do I get to use them again?"

You missed the step about running a DS/IS consistency check.
This will create entries in the DIR.EDB for all the mailboxes and public folders.
You will then need to go into the properties of each mailbox and assign the proper primary NT account.
Steps for DS/IS:
Select the Server Object (Organization, Site, Configuration, Servers, servername), click File, click Properties (or press ALT+ENTER), and then click the Advanced tab.
Under DS/IS Consistency adjustment, click All Inconsistencies, and click Adjust.
 

"What's the point of backing up data, if you can't use it??"
Normally you restore back to the production server. This would be very easy.
What you are doing is restoring to another (recovery) server.
This is usually done if you need to restore only part of the backup such as 1 or 2 mailboxes.

See the following:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;163713
XADM: Recovering a Single Mailbox from the Online Backup

The article below tells how to create a recovery server so that you can restore your DIR.EDB. You will need to modify these steps some. You will need to use NT 4.0 initially as your OS. After this is isolated to the LAB network and promoted to a PDC, you will have to upgrade it to Windows 2000 and then proceed through the article. If you are running in Windows 2000 Native mode on your production network, you may no be able to do this though.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;177635
XADM: How to Set Up a Disaster Recovery Server for Dir.edb

"On a NT 4.0 system, it is much easier."
Remember this:
Exchange 5.5 came out before Windows 2000. While you can run Exchange 5.5 on a Windows 2000 AD, recovery steps are not quite as simple as they were on NT 4.0.
What will help is if you have a firm understanding of the process required with NT 4.0, then you can adapt it to work with Windows 2000.

After you get this to work, DOCUMENT the steps for future reference.
Then go through these steps again and make sure it works. The last thing you need is to have to try to remember a forgotten step in the midst of a disaster.

Let me know if you need more assistance.

Holy! Nice post!!

That worked well.

This is my procedure now:

1.      Install Windows 2000 server.
2.      Setup drive C: & E: (drive e: will be where to store the database for recovery)
3.      Install SP2, and then run MS update.
4.      Install Word & Outlook 2000 only.
5.      Create a folder on drive E: called DATA then inside that make another folder called DRIVE-C. Go to the server DC2 and copy over the folder “exchsrvr\MDBdata”  which are located in the Exchange folder.
6.      Remove network cable & rename server to: yourservername

7.      Plug network cable in an empty switch off the network.

8.      RUN DCPROMO and setup the server as a new DC with DNS & AD. Domain: yourdomain.com and NetBIOS name: yourdomain

9.      Install MS Exchange 5.5, then install SP4 for exchange 5.5
      Site name: YourSiteName
      Organization name: OrgName <- this is here by default, make it lower case.

10. Performance Optimizer, should reflect these locations:
Private information store:      C:\
Public Information store:      C:\
Information Store logs             C:\
Directory Service               C:\
Directory Service Logs            C:\
Message Transfer Agent           C:\

11.      Rename the MDBdata folder to MDBdata.ORG, make a new folder called MDBDATA
12.      Copy the files without the logs from the location where you stored them, to c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata folder.
13.      Start the system attendant & the directory services.
14.      Go to START> RUN and type CMD > enter. Go to the C:\exchsrvr\bin folder and type ISINTEG –patch. C:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv.mdb It Should say patch successful.
15.      Start the Information store and then run Exchange administrator.
16.      Select the Server Object (Organization, Site, Configuration, Servers, servername), click File, click Properties and then click the advanced tab.
17.      Under DS/IS Consistency adjustment, check off Synchronize with the directory and click All Inconsistencies, and click Adjust.
18.      You will need to point all the mailboxes to the appropriate accounts in the directory.
19.      If the database is corrupt and can’t start go to step 20.
20.      We need to see if the database is consistant, Type eseutil /mh in the same folder your in and Scroll up. If it say inconsistent then type eseutil /p /ispriv, this will take about 25 Minutes to an hour. Type eseutil /p /ispub for the public store. You may not have to do the next test, but if the database fails to start type this at the CMD prompt: isnteg –fix –pri –test alltests This will test and fix any database problems. This May take 20 minutes or more to complete. Change –pri with –pub for the public store.

To defrag the exchange database, do the following: c:\exchsrvr\bin\eseutil /d /ispriv                                                                                                            


My procedure for NT 4.0 was very simular, I changed it to the above.

Joe