CyberSecure™ Microsoft Exchange® Recovery Tutorial

exchange online backup
Document Version: 1.0

Please follow the instructions below to recover a Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 / 2003 & 2007 using the CyberSecure Advanced client software.

  1. Prepare the system for your Exchange Server (if required).

    Install the original version of Windows and Exchange Server (with the same level of service pack as the original system) onto your hardware.

  2. Restore Windows Active Directory (if required)

    If you have re-installed Windows, please download the Windows System State backup file, named SystemState.bkf from CyberSecure online backup and then use NTBACKUP.exe to restore the system state by following the instructions below:

    1. Run ntbackup.exe from [Start] ->[Run]
    2. Press the [Restore Wizard] button and then press the [Next] button
    3. Press the [Import] button and use the [Browse] button to select the backup file [SystemState.bkf] that was downloaded
    4. Select the checkbox next to the description that matches your backup file
    5. Press the [Next] button and then the [Finish] button
  3. Install CyberSecure Online Backup Advanced (if required)

    Please refer to the installation section of the Advanced user guide for instructions on installing CyberSecure Online Backup Advanced on your hardware.

  4. Start the [Microsoft Inforation Store] services from [Control Panel] -> [Administrative Tools] -> Services
  5. Restore the exchange database(s) from backup:
    1. Download the database backup files to be restored from the CyberSecure Online Backup (or find the cached copy available in the temporary directory defined in your backup set) and save them to your hard disk (ensuring that the directory structure is the same as it appears on the browser).
    2. If the database to be restored exists on your computer already, please dismount it from the services using [Start] -> [Programs] -> [Microsoft Exchange] -> [System Manager]
    3. Use ExchangeRestore.exe (or ExRestore2k7.exe for MS Exchange 2007) from the [bin] directory under the installation path of CyberSecure Advanced, (eg: C:\Program Files\CyberSecure Online Backup Advanced\bin\ExchangeRestore.exe) to restore the exchange database(s).

      Simply run exchangerestore.exe to print the usage text

    4. (Example #1) To restore all databases from backup available in [F:\backup] to an exchange server named [WIN2000SVR] using the temporary directory [F:\temp], you can use this command:

      exchangeRestore.exe DIR="F:\backup" TEMP="F:\temp" SERVER="WIN2000SVR"

    5. (Example #2) To restore the database named [mail] in storage group [SG5] from backup available in [F:\backup] to an exchange server named [WIN2000SVR] using the temporary directory [F:\temp], you can use this command:

      exchangeRestore.exe DIR="F:\backup" TEMP="F:\temp" SERVER="WIN2000SVR" SERVICE="Microsoft Information Store" STORAGE="SG5" DATABASE="mail1"

    6. Repeat the same procedure for each database to be restored on the Exchange server
    7. You can use [Start] -> [Programs] -> [Administrative Tools] -> [Event Viewer] to check if there are any errors generated from the exchange databases restoring activities
  6. However, if ExchangeRestore.exe still cannot mount the restored files and returns with strange errors (eg. bad signature or null errors), the exchange server may have incorrectly spooled the backup files in the first place.

    Please try to mount the restored database and log files manually by the following instructions:

    1. In the MS exchange system manager, dismount both the Mailbox Store and Public Folder Store from the server.
    2. Copy all the restored database files to the MBDATA folder (by default, the MBDATA folder is located under C:\Program Files\Exchgsvr\ Mailbox Store:
      • priv1.edb
      • priv1.stm
      Public Folder Store:
      • pub1.edb
      • pub1.stm
    3. Run "eseutil /r" to apply the transaction log files to bring the database to a consistent state, eg:

      C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA> ..\bin\eseutil /r e00

      The above command will try to bring all the databases handled by the transaction log files starting with "00" located in C:\Program Files\Exchsvr\MDBDATA into clean shutdown state.
    4. Run eseutil /p to repair the database files, eg:

      C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA> ..\bin\eseutil /p priv1.edb
      C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA> ..\bin\eseutil /p pub1.edb

    5. Mount both Mailbox Store and Public Folder Store to the Server through the MS Exchange System Manager
  7. The exchange server has now been successfully recovered