Exchange 2007 – CCR, restore, RSG and you

Exchange 2007 – CCR, restore, RSG and you

Posted by on 20. J 2010 in Blog

Okay, this blog-post is really just help for myself next time I encounter a need to restore something.

The scenario was – Try to restore just something in Exchange 2007 SP3 with a setup like this

Physical/Virtual servers:
DC1 (dc1.ilab.local) – domaincontroller, backup-server and general exchange management-server
MBX1 (mbx1.ilab.local) – Mailbox role
MBX2 (mbx2.ilab.local) – Mailbox role
CASHUB1 (cashub1.ilab.local) – Client Access role and Hub Transport role
CASHUB2 (cashub2.ilab.local – Client Access role and Hub Transport role

MBX1 and MBX2 are CCR-clustered to a name called MBX (mbx.ilab.local)
CASHUB1 and CASHUB2 are NLB’ed on the Client Access-role-side on port 80 and 443 to (mail.ilab.local)

Software:
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and all updates
Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3
Backup Exec 12 (and all updates)

Backups are taken onto tape – HP Ultrium 4 I think.. ILO, something.

Now to successfully restore something I had to do this:

  1. Create a new server called MBX3 which was not clustered and had loads of space
  2. Install the mailbox-role on the server
  3. Install a Backup Exec Remote Agent on it (note that Exchange-Agent is already builtin, no need to go search for another component 🙂 )
  4. Create a Storage Group of the exact same name of the one I’m trying to restore to
  5. Create a Mailbox database in the newly created storagegroup of the exactly same name of the one I’m trying to restore to
  6. Create a Recovery Storage Group that’s linked to this newly created Storage Group
  7. Use Backup Exec 12 to chose and entire mailbox database that I’d like to restore.. fx SG4DB
  8. Make sure under Exchange Redirection to redirect the Exchange Set to \\MBX3 and to redirect to the Recovery Storage Group created there.
  9. Submit the job, and wait.
  10. After successful restore (hopefully) I can use the builtin tool from the EMCs toolbox “Database Recovery Management” to Merge the restored mailboxes with the online ones. And yes, it WILL merge correctly into the correct storage group on the original MBX-mailboxserver.

Nothing happens to the newly created storage group and database of the exact same name – it will not use it, Backup Exec just wants it to be there, and the RSG to be linked to it.

Useful links:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997694(EXCHG.80).aspx
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/288635.htm

These links only help so far – I had to actually make this MBX3-server that was not part of the CCR-cluster to make a successful restore.

Amazon – Recommended Exchange 2007 book
How to Cheat at Configuring Exchange Server 2007: Including Outlook Web, Mobile, and Voice Access