Recipe11.8.Recovering an Individual Mailbox from a Database Backup

Recipe 11.8. Recovering an Individual Mailbox from a Database Backup

Problem

A single mailbox was deleted from your Exchange server and is not available using deleted mailbox recovery; you have a backup from the time frame before the mailbox was deleted.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

Prior to beginning the recovery process, check to see if you have set a retention period for deleted mailboxes:

Launch Exchange System Manager.
Browse to the mailbox store where the deleted mailbox used to live.
Right-click the mailbox store and select the Properties command.
Click the Limits tab. If the value in the Keep Deleted Mailboxes for (days) area in the Deletion Settings portion of the tab is greater than zero, and the mailbox was deleted within the number of days shown, you can use the method in Recipe 11.10 to retrieve the mailbox. The default deleted mailbox retention time in Exchange 2000 and 2003 is 30 days.

If the mailbox is not recoverable through deleted mailbox recovery steps, there are a few more hoops to jump through. If you are running Exchange Server 2003, follow the instructions in Recipe 11.11 to restore the backup to the RSG. If you are running Exchange 2000, follow the instructions in Recipe 11.6 within a non-production environment, including a domain controller moved from production into the offline environment. Then you can proceed to actually recover the mailbox.

Create a user account in your nonproduction AD with the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in; when prompted, assign a username and password that you'll remember. Leave the Create an Exchange Mailbox checkbox blank; this account should not be mail-enabled.
Launch Exchange System Manager and browse to the mailbox store within the RSG (or the nonproduction store on the recovery server, if you are using Exchange 2000) you created in step 1 of this recipe. If the mailbox that you need to restore does not have a red X on its icon, run the Mailbox Cleanup Agent. Right-click the Mailboxes object and choose Run Cleanup Agent from the list. This will disassociate the mailbox with its original user object in AD.
In the open Exchange System Manager console, right-click the mailbox you need to restore and click Reconnect; select the user account created in step 2 of this recipe as the connection point. Click OK.
Recover the data within the mailbox:
1. Use an Outlook client to connect to the mailbox and export the data to a PST file using File Import and Export and choosing the Export to a File option. Click Next. Select Personal Folder File (.pst) from the list of options. Click Next. Select the top-level Mailbox object and check the Include Subfolders box; click Next. Choose where you want the data archived on the recovery server.
2. Use the Exchange Mailbox Merge (ExMerge) tool to export the contents of the mailbox to a PST file by following the instructions in Recipe 11.1. (You can use ExMerge in two-step mode and immediately import the PST into the live information store.)
If you are using Exchange 2000 and needed to restore the database to an alternate server, you will need to follow these steps; if you are using Exchange Server 2003, proceed to step 8:
Shut down and disable all Exchange-related services on the recovery server by going to Start Administrative Tools Services. Right-click each item that begins with Microsoft Exchange in the Services console and select Stop. Then right-click each item that begins with Microsoft Exchange and select Properties from the drop-down list; change the Startup type area to Disabled and click OK.
If you used the same server name that is used on the production server for the recovery server, rename the recovery server with a name that is not in use on the production network.
Connect the recovery server to the production network.
For both:
Import the PST file with the mailbox contents to the appropriate mailbox on the production server by opening the mailbox in Outlook and selecting File Import from the menu.

Discussion

This recipe addresses how to recover a deleted mailbox in either Exchange 2000 or Exchange Server 2003. The RSG in Exchange Server 2003 makes this process much simpler, as you do not need to pull a domain controller offline, and you also do not need to set up a nonproduction Exchange server to do the recovery.