Setting Up Recovery Storage Groups

Recovery Storage groups are new to Exchange 2003, a feature that has been in demand by administrators for many years. Recovery Storage Groups facilitate restoring Exchange mailboxes without having to bring up another server or shut down the production email server or restore an entire storage group just to get one single mailbox.

Caution

During the recovery process, transaction and system files are created. These files will require at least as much disk space as the original databases of the mailboxes to be restored. Make sure enough disk space is available before beginning the recovery process.

To create a recovery storage group, use the following steps:

1.	In ESM, expand the Servers node and then right-click the server to work with. Point to New on the short menu and then select New Recovery Storage Group. Note Remember, the recovery storage group must reside in the same administrative group as the server for which to recover mailboxes.
2.	On the Recovery Storage Group Properties page, shown in Figure 13.3, type a descriptive name for the Recovery Storage Group into the Name field. Figure 13.3. Creating a Recovery Storage Group in Exchange 2003.
3.	The default location for the transaction log and the system path will be automatically set. Use the Browse button to configure alternative file and system path locations. Caution Make sure that the system file and transaction log locations are different from the original files. Do not overwrite files!
4.	Click OK to create the recovery storage group.