Troubleshooting Exchange Disaster Recovery Issues

During an Exchange 2003 restore, a restore.env file is created in the selected temporary folder. This file holds path information about the Exchange data, aiding the restore process in matching files with corresponding email stores. If the restore fails and the cleanup process does not delete the file, you can examine it in Notepad, or with ESEutil from the command line using the /cm extension.

Well-written applications display meaningful error messages when issues are encountered. Most applications create log files of the running processes, including any issues encountered by the process. The location of these logs can sometimes be obscure, so you may need to look in the application properties, the application folder, or the system folder, or even perform a search of the system.

In some instances, the application itself allows you to specify the location of the log file or requires you to specifically initiate one with a subcommand such as -dump. It is good practice to know how to require the creation of these logs and where these files are located for the tools you will be using well before you need to do a disaster recovery under pressure.

Errors are usually also written to the System and Application event logs by the application, and the system writes events that it encountered as a result of the operation, and you can view these in the Event Viewer. Bear in mind that system and hardware events may be equally relevant. Take note of the exact error message and any references and/or error numbers.

If the resolution is not obvious, you can use the resources listed in Appendix A, "SBS Resources," to help track down the cause of and resolution to the problem.