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Exchange Server restore

BackupAssist File Protection, File Archiving and System Protection use the Volume Shadow Copy service (VSS) to back up your Exchange Server while it is running. BackupAssist can use these backups to restore your Exchange Server or individual storage groups (EDB databases).

If you have the Exchange Granular add-on, these backups can also be used to perform an Exchange Granular Restore

ClosedShow : Restore considerations

Exchange Server restores

Restoring Exchange databases back into their Exchange Server is a straight forward process. However, complications can arise when you restore Exchange databases into a new Exchange Server or try to restore the entire Exchange Server application. This is because once Exchange Server is installed, it will often have dependencies on other systems. For Example, with the operating system and Active Directory. Specific installation options can also create compatibility problems for full Exchange Server restores or database restores into new Exchange Servers.

For this reason, it is often easier to perform a recovery of the full Exchange Server rather than just restoring the Exchange Server application. If you want to be able to perform a recovery if your Exchange Server, your backup rotation will need to use or include System Protection bare-metal backups. To learn more, see System Recovery

Note: Restoring an Exchange Server may require preparations and considerations that go behind the scope of the restoration of the data. The Microsoft’s Exchange Server restore resources should be consulted before planning and performing an Exchange Server restore.

ClosedShow : Hyper-V considerations

Host files

The Exchange Server restore option allows you to restore a Microsoft Exchange Server or individual storage groups (EDB databases) from the Hyper-V host to their original location or a new location.

Full guest

The restoration of a Hyper-V guest is a recovery. To lean more, see Full VM Recovery

ClosedShow : Data container considerations

System Protection backups can use Data containers as backup destinations. BackupAssist automatically mounts Data containers when restores are performed. However, there may be times when you want to do this manually. For example, if you want to check what is inside a Data container or have it available for another task.

To manually mount a Data container:

  1. Open Disk Management.

    2. For Windows Server 2008 R2, SBS 2011 and Windows 7

    1. Click the Start button.
    2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Search Programs and Files text box.
    3. Click OK.

    For Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 and later

    1. Open Run from the Apps screen.
    2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Search Programs and Files text box.
    3. Click OK.

    The Disk Management console will open.

    Disk Management Console

  2. Select Action from the Disk Management menu.
  3. Select the menu option Attach VHD.
  4. Enter the path of the Data container that you want to mount and click OK.

    5. You will now have a drive named BA_VHD_Container in your list of available drives.

  5. Right click BA_VHD_Container, select Change Drive Letter and Paths, and select Add.
  6. Select a drive letter for the Data container, using the drop down box, and select OK.

    7. Mount Data Container

You can now browse the Data container using Windows Explorer.

To learn more see, Data Container guide

The following instructions use a System Protection backup as the example.

To restore an Exchange Server or individual storage groups, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Restore tab

    2. The Restore tab has a Home page and a Tools page. The Home page is the default page and the recommended starting point for performing a restore. The Tools page should only be used by experienced users or with the assistance of technical support.

  2. Select Exchange Server

    3. This step starts the guided restore process and will take you to the Exchange Server restore screen. There is a Learn more about Restore link at the bottom of the screen.

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    This selection is one of multiple restore options available.

    Restore tab

  3. Select the backup

    4. The Exchange Server restore screen displays the Exchange Server backups created by this installation of BackupAssist. To select the backup that you want to restore from, click on a backup’s name.

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    Exchange Backup selection

    There are tabs above each volume’s backup list that can be used to filter the list of backups shown. Using these filters will help in locating the required backup.

    The display tabs available are:

    • All - shows all backups available.
    • The Last 7 days and Last 30 days tabs - will display the backups within those ranges.
    • Custom - allows you to select a specific date range and display backups for that period.

    The Discover Backups option allows you to add and restore from backups created by other installations of BackupAssist and backups made by local jobs that have been deleted.

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    Discover backups

    When you select the Discover Backups button, the Discover Backups screen will appear.

    • If you select Show manually added backups, backups from other BackupAssist installations that were added using the + option will be available when you go back to the main restore screen.
    • If you select Show backups made by deleted jobs, backups made by deleted backup jobs will be displayed and available when you go back to the main restore screen.
    • If you select Show backups made by existing jobs, only backups made by the current list of local backup jobs will be shown. This is the default list you saw before using the Discover Backups option.
    • Selecting the plus symbol will open a browse dialog that can be used to locate backups made by other BackupAssist installations and add them to the Discover Backups screen.
    • Selecting the cloud symbol will open a dialog from where you can select and configure the cloud destination that you want to restore from. This option allows you to restore from a backup created on another machine or a deleted job.
    • Selecting Delete, removes any selected backups that were added using the + option.

    Selecting only one of these options means only those backups will be shown when you go back to the main restore screen. Combinations of these 3 options can be selected to get the set of backups that you want.

  4. Select the data

    5. When you select the backup that you want to restore from, the Integrated Restore Console will open. Use the console to select the Exchange Server or the Exchange databases that you want to restore.

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    Integrated Restore Console

    What to restore

    • Use the left pane to locate and select the data that you want to restore.
    • The right pane will display the contents of the folder selected in the left pane.
  5. Select the destination

    6. Use the Integrated Restore Console to select the location that you want to restore the data to. You can also use this step to select other restore options like the data overwrite rules.

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    Where to restore

    Follow these steps to select the restore destination and restore options:

    1. Under Where to restore select To original location or To Specific location.
    2. Use the Browse button to locate and select the restore destination.
    3. Use the drop down box to set the overwrite rules. The overwrite rules will apply if the files being restored encounter files with the same name in the restore destination.
      • Overwrite existing files: the restored files will overwrite files in the restore destination.
      • Do not overwrite existing files: the restored files will not overwrite files in the restore destination. This means the files will not be restored.
      • Only overwrite older files: if a source file has changed since the backup was made it will not be overwritten.
    4. Review the Restore NTFS security attributes option

      5. If you select this option, the NTFS security attributes the file had when it was backed up will be retained when the file is restored. The NTFS security attributes can be viewed in the Security tab on the file’s Properties

    5. Review the Take ownership of restored files option

      6. Selecting the Take ownership of restored files tick box will give the current user ownership of the restored files. The user is shown to the right of the text box description.

  6. Start the restore

    7. When you select the Restore button, the restore process will begin. The Integrated Restore Console will display information about the restore job and provide status updates as the job runs.

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    Completed Restore

    List all processed files and folders

    Selecting this link will open notepad and display a list of the files restored, including their full path.

    BitLocker Encrypted backups

    If your backup is encrypted, you will be prompted for the encryption password when the restore job accesses the backup. You can also use the encryption key to unlock an encrypted drive, by connecting the USB flash drive. BackupAssist will use the key to unlock the drive you are restoring from. You will not be prompted to do anything other than the normal restore steps.

    Note: It is important that you keep a copy of your password in a safe place, as we cannot assist you with opening password-encrypted files if your password is lost or forgotten.

  7. Select Done

    8. Once the restore has finished, selecting Done will return you to the main UI.

Your Exchange Server restore has now been completed.