When a mailbox database gets corrupted or inaccessible, you need to restore the backup file or have to repair the database. Here let’s look into the process of restoring Exchange 2016 Mailbox Database with Windows Server Backup. For example, a volume of the server where database file is stored gets corrupted or lost due to some failure and your Windows Server Backup is executing well and up-to date, then you can restore the database file from the last successful Windows Backup.
Before you go ahead with restore process, there are few things which you should aware of:
- Assign necessary permissions: You must have necessary permission set to perform the restore operation
- Time Estimation for the process: 1 Minute and time taken for data restoration process.
- Backup Feature: Windows Server Backup feature must be enabled and in use.
- Shutdown State: Exchange database may remain in a dirty shutdown state while restoring it to its original storage in some cases. So the database should be manually updated into a clean shutdown state using Exchange Server Database Utilities (Eseutil.exe) while restoring to an alternate location.
Follow the below steps to restore the Exchange 2016 database using Windows Server Backup:
- Launch the Windows Server Backup and Select the option Local Backup.
- Click the Recover… to initiate the Recovery Wizard, in Actions pane.
- Follow the below steps after you get the page “Getting Started”
a. If the local server is having the backed up data which is going to be recovered, select the option “This server (ServerName)”. Click the Next to continue.
b. If another server is having the backed up data which is going to be recovered or the data is itself to be recovered on another server, then “select another server”. Click the next to proceed. In the Specify location type window, select Remote shared folder or Local drives and click the Next. If Remote shared folder is selected, provide UNC path for backup data in Specify remote folder window, and click the Next. If Local drives selected, then select the drive containing the backup in Select backup location window, and click the Next.
- In Select Backup Date window, choose the recent date & time of the backup file that you wish to restore, and click the Next.
- Select Applications and click the Next button in the Select Recovery Type window.
- You can view the progress and the status of recovery/restore operation in Recovery operation Progress Window.
- Select Exchange option in Applications field in the Select Application page. Click the View Details option to view the components of backup. Check the option “Do not perform a roll-forward recovery of the application database”, if you wish to stop Windows Server Backup from roll forward the database which is being restored by committing all the uncommitted transaction logs.
Click the Next button to proceed. - Choose destination for the data recovery in the Specify Recovery Options Window.
a. Choose Recover to original location if you wish to recover and restore the data to the original location. Here all the backup databases on the backup volume will get restored back to their actual locations.
b. Choose Recover to another location, if you wish to recover and restore the data to some particular location. Here individual database and its files will be restored to specified location. Use Browse of option to specify any different location. Here you can select which are databases to be restored. After restoring database to different location it will stay in dirty shut-down state. Use Eseutil.exe to bring it back to clean state after the process completion.
- Verify the settings once and click the Recover button in Confirmation page.
- You can monitor the progress as well as status of the operation in the Recovery Progress page.
- Click the close button when the restore process gets completed.