Exchange Server 2010 : Backup and Recover Exchange Data (part 3) - Database Portability & Recovering a Mailbox within the Deleted Mailbox Retention Period

3. Database Portability

Database portability enables you to move and mount an Exchange 2010 mailbox database on any other Exchange 2010 Mailbox server in the same organization. If you make use of database portability, you can improve reliability by removing several manual steps from the recovery processes. In addition, database portability reduces the overall recovery times for various failure scenarios. Only Exchange 2010 mailbox databases are portable. Public folder databases are not, and neither are mailbox databases from previous versions of Exchange. The preferred way to move public folder data between servers is to use public folder replication.

To move a mailbox database using database portability, you first need to ensure that the database is in the clean shutdown state. You can then use a command based on the New-MailboxDatabase EMS cmdlet to create a database on the new server. For example, the following command creates a database called MyNewDatabase on the Mailbox server VAN-EX2:

New-MailboxDatabase -Name MyNewDatabase -Server VAN-EX2 -EdbFilePath
C:\Databases\MyNewDatabase\MyNewDatabase.edb -LogFolderPath C:\Databases\MyNewDatabase

					  

Figure 9 shows the output from this command.

The next step is to set the This Database Can Be Over Written By Restore attribute using a command based on the Set-MailboxDatabase EMS cmdlet:

Set-MailboxDatabase MyNewDatabase -AllowFileRestore:$true

The database files (.edb file, log files, and Exchange Search catalog) can now be moved to the appropriate location and the new database mounted:

Mount-Database MyNewDatabase

The final step is to modify the user account settings so that the user accounts point to the mailbox on the new Mailbox server. For example, the following command moves all the users (but not the system mailboxes) from the old database MyOldDatabase to the new database MyNewDatabase:

Get-Mailbox -Database MyOldDatabase | where {$_ObjectClass -NotMatch
'(SystemAttendantMailbox|ExOleDbSystemMailbox)'} | Set-Mailbox -Database MyNewDatabase

					  

After Active Directory replication occurs, all users can access their mailboxes on the new Exchange server. Microsoft Outlook 2010, Office Outlook 2007, and Windows Mobile 6.1 (and later) clients are redirected via the Autodiscover service, OWA users are automatically redirected, and (if the server name has changed) older Outlook clients need to be manually configured to point to the new server.

3.1. Dial Tone Portability

Dial tone portability enables a user to have a mailbox in a dial tone database for sending and receiving email while his or her original mailbox is being restored or repaired and thus provides a business continuity solution. The dial tone database can be on the same Exchange 2010 Mailbox server or on any other Exchange 2010 Mailbox server in the same Exchange organization. Clients that support Autodiscover, such as Microsoft Outlook 2010 or Office Outlook 2007, are automatically redirected to the new server without the need to manually update the user’s desktop profile. After the original mailbox data has been restored, you can merge the recovered mailbox and the mailbox in the dial tone database into a single, up-to-date mailbox.

A recovery process using dial tone portability is called a dial tone recovery. A dial tone recovery involves creating an empty database on a Mailbox server to replace a failed database. This empty database, referred to as a dial tone database, allows users to send and receive email while the failed database is recovered and moved into an RDB. Note that dial tone restores are necessary only when the original database is offline when restoration occurs and service to users has been interrupted. After the failed database is recovered and moved into the RDB, the data from the RDB is merged into the dial tone database, which is now operating as the recovered production database.

The procedure to carry out a dial tone recovery of a mailbox database is as follows:

4. Recovering a Mailbox within the Deleted Mailbox Retention Period

Deleted mailbox retention enables you to recover mailboxes after they have been removed (or disconnected) without needing to restore them from backup. By default, Exchange Server 2010 retains disconnected mailboxes for 30 days after deletion, and mailbox recovery must occur during this retention period. You recover a deleted mailbox within the retention period by using either the EMS or the Exchange Management Console (EMC).

To list the deleted (or disconnected) mailboxes in the Recoverable Items folder (or dumpster) on, for example, the Mailbox server VAN-EX1 and the dates on which they were deleted, enter the following EMS command:

Get-MailboxStatistics -Server VAN-EX1 | where {$_DisconnectDate -ne $null} | select
DisplayName,DisconnectDate

					  

If you do not specify the Server parameter, the command will list the disconnected mailboxes on the Mailbox server on which it runs. Note that this command returns statistics only for those mailboxes where the user has logged on at least once to the Exchange organization. A mailbox can also be disconnected but not yet marked as disconnected. You can use the Clean-MailboxDatabase cmdlet to scan Active Directory for such mailboxes in the Microsoft Exchange mailbox database and update the status of those mailboxes in the Exchange mailbox store.

You recover a disconnected a mailbox by connecting it to a user account. In this example, the account Paul West exists in Active Directory but does not have an associated mailbox. You can check whether this user account exists and is not disabled by entering the following EMS command:

Get-User "Paul West" | FL

Figure 14-10 shows some of the output from this command.

To reconnect a disconnected mailbox in the Research mailbox database to user Paul West when the user object exists in Active Directory Directory Service and has no associated mailbox, run the following command:

Connect-Mailbox -Database "Mailbox Database 1514648952" -Identity "Paul West" -User
"Paul West"

					  

Note that if you want to try running this command, you must first create a mailbox for the user Paul West in your default mailbox database (which might not be called Mailbox Database 1514648952) and then disable this mailbox.

If you have a number of disconnected mailboxes in a mailbox database, you can attempt to reconnect all of them with a single command, such as the following:

Get-MailboxStatistics -Database "Mailbox Database 1514648952" | where {$_disconnectdate
-ne $null} | ForEach {Connect-Mailbox -Id $_mailboxguid -Database "Mailbox Database
1363123687"}

					  

This command works for disconnected mailboxes that have equivalent Active Directory user accounts that are not already associated with mailboxes.

You can also use the EMC to connect a disconnected mailbox. A user account that does not have an associated mailbox needs to exist in Active Directory so that you can connect the mailbox to it. In the EMC, expand Recipient Configuration and click Disconnected Mailbox in the Console tree. If required, click Connect To Server on the Actions pane to specify the Mailbox server that holds the disconnected mailbox. Right-click the mailbox you want to connect and click Connect, as shown in Figure 11. Follow the steps in the Connect Mailbox Wizard. Note that in order to replicate this figure, you need to create and disable mailboxes for Mark Harrington and Angela Barbariol.

4.2. Configuring the Deleted Mailbox Retention Period

Disconnected mailboxes are retained for 30 days by default and can be recovered at any point during this 30-day period by associating them with an Active Directory user account. You can use the EMS but not the EMC to configure the deleted mailbox retention period. If, for example, you wanted to change the deleted mailbox retention time to 20 days for mailboxes in the database Mailbox Database 1514648952, you would enter the following EMS command:

Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity "Mailbox Database 1514648952" -MailboxRetention
20.00:00:00

					  

Note the format for retention periods. If you see an answer in the examination that, for example, gives a deleted mailbox retention setting of 15.00.00.00 or 30:00:00:00, that answer is wrong.