Software Suite for Microsoft Exchange Manual
Data Restoration Using a Recovery Database (For Exchange 2010/ Exchange 2013)
A recovery database is a mailbox database that allows Recovery Manager to mount a restored
mailbox database and extract data from the restored database as part of the recovery operation.
Recovery databases allow you to recover data from a backup or a copy of a database without
disrupting access to current data. Use the Restore-Mailbox cmdlet to extract mailbox content from
a restored database.
The following are required to restore data using a recovery database:
• A recovery database must be created.
• Recovery databases can only be used for Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2013 mailbox
databases.
• The target mailbox used for data merges and extraction must be in the same Active Directory
forest as the database mounted in the recovery database.
• The database and .LOG files containing the recovered data must be restored or copied into
the recovery database folder structure that was created when the recovery database was
created.
• The database must be in a clean shutdown state. Use the Eseutil.exe tool to place the
database into a clean shutdown state.
Creating a Recovery Database
To create a recovery database:
1. Start the Exchange Management Shell by clicking Start→Program Files→Exchange→Exchange
Management Shell.
2. In the Exchange Management Shell window, enter the following:
New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name <rec_database> -Server <servername>
• <rec_database> — The name of the recovery database being created
• <servername> — The name of the mailbox server
3. Create a second recovery database, specifying a custom path for the database file and log
folder as follows:
New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name <rec_database> -Server <servername>
-EdbFilePath "<dbpath>" -LogFolderPath "<lfpath>"
• <rec_database> — The name of the recovery database being created
• <servername> – The name of the mailbox server
• <dbpath> — The path to the database file
• <lfpath> — The path to the log file
Restoring a Mailbox Database Using a Recovery Database
You can restore a mailbox database using a recovery database by manually copying the database
files to the appropriate folder on the server.
NOTE: Keep the original backup file in case you need to start over.
120 Rapid Backup and Recovery for Exchange