Tips to Recover Mailboxes Database in Exchange Server 2016

Sunil Sharma

Updated On - October 19, 2022

Corruption in an Exchange database is bad news for your business. It stops you from doing email communication with your employees and clients and affects business productivity. It can also turn a simple task of repairing corrupt EDB file into a tricky one. That’s why an Exchange administrator uses different tactics to protect the data from corruption and also to retrieve the data in case of corruption. In the present write up, we will go through some necessary recovery procedure useful for Exchange Server 2016.

Recover mailbox database using Exchange backup

Exchange administrators usually use Windows Server Backup to take the backup of Exchange data, and you can retrieve the data up to the last successful backup.
In this situation, you should be aware that the lost data which was created after taking the backup will not be recovered, but you can use the transaction log files to rollback the committed transaction and get the complete data. But if the transaction log files are also missing, then you can only recover the data up to the last backup. It means you will bear some data loss.

Before starting the recovery, the first check when did the Windows Server Backup utility took the last backup.

Run the cmdlet –

Get-MailboxDatabase -Server NPP2016V3 -Status | f1 Name, LastFullBackup

It will bring the name of the database and its last backup timing details. For example,

Name : DB432432

Last Full Backup : 2/3/2017 3:52:22 PM

Now you can start the recovery procedure by following the steps:

1. Start the Windows Server Backup and go to the Actions tab. Here, you click the option ‘Recover.’
2. Choose the source of the backup. If the backup is present in the same volume, then select This Server (ServerName).
3. Choose the backup which you want to restore.
4. There will be multiple restore types which you can choose, like File and Folders, Volumes, Hyper-V, System State, and applications. Choose ‘Applications’ and go ahead.
5. In the next page, select ‘Exchange.’
6. In the Recovery options, there are two options; choose ‘Recover to the original location.’
7. The tool will provide a summary of your choice. Confirm it.
8. The recovery begins. After completing the successful recovery, the database will be automatically mounted and available to use. You can check the missing data in the Outlook.

Recover Exchange database using the Recovery database

A seasoned Exchange Administrator is aware of the importance of the Recovery Database. It is a special kind of mailbox database that lets you extract data from a restored database in the recovery operation. The Recovery Database recovers the data from the backup or a copy of the database. This way, you are not obliged to repair a corrupt Exchange EDB file but restore data from a duplicate database.

After you have created a recovery database, you can use a backup application to restore the data in the restored mailbox or copy the database and its log files directly to the recovery database. After that, you can use the New-MailboxRestoreRequest to run the restore procedure.

Here is the step-by-step process to recover the data using a recovery database

1. Copy a recovery database and its log files or restore a database and its log files to a location that is suitable for the recovery database.
2. You need to bring the database to a clean shutdown state and that is possible through the ESEUTIL tool. Run the command;

Eseutil /R Database32932 /l F:\Databases\Database59343 /d F:\Databases\ Database59343

3. Now, create a recovery database, provide it a name, but get the name and path of the database file for the EdbFilePath parameter, and the location of the recovered log files.

New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name RecoveryDatabaseName -Server Matt -EdbFilePath “E:\Databases\Database59343\Database59343.EDB” -LogFolderPath “E:\Databases\RecoveryDatabase”

4. Restart Microsoft Exchange Information Store Service.

Restart-Service MSExchangeIS

5. Mount the Recovery database to Exchange Server.

Mount-database RecoveryDatabaseName

6. Verify that the recovery database has the mailboxes that you need to restore.

Get-MailboxStatistics -Database RecoveryDatabaseName | Format-Table Name,MailboxGUID –AutoSizeCreate a new mailbox restore request.

New-MaiboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase Database59343 -SourceStoreMailbox “Matt Goodman” -TargetMailbox Matt@contoso.com –TargetIsArchive

7. At a routine interval check the progress of restore request.

Get-MailboxRestoreRequest

8. After successful completion of restore job, you can remove it

Get-MailboxRestoreRequest -Status Completed | Remove-MailboxRestoreRequest

If you do not want to go for the lengthy process of creating a recovery database and then running a restore request, then you should opt for the Recoveryfix for Exchange Server recovery tool and save you time and energy for the recovery process. It can also help you to export EDB files to Office 365.

Recoveryfix for Exchange Server Recovery

Here is the process for recovering data using Recoveryfix for Exchange Server Recovery.

1. Run the software and click the Add Source icon.



2. Select the first option of Offline EDB file. Click Next.



3. Browse the EDB file and click Next.



4. Choose the scan mode among standard and deep scan. Click Next.



5. The tool has scanned and recovered the data. Click Finish.



6. Choose the version of Exchange Server. Click OK.



7. The EDB file content is present in the source list. You can check its folders and see the preview of each material. Finally, click the Add Destination icon.



8. Select the option of ‘Create new PST file’ and click Next.



9. Browse the saving location of PST file and provide a name to the PST file also. Click Next.



10. The tool adds the PST file and clicks the Finish button.



11. Select the messages from the source mailbox, right-click it, and select Copy message(s).



12. Go to destination PST file, right-click it and select the Paste Message option.



13. After migrating the messages, the tool gives the migration report. Click Cancel.



14. The message is now present in the PST file.

After transferring the files, you can access the PST file in Outlook.

Conclusion

In the case of corruption in Exchange Server database, the manual methods do not provide any guarantee to recover the complete data, but Recoveryfix for Exchange Server Recovery removes every issue and bring the data back to you completely. The software will also recover exchange server 2019 database file without the help of any duplicate database or log entry.