During Exchange data recovery with Acronis Backup Advanced you may encounter one of the following problems:
- Inability to mount database after database level recovery
- Database recovery failure
- Mailbox level recovery from DB to Exchange failure
- Mailbox level recovery from DB to PST failure
- Mailbox recovery from mailbox level backup to Exchange
- Mailbox recovery from mailbox level backup to PST
- DB restoration faiure from Express backups
- DB restoration failure from CDP backups
- Exchange malfunction after recovery
- Mailbox migration between different Exchange version
Follow these steps to troubleshoot the recovery issues:
- Get familiar with technology of Exchange data restore in the About part.
- Check for known issues in the Known issues part.
- Follow to Troubleshooting part to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.
About
Acronis Backup enables you to back up the Mailbox server role of Microsoft Exchange Server. Mailbox servers host mailboxes and public folders. This data is most critical for any Exchange organization.
Exchange server backup sources
While creating a backup plan, you can select either the Microsoft Exchange Information Store or the Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes data type. See this help topic.
Microsoft Exchange Information store data type provides you with following items to backup:
- The entire information store.
- Individual databases (for Exchange 2010/2013).
- Individual storage groups (for Exchange 2003/2007).
Microsoft Exchange mailboxes data type provides you with following items to backup:
- Mailboxes or mailbox folders
- Public folders
Recovering Exchange data
The following items can be recovered from database backups:
- Storage groups (for Exchange 2003/2007)
- Databases (for Exchange 2010 or later)
- Mailboxes
- Public folders
- Public folder items
- E-mails
- E-mail folders
- Calendar events
- Tasks
- Contacts
- Notes
- Journal entries.
The following items can be recovered from mailbox backups:
- Mailboxes
- Public folders
- Public folder items
- E-mails
- E-mail folders
- Calendar events
- Tasks
- Contacts
- Notes
- Journal entries.
Target destination
Target destination for recovery may be one of the following:
- Original or new Exchange Server database
- Local or shared folder for database/storage group recovery
- PST file for mailbox/public folders/content recovery
Known Issues
| Title | Error Message/Code | Related to |
|---|---|---|
| Acronis Backup: Failed to Recover Storage Group or Database with Error "The Path Cannot Be the Root Directory." | The path cannot be the root directory. | Software limitation |
| Acronis Backup: Mailbox Recovery of Non-Existing Linked Mailbox Fails with “The User Account for a User Mailbox Must Be Enabled.” | The User Account for a User Mailbox Must Be Enabled. | Software limitation |
Troubleshooting
Follow step-by-step instructions below to troubleshoot the issue. Complete prerequisites step before proceeding to error troubleshooting step.
1. Prerequisites
Following conditions should be met in order to correctly work with Microsoft Exchange data during backup and recovery. Complete all steps before proceeding to error troubleshooting step.
1.1 Operating system should be supported
See help topic: Supported operating systems.
1.2 Microsoft Exchange Server version should be supported
See help topic: Supported Microsoft Exchange Server versions.
1.3 Backup location should support the requested operation
Make sure the archive is located in a backup location that supports the operation you intend to perform. See help topic: Supported backup locations.
1.4 Set necessary permissions
Make sure the user specified in the Access credentials has necessary permissions on the Exchange Server for the operation.
Additionally make sure that following requirements are fulfilled:
- To be able to back up, recover, and browse mailboxes, make sure that the account you use is associated with the mailbox.
- The mailbox has to be initialized and available in a global address list.
- The mailbox database containing the associated mailbox must be mounted.
- The user account that is associated with the mailbox must reside in the same forest as the Exchange server.
See help topic: Permissions for Exchange backup and recovery.
1.5 Check for legacy archives and backups restrictions
Acronis Backup supports archives and backups created with Acronis Recovery for Microsoft Exchange.
Check the following help topic for the full list of supported operations: Supported operations with legacy archives and backups
1.6 Microsoft Exchange Server versioning limitations
Since Microsoft Exchange Server has its own versioning limitations, Acronis Backup will inform you about any possible mismatch of Exchange server versions when you recover databases or storage groups to a different version of Exchange server. This alert will not prevent you from doing the recovery, but the recovery will fail if the Microsoft Exchange Server cannot identify the database or storage being recovered.
See help topic: Recovering storage groups or databases to a custom path.
If all steps above have been executed and issue still persists, go to error troubleshooting step.
2. Error troubleshooting
Select the troubleshooting step according to the issue you are facing. Complete all steps before proceeding to collect information step.
2.1 Inability to mount database after database level recovery
Check the following possible issues:
2.1.1 Mount recovered databases option should be enabled
In the restore task, the option Mount recovered databases should be enabled. If you use Acronis Active Restore, select Mount with Active Restore.
See help topic: Recovering storage groups or databases to the original path.
When recovering storage groups in the CCR configuration (Exchange 2007) or databases in theDAG configuration (Exchange 2010 or later), ensure that Mount is selected in Mount recovered databases. This is required for manual configuration or resumption of cluster replication after recovery.
See help topic: Recovering data to the Exchange cluster.
2.1.2 Mounting a recovery database in Exchange 2010 or later
When you recover the selected database as a recovery database and choose Mount or Mount with Active Restore, the database will be mounted automatically only if there is no other recovery database that is currently mounted on the server. We recommend that you manually unmount the existing mounted recovery database before recovery. Otherwise, you need to unmount the existing recovery database and mount a newly recovered database after recovery.
See help topic: Recovering storage groups or databases to a custom path.
2.1.3 Mount fails after extracting database/storage group to a folder
The extracted databases will be in a Dirty Shutdown state. When recovering databases to their original location, the databases can remain in a Dirty Shutdown state and be mountable by the system. When recovering to an alternate location, databases cannot be mounted until you bring them to a Clean Shutdown state by using the Eseutil /r <Enn> command. <Enn> specifies the log file prefix for the database (or storage group that contains the database) into which you need to apply the transaction log files. For instructions on how to do this, refer to:
- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876926.aspx
- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998340(EXCHG.80).aspx
See help topic: Recovering databases or storage groups to the specified folder.
2.2 Database recovery failure
Check the possible database recovery issues:
2.2.1 Microsoft Exchange Server versioning limitations
Restore of a database or storage group will fail if you ignored the warning about versioning limitaions and the Microsoft Exchange Server could not identify the database.
See step 1.6.
2.2.2 Public folder database as a recovery database
A public folder database cannot be recovered as a recovery database (in Exchange 2010) and cannot be recovered to a recovery storage group (in Exchange 2003, 2007). When recovering a storage group containing a public folder database, this database is skipped during recovery. If a storage group being recovered contains a public folder database only, the recovery task will fail.
See help topic: Recovering storage groups or databases to a custom path.
2.2.3 Exchange 2003/2007 storage group as a recovery storage group
The existing recovery storage group on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or 2007 will be overwritten. Databases that currently do not exist on the server cannot be recovered to a recovery storage group. When recovering a storage group containing non-existent databases, such databases are skipped during recovery. If a storage group being recovered does not contain any databases which currently exist on the server, the recovery task will fail.
See help topic: Recovering storage groups or databases to a custom path.
2.2.4 Recovery to a folder fails
Make sure that the service user has access rights to the folder specified as a path for recovery and there is sufficient space for it.
In case the recovery to a folder fails as well as to the Exchange server, you may want to validate your backup to make sure it is not corrupted.
2.3 Mailbox level recovery from DB to Exchange failure
Make sure the following issues have been addresses accordingly:
- Database backup should be valid, successfully mounted and browsed.
- During source data browsing there should be enough free space in temp folder for metadata: Acronis Backup Advanced for Exchange: Changing Temp Files and Folder Location.
- If mailbox recovery to Exchange Server fails with error, proceed to step 2.5.
2.4 Mailbox level recovery from DB to PST failure
Make sure the following issues have been addresses accordingly:
- Database backup should be valid, successfully mounted and browsed.
- During source data browsing there should be enough free space in temp folder for metadata: Acronis Backup Advanced for Exchange: Changing Temp Files and Folder Location.
- If mailbox to PST fails with error, proceed to step 2.6.
2.5 Mailbox recovery from mailbox level backup to Exchange
Check following possible issue causes:
2.5.1 Requirements on user accounts
A mailbox or public folder being recovered from a backup must have an associated user account in Active Directory.
User mailboxes, public folders, and their contents can be recovered only if their associated user accounts are enabled. Shared, room, and equipment mailboxes can be recovered only if their associated user accounts are disabled.
A mailbox or public folder that does not meet the above conditions is skipped during recovery. Also, discovery and arbitration mailboxes are skipped.
If some mailboxes are skipped, the recovery task will succeed with warnings. If all mailboxes are skipped, the recovery task will fail.
See help topic: Recovering mailboxes, public folders, and their contents to the Exchange server.
2.5.2 Mailbox skipped during recovery
If the mailboxes being recovered already exist on the current Exchange server, the recovery will proceed exactly to these mailboxes.
The mailboxes that are missing on the current Exchange server, but exist on a different Exchange server within the current Exchange organization, will be skipped during recovery. To recover such mailboxes, you should connect the console to the Exchange server hosting these mailboxes and start the mailbox recovery on this server.
If the mailboxes are missing within the current Exchange organization, you should specify the mailbox database where these mailboxes will be created (see later in this section).
Database to re-create any missing mailboxes
If the mailboxes being recovered are missing within the current Exchange organization, specify the mailbox database (in the current Exchange server) where the new mailboxes will be created. The newly created mailboxes will be properly initialized and recovery will be performed to these mailboxes. Mailboxes will also be re-created when recovering mailbox contents.
Automatic mailbox re-creation is not supported in Exchange 2003 and for linked mailboxes. The available solutions are as follows:
- [For Exchange 2003] Manually re-create the missing mailboxes and connect to these mailboxes using Outlook. After that, perform the recovery.
- [For linked mailboxes] Recover these mailboxes to their original mailbox database if they still exist there. Otherwise, recover them to .pst files.
See help topic: Recovering mailboxes, public folders, and their contents to the Exchange server.
2.6 Mailbox recovery from mailbox level backup to PST
Check following possible issue causes:
2.6.1 Outlook 97-2002
Make sure the following requirements are fulfilled:
- The Outlook 97-2002 format does not support Unicode and limits the file size to 2 GB.
- To be able to create such files with Exchange 2007 or later, Messaging API (MAPI) client libraries and Collaboration Data Objects, version 1.2.1 (CDO 1.2.1) must be installed on the server.
2.6.2 Outlook 2003-2013
If the agent that performs recovery is installed on a machine with Exchange 2013, only this format is available.
Since Exchange server does not have the libraries necessary to create .pst files in Outlook 2003-2013 format, Acronis Backup requires that a machine with Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later be installed. Acronis Backup uses this machine as a proxy for .pst file creation. Check that for this machine following requirements are fulfilled:
1) File and Printer Sharing must be enabled on the machine where Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later is installed. To access this option:
- On a machine running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7: go to Control panel > Windows Firewall > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings.
- On a machine running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows 2003 Server: go to Control panel > Windows Firewall > Exceptions > File and Printer Sharing.
2) The Remote Registry service must be enabled on the machine where Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later is installed. To start the Remote Registry service, type the following command in a command prompt:
net start RemoteRegistry
Host machine credentials
The specified user account has to be a member of the Administrators group on the Exchange server (host). When entering the name of an Active Directory user account, be sure to also specify the domain name (DOMAIN\Username or Username@domain).
See help topic: Recovering mailboxes, public folders, and their contents to a .pst file.
2.7 DB restoration failure from Express backups
Make sure the following issues have been addressed accordingly:
- Deduplication vault should be available and running correctly. Restore from the deduplication vault should work independently from the data being restored.
- If database restoration fails with error, proceed to step 2.2.
2.8 DB restoration failure from CDP backups
Make sure that following issues have been addressed accordingly:
- CDP should not be disabled to allow continuous protection, see help topic: Continuous Data Protection (CDP) scheme.
- If deduplication vault is used as backup location, make sure it is available and running correctly. Restore from the deduplication vault should work independently from the data being restored.
- If database restoration fails with error, proceed to step 2.2.
2.9 Exchange malfunction after recovery
Make sure the following issues have been addressed accordingly:
- Inability to mount database after database level recovery. See step 2.1.
- Items were skipped during recovery. See step 2.5.2.
2.10 Mailbox migration between different Exchange version
Make sure the following issues have been addressed respectively:
- MS Exchange Server versioning limitation during storage group and database migration. See step 1.6.
- Mailbox recovery to Exchange. See step 2.5.
If all steps above have been executed and issue still persists, go to collect information step.
3. Collect information
Collect following information and contact Acronis Support.
3.1 Issue description
Make sure to specify following information in the issue description:
- Exchange Server (cluster) configuration description with machine names and installed Agents for Exchange.
- Provide screenshots of Microsoft Exchange Servers view of the management server in Management Console.
- Describe the expected result of the operation you perform.
3.2 System information
Collect system information from all Exchange Server nodes and from Management Server:
See: Acronis Backup 11.7/11.5: Generating System Report
3.3 Cluster log
Collect the cluster log from all Exchange cluster nodes.