Server Recovery

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic discusses server recovery options that you can use with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Server recovery assumes that your server is not available due to one of the following reasons:

  • Hardware failure   Even with highly redundant and highly available hardware configurations, loss of an Exchange server is still possible.

  • Loss of a site   In a site loss recovery scenario, the assumption is made that all or most of the servers at a specified site are no longer accessible and must be recovered. These servers could be missing due to the site being damaged or lost, hardware being stolen, or some other reason.

  • Software corruption   Corruption of the operating system, Exchange program files, or file system; software misconfiguration; or server infection could cause the loss or damage to the Microsoft Windows registry or other files essential to Exchange operations.

    Note

    Losing a node in a failover cluster is not considered a server loss because a fresh node can be added to the existing cluster as long as at least one node is available. For more information about clustering, see Cluster Continuous Replication and Single Copy Clusters.

Recovery Options

Exchange 2007 supports two methods for server recovery. One method uses the Exchange 2007 setup options, and the other method uses System State backup and a backup that includes all of the Exchange installation files. Following are more details about the recovery options:

  • Exchange setup options    There are two options for recovering an Exchange 2007 server, based on the server's role. Use Setup /m:RecoverServer to recover non-clustered servers, except for Edge Transport servers. The Edge Transport server role uses Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) to store configuration information. This means that you cannot recover an Edge Transport server by running the Setup /m:RecoverServer command. Recovering an Edge Transport server requires the use of cloned configuration tasks to export and import configuration information. For information about Edge Transport server recovery, see Using Cloned Configuration Tasks for Edge Transport Server Disaster Recovery.

    Use Setup /RecoverCMS to recover clustered mailbox servers. For more information about Setup /m:RecoverServer, see Understanding Setup /M:RecoverServer. For more information about Setup /RecoverCMS, see How to Use RecoverCMS to Recover a Clustered Mailbox Server.

    Note

    You can use Setup /m:RecoverServer only for server recovery. It cannot be used as a repair tool, to recover from a failed installation or uninstallation, or to reconfigure a server.

  • System State backup   Another method you can use to recover a lost server is to use a backup of the System State and critical Exchange files. The System State Backup recovery method requires that the same hardware is used for server restoration. At a minimum, your backup must include both the System State data and the Exchange files installed by Exchange. You will need the Exchange installed files because you will not be able to run Setup options to recover your Exchange configuration if Exchange Setup detects the partial Exchange 2007 existence on the server. For more information about how to back up an Exchange 2007 server, see How to Back Up the System State and the Exchange Program Files.

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