Restoring a database to a Recovery Storage Group in Exchange Server 2007

You can use the Restore wizard to restore databases to the Recovery Storage Group. You create a Recovery Storage Group using the Exchange Server Disaster Recovery Analyzer Tool (ExDRA) in Exchange Server 2007. SnapManager performs only a point-in-time restore process to the Recovery Storage Group during a restore operation.

About this task

By default, the Delete the existing Storage Group check box is selected during the restore process, resulting in the deletion of the group as part of the restore operation. SnapManager does not allow you to restore to an existing Recovery Storage Group.

To restore a backup set to a Recovery Storage Group in an Exchange cluster, connect the mounted LUNs that store the restored databases, transaction logs, and Storage Group system files only to the node that owns the Exchange virtual server.

Add these mounted LUNs to the Exchange cluster group as physical disk resources and keep them online at the end of restore process. These physical disk resources do not have the Affect the group check box enabled because these LUNs are mapped to only one of the cluster nodes. If you move the Exchange cluster group to another node, these physical disk resources fail, because they are not connected to the other nodes. After you return the Exchange cluster group to the node on which these resources are connected, you can bring them online.

SnapManager does not display the public folder database in the Restore wizard. You cannot restore public folder databases to the Recovery Storage Group.

As part of the restore to the Recovery Storage Group operation, SnapManager performs the following operations:

Destroys the existing Recovery Storage Group
Creates a new Recovery Storage Group
Adds databases to the new Recovery Storage Group
Mounts databases on the new Recovery Storage Group

If the backup set is not verified, SnapManager gives you an option to verify the backup set before the restore operation.

You can restore from the following restore sources:

Backup sets that were created on the same Exchange server
Unmanaged Media
Backup sets created on a different server

After an actual restore process, you can optionally perform a backup and verification operation to verify that your restored database is free of physical-level corruption.

Steps

Select an Exchange server node in the Scope pane.
In the Actions pane, click Restore Wizard.
In the Which Exchange Server Created the Backups window, select the restore source.
In the Choose the backup that you want to restore window, double-click the backup set present in a Storage Group.
In the Select the target for backup restoration window, select Restore to Recovery Storage Group/Database.
In the Choose the items to be restored window, select the check boxes corresponding to the production databases and LCR replica databases that you want to restore.
In the Choose Recovery Storage Group/Database window, select the destination Exchange server to which you want to restore the backup set.
Specify the name of the new Recovery Storage Group to which you want to restore the selected backup sets.
In the Type of Restore window, select a Recovery point for your database.

Configure the verification settings in the Verify options window:

To check the current logs (for up-to-the-minute restore operations only) and run database verification, in the Select Test Restore Options window, select Check current Logs.
If you do not want to perform exhaustive verification of the transaction log sequence and database metadata before the restore process, clear the Exhaustive verification checkbox.
If the restore server does not have access to the archived backup storage, click Advanced options, and then under Archived Backup Access, select Restore server does not have access to the archived backup storage.
To coordinate the backup and restore processes, do the following in the Job Control Options pane:

If you want to...	Then do this...
Cancel the current backup operation in progress	Select Cancel conflicting backup that is in progress.
Restore after the current backup operation is complete	Select Wait for running backup to complete.
End the restore operation	Select Abort restore if conflicting operation is running.

For an actual restore process, if you want SnapManager to automatically recover and remount your restored databases immediately after the restore process, select Mount Database Automatically After Restore in the Mount Options window.
Verify the restore settings and then click Finish.
To start the restore process, click Start Now.

How Recovery Storage Groups are created in Exchange Server 2007
A Recovery Storage Group is created as part of the SnapManager restore operation. By default, SnapManager provides this group with a default Recovery Storage Group name that has the same name as the original Storage Group name, with -RSG appended to it.
Adding databases to a Recovery Storage Group in Exchange Server 2007
You can add Exchange 2007 databases to the Recovery Storage Group by using the Restore wizard to add databases to the Recovery Storage Group during the SnapManager restore operation.
Mounting databases on a Recovery Storage Group in Exchange Server 2007
When the Exchange Information Store service restarts, the databases in the Recovery Storage Group are not mounted automatically. Use the Restore wizard to mount databases on a Recovery Storage Group.
Destroying a Recovery Storage Group in Exchange Server 2007
With SnapManager 5.0 and later, you can destroy the Recovery Storage Group, since you cannot restore to an existing Recovery Storage Group.

Parent topic: Recovery Storage Groups

Related concepts

Guidelines for restoring from a SnapManager backup copy