Recovery Database

A Recovery Database is a special type of mailbox database that allows you to restore, recover, and mount your database to an Exchange server, while the original database is still serving the user. It is a feature available with Exchange Server 2010. It is not bound to any server or database and each Exchange Server 2010 can have only one such Recovery Database.

A Recovery Database is useful in the disaster recovery process. SnapManager automates the mailbox store recovery process. You can add the Exchange mailbox store through management shell cmdlets on Exchange Server 2010, then you can restore the mailbox from the backup copy created and stored in the Recovery Database.

You can restore a database to a Recovery Database by using the restore-backup cmdlet with the appropriate parameter in the SnapManager command-line interface.

• Limitations of using a Recovery Database
  Although a Recovery Database allows you to restore, recover, and mount your database to an Exchange server to retrieve mail while the original database is still serving the user, it has some limitations in terms of the number of databases that you can restore, the type of restore operation that you can perform, and the configuration of the restore operation.
• Restoring a mailbox database to the Recovery Database in Exchange Server 2010
  You can use the Restore wizard to restore an Exchange 2010 database to the Recovery Database.
• When to delete a Recovery Database
  Because each Exchange Server 2010 can have only one Recovery Database mounted at any given time, after you recover the mailbox from the Recovery Database, you must delete the Recovery Database. You can then recover other mailbox databases.