Does Exchange need to be Offline to Restore an Item

[565515211]

We used to use Backup Exec a few years back, but our current IT Support uses Arcserve, so they asked us to switch.  We hated it, so we've gone back to Backup Exec.

One of the first things I tested was Restore of an Outlook item.  Unfortunately, it failed:

Restore 00007 -- The job failed with the following error:
Unable to restore some Microsoft Exchange components because one or more of the databases are currently mounted or because the Recovery Storage Group is not properly configured. Use the Exchange System Manager to check the configuration of the Recovery Storage Group and the mount status of the databases.

Our Support Company (who, as stated, is not familiar with Backup Exec) has suggested it failed because Exchange is still online, but I never remember having to take Exchange offline previously when doing an Outlook Item restore.

I looked up the Symantec KB and found this article, http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/315637.htm, so I did as instruced and selected the option "Redirect to Recovery Storage Group (RSG)" in Microsoft Exchange Redirection Tab, etc, but then I got this error:

(Job: "Restore 00015") Restore 00015 -- The job failed with the following error: The directory or file was not found, or could not be accessed.

Can anyone explain what I'm doing wrong?  Does Exchange have to be offline for a Restore to work?

Thanks for any help or advice.

Brian
 

[teiva-boy]

 If using the GRT option, NO.
If you aren't using GRT, you should be.

If you aren't using GRT, then you'll have to use an RSG or take the IS offline.

[Hemant_Jain]

From the error message, you posted, it appears that you have selected mailbox store in your restore selections. If you select, the entire store, it would always ask you to dismount the database before you perform the restore. So, if you are interested in restoring individal mailbox or an outlook item, you need to select the mailbox from under the mailbox store. So, in the restore selections, expand mailbox store and further find your mailbox in question and any outlook item that you would like to restore. This kind of restore would require Exchange database to be online. This is also called GRT restore. So, for GRT restore, Exchange must be online and you must have the mailbox being restored available.

Please mark it a solution, if this is useful.

Thanks

[565515211]

Thank you for your replies.

Hemant, if I use the Restore Wizard and select an Individual Item to be restored, there is no option in the Wizard that says (basically) 'where should the item be restored to'.

It seems logical to me that if you're restoring an Email for John Smith that Backup Exec will put it back in John Smith's Mailbox???

I was checking the Logs today, and the Backups are completing 100%, but with Exceptions.  The Exception states:

"The Backup Exec Remote Agent on the resource does not support the option to enable the restore of individual items. A backup was run, but you will not be able to restore individual items from this backup set "

What does that mean?  The Agent was deployed from a brand-new installation of Backup Exec, so if that Agent doesn't support Restoring Individual Items, which Agent does????   I'm very confused.

Thanks for any further help or advice you can provide.

Brian

[Hemant_Jain]

I would suggest checking following tech notes:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/304106

I would assume, this is Backup Exec 12.x, if not following document may help, if the target machine is a 64 bit server:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/286203

Also, regarding the restore of mailbox, yes if in the restore selections you select mailbox as John smith, we would try to restore to the same mailbox, unless you choose to redirect it to some other mailbox. In order to get the option to redirect, i would suggest you to go throuh custom settings of Backup Job in stead of wizard.

Thanks

[565515211]

Thanks Hemant. 

I ran the Tool suggested, and it indeed found that DWMAPI.DLL is missing, which is apparently a common problem.  Despite it being a common problem, there is no solution for resolving it, ie, it doesn't provide any information regarding how to fix this error.

I googled DWMAPI.DLL, but there is nothing difinitive to say how to fix this--mostly just people complaining that Microsoft did something in IE7 that caused this issue.

If this is a not only a known problem but a common problem with Backup Exec, why doesn't Symantec provide a fix?

Where do I even begin trying to get this resolved?

Thanks for your ongoing help.