NBU Exchange Restore - Private/Public Database?

[mccleld]

Hello Team,

I'm performing a DR recovery of some *old* Exchange systems from NBU 6.5.4, both Exchange 2003 and 2007. However, I'm having problems identifying which databases are mailbox (private) databases and which are public (i.e., public folders) to complete the recoveries. 

I understand the process as documented by Symantec, in particular the key part that I need to pre-create the Storage Groups, Mailbox Databases and Public Folders Databases etc on the Exchange Server before I kick off the NBU restore in order for them to work.

However, for some of the DR restores we don't actually know the layout of the storage groups/databases as they were on Exchange - however, by querying the backup image with `bplist` I can see the constituent structure of the backup image which handily details the storage groups/databases - great, except where the naming convention of the databases is such that I can't identify which databases are mailbox databases and which are public folders databases. Unfortunately, the `bplist` output doesn't appear to give us any hints. I've had a look at `bpflist` too, but can't seem to be able to differentiate between the two types of database from its output.

Doing some testing, I've found that I can (without complaint from NBU) restore a public folder database into an identically-named mailbox database that I've created in Exchange - the only issue being that I'm unable to mount it after the restore (understandably). 

So, I'm trying to find a way of identifying which Exchange databases that have been backed up to NBU are private (i.e., mailbox) and which are public (i.e., public folders). I don't have the AD as a reference point as these Exchange Servers no longer exist.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Many thanks,

David Mc, London

[Mark_Solutions]

Hi

The only hint i can think of is to look at the catalog files for the backups (the .f files under netbackup\db\images\<exchangeservername>\<unixdatefolder>\ as they give a clue to what is in the backup, but not sure if this is any more than you see in the BAR GUI

[mccleld]

Thanks for your thoughts Mark,

My fear is that NBU is nothing more than a bit-bucket for the stream of data that it receives from the Exchange API and has no intelligence whatsoever about exactly what it is that it is backing up other than a name and a path. 

However, I'm hoping there's something obvious that I'm missing and somebody has been down this route before, particularly for DR restores of an Exchange Server where info on its source environment isn't readily available.

Rgds,

David Mc

[Mark_Solutions]

I did think the BAR GUI gave at least the names etc. of the Storage Groups and some details under those but it sounds like your naming convention does let this help.

I did look at some of my .f files and it did give an idea of Public Folders etc. but obviously not as much detail as you need i guess.

Cant think of anywhere else this would be stored.

[mccleld]

I did run a 'strings' command against one of the corresponding .f files as you suggested (the NBU server is on Linux, which helps) and all I was presented with was the owner/group etc of the backup image along with the folder/file/object names - no metadata to distinguish whether the objects are mailboxes or private DBs.

Thanks again for your suggestions Mark.

[Mark_Solutions]

Don't know if this will help you out, although not exactly what you needed, but your unmountable database could be made mountable using this (obviously substitue your own database name and a suitable temporary path that has enough disk space - and it will take a while to run depending on how large your databases are:

eseutil /p DB2.edb /t:D:\RecoveryDatabase\Database\tmpRepair.edb

Once finished you will retain the original database name and location but it should be mountable so that you can see what is in it.

This is used for Exchange 2010 but i would imagine it is similar in 2003/2007

Hope this helps