Online Exchange Mail Restore

[Jason_Metcalf]

If I need to restore all messages from a users Inbox (for example) can I do this while Exchange is up and running, or should Exchange be offline?

What is best practice?


Running: NBU 6 MP3 w. MS Exchange Extension. Exchange 2003

[Chia_Tan_Beng]

Hi Jason,

In general, one do not need to shutdown or offline Exchange during restore. If you backup user inbox using mailbox backup, you can restore the mailbox to alternate mailbox account and move the restored inbox message to the specific user's inbox you intend to recover. If you backup the whole exchange database, you can restore to the recover storage group and move/copy out the messages needed to be recovered.

[Lance_Hoskins]

Also read up on restoring to the recovery storage group which is a feature of Exchange 2003. This is their mechanism to make restores a bit easier for all.