nbu 7.6 exchange 2013 recovered database corruption

[Ravi_Bhandari]

Hi, I'm using netbackup 7.6 on windows 2008R2 and attempting a redirected restore of a Exch 2013 mailbox database to a recovery database.

To complicate things the backup policy is of type vmware for exchange database, and there are two servers in my DAG.

The restore is failing with

MS Exchange Server Policy error [2810]

If I look at the event viewer for the exchange server,  it states something along the lines the recovery database fails to be mounted because of a corruption.

It appears the database was in a shutdown dirty state when backed up.

Is there anyway I can attempt a manual recovery of the datbase or determine why the database is said to be corrupted?

[Ravi_Bhandari]

The database file and logs were restored from tape,

eseutil /ml "k:\Recovery Database\E08"

Extensible Storage Engine Utilities for Microsoft(R) Exchange Server
Version 15.00
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating FILE DUMP mode...

Verifying log files...
     Base name: E08

      Log file: k:\Recovery Database\E0800000001.log - OK
      Log file: k:\Recovery Database\E08.log - OK

No damaged log files were found.

Operation completed successfully in 0.47 seconds.

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

I believe this is a vmware guest backup so you can try to restore the VM and get the .edb database files which can be used to bring the database up using ESE util.

[Ravi_Bhandari]

The .edb file has been restored, I could repair it using ESE util however this would involve data loss. I am trying to figure out why I am unable to bring the edb file to a consistent state after applying the logs.

It makes me doubt the validitity of the backups.

There is nothing in the logs (application state capture, snapshot etc.) to suggest there is a problem with the backups.

[GulzarShaikhAUS · Accepted solution]

There is a high chance of those files being inconsistent as I guess you recovered them as flat file. Unless the application is shutdown its hard to get a consistent copy of eb file. At the other end Netbackup uses its own mechanism to read the snapshot to achieve application consistent backup. 

You need to contact Microsoft in case you can not recover database with ESE. A data loss would anyways be there even if you perform Netbackup level restore as it would go back to the recovery point.

[Ravi_Bhandari]

Thanks for that, I do recall that this was working prior to us moving to a DAG. It would complete successfully and mount the recovery database.

I'm wondering if this has something to do with backing up the active rather than passive copy of the database.

I wonder is there anyone else with experience of backing up and restoring Exchange 2013 DAG on VMWare?

[Ravi_Bhandari]

Funniest thing, I successfully managed a restore using a backup taken after the databases had failed over