Exchange Server Cookbook

Chapter 11. Backup, Restore, and Recovery

Introduction

Understanding how to back up and restore the Exchange data on your servers is critically important. If you don’t ensure that your public and private information stores, and Exchange’s configuration data are backed up on a regular basis, you could end up losing business-critical data—which can lead to some very uncomfortable conversations, at best. Unfortunately, too many administrators wait until disaster strikes to hone their backup and recovery skills. The time to understand the mechanics of backing up and restoring your servers is before you have a major failure that necessitates reloading your data from backup.

Often, the most important thing to do when faced with disaster recovery is to relax, and think the situation through clearly before beginning. Ensure that you have all of the media you will need for software installation (including third-party products, like Exchange-aware anti-virus software), and that you understand the task you are undertaking. There is no shame in calling Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) for help; the cost of the call is easily offset by the confidence you will gain and improved speed with which you’ll be able to get the restore process completed.

The basics of disaster recovery for Exchange really haven’t changed through the various releases of the product; the main difference between Exchange 2000 and 2003 and older versions of the product is that Exchange no longer hosts its own directory—Active ...