Restoring Backed Up Priv Files Into New Exchange Server

Case Study 1
Scenario:
New Orleans accounting firm (requested anonymity) running Exchange 2000 Enterprise on a Dell Power Edge 4400 Server. EDB size 23GB aprox. 250 users.

The failure was at the RAID 5 level. The server shutdown and 2 out of 5 hard drives (78GB Seagate SCSI) failed. The Exchange server was backed up using Veritas and a Quantum tape library. The tapes were damaged by water.

The company is being temporarily housed by Regus in Houston.

Resolution:
The data recovery division of MAS Technology was called in to recover the data off of the Power Edge. The hard drives were immediately cloned then returned with 2 replacements to the customers temporary headquarters. The IT staff was able to get Exchange back online and the user accounts active. Of course they had no mail.

DTI Data's RAID Data Recovery Division was able to repair 1 of the damaged drives and get the RAID volume online virtually. DTI immediately transferred the EDB and STM files to the client for attempted disaster recovery. At the same time copies of the files were transferred to the exchange recovery division of DTI, in case the disaster recovery was unsuccessful.

Here are the steps taken for the disaster recovery:

1) ESEUTIL /P E:\EXCHSRVR\MDBDATA\PRIV.EDB (After you finish this command please delete all the log (EDB.LOG, EDBXXX.LOG) files from E:\EXCHSRVR\MDBDATA Folder)
2) ESEUTIL /P E:\EXCHSRVR\MDBDATA\PUB.EDB
After Finishing the above command please type the below command.
3) ESEUTIL /D E:\EXCHSRVR\MDBDATA\PRIV.EDB
4) ESEUTIL /D E:\EXCHSRVR\MDBDATA\PUB.EDB
5) Go to C:\EXCHSRVR\BIN folder and run the next command.
6) ISINTEG -PRI -FIX -TEST ALLTESTS (Run this command maximum three (3) time to get Error=0, Warning=0, Fixes=0)
7) ISINTEG -PUB -FIX -TEST ALLTESTS(Run this command maximum three (3) time to get Error=0, Warning=0, Fixes=0)

Unfortunately due to the dirty shutdown the files were unable to be recovered in this manner.

DTI was able to repair the other copies and transform the mailboxes into pst files. The pst's were delivered on an external hard drive within 48 hours to be ex-merged into a new database. For details on how to use Ex-Merge for disaster recovery click here.

They now have access to all their mail and are back in business. We can only hope that they will remain safe through Hurricane Rita.