Exchange Go BANG ***HELP***

[ICTNUT]

Right Guys,

Need help here, Exchange 2000 server has gone up in smoke over the weekend and it also turns out that no backups have been performed since 1999 <-- Yeah I Know (I only joined the school 2 months ago after the last guy walked)

Anyhow, I can not access the server to recover anything of it i.e mailboxes

I have another server I am going to use and will put Exchange 2003 on but is there a way to backup the users mailboxes locally i.e. on thier desktop.

This is the only way that I will be able to recovery the more important mailboxes.

Any help or advice really welcomed on this !

[tarquel]

Are the mailboxes like the .pst file you have in Outlook 200x?

Cant they just be copied and used on the new one or....as I imagine the answer will be..... is it alot more complex than this?

Annoyingly, I might have been able to help more if I'd actually ben allowed to get the Exchange server over the summer hols grrr

Nath

[Dos_Box]

If the user profile is intact on the desktop machine then a PST file should have been created. Ric has the same problem a couple of weeks ago. He'll be able to advise you.
You say your predicessor walked!? Nice.

[Ric_]

If your clients all used Outlook you may be able to get their data from the Auto Archive files (I wouldn't hold out much hope of this).

You're basically screwed otherwise since the mailbox store is a fancy database and it's tied heavily into AD.

You're best bet is to try to get the hard disk working in another machine. When you rejoin this to the domain (I think this is necessary due to GUIDs and SIDs) it should join all the dots back together.

If the hard disk is goosed then I would suggest a data recovery firm (or telling the users that it's tough - far far cheaper).

Personally, I can't wait until all the staff come back and find that all their old mail is gone! At least mine was backing up something - just so happened that the tool that set it up was backing up the 'M-Drive'!!! (And this fool had never bothered to check the contents of the backups properly).

[Dos_Box]

I'm sure any AUP will have the clause 'Critical information backups are a personal responsability' included.

[Geoff]

I'm sure any AUP will have the clause 'Critical information backups are a personal responsability' included.

Given the state things are in, I seriously doubt an AUP exists. Let alone has that clause.

[Ric_]

Hmmmm - first find signed AUPs...

What important emails can exist from 5 years ago!?!

[ICTNUT]

Thanks for the responses guys ;-)

Firstly there were no AUP's however I have put them in place and from September will be binding.

@Ric_: I am going to have a look this morning to see if I can access the disk with all the mailboxes on them if this can be done then I can use the Migration wizard to move them over to the new Excahnge server I will set up.

The good thing is with Excahnge 2003 you no longer need to have the mailbox store on the same server as EX2003 now support remote storage so all mailboxes can go onto our NAS server where it is all backed up centrally.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[ajbritton]

There is lots on MS information about Exchange disaster recovery which might be worth a read. I've had to do this a couple of times and it can be an absolute NIGHTMARE!

Good luck

[Ric_]

@ICTNUT: Just think yourself lucky that AD wasn't goosed too! I found out that I had a self-destructing AD (on the Exchange box) and no system state/mailbox store backups for 2 years