Hello,

     I am prepping to restore deleted items for one specific mailbox. We use 
Outlook 2003 with Exchange 2003 v6.5. We use Veritas Bacup Exec and am 
looking at Microsoft Recovery Storage Group documentation and also Vertias 
BAckup Exec Documentation. The people that set this up have the Exhange .stm 
and .edb files residing on another partition than the C drive. I am at this 
point in the documentation:

1. In Exchange System Manager, create a recovery storage group, and add the 
database that you intend to restore.

2. Restore the database to the recovery storage group.

 I followed step one. Step 2 I have questions about. Do I just restore the 
.stm and .edb files to the alternate location that I defined when I created 
the recovery storage group? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you,
Brian

Hi,

as far as I can remember, you shouldn't simply restore the .stm and .edb 
files - you also need transaction log files and some others.
I don't know how Veritas does that, but MS Backup restores entire mailbox 
store (not separate files) into the recovery storage group (before that you 
do step 1 as you mentioned). It looks a little bit confusing, because it says 
that it's restoring into the real mailbox store, but actually it restores the 
database into the recovery storage group.

Don't trust me :)
Gintaras

Hello Gintaras,

    Where is the default mailbox store location in Exchange if I need to 
navigate to it for the backup? I can't seem to loacte the store looking where 
I think it should be. I am trying to restore from a few weeks ago before a 
user permanently deleted some important emails. I guess my question would 
also be what constitutes a malbox store? The database files and transaction 
log? Or is it a specific item with the mailbox store name? Any further help 
is appreciated.
-- 
Thank you,
Brian


"GinGin" wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> as far as I can remember, you shouldn't simply restore the .stm and .edb 
> files - you also need transaction log files and some others.
> I don't know how Veritas does that, but MS Backup restores entire mailbox 
> store (not separate files) into the recovery storage group (before that you 
> do step 1 as you mentioned). It looks a little bit confusing, because it says 
> that it's restoring into the real mailbox store, but actually it restores the 
> database into the recovery storage group.
> 
> Don't trust me :)
> Gintaras

The default store would be
C:\program files\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb and priv1.stm

Its all in those stores. Its not flat files, but rather a db.

"Brian" <briansawyer@koc-pa.com.(donotspam)> wrote in message 
news:9327B042-8DE6-4BBE-A4B5-7D6CDAA9E4EB@microsoft.com...
> Hello Gintaras,
>
>    Where is the default mailbox store location in Exchange if I need to
> navigate to it for the backup? I can't seem to loacte the store looking 
> where
> I think it should be. I am trying to restore from a few weeks ago before a
> user permanently deleted some important emails. I guess my question would
> also be what constitutes a malbox store? The database files and 
> transaction
> log? Or is it a specific item with the mailbox store name? Any further 
> help
> is appreciated.
> -- 
> Thank you,
> Brian
>
>
> "GinGin" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> as far as I can remember, you shouldn't simply restore the .stm and .edb
>> files - you also need transaction log files and some others.
>> I don't know how Veritas does that, but MS Backup restores entire mailbox
>> store (not separate files) into the recovery storage group (before that 
>> you
>> do step 1 as you mentioned). It looks a little bit confusing, because it 
>> says
>> that it's restoring into the real mailbox store, but actually it restores 
>> the
>> database into the recovery storage group.
>>
>> Don't trust me :)
>> Gintaras

Brian,

the default mailbox store location is under “C:\Program 
Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\”. If you want to find where your mailbox store is, 
right-click on it, go to Properties-> Database tab and you’ll see the paths 
to edb and stm files.
You also need transaction logs (and possibly some others files – like 
checkpoint, etc.). These files (including transaction logs) are shared for 
all stores (private (i.e., mailbox) and public stores) in the same storage 
group. Right-click on your storage group (“First Storage Group” by default), 
go to Properties and you’ll see the paths to transaction logs and [other] 
system files.

But if you would use MS Backup for restoring, you wouldn’t need to know any 
paths. You (1) create a recovery storage group, and add the database that you 
intend to restore and (2) pretend that you’re restoring into your real 
mailbox store. MS Backup knows that you’ve add the store to the recovery 
storage group so it restores it into the recovery storage group, not into the 
real mailbox store.

What constitutes a mailbox store? It’s:
1.	edb (1 file per each store)
2.	stm (1 file per each store)
3.	transaction logs (many files per each storage group)
4.	some other system files (a few files per each storage group)

Hopefully this helps,
Gintaras

P.S. And if you choose to restore files, you'll need to commit uncommitted 
transaction logs into database ("C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin\eseutil.exe"). 
An Exchange-aware backup software normally does that for you.

Thanks Martin for clarifying. This confirms for me that the people who set 
this up moved the default location of the mdbdata folder to a larger drive 
for future expansion.  
-- 
Thank you,
Brian


"Martin Blackstone" wrote:

> The default store would be
> C:\program files\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb and priv1.stm
> 
> Its all in those stores. Its not flat files, but rather a db.
> 
> "Brian" <briansawyer@koc-pa.com.(donotspam)> wrote in message 
> news:9327B042-8DE6-4BBE-A4B5-7D6CDAA9E4EB@microsoft.com...
> > Hello Gintaras,
> >
> >    Where is the default mailbox store location in Exchange if I need to
> > navigate to it for the backup? I can't seem to loacte the store looking 
> > where
> > I think it should be. I am trying to restore from a few weeks ago before a
> > user permanently deleted some important emails. I guess my question would
> > also be what constitutes a malbox store? The database files and 
> > transaction
> > log? Or is it a specific item with the mailbox store name? Any further 
> > help
> > is appreciated.
> > -- 
> > Thank you,
> > Brian
> >
> >
> > "GinGin" wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> as far as I can remember, you shouldn't simply restore the .stm and .edb
> >> files - you also need transaction log files and some others.
> >> I don't know how Veritas does that, but MS Backup restores entire mailbox
> >> store (not separate files) into the recovery storage group (before that 
> >> you
> >> do step 1 as you mentioned). It looks a little bit confusing, because it 
> >> says
> >> that it's restoring into the real mailbox store, but actually it restores 
> >> the
> >> database into the recovery storage group.
> >>
> >> Don't trust me :)
> >> Gintaras 
> 
>

Thank you again Gintaras. I checked the mailbox settings and the database and 
transaction log file locations and they all point to a larger partition 
instead of the default C partition. The system path location, however still 
points to C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\mdbdata. I am not sure if this makes the 
restore process more difficult or not. Veritas is our backup and they have 
documentation on how to do this. The issue I run into is locating the mailbox 
store in the restore procedure. I can see the data and transaction log files, 
but I do not see the name of the actual "mailbox store" when trying to set up 
the restore. Here is the backup Exec documentation I am looking at.

http://support.veritas.com/docs/264815 


Thank you,
Brian


"GinGin" wrote:

> Brian,
> 
> the default mailbox store location is under “C:\Program 
> Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\”. If you want to find where your mailbox store is, 
> right-click on it, go to Properties-> Database tab and you’ll see the paths 
> to edb and stm files.
> You also need transaction logs (and possibly some others files – like 
> checkpoint, etc.). These files (including transaction logs) are shared for 
> all stores (private (i.e., mailbox) and public stores) in the same storage 
> group. Right-click on your storage group (“First Storage Group” by default), 
> go to Properties and you’ll see the paths to transaction logs and [other] 
> system files.
> 
> But if you would use MS Backup for restoring, you wouldn’t need to know any 
> paths. You (1) create a recovery storage group, and add the database that you 
> intend to restore and (2) pretend that you’re restoring into your real 
> mailbox store. MS Backup knows that you’ve add the store to the recovery 
> storage group so it restores it into the recovery storage group, not into the 
> real mailbox store.
> 
> What constitutes a mailbox store? It’s:
> 1.	edb (1 file per each store)
> 2.	stm (1 file per each store)
> 3.	transaction logs (many files per each storage group)
> 4.	some other system files (a few files per each storage group)
> 
> Hopefully this helps,
> Gintaras
>

Thank you again Gintaras. I checked the mailbox settings and the database and 
transaction log file locations and they all point to a larger partition 
instead of the default C partition. The system path location, however still 
points to C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\mdbdata. I am not sure if this makes the 
restore process more difficult or not. Veritas is our backup and they have 
documentation on how to do this. The issue I run into is locating the mailbox 
store in the restore procedure. I can see the data and transaction log files, 
but I do not see the name of the actual "mailbox store" when trying to set up 
the restore. Here is the backup Exec documentation I am looking at.

http://support.veritas.com/docs/264815 

-- 
Thank you,
Brian


"GinGin" wrote:

> Brian,
> 
> the default mailbox store location is under “C:\Program 
> Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\”. If you want to find where your mailbox store is, 
> right-click on it, go to Properties-> Database tab and you’ll see the paths 
> to edb and stm files.
> You also need transaction logs (and possibly some others files – like 
> checkpoint, etc.). These files (including transaction logs) are shared for 
> all stores (private (i.e., mailbox) and public stores) in the same storage 
> group. Right-click on your storage group (“First Storage Group” by default), 
> go to Properties and you’ll see the paths to transaction logs and [other] 
> system files.
> 
> But if you would use MS Backup for restoring, you wouldn’t need to know any 
> paths. You (1) create a recovery storage group, and add the database that you 
> intend to restore and (2) pretend that you’re restoring into your real 
> mailbox store. MS Backup knows that you’ve add the store to the recovery 
> storage group so it restores it into the recovery storage group, not into the 
> real mailbox store.
> 
> What constitutes a mailbox store? It’s:
> 1.	edb (1 file per each store)
> 2.	stm (1 file per each store)
> 3.	transaction logs (many files per each storage group)
> 4.	some other system files (a few files per each storage group)
> 
> Hopefully this helps,
> Gintaras
>

Thanks. Hopefully this is a exchange friendly backup :)
-- 
Thank you,
Brian


"GinGin" wrote:

> P.S. And if you choose to restore files, you'll need to commit uncommitted 
> transaction logs into database ("C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin\eseutil.exe"). 
> An Exchange-aware backup software normally does that for you.
> 
>

Hello again Gintaras,

    I dug deeper into the backup structure and found in Veritas(it's logic 
anyway), the mail store doesn't reside on the partition that the actual db 
files reside. It sits one level higher up in the structure as if it were on 
it's own drive. Sounds confusing until you navigate to it. Thanks again for 
helping me make sense of this. Have a great weekend!

-- 
Sincerely,
Brian


"GinGin" wrote:

> P.S. And if you choose to restore files, you'll need to commit uncommitted 
> transaction logs into database ("C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin\eseutil.exe"). 
> An Exchange-aware backup software normally does that for you.
> 
>