Recovery for Exchange 2007 using the vxsnap utility


Recovery for Exchange 2007 using the vxsnap utility
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You can recover exchange mailbox databases by using the vxsnap utility from the Command Line Interface (CLI).

Refer to Microsoft Exchange Shell cmdlets for details.

Note:

SFW automatically dismounts the stores before beginning the restore operation. If it fails to dismount the stores, the restore operation fails. In that case, manually dismount the stores and repeat the restore operation. For a VCS cluster setup, it offlines and onlines the resource for the database automatically. If automatic offlining of the resource fails, then manually offline the resource.

Using the vxsnap utility, you can do the following:

Restore an Exchange 2007 storage group to the point in time (PIT) of the snapshot set
Perform a roll-forward recovery of an Exchange storage group to the point of failure (POF)
Perform a roll-forward recovery of an Exchange 2007 single database to the point of failure
Restore to a recovery storage group (RSG) rather than the production store

Before you begin, review the prerequisites.

See Prerequisites for recovery.

You use the vxsnap restore command. The complete syntax of the vxsnap restore command is:

vxsnap -x filename [-f] [-b] [-r] restore restoreType=<PIT|POF>
[subComponent=subComponentName][writer=WriterName] 
[RSG=<YES|NO>]
vxsnap -x <filename>[-f][-b][-r] [-a] restore
restoreType=<PIT|POF>writer=<writername>[subComponent=
<subComponentName>][RSG=<Yes|No>]

To restore a storage group to the point in time of the snapshot set using the vxsnap restore command

Close the database GUI and all Explorer windows, applications, consoles, or third-party system management tools that may be accessing the volumes.
From the Start menu (the Start screen on Windows 2012 operating systems), type Run, and then press Enter to open the Run dialog box.
In the Run dialog box, type cmd, and then click OK.

In the command prompt window, type the vxsnap restore command, for example:
```
vxsnap -x Image1.xml restore restoretype=PIT
 writer="Microsoft Exchange Writer"
```
The XML metadata file contains all the necessary information about the Exchange storage group, including the names of the database and transaction logs volumes.
Mount all the databases (stores) in the Exchange storage group.
To refresh the snapshot set use the vxsnap create command to create a new snapshot of all the volumes in the storage group.

To perform a roll-forward recovery of a storage group to the point of failure using the vxsnap restore command

Close the database GUI and all Explorer windows, applications, consoles, or third-party system management tools that may be accessing the volumes.
From the Start menu (the Start screen on Windows 2012 operating systems), type Run, and then press Enter to open the Run dialog box.
In the Run dialog box, type cmd, and then click OK.

In the command prompt window, type the vxsnap restore command, for example:
```
vxsnap -x Image1.xml restore restoretype=POF 
writer="Microsoft Exchange Writer"
```
In this example, Image1.xml is the name of the XML metadata file associated with the snapshot set.

If you want to restore to an RSG, use the RSG=Yes option.
Mount all databases (stores) in the Exchange storage group; the transaction logs will roll forward to the point of failure. This action can be observed in the Event Viewer Application log.
To refresh the snapshot set at this point, snapback any remaining database volumes and the transaction logs volume using either the VSS Snapback wizard or the vxsnap reattach command. Then use the VSS Exchange Snapshot Wizard or vxsnap create command to create a new snapshot set of the storage group.

To perform a roll-forward recovery of a single database to the point of failure using the vxsnap restore command

Close the database GUI and all Explorer windows, applications, consoles, or third-party system management tools that may be accessing the volumes.
From the Start menu (the Start screen on Windows 2012 operating systems), type Run, and then press Enter to open the Run dialog box.
In the Run dialog box, type cmd, and then click OK.
In the command prompt window, type the vxsnap restore command, for example:
```
> vxsnap -x Image1.xml restore restoretype=POF
        subcomponent=DB1 writer="Microsoft Exchange Writer"
```
In this example, DB1 is the name of the Exchange database that is associated with the volume SG2-DB1, and Image1.xml is the name of the XML metadata file associated with the snapshot set.

If you want to restore to an RSG, use the RSG=Yes option.
Mount all databases (stores) in the Exchange storage group; the transaction logs will roll forward to the point of failure. This action can be observed in the Event Viewer Application log
Mount all databases; the transaction logs will roll forward to the point of failure. This action can be observed in the Event Viewer Application log.
To refresh the snapshot set at this point, snapback any remaining database volumes and the transaction logs volume using either the VSS Snapback wizard or the vxsnap reattach command. Then use the VSS Exchange Snapshot Wizard or vxsnap create command to create a new snapshot set of the storage group.

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