Every Exchange role depends on different services or databases, so they have special requirements for backup
and recovery. Almost all of the configuration settings for Mailbox, Hub
Transport, and Unified Messaging server roles are stored in Active
Directory. As with previous versions of Exchange, Exchange 2010
includes the Setup /m:RecoverServer
parameter for recovering lost servers. It is used to rebuild and
re-create a lost server by using the settings and configuration
information stored in Active Directory. This works on all server roles
except Client Access Server role, which loses all customizations and Edge Transport role that cannot be used with the /m:RecoverServer switch.
Of course, you can restore
only if an Active Directory domain controller is available. You must
ensure that your disaster-recovery planning includes backing up and
restoring Active Directory.
The Exchange Server
environment includes additional information, such as the Offline
Address Book, availability data that a local folder stores, and other
configuration data. This information is rebuilt automatically when you
rebuild the Exchange Server environment. However, if you configured
custom settings such as custom audio prompts for your Unified Messaging
server, you also need to consider backing up these settings. It is thus
important to understand each Exchange roles' requirement to do a
successful backup.
1. Client Access Server Backup and Recovery
The Client
Access Server role stores the majority of its configuration settings in
Active Directory but also has some configuration such as POP3 and IMAP4
or configurations of the EWS service stored in the file system found in the <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess folder. Table 1 provides an overview of specific configuration files and how you should back them up.
Table 1. Client Access Server Data Backup Requirements
| SERVER DATA | HOW TO BACK UP |
|---|
| Server Configuration | Full backup of all files on the local drives including the registry |
| Certificates | Full backup or export of certificates and private keys |
| RPC Client Access Service | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess\RPCProxy |
| Outlook Web App (OWA) | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess\OWA |
| Exchange Control Panel (ECP) | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess\ECP |
| Availability Service | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess\exchweb\ews |
| Autodiscover Service | System-state or IIS metabase backup |
| ActiveSync | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess\Sync and IIS metabase backup |
| POP3 and IMAP4 | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ClientAccess\PopImap |
To recover a Client Access Server, you can either recover a full backup or you can run Setup /m:RecoverServer
to get the basic configuration information from the Active Directory
and then restore or configure specific service settings and
certificates.
Note: Client Access Server role customize settings are not recovered when you use the Setup /m:RecoverServer
command to reinstall the server. As a best practice for this situation,
Microsoft recommends installing a new Client Access Server with default
settings, and then use a PowerShell script for any customizations you
did on the Client Access Server for recovery.
2. Hub Transport Server Backup and Recovery
Hub
Transport servers store most of their configuration information in
Active Directory and provide protection for messages in transit with
their shadow redundancy feature anyway. Thus the Hub Transport servers are not critical from the backup and restore perspective because you will only lose limited data.
The main data that is stored
directly on a Hub Transport server that should be considered in a
backup is the message tracking logs and (if used) the custom ESE
database configuration file. However, in a good backup and restore concept every server should be considered with the same importance. Table 2 provides an overview of what areas you should consider for Hub Transport backup.
Table 2. Hub Transport Server Data Backup Requirements
| SERVER DATA | HOW TO BACK UP |
|---|
| Server Configuration | Full backup of all files on the local drives including the registry |
| Certificates | Full backup or export of certificates and private keys |
| ESE database configuration | Backup of EdgeTransport.exe.config file located in <Exchange_Installation_Path>\Bin |
| Message tracking logs | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\TransportRoles\Logs |
Note: It is recommended that you do a full server backup including at least a file-system backup of the <Exchange_Installation_Path>\ folder to successfully back up a Hub Transport server.
To recover a Hub Transport server, follow these steps:
Set up a server with the same name as the server that is recovered.
Run Setup /m:RecoverServer to install the Exchange role and fetch the configuration information from Active Directory.
Restore custom ESE configuration file and message tracking logs if required.
3. Unified Messaging Server Backup and Recovery
The Unified
Messaging server role also does not store any user-related information
on the server but includes only configuration information such as
custom auto-attendant files, grammar configuration, and Outlook Voice
Access files. Table 3 provides an overview of what areas you should consider for Unified Messaging backup.
Table 3. Unified Messaging Server Data Backup Requirements
| SERVER DATA | HOW TO BACK UP |
|---|
| Server Configuration | Full backup of all files on the local drives including the registry |
| Certificates | Full
backup or export of certificates and private keys (can be ignored
because an UM server does not use any public certificates) |
| Custom audio prompts | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\UnifiedMessaging\Prompts |
| GAL grammar | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\UnifiedMessaging\Grammars |
Note: To
perform a backup that you can recover as quickly as possible, it is
recommended that you do a full backup including at least a file-system
backup of the <Exchange_Installation_Path>\UnifiedMessaging folder to successfully back up a Unified Messaging server.
To recover a Unified Messaging server, follow these steps:
Set up a server with the same name as the server that is recovered.
Run Setup /m:RecoverServer to install the Exchange role and fetch the configuration information from Active Directory.
Restore custom prompts and audio files if required.
Restore GAL grammar configuration files if required.
4. Edge Transport Server Backup and Recovery
Edge
Transport servers that participate in an Edge Synchronization store
most of their configuration data in the Exchange organization's Active
Directory. This configuration data is synchronized via EdgeSync to the Edge
Transport server's local AD LDS database. Only a few configuration
settings that are not part of the EdgeSync process, such as local
transport agents, need to be considered separately.
Similar to the Hub Transport server, the shadow redundancy feature includes automatic failover functionality for message
sending and receiving. Thus the Hub Transport servers are not critical
from the backup and restore perspective because you will only lose
limited data. Table 4 provides an overview of what areas you should consider for Edge Transport backup.
Table 4. Edge Transport Server Data Backup Requirements
| SERVER DATA | HOW TO BACK UP |
|---|
| Server Configuration | Full backup of all files on the local drives including the registry |
| Certificates | Full backup or export of certificates and private keys |
| Edge specific configuration/Content-filtering database | Use the ExportEdgeConfig.ps1 script |
| Edge transport rules | Use the Export-TransportRuleCollection cmdlet |
| Message tracking logs | File-system backup of <Exchange_Installation_Path>\TransportRoles\Logs |
Note: As
a best practice, it is recommended that you run the
ExportEdgeConfig.ps1 script to export the configuration to a local disk
and then do backup of all files on the local drives including the
registry to successfully back up an Edge Transport server.
To recover an Edge Transport server, follow these steps:
Set up a server with the same name as the server that is recovered and install the Exchange Edge Transport role on it.
Validate and import configuration using the ImportEdgeConfig.ps1 script.
Import transport rules using the Import-TransportRuleCollection cmdlet.
Run the EdgeSync process if the Edge Transport server was part of an Edge Synchronization before.
Restore any message tracking log files if required.
