Exchange server recovery and importance

Microsoft Exchange server is used by businesses, IT, healthcare, and enterprises worldwide and has revolutionized email communication, storage, and collaboration, among other things. It consists of user mailboxes and stores important data such as attachments, files, notes, tasks, and calendar entries. Any damage to the Exchange server results in significant downtime and data loss, which industries are unable to cope up with. External threats to an Exchange server include hacking attempts, malware attacks, hardware failure which can be disastrous for banking, finance, stock markets, hospitals, and health care units. In cases of such failures, the Exchange server becomes inaccessible and users are unable to access their mailboxes. The errors can occur for a variety of reasons, but they all have one thing in common: they affect the Exchange database file, making it corrupted or orphaned. Let's take a look at the most common reasons why an Exchange server fails, and how to recover mailbox data from an Exchange server crash by using EdbMails EDB to PST converter.

Common causes of Exchange server crash

• Hardware failure on which the Exchange server is installed
• Shortage of computer memory available for working
• Sudden or abrupt system shutdown
• Power failure which terminates the server unexpectedly
• Incorrect or faulty update installation
• Using an outdated Exchange server version
• Overgrown Exchange database file
• Malware or virus infection
• Accidentally formatting your hard drive
• Deleting or erasing system files
• Not using the latest Windows Server OS
• Application conflicts with Exchange server services
• Manually terminating Exchange applications
• Missing or deleted Exchange database log files

There are numerous other reasons why you may be unable to access your Exchange server. For instance, when the server goes down, the Exchange database (EDB) file fails to mount. As a result, mounting an EDB file to the server is a difficult task which requires technical knowledge and you must recover your mailbox data as soon as possible to avoid further data loss.

How to recover data from an Exchange server crash?

If your Exchange server experiences a crash, it's vital to promptly initiate the recovery process and restore your services. To begin, diagnose the cause of the crash by examining event logs, error messages, diagnostic utilities, or debugging tools. Once the source of the issue is identified, take the necessary steps to rectify any damage, which might include replacing faulty hardware or reinstalling corrupted software. Lastly, recover any lost or altered data resulting from the crash using specialized recovery tools like EdbMails EDB to PST converter. The software helps you completely recover and convert the EDB file to PST without any data loss.

1. Recover data from Exchange server crash and restore the EDB file using Eseutil

   Before starting the recovery process, make sure you have a complete backup copy of the unmounted and corrupted Exchange database. Exchange and IT administrators frequently use Eseutil as a first line of recovery, diagnosing problems with the Exchange server or defragmenting the database to keep it in good health. Start Eseutil, which is installed and located in the application directory of the Exchange server. For instance, in Exchange 2013 and 2016, Eseutil is located in the following path.

   C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin.

   • Step 1: Launch the Eseutil tool from the Exchange server bin directory.

     Run the cmdlet eseutil/mh to verify the status of the database for Clean or Dirty Shutdown.

   • Step 2: Remount the database

     If the state shows Clean Shutdown state, you can safely remount the database. Run the cmdlet Mount-Database -Identity (Database_name.edb) to mount the database to the Exchange server.

   • Step 3: Perform a soft recovery if remounting fails

     If the remounting of the database fails, then your Exchange server is likely corrupted due to missing log files. If you have the transaction log files, copy them to the database folder and run the cmdlet eseutil/r to perform soft recovery. This operation replays the log files to the database and restores it to the last healthy state.

   • Step 4: Perform a hard recovery if the database is corrupted

     If the database fails to recover even after the soft recovery, then your database is severely corrupted. Run eseutil/p to perform hard recovery and remember that eseutil deletes the data permanently from the database that it fails to recover. This method may result in data loss.

   • Step 5: Defragment the database and perform an integrity check

     After the hard recovery, defragment the database files by executing the cmdlet ,'eseutil/d'. Finally, perform an integrity check by using IsInteg or New-MailboxRepairRequest and executing 'eseutil/g'.Mount the database to the Exchange server.

   There are a few key points to note in the preceding steps. The first point is that the soft recovery procedure from Eseutil restores the database state to Clean Shutdown if the transaction log files are available. If the database log files are permanently lost or deleted, the only option is to perform a hard recovery, which may result in a data loss. The soft recovery operation fails in cases of logical errors or severe database corruption. Both the hard and soft recovery methods rely on PowerShell commands that require technical knowledge and expertise.

   You can also restore the Exchange server from the last healthy backup. However, if the backup is not recent, you will lose all emails from the last backup up to the point the Exchange server crashed. When the log files are missing, you may encounter the Dirty Shutdown state and you must resolve the Dirty Shutdown error of the Exchange database. The best solution for all the preceding problems is to use a specialized software, such as EdbMails, to recover all of your mailbox data instantly from an offline EDB file without relying on an Exchange server.

2. Recover mailbox data from server crash in Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 and 2003 using EdbMails

   EdbMails Exchange recovery software completely retrieves mailbox data from a crashed Exchange server. The software supports recovery of EDB files from the different Exchange server versions including Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, and 2003 and allows you to recover / convert offline, corrupted, damaged, or inaccessible EDB files without any data loss.

   Furthermore, EdbMails ensures that the source EDB data remains unaltered and effectively copies the complete Exchange mailbox data into the target PST file. In addition to EDB to PST conversion, EdbMails directly migrates EDB files to Office 365 and on-premises Exchange servers.

   Steps to recover from an Exchange server crash by using EdbMails

   • Step 1: Download and Install the EdbMails Exchange recovery program.

     Download and Install EdbMails on any computer. You can also recover your crashed Exchange server EDB file by installing EdbMails on a computer that does not have an Exchange server. (EdbMails works without Exchange server dependency).

     

     Open the EdbMails application and select 'Login' or 'Start Your Free Trial'.

     

     Select the recovery operation as 'EDB to PST. EDB to Office 365. EDB to Exchange'

     

     To recover an Exchange server that has crashed, see EdbMails system requirements. To recover and export Exchange mailboxes to PST, make sure that Microsoft Outlook is installed on your computer.

   • Step 2: Select the offline EDB file from the crashed Exchange server.

     In EdbMails, browse the Exchange EDB file that you want to recover and convert to PST. In order to preview individual mail items, EdbMails displays all of your mailboxes after recovering the EDB file.

     

   • Step 3: Choose the mailboxes you want to export to PST.

     Expand the mailbox and click on the folders to see the items inside of them in order to access the mailbox's data. The application displays each item found in that folder. View the email's details, including the subject, email body, sent dates, from and to addresses, and more, by clicking on each item of correspondence.

     To export the contents of the mailboxes, folders, and mailbox items to a PST file, select them and click 'Export to Outlook PST.' If you want to directly migrate the recovered mailboxes to an on-premises, Hosted or a Live Exchange server, click 'Migrate to Live Exchange'

     

     You can use the advanced filter settings to export only emails based on Date, Subject, Attachment, and so on. The 'Exclude Standard / Custom Folders' option allows you to exclude certain folders from the export operation, such as Junk and Conversation History. Other features of EdbMails include the ability to split a PST file during the export process and exclude emails whose size exceeds a predefined limit.

     

   • Step 4: Check the mailboxes and give a name to the export job

     After selecting the mailboxes and folders, you can verify them for export and give the task a name for future reference.

     

   • Step 5: Set the output file location and begin the EDB to PST export.

     Browse the location on your computer to ensure that you have enough disc space to save the PST file. Finally, begin the EDB file to PST export operation. You can pause and resume the operation, and you can find the export details under View Log.

     

   Key features of EdbMails Exchange Database recovery software

   1. The software is compatible with all Windows Server and Client OS
   2. Recovers offline EDB files without the need for an Exchange server
   3. Can recover EDB files from any crashed Exchange server (2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019)
   4. Recover Exchange server from Jet Engine Errors
   5. Does not alter or modify the existing data from the Exchange EDB
   6. Maintains one-to-one data formatting and folder hierarchy during export or migration
   7. Export a disconnected Exchange mailbox to Outlook PST
   8. Granular brick-level recovery and export feature enables you to select specific data instead of the complete mailboxes
   9. User-friendly software interface allows to perform EDB recovery, export and migration with in a few clicks
   10. Recover and convert both EDB and STM files including priv.edb and pub.edb
   11. Direct migration from EDB file to Live Exchange and Office 365 (Microsoft 365)

   To restore all of your mailboxes and mail items from the EDB, import the PST file into Outlook. Add the domain name and configure the MX records to point to the new server if you have migrated to an Exchange server.

   Unlike the manual method from Eseutil, the migration and export operation with EdbMails does not result in downtime or data loss. EdbMails can also recover Exchange database (EDB) without log files and includes built-in filter settings for exporting and migrating specific folders, emails, and mail items.