What is a Recovery Database?

In Exchange 2016, a Recovery database (RDB) is a mailbox database that allows you to mount a restored Exchange database from a backup and extract data from it for restore and recovery operations. You can recover data from a recovery database without affecting the Exchange server's current or primary database. The RDB is created with the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) and can only be used for recovery purposes but not for backups. Furthermore, the RDB is only supported in Exchange 2016 and later versions.

 Learn more about Recovery database in Exchange server

Prerequisites for recovering mailbox with RDB

Before you create the RDB, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites

1. Ensure that you have the Organization Management permissions on the mailboxes. See the recipient permissions in Exchange server for creating the RDB.
2. You must copy the recovered database and log files manually to the RDB folder
3. You may have to perform a soft repair on the recovered database and bring it to the clean shutdown with eseutil/r.

1. How to restore Exchange 2016 mailbox from recovery database?

   • Step 1: Create a recovery database for Exchange 2016

     The first step is to create a recovery database from the Exchange Management Shell. Ensure you have sufficient space to copy the backup database and log files to their own folders. You can create the RDB with the New-MailboxDatabase cmdlet.

     For instance, the following cmdlet creates the recovery database named RDB1 on the mailbox server MBX1.

     New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name RDB1 -Server MBX1

     This following example creates the recovery database RDB1 on the Mailbox server MBX1 using a custom path for the database file and log folder. Make sure to name the recovery database the same as the one you'll restore from the backup in the following step.

     New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name RDB1 -Server MBX1 -EdbFilePath "C:\Recovery\RDB1.EDB" -LogFolderPath "C:\Recovery\RDB1"

      See how to create a recovery database in Exchange server 2016 and 2019

     Do not mount the recovery database yet. You must restore a database and corresponding log files from a previous backup.

   • Step 2: Recover and restore the backup Exchange 2016 database

     After you create the RDB, you must restore a backup database from Exchange 2016 to the recovery database. Use Windows server backup to copy both the database and the log files into the RDB folder. The following steps briefly describe the restore operation with Windows backup.

     1. Start the Windows Backup Recovery Wizard
     2. Specify and select the location type of the backup
     3. Select the backup location and name of the server
     4. Apply the date filter to restore the database and log files
     5. Select the files and folders option to restore to recovery databases
     6. Browse the tree in the Available items to find the files and folders you want to recover
     7. Select the database file and restore it to the location where you created the recovery database in the previous step.
     8. Repeat the same step to restore the log files to the same location.
   • Step 3: Mount the restored database to the Exchange server

     The database file which you recovered from Windows backup will be in the Dirty Shutdown state. To mount it to the RDB, you must first bring it to the Clean Shutdown state.

     1. Start Eseutil from the Exchange server directory and run the following cmdlet

        Eseutil /r E01 /l E:\Databases\RDB1 /d E:\Databases\RDB1

        Eseutil /r performs soft recovery on the database

        • E01 is the log file number that is required along with the database.
        • The first path (/l) indicates the path to place the log files.
        • The second path (/d) indicates the path of the recovery database.

        Run the cmdlet eseutil/mh to verify if the database is in the Clean Shutdown state

     2. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store

        Run the following cmdlet to restart the Exchange information store service

        Restart-Service MSExchangeIS

     3. Verify if the mounted database contains the mailboxes you want to restore

        Get-MailboxStatistics -Database | Format-Table DisplayName,MailboxGUID -AutoSize

   • Step 4: Perform Mailbox Restore Request in Exchange 2016

     After mounting the backup database to the recovery database, you must restore the mailboxes to the production mailbox on the Exchange server. For example, the following cmdlet restores John Doe's mailbox to the Archive mailbox.

     New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase DB1 -SourceStoreMailbox "John Doe" -TargetMailbox johndoe@mail.com -TargetIsArchive

     The following cmdlet restores the mailbox of Dave Smith to the target mailbox

     New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase DB1 -SourceStoreMailbox "Dave Smith" -TargetMailbox davesmith@mail.com

      See how to restore data using recovery database with EMS

     Run the following cmdlet on a regular basis to check the status of the mailbox restore completion.

     Get-MailboxRestoreRequest -Name "John Doe" | Get-MailboxRestoreRequestStatistics

   • Step 5: Remove the Recovery Database from Exchange 2016

     After the restore operation is complete perform the following steps

     1. Run the following cmdlet to remove the mailbox restore request

        Get-MailboxRestoreRequest -Status Completed | Remove-MailboxRestoreRequest

     2. Dismount the recovery database with the following cmdlet

        Dismount-Database RDB1

     3. Finally, remove the recovery database that you created

        Remove-MailboxDatabase RDB1

2. Limitations of the Recovery database:

   1. A Recovery database can be used only for the restore operation and cannot be used to take a backup of an Exchange database file (EDB).
   2. The RDB can be created only in Exchange 2016 and later.
   3. Restoring your mailbox data with the RDB requires extensive knowledge of PowerShell cmdlets.
   4. This method may result in data loss if you use incorrect commands
   5. The recovery database method fails, if Eseutil is unable to bring back the database to the Clean Shutdown state.

3. Recover and restore mailboxes in Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013 and 2010

   If you are looking to restore mailboxes from an offline or corrupted EDB in Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 and 2007, then EdbMails Exchange recovery tool is the right solution. It is a Microsoft partnered software that can recover EDB files from any server version without Exchange server dependency or Active Directory association. It also does not require a prior backup copy from Windows backup to restore the file and mailboxes. You can select any EDB file for recovery, convert your mailboxes to PST format or migrate the EDB to Live Exchange server. Let us look at the steps to restore Exchange mailboxes with the EdbMails application.

   1. Download EdbMails and install the application on any computer that is connected to the source and target environment. You can also perform the recovery and migration operation by installing EdbMails on any non-Exchange server computer.
   2. Launch the application and click 'Login' or 'Start Your Free Trial'
   3. Select the recovery technique as EDB to PST. EDB to Office 365. EDB to Exchange.

    See a detailed list of EdbMails system requirements and make sure you have Outlook installed if you want to recover and convert the EDB to PST file. If you want to directly migrate the EDB file to a live Exchange server, you do not require Outlook. Take a complete backup of the EDB file before you proceed with the operation.

   • Step 1: Select the offline Exchange database file for mailbox restore

     Select the EDB file which contains the mailboxes you want to restore. EdbMails can completely repair a corrupted Exchange database file and displays all your mailboxes and folders where you can preview individual mail items. The application can convert mailbox.edb, pub.edb, priv.edb and STM files and also supports EDB from Exchange 2003 and 2007.

     

   • Step 2: Select the mailboxes and perform the export or migration operation

     Select the mailboxes, folders and mailbox items and click 'Migrate to Live Exchange' to connect to the target Exchange server. If you want to export the recovered mailboxes to PST files, click 'Export to Outlook PST'.

     

     You can apply the advanced filter settings to export or migrate Exchange emails based on Date, Subject, Attachment and so on.

     1. The 'Exclude Standard / Custom folders' option enables you to exclude the folders such as Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Custom folders, Junk, Conversation History from the export operation.
     2. EdbMails comes with other additional settings for the export such as splitting a PST file and excluding emails whose size is greater than a specified limit.

     

   • Step 3: Connect to the target Exchange server and map the mailboxes

     Select 'Connect using Global admin User' and select 'Connect to Mailbox(es)'. You can also connect to a specific user mailbox or load a list of user mailboxes by using a CSV file. See the instructions on how to use the different Exchange server connection methods supported by EdbMails.

      With EdbMails, you can migrate mailboxes, public folders, and archive mailboxes from the source Exchange to the target server.

     

     

   • Step 4: Start restoring Exchange mailboxes from the EDB file

     After you complete the mapping, start and monitor the restore operation. Finally, verify the count of migrated emails, folders and mailbox items with EdbMails text-based log report. With this method, you can safely restore all your mailboxes from a corrupted database file to another Exchange server.

     

      If you require further assistance with the restore and migration operation, contact EdbMails free 24x7 support. Try the free trial version today to start restoring your Exchange server data. See steps to recover and convert EDB file to PST

Benefits of EdbMails Exchange recovery software

1. Does not require transaction log files for Exchange database recovery
2. All-in-one solution for Exchange migration, Exchange backup and recovery
3. Does not require you to create the RDB to perform the mailbox restore
4. Restores all Exchange server mailboxes without data loss
5. Recover Exchange server mailboxes without requiring PowerShell scripts
6. EdbMails is the ideal solution to directly migrate an EDB file to Office 365 and Live Exchange
7. The tool can recover corrupted, badly damaged and virus infected EDB files
8. Provides a complete preview of your mailbox data and mail items
9. Include and exclude filter options make it easy to export selected data
10. Enables you to recover deleted Exchange server mailboxes and perform migration to the target server.
11. EdbMails is compatible with all Windows operating systems and Windows server versions.