There are two recovery options for MS Exchange in the Backup Manager:
- Storage group recovery.
- Individual item recovery (the Exchange Granular Restore) – available starting from vs. 16.4 released in April 2016.
Access to the feature can be managed by service providers and system administrators through the product settings.
Exchange Granular Restore requirements
The Granular Exchange Restore works for MS Exchange 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016. To use the feature, install the following software to the Exchange server (if it isn’t installed yet):
- The Backup Manager use 16.6.
- The Virtual Drive tool version.16.6 (the Backup Manager gets some data from it during the recovery process).
- MS Outlook 2010 or 2013 (64-bit). The version of MS Outlook must be compatible with the version of Exchange server (see the compatibility table below).
Exchange/Outlook version compatibility table
MS Exchange version | MS Outlook version |
---|---|
Exchange Server 2007 Exchange Server 2010 |
MS Office Outlook 2010 RTM and later |
Exchange Server 2013 | Outlook 2013 Outlook 2010 SP1 with November 2012 Cumulative Update (download link) |
Exchange Server 2016 | Outlook 2013 Outlook 2010 with April 14, 2015 update (download link) |
How the Exchange Granular Restore works
Granular Exchange recovery is possible when the original mailbox is available. The feature isn’t intended for the recovery of deleted mailboxes. The Backup Manager recovers user data from an existing mailbox: mail folders, public folders, messages, calendar items, appointments, contacts, tasks, journals, notes and more.
The recovery is performed straight to the Exchange server. You can start your mail client right after recovery and find the recovered data in place.
Recovered items are added up to the existing ones. None of the existing data gets removed during the recovery process so you can safely use the feature to quickly restore mail folders and messages deleted by an accident. Also the Backup Manager recovers only missing data without duplicating existing files and directories.
Contributions and enhanced capabilities
The Granular Exchange Restore feature is powered by Lucid8’s DigiScope eDiscovery and Recovery API. Should you require any of the enhanced eDiscovery and Recovery capabilities outlined below, please contact Lucid8 to obtain a copy of DigiScope and purchase the appropriate license that meets your needs.
- Recovery of deleted mailboxes
- HR, legal, regulatory or business intelligence eDiscovery/search activities
- Access offline Exchange databases (EDB’s) NOT protected by the Backup Manager
- Recovery of mailbox or public folder data to alternate servers, mailboxes or locations
- Search and Export specific data to PST or MSG from offline Exchange databases (EDB’s)
- Search and Export to PST or MSG OR Delete/purge of specific data from production Exchange servers
- Review or recovery of system information such as Associations, Rules, Recoverable items (dumpster) etc.
- Migration of mailbox or public folder data to alternate versions of Exchange such as 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and Office 365
- Export of mailbox or public folder data from offline Exchange databases (EDB’s), production Exchange servers or Office 365 to PST or MSG files
Performing Exchange Granular Restore
Here is how you can recover MS Exchange mailboxes with the Backup Manager. Note that only the data that has been backed up with the same software can be recovered.
- Start the Backup Manager on the computer or virtual machine where the MS Exchange server is running.
- Click Restore > Granular Exchange.
- Select how the Backup Manager should access your Exchange databases:
- In the quick mode (no log rollup). The connection to the database is faster but some of the recent items may be unavailable for selection.
- In the thorough mode (with a log rollup). All data is available for selection but the connection takes longer.
- In the Session time list, choose the backup session you want to recover data from.
- In the Data store list, choose the database to recover the data from.
- Hold on till the content of the selected database is loaded.
- Click the user whose data you want to recover and refine your selection as needed.
- Click Restore.
- When the restore process is completed, start your mail client and find the recovered data there.