URGENT: Import/Use EDB into Exchange

rh 0

Due to catastrophic server damage, we have lost virtually all our data. Luckily, i recently backed up (just copied it to another drive that didnt fail) the edb file from our exchange server, so we only lost a few days of emails at best. The old Exchange server was running Exchange 2012 on a 2012 server iirc. Now i'd like to use exchange 2019 on Windows Server 2022.

Is it possible to "just" use the edb? How would i go about that? What precautions need to be taken?

Jake Zhang-MSFT 6,615 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-04-11T01:47:45.91+00:00

Just circling back to check to see how things are going on with this thread. Should you need more help on this, you can feel free to post back.

2 answers

Andy David - MVP 149.2K Reputation points MVP

2024-04-08T11:53:52.1733333+00:00

You cant upgrade to 2019 using just the database. I assume you mean Exch 2013 or Exch 2010 is what you are running now?

If the database is in a clean shutdown state, you can recover the server running the same Exch Version and CU and same Windows O/S and drop the database in same drive structure and it should work:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/recover-an-exchange-server-exchange-2013-help

Or you can use database portability and mount on another server running the same version of Exchange:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/database-portability-exchange-2013-help

Or purchase 3rd party software to recover.

Once recovered, then you can upgrade.
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rh 0 Reputation points

2024-04-08T14:44:31.8766667+00:00

I just took a look at our iso library, there's only the 2010, so i assume it's gonna be an exch 2010 too. Is it possible to mount the database on an 2010 exchange server without a license? We sadly don't have any documentation left regarding licensing...

Or is it possible to contact microsoft support regarding this and get a "temporary" license?

Andy David - MVP 149.2K Reputation points MVP

2024-04-08T15:53:36.78+00:00

W/o a license it should still work unless the database is over 1TB or more than 5 Databases total

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/uspartner_ts2team/exchange-2010-default-database-size

rh 0 Reputation points

2024-04-08T17:24:05.0866667+00:00

Great! Would that still work if the db weren't in a "clean shutdown" state? It might be possible that i just coppied it straight from the running directory...

Andy David - MVP 149.2K Reputation points MVP

2024-04-08T17:47:08.62+00:00

If its not in a clean shutdown, then you have problems because it cant be mounted.

You can try these steps to fix:

https://documentation.n-able.com/covedataprotection/TROUBLESHOOTING/Content/kb/How-to-put-Exchange-database-into-clean-shutdown-state.htm

or use 3rd party software

rh 0 Reputation points

2024-04-09T16:18:43.88+00:00

Alright, thanks a lot. As i still need to wait for a few things to happen before restoring the database, another question.

Our domain provider is also able to provide us with email adresses, hosted on their own email server. I'd like to make use of that to bridge the time.
I have read that it is possible to import pst files into a mailbox on an exchange server.
A few users were unaffected by the outage, but some machines got some collateral damage and had to be set up anew. Question would be, if i set up the necessary email-accounts with our provider, would importing the pst files from outlook override the existing mailbox, once the exchange is up and running? Or would it append the "new" mailbox (from our domain provider) to the existing one (in our edb)?

The temporary emails would be set up the exact same as the exisiting ones, with the same domain name etc. Just on a different email server...

Andy David - MVP 149.2K Reputation points MVP

2024-04-09T17:16:06.5066667+00:00

Yes you can import the pst and choose not import duplicates. Or just ask the user to add the pst to their profile and not import it specifically.

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rh 0 Reputation points

2024-05-27T10:48:36.56+00:00

Hi Andy, it's been a while. I am now at a point where i'd want to handle the EDB. It is in dirty shutdown mode and not all logs are available, around half i'd say is corrupted. Is it still possible to soft restore it? As far as i can tell, hard recovery is deleting inconstent entries. As there >500 logs, there would be quite a bit of data loss, no?

rh 0 Reputation points

2024-05-27T13:23:00.1033333+00:00

A little update, i looked through the eseutil /mh output and turns out, i have all the logs that are yet to be committed to the db! Soft recovery should be possible then, right?

Edit: Ok i lied. the /mh tells me that logs 0xd312-0xd3425 are required, which i do have. Sadly i get an 1216 error telling me that an outstanding attachment has been detected at the start or end of recovery, but database is missing or does not match attachment info...

since it seems that only a few logs are missing, do you think we'd loose a lot of data doing hard recovery? Or is there a way around that error?
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Amit Singh 4,901 Reputation points

2024-04-15T10:18:08.81+00:00

Database would mount only on the Exchange server version it was created on. No “cross-version” mount possible. You would have to deploy Exchange server 2010 or 2013, restore database and only then migrate. Also check following link for the same.

Alternatively creating a new mail database on the new server in ECP and then convert offline edb file to pst. use 3rd party tools to extract data.

Please Note: Since the web sites are not hosted by Microsoft, the links may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.
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URGENT: Import/Use EDB into Exchange

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