How to Restore Exchange Database to Different Server? Complete Solution

Microsoft Exchange 2016/203/2010 database is widely used by various IT companies and other industry verticals for business purposes and communication with employees, client,s and customers in the world. MS Exchange Server provided many different & advanced features that benefit to the end-users. Therefore, it doesn’t mean that the data is safe and secure. Everyone knows that Exchange Server is prone to corruption and many issues & error. In such cases, it is important for the Exchange Administrator to restore Exchange database to different server.

If the Exchange database is severely corrupted or damaged, then this increases the chance of loss of data. To prevent data loss in Exchange the IT administrator and Exchange users restore the EDB to the different server.

By doing this the Exchange admin is protecting the data and keeping it safe from unauthorized users. Restoring the Exchange 2016/2013/2010 database to different server allow users to access their mailboxes and data items without any interruption.

Methods to Restore Exchange Database to Different Server

Follow the different methods to restore Exchange 2010/2013/2016 database from one server to another:

1. By using Database Portability
2. Use of DAG (Database Availability Group)
3. Use the Exchange Server Mailbox Recovery

Note: DAG is the most useful method to restore Exchange database to the different server.

Use the Database Portability Feature

This feature is first came up in Exchange Server 2007 version and also it is available in Exchange 2010/2013/2016 Server. The Database Portability feature has its own significance. In this, the mailbox of one mailbox database server can be moved and mounted to the other mailbox server within the same organization.

You can move the MS Exchange Server database mailbox to a similar stored group on the same server. Users can reconnect the mailboxes once they moved to the different server. This approach doesn’t work in public folder database from the Exchange server to another.

Key Points Of Database Portability

1. The Microsoft Exchange mailbox database can be mounted to another mailbox server only if it is in the same Exchange Server organization.
2. It is necessary that the Exchange mailbox database should be from within or new Exchange Server version because it doesn’t move or mount the database of earlier version of Exchange from one server to different.
3. Exchange mailbox database cannot be transferred from Exchange public folder database (pub.edb file).

Use Database Portability Feature to Mount Exchange Server Database

Firstly, the user have to get the transaction log files and Exchange database to the different server where you want to mount the mailbox database. This can be achieved by restoring the Exchange database from backup or attach the similar storage group of old server to the new one.

2. Verify the state of the Exchange database. Open the Exchange Management Shell and run the command given below:

3. If it is in Exchange dirty shutdown state & log files are present, then perform soft recovery in Exchange database. But if the transaction log file are not available and the state of database is clean shutdown the skip this step.

4. Replace “e00” with transaction log file to prefix the Exchange database from the particular folder that contains logs.

5. Now user have to create the new Exchange mailbox database to the new mailbox server where you mount the database. Then allocate the new path to the Exchange database and log file, which should be different from the current file location.

New-MailboxDatabase ‘NewDatabase’ -Server “name_of_the_server” -EdbFilePath ‘F:\ NewDatabase \ NewDatabase.edb’ -‘LogFolderPath E:\ NewDatabase’

6. Copy the Exchange database and transaction log files from the previous location to the new one where you have created the new Exchange mailbox database.

7. Insert the following command given below to mark the Exchange database as “Overwritable”

Set-MailboxDatabase NewDatabase-Recoverd -AllowFileRestore:$true

8. Then, mount the Exchange Database

Mount-Database NewDatabase-Recoverd

9. The database is successfully mounted but the Exchange mailboxes are still going in the older database and server.

10. Update the new mailbox server properties by using the cmdlet given below to point the clients to the new Exchange mailbox database.

11. Now, the Exchange user accounts is updated with the new attributes

Now, you can reconnect the mailboxes under the following assumptions:

1. The client automatically connect with the new Exchange mailbox database in Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2010 and OWA (Outlook Web Access)
2. Updated user account should use the Active Directory for a copy
3. To connect with the new database in MS Outlook 2003, you need to manually upgrade the account or profile

Instead of using Database Portability feature to restore Exchange 2016/2013/2010 database to different server, users can also use the DAG. If the Exchange mailbox server reside in the Database Availability Group, then the database must be activated on another DAG which contains the replica of the database.

Note: In Database Portability there are chances that you cannot move or mount the Exchange database. Users requires hand-on experience, technical skills and knowledge to do the process.

Use Alternative Solution to Restore Exchange Database to Different Server

If the above features don’t work, then users can use the third-party automated wizard i.e. SysTools Exchange Server Mailbox Recovery which easily recovers and restores Exchange 2010/2013/2016 database to the different server in a hassle-free way with no data loss.

This utility provides Quick and Advance scanning option that repair EDB file from major and minor corruption without any PowerShell cmdlet. Depending on the level of corrupted offline/dismounted Exchange database file user can select the scan mode option. When user repair Exchange mailbox, then they can export the recovered EDB mailboxes directly to the selected Live Exchange Server 2016, 2013, 2010 & below version mailboxes.

Key Features Of Automated Wizard

1. Support public & private EDB and STM file
2. Preview EDB mailbox data items before conversion
3. Extract mailbox from EDB file Exchange 2016/2013
4. Preserve actual folder structure and keep metadata intact
5. Option to remove encryption from Exchange mailbox in bulk
6. Categories and Date filter option export selective mailbox data items
7. Export Exchange mailboxes to O365, Exchange Server, multiple file formats
8. Compatible with all Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook and Windows OS version

Bringing It All Together

Now users have the detailed information to restore Exchange database to different server by using the solution provided in this write-up. Therefore, it needs users to have in-depth knowledge and technical experience to use the manual solution. To avoid all the complexity and restore the Exchange 2010/2013/2016 to the different server in a simplified way, you can use the advanced software provided in the above section that easily removes corruption from Exchange database with no loss of data and export it to the Live Exchange server in a hassle freeway.