Hey all,

Is it possible to recover a mailbox database from a different cluster? are there any prerequisites for mounting an external mailbox database and recovering the information from it? 

Hi ,

We need more clarity on this case so please provide additional info.

What do you mean by different cluster and external database ?

Agreed we need more information however in general

1. You can use the MS RDB method https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee332351%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

2. Or if you are open to 3rd party products, check out Lucid8's DigiScope which would allow you to open any Offline Exchange database with/without logs to gain access to all Mailboxes, Folders, Messaging items within for export PST/MSG or recovery/migration to any Production Exchange server

What version of Exchange are you talking about and is the Database from the same Exchange Org?

If it's Exchange 2010 or 2013 you should be able to restore the database to any Exchange Server in the same organization using database portability (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876873(v=exchg.150).aspx).

If it's not from the same org, Exchange won't be able to mount the database and you will probably need to use a 3rd party product to extract the data.

Sorry for the lack of information guys,

Pretty much what I want to do is take the mailbox database from an exchange 2013 (or perhaps a 2010) server and attached it to another cluster in another domain and retrieve the mailboxes. 

• Edited by mcassar 8 hours 9 minutes ago

Well its not possible to make a DB portable between domains, nor between different versions of Exchange so for that you are going to have to use one of the methods below

• You can load the EDB within the RDB located in the same domain that it exists in at this time, export all the data to PST and then import the PST's into the new domain
• OR use a 3rd party product like DigiScope www.lucid8.com/product/digiscope.asp which would allow you to

A: Open the Offline EDB without the need for Active Directory, or RDB etc.

B: Once opened you can see all the mailboxes, folders and items within

C: You can then export the data to PST/MSG OR better yet you can connect DigiScope to an Exchange Server of the same or Alternate version and have DigiScope Restore/Migrate the data into the new Exchange Databases

yeah trying to find the best way to migrate our users to a new domain, Have you had much success with these products? Have you ever used the cross-forest migration method?

So for the DigiScope product I work for Lucid8 the developer of the product and we have customers from all over the world using the product for Migrations, Recoveries, eDiscovery, Export, Search and Delete/Purge etc.  The nice thing with our tool is you can take a copy of any database from any location, place it on a member machine in the new domain, crack the DB open, connect to the production server and then use the wizard to restore the data and it can be done while people are working in their new mailboxes.

Regarding cross forest migrations, I've done a few and they are never fun. That said tell me more about your situation...

1. Whats the proximity between the existing and the new domain, i.e. within same/different building, different city etc.

2. What type of connectivity and bandwidth do you have between the the two

3. Are you just trying to move the Exchange Data or are you wanting to do AD objects, users, mailboxes etc?

Sorry for the lack of information guys,

Pretty much what I want to do is take the mailbox database from an exchange 2013 (or perhaps a 2010) server and attached it to another cluster in another domain and retrieve the mailboxes. 

• Edited by mcassar Wednesday, May 20, 2015 11:20 PM

If you are using Exchange 2010 or 2013, you can move your mailbox data with the help of powershell cmdlets for database portability : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876926

However, if you are looking to migrate between two different Active Directory forests you may go for Cross Forest migration: https://www.petri.com/microsoft-exchange-2010-cross-forest-migration

But it is always a headache in executing complicated PowerShell commands and establishing trust relationships between source and destination servers, Also if you are using exchange version prior to 2007, youre probably going to come to a dead end as Exchange does not allow cross forest migration for previous exchange versions. In those situations, you can use any professional migration tool like Stellar EDB to PST converter to export your Offline Exchange database with/without logs from one server to another live exchange server.

Ah,

I was thinking of dropping in a single mailbox server to help with the move and simply move the mailboxes from our 2010 cluster over to it, then migrate over to the new domain, my biggest issue is the migration itself and the speed of the link.

Apart from above suggestions, If you wish you could try this programmed solution i.e.http://www.exchangemailboxmigration.com which is a single solution for Exchange migration, backup extraction, mailbox recovery.

3rd party Tools:  I guess the thing to remember here is that there are really only 3 good tools on the market that can open an offline EDB and deal with the data in an accurate and complete way, i.e. not messing up the data which as you can imaging makes a horrible mess if done improperly. The 3 are Ontrack PowerControls, Quest Recovery Manager for Exchange and Lucid8's DigiScope.  All the other low end tools I would stay away from unless your looking to recover a mail or two for the content, however if the validity, accuracy and completeness of the data matters to you obtain one of the above 3.

Bandwidth: yes if the link between the sites is the bottleneck it makes migrations very difficult and time consuming.  To overcome that I find the following is a good method;

A: get everything setup and read for your migration, i.e. trusts, connectivity between sites so that you are ready to do mailbox moves.  I would suggest that you create a TEST mailbox with nothing in it and attempt the mailbox move to ensure all is working well etc.

B: Get everyone Off Exchange

C: Dismount the databases

D: Rename the folders the DB's and Logs are in and then create NEW folders with the Exact same name

E: Now start making copies of the EDB's themselves onto some portable media so that you end up with a WORKING copy on the portable media and a MASTER Copy in the renamed folder on your production server

F: Mount the databases in Exchange and it will squawk that the DB files are missing and if you continue it will create new blank databases, say yes and the new DB's are created.  Mail will begin to flow again and users con connect to send receive NEW email, however all the historical email will not be present.

G: Now do your Mailbox Moves and everything will go super fast because there is little to no data in each mailbox.

H:  Next take the WORKING copy of the databases over to the new network and use DigiScope to Mount the offline databases and connect to the new production DB.  Then simply use the recovery Wizard to restore/migrate all mailboxes from the offline EDB that came from the original server into the mailboxes on the new production server.  NOTE: this portion can be done while users are connected to their new mailboxes and as the restore/migration of data continues the users will see the historical data show up

Oh and if you want to complete the migration without a 3rd party tool you could always export the data to PST from the original server and import it into the new with the MS cmdlets. Its a bit more work but hey its free