XADM: Restore Exchange When Site or Organization Name Is Unknown

Sometimes it is necessary to reinstall Microsoft Exchange Server and then restore the Exchange Server data from backup. This restore process requires that the computer running Exchange Server be installed with the original organization and site names.

If the server that stopped responding was the only server in the site, the administrator needs the organization and site names. Without these names, it is not possible to recover the Exchange Server data from backup.

This article explains how to determine the organization and site names and restore Exchange Server.

Four procedures are listed below. There are two procedures for determining the organization and site names; the one you use depends on whether the Exchange registry keys are available. This article also explains how to restore a computer running Exchange Server after you have determined the organization and site names. This can be done from either an online or an offline backup.

If Exchange Registry Keys Are Available

If the Exchange registry keys in the Microsoft Windows NT registry are available, the organization and site names can be determined from the "X500 DN" registry value under the following registry key: This value has the following string: Where org name and site name are the organization and site names.

After you have determined the organization and site names, follow the steps below to restore Exchange Server data from an offline or online backup.

If Exchange Registry Keys Are Not Available

If the Exchange registry keys referenced above are not available, and backups of the Priv.edb and Pub.edb files (offline backup) are available, determine the organization and site names as follows:

1. Install Exchange Server using NewOrg as the organization name and NewSite as the site name.
2. Stop the Exchange Server services.
3. Delete all the files in the Mdbdata subdirectory.
4. From the Mdbdata directory of the offline Exchange Server backup, copy the files Priv.edb and Pub.edb into the Exchsrvr\Mdbdata subdirectory of the new installation.
5. Start the directory service.
6. From a command prompt, go to the Exchsrvr\Bin directory.
7. Run Isinteg -patch.
8. Start the information store service.
9. The information store service stops responding with an error 1276. In the application event log in Windows NT Event Viewer, the following error message is logged:
   Event ID: 1088
   Source: MSExchangeIS
   Type: Error
   Category: General
   Description:
   The information store could not be loaded because the distinguished name (DN) of the message database
   /O=OldOrg /OU=OldSite /CN=RECIPIENTS /CN=
   does not match the DN of the directory
   /O=NewOrg /OU=NewSite /CN=RECIPIENTS /CN=
   
   The database may have been restored to a computer that is an organization or site different than the original database.
   OldOrg and OldSite are the original organization and site names and NewOrg and NewSite are the new names entered when Exchange Server was reinstalled in step 2.
10. Note the original organization and site names.
11. Run the Server Setup program and remove the existing installation.

After you have determined the organization and site names, follow the steps below to restore Exchange Server from an offline or online backup.

Restoring from an Offline Backup

After you have determined the organization and site names, follow these steps to restore the Exchange Server system.

These steps assume that an offline backup of the entire Exchsrvr directory is available.

1. Run Exchange Server Setup to install Exchange Server using the original site and organization names.
2. Stop all the Exchange Server services.
3. In the Dsadata subdirectory of the Exchsrvr directory, copy Dir.edb to Dir.sav.
4. Proceed to step a if the machine name of the computer running Exchange Server has not been changed and if the Windows NT domain accounts have not been re-created after the server stopped responding. Proceed to step b if the server name has changed or the Windows NT domain accounts information had to be re-created.
   1. Restore the entire Exchsrvr directory from the offline backup.
      
      -or-
   2. Delete all files from the Exchsrvr\Mdbdata subdirectory. Copy the files Priv.edb and Pub.edb from the Mdbdata of the offline backup to the Exchsrvr\Mdbdata subdirectory.
5. Start the directory service.
6. From a command prompt, go to the Exchsrvr\Bin directory.
7. Run Isinteg -patch.
8. Start the information store.
9. Start the Exchange Server Administrator program.
10. On the Advanced tab of the Server object properties, start the DS/IS Consistency Checker.
11. Redefine any connectors. Re-create all custom recipients and distribution lists. If, in step 4, only the Priv.edb and Pub.edb were restored, reassign the primary Windows NT account associated with each mailbox.

Restoring from an Online Backup

After you have determined the organization and site names, follow these steps to restore the Exchange Server system. These steps assume that an online backup of the entire Exchsrvr directory is available.

1. Run Exchange Server Setup to install Exchange Server using the original site and organization names.
2. Stop all the Exchange Server services.
3. In the Dsadata subdirectory of the Exchsrvr directory, copy Dir.edb to Dir.sav.
4. If the machine name of the computer running Exchange Server has not been changed and if the Windows NT domain accounts have not been re-created after the server stopped responding, proceed to step a. If the server name has changed or the Windows NT domain accounts information had to be re-created, proceed to step b.
   
   1. Restore the directory and the information store from the online backup.
      
      -or-
   2. Restore only the information store from the online backup.
   When you restore, do select the option to restart the services.
5. Start the Exchange Server Administrator program.
6. Run the DS/IS Consistency Checker (Advanced page of the Server object properties).
7. Redefine any connectors. Re-create all custom recipients and distribution lists. If, in step 4, only the information store was restored, the primary Windows NT account associated with each mailbox must be reassigned.