Restoring mailboxes by using a granular restore operation

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You can restore Exchange mailboxes by using a granular restore operation and the IBM Storage® Protect Plus Microsoft Management Console (MMC) GUI.

Before you begin

You must have role-based access control (RBAC) permissions to complete individual mailbox restore operations. If RBAC permissions were not assigned, you might encounter configuration errors in the IBM Storage Protect Plus MMC GUI for each missing role.

Tip:

If you encounter role-based configuration errors in the IBM Storage Protect Plus MMC GUI, you can set the required permissions manually to resolve the errors (see Privileges), or you can run the IBM Storage Protect Plus configuration wizard to automatically configure permissions (see step 15).

About this task

To start a granular restore operation, complete preparatory steps in the IBM Storage Protect Plus GUI, and then log in to the Exchange application server. Then use the IBM Storage Protect Plus MMC GUI to restore user mailbox data from the recovery database that is created by the granular restore operation. A granular restore operation can be used to complete the following tasks:

You can restore an entire mailbox or selected mailbox items to the original mailbox, another online mailbox on the same server, or to a Unicode .pst file.
You can restore a public folder mailbox database, a public folder mailbox, or only a part of the mailbox, for example, a specific public folder.
You can restore an archive mailbox or a part of the mailbox, for example, a specific folder.
You can restore archive mailbox messages to a mailbox that is on the Exchange Server, to an archive mailbox, or to an Exchange Server .pst file.

Procedure

In the navigation panel, click Manage Protection > Databases > Exchange > Create job, and then select Restore to open the Restore wizard.
Tips:
- You can also open the wizard by clicking Jobs and Operations > Create job > Restore > Exchange.
- For a running summary of your selections in the wizard, click Preview Restore in the navigation panel in the wizard.
- The wizard is opened in the default setup mode. To run the wizard in advanced setup mode, select Advanced Setup. With advanced setup mode, you can set more options for your restore job.
On the Source select page, complete the following steps:
1. Click a source in the list to show the databases that are available for restore operations. You can also use the search function to search for available instances and toggle the displayed instances through the View filter.
2. Click the plus icon next to the database that you want to use as the source of the restore operation.
  
  Tip: You must select only one database for a granular restore operation. If you select multiple databases, the granular restore option will not be available on the Restore method page.
  
  The selected source is added to the restore list next to the database list. To remove an item from the list, click the minus icon next to the item.
3. Click Next to continue.
On the Source snapshot page, select the type of restore job that you want to create:

On-demand: Snapshot

Runs a one-time restore operation. The restore job starts immediately upon the completion of the wizard.

On-demand: Point in Time

Runs a one-time restore job from a point-in-time backup of a database. The restore job starts immediately upon the completion of the wizard.

Recurring

Creates a repeating point-in-time restore job that runs on a schedule.

Complete the fields on the Source snapshot page and click Next to continue.

The fields that are shown depend on the number of items that were selected on the Select source page and on the restore type. Some fields are also not shown until you select a related field.

Fields that are shown for an on-demand snapshot, single resource restore

Option	Description
Date range	Specify a range of dates to show the available snapshots within that range.
Backup storage type	All backups in the selected date range are listed in rows that show the time that the backup operation occurred and the service level agreement (SLA) policy for the backup. Select the row that contains the backup time and SLA policy that you want, and then take one of the following actions: Click the backup storage type that you want to restore from. The storage types that are shown depend on the types available in your environment and are shown in the following order: Backup Restores data that is backed up to a vSnap server. Replication Restores data that is replicated to a vSnap server. Object Storage Restores data that is copied to a cloud service or to a repository server. Archive Restores data that is copied to a cloud service archive or to a repository server archive (tape). Click anywhere on the row. The first backup type that is shown sequentially from the left of the row is selected by default. For example, if the storage types Backup, Replication, and Archive are shown, Backup is selected by default.
Use alternate vSnap server for the restore job	If you are restoring data from a cloud service or a repository server, select this box to specify an alternative vSnap server, and then select a server from the Select alternate vSnap menu. When you restore data from a restore point that was copied to a cloud resource or repository server, a vSnap server is used as a gateway to complete the operation. By default, the vSnap server that is used to complete the restore operation is the same vSnap server that is used to complete the backup and copy operations. To reduce the load on the vSnap server, you can select an alternative vSnap server to serve as the gateway.

Fields that are shown for an on-demand snapshot, multiple resources restore; or recurring restore. For point-in-time restore, only Site is available for Restore Location Type.

Option	Description
Restore Location Type	Select a type of location from which to restore data: Site The site to which snapshots were backed up. The site is defined in the System Configuration > Storage > Sites pane. Cloud service copy The cloud service to which snapshots were copied. The cloud service is defined in the System Configuration > Storage > Cloud storage pane. Repository server copy The repository server to which snapshots were copied. The repository server is defined in the System Configuration > Storage > Repository servers pane. Cloud service archive The cloud archive service to which snapshots were copied. The cloud service is defined in the System Configuration > Storage > Cloud storage pane. Repository server archive The repository server to which snapshots were copied to tape. The repository server is defined in the System Configuration > Storage > Repository servers pane.
Select a location	If you are restoring data from a site, select one of the following restore locations: Primary The primary site from which to restore snapshots. Secondary The secondary site from which to restore snapshots. If you are restoring data from a cloud or repository server, select a server from the Select a location menu.
Date selector	For on-demand restore operations, specify a range of dates to show the available snapshots within that range.
Restore Point	For on-demand restore operations, select a snapshot from the list of available snapshots in the selected date range.
Use alternate vSnap server for the restore job	If you are restoring data from a cloud service or a repository server, select this box to specify an alternative vSnap server, and then select a server from the Select alternate vSnap menu. When you restore data from a restore point that was copied to a cloud service or repository server, a vSnap server is used as a gateway to complete the operation. By default, the vSnap server that is used to complete the restore operation is the same vSnap server that is used to complete the backup and copy operations. To reduce the load on the vSnap server, you can select an alternative vSnap server to serve as the gateway.

On the Restore method page, click Granular Restore.
The recovery database name is displayed in the New Database Name field. The name consists of the existing database name with the suffix _RDB.
On the Set destination page, select Restore to original instance and click Next.

Tip: In a Microsoft™ Exchange Server Database Availability Group (DAG) environment, you can restore to a recovery database on an active or passive member.
Optional: In the Job Options page, Recover until end of backup and Run cleanup immediately on job failure are selected by default. Click Next to continue.

Restriction: Do not clear the Run cleanup immediately on job failure option unless instructed by IBM® Support for troubleshooting purposes.
Optional: On the Apply scripts page, select the Pre-Script or Post-Script to apply, or choose Continue job/task on script error. For more information about working with scripts, see Configuring scripts. Click Next to continue.
Take one of the following actions on the Schedule page:
- If you are running an on-demand job, click Next.
- If you are setting up a recurring job, enter a name for the job schedule, and specify how often and when to start the restore job. Click Next.
On the Review page, review your restore job settings and click Submit to create the job.
The restore job is created, and you can check on its status in Jobs and Operations > Running Jobs.
In the navigation panel, click Jobs and Operations > Active Resources > Databases to view the recovery database and mount point details.

Tip: Click the icon to display an information message that describes the next steps for completing the granular restore task.

Important: Before you perform the next steps, ensure that you have installed and configured the granular restore remote package to a remote server that has Microsoft Outlook installed. For instructions see, Installing the Granular Restore remote package.
Connect to the Outlook server instance by using Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) or Virtual Network Computing (VNC) if connecting remotely, or by logging on to the Outlook machine locally.

Tip: To log user and its mailbox with appropriate requirements, see Privileges.

Start the IBM Storage Protect Plus MMC GUI on the Outlook server.
In the IBM Storage Protect Plus MMC GUI, click the Protect and Recover Data node, and select Exchange Server.
On the Recover tab for the Exchange Server instance, select View > Mailbox Restore.
A list of user mailboxes from all databases that are included in the backup is displayed.
Optional: Run the IBM Storage Protect Plus configuration wizard:
1. In the navigation panel, click Dashboard > Manage > Configuration > Wizards > IBM Storage Protect Plus Configuration.
2. In the Actions pane, click Start.
  The configuration wizard runs the requirements check.
3. When the requirements checks have run, click the Warnings link next to User Roles Check.
4. On the message dialog box, to add any missing roles, click Yes.
5. On the configuration wizard, click Next, and then click Finish.
Select one or more mailboxes from the recovery database to restore. Mailboxes are listed by Mailbox Name, Alias, Server, Database, and Mailbox Type.
You can restore only user mailboxes that are located in the recovery database.
Tip: Mailboxes from other databases are shown in this view for informational purposes only. If the mailbox that you want to restore is not in the recovery database, use this view to determine which Exchange database the user mailbox was assigned to. You can then run the granular restore task again for that database.

To complete the restore operation, in the Actions pane, click one of the following restore options.

Table 1. Restore options
Option	Action
Restore Mail to Original Location	Restore mail items to their location at the time of the backup operation.
Restore Mail to Alternate Location	Restore the mail items to a different mailbox. On the Alternate Mailbox Options window, enter the Mailbox alias name. Tip: If deleted mail items or tasks are flagged in the Recoverable Items folder of a mailbox, the items are restored with the flag attribute to the Flagged Items and Tasks view in the target mailbox.
Restore Mail to non-Unicode PST file Restriction: This option is available only for Exchange Server 2013. Each folder can contain a maximum of 16,383 mail items.	Restore mail items to a non-Unicode personal folders (.pst) file. When you restore mail items to a .pst file with one selected mailbox, you are prompted for a file name. When you restore mail items to a .pst file with more than one selected mailbox, you are prompted for a directory location. Each mailbox is restored to a separate .pst file that reflects the name of the mailbox at the specified directory. If the .pst file exists, the file is used. Otherwise, the file is created.
Restore Mail to Unicode PST file	Restore mail items to a Unicode .pst file. When you restore mail items to a .pst file with one selected mailbox, you are prompted for a file name. When you restore mail items to a .pst file with more than one selected mailbox, you are prompted for a directory location. Tip: You can enter a standard path name (for example, c:\PST\mailbox.pst) or a UNC path (for example, \\server\c$\PST\mailbox.pst). When you enter a standard path, the path is converted to a UNC path. If the UNC is a non-default UNC path, enter the UNC path directly. Each mailbox is restored to a separate .pst file that reflects the name of the mailbox at the specified directory. If the .pst file exists, the file is used. Otherwise, the file is created.
Restore Public Folder Mailbox	Restore a public folder mailbox to an online public folder mailbox. In the Folder to be restored field, enter the name of the public folder that you want to restore: To restore a subfolder in a parent folder, specify the full folder path in this format: `parent_folder_name`/`sub_folder_name`. To restore all subfolders in a parent folder, use `parent_folder_name`/*. If the full folder path includes spaces, enclose the folder path in double quotation marks, and do not append a backslash character (\). You can also restore all or part of a public folder mailbox to a different public folder mailbox than the original mailbox. In the Target public folder mailbox field, specify the destination public folder mailbox.
Restore Mail to Archive Mailbox	This action applies to a primary mailbox or an archive mailbox. Select this action to restore all or part of either type of mailbox to the original archive mailbox or to an alternative archive mailbox. You can filter the archive mailbox and restore a specific mailbox folder. In the Folder to be restored field, enter the name of the folder in the archive mailbox that you want to restore. To restore a subfolder in a parent folder, specify the full folder path in this format: `parent_folder_name`/`sub_folder_name`. To restore all subfolders in a parent folder, use `parent_folder_name`/*. If the full folder path includes spaces, enclose the folder path in double quotation marks, and do not append a backslash character (\). In the Target archive mailbox field, specify the archive mailbox destination.
Exclude recoverable mail items while restoring the mailbox	Apply this action if you are restoring an online, public folder, or archive mailbox to an original mailbox, alternative mailbox, or to a Unicode .pst file. Specify a value of Yes to exclude the mail items in the Recoverable Items folder in mailbox restore operations. No is the default value.

Tip: You can enable the Microsoft Management Console to gather diagnostic information to assist in problem determination related to restore operations. The process gathers configuration files, trace files, and overall diagnostics of the MMC GUI. For more information, see the following technote: Enabling diagnostic information in the IBM Storage Protect Plus MMC GUI.

When the mailbox restore operation is finished, return to IBM Storage Protect Plus and click Jobs and Operation > Active Resources > Databases.
Select the resource, and then click Cancel File Restore to end the granular restore process.