HI All, I have one server running Exchange in a production environment. I have another test server running exchange in a seperate network but the same name. How easy should it be to copy the Storage group from production server to the test server using NTbackup? I've tried it and it just didnt seem to work. Thanks John

You're trying to recover the data? What's your goal for this test server? If you just need some data then you might want to try recovering to the Recovery Storage Group and exmerge the data. If you're trying for a Disaster Recovery scenario then you must install Exchange with the "Disaster Recovery" switch.

HI, Many thanks for your message. At the moment I have two SBS servers at different locations. One is our main server running on our main network and the other isan old server thats not doing anything. I want to transfer the Storage Group from the production server to this redundant server on a semi regular basis, so if the production server fails or the main site gets burnt down etc, the company can carry on at another site with the old server until things are back in place. Could I just make off-line copies of the databases and over-write the old Servers Databases? Or do I have to go through a on-line backup/restore process? I just need a simple method and I dont really care too much if a few messages get lostif they arestuck in the queue. Cheers John

Hi John, Unfortunately restoring Exchange 2003 databases to a totally different server is not as easy as it may sound. Here are some links discussing it: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555603 http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1886943&SiteID=17 The other problem that you would have is that the users on the other SBS server would be totally different security principals and you are not able to create a domain trust between the two SBS servers. I would suggest reading the Exchange DR guide to way up the options that you have: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f9a66c19-b1e0-46c4-a6a1-276a569a08bf.aspx Cheers, Rhys