Hi,I am struggling with a restore to an RSG on an Exchange 2003 SP1 box with Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1. The backup was taken with ntbackup and the restore fails with some fairly generic errors which are proving difficult to resolve.I have an RSG in place, I've added the appropriate mailbox store to it and run through the restore wizard in ntbackup ensuring only to select the appropriate store and log files. The restore process always stops after 238 bytes with Event ID 8003 (Restore Failed) and Event ID 8019 (Warnings or Errors were encountered) consult the backup report for more details. The backup report contains no useful information. Is there a way of increasing the verbosity of the backup report?The backups are saved to a USB hard disk, and due to disk space limitations on the server, I'm having to mount the RSG to the same USB hard disk. The USB hard disk has its default share mapped so can be accessed by a UNC path.Does anyone have any thoughts?Thanks,Richard

Hi,Does your OS and exchange log reside on same drive, If yes then move the Exchange Server 2003 databases to a drive other than the operating system drive. This permits you to restore the Exchange Server 2003 databases natively.If not this case then backup has taken is not in good health.Please have a look URL for Overview of how to restore data from an online backup set to a recovery storage group ::http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124961.aspxAnil

Issue description: Backup cant be restored to RSG on an external USB HD Check info: 1. Please reproduce the issue, and provide the details of all error events and backup report 2. Please make sure that all names below are matched between exchange and its backup Administrative Group, Domain Server, Exchange Name, Mailbox Store Notes: Similar issue will occur if the name of mailbox store in the RSG isnt matched with the one in the backup file 3. Please check KB 841143, see if it applies on this issue Resources: Restore to Recovery Storage Group Fails with 0xa0008488 in Backup Executive (Similar case)

Thanks for the responses.Anil - The Exchange server databases are on a different drive to the OS.James - - The restore is to the same server as the backup was taken from. - The original Storage Group is called the default; First Storage Group and the RSG has the default name Recovery Storage group - The original mailbox store is called "Branch Mailbox Store" and I have not changed the name during therestore process - I right-click the Recovery storage group and select Add database to recover then select the Branch Mailbox Store. The edb and stm files have the same name too. - Thepath to the Storage group files and Mailbox store files is G:\RSG. - The path to the backup files is G:\Exchange Backups - The original Mailbox store database is located in E:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\mdbdata -KB841143 - Ionly get event ids8003 and 8019, I do not get event ids 904 and 9635 - When I initially run the restore process I get a browse dialog box stating that the file is not the file expected for the restore process and asking me to browse locate the file, when I do this and open the appropriate file on the G: drive the restore process starts. - The restore.envfile (0KB)is created in the temporary location I specified - C:\templogs\First Storage Group (out of interest, how much space is required in the temporary location?) - The link describing the situation with the USB drive failed as a result of the admin share not being available, thisshare is available- I had created it manually. The backup log is as follows: (should the restore destination not read Recovery Storage Group rather than First Storage Group or is ntbackup not aware that it is being redirected?)Restore StatusOperation: Restore Backup of "SVES-EUMX1\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group", Restored to"SVES-EUMX1\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group"Backup set #1 on media #1Backup description: "Set created 09/03/2009 at 16:10" Restore started on 08/05/2009 at 09:12.Unable to restore Exchange data to SVES-EUMX1\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group,check the application event log for more informationRestore completed on 08/05/2009 at 09:12.Directories: 0Files: 0Bytes: 238Time: 1 second ----------------------Thanks,Richard

Hi,if you have enabled the RSG the restore with ntbackup must go "to the original place". Exchange will redirect it to the rsg.hthViele Gre Walter Steinsdorfer MVP Exchange Server http://msmvps.org/blogs/wstein

Temporary location is used to contain the restored log files in order to replay them into the database during the procedure, you need to ensure theres enough disk space on the C drive Please use the steps in this article to verify your recovery procedure

Hi,I can't see anything I am doing wrong after reading those articles. The only possible exception being the temp logfile location whichI've changed to the USB drive (G:)to be sure there is enough disk space.The restore has now been running for 20 minutes without restoring any files ordata. It seems that the restore process does have access to the G: drive because it has created a folder called First Storage Group within the temporary location I have specified, but no files are written. I'm trying this with a different backup file now to make sure the issue wasn't with the original backup file.Is there anyway of getting a more verbose output from ntbackup to see what it is actually doing?Thanks,Richard

So with the temp files on the G: drive, the restore process eventually failed with the following, I don;t really understand why there should be a permissions issue: This would appear to be a separate problem than the restore failing at 238 bytes.Restore StatusOperation: Restore Backup of "SVES-EUMX1\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group", Restored to"SVES-EUMX1\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group"Backup set #1 on media #1Backup description: "Set created 09/03/2009 at 16:10" Restore started on 13/05/2009 at 12:26.The 'Microsoft Information Store' returned 'Error access denied opening the restore environment file. ' from a call to 'HrESERestoreOpen()' additional data 'SVES-EUMX1'The 'Microsoft Information Store' returned 'The parameter is not valid. ' from a call to 'HrESERestoreGetEnvironment()' additional data '-'Restore completed on 13/05/2009 at 13:13.Directories: 0Files: 0Bytes: 0Time: 46 minutes and 59 seconds

Troubleshooting: 1. Is there any error info in the application log on the exchange server? 2. Is there a jumped window for credential if we try to access the default share via UNC? I.e \\ServerName\DriveName$ 3. Please restart the SERVER service on the exchange server 4. Please right-click on the root of external drive where Restore.env file will be stored, go to "Properties", On Security tab, make sure that "Everyone" has "Full Control" permission. If not, add it Notes: Same error occurs if "Everyone" doesnt have "Full Control" permission

Hi James,1. Nothing except for the ntbackup job failures - Event Type:ErrorEvent Source:NTBackupEvent Category:NoneEvent ID:8003Date:13/05/2009Time:13:13:40User:N/AComputer:SVES-EUMX1Description:End Restore to 'SVES-EUMX1\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group' 'Failed' Verify: Off Consult the backup report for more detail. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.and Event Type:ErrorEvent Source:NTBackupEvent Category:NoneEvent ID:8019Date:13/05/2009Time:13:13:41User:N/AComputer:SVES-EUMX1Description:End Operation: Warnings or errors were encountered. Consult the backup report for more details. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.2. No 3. OK 4. Everyone has Full Control.

You said that admin share has been created manually, right? When you type Net Share on the server, what do you see under the Remark column of USB drive? If its no shown as Default Share, that would be the issue

Hello,The only thing i can consider here is that, we are using USB drive which is in FAT or FAT32 file format and Exchange Need a database drive which is suppose to be in NTFS Format, and second USB drive for Exchagne Database or Transaction log file is not recommended and Exchange server 2003 SP1 is not supported in PRODUCTION Environment.So, Get an another drive, attach it to the server physically, ensure it must be in NTFS format and give a shot. Arun Kumar | MCSE - 2K3 + Messaging | ITIL-F V3

Hi James,Yes I did create it manually. The Remark is "Default Share".Thanks,Richard

Hello,Did you checked my response earlier?Arun Kumar | MCSE - 2K3 + Messaging | ITIL-F V3

Could we do the procedure again from scratch, make sure we didnt miss anything? a. Remove the manually built share (G drive, right?) b. Remove the RSG we created on the G drive c. Run Net Share to confirm that admin share has gone d. Restart SERVER service e. Re-run Net Share to verify that G$ drive is being created automatically (The Remark is shown as Default Share) f. If the admin share has been created successfully, we rebuild the RSG on the G drive and link to the mailbox store we need to restore g. Restore the database again, see if the issue still persists

How's the issue currently?