Recover a Lost Exchange 2010 SP2 Server

When I set up the TSM Data Protection for Exchange 2010, I was thinking how could I restore the Exchange server itself (configurations)? TSM only backs up the Databases.

Here is the answer – Microsoft now makes the Exchange configuration restore much easier. Most Exchange servers (Client Access, Hub Transport, Mailbox and Unified Messaging) store the configuration in Active Directory. If you lost the server, you can restore the configurations by running ‘Setup /m:RecoverServer’ on a new server.  If the server is in a DAG, you need to remove the DB and Server from the DAG before starting to restore it. Then add it back to the DAG after the restore is completed.

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the “Exchange infrastructure permissions” section in the Exchange and Shell Infrastructure Permissions topic.

1. Reset the computer account for the lost server. For detailed steps, see Reset a Computer Account.
2. Install the proper operating system and name the new server with the same name as the lost server. Recovery won’t succeed if the server on which recovery is being performed doesn’t have the same name as the lost server.
3. Join the server to the same domain as the lost server.
4. Install the necessary prerequisites and operating system components. For details, see Exchange 2010 System Requirements and Exchange 2010 Prerequisites.
5. Log on to the server being recovered and open a command prompt.
6. Navigate to the Exchange 2010 installation files, and run the following command: Setup /m:RecoverServer
7. After Setup has completed, but before the recovered server is put into production, reconfigure any custom settings that were previously present on the server.

References:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876880.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638206.aspx