To recover from a disaster using a stand-by recovery server, you must have one or more spare servers available to replace the damaged server. The spare servers must have hardware and firmware that is identical to the server you are replacing. If a disaster occurs, using stand-by recovery servers minimizes the downtime that your Exchange 2000 organization experiences.

Because servers running Exchange 2000 include various types of dynamic data, using the stand-by server recovery method is not as simple as disconnecting the damaged server and connecting the stand-by recovery server in its place. For this reason, you should prepare your stand-by recovery servers by installing the following:

• The correct version of Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 Server service packs or product updates
• Software applications (excluding Microsoft Exchange Server)
• Software and firmware updates that existed on the damaged server

To replace a damaged production server with a stand-by recovery server

1. If the physical hard disks of the damaged production server appear to be undamaged, you can remove the disks from the damaged server and install them into the stand-by recovery server. To remove the hard disks from the damaged server and install them into the stand-by recovery server:
   1. Shut down the server that experienced the disaster.
   2. Remove the hard disks from the damaged production server.
   3. Replace the hard disks in the stand-by recovery server with the hard drives from the damaged server.
   4. Start the stand-by recovery server and run Chkdsk on all disk partitions to ensure there are no problems with the file system. For information about how to run Chkdsk, see "Running the Windows 2000 Chkdsk Utility".
   Note If you determine that any of the hard disks from the damaged server are not functioning properly in the stand-by recovery server, reinstall the stand-by recovery server's original hard disks, and then proceed to Step 2.
2. (Optional) If you can still access the hard disks of the damaged server, and if you have sufficient time, copy the Exchange 2000 database files from that server to a folder on a network share or removable storage device. Even if the files are damaged, you should copy these files as a safely precaution. In the event that the restore process is unsuccessful, you can revert back to the original versions, which might be repairable. To archive the database files:
   1. Determine where the database and log files resided on the server prior to the disaster. For more information about how to locate these files, see "Determining the Database and Log File Locations of the Files You are Restoring".
   2. Copy these files to a folder on a network share or to a removable storage device. For more information about how to copy database files, see "Copying or Moving the Existing Versions of the Database Files That You are Restoring".
   Note If you have sufficient time, you should also archive the log files of the damaged server. If you do not have a copy of the most recent log files, you cannot bring your recovered Exchange databases up-to-date to the moment the disaster occurred.
3. (Optional) Before you perform the remaining steps, consider repairing your operating system, your Exchange 2000 installation, or your Exchange databases on your damaged server. To repair your operating system, your installation, or your databases, perform the appropriate procedure:
   1. Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://search.support.microsoft.com for a solution to the problem.
   2. Repair Windows 2000. For more information about how to repair Windows 2000, see "Repairing Windows 2000" .
   3. Repair your Exchange 2000 installation. For more information about how to repair your Exchange 2000 installation, see "Repairing Exchange 2000" .
   4. Repair your Exchange databases. For more information about how to repair Exchange databases, see "Repairing Exchange 2000 Databases".
   Note Unless your server experiences a major hardware failure that results in complete data loss, you should attempt to repair the damaged files instead of restoring your entire computer using the "stand-by recovery server" method. If you repair these files, it may help your server recover from minor data corruption or other problems that render the server unusable.
4. Shut down the server that experienced the disaster.
5. Connect the stand-by recovery server to the network, and then start that computer.
   Important To ensure that your stand-by recovery server was properly prepared, verify that the following procedures were performed:
   1. Hardware that is identical to the hardware on the damaged was installed.
   2. Windows 2000 Server was installed with the following specifications:
      • Installed optional NNTP and SMTP components of Windows.
      • Installed the computer into a temporary workgroup instead of a domain during Setup.
      • Specified for Setup to create a random computer (NetBIOS) name instead of manually specifying the name of the damaged server.
   3. Any Windows 2000 service packs, patches, or updates were installed.
6. Restore the Windows backup set that was created on the damaged server before the disaster occurred to the stand-by recovery server. Restoring the Windows backup set restores the Windows 2000 system files (including registry database and IIS metabase files) of the damaged server to the stand-by recovery server. This process also provides the stand-by recovery server with the NetBIOS name of the damaged server, and joins the stand-by server to the correct domain.
   If you do not perform this step, you cannot properly run Setup in Disaster Recovery mode. For more information about how to restore Windows 2000 System State data, see "Restoring Windows 2000 Backup Sets" .
7. On the stand-by recovery server, install any Windows 2000 service packs and software updates that were running on the damaged server, but were not preinstalled on the stand-by recovery server. For information about how to keep those software updates archived to a network share or to a removable storage media, see "Software and Firmware Updates" .
8. Install any other applications that were on the damaged server (with the exception of Exchange 2000) to the stand-by recovery server.
   Note Install the applications to the same locations with the same configurations as those of the damaged server.
9. On the stand-by recovery server, install Exchange 2000 Setup in Disaster Recovery mode. This process installs Exchange applications and any necessary Exchange files to the stand-by recovery server. This process also uses the configuration information stored on the Exchange Server object in Active Directory to reclaim the configuration of the original server.
   The configuration information that is reclaimed includes the Exchange storage group names, mailbox store names, public folder store names, virtual server configuration settings, and so on. When you run Exchange in Disaster Recovery mode, ensure that all of the components that existed on the damaged server are selected. For more information about Exchange 2000 Setup modes, see "Exchange 2000 Server Setup Functionality".
   To run Exchange 2000 in Disaster Recovery mode:
   1. Insert the Microsoft Exchange 2000 CD.
   2. Click Start, click Run, and then type D:\SETUP\I386\Setup.exe /DisasterRecovery, where D is the CD-ROM drive.
   3. On the Welcome page, click Next.
   4. On the Components Selection page, under Action, next to each component that was installed on the damaged server, select Disaster Recovery.
      If any components that were originally installed do not have Disaster Recovery selected, then you must manually select them. You should install Exchange 2000 to the same drive and directory that it was installed to on the damaged server. At a minimum, you should ensure that all the drive letters on which databases and log files were kept are available.
      Important When recovering an Exchange server, always use the DisasterRecovery switch. If you run Setup without using the DisasterRecovery switch, Setup runs in Reinstall mode and automatically mounts the mailbox stores and public stores after the Setup process Mounting mailbox stores and public folder stores before restoring your Exchange databases can cause problems, including the potential loss of e-mail messages.
   5. On the Components Summary page, click Next to reinstall Exchange 2000 in Disaster Recovery mode. Note During Disaster Recovery mode, a dialog box appears reminding you that you cannot restore Exchange 2000 unless Active Directory contains a server object for the server being restored. To verify that the server object still exists for the server you are restoring, use Exchange System Manager on another Exchange 2000 server. If the server object does not exist, the recovery process will not succeed.
10. Install any Exchange 2000 hotfixes that were running on the damaged server to the stand-by recovery server.
11. Install any Exchange 2000 service packs in Disaster Recovery mode that were running on the damaged server to the stand-by recovery server. Installing Exchange 2000 service packs in Disaster Recovery mode prevents the Exchange databases from being mounted at the end of the service pack installation process. Consequently, you can proceed directly to restoring the Exchange databases from backup.
    To install an Exchange 2000 service pack in Disaster Recovery mode, perform Step 10 of this procedure, but replace Setup.exe with Update.exe, and replace D with the location of the service pack installation.
12. If the drives containing the Exchange database files were also lost in the disaster, restore the Exchange 2000 databases that existed on the damaged server to the stand-by recovery server. For information about how to restore Exchange 2000 databases, see "Recovering an Exchange 2000 Database". Important If you were able to archive the log files from the damaged server as recommended in Step 2 of this procedure, copy these files to the correct location on the recovery server. If you do not copy the most recent log files to the proper locations on the stand-by server, changes that were made to Exchange databases up to the time the disaster occurred are lost.
13. If the server that experienced the disaster included any Exchange full-text indexes, you may need to repair full-text indexing by recreating the full-text indexes on the stand-by recovery server. For information about how to repair full-text indexing, see "Repairing Full-Text Indexing".
14. If the damaged server was running SRS, you must restore the SRS database to the stand-by recovery server. For more information about how to restore the SRS database, see "Restoring Exchange 2000 Site Replication Service".
15. If the damaged server was running Key Management Service, you must restore the Key Management Service database to the stand-by recovery server. In addition, you must also restore the certification authority (CA) to the stand-by recovery server if the CA was running on the damaged server. For more information about how to restore the Key Management Service database and the CA, see "Restoring Exchange 2000 Key Management Service".

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition
• Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server