In the past we all had nightmares about the recovery of a failed or crashed exchange server. But from the version 2010 (even in 2007) the recovery process became really painless and easy. The following steps will help you to recover a completely failed/crashed server from scratch.

Though all of us know, I would like to emphasize the fact that most of the exchange configuration information are stored in the AD database and we only need to recover the application by using the AD information and then complete the Database recovery and other customized exchange settings.

Note – This document is reference only for Exchange server which are not part of Database Availability Group. If you wish to get more details about DAG member recovery, please follow  Recovery Installation of a DAG Member with Multi Roles – Exchange Server 2010.

Before we proceed, please ensure that a proper account with required permissions are used to complete the activity.

Other thumb rules,

• Prepare a server with OS and patches similar to failed server
• Use the same hostname as the failed server
• Same drive letters and capacity of disks should be used
• Similar hardware capacity should be used to avoid performance issues.

Recovery Procedure for Exchange Server 2013, SP1

1. Logon AD console and reset the failed server computer account

2. Join the prepared server with similar characteristics and same host name (as stated above) to domain. Recovery will fail if the pre-requisite did not match with the failed server.

3. Log back in to the server being recovered using an account which has required permissions assigned and open the command prompt. Navigate to the location where Exchange Installation files are extracted and execute the cmdlet, Setup /m:RecoverServer /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

4. Now sit back and relax, the process will automatically read the information from AD and recover the server.

5. After the successful recovery process, please proceed with the custom configurations and restorations such as,

Note – It is recommended to restart the server before the start of DB restore and other custom settings.

Share your experience!

-Praveen