How to Mount an Exchange Database on a Different Server?

Sometimes, situations arise when an Exchange Server administrator needs to mount an Exchange database on a different server. Here are a few examples:

• When migrating to another server, you need to physically transfer the database and re-mount it on the server.
• The Exchange Server has failed and after rebuilding it using recovery mode, you need to re-mount the databases on the server.
• Issues with a service hindering the databases from being mounted.
• Third-party software, like antivirus and backup, might have locked the files and are not allowing the database to be mounted.
• Since the Exchange Server standard license only allows mounting five databases, you need to move a database to a secondary server.

Now, let’s look at how to mount an Exchange database on a different server.

Process for mounting an Exchange database on a different server

Start by making sure that the integrity of the Exchange database is good and that no transaction logs are missing or corrupted.

Here’s the step-by-step process to mount the database on a different server.

1. Meet the prerequisites

To run the commands for mounting an Exchange database, you should have the Databases role on the Exchange Server. This can be assigned from the Permissions node and the Admin Roles tab.

To rebuild the server, you should have the following media available:

• The operating system installation media.
• Installation media of the same installed version of Exchange Server.

Up-to-date documentation for the server is also required to rebuild it with the same configuration.

Before proceeding with any processing or changes, it is strongly recommended to take a full backup. Apart from safeguarding the data, it will allow you to revert back to the original state if something goes wrong.

2. Prepare the new server

Since you are rebuilding the same server, you must replicate it’s configuration exactly, installing the same operating system and Exchange Server version. You need to maintain:

• the computer name
• network configuration
• configuration of the storage and drives
• the installed operating system and Exchange Server patches
• and any other operating system and Exchange Server specific configuration.

It is to be noted that when you rebuild the server using the recovery mode, all the configurations will be restored on the Exchange Server, except the certificates and custom connectors. These need to be manually configured.

3. Locate and transfer database files

After the installation of Windows Server and Exchange is complete, identify the location of the Exchange database files (EDB) from the original server installation. This is crucial for mounting the databases. You can use replication tools, such as Robocopy, which is native to Windows, to make sure that the files are copied from the backup location to the new server correctly.

4. Verify the database state

Once the files are copied to their original location on your new server, run the ESEUtil tool to check the health and state of the database. To check the database state, run the ESEUtil command with the /mh parameter.

5. Perform a soft recovery if necessary

Since the database was not shutdown correctly, you need to run the ESEUtil to execute a smooth recovery. After recovery or restore, a database will be in the Dirty Shutdown state. If the database State is in Dirty Shutdown, you need to perform soft recovery on the database by using the ESEUtil command with the /r switch (see the below example).

ESEUTIL /r <log prefix> /l <folder path of logs> /d <folder path of database> /i

6. Create a New Mailbox Database on the New Server

Now, you need to create a new mailbox database with the same name to host the restored database. Run the following command:

New-MailboxDatabase -Name “<name of database>” -EdbFilePath <file path for the EDB> -LogFolderPath <file path for the EDB> -Server <server name>

7. Copy database and log files

After creating the new database, you need to copy the database and the log files from the old server or from the recovered drives to the new location.

8. Mount the database

To mount the database, you can use the Mount-Database command as given below:

Mount-Database <database name>

Now, run the ESEUtil /mh command to verify that the database has been mounted.

To Conclude

In this article we discussed the steps to mount an Exchange database on a different server. While mounting the database, you might encounter some issues, such as database or transaction logs corruption, incorrect configuration of Exchange Server or Windows Server, and various other problems.

 You can try to troubleshoot the issues by using native tools. However, these may require more resources and possibly make the matter worse. Alternatively, you can use a third-party Exchange recovery tool, like Stellar Repair for Exchange, to restore all the data from a corrupt database with minimal impact and no complications.

Stellar Repair for Exchange supports every version of Exchange Server and it can open databases in any state and with no size limit. It allows you to granularly export user mailboxes, shared mailboxes, public folders, disabled mailboxes, and deleted items to Outlook PST and other file formats. It can also export mailboxes and other EDB data to a live Exchange Server database or Microsoft 365 with automatic mailbox matching.

FAQs

• Can I copy the database files directly to another server and mount them?

Yes. But because Exchange databases are not portable, you should run a smooth recovery process to ensure that the state of the database is healthy. Also ensure that the destination server matches the source in configuration and setup.

• What should I do if the database is in dirty shutdown state?

When the database is in Dirty Shutdown, it means that the database or transaction logs are corrupted. Then, you should perform a smooth recovery using ESEUtil.

• How do I ensure users reconnect to their mailboxes after the migration?

Users can connect via the Outlook Web Access (OWA). However, Outlook needs to be restarted to take the new configuration or the user’s Outlook profile needs to be re-configured.