Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 comprises loads of advanced features to secure the databases and their contents. Still, several intrusion threats may breach the server, thus putting the security of the database and its mailboxes in danger.
Many reasons can lead to these types of threats such as a sudden or dirty shutdown, malware attack, database objects, or issue in database objects. At times user errors or modifications in the database schema may also put your Exchange Server under severe risks. Eventually, the database becomes corrupt and inaccessible.
Corrupt Database Recovery Methods
The repercussions could be even worse and lead to the loss of confidential data, stalled business operations, and a thwarted reputation of your organization. To your fortune, recovery from a corrupt exchange database is possible through a couple of methods – Eseutil utility and an EDB recovery tool, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange.
Nevertheless, before trying out the recommended methods, carrying out Exchange database recovery through a recently created backup should always be your foremost move. If a backup file fails to recover the Exchange Server 2019 database, proceed with the Eseutil method.
- Exchange Server Recovery through the Eseutil Method
There may be instances where the Exchange backup is not available, corrupt, or not available at all. In such cases, the method to recover the Exchange database through backup will take a backseat. To proceed with the recovery operation, use the Eseutil method.
Admins use this method to repair the corrupt databases in the Exchange Server. It also restores the mailboxes in case of several issues like server crashes, uncommitted logs, sudden shutdowns, virus attacks, etc.
Let’s proceed to use the Eseutil command by using the below steps.
Use the Eseutil command for database repair
You can use soft repair and hard repair.
- Soft repair
Soft recovery refers to the use of the/r parameter with Eseutil. Here is the command that you need to execute on the corrupt database.
EseUtil /r <Database Location>
This command attempts to restore the corrupt database to a healthy state. This is however suitable only in case of minor corruption and may take considerable time depending on the size, storage, and performance of the server.
Find out if the database is in a clean shutdown state after the soft repair by using the command below:
EseUtil /mh <Database Location>
- Hard repair
When soft recovery fails to repair the corrupt Exchange database, hard repair should be your last retort. For this, you can use the Eseutil/p command. It will purge the irrecoverable mailboxes and the contained data. In short, the command will delete every item in the database that it finds corrupted or unreadable during the recovery process.
Eseutil /p <Database Location>
As you can infer, hard recovery of the database can cause you to bear huge data loss.
Just to reconfirm your decision, using the Eseutil/p command will also flash a data loss warning. To proceed with your decision, you need to click the OK button.
Exchange Server Recovery through an EDB Recovery Tool
The Eseutil method can help to repair the corrupt exchange database to some extent. However, it may fail to deliver the result despite consuming too much time. To make up for this issue, using an automated solution such as Stellar Repair for Exchange would be a better move.
Stellar Repair for Exchange
This software finds its use in a number of organizations to repair the corrupt Exchange databases and recover mailboxes from the Exchange Server 2019 and other versions. For successful repair, the tool leverages safe and efficient algorithms. You can restore offline and dismounted Exchange EDB files with the help of this software. Its use becomes crucial in certain situations where manual methods fail to deliver the intended result, for instance:
- Dirty Shutdown: This happens due to deleted, missing, or corrupt transaction log files.
- Fail to mount database: The admin fails to mount the Exchange Server database
- Crashed Exchange Server: The nature of failure makes the database recovery a challenging task
You may use manual methods to correct these errors, but there is no guarantee of satisfactory resolution. An automated solution, such as the use of Stellar Repair for Exchange makes the repair work easier in the event of these severe errors.
Here are some of the prominent features of this popular EDB recovery tool:
- Mailbox recovery from corrupt Exchange Database files through advanced scanning algorithms
- Recovery of deleted mailboxes and emails from the corrupt Exchange database
- Repair of corrupt public folders contained in the EDB File.
- Can export recovery mailboxes to live Exchange Server or Office 365 directly
- Repair damaged archive mailboxes and save them to any requisite format such as PDF, PST, RTG, HTML, etc.
- Create and preview the log reports to carry out the right process for database repair.
Downloading the trial version of Stellar Repair for Exchange will let you scan and preview the recoverable mailboxes. To get complete functionality, you can buy the Corporate, Technician, or Toolkit version of the EDB recovery tool.
Conclusion
Your Exchange Server database may become corrupt due to various factors. Immaterial of the reason, instant recovery is critical for the flawless functioning of your Exchange Server, the contained databases, the mailboxes, and the contained items. To overcome this issue, admins usually seek the help of Eseutil functionality.
It is useful especially when the recovery is not possible with a database backup. This manual method is effective in repairing the corrupt database in the Exchange Server 2019 and recovering the mailboxes. At times, Eseutil utility may fail to deliver the intended task because of extreme corruption, undue delays, or some other reason.
Using an EDB recovery tool such as Stellar Repair for Exchange can help you avoid these hassles. It allows you to perform recovery of the corrupt database within no time by following an easy procedure.
You can use the free trial version of the software to scan and preview the mailboxes recovered. To use the tool at its full capacity, you may opt to buy any of its popular versions from the official website of Stellar Info.