Tuesday, June 26, 2007

ScriptCenter Published Script

A couple months ago my Script written in VBScript was published to the community submitted scripts forum on Microsoft's Script center... heres the link and the original code!
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/csc/scripts/servers/virtual/cscsv079.mspx?pf=true

The Reason for creating this script was to release the Virtual ASR floppies, robocopy them to a secure area, and then reattach them to their original virtual machine.
Set objVS = CreateObject("VirtualServer.Application")
Set colVMs = objVS.VirtualMachines

For Each objVM in colVMS
Set colFloppyDrives = objVM.FloppyDrives
For Each objDrive in colFloppyDrives
fdImage = "D:\VirtualServers\VirtualFloppies\" & objvm & ".vfd"
objDrive.AttachImage(fdImage)
Next
Next

Monday, June 25, 2007

Exchange 2003 Disaster Recovery

This is a pretty straight forward plan for attack when recovering a an Exchange 2003 server from ASR back ups, on a Windows 2003 Server. It Takes roughly an hour to get the Exchange server up and running, but longer if you Data base is big or small. This has only been test on an Exchange 2003 Server Standard, in my environment, and I hold no responsibility for damage done to your system!!



E-mail me with questions... acab9759@gmail.com

Articles referenced....

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997176.aspx

Sams Exchange 2003 Unleashed Book



Rebuild:
Tools needed to perform the Recovery

1) ASR image and Floppy
2) Identical Server to the Machine that was lost.
3) Windows 2003 Server Standard
4) Exchange 2003 CD
5) Service Pack 2 for Exchange ( If left on C: initially, we will have access to it immediately, rather than downloading from the internet)
6) Backup of all the Files located in the D:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA.

Recover Windows 2003 From ASR

1) Move the ASR BKF file to a place where it will be easily accessed over the network.
2) When prompted to boot from CD press yes and continue.
3) Watch carefully at the bottom of the screen, it will say “Automated System Restore” and to press F2, do so when prompted to press F2. The prompt for ASR is quick, so be ready to press F2.
4) If the floppy is already in the drive it will begin the ASR, else it will prompt for the floppy.
5) At this point, a quick format will happen and the CD will begin to copy setup files. You can leave the CD in the machine; just make sure not to press any buttons that will interfere with the ASR. The System will reboot into the Windows setup screen by itself.
6) ASR will continue after a few minutes, and give an error that it can not find the networked path to the ASR. At this time you have to give the path to the ASR directory (IE \\s-server-XXX\d$\ASRBACKUP\) and locate the ASR.
7) Once it is located, it will complete the ASR wizard, begin restore and the machine should be back up!


Exchange 2003 Recovery

Setup Exchange Server in Disaster Recovery Mode
1) Log on to a the machine using an administrator account (marsadm)
2) Insert the Exchange 2003, but do not proceed with auto run setup
3) Bring up a command prompt, and make your way to the CD-Rom drive
4) When you have located the CD-Rom drive that contains the Exchange 2003 CD, use this syntax for running setup.exe: setup /disasterrecovery
5) Make sure to select Disaster Recovery option for Messaging and Collaboration and for exchange system Management tools.
6) When setup is complete, locate the Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2. It is not located on the computer download and unzip the Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 files to a convenient location on the machine.
7) Once again, navigate through a command prompt to the location of SP2, and locate the update.exe file. Use this syntax for running update.exe: update /disasterrecovery
8) Make sure to select Disaster Recovery option for Messaging and Collaboration and for exchange system Management tools for updating.
9) Check the registry to make sure service pack two has been installed correctly.
a. Examine the registry to see if the following registry subkey exists:
i. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Setup
b. If the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Setup subkey does not exist, add a DWORD value and the following hexadecimal value, based on the service pack value:
i. DWORD value name: ServicePackBuild
Hexadecimal value: number
c. The number for the hexadecimal value varies based on the service pack as follows:
i. The hexadecimal number for the original release version without a service pack installed is 1B20
ii. The hexadecimal number for Service Pack 1 is 1C3A
iii. The hexadecimal number for Service Pack 2 is 1DD6

Restore Exchange Database Files

1) Locate the BKF file that contains the MDBdata Folder from the original Exchange server
2) Restore all the *.edb and *.stm files from the backup media to the MDBdata folder located on the new exchange server.
3) Go into System Manager and make your way to: marsandco-usg > Servers >S-EX2K3-USG > First Storage Group
4) Right Click Mailbox Store and choose properties.
5) Under the databases tab, make sure that “Do not mount this store at start-up” is unchecked!

6) Reboot the machine
7) Check the System Manager again to make sure that the Mailbox Store has mounted correctly.
8) Check mail flow.