Tips to perform Dial Tone recovery in Exchange 2016/2013

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The most common challenge that Exchange Server administrators experience while repairing the Exchange database is the situation of a downtime. It can hamper the productivity and efficiency of the organization. Dial Tone Recovery appears as a savior in such cases as it allows continuing email communication with its Dial Tone Portability feature where it replaces original database with an empty database. This temporary empty database is known as Dial Tone database.

What is dial tone portability?

In straightforward terms, Dial Tone Portability refers to the provision of a temporary mailbox to users for sending and receiving emails while their original mailbox undergoes repairs or restoration. This feature is invaluable for businesses, ensuring uninterrupted email communication in the event of Exchange Server failures or database issues.

You have the option to set up a temporary mailbox on either the same server or another server within your organization, provided that these servers host databases with matching database schema versions. The Autodiscover feature seamlessly redirects clients to the new database without the need for manual intervention. As an administrator, once the user’s original mailbox has been successfully restored, you can proceed to merge the recovered mailbox with the dial tone mailbox.

EDB files can corrupt due to many reasons like the ones mentioned below:

1. Sudden power cut leading to improper shutdown
2. Outdated or substandard hardware is in use
3. Low storage space available
4. Malware or virus attacks
5. The exchange database is exceeding the storage limit
6. Missing, corrupted or deleted log files

Dial Tone recovery in Exchange Server 2016/2013

In the process of Dial Tone recovery, an empty database is generated on a mailbox server, effectively replacing the failed database. This newly created empty database is referred to as a “dial tone database.” This dial tone database enables the sending and receiving of messages while the original database undergoes repair and restoration.

Dial Tone recovery is efficient at providing support as uninterrupted communication flow even while the Administrator account is corrupted. Users can regain control of the original database for sending and receiving emails once the database recovers.

The pre-requisites for executing the Dial Tone recovery are:

• The user must have Organization Management permissions on mailboxes
• Must have a smaller number of databases on the server than the maximum allowed

Info: Exchange 2013/2016 Standard Edition supports up to five databases per server.

Before you begin, make sure you have a user account with the Schema Admin Level permissions assigned for accessing mailboxes. Take backups of your database to have them so that if you need those files in future, you can access them as required.

1. Renaming of the existing database folder

   To rename the existing database folder, follow the given instructions.

   • Login to Exchange Server with Admin-level permissions
   • Press the Windows key + R to open the run window, type services.msc and click OK.
   • Halt the below services from running:
     • Microsoft Exchange Search Service
     • Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller Service
     • Microsoft Exchange Information Store Service
   • In the corrupt EDB folder, rename the EDB folder to NAME_old and the log folder to NAME_Logs_old
   • Now, start all three services again.
2. Create empty database
   • Open Exchange admin center (EAC) in your browser and try mounting the database.
   • If a Warning message shows, click OK to create an empty database.
   • This will create a new Dial Tone database with the same name.
   • You will find the database mounted with other existing databases in the EAC.

Users accessing Outlook to open their mail will see a message prompt asking to restart the application. You can also select to use the temporary mailbox to send and receive emails upon restarting Outlook.

With a temporary mailbox, users can send and receive email messages without disrupting business flow while the database is in the restore process. After the database restoration, users will be able to access old mailboxes.

Dial Tone recovery using PowerShell cmdlets

Start Exchange Management Shell and run the given commands one-by-one:

1. To create a dial tone database, run the command –
   New-MailboxDatabase -Name <dial tone database name> -EdbFilePath <enter full EDB file location path>
2. To reset the user mailboxes hosted on the database being recovered, run –
   Get-Mailbox -Database <database name> | Set-Mailbox -Database <dial tone database name>
3. Now, mount the database so that client computers can access it, and send and receive the messages –
   Mount-Database -Identity <dial tone database name>
4. Create a recovery database using this command –
   New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name <recovery database name> -Server <server name>

   Or
   To create another recovery database on another server –

   New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name <recovery database name> -Server <server name> -EdbFilePath “<full EDB file path location>” -LogFolderPath “<full log folder path location>”
5. Once the data is copied to the Recovery database, copy the log files from the failed database to the recovery database log folder so they can be played against the restored database.
   First, mount the recovery database and then dismount it-
   Mount-Database -Identity <recovery database name>
   Dismount-Database -Identity <recovery database name>
6. 6. After dismounting the recovery database, move the current database and log files residing in the recovery database folder to another secured location (it is a preparation step to swap the recovered database with the dial tone database).
7. Now, dismount the dial tone database-
   Dismount-Database -Identity <dial tone database name>

   Now, move the database and log files from the dial tone database to the recovery database folder.

8. Further, move the database and log files from the secured location to the dial tone database folder. Once moved, mount the dial tone database again –
   Mount-Database -Identity <dial tone database name>

   Now, users can access the original database and can send and receive messages.

9. Once again, mount the recovery database-
   Mount-Database -Identity <recovery database name>
10. To export the data from the recovery database to the recovered database, run the following commands-
    $mailboxes = Get-Mailbox -Database <dial tone database name>
    $mailboxes | %{ New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceStoreMailbox $_.ExchangeGuid -SourceDatabase <recovery database name> -TargetMailbox $_ }
11. Now, you can dismount and remove the recovery database-
    Dismount-Database -Identity <recovery database name>
    Remove-MailboxDatabase -Identity <recovery database name>

Now, to verify that your mailbox has successfully been moved, open the mailbox Microsoft Outlook and Outlook for Web and check messages.

An easier recovery method

The Dial Tone recovery process is certainly functional, but its complexity might pose a challenge. Proficiency in Exchange Management Shell is also a prerequisite. Hence, a more efficient alternative would be to employ a solution that offers instantaneous EDB Recovery. To meet this need, Kernel is pleased to introduce an exclusive solution for Exchange EDB database recovery.

This versatile tool to proficiently repairs corrupt Exchange databases while offering the flexibility to save the recovered data in various destinations such as PST files, Live Exchange, and Office 365. Additionally, it seamlessly facilitates the migration of shared mailboxes and public folders. Its integrated Backup Extractor function allows for effortless restoration of EDB files from Exchange backup archives. Remarkably, this Convert EDB to PST tool is prominent for its cutting-edge capabilities, ensuring compatibility with the latest versions of Outlook and Exchange.

You can quickly restore EDB files and directly export mailboxes to PST without even adding any destination.

Evaluate the tool yourself with free version and enjoy quick EDB file repair and conversion.

Conclusion

If, due to any reason, the Exchange Server breakdown, the resulting downtime will have severe repercussions on the business. This is because it can take many hours to come back online. To avoid this situation, use Dial Tone recovery, which is an advantageous recovery technique.

The manual methods of recovery can sometimes feel challenging and risky. However, tools like our EDB Recovery Software are great for recovering, repairing, and restoring your corrupt exchange database at your fingertips.