How to recover a lost Exchange Server from Active Directory?

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Exchange administrators must remain vigilant in their preparations for server crashes and data loss scenarios, even though Exchange boasts enhanced security. There are diverse recovery methodologies at the disposal of administrators, facilitating server restoration post-crash. The seamless integration with Active Directory enables the reconstruction of Exchange configurations from the Active Directory itself. There are a variety of reasons to recover lost Exchange Server from Active Directory, including:

1. Sudden server crash
2. Malware or ransomware attack on the server.
3. Errors caused by the administrators.
4. Faulty hardware components.
5. Server issues caused due to outdated Windows versions.

Furthermore, many professional tools are readily available to recover lost Exchange data, allowing for restoration to various locations and formats as needed.

Steps to recover the lost Exchange Server

Active Directory is the place where all the Exchange Server settings are stored. It is possible to rebuild the configuration of the Exchange environment from Active Directory. Here is how you can do this:

1. Reset a Computer Account:
   To do this, you must be a member of Domain Admin, Enterprise Admin, or Account Operators. Use the following method to reset the computer account:
   • Follow Start>>Control-Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Active Directory Users and Computers.
   • Click Computers.
   • Go to Details and click Reset Account.
2. After installing the OS on the new server, give it the same name as the lost server.

NOTE – It is essential to name the new server as the older one. Otherwise, it will not work correctly.

3. Add the server to the domain of the lost server.
4. Install all the prerequisites for Exchange Server 2016.
5. Start the command prompt after login on to the Exchange Server, and run the following command to accept the Exchange Server License terms.
Setup /m:RecoverServer /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
6. Finally, reconfigure the server as per your requirements and restart.
7. To verify the recovery, check if the Microsoft Exchange Server services are running in the Windows Services tool.

Note: Follow the same procedure for Exchange 2013 and 2010 too. For Exchange 2010, you need to run the following command Setup /m:RecoverServer

The above-discussed method helps to retrieve a lost Exchange Server that is not a Database Availability Group (DAG) member. There is a different method to recover a DAG member server:

1. To recover any replay lag from the mailbox database copy, run the following command –
Get-MailboxDatabase MyExchangeDatabase | Format-List *lag*
2. To remove any mailbox database copy, run the following command –
Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy MyExchangeDatabase \MBX1
3. To remove the configuration of a failed server from DAG, run the following command –
Remove-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG1 -MailboxServer MBX1
4. Go to Active Directory and reset the computer account.
5. Run the following command using the original setup media –
Setup /m:RecoverServer
6. To add the recovered server to DAG, run the following command –
Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG1 -MailboxServer MBX1
7. To know the status of the retrieved DAG server, use the following command –
Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server < MyExchangeDatabase >

1. The process is time-consuming.
2. Requires specialized expertise as the process involves dealing with complex databases.
3. It is not possible to recover all data manually, especially if the data is corrupted.
4. There is a risk of data loss if the process is not executed correctly.

Once you’ve successfully rebuilt your Exchange Server, the next critical step is to retrieve any lost Exchange data. This valuable Exchange database information can be salvaged from an offline EDB file, allowing you to recover essential items such as emails, contacts, and notes. To accomplish this, you can rely on the expertise of Kernel for Exchange Server, a trusted EDB Recovery tool. It provides options to save the recovered data in multiple formats, including EDB file to PST, Live Exchange, and Microsoft 365.

Conclusion

A healthy Active Directory implies a healthy Exchange Server. With the above-mentioned approaches, admins can recover lost Exchange Server from a malfunctioning Active Directory. However, it’s impossible to control database disasters completely; therefore, having a reliable tool like Kernel for Exchange Server is highly advisable. This utility will help you recover your lost mailboxes and save data to the Exchange Server.