Restoring a Database Availability Group database copy

You can restore a replicated database copy in a Database Availability Group (DAG).

About this task

You can do some of the following steps by using either the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) or the Exchange Management Shell commands, which are provided in parentheses.

Procedure

  1. Make the database that you want to restore active (Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase).
  2. Suspend replication of the all passive copies of the database (Suspend-MailboxCopy).
  3. Unmount the active mailbox database (Dismount-Database).
  4. Stop the replication service on all copies of the database. Do this step only for a VSS Instant Restore operation.
  5. Restore the database and logs by using the Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange command line or GUI.
    Restriction: The database must not be mounted automatically after the restore. If you use the GUI, ensure that the MountDatabasesAfterRestore option is set to False in the Restore panel. If you use the command line, the /mountdatabases restore option must be set to NO.
  6. If the service is stopped, start the replication service before you mount the active mailbox database. Otherwise, the database mount fails. (Mount-Database).
  7. Verify the health of the database before you update or reseed to replicated database copies. (Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus)
  8. Update or reseed all replicas (Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy). This step avoids potential transaction log synchronization problems that might arise if replication is resumed directly.
  9. Move the active database to the server that you want. (Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase)