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Wednesday 30 December 2015
12/30/2015 09:27:00 pm 0

How to Restore Inaccessible Mailboxes From the EDB File, Which Fails to Mount

While working with MS Exchange Server, you need to mount the database file to access the user mailbox folders. There are various users’ mailbox folders, which contains user mailbox items including emails, messages, attachments, notes, journal, tasks, etc. At times, you might fail to mount the exchange folder.
Thursday 17 December 2015
12/17/2015 11:05:00 pm 0

The Thinking Behind Lotus Notes to MS Exchange Migration

Let me first start by affirming that this post is in no way intentional to convince you to switch Lotus Notes to Exchange. I very well know that the world is divided into two (equivalent?) camps: one for Microsoft Exchange and the other for IBM Lotus Notes. And it appears that they are constantly battling with each other to prove that their particular platform is much better than the other. You can just Google (or Bing) for “Exchange Server vs. IBM Lotus Notes” and you will be surprised to know some of the interesting facts about these two platforms.

In fact, as an MS Exchange-minded person; let me begin by revealing you some features I like about IBM Notes: it is flexible. In last few years, I have seen some relatively good solutions that were made with (and around) IBM Lotus Notes. As far as my experience goes, there is not much that it won’t let you to modify (or overwrite). It also comes with some useful features like recurring meetings with sporadic dates (a feature that everyone wants to see in MS Outlook!). And in some good way, I like the flexibility and uncomplicatedness of the file structure: each mailbox is a database in its particular right and signified by a single file (nsf) that you can put at anyplace you wish to: including NAS storage.

My main point here is that both platforms have their qualities and unique selling points. Don’t try to compare them: it can’t be done.

Why do people migrate?

I cannot disregard the statistic that during the last few years I have perceived my share of migrations to Microsoft Exchange. Why is that?

As a consultant, you get to hear the roughest stories. Occasionally it look as if that any reasons is good to move away from Lotus Notes: “Cost”, “Interoperability”, “Manageability”, “Following the market”, “the CEO doesn’t like the client” and my favourite “I want my new mail to appear on top”. From the above-mentioned reasons, I consider “Manageability” to be the origin of all evil (from IBM’s point-of-view at least). I don’t know the exact numbers, but the amount of experienced Lotus Notes administrators must have been falling (quickly!)…

All in all, every single migration starts with a motive. There has to be a reason. If you can’t catch a reason to migrate then simply don’t.



In my individual judgment, there are numerous aims why a lot of corporations are switching from Lotus Notes to Exchange Server. First of all, IBM Lotus Notes is not a messaging platform; rather it is an application/development platform that provides mail abilities. And while Lotus Notes does a good job at handling email communication. But MS Exchange (in my opinion) basically handles it better.

Manage the expectations!

There is no doubt that MS Outlook provides a great value to the users, but at the same time you must face the fact that some things are not credible with this email client.

It is always expected to lose some data in migration.  There are always one or more emails that have been residing in the user’s mailbox for many months which are untouched by the user or there might be a chance that those mails are corrupt. Even though, the user no longer remember that mail or mails, but still there is a chance that they will make your life difficult while performing migration. So, you must prepare yourself to face this situation.

Do I discourage migrating to Exchange/Outlook from Lotus Notes? No, not at all! Though it is possible that your efficiency might get hurt during the first couple of weeks once the migration is done completely but we typically see a great escalation later with a lot of pleased faces as a consequence.

To coexist or not?

Definitely not! (Until and unless you are having a convincing plan to do then) Anything other than mail flow among both platforms should be sidestepped at all cost! If you still go for coexistence, you will have to bear huge amount in operating both. And moreover it will create complications. That is somewhat you don’t want to face: adding complication to something that is already complicated.

Most of the time, we only perceive coexistence set up in situations where the old (Lotus Notes) environment remains to live on for a while (maybe waiting for its apps to get transformed into SharePoint, who knows?)

Tooling…

Am I asking you to use a migration tool? Yes. If you are looking for an ‘easy and swift’ method to migrate from one side to the other and want to perform the migration in a right way, I’m quite sure using you a professional tool would be a good option.

Final Words

In this post, I have only scratched the surface of what a migration consist of. I haven’t spoken about all facts nor have I spoken about all the diverse options and tools. But I hope that – for those planing to switch or already have made the choice – this post can throw some insights and inspirational considerations.

Rest assured: I perceive a lot of these migrations come to an happy ending; generally the ones where a lot of time was consumed on examining, scheduling and authenticating… ;-)

Just summon up: migrating from Notes to MS Exchange is more than only changing a system. Try to look at it in a universal way:  it is also about altering your operations, even more important: your conviction.
Thursday 10 December 2015
12/10/2015 12:46:00 am 0

How To Fix "Generic LSE Failure" Error in Lotus Notes

Lotus Notes is one of the most widely used e-mail application programs used in present era. It executes all the mail operations like e-mailing, programming, calendaring, scheduling, etc which are performed by all common e-mail application programs like MS Outlook, Outlook Express etc. Lotus Notes database comprises of NSF files as its data files.
Friday 27 November 2015
11/27/2015 10:45:00 pm 0

Points to Keep in Mind Before Repairing Exchange 2010 Database Using Eseutil/ Isinteg Tools

In recent years, Microsoft has put a lot of efforts to make database of the MS Exchange Server 2010 more secure than it used to be, but corruption still can and do take place. In the event of database corruption, exchange admins do have the opportunity to either restore a backup or attempt repairing the corrupt or damaged files with the help of inbuilt exchange tools - Eseutil and Isinteg. Sadly, it is not as easy as it gives the impression. There are a small number of nuances you should know, so it might be sensible to stick on to the following words of carefulness.

However, before using Eseutil and Isinteg tools, don’t forget to perform the following actions:

1. Create a Replica of a Database

Create a replica of the database files prior to repair them. If you are not confident where your database files are located, or what the names of the files are, you can locate them in Exchange System Manager by accessing the database properties. The Database page has a listing of file names and paths.

2. Dismount the EDB database from the Exchange server

Prior to trying to repair a database, you should make sure that it is dismounted properly. To carry out the same, open the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and navigate to Organization Configuration -> Mailbox, then choose the Database Management tab. This tab comprises of all the databases in your Exchange organization.

Find the database, you desire to repair and make sure that the Mounted column shows ‘Dismounted’.

If the database is mounted, you can dismount it by right-clicking the database and select the Dismount Database command.

3. Disk Space

Confirm that you have enough disk space to perform the repair task.  You should have the empty space of at least 20% of the total database size. If you are not having that much empty space on the drive where the database files are, you can use command line switches to redirect the temporary files formed throughout repair to a singular drive.

Exchange administrators can take the help of Eseutil and Isinteg utilities to repair corrupt exchange databases. Both Eseutil.exe and Isinteg.exe utilities are inbuilt with MS Exchange Server and facilitate soft and hard database recovery from the corrupt Exchange Server. By default, these tools are stored at the following drive location:

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin

Before I explain how to use ESEUTIL, I have a few words of caution. Even though now ESEUTIL does a better job of repairing databases than it used to be, there is still a high probability that you will lose some data when using it to repair an Exchange database.

ESEUTIL rebuilds the database and deletes any invalid data that it encounters during the rebuild process. Therefore, it is imperative that you back up the database before attempting a repair.

If you aren’t sure when the database was last backed up, you can get that information using ESEUTIL. To do so, navigate to the folder containing the database and enter the following command:

ESEUTIL /MH “<mailbox database name>”

Perform the following steps to run Eseutil.exe from command prompt:
    
    1. Click on Start -> Run
    2. In the run box, type “cmd” and press “ok”
    3. Go to C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin directory
    4. Type Eseutil.exe in command line

Esutil.exe has two repair switches “/r” and “p”.

Eseutil /r command is soft database recovery mode of the Exchange Server.

If EDB files are badly damaged, then you should make use of Eseutil/p command. The command line to repair badly damaged public or private exchange database file is:

Eseutil /p C:\Program files\Exchsvr\mdbdata\ primary name.EDB

The simplest method to perform this is to have both database files (. EDB and.STM) in the same directory (which they typically are). If they are placed at different locations, then you need to point to the files on the command line.

Eseutil can be found in the \exchsrvr\bin directory formed when you install Microsoft Exchange on a server. You may need to put in \exchsrvr\bin to your system path for handiness.

Here is a loaded up Eseutil repair command line:

Eseutil /P c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\DB1.EDB /Sd:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\DB1.STM /Te:\TEMPREPAIR.EDB

This command line will repair DB1.EDB placed in C drive along with its matching .STM file placed in D: drive and will place the temporary file on the E: drive.

If your streaming database file (.STM) is not matched to the database file (.EDB) or it has a problem that is blocking repair, you can repair it without adding the /createstm switch to the repair command line. This will destroy the .STM file and repair only the data in the .EDB file. What do you lose if you lose the .STM file? It depends upon what types of clients connect to your Exchange server. If everyone uses Outlook (MAPI protocol), then there will be very modest user data in the .STM file. You may lose some in the transfer of messages that have not been distributed yet. If clients connect via POP3 or IMAP, then most of the things will be in the .STM file, and its loss will be disastrous to them. If clients use Outlook Web Access, messages will be in the .EDB file, but attachments sent will be in the .STM file.

Repair can take some hours, but when it ends, it will leave you with a very comprehensive log file of what it did - call <database>. integ. raw.

Defrag the Exchange Database


Run Eseutil in /D (defragment) mode.

Repair may leave the index and space distribution tables in the database. Along with compressing the physical size of the file, defragmentation recreates the space trees and indexes.

To defragment the database, you need a space equivalent to 110% the size of the database.
As with repair, you can redirect the temporary file to a different drive if necessary, but this will take considerably longer.
  1. Run Integrity Check
  2. Run Isinteg in -fix -test -alltests mode.
  3. E.G. isinteg -s ServerName -test -all tests
Note: when you run Eseutil, you can move database files to temporary locations to make repairs. But to run Isinteg, you must put the database back in the location from which it is normally mounted.

At the end of an Isinteg fix run, you will perhaps observe hundreds of warnings. This is common as Isinteg was initially produced as an internal test utility. Just make sure that at the end of a successful Isinteg run, you have zero errors reported. Even if one error remains, you should run Isinteg once more.

If a small number of runs of Isinteg do not reduce the error count to zero, then you should not depend upon this database. You should then move mailboxes from it.

Don't run the integrity check more than 3 times as it is not suggested.

Some utter that you should anticipate spending an hour per gigabyte of data to get through the entire repair procedure.

Remount & Relax

Now remount the store using ESM and all should be well, only few emails will be lost when the server was off due to problems.

You can relax now as this whole process will take at least 2-3 days to complete for the private mailbox store.

In case, Eseutil/ Isinteg tools doesn't fix the issue, you can go for professional Exchange Recovery tool like Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery, that proficiently repairs any severely corrupt Exchange 2010 EDB file and restores all inaccessible mailboxes into a working PST. 
Thursday 26 November 2015
11/26/2015 10:26:00 pm 0

4 Common Lotus Notes to MS Outlook Conversion Problems and Their Solutions

As you all know, MS Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes are two broadly used email platforms which are mostly used by small, mid-sized and big organizations across the globe. Both are worthy and have their own pros and cons. But MS Outlook is more in demand and is considered to be better for email communication as Microsoft has upgraded Outlook with the latest set of abilities and features.
Saturday 21 November 2015
11/21/2015 03:10:00 am 0

Fix Exchange Jet Error 1216 Jet_errAttachedDatabaseMismatch

The worst alarming situation for any Exchange administrator is when the EDB file gets damaged or corrupt or due to any Jet error. We all know that Microsoft Exchange stores all the mailboxes of users in Exchange database (EDB file), which can also be accessed through MS Outlook Email client without any trouble. But, like any other file there are circumstances when EDB files too get damaged or corrupt.
Wednesday 21 October 2015
10/21/2015 01:43:00 am 0

5 Important Activities to Perform Before GroupWise to Exchange 2010 Migration


There has never been a better time to migrate to MS Exchange from other email communication platforms such as Novell GroupWise. With the launch of MS Exchange 2010, Microsoft’s messaging system took a big jump forward in terms of expenditure of ownership, flexibility of combination, and simplicity of both use and administration, and it’s now undoubtedly the leading messaging platform across the world.
Monday 12 October 2015
10/12/2015 11:40:00 pm 0

3 Simple Ways to Restore Exchange 2010/ 2007 Mailbox Items When Disaster Strikes

Despite whether your Exchange organization is large or small, losing email services has a huge blow to your business. When disaster strikes your Exchange Server, your first natural feeling may be to reach for your backup. Though, restoring a backup may not be the best course of action for all time. That is because when a breakdown takes place, it is vital to restore the mail flow as swiftly as possible, and restoring a backup can be time consuming. It is generally better to restore the mail flow first, and restore the remaining data afterward.

However, a standard restore operation is certainly the favored way for recovering an information store, occasionally an organization's logistical requirements demand using diverse practices.

1. Rebuilding the Exchange Server infrastructure

When an Exchange Server breakdown takes place, the very first thing that you must perform is to recognize which server has failed and what functions that a server was hosting (supposing that the server is running Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010). The configuration information for each Exchange Server function apart from for the Edge Transport Server function is saved inside the Active Directory. This makes it feasible to rebuild the server without restoring a backup as long as yours Active Directory is still operative.

The primary step you should take is to open the Active Directory Users and Computers console and reset the computer account that belonged to the failed server. But remember not to remove the computer account, otherwise it would not be possible to recover the server.

When the computer account has been reset, install Windows Server onto the failed server (or onto a replacement server). You should make use of the same Windows edition and the same service pack as what was operating on the failed server. Once Windows has been installed, you should change the computer name to match the name of the failed server. After performing this, connect the server to your domain. Once you connect the server to your domain, the server will presume the characteristics of the failed server.

Next, add your Exchange Server installation media into the server. Rather than executing a usual Exchange Server installation, open a Command Prompt window (navigate to the installation media (run the command given below:

Setup.com /M:RecoverServer

The above command will restore the failed server in a few minutes. Once the server is rebuilt, make sure to install any omitted patches.

2. Restoring mail flow to the Exchange Server

If the crashed server was running any server role other than the mailbox server role or the edge transport server role, then you should be back in business. Though, if the breakdown takes place on a mailbox server, then the mailbox database may have been gone. The best thing to do in this type of circumstance is to execute a dial tone recovery.

A dial tone recovery is a method where you make a database filled with vacant mailboxes. That way, users can start sending and receiving mail without having to wait for hours or days while you restore their older messages.

The method for making a dial tone database differs somewhat depending on the version of Exchange Server. In Exchange Server 2010, you must start by making a vacant database using the New-MailboxDatabase cmdlet. For example, you might type:

New-MailboxDatabase --Name DialTone --EdbFilePath D:\Dialtone\DialTone.edb

Make sure to build the database in a location that has an abundance of free space as you will ultimately merge the user's old data into the database.

Once the new database has been formed, you must rehome your user accounts so that they point to the dial tone database. To achieve so, you must make use of the Get-Mailbox command to retrieve a list of all of the mailboxes that were saved in the failed database (this information is saved in the Active Directory). You must then use the Set-Mailbox cmdlet to rehome the mailboxes. For example, if your old mailbox database was named DB0 then the command that you would use is:

Get-Mailbox --Database DB0 | Set-Mailbox --Database DialTone

The final step is to mount the database; then the users will be capable to send and receive mail. You can mount the database by using the Mount-Database cmdlet. In this particular case the command that you would use is:

Mount-Database --Identity Dialtone

3. Recovering data from the Exchange Server

The final step in this procedure is - to recover your old data. The step you should take for this procedure differs as it depends on what version of Exchange you are making use of. In Exchange Server 2010, you have to form a recovery database, whereas In Exchange Server 2007, you have to form a recovery storage group. From there only, you would be able to restore the backup of your mailbox database to the recovery database or the recovery storage group. When the procedure gets completed, you will have to combine your recovery storage group or recovery database with any data that has been collected in the dial tone database. You can hit upon the guidelines for executing a dial tone recovery in Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010.

At last, the steps that you will have to execute throughout an Exchange Server disaster recovery process will rely on the type of the breakdown. This article presumes that at least one Exchange Server has failed disastrously. If the breakdown is less rigorous, then you may be capable to leave out some of the steps that I have discussed in this article but if you are still unable to restore your Exchange mailbox items, then you should take help of professional exchange recovery software, that will definitely restore inaccessible mailbox items.

10/12/2015 03:29:00 am 0

How to Fix Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) Error of Exchange Backup File

Exchange BKF files are meant to assure us that our important Exchange data is safe, in case any disaster strikes. These BKF files may prove out to be very handy in situations where admin has lost access of Exchange as data could be easily recovered from Exchange BKF File whenever needed.
Wednesday 23 September 2015
9/23/2015 09:53:00 pm 0

How to Repair Exchange Backup File When You Get "The fixed media is full" Error

Exchange Server is one of the most widely-used and advanced mail server platform available. Millions of users across the globe are using Exchange Server to proficiently manage their business communications as well as their business and personal data. All Exchange Administrators know the importance of keeping exchange mailbox stores / storage groups backups in the case of disasters.
Thursday 17 September 2015
9/17/2015 10:13:00 pm 0

How to Restore Exchange 2010 Mailboxes Using Recovery Database Feature

Exchange 2010 is different from its predecessors in certain ways; but, it would be an incorrect thought if you say that this Exchange version is completely free from any type of corruption. Exchange Admins do face corruption in Exchange 2010 in the same way and at a similar rate as they come across in Exchange 2003/2007 and earlier versions.
Thursday 27 August 2015
8/27/2015 11:51:00 pm 0

How to Resolve Exchange Event ID 1121 and 5000

Microsoft facilitates you to configure Windows Server operating system as a global catalog server. Global catalog is basically a distributed data depository, which comprise of the searchable, partial demonstration of each object in each domain in multi-domain AD DS (Active Directory Domain Services) forest.
Tuesday 16 June 2015
6/16/2015 01:04:00 am 0

How to Fix Lotus Notes Error "Attachment found on more than one document"

Nowadays Lotus Notes is becoming a very vital e-mail application that allows you to perform all the mail operations, such as e-mailing, calendaring, scheduling, programming etc. as also present in other e-mail applications like MS Outlook, Outlook Express etc. Lotus Notes Domino server generally employs POP3 & SMTP protocols.
Friday 22 May 2015
5/22/2015 08:55:00 pm 0

How to Fix Exchange Jet Error 1018 Easily

In this post, we will discuss about Exchange Error 1018 which usually occurs when the database gets corrupted on the page-level. The Exchange Server has a built-in facility which helps in determining and fixing any damages which that take place in the database at file-system level. If the EDB file is corrupt at page level, the exchange database is commonly hit by the 1018 JET_errReadVerifyFailure error (probably during online backup creation).

Depending on what went wrong, the Exchange Server Database may get corrupted at various different levels. For instance, at times the index is dis-ordered or the EDB file is corrupt. Based on the type of failure, DB corruption of Exchange Server can be classified as Logical Corruption and Physical Corruption.

Resolve Exchange 2007 Error 1018 from Physical Corruption

Meanwhile, to verify the file-system damage to database, one can use Eseutil. All you need to do is to apply the/mh switch. It will automatically scan the header of the DB for the point where checksum value stability determines integrity of the database.

Fix Exchange Errors & Restore Mailboxes with Microsoft Exchange Recovery Software

How to Verify Exchange Database Page Corruption?

For a layman user, Exchange Database looks like yet another system-file saved with .edb file extension. However, at the logical level, an EDB file consists of 4KB pages (or even multiples 4KB, depending on the OS and the version of Exchange in use). In order to keep the I/O operations minimal, these pages are organized in a B-tree structure. Some of these pages might contain data while others may have pointers which link one page to another. Having such a structure ensures that once a query is raised, traversal is faster and you obtain quick results. Further, indexes and tables manage data using a separate B-tree structure, which is called B+ tree.

The header occupies the first two pages of Exchange database EDB file. This means the first logical page of the database is indeed its third physical page. Mentioned below is the formula which helps you in calculating the Logical Page number of EDB file:


The checksum value of database is as important as its page numbers. While writing transaction to the disk, a mathematical calculation takes place. This calculation for the page is known as Checksum. The header of EDB file holds this value and when the database is read, either while creating online backup or while performing a general task, this value is calculated all over again. If both the values, the one stored in the header and the re-calculated one, don’t match the page is deemed to be corrupted.

Understanding Exchange Error 1018

The 1018 error usually occurs because of the following reasons:
  • The checksum value stored in the header of the database doesn’t tally with the checksum value calculated while writing database to the disk.
  • There is either some error with NTFS file system or the data is being written to an incorrect location on the hard disk.
The Exchange Server at times acts wary itself and generates this error. This happens when the server generates an incorrect checksum value for the page.

Fixing the Exchange Error 1018

Now that it’s clear how and why the Exchange Error 1018 JET_errReadVerifyFailure is generated, we can try fixing it using the ESEutil tool. This is an open source command-line tool designed by Microsoft to help in the resolution of page-level EDB Corruption. Here is a step-by-step procedure involved in repairing the database.

Note: We are considering the case of physical corruption, and to resolve it we need to take a backup and restore the data. When data is restored from online backup, you can be rest assured that it doesn’t have any corrupt page, because if there’s a damaged page the online backup procedure will be automatically terminated with error 1018.

So, the first step towards fixing the error is to restore data from an online backup.

Using ESEUTIL to Repair Database

Eseutil/p switch is the best way to resolve file-system level damage in the database. If the damage prevails in the leaf page of the EDB file, it will result in data loss. However, if there is a damage in the internal page, the DB loses its structure information, which results in reconstruction of the table.

Syntax used while repairing Exchange EDB file using Eseutil/p switch is:


Once the repair process is initiated, the corrupt files are removed and the good data is left behind. However, mounting this server to database isn’t possible directly until you defragment it and correct the logical numbering of pages

Offline Defragmentation of Database

Once the corrupt pages are eliminated from the DB, some white space will be left behind. This can be removed through offline defragmentation of DB. This syntax for this procedure is mentioned below:


Correct The B–Tree Structure

The index of the database is disordered during the repair and defragmentation process. However, you can easily correct it using Isinteg utility. The utility corrects the logical and physical numbering of the database, in turn making it mountable on the server


Conclusion

The above solution is lengthy, and requires you to be a pro in operating Eseutil. In order to recover EDB file database after ESE database, page or application level corruption, it is best to use the Exchange Recovery software. It is easy to use, offers a simplistic approach towards recovering private and public folder data from offline/corrupt EDB file.


Thursday 14 May 2015
5/14/2015 10:19:00 pm 0

3 Scenarios where Exchange Granular Restore Can Save Your Time

So, are you looking to back up Exchange Server of your organization? Well, most of you may not be familiar with the different levels of Exchange Server Protection that majority of backup solutions offer. Basically there are two levels of Exchange Server Protection – Granular Restore and Database level.
Wednesday 29 April 2015
4/29/2015 10:06:00 pm 0

How to fix Exchange Error -501 (0xfffffe0b) JET_errLogFileCorrupt

Log files are the most critical component of Exchange server, as they play a significant role in recovery of Exchange when database is in shutdown stage. All Exchange admin’s are aware of the fact that even small errors in Log files may lead to serious problems such as Unable to Mount Stores, Exchange Server shutdown. One such error is JET_errLogFileCorrupt – which is faced due to log files corruption and may lead to Exchange corruption if not properly handled. Let’s check what this error is and how to tackle this.

What is Exchange Exchange Error - JET_errLogFileCorrupt ?

When user is unable to mount information store database due to the corrupt log file, there Exchange Error JET_errLogFileCorrupt is displayed.  Improper handling of this error may lead to inconsistent stage of database. For handling inconsistent stage you may need to use either eseutil.exe or any professional Exchange Recovery software. Here some common causes, resolution techniques, manual as well as professional discussed in this article.

Cause of this error: Corruption in log files is the main reason behind this error. Lost, damaged files or because of corruption in header of log files this error may be shown. After this error user gets unable to mount data to the database.

How to check your Log files are damaged?

To confirm that your log files are damaged or not. Follow certain steps:

1. Open command Prompt window
2. Change to the folder where the log files are located.
3. Type command: eseutil /ml Enn

If this process terminates with error -501 it means, it means your Log files are corrupt

Operation terminated with error -501 (JET_errLogFileCorrupt, Log file is corrupt)

Than you may need to resolve this error by following procedure mentioned below.

How to Resolve this Manually

To resolve this error manually, at first you need to remove your damaged log files from database and then restore them back, from the backup. After that you need to execute eseutil.exe to regenerate log files.

Here some steps had been discussed which could be followed to resolve this error.

1.  Try to locate a copy of Log files
2.  Discard the damaged log file
3. Restore backup of the Exchange database
4.  Perform Hard Recovery

Try to locate a copy of Log files: As a first solution, try to find a copy of Log files in working condition from Exchange online backup or from previous server backup. However if you are not having backup you may need to repair corrupt Log files using Hard recovery by Eseutility or by professional software for Exchange recocery.

Discard the damaged log file: If you find a copy of Log files in working condition, it means you can delete previous corrupt log files and restore them from backup but before that you need to discard damaged log files.

Restore backup of the Exchange database: After deleting corrupt Log files, now it’s time to restore Exchange database from backup. But if you having old copy of the database in that case you will lose all the data saved after creating backup, an alternate solution is to try to remove corruption using hard recovery.

Doing Hard Recovery for Log File repair: After restoring data from online backup, you may need to perform hard recovery to repair damaged log files. But before performing hard recovery it is advised to take a backup of the folder containing log files as data may be lost during this process.

1. Once restoration of the database is complete a file names ‘restore.env’ will be created at temporary folder ‘C:\Temp’. This will contain all logs that were backed up without being committed to the database.
2. After that execute command Eseutil /cc “Path of the restore.env containing folder”.
3. After complete execution of this command restore.env file will be deleted.

However it is extremely difficult to perform Hard recovery and to replay damaged log file into a database as along-with matching up databases and logs by signatures user may also need to keep record of checkpoint value in the database header, risk of replaying wrong log files into the database is also there. So rather than going for this complex process, it is advised to use a professional Exchange Recovery solution for solving this Error.

Using professional solution: As this solution of Eseutility may not work for you all the time. In case backup of exchange database is not there this solution will not work .There you may need to take help of professional Exchange recovery software which can thoroughly scan your damaged database and repair corrupt edb files providing access to Exchange data again.
Tuesday 21 April 2015
4/21/2015 04:10:00 am 0

How to Recover Corrupt Information Store Database of Exchange 2010

Information Store is one of the most important modules of MS Exchange Server that is accountable to store database files of MS Exchange Server, known as EDB. There are cases when Information Store comes across adverse circumstances and gets corrupt, which consequences in loss of all the stored data in EDB files. Here is how you can recover from corruption in Exchange 2010 information store.
Wednesday 15 April 2015
4/15/2015 09:34:00 pm 0

How to fix Outlook error “0x8004010f” - Outlook data file cannot be accessed

From all OST file corruption causes, Outlook error "0x8004010f " is one of the most commonly seen Outlook error, which is generally seen with OST file corruption due to synchronization problem in OST file. MAPI error code “0x8004010f” popup in situations where user is trying to synchronize offline address book, during sending/receiving operations means trying to download that OAB files where Outlook profile is incorrectly configured. New Exchange client users also complaint about this error quite frequently as Exchange takes around 24 - 48 hours to generate offline address book for a new user and if during this time period any Outlook client try to download Offline Address Book, this error would be displayed. Here in this article some symptoms, most common causes of this error and some commonly used methods to fix the error have been discussed.

Symptoms:

When a user tries to synchronize OST file on Exchange Server, he may get this error message in Sync Issues folder:
0x8004010F: Outlook data file cannot be accessed.
or
0x8004010F: The operation failed. An object could not be found.


After encountering the above error,user receives the error message given below in Microsoft Office Outlook when he tries to send an email,

“Task ‘Microsoft Exchange Server’ reported error (0×8004010F): ‘The operation failed. An object could not be found.’”

If this error occurs,outlook terminates the process of synchronization and at that time, client couldn’t connect to his Exchange server Mailbox.

Cause of this Error: There are multiple reasons which could be responsible for the generation of this error in Outlook:

1. Multiple OAB Version folders exist of the same type.
2. OAB lists objects have either missing or incorrect address list.
3. Clients are trying to download that OAB files from a public folder store which have not received the replicated updates.
4. Information Store has invalid Entry ID pointing to folders where clients have nothing to download.
5. OST file had become either corrupt or unusable.


Manual way to resolve this Error: To resolve this error manually, user first need to track the exact location of your default Outlook data file and after that create a new Outlook profile and then Configure that new Outlook profile as your default profile. The procedure has been discussed below in detail within three steps.


Step:1        Tracking the Location of default Outlook data file :
1.       Go to Start -> Click Control Panel -> Mail Setup.
2.       From Mail Setup - Outlook dialog box, click Show Profiles.
3.       Choose your current Outlook profile, and then click Properties.
4.       In Mail Setup - Outlook dialog box,click Data Files
5.       In Account Settings dialog box, select Data Files tab .
6.       Note name and location of the default data file of your profile& click Close.

 Step: 2     Creating a new Outlook profile:Create an Outlook Profile with IMAP or POP3 email account using an auto account setup.

Step: 3    Set newly configured Outlook profile as a default profile: 
1.  In New Outlook Mail dialog box, select General tab& select Always use this profile.                  
2.  From drop down menu of Always use this profile, select the new profile.


Note: However if above mentioned steps did not work for you, then probably your Outlook file could be corrupt. In those situations it would be best to use a professional OST to PST conversion software using which corruption of OST file could be cured. Many OST to PST conversion software are available in market to fix OST file corruption and solving synchronization issues of OST file. But before choosing any such tool do complete research, ensure that it is compatible with the current version of MS Outlook and Windows OS which you are using.
4/15/2015 08:04:00 pm 0

Why You Should Migrate From Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013

If your organization has been planning to migrate to Office 365, then there is a convincing reason that it offers users a benefit of unlimited storage space.
Friday 3 April 2015
4/03/2015 09:00:00 pm 0

How to fix Exchange Error “JET_errInvalidLogSequence” (0xfffffdfd)

This is a common Exchange error which generally occurs due to log files problems such as when some particular log files are missing from the sequence or do not match with other log files. Main reason behind this error is invalid log signature and log creation time mismatch. In situations where some log files are not present in database or corresponding header is unable to find matching file in the database, this error is displayed. However this error could also be seen in circumstances where database is restored multiple times, because at that time Exchange is left with mixed log streams. In this article few inbuilt utilities has been explained to fix this error.

How to Repair log files:
As log files are the main cause of this error, so to fix this error at first log files needed to be fixed. To fix log files in Exchange Server there is recovery mode, which use some inbuilt utilities like Eseutil /r , Eseutil /p  helps to repair damaged Log files.

Repairing Log files using Eseutil /r  :
Eseutil /r works in Recovery mode of Exchange Server. Recovery mode which is a process of playing transaction log files into database so as to repair Log files. In exchange normally two types of recovery are done.
1. Hard Recovery using Eseutil : This is less seen recovery mode of eseutility , which is used when transaction log files areto be  replayed into online backup. Hard recovery can be done with Eseutil by using the Restore mode.
Doing troubleshooting when ESE engine is forced to replay the transaction logs, this is known as a hard recovery , hence Eseutil /r.

2. Soft Recovery using Eseutil : This recovery occurs when a database is re-mounted after unexpected stop of Exchange, or when transaction logs are to be replayed into offline backup of database.
This recovery process replays the logs after the last checkpoint.  When Exchange Database is dismounted or stopped, log files start to pile up in the database, which could lead Exchange to dirty shutdown state because of missing transaction files.

After Software recovery when Mailbox store starts again, all of the unattached transactions files of those logs are written in the database, remounting those transaction files may cause a built-in soft recovery routine.

Controlling the Checkpoint File in Software Recovery
While performing soft recovery, Exchange at first check recent transactions files, and then after that from last checkpoint it reads pointers in E00.chk, on the basis of that information it knows which transactions files to commit and which to roll-back, so as to bring database in consistent state.
While running soft recovery, normally users want to delete/ move the checkpoint file as they want to safely rerun all transaction logs into database.  Those checkpoint files could be controlled during a soft recovery, by adding the /S switch to the recovery command:

Eseutil /r E00 /S
d:\checkpoint\

Working of Eseutil /r :
Working with Eseutility in repair mode is not as easy task as it looks, you cannot run /r in ordinary situations, as improperly executed  eseutil /r  may result you opposite results. This solution is to be used when all other solutions has been failed to get the server working. In situations where you had restored Exchange  database and you are unable to mount the store then also you can take help of Eseutil /r.
While performing recovery using Eseutil /r utility at first, take backup of Exchange database so that in case something bad happens, database could be restored from that.
Then navigate to the folder which is containing those transaction logs, and run:
 eseutil /r e00 /i . 
Note the sequence /r e00 /i should be correct.  If your  base log is e00  and not some other numberand your  storage group is with multiple stores, in that case user have to dismount all stores before running the /r switch. 

Repairing Log files using Eseutil /p  :

If log files are not available, still you can bring your exchange database in consistent state, by executing /p switch of ESEutil. Syntax which could be used to recover Exchange database without log file is :

“eseutil/p<database_name>”

D:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin>eseutil/p

 “D:\Exchsrvr\Mailbox Store(SERVER).edb”

  
Note : Using this method to bring database in consistent stage is not as simple as it looks ,as this may lead user to data loss , in situations where Eseutil is not properly executed , or any structure improvement calls raised because of deletion of internal pages or if there are broken links between the table. In those situations user may need to rebuild database using offline defragmentation and correcting B-tree structure of database which obviously become a lengthy and complicated task with Eseutility.

An alternative to this complex process is going for professional Exchange recovery tools which can just calls for database file availability (healthy/offline/corrupt state) to get consistent DB. Exchange Recovery software repairs log files and recover Exchange database  from Dirty shutdown state providing access to exchange data again.
Friday 27 March 2015
3/27/2015 02:59:00 am 0

4 Important Tasks You Should Perform Before Migrating To Exchange Server 2013

Are you planning for a migration to Exchange 2013 from your legacy Exchange Server? Well, it is not as easy as it seems to be. There are some tasks which you should perform ahead of starting the installation of Exchange server 2013. In this article, I have covered four most significant tasks you need to perform before bringing Exchange 2013 into an Exchange 2010 environment.
Wednesday 25 March 2015
3/25/2015 10:05:00 pm 0

How to handle Challenges of Lotus Notes to Exchange Migration

At present, Lotus Notes and Microsoft’s Exchange are the most widely used email communication platforms. Although both platforms are quite popular but switching from Lotus Notes to Exchange is very much seen these days. Because of Exchange Server’s rich and varied features and high availability of trained IT staff on Microsoft technology, Exchange is becoming center of attraction for most of the users as compared to Lotus Notes.

These days many companies are planning to migrate from IBM Lotus Notes to Exchange but before migration one must be really sure and determined about switching to Exchange Server before performing any sort of data transfer. As the process of migration is not that simple, small error at the beginning may result in big problems. So before migration, exchange admin must be aware of the complexities which he could face and should be aware of the process to tackle those, else it could be hard and time consuming task in the absence of an appropriate knowledge and awareness.

Now the question arises how to successfully migrate from notes to Exchange. For that Microsoft has provided exclusive product-Mail Migration Wizard to serve Domino to Exchange switch-over.

Migration using Migration wizard


 Microsoft’s Mail Migration Wizard allows you to migrate from foreign email platform to Exchange. This platform provides user an option to export selective mails from notes mailbox to Exchange.However in this also there are some complexities which if not properly handled, it can lead to big disaster. Here below are some of the most common challenges which a person can face during migration:

Challenges of Migration

  •  Slow Migration speed using Microsoft Migration wizard
  • Co-Existence between notes and Exchange
  • Synchronizing data between Domino server and Exchange
  • Migrating users’ mailboxes
  • Select the migration software


Slow Migration speed: Migrating mails using Export Wizard is a very slow process as in this at one time only single mail item is migrated. If size of your mailbox is large, it could take even days or months to migrate.


Co-Existence between notes and Exchange: In Migration at the beginning, it is required to set up coexistence between both servers till all users migrate from Domino to Exchange. In migration,at first it is required to create Directory coexistence,Messaging coexistence,Calendar coexistence and then synchronization between databases of these two servers occur.


If I particularly talk about Exchange, there are several tools that allow coexistence between Exchange and Notes.These tools are:

•    The Microsoft Connector for Lotus Notes
•    The Microsoft Exchange Calendar Connector
•    The Exchange Migration Wizard.    

‘The Microsoft Connector for Lotus Notes’ lets you transport messages between the Notes and Exchange; it keeps track of the whole message transfer procedure and gets the directories synchronized for both systems.

‘The Microsoft Exchange Calendar Connector’ keeps track of all calendar Notes and Exchange free/busy information, its location and other related information.

‘The Exchange Migration Wizard’ performs the operation of extracting and importing the data from Notes to Exchange.

Synchronizing data between Domino server and Exchange:After creating co-existence of mailbox items Synchronization between data of Domino and Exchange server is required. The data which is required to be synchronized between the two systems in co-existence are: address books directories, free/busy connector, migrating the Domino users to Exchange GAL. Once done, you can migrate Domino user mailboxes to Exchange.And you can synchronize directories to exchange by setting up the Directory Connector.
However, if synchronization fails, migration would be impossible.In such case, Diagnostics Logging plays a very important role. The diagnostics logging level for DirSync is set to high and for the first two (Service, Controller) it is set to low.

Migrating  each mailboxes separately :  Even after all this migration is not that simple, for that you need to transfer each and every email separately along with other items of user mailbox account like contacts, address book, journals, tasks and calendar. So before migration organization must first do efficient planning as Migration is a complex process and once migration is completed, you may find that some of your data is lost or Integrity of your mailbox could be affected.



Migration using professional software:Migrating data either way between IBM Notes and Microsoft Exchange requires in-depth knowledge of both platforms. However, it is too costly and time consuming process for an organization, especially for large organizations as cost involved in buying hardware, installation, software purchase, licenses and required would be high and 

So, after all this discussion what I can say is that for saving time and efforts and to have more secure migration,it would be better to use any Professional  tool for notes to exchange migration.

Before purchasing any software carefully read out the features and other instructions mentioned at product page. Also check the product specifications. You can find many software available from different vendors, so make a comparative analysis before making any decision. Also, try the demo versions of the software before purchasing it and choose the one that fits your budget and requirements.
Tuesday 24 March 2015
3/24/2015 03:14:00 am 0

How to Easily Recover Data From Orphaned OST File

Organizations need a collaborative communication environment. For this, MS Exchange Server and MS Outlook work in conjunction. Meanwhile, some users might be working off-site where the connectivity with the company's Exchange Server cannot be established; MS Outlook has the capability to work in Cached Exchange Mode.
Thursday 12 March 2015
3/12/2015 09:41:00 pm 0

How to resolve Error “0x80004005” in Exchange Server 2010

While working on Exchange 2010, it may happen that by mistake you remove those log files which have not been written to the database associated to it,this can create several serious issues. In such situations it may be possible that while trying to mount the database, you may face this error: "Failed to mount database" or "Mailbox Database’ couldn't mount the database that you specified".

Dirty System Shutdown state is another reason for this error generation. Due to Dirty Shutdown state user may lose useful Log files which could further lead to database corruption.In those situations, itmay become practically unmanageable for you to access exchange database files, unluckily you may suffer serious data loss .In order to regain access to your important data, it is necessary for you to figure out the main cause of this problem and to resolve it by using the correct method. Here some of the symptoms, causes, and some most used resolution methods are discussed below:

Symptoms of this Error:

If you are working on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,you may face this error when trying to mount a mailbox database or a public folder database to Exchange:

Failed to mount database 'Mailbox Database'
Error:
Exchange is unable to mount the database that you specified. Specified database: d1cdba46-6f79-46f2-ba14-3ae2fa8aad43; Error code: MapiExceptionCallFailed: Unable to mount database. (hr=0x80004005,ec=-2147467259).

Cause of this Error:
  1. Dirty Shutdown
  2.  Removal of log files, which has not been committed to the database yet.
  3.  Corrupt Database
When you have a corrupt database or incomplete logs you may face this type of error. In those situations these are some basic resolution steps user should follow before going for recovery of database or log files.

Check and Repair the database:

As corrupt database could be a reason for this error as well, so firstly you need to check the database and take it out of dirty shutdown state.

To repair database, run the following:

eseutil /p

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Mailbox\Mailbox Database\Mailbox Database.edb"

Check and Repair the database logs:

Then Re-run the database check and if all goes well; you should see this somewhere in the output: State: Clean Shutdown

After that,you can try mounting the database. If it mounts, you are good to go, if it doesn't you have to check the logs:

Check and Repair the database logs:

After repairing database if still your problem persists, then you need to check Database Log files,Check the exchange logs (don't forget to specify E00 - the starting sequence for the logs)
eseutil /ml

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Mailbox\Mailbox Database\E00"

There will be a list of logs and depending on their state, you may get an error. If problem is not with log files,then you need to move further to resolve this error.

Resolving this Error:
  • Run Setup /PrepareAD
  • Add the Exchange Servers group to the "Manage auditing and security log" policy
  • Use a professional software
Method 1: Run Setup /PrepareAD :

You need to run Setup /PrepareAD command from Exchange Server's CD to prepare the Active Directory service for Exchange Server 2010.This command restores Exchange Server configuration in Active Directories. Find the steps below which you need to follow:

Exchange Server 2010

  1. Start Exchange Server 2010 Help.
  2. Click the Contents tab, Go to Deployment-> New Installation-> Preparing to Deploy Exchange 2010, and then click How to Prepare Active Directory and Domains.
Method 2: Add the Exchange Servers group to the "Manage auditing and security log" policy using Domain Controller

So as to add Exchange Servers group to the Manage auditing and security log policy, follow these steps:
  1. Log on to domain controller by using an account which have administrative rights.
  2. Click Start->Administrative Tools-> Domain Controller Security Policy.
  3. In the Default Domain Controller Security Settings Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, expand Local Policies, and then click User Rights Assignment, In the right pane, double-click Manage auditing and security log.
  4. In the Manage auditing and security log Properties dialog box, click Add User or Group and in the User and group names box, type DomainNameExchange Servers, and then click OK two times.
  5. Exit the Default Domain Controller Security Settings MMC snap-in, and then wait for this security setting to propagate across the domain controllers in the domain.
  6. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service
Method 3:Use a Third Party Tool

If your problem is still not getting resolved by following the solutions given above, then it would be better for you to try professional Exchange Recovery Software like - Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery, which easily restores the completely inaccessible mailboxes from exchange database successfully without causing any data loss. This tool has powerful scanning algorithm that recovers accidentally deleted mailboxes as well. A lot can be done with this Exchange Recovery Tool.


Monday 2 March 2015
3/02/2015 11:05:00 pm 0

Factors to consider while migrating From GroupWise to PST

With increasing popularity of Outlook it had become a trend to migrate from other mail clients to Outlook. It is believed that Non-Exchange platforms like GroupWise, Notes etc. are difficult to use and customize as these do not offer such easiness and support which is provide by MS Outlook. Factors like flexibility, cost, and security have made Outlook more popular among users.Perhaps that’s the reason why most of the people are involved in migration from GroupWise.Doing Migration from GroupWise to Outlook manually is very time consuming, but can be done if proper planning is done.

Pre preparations before conversation: Before conversion there are some factors needed to be kept in mind for risk free conversion. Here some of those factors are discussed below.

1.  Know Size of the GroupWise files
2.  Create a Backup of GroupWise Mailbox
3.  Download a GroupWise Cleanup Agent

Knowing Size of the GroupWise files: First thing you need to do is to know the size of your GroupWise mailbox (Inbox, Sent, Trash and personal folders) ,archives which have to be converted in Outlook format. For this GroupWise has provided a tool GroupWise check (GWCheck) to check the size of GroupWise database. You can know more about this tool:http://www.novell.com/documentation/gw8/gw8_admin/data/a3n60l6.html 

Create a Backup of GroupWise Mailbox: Backup file up of GroupWise mailbox should be maintained in advance, so that in case during migration due to any possible reason if you lose your data, which could be regained from backup.

GroupWise Cleanup Agent: Uninstall process of Novell Server is not adequate enough to clear GroupWise Content from Computer, so after GroupWise to PST conversion - to purge user’s PC GroupWise Cleanup Agent is required. You can download CleanIt Cleanup Agent by Novell: https://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/trench/9852.html

How to Migrate GroupWise to PST Manually

Import Export Wizard :To export your GroupWise mail to Outlook, there is an inbuilt utility“Import Export Wizard” which could be used for Export GroupWise mailbox items. Here below are some of steps which you can follow to perform Group Wise to PST conversion.
  1. Install the Outlook  Client in your system
  2. Load GroupWise Client and login there as user.
  3. Launch Outlook (This will connect outlook account to the GroupWise account you are current logged in)
  4. Close the GroupWise client.
  5. In Outlook from File menu ,select Import and Export
  6. Select option Export to a file and select .pst file to export
  7. Click Finish.
After this you can easily open the file in Outlook from File->open->Outlook Data File from the file menu.
Select desirable file and press OK.

Need of Professional Tools for Conversion:
You may face a lot of problems during migration process while doing it manually as manual process is time consuming and Insecure. Here below some points are discussed about why professional tools should be used for GroupWise to PST Conversion .

Time Consuming: Migration from GroupWise to Outlook manually is quite time consuming as at a time single GroupWise file is converted to PST, so a lot of time is wasted. But there are some professional tools which provide batch conversion of GroupWise mailboxes saving time.

Data integrity: it is normally seen during manual conversion, structure of the GroupWise mailbox do not remain intact. After migration, mostly user mailbox loses its integrity and most of the mails gets misplaced.

Complexity: If user is a newbie and don’t have much knowledge of migration than minor mistakes could generate big complexities, so if user is unaware of conversion process, it is advised to use professional tools to perform the conversion process.

Data Loss:In Manual Conversion, as process is complex and lengthy, a lot of record is required to be maintained during conversion. It is also possible that during conversion you lose some of your mails due to any possible reason.

So after all this discussion above, point to take home is that if someone is not much aware of conversion process and is looking to save time and efforts, should go for professional tools for GroupWise to PST Conversion.
Sunday 1 March 2015
3/01/2015 10:53:00 pm 0

How to recover mails from corrupt Pegasus Mailbox ?

 

To communicate with my professional and personnel network over the internet, I prefer mail Communication. Right now I am using Pegasus Mail email client which is also known as Pmail among users. As it is freely available, have minimum system requirements, and does not make any changes to windows or system registries so these are some of the reasons why I am still associated with this mail client.

I am using Pegasus mail version 5 on a Windows vista Machine from around last 5 years. I recently updated my Pegasus mail client from 4.41 to 5 .After updating, I started facing lot of problems .One night while logging out my Pegasus Mail account, I got an error message about corrupt files, before I could understand something my Pmail closed abruptly. Next time when I opened my account I found that most the mails from my mailbox were gone.

Recovering Mail account manually:

If Pegasus mailbox of someone is deleted accidently or due to any possible reason, then here are some most common solutions with proper sequence which I followed, and could be considered by anyone for recovery ofPegasusmailbox.

1.       Recover from Deleted Messages folder
2.       Check default mailbox location
3.       Use undelete utility
4.       Recover Mailbox from backup
5.       Take help of any professional tool for mailbox recovery


Deleted Messages folder: If someone deletes any mail from mailbox, then normally those mails are drifted to Deleted Messages folder which is just like a recycle bin of your computer, from where deleted mails could be restored again easily.

Checking default mailbox location:
If your mail files are also deleted from deleted message folder, still one more option is also there to check whethermails are still on your system or not i.e. by checking default mailbox location for mail files of Pegasus mail account.

Usually mailbox location for your Pegasus mail is
c:\pmail\mail\rebacca
Where rebacca is the username of my computer.

Using undelete utility to recover deleted mails: If you are done with checking Deleted Messages folder location and default mailbox location and if mails are not on your system, then your only hope is to use some Windows undelete utility. But in that case also with more use of systems,less are the chances to recover your files.

Recovering mails form backup:
Most common solution for any mail client to recover mails is from backup of mail account. From backup, you can restore your mailbox easily and can regain access to your mailbox again.

Now let’s come back to my experience, after trying hard to access my mails from folders in system, I turned towards restoring those from general backup. But there also I faced an error:

“Pmail cannot identify the files to restore”.

When all above methods did not work for me, I started looking for some alternate solution to recover my mailbox. After a lot research I came up with few Third Party solutions for recovering Pegasus mail account. Working with demo versions of some, I found a tool named Stellar Phoenix Mail Recovery to be the most convenient utility for Pegasus mailbox recovery. In preview mode, I was able to see my complete mailbox recoverable items in the same pattern. I can’t even tell you how much relaxed I was after seeing my mailbox items intact again.

As at that time I was only concerned with my Pegasus mailbox, so after purchasing license of Stellar Phoenix Mail Recovery which cost only a few dollars, I recovered my mailbox items. This Softwareprovided me option to recover deleted or inaccessible mails fromPegasus mail and then allowed me torecover multiple selected mails in EML as well as MBX file formats.

After all this discussion point to take home is that several manual methods are there for recovery of Pegasus mailbox from corruption, such as recovering from backup, resetting mail server or using some inbuilt utilities but If you are a newbie just like me, I would recommend to go for professional tools for Email recovery as without knowledge doing so may cause you data loss.
Tuesday 24 February 2015
2/24/2015 11:14:00 pm 0

How to Restore Inaccessible Exchange 2010/2013 Mailboxes Using a lag copy in DAG

Exchange Admins quite frequently come across many issues in real time scenarios where several users request them to restore mailboxes from backup.
Thursday 12 February 2015
2/12/2015 10:20:00 pm 0

Overcoming Challenges of Migration from GroupWise to MS Exchange

While working as a messaging platform, GroupWise provides a lot of top class features such as Web Access, Mobile access, Instant Messaging and Contact Management which makes it more popular. Some of its features such as LDAP authentication, encrypted data storage, SSL & promptly patched code etc. makes this platform more secure.

However every mail platform has its different cons and pros attached to them. Some users find it difficult to work with GroupWise platform due to its inconvenient work environment .So why would someone choose GroupWise if there are a lot of other mail platforms providing same features at lesser cost. MS Outlook is one of those most popular mail client Email Platforms at present because of its easy to use interface and simplified approach. 
         
Why to go for Migration

Users which are working with GroupWise from long time may find it easy to work in this environment but new GroupWise users find it difficult to use all features and work in GroupWise Environment. There are also a lot of other factors like lesser flexibility, More Cost, difficulty to understand which force users to migrate towards MS Exchange. In those conditions, migration from GroupWise to Exchange is performed. As Exchange provides users with much better flexibility and effective front end, some users migrate from GroupWise to Exchange just to avail advanced inbuilt features such as Task Management, Notes, Forums, and Large Community Support etc. of MS Exchange.

How to Migrate from GroupWise to Exchange: 

For migrating GroupWise to Exchange, Novell’s GroupWise has provided Exchange Server connector for accessing GroupWise data with Exchange Server, But for that user need to configure both servers in coordination, which is very costly,lengthy process, and need time to accomplish. Moreover,you cannot halt this process during migration, and doing so may result in data loss. All this process is not easy to perform, you should have complete knowledge of migration process else migration may result in complexities.

Common Problems migrating GroupWise to Exchange:

Migrating from Domino environment to Exchange is not an easy task to carry out and executing it manually require a lot of time and expertise, minor mistake during migration may lead to bigger fault.


Time Consuming: Migrating is not a quick process; lot of time is needed during migration. During migration both the servers are needed to be active and their directories should be synchronized.
Data integrity: Inmigration from GroupWise to Exchange patternof data in the mailbox could be tampered. You may find that after migration your mail messages, sender details, attachment details are not intact.
Data Loss: It is unreasonable to expect complete hundred percent data to migrate. Some of your crucial mails could get deleted from mailbox after migration.
Importing Attachments: GroupWise to Exchange Migration is not a simple Email migration, rather it is a complex process. All the content in mailbox such as contacts, calendars, events, tasks, notes is migrated after active directories of both the servers are synchronized, so a lot of time is needed.


How to Overcome These Problems
So as to reduce complexities,save time and efforts during manual conversion, alternatively you can use any professional tool . Stellar GroupWise to Exchange Migrator is one of such tool which allows GroupWise to exchange migration in quick time with great expertise without causing any data loss and server downtime.


Features of this tool:

Stellar GroupWise to Exchange Migrator provide you most quick and secure environment to migrate your GroupWise Mailbox to Exchange

·         Migrates GroupWise Mailbox to .pst, .eml and .msg format.
·         Provides preview of the mail  items before migration
·         Migrate multiple mailboxes simultaneously
·         Maintain Data Integrity during migration
·         Allows Selective Migration of mailboxes
·         Supports GroupWise version GW-2012, 8.0, 7.0, 6.5, 6.0


After analyzing complete migration process, it is clear that doing migration manually is very time consuming and insecure. And while going for coexistence of both GroupWise and MS Exchange it becomes very costly. So using third party tools for migration is a best way to migrate from Novell GroupWise to Exchange Server.