Uh Oh, Public Folders gone, I'm in trouble now!

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 14:27

So i was removing the 2007 Exchange server from the environment and had trouble removing some PFs.

I followed some help posted on a technet site which said you can remove the offending public folder using ADSI edit.

I did this but now all the public folders have gone, even those that have replicated to the 2010 server (apparently).

OMG

What, if anything, can I do

The .edb file is still present on the 2007 server

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 14:31

I have both .edb files the mail one and the PF one (was hoping you were about

)

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 14:48

Bleurgh! How should I do that?

The PF database on the 2010 box still says mounted and I can see a similar sized ebd file there too.

Should I try and create a new PF, copy the .edb to the 2010 box and rename it or something?

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 14:55

how do I mount them though? Call them the same name, dismount the new one, put in the old one and remount? Won't the logs moan, or is that what the stm is for?

EDIT: and where's the stm file??/

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 15:05

2010 says I can't create a PF database as one already exists on the server.

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 15:06

the_chicco said:
Lucero I do believe you owe paradigm substantial consultancy fees with the recent rout of Exchange troubleshooting!!

You are right, Beer tokens for all!!!

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 15:10

I don't understand. I'd replicated the PFs from 2007 to 2010. I can see a file size on the 2010 box and it says it's mounted. PFs are of the devil, that much is true

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 15:17

pfft. I will be after this, I'm trying an eseutil /d first (made a copy).

Can I not just create a new PF in the 2007 box, mount it back up and get it replicatiing again? In future, I assume that the system PFs have to be replicated too right?

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 15:24

So, let me get this straight.

Create a new PF database on the Exchange 2007 box. lets say, test.edb. Kill infostore, rename the old one to test.edb, fire up infostore and mount?

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 15:36

OK, I got as far as clearing the logs, doing an /mh check, then a /d. Created a new PF group, etc, etc. renamed it, yadada, marked it as being able to be overwritten by a restore and it mounted.

But I cant see it in the PF toolbox and it appears to be half the size of the file I copied it from

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 18:36

What I can't get my head around, is, I had the services of the 2007 box turned off and I could still access the PFs with no issue, everything was working ok. How come, I remove the PFs from 2007 box and everything disappears!!!

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 21:33

it was set to be the heiracrchy dubbery whatsit. Stupid PFs. I want to kill something

Django x2 · 15 Feb 2010 at 23:01

mate, epic bad bad times

Django x2 · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:28

I'm wondering if PFDAVadmin can bring them back from the "deleted items" option.

Worth a shot I spose

Django x2 · 16 Feb 2010 at 11:44

You're right, it's a stupid question

No, basically, the only backup I have is probably from Christmas, a lot has changed since then but it's my last resort

Django x2 · 16 Feb 2010 at 12:34

ok, so here's what I did:

Used PFDavAdmin to look at the Exchange 2007 box. It could see the deleted PFs but kept throwing errors when I tried to recover the folders. PFDavAdmin can't connect to a 2010 box as 2010 doesn't use WebDav so I googled and found ExFolders which is an unsupported port of PFDavAdmin for Exchange 2010.

It must be run from the Exchange servers BIN folder. I ran it up, found the parent PF in the 2010 database and recovered.

A few anxious egg timer moments later, and a bit of RowShamBo and bingo bongo, they were all back.

Result

I want to say a massive thankyou to Paradigm, again for his help. Hopefully ExFolders will help someone out here in the future.

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/12/04/453399.aspx