How do I back up and restore only Microsoft Exchange Server using Active Backup for Business?
Last updated:Jan 14, 2021
How do I back up and restore only Microsoft Exchange Server using Active Backup for Business?
Purpose
Active Backup for Business uses Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for SMB Shares to ensure data consistency for database backup and restoration tasks. This article shows you how to enable VSS for SMB File Shares so you can back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Server using the File Server backup functionality.1
Environment
- Your server must be running Windows Server 2012 or above.
- Windows VSS for SMB File Shares must be enabled on your Windows server. To learn how to enable VSS for SMB File Shares on your server, please refer to Section 1 of this article.
- For detailed information on how to work with VSS for SMB File Shares, please refer to this Microsoft article.
Resolution
Back up Microsoft Exchange Server
- Follow this tutorial to open the Exchange Management Shell.
- Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell to locate “edbfilepath” and “logfilepath”:
- To create a backup task, follow the steps in the File Server backup help article.
- Select the folders listed as “edbfilepath” and “logfilepath” in step 1 as source folders in the Active Backup for Business task creation wizard.
- Under Task settings, select Enable VSS for SMB File Shares to ensure backup consistency.
- Follow the steps in the wizard to complete the setup.
Get-MailboxDatabase | fl Name,EdbFilePath,LogFolderPath

Restore Microsoft Exchange Server
- Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell to delete your database (DBName is the name of your database):
- Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell to stop the Microsoft Host Controller Service for your Exchange server:
- To restore your backup task, follow the steps in the File Server backup help article.
- Run the following command to enable the Microsoft Host Controller Service for your Exchange server:
- Run the following command to mount your Exchange server's database (DBName is the name of your Database):
- Follow the steps in the wizard to complete the setup.
Dismount-Database -Identity DBName
Stop-Service HostControllerService
Start-Service HostControllerService
Mount-Database -Identity DBName
Notes:
- File Server backup is recommended for when you want to only back up Microsoft Exchange Server. If you want to back up a full device or drive volume, we recommend using agent-based Physical Server backup. If you wish to back up virtual machines, please use Virtual Machine backup. In both cases, to back up a server running Microsoft Exchange Server, enable application-aware backup.