Microsoft Exchange 2013
The Exchange Management Console is no longer available in Microsoft Exchange 2013, rather the Exchange Admin Center or PowerShell is used to mount and dismount databases.
Access the Exchange Admin Centre
As the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) is now a web-based management console, the Exchange Control Panel (ECP) virtual directory URL is used to access the console from a web browser and will look similar to the following:
Internal URL: https://CASServerName/ecp
External URL: https://mail.domain.name/ecp
If unsure of the Exchange Control Panel address, the Get-ECPVirtualDirectory PowerShell cmdlet can be used to display information on the internal and external URL. The following command returns the Exchange Control Panel virtual directory name, internal and external URLs in a formatted list.
Get-ECPVirtualDirectory | Format-List Name,InternalURL,ExternalURL
Dismount the database
Logon to the Exchange server as an administrator
Exchange Admin Center
Open the Exchange Admin Center portal
Navigate to Servers
Select Databases
Choose the Mailbox database and click the more (...) icon at the top of the page.
From the drop down select Dismount database
PowerShell
Open a PowerShell command prompt
Enter:
Dismount-Database -Identity DatabaseIdParameter
DatabaseIdParameter is the Identity parameter - GUID or distinguished name (DN) - representing a specific database.
The Exchange Admin Center can be used to verify whether the database was successfully dismounted:
Go to Servers, Databases and select the required mailbox
Click the pen symbol and ensure the database status is Dismounted
Make a copy of the current database
In line with best practice we suggest making a copy of the current database and logs before proceeding.
Navigate to the database file path (for example C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Mailbox\First Storage Group) then copy to a temporary location.
In the Backup Manager either Restore the data to the original location or select a different destination.
Where an alternative destination was selected the data must be copied from there to the database file path (for example C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Mailbox\First Storage Group).
Once the restore has successfully completed:
Mount the database
Exchange Admin Center
Open the Exchange Admin Center portal
Navigate to Servers
Select Databases
Choose the Mailbox database and click the more (...) icon at the top of the page.
From the drop down select Mount database
PowerShell
Open a PowerShell command prompt
Enter:
Mount-Database -IdentityDatabaseIdParameter
After mounting the database the Get-MailboxDatabase cmdlet (which retrieves the properties for all mailbox database) can be used to ensure this was successful:
Get-MailboxDatabase -IncludePreExchange2013
Please note, the account used to run these PowerShell cmdlets requires the following permissions (Mailbox databases): Organization Management, Server Management
Further information on this process is available in the IASO article Exchange backup and restore
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