Exchange 2010 Mailbox Restore with NetBackup 7.5.6

Today, I needed to restore a mailbox from Exchange 2010 from NetBackup.
Here is the steps I did to get it done:

Create a Recovery Database

Add a storage to the exchange server (e.g. virtual disk to the VM)
Assign a drive letter to this newly created disk in the exchange server (e.g. Z: drive)
Create a folder for the recovery DB (e.g. Z:\Recovery)
Create a folder for the recovery log (e.g. Z:\Recovery\Log)

Run the PowerShell below to create a recovery DB:

New-MailboxDatabase -Recovery -Name recoveryDB -Server exc01 -EdbFilePath ”Z:\Recovery\Mailbox01.edb” -LogFolderPath “Z:\Recovery\Log”

I make the EDB file name exactly the same file name with the original EDB file

On the properties of the recoveryDB, make sure the "This database can be overwritten by a restore" is selected

Restore the Database Backup

From the Netbackup Console, Add the client: File - Specify NetBackup Machines and Policy Type...
Click on Edit Client List button
Add the client name
Source client for restores: exc01
Destination client for restores: exc01
Policy type for restores: MS-Exchange-Server

Select the date of the backup to be restored

Navigate to the Microsoft Information Store and select both database and log

Click the restore icon
On Microsoft Exchange tab: 
Point-in-Time Recovery (Replay only restored log files)
Commit after last backup set is restored

On General tab:
Restore everything to a different location (maintaining existing structure)
Destination: Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups:\dag\Microsoft Information Store\RecoveryDB\

Note: Make sure the Destination is RecoveryDB

Click Start Restore

Mount the Database

Once the restore is completed, mount the RecoveryDB (if not mount automatically)

Create a Recovery Account

Create a recovery account for mailbox (target)
Run the PowerShell to restore the mailbox

Restore-Mailbox -Identity recoveryUser -RecoveryDatabase RecoveryDB -RecoveryMailbox sourceMailboxUser -TargetFolder Recovery

Netbackup Skipping Backup ID

Using Netbackup 7.5, recently we encountered the following error:

no images were successfully processed (191)

and

found no images or media matching the selection criteria (190)

and if you do "Search Now" in the Catalog with Action: Verify, you will get the following error:

To fix this issue, run the following command:

bpexpdate -backupid XXXXX_1338296403 -d 0 -force

this will force the problematic backup id to expire

Netbackup 7 Disk Staging Cleanup

Using the Netbackup 7 Disk Staging feature is great! Clients are backed up to the staging area (e.g. Disks) and then the backup images from the staging disk are duplicated to the tapes.

Once the backup images are duplicated to the tapes, the images on disk are deleted from the clean-up process. The clean-up process chooses the oldest/expired images within the disk which have been duplicated and delete them.

For unknown reasons (based on my experience) the backup images were stuck on the staging disk. This causes a big problem because the running backup will have no enough space to store the backup image from the client, hence will fail.

To clean them do the following:

• Make sure the backup images have been duplicated to the tapes (e.g. have second copy), t0 d0 this, from the Netbackup Administration Console, select Netbackup Management - Reports - Images on Media. Select the client and click Run Report. Check the backup that has Media Type: Disk and find the corresponding backup that has the Media Type: Removable Media with the Copy Number: 2. If you have this, this means you are safe to delete the backup images on Disk
  
• From Netbackup Administration Console, select Catalog. Change the Action: Verify. Change Disk types: Basic Disk. Change the Date/Time range. Change Copies: Copy 2. Change Policy to the policy that backups the image and click Search Now.
  
• Select the backup image on tapes that is the duplicate of the backup images on disk that you want to clean up. Right click on it and select Set Primary Copy. This will make the backup image on tape as the primary copy for restore
• Change the Copies: Copy 1 and click Search Now
• Select the backup image on disk that you want to clean up. Right click on it and select Expire
• Open command prompt and run: bpimage -cleanup -allclients

That should delete the stuck backup images on disk that has just been expired.