A few weeks ago, I was treated to an early look at one of Veeam’s new tools: Veeam Explorer for Exchange.  As a longtime Exchange administrator, my first thought was, “Where was this tool 10 years ago?!?”

There are a number of things that might scare an Exchange administrator, but nothing quite so much as one simple question: “Hey, Exchange Admin… you can recover a message that our CEO accidentally deleted a while back?  He really needs it.”  Suddenly, the palms get sweaty and the heart starts beating a little faster and you hope… just hope… that the stars align and you can get that message back without having to spend the rest of the day doing it.

Veeam’s Explorer for Exchange takes the worry about of single item recovery. Moreover, it makes the recovery process exceedingly simple, with the entire recovery process taking just minutes.  No longer do Exchange admins have to clear their calendars to do a single item recovery!

How does it work?

Simplistically, Veeam Explorer for Exchange allows an administrator to simply point to an existing Exchange virtual machine backup, even if that backup has been compressed or deduplicated and even when it’s simply an incremental backup.  From there, the administrator is able to browse the contents of the Exchange database directly from the Veeam console and find the message that needs  recov.  Once the desired message is identified, the administrator can save the message in question to a PST or MSG file.  Either method makes it simple to import back into Exchange.

Perhaps the most notable feature in Veeam Explorer for Exchange is its speed.  Because it’s running directly against a backup file and doesn’t require that an administrator first recovery the databases to a readable location, the tool is very fast.  Once you point the tool at the backup, it just reads the Exchange database and displays the appropriate mailbox store content.

The tool requires no agents on the Exchange server in order to operate.  Veeam Explorer for Exchange is actually a new feature being added to all editions of Veeam Backup and Replication, even the free edition.  So, if you’re using the free edition of Veeam Backup and Recovery, you will also gain this powerful Exchange benefit.  Of course, the free edition of Veeam Backup and Recovery carries some limitations over the paid version, but for a free tool, it packs a punch.

My take

Veeam has taken the “freemium” software model to new levels in recent months and the addition of new and powerful tool such as the Exchange tool will further entice customers to give Veeam a look.

As for Veeam Explorer for Exchange, it’s fast; it’s easy to use; and it’s available for free.  It’s one of the best, if not the best, single item recovery tools I’ve seen.

To learn more about Veeam Explorer for Exchange and to request access to the beta, visit the product page.