Permissions for Exchange backup and recovery

The table below contains the minimal permissions required to back up and recover Exchange server data.

When creating a backup plan, make sure that the account with the required permissions is specified in What to back up > Access credentials.
When creating a recovery task, make sure that the account with the required permissions is specified in Where to recover > Access credentials.
To be able to back up, recover, and browse mailboxes, make sure that the account you use is associated with the mailbox. The mailbox has to be initialized and available in a global address list. The mailbox database containing the associated mailbox must be mounted. The user account that is associated with the mailbox must reside in the same forest as the Exchange server.


Exchange Server version	Backup		Recovery
Exchange Server version	Database backup (with the Metadata collection option set to Include list of mailboxes)	Mailbox backup and database backup (with the Metadata collection option set either to Include mailboxes and folders or to Include e-mails)	Database recovery	Mailbox recovery
2003	Membership in Domain backup operators group. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123926(EXCHG.65).aspx	Full Exchange administrator rights for the domain. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123926(EXCHG.65).aspx	Full Exchange administrator rights for the domain. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123926(EXCHG.65).aspx	Full Exchange administrator rights for the domain. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123926(EXCHG.65).aspx
2007	Membership in the local Backup Operators group, or Membership in the local Administrators group. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123693(EXCHG.80).aspx	Membership in Exchange Recipient Administrator role on the server that holds the target mailbox. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997694(EXCHG.80).aspx	Membership in Exchange Organization Administrators group (required for storage group creation). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb310792(EXCHG.80).aspx	Membership in Exchange Recipient Administrator role on the server that holds the target mailbox. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997694(EXCHG.80).aspx
2010	Membership in Organization Management role group. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876854(v=exchg.141).aspx	Membership in Organization Management and Server Management role groups. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638132(v=exchg.141).aspx	Membership in Organization Management role group. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876854(v=exchg.141).aspx	Membership in Organization Management and Server Management role groups. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638132(v=exchg.141).aspx
2013	Membership in Organization Management role group. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876854.aspx	N/A	Membership in Organization Management role group. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876854.aspx	N/A