Cisco DRS Backup Decrypter

Overview

The mission of the DRS Backup Decrypter utility is to provided decrypted versions of TAR files from the Unity Connection DRS backup utility.

Starting with version 8.x of Unity Connection (and other UC platforms) the TAR files output by DRS were encrypted. This tool now provides for a supported way to make the TAR file output available for client side tools such as the DRS Message Fisher and DRS Bulk Restore tools for Unity Connection.

Requirements/Special Notes

This version of DRS Backup Decrypter runs on Windows Server 2008/2012/2016, Windows 7, 8 or 10.

This version of DRS Backup Decrypter works with DRS output from Unity Connection 8.x or later. TAC will only support it’s use on current supported versions of Unity Connection however.

This tool uses Microsoft’s full .NET 4.5 library (the limited “client” version of .NET 4.5 is not sufficient). The installation will check to see if you have that installed.

Using DRS Backup Decrypter

There are 4 basic steps to using this tool.

Select the DRS Backup.

The output from the DRS backups across all UC platforms is a series of TAR and XML files – each product is a different list but all have a *_drfComponent.xml file which is the key item. For Unity Connection there are two different DRS backups – a system backup and a message backup. Unity Connection supports multiple mailstores users can be associated with and each message backup from DRS is for a specific mailstore. The output for the message backup for Connection looks like this:

The decryption tool wants you to select the folder these files are in – it will automatically fish out the *_drfComponent.XML file and use it to determine the version and what other backup files are in the set.

The next time you run the tool it will automatically default to using the last backup folder you selected.

Select the Output Folder

This is the folder where the decrypted versions of the TAR files you select will be stored. The tool will default to the last output folder selected the next time you run the tool.

NOTE: The TAR files can contain user details, messages, greetings, aliases, email addresses and any number of other sensitive data items. Make sure where you select to store these unencrypted files is secure and then when you’re done with them you safely delete them.

Provide the Cluster Password

You must provide the password used to create the DRS backup – without it you may not decrypt the TAR files in the backup.

This password is not saved or shown in the application and does not appear in any logs.

Once you provide the correct password the field is locked and shows green. Otherwise it remains red and the “Decrypt” button is disabled – you can’t continue without the correct password.

Select TAR Files to Decrypt

For the Unity Connection tools such as DRS Message Fisher you need to only select the *_CONNECTION_MESSAGES_UNITYMBXDBx file. This contains all the voicemail messages for that mailstore backup as well as enough details for user mailboxes to associate messages with users for restore purposes.

Once you select one or more TAR files to decrypt, you may press the Decrypt button. Once the decryption process is complete and you close the progress dialog, the output folder will open with File Explorer automatically and you can review your decrypted TAR files there.

From here you can use tools such as the DRS Message Fisher or others to export or restore specific messages for selected users or entire mailstores for a migration. Please see the TOIs and help files for those tools for more details

Obtaining Updates

To check for updates to this tool, visit http://www.CiscoUnityTools.com

Revision History

Version 2.0.3.2 – 10/31/2022

· Fixed issue for DRS Backup Decrypter Tool which failed to decrypt backup in 14SU2 version.

Version 2.0.3.1 – 03/05/2021

· Updated to use proper hash key type for 14.0 release of Connection

Version 2.0.3 – 10/14/2020

· Fixed issue where DRS Backup Decrypter Tool decrypt option is not enabled after provided correct security password.

Version 2.0.2 – 5/26/2020

· Updated to use proper hash key type for 12.5 release of Connection

Version 2.0.1 – 4/30/2020

· First publicly available supported version of tool