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Configuring the DAG Replication and Failover in Exchange Server 2010 Part-2

First part of this series I showed you how to install the exchange server and what are the pre-requisites to install the exchange 2010

In this part I will show you how to create DAG, how to add the member servers to DAG and how to configure the DAG network.

Create the new DAG:-

Go to the exchange management console, in organization Configuration click the Mailbox sub menu

From the Database Availability Group tab right-click and create new Database Availability Group

Figure: 1

Type the DAG name and File share Witness server name and path of the Witness Directory.

Click New to create the new DAG

Figure: 2

Now we are successfully configured the new Database Availability Group named DAG01.

Click Finish to complete the configuration

Figure: 3

In the below screenshots we can see the newly created DAG name (DAG01), Witness server name and Witness Directory path

Figure: 4

Adding Member server to DAG:-

Now I am going to add the member servers to the newly created DAG, this process will also install and configure the failover clustering in the servers.

For that right-click the DAG01 and click the Manage Database Availability Group Membership

Figure: 5

Then click Add button to add the member servers to DAG01, this will give you the server selection window for adding the servers to DAG01

Figure: 6

Select the appropriate server from the selection window, in my example I have only 2 servers with mailbox role installed.

Click ok to complete the selection of Servers

Figure: 7

Now we can see both Mailbox server added to the Database Availability Group Membership window.

Click Manage to add both servers to DAG01

Figure: 8

Now we are successfully completed adding the server to DAG01

Click finish to exit the Database Availability Group Membership window.

Figure: 9

The below mentioned screenshot we can see the we can see the member server of the DAG01, network interfaces of the both servers and the status of the interfaces

Figure: 10

Assigning the Virtual IP address to DAG:-

In the below screenshot we can see that there is no IP assigned for the DAG01

We have to configure the Virtual IP address for the DAG01

Figure: 11

This is the PowerShell command for configuring the DAG IP address

Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup DAG01 –DatabaseAvailabilityGroupIpAddresses 192.168.1.165

Figure: 12

Now we can see that the IP address (192.168.1.165) is assigned to the DAG01, also a computer account is created in the active directory

Figure: 13

Figure: 14

This the file share witness folder which is created by the DAG

Figure: 15

The below mentioned screenshot we can see the status of the DAG01 nodes, IP address of the DAG01 and the Witness directory path in Failover Cluster Manager.

Figure: 16

Figure: 17

In the next parts i will show you how to create the database copy and how to test the DAG

3 comments Article, DAG, DAG Cluster, DAG IP, DAG Member, Exchange, failover, File Share

Configuring the DAG Replication and Failover in Exchange Server 2010 Part-1

February 25, 2010 Shareef Exchange, Exchange 2010, Exchange Articles

Exchange 2010 includes many changes to its core architecture. Exchange 2010 combines the key availability and resilience features of CCR and SCR into single high availability solution which handles both on-site data replication and off-site data replication. Mailbox servers can be defined as part of a database availability group (DAG) to provide automatic recovery at the individual mailbox database level instead of at the server level. Each mailbox database can have up to 16 copies. Other new high availability concepts are introduced in Exchange 2010, such as database mobility and incremental deployment. The concepts of an organization without backups and RAID are also being introduced in Exchange 2010.

Database Availability Groups

A DAG is a set of up to 16 Mailbox servers that provide automatic database-level recovery from failures that affect individual databases. Any server in a DAG can host a copy of a mailbox database from any other server in the DAG. When a server is added to a DAG, it works with the other servers in the DAG to provide automatic recovery from failures that affect mailbox databases, such as a disk failure or server failure.

Moved features from Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange 2010

The following features in Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2007 SP1 no longer exist in Exchange 2010. Their replacements are noted in the table.

Exchange 2007	Exchange 2010
Cluster continuous replication (CCR)	Database availability groups and mailbox database copies
Standby continuous replication (SCR)	Database availability groups and mailbox database copies
Local continuous replication (LCR)	Database availability groups and mailbox database copies
Single copy clusters (SCC)	Database availability groups and mailbox database copies; built-in third-party synchronous API available to replace third-party data replication used with SCC
Clustered mailbox servers	Database availability groups and mailbox database copies
Storage groups	Databases
Recovery Storage Group	Recovery database

exchange-dag-overview

LAB Design for Exchange 2010 D A G

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Figure 1

This lab is created in VMware environment. In this lab I will show you how to create DAG; how to add the existing server’s to newly created DAG and how to test the DAG fail-over if any member server fail or went offline. I will also show you how to test the DAG fail-over in data base level.

Pre-requisite for this LAB

Server Name	OS	Roles	Memory	Network Card
DC	Windows Server 2008 R2 ENT	DC, DNS, HUB, CAL	2GB	1
MBX01	Windows Server 2008 R2 ENT	Mailbox	2GB	2
MBX02	Windows Server 2008 R2 ENT	Mailbox	2GB	2

The Network settings for each network adapter in each node are detailed in the following table.

Name	IPv4 address	Subnet mask	Default gateway
DC/HUB/CAL(LAN)	192.168.1.60	255.255.255.0	192.168.1.1
MBX01 (LAN)	192.168.1.61	255.255.255.0	192.168.1.1
MBX02 (LAN)	192.168.1.62	255.255.255.0	192.168.1.1
MBX01 (CLR)	10.1.1.1	255.255.255.0	None
MBX02 (CLR)	10.1.1.2	255.255.255.0	None

LAB prerequisites:-

Windows Server 2008 R2

1 On servers that will host the Hub Transport or Mailbox server role, install the Microsoft Filter Pack. For details, see 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack.

2 On the Start Menu, navigate to All Programs, then Accessories, then Windows PowerShell. Open an elevated Windows PowerShell console, and run the following command:

Import-Module ServerManager

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Figure 2

For a server that will host the Client Access and Hub Transport server roles:

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy -Restart

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Figure 3

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Figure 4

On servers that will have the Client Access Server role installed, after the system has restarted, log on as an administrator, open an elevated Windows PowerShell console, and configure the Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service for Automatic startup by running the following command:

Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

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Figure 5

For a server that will host the Mailbox role:

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server -Restart

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Figure 6

Network Interfaces Configuration Pre-requisites

MAPI (LAN) Network Adapter Configuration:-

A network adapter intended for use by a MAPI network should be configured as described in the following table.

Networking Features	Setting
Client for Microsoft Networks	Enabled
QoS Packet Scheduler	Optionally enable
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks	Enable
Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IP v6)	Optionally enable
Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP v4)	Enabled
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver	Enabled
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder	Enabled

The TCP/IP v4 properties for a MAPI network adapter are configured as follows:

The IP address for can be manually assigned or configured to use DHCP. If DHCP is used, we recommend using persistent reservations for server’s IP address.
The MAPI network typically uses a default gateway, although one isn’t required.
At least one DNS server address must be configured. Using multiple DNS servers is recommended for redundancy.
The Register this connection’s addresses in DNS check-box should be checked.

Replication Network (CLR) Adapter Configuration:-

A network adapter intended for use by a Replication network should be configured as described in the following table.

Networking Features	Setting
Client for Microsoft Networks	Disabled
QoS Packet Scheduler	Optionally enable
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks	Disabled
Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IP v6)	Optionally enable
Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP v4)	Enabled
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver	Enabled
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder	Enabled

The TCP/IP v4 properties for a Replication network adapter are configured as follows:

The IP address for can be manually assigned or configured to use DHCP. If DHCP is used, we recommend using persistent reservations for server’s IP address.
Replication networks typically do not have default gateways, and if the MAPI network has a default gateway, then no other networks should have default gateways. Routing of network traffic on a Replication network can be configured by using persistent, static routes to the corresponding network on other DAG members using gateway addresses that have the ability to route between the Replication networks. All other traffic not matching this route will be handled by the default gateway that’s configured on the adapter for the MAPI network.
DNS server addresses should not be configured.
The Register this connection’s addresses in DNS check-box should not be checked.

Before going to install the Exchange 2010 I am going to set up the appropriate network configuration to the mailbox servers (MBX01, MBX02). For this open the network connections. Here we have 2 NIC’s listed. NIC LAN is the MAPI connectivity and NIC CLR is the REPLICATION network.

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Figure 7

Let’s try to configure the LAN interface first, below showing the properties of LAN interface; ‘QoS Packet Scheduler’ and ‘Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IP v6)’ are optional.

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Figure 8

Configure the static IPv4 address with gateway and DNS.

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Figure 9

Now we have completed the LAN interface configuration. Click OK button to save and close the LAN interface configuration page.

Now I am going to configure the CLR interface, below showing the CLR interface properties.

‘Client for Microsoft Networks’ and ‘File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks’ should be disabled. ‘QoS Packet Scheduler’ and ‘Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IP v6)’ are optional

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Figure 10

Take the property of the ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)’ and configure the IP address which has been reserved for replication network. Gateway and DNS is not required because this interface is only used for replication, heartbeats and seeding purpose.

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Figure 11

Next click the advanced tab and uncheck the ‘Register this connection’s addresses in DNS’. Click OK to save the exit the CLR interface configuration page.

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Figure 12

We have configured the both network interfaces, now will set the interface binding order list, for that press ‘Alt’ key and from advance tab take the ‘Advanced Settings’

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Figure 13

Check the LAN interface is in first binding list, if it is not in the first binding list move up the LAN interface.

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Figure 14

Click ok to save and close the Binding order list.

Now we are completed the pre-requisites to installing the exchange server 2010. Insert the exchange 2010 CD in the cd drive and run the setup. This will bring the exchange 2010 installation windows; choose the Exchange language option and select appropriate option.

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