Exchange server 2003 MSCS physical to virtual migration.
Exchange server 2003 MSCS physical to virtual migration.
Hi, I am looking to virtualise a physical node of a Microsoft exchange server 2003 cluster. This is a legacy box that needs to run for archive only. Currently the setup is:
1 x physical node (node01) with SAN attached storage for application/virtual server and quorum. The other nodes have been removed.
The end result would be to have a virtual machine running as the only node in the cluster with the quorum and the application/virtual server running from a VMFS volume.
Hi, I am looking to virtualise a physical node of a Microsoft exchange server 2003 cluster. This is a legacy box that needs to run for archive only. Currently the setup is:
1 x physical node (node01) with SAN attached storage for application/virtual server and quorum. The other nodes have been removed.
The end result would be to have a virtual machine running as the only node in the cluster with the quorum and the application/virtual server running from a VMFS volume.
ASKER
thanks for comming back to me.
The current exchange box is tied in to a legacy application that intigrates into it.
The idea is not to keep a highly redundant exchange server just a server running as is.
i.e. reconfiguring/migrating the exchange server is not an option.
That is why I want to take the exchange server "as is" and virtualise it. This will allow the SAN space to be freed up etc...
thanks
The current exchange box is tied in to a legacy application that intigrates into it.
The idea is not to keep a highly redundant exchange server just a server running as is.
i.e. reconfiguring/migrating the exchange server is not an option.
That is why I want to take the exchange server "as is" and virtualise it. This will allow the SAN space to be freed up etc...
thanks
What you're trying to do makes perfectly sense and is a supported config (by VMware).
I doubt however that you will be able to use VMware Converter or other p2v tools to convert a physical machine into the cluster, so you might want to install the virtual cluster node from scratch.
Please also read more about MSCS+Exchange clustering on VMware here:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/vi3_35_25_u1_mscs.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/exchange_best_practices.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf
Lars
I doubt however that you will be able to use VMware Converter or other p2v tools to convert a physical machine into the cluster, so you might want to install the virtual cluster node from scratch.
Please also read more about MSCS+Exchange clustering on VMware here:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/vi3_35_25_u1_mscs.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/exchange_best_practices.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf
Lars
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
If you have more than 1 ESX hosts and VirtualCenter and HA then you would benefit for high availability on the hardware level and doesnt need MSCS clustering for this.
I would setup a new virtual machine with Exchange and migrate the data the tradionel way of migrating to new hardware platform for exchange. Using move mailboxes and public folder replication.
But I would really like to hear your arguments for keeping 1 node in a cluster?