secondary exch2k3 server, cant access moved or created mailboxes, seems random
hi there, hope someone can help here, have been looking into this for a few days now and cant seem to find the problem.
we have 2 exchange 2003 servers, both were installed over a year ago. one is a primary server that holds our mailboxes, and the other server was installed for future proofing and to help with any failure recovery etc that might happen....
both servers are windows 2k3 DC's, and both are exchange 2k3, SP2 including ALL up to date hotfixes, build numbers of exchange on both servers are identical.
Both mail stores on both servers are within the same administrative group, both servers are within the same SITE and are on the same physical LAN/Subnet
so here's the problem.....
we have recently exceeded our storage limits on our primary server, and we have begun to move mailboxes over to our secondary server. all seemed to be going ok when moving larger mailboxes, i.e. 1GB + the mailboxes were moved, and they were accesible within a few minutes on the secondary server.
smaller mailboxes however (few hundred MB) were not accesible. we though this might be an permision replication issue, so we waited a few hours, and even waited over night, but no go... if we move the mailbox back to the primary server, the mailbox is accesible instantly...
if we create a new mailbox on the secondary server, same problem... its not accesible.
AD lists the mailbox as being homed on the correct server, the mailbox even shows up in the store on the secondary server, but still not accesible
the server is NOT creating any error events, there are no server replication errors, there are no recipient update service errors.
the other problem, which is probably related.....if we delete the mailbox from the server that doesnt work properly (secondary) it doesnt disjoin the mailbox from the deleted user account until we manually force the mailbox cleanup process, it then marks the mailbox as disjoined but never deletes it, we have to manually purge it...
so there is definately a weird problem, but we just cant track it down, the total lack of any errors from either server make the matter worse
has anyone had an issue like this ? probably something we've overlooked : -)
thanks
paul c
we have 2 exchange 2003 servers, both were installed over a year ago. one is a primary server that holds our mailboxes, and the other server was installed for future proofing and to help with any failure recovery etc that might happen....
both servers are windows 2k3 DC's, and both are exchange 2k3, SP2 including ALL up to date hotfixes, build numbers of exchange on both servers are identical.
Both mail stores on both servers are within the same administrative group, both servers are within the same SITE and are on the same physical LAN/Subnet
so here's the problem.....
we have recently exceeded our storage limits on our primary server, and we have begun to move mailboxes over to our secondary server. all seemed to be going ok when moving larger mailboxes, i.e. 1GB + the mailboxes were moved, and they were accesible within a few minutes on the secondary server.
smaller mailboxes however (few hundred MB) were not accesible. we though this might be an permision replication issue, so we waited a few hours, and even waited over night, but no go... if we move the mailbox back to the primary server, the mailbox is accesible instantly...
if we create a new mailbox on the secondary server, same problem... its not accesible.
AD lists the mailbox as being homed on the correct server, the mailbox even shows up in the store on the secondary server, but still not accesible
the server is NOT creating any error events, there are no server replication errors, there are no recipient update service errors.
the other problem, which is probably related.....if we delete the mailbox from the server that doesnt work properly (secondary) it doesnt disjoin the mailbox from the deleted user account until we manually force the mailbox cleanup process, it then marks the mailbox as disjoined but never deletes it, we have to manually purge it...
so there is definately a weird problem, but we just cant track it down, the total lack of any errors from either server make the matter worse
has anyone had an issue like this ? probably something we've overlooked : -)
thanks
paul c
ASKER
>That looks like classic replication failure problems.
thats what we think, but we cant find any replication issues, no replication errors, and why would larger mailboxes move over fine, surely if it were a replication problem it would affect all moved mailboxes ?
>Are both servers global catalogs?
yes both Servers are GC's
>You do know that Exchange on a DC is a bad idea?
its not a recomeneded thing to do, and wouldnt be done in an ideal situation, but with proper security and backup precautions its not a bad idea, i would say its not a good idea : -)
paulc
thats what we think, but we cant find any replication issues, no replication errors, and why would larger mailboxes move over fine, surely if it were a replication problem it would affect all moved mailboxes ?
>Are both servers global catalogs?
yes both Servers are GC's
>You do know that Exchange on a DC is a bad idea?
its not a recomeneded thing to do, and wouldnt be done in an ideal situation, but with proper security and backup precautions its not a bad idea, i would say its not a good idea : -)
paulc
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Are both servers global catalogs?
You do know that Exchange on a DC is a bad idea?
Simon.