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Email Backup for Microsoft Exchange 2003 SBS Server 2003 going Down
I have to take our exchange server down on our small business server 2003 for maintenance (Disk Defragment) and I need to have email backup solution.
Our domain DNS is handled at Network Solutions so I called them and had them setup some webmail accounts. The problem is that when our server was setup we set remote access and mail to be mail.domain-name.com. I have an MX record that points to mail.domain-name.com which points to our server IP. The problem is that Network Solutions incoming and outgoing mail servers are called mail.domain-name.com so I need to change the record pointing to the exchange server or webmail will never work. I know I could delete our record while were down but Id like to set the Network Solutions email as Priority 20 so that if the server ever crashes we have a permanent email backup solution.
I can easily change the record at Network Solutions to something else but my question is what and where do I need to change records on the SBS 2003 so that people will still have remote access and email will go the right place when the exchange server is up.
Thanks.
Our domain DNS is handled at Network Solutions so I called them and had them setup some webmail accounts. The problem is that when our server was setup we set remote access and mail to be mail.domain-name.com. I have an MX record that points to mail.domain-name.com which points to our server IP. The problem is that Network Solutions incoming and outgoing mail servers are called mail.domain-name.com so I need to change the record pointing to the exchange server or webmail will never work. I know I could delete our record while were down but Id like to set the Network Solutions email as Priority 20 so that if the server ever crashes we have a permanent email backup solution.
I can easily change the record at Network Solutions to something else but my question is what and where do I need to change records on the SBS 2003 so that people will still have remote access and email will go the right place when the exchange server is up.
Thanks.
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ASKER
Actuallly we are a 24/7 transportation company and email is really important. There are quiet times but people are always here. The primary Drive on the server is very fragmented and we are concerned that it will be a very slow process. I have a part time IT consultant who is telling me that I should stop the exchange service while we run the defrag. Also I think this email fallback solution will be useful as a future backup.
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ASKER
The database is on the fragmented drive. I have another drive available - should I move the database and then shut down that one service and do the defrag?
What is this other drive?
If it is a local drive (ie not a USB external drive) then one option would be to defrag that drive first, then move the database using ESM.
Once that has been moved, you can defrag the drive without the database on it with Exchange still running.
Simon.
If it is a local drive (ie not a USB external drive) then one option would be to defrag that drive first, then move the database using ESM.
Once that has been moved, you can defrag the drive without the database on it with Exchange still running.
Simon.
If you move the database, you do not need to stop information store service.
You do not need to stop any service on your server. The only point to move database on different patrition is to gain more space on primary partition and that the location of exchange db will not interfere with file defregmentation of file sistem.
For future installations insist that on primary (c:) partition are located only OS files. All other files, programs, data, DBs should be located on diffrent partitions.
There is really no need to do the file defragmentation of exchange db.
Exchange does online fragmentation by default every night. Like SQL, it really does not care about file fragmentation, because it reads and writes to db at random positions. They are not sequential like transactional logs. You won't gain any speed. If you want to reduce size of exchange database, than you should do offline defragmentation of exchange db using eseutil.
Here is an answer from Microsoft PSS about file defregmentation of exchange db:
http://msexchangetips.blogspot.com/2006/08/exchange-is-windows-disk-level-defrag.html
Regards,
Davorin
You do not need to stop any service on your server. The only point to move database on different patrition is to gain more space on primary partition and that the location of exchange db will not interfere with file defregmentation of file sistem.
For future installations insist that on primary (c:) partition are located only OS files. All other files, programs, data, DBs should be located on diffrent partitions.
There is really no need to do the file defragmentation of exchange db.
Exchange does online fragmentation by default every night. Like SQL, it really does not care about file fragmentation, because it reads and writes to db at random positions. They are not sequential like transactional logs. You won't gain any speed. If you want to reduce size of exchange database, than you should do offline defragmentation of exchange db using eseutil.
Here is an answer from Microsoft PSS about file defregmentation of exchange db:
http://msexchangetips.blogspot.com/2006/08/exchange-is-windows-disk-level-defrag.html
Regards,
Davorin
"Backup queuing for unexpected downtime on main MX server for 10 days, store and forward "
Have a look here : http://www.dyndns.com/services/mailhop/backupmx.html
Regards