tnims
asked on
Exchange 2010 Disaster Recovery
I am wanting to add a 3rd 2010 Exchange server to my already existing environment, but I want to place this new server at a remote site as a DR system incase the primary site goes offline.
Currently, my remote offices are all connected to the Texas data center via VPN tunnels. I have EX-01 and EX-02 at the primary site, each have the client, hub, and mailbox roles installed.
The Mailbox DBs are DAG'd together, EX-01 as the active server & EX-02 as the passive. I do not have the CAS array load balanced at this time but would like to add this capability in the future.
Here is my Plan:
I'll add a secondary site in North Carolina and connect the primary site (Texas) to the secondary using VPN tunnels.
I'll stand up EX-02 at this site and add this server to the existing DAG and CAS array.
This server will hold passive copies of the Mailbox DB from EX-01
After this server is fully configured, I'd like to hardware load balance (HLB) the CAS array.
My current scenario:
A natural disaster hits the Texas data center knocking it offline. My users will be without email access (meaning I have no DR).
Scenario with EX-03.
A Natural disaster hits the Texas data center knocking it offline. I'd update the external mx record to point to EX-03 at the data center in North Carolina. I'd also update the CAS array internal DNS entry to point to EX-03 for remote offices.
Does this plan make sense? Am I missing anything?
Can I include EX-03 in the HLB over VPN tunnels? I'm not sure if this is possible as I have no experience doing this.
Exchange-DR-Online.vsd
Exchange-DR-Offline.vsd
Currently, my remote offices are all connected to the Texas data center via VPN tunnels. I have EX-01 and EX-02 at the primary site, each have the client, hub, and mailbox roles installed.
The Mailbox DBs are DAG'd together, EX-01 as the active server & EX-02 as the passive. I do not have the CAS array load balanced at this time but would like to add this capability in the future.
Here is my Plan:
I'll add a secondary site in North Carolina and connect the primary site (Texas) to the secondary using VPN tunnels.
I'll stand up EX-02 at this site and add this server to the existing DAG and CAS array.
This server will hold passive copies of the Mailbox DB from EX-01
After this server is fully configured, I'd like to hardware load balance (HLB) the CAS array.
My current scenario:
A natural disaster hits the Texas data center knocking it offline. My users will be without email access (meaning I have no DR).
Scenario with EX-03.
A Natural disaster hits the Texas data center knocking it offline. I'd update the external mx record to point to EX-03 at the data center in North Carolina. I'd also update the CAS array internal DNS entry to point to EX-03 for remote offices.
Does this plan make sense? Am I missing anything?
Can I include EX-03 in the HLB over VPN tunnels? I'm not sure if this is possible as I have no experience doing this.
Exchange-DR-Online.vsd
Exchange-DR-Offline.vsd
SOLUTION
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ASKER
OK so this is what I am understanding:
Primary site (Texas)
Domain Controller (txd.test.com)
EX-01 (Hub, CAS, Mailbox Role)
EX-02 (Hub, CAS, Mailbox Role)
DAG = enable DAC mode -> Includes EX-01, EX-02, EX-03
CAS Array = will only contain members of EX-01 & EX-02
DR Site (NC)
Domain Controller (ncd.test.com)
EX-03 (Hub, CAS, Mailbox Role)
DAG = enable DAC mode -> Includes EX-01, EX-02, EX-03
CAS array = will only contain EX-03 and is separate from the Primary site
If the primary site goes offline DR site will take over. I'll need to point my remote office clients to EX-03 by updating the fqdn of the primary CAS array to EX-03.
By enabling DAC on the DAG, once the primary site comes back online, the mailbox DB on that site will not mount because of DAC.
That correct?
Primary site (Texas)
Domain Controller (txd.test.com)
EX-01 (Hub, CAS, Mailbox Role)
EX-02 (Hub, CAS, Mailbox Role)
DAG = enable DAC mode -> Includes EX-01, EX-02, EX-03
CAS Array = will only contain members of EX-01 & EX-02
DR Site (NC)
Domain Controller (ncd.test.com)
EX-03 (Hub, CAS, Mailbox Role)
DAG = enable DAC mode -> Includes EX-01, EX-02, EX-03
CAS array = will only contain EX-03 and is separate from the Primary site
If the primary site goes offline DR site will take over. I'll need to point my remote office clients to EX-03 by updating the fqdn of the primary CAS array to EX-03.
By enabling DAC on the DAG, once the primary site comes back online, the mailbox DB on that site will not mount because of DAC.
That correct?
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ASKER
Thank you all for your help. I was able to test this in a test environment. One thing I ran into while I was testing is that if I have the DAG set to DAC mode and if I lose my primary site completely, the DR site will not mount as it cannot contact the primary site to determine if a server is online. To resolve this, I disabled DAC mode and on the DB copy in the DR site, I made it so that the copy must be manually mounted/activated in case of an emergency.
ASKER
Texas Site = txd.test.com
NC Site = ncd.test.com