Installing, configuring and testing Exchange 2007 CCR on Mailbox Server (Part 1)

Henrik Walther

Exchange Server 2007 introduces a number of new features, one of which is the Cluster Continuous Replication ( CCR) feature. This feature requires the new Exchange Server 2007 log file transfer and replay features, plus a combination of them with Windows 2003 built-in features (2 cluster nodes active / passive). This feature in Windows 2003 has many advantages, but it also has some disadvantages that still have an error point when referring to Exchange databases.

Prerequisites

To follow the steps throughout this series, you need to do the following:

1. Windows 2003 Active Directory forest has at least one Domain Controller.
2. Two versions of Windows 2003 Server R2 Enterprise or Windows 2003 Server SP1 Enterprise.
3. A Windows file sharing Witness (Microsoft recommends that the Exchange 2007 Hub Transport Server in Exchange 2007 exists)

Note
Remember to apply the upgrade mentioned in the MS KB 921181 link to both servers that will work as nodes in the Exchange Server 2007 Clustered Mailbox installation. This upgrade adds a new file sharing validation feature to the current Majority Node Set (MNS) model. This file sharing validation feature allows you to use an external file share for the cluster as a traditional 'vote' for the purpose of indicating the status of the cluster in the deployment of the two-rule model. The MNS node, which is a procedure to use for continuous cluster copy functionality (abbreviated as CCR) in Exchange Server 2007.

In addition to the above prerequisites, you should have some knowledge about the general requirements below:

1. When dealing with CCR environments, you must or may only use one database on one storage group.
2. You cannot create a public folder database in a CCR environment if there are already many bibliographic databases in your organization.
3. You can create up to 50 storage groups and 50 databases on a CCR cluster. Be aware that you should only create one database on each storage group.
4. The cluster in Exchange 2007 installed cannot have Exchange Server 200x, or any version of Microsoft SQL Server. Not supported for running Exchange 2007 in a cluster with any other applications.

Warning
Since Exchange Server 2007 Beta does not support in a production environment, unless you participate in a fast deployment program (RDP) or a new technology testing program (TAP), you must install the cluster mailbox in the domain under test. to try on.

Configure network settings for Cluster nodes

When you launch servers to make nodes in a cluster, start by naming machines such as E2K7Node1 and E2K7Node2 or whatever name you want to use (these names don't need to be real). What to do with the Exchange server name that your clients will be configured to connect to later. Name the network connections Public and Private corresponding to the internal network and the external network (remember to do this for both nodes).

Figure 1: Network connections

Click Advanced > Advanced Settings , if that's not the case, make sure Public is listed first in the connection order list, then Private and finally Remote Access Connections .

Figure 2: Connection order

You also need to make sure that File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks is not marked for Private network connection.

Figure 3: Disable File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

Configure Public network with the corresponding network settings you use in your test environment.

Figure 4: Configuring Public network

Private network configuration with IP address and a subnet mask. There is no longer any requirement because this network is only used for communication (heartbeat) between nodes in a cluster.

Figure 5: Configuring Private network

Now click Advanced and then select the DNS tab. Here, you should uncheck both Register this connection's addresses in DNS and Use this connection's DNS suffix .

Figure 6: Configuring DNS settings for Private network

Click on the WINS tab, uncheck Enable LMHOSTS lookup and select Disable NetBIOS over TCP / IP .

Figure 7: Configuring WINS settings for Private network

Click OK 3 times and close the network connection window.

Now add both Windows 2003 servers as a member server in the Active Directory domain test.

Create and configure Windows 2003 Server Cluster

We already have two servers ready to work as nodes in a Windows 2003 cluster, now create a Windows 2003 Server Cluster. To do so, log into E2K7Node1 with the domain administrator account, then click Start > Administrative Tools > Cluster Administrator , and select Create new cluster in the select list box. Click OK .

Figure 8: Create a new cluster

Note
You can also open a command prompt and type in the Cluster.exe / create / wizard command to open the Cluster Wizard utility.

Click Next .

Figure 9: Cluster Wizard

Specify the domain name as well as the cluster name (the name for the Windows 2003 cluster, not the name of the Exchange cluster for the clients to connect to), and then click Next .

Figure 10: Cluster Name and Domain

Enter the name of the Windows 2003 server that will make the first node in the cluster, in this case E2K7Node1 , then click Next .

Figure 11: Add the first button

Allow the cluster wizard to determine the cluster configuration and click Next .

Note
You can ignore the two warnings in Figure 12, because the nodes in the cluster cluster (CCR) on the mailbox server installation will not share with small systems.

Figure 12: Analyzing Cluster Configuration - Analyzing Cluster Configuration

Enter the IP address that the cluster management tools will use to connect to the cluster, in this case 10.10.1.216, then click Next .

Figure 13: Specify the IP address that the cluster management tools will connect to

Enter the required information of the cluster service account (Cluster Service Account), click Next .

Figure 14: Enter the required information for the Cluster Service Account

Click Quorum and select Majority Node Set as a resource type, then click OK and Next .

Figure 15: Cluster configuration given

Figure 16: Setting Majority Node Set to Resource Type

Wait until the cluster is configured, then click Next .

Figure 17: Creating Cluster

Once the cluster is complete, you can click Finish .

Figure 18: The alarm screen has completed the process

Now we are running the Windows 2003 cluster, but since there is only one node, it is not fault tolerant. So please add to the second Windows 2003 server. We can do this by right-clicking E2K7Node1 in the left pane of Cluster Administrator, then selecting New > Node as shown in Figure 19 below.

Figure 19: Adding the second node to the Cluster

The Add Nodes Wizard will launch and you can click Next .

Figure 20: Add Nodes Wizard

Enter the name of the server that will be the second node (in this case E2K7Node2 ), then click Next .

Figure 21: Enter the name of the second button

Continue for Add Notes Wizard to define the cluster configuration, then click Next .

Figure 22: Analysis of Cluster configuration

Enter the password for the cluster service account (in this case, the administrator account), and then click Next .

Figure 23: Enter the password for the Cluster Service Account

Once authenticated, you want to add the second node to the cluster with the configuration shown in Figure 24, click Next .

Figure 24: Recommended cluster configuration for node 2.

When the cluster is configured correctly without any errors or warnings appearing, click Next .

Figure 25: Cluster is configured for the second node

When the Add Notes Wizard has completed successfully, click Finish .

Figure 26: Complete the Add Nodes Wizard

The second Windows server is now part of the cluster as shown in Figure 27 below.

Figure 27: Cluster Administrator with two nodes

At this point, we would like to conclude the first part of this series, the second part will continue and we introduce it in a short time, please read.

Installing, configuring, and testing Exchange 2007 CCR on Mailbox Server (Part 2)

Installing, configuring, and testing Exchange 2007 CCR on Mailbox Server (Part 3)