Exchange server up in smoke

[ICTNUT]

Hello all,

 

I came into work yesterday to find that the Exchange 2003 server had moved onto a better place.

 

This does however mean that I now need to put in a new exchange server, here is the scenario:

 

Exchange data is non reoverable from the drives ( only 2 were in this server and they were RAID 0 Stripped) as they were to badly damaged.

 

Turns out that Exchange backups were being done to the exchange server and then moved off one a week (yeah I know) but also the exchange backups are faulty so not able to recover from those either.

 

I am able to recover the the senior management mailboxes as they have local cached copies on thier PC's for which I have a tool to export so not all bad.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

What do I need to do with AD in order to prepare it for this new server?

 

AD will still think mailboxes are linked to users, how are these removed so new ones can be created on the new exchange server?

 

Any other gotchas that I need to look out for?

 

I am by no means an exchange expert so any pointers would be great.

 

I have a new server coming in today and will be building it up with server 2003 R2 in preperation for exchange tomorrow.

[srochford]

Check out the Exchange 2003 disaster recovery operations document from MS. Most of this is about how you avoid disaster but there's a section "Run Exchange Setup in Disaster Recovery Mode" which talks about how you install exchange when your server is completely dead. If I've understood it properly, it will give you an empty server which is the same as the one you had before (ie it will allow users to connect to it; they just won't have any email)

 

Good luck!

[Uraken]

Just picking up on some of what you are saying ICTNUT and i know this won't help you any but should i be using cached offline mode for those users that don't roam in case of a scenario you have experienced ocurs?

[SYNACK]

Just picking up on some of what you are saying ICTNUT and i know this won't help you any but should i be using cached offline mode for those users that don't roam in case of a scenario you have experienced ocurs?

 

Depends on how much email they have, the cache is stored in the user profile and so if they have lots of email it will make the profile huge. Putting the clients into exchange mode will however reduce the load on the exchange server allowing around 5 times as many clients to use the one server. It is good for laptop users that are not always connected or are connected through slow or metered links.

[ICTNUT]

@Uraken: The chached email is held in thier profile so form experience I would say no, however none of the Sneior Management have roaming profiles so this is not a problem for me.

 

@srochford: Thanks for the link I am looking at it now.

[Butuz]

Raid 0!!!!! Arrgghhhhh run away!!!!

 

Butuz

[Jona]

Raid 0!!!!! Arrgghhhhh run away!!!!

 

Butuz

 

Indeed, Raid 0 actually reduced your redundancy...

[CyberNerd]

Indeed, Raid 0 actually reduced your redundancy...

 

worse, it can double the probability of failure

[Jona]

Well yeh the double probability of failure is what reduces it, so raid 0 is actually less "redundant" than a single hard disk. Although it is fast so I guess a resonable stratergy is you have robust backups stored elsewhere.

 

Jona

[ICTNUT]

Just to point out that this was a server put in place before I got here, yes i did know about the RAID 0 (and the problems it can cause) but with no spare servers (nor the money to buy them) left me with no option but to leave it as it is.

 

Anyhow new HP Quad Core Zeon with 4GB Mem and 4 x 146Gb 15K drives has turned up and is now in the process of having Server 2003 R2 installed on it.

 

Just need to work out how to remove all the old exchange stuff from AD first.

[SYNACK]

If you install the new exchange server in the existing ad structure it will pick up all of the organization settings and account information that you had set up previously as this is stored in AD. You can use the search feature to find all accounts in AD that currently have an account associated with them and use the exchange extensions (Exchange system Manager) possibly installed on your DC as well to delete the account pairing from exchange. At this point you can simply use the exchange tasks in AD Users % comps to recreate email accounts for each of the users on the new server.

 

That is of course if you don't want to use the full recovery procedure which will probably end up easier.

 

but with no spare servers (nor the money to buy them)

 

Isn't it interesting that while everything is going some schools never have the money for anything but once the email or whatever the higherups are using breaks all of the stops are pulled out for new gear. Of course they simply ignore the fact that you have been telling them is was needing to happen for months.

Edited February 21, 2008 by SYNACK
Added sarcastic but true remark about school purchasing practices

[Butuz]

4 x 146Gb 15K drives in Raid0 is going to be DAMN fast

 

Butuz

[ICTNUT]

@SYNACK: Yes I agree with your comment that when it goes wrong the money is there....!

 

When I add the new Server do I need to ensure it has the same name or will it treat it like a new server anyway??

 

@Butuz: 3 x 146Gb RAID 5 split into 4 partitions ( 1@ 80Gb and 3 @ 65Gb), 1 x hot spare but will be adding more spares in April some time (new budget )

[srochford]

Depends on how much email they have, the cache is stored in the user profile and so if they have lots of email it will make the profile huge. Putting the clients into exchange mode will however reduce the load on the exchange server allowing around 5 times as many clients to use the one server. It is good for laptop users that are not always connected or are connected through slow or metered links.

 

Although the OST file is in the profile, it should be in the "local settings" bit which won't roam by default so shouldn't affect logon/off times.

 

We have found that the OST file can get created in all sorts of places; part of the login script pushes it in to the "local settings" folder if it gets lost :-)

[SYNACK]

When I add the new Server do I need to ensure it has the same name or will it treat it like a new server anyway??

 

If you give the new server a different name it will simply think that it an additional server in the AD site, after removing all of the email attributes from the old server you can then delete the references to the old server out of AD by deleting the server in the System Manager console.

 

I'm not sure what would happen if you added the new server with the old servers name. It will either complain, be the start of the recovery procedure or violently break exchange in AD and require a domain restore.