redundant exchange 5.5 server

[adriann]

I have a single 5.5 server on NT 4.0 and would like to add a second just in case the first goes down. I've read you can load exchange on the new machine, tell it the current mail servers name and away it goes. My questions are, is it this easy and will this be a true working mail server? By that I mean if I take the first machine down, is it as simple as redirecting my clients Outlook 2000 to the new server name. Will smtp functions be handled on the redundant server as they are on the current?
Thanks to you all!

 

[brontosaurus]

No (it's not that simple), and No (you can't just redirect clients). You can create an "offline" recovery server (with the same name and properties)that's ready to accept restored databases in an emergency, but there's no native way to "mirror" an exchange server.

 

[adriann]

Well, is there any way to have a more fault tolerant exchange environment than just a single raid 0/1 server and Veritas backup with the Exchange add on doing nightly backups? Everything I read here seems to indicate a mad scramble when a mail server goes down and there seem to be several different methods of restoration all of which are plagued with issues eg; The DS must be older than the IS.

 

[brontosaurus]

Mirroring and backups (as you suggest) are a good start. Other options include clustering, although I'm not a big fan of MS' clustering technology, the offline recovery server (as I mentioned), and I believe there's a 3rd party product that will allow you to mirror an exchange server, although i can't vouch for it's reliability.

 

[lardum]

The only way to do this only using Exchange is to install another mailbox server and place 50% of all mailboxes on that server. This way, half of your users will be able to use their mailboxes in case the other server goes down.

Exchange 2000 has support for fail-over clustering. So the only way is to upgrade to that if you want fail-over.

 

[gupel]

With MS Clustering you still can use Exchange 5.5, but you have to upgrade to W2K Advanced server. Of course, you have to buy supported RAID cards and storage to run cluster.

 

[fuego007]

While clustering your exchange server would give you uninterrupted service in the event of a hardware failure, it will do nothing in the event something crashes your information store. I've heard some good things about various backup products, including Veritas. However, the absolute best product for backing up an Exchange server (unless you MUST perform brick-level backups) is Legato Networker with the Exchange module. Once the Legato server is configured (which can be a little challenging at first), it's ease of use for restoring an Exchange server is unbeatable. Restoring an Information Store is as easy as it gets, and the server will be up and running when the Exchange client software says it's complete. No user intervention is required following a restore.

So, my recommendations are: ensure you have reliable hardware, and don't mess with the server if you don't have to. Most Exchange problems are caused by the administrator.

Good luck,
Bob

 

[eod]

Also it doesn't hurt to sacrifice a chicken to the MS Exchange gods..