RE: Exchange Server Redundancy
- From: "Zoran Marjanovic" <zmarjanovic@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "[ExchangeList]" <exchangelist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 17:21:17 +0100
Hi all,
Just to add a few words regarding CA BrightStore High Availability v9. I tested
it on 2 Exchanges 2k (SP3) + AV client and AV filter. The net had 1 separate
w2k (SP4) as DC and one client (W2k Pro + SP4, Outlook XP and OWA-IE6). I
didn't use direct connection (they recommend Null Modem Cable). It was a bit
tricky to configure Exchanges (2 desktops with the same hardware), it assumes
you are starting with the new exchange environment and there is no other
software on servers, and CA never replied to my question regarding Exchange
configuration. Finally I configured exchanges. I installed one exchange, 50
users, 2 storage groups and 4 stores on a separate partition, made some
traffic-300 MB in all stores, configured the second exchange and restored IS
backup on it, started all services and mounted the stores, tested it from the
client-Outlook+OWA, installed CA software on both, had to change permissions on
EMS-according to the explanations logged by BS HA after the protection task
failed, synchronized them, started replication and everything was ok. Then I
unplugged the first exchange (I had a hardware problem when exchange became
unavailable, no ping reply, even it was up and running?) and the fail-over
started. The second exchange stood in for the first one, the script started all
services successfully, the computer name and IP address were replaced
(spoofing), but it could not have mounted the stores (I repeated this 3 times,
every time starting from scratch). Just to mention, after I installed the
second exchange and tested it, I didn't make any additional traffic (which was
a kind of help for CA) that means there was no data for replicating after the
synchronization was done. I would ask CA guys what now, but as they didn't
answer the first time I believe they won't do it the second time. In the
documentation they mention the Open File Replication feature, but no details.
Tiago,
Have you experienced this problem and have you tested the software and how? As
you cannot start replication before you change permissions (it is not mentioned
in CA documentation), I tried it over ADSI edit, without propagation, and I
started the task (replication) successfully. Because the failover didn't work I
did it again over ESM, adding Security tab and propagating the changes to the
lower levels, but again, everything was fine, except the stores could not have
been mounted. I tried to figure out what is going on troubleshooting the errors
from app log, but couldn't have solved it.
Any idea?
Zoran
-----Original Message-----
From: Tiago de Aviz [mailto:Tiago@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 3:17 PM
To: [ExchangeList]
Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Exchange Server Redundancy
http://www.MSExchange.org/
It is much simpler because it can be implemented on a single day, it replicates
data on the bit level, it's a cheap software, and if you want, you can user a
slower machine or any other machine for redundancy.
No, while Brightstor is replicating, it doesn't know if the file is a database
or a Star Wars movie. It's all the same for him.
Tiago de Aviz
SoftSell
(41) 340-2363
www.softsell.com.br <http://www.softsell.com.br/>
Esta mensagem, incluindo seus anexos, tem caráter confidencial e seu conteúdo é
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pelo conteúdo ou a veracidade desta informação.
_____
From: Mulnick, Al [mailto:Al.Mulnick@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: terça-feira, 9 de março de 2004 10:51
To: [ExchangeList]
Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Exchange Server Redundancy
http://www.MSExchange.org/
So, really, it's not much different than the MCS solution from Microsoft except
that a) it's replicating data on the bit level? and b) it's software vs.
hardware solution? I'm missing where it saves the time? It has to ensure that
the database is consistent right? Or does it?
_____
From: Tiago de Aviz [mailto:Tiago@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 6:06 PM
To: [ExchangeList]
Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Exchange Server Redundancy
http://www.MSExchange.org/
Sure, i'm using it right now. I also have many customers using it for
replication of SQL Server databases, Oracle databases, IIS web servers, file
servers... It's an outstanding product. It's based on the ARCserve technology,
but it basically does replication tasks from one server to the another in
real-time, and runs scripts that are built-in in the application in the case of
a failure.
It requires a special communication link between the two server (get yourself
two nics and a crossover cable), and it detects failures when the service on
the two machines can't talk to each other anymore. When it detects this
failure, it starts pinging addresses that you specify to ensure it is online,
or it can verify if the primary server is still alive via the COM port.
Primary server dead? It starts the Brightstor service, and the secondary server
starts answering as the primary, and noone notices what happened.
Well, it can scale to as much users as you want, it basically depends on your
hardware. All it does is database replication, Al. It doesn't know how many
users you have when it's replicating. It's just replicating the .edb file and
that's it. When the primary server crashes, it'll bring the exchange server up.
We always recommend having the same hardware on the primary and secondary
servers, to simplify things. But yes, you can have totally different machines
for this service.
Tiago de Aviz
SoftSell
(41) 340-2363
www.softsell.com.br <http://www.softsell.com.br/>
Esta mensagem, incluindo seus anexos, tem caráter confidencial e seu conteúdo é
restrito ao destinatário da mensagem. Caso você tenha recebido esta mensagem
por engano, queira por favor retorná-la ao destinatário e apagá-la de seus
arquivos. Qualquer uso não autorizado, replicação ou disseminação desta
mensagem ou parte dela é expressamente proibido. A SoftSell não é responsável
pelo conteúdo ou a veracidade desta informação.
_____
From: Mulnick, Al [mailto:Al.Mulnick@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: segunda-feira, 8 de março de 2004 19:53
To: [ExchangeList]
Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Exchange Server Redundancy
http://www.MSExchange.org/
Tiago, is that something that you use and have seen? How many users does that
scale to?
_____
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