Hi Al At present the setup is all up and working fine. I just wanted an extra RUS to try and remove slow updates at times. This has always been a minor niggle right from the outset of building the Domain and installing Exchange 2003. I apologise in advance if this all seems very complicated. I will try and clarify the situation. Originally I simply did not have the option of installing AD anywhere else other than the Exchange 2003 machine due to hardware constraints. Later I had the option to install a second DC and did so. However, upon doing so the Exchange services would no longer start up when the original Exchange|AD server was rebooted. However, if I then demoted the second DC Exchange would work correctly once more. I would get a timeout on the IS and MTA services and errors in the event logs about no GC's being online otherwise. I turned up logging to prove this. Once having logged on after about 60 seconds you could then start the services manually and all would fine from then on. Being unhappy with this I called Microsoft PSS and raised an incident. I was told that it was almost certainly due to FSMO role placement and to move the Infrastructure master to the other DC which I duly did. This made no difference. I could not call back unfortunately for reasons that would take too long to explain here. Thus I then tried various Domain (note not Forest) FSMO role combinations and the result was always the same. The only thing that genuinely seemed to fix it was stopping the Exchange box being a GC. One other thing I was warned about by the chap at PSS was even if I moved everything was not to demote the Exchange server as DCPROMO would most probably error and fail. I have also heard that this is a new constraint of Exchange 2003? Recently I managed to obtain a second new additional machine I could use as a third DC and thus installed it as a 2003 GC and moved all the roles to this and the other DC and stopped the 2003 server from being a GC after following the Microsoft instructions on how to do this by moving to one of the other DC's. This fixed my start-up issue and the server and general network performance are both noticeably improved and so far all is well. I have no issue with a second GC and would be only too happy to have a second one. However, Microsoft do not recommend more than one GC per-site in 2003 apparently? I did originally have two before I even installed Exchange and when the Domain was built from scratch and new but experienced problems with screwy DNS which going to one GC did seem to cure. This may have just been teething problems and just coincidence of course. I honestly cannot say. I would add that I ran Exchange 2000 and Windows with 2 GC's across 3 DC's without the screwy DNS problems but the same Exchange service start-up issue. So my question is that if only one GC per site is recommended (I am not overly happy with that either) then does the same apply to the RUS? I hope this makes things clearer? Please accept my apologies if not and let me know if I can help further. From what you say putting a second RUS to the GC would seem a good idea? Many thanks in advance. Regards, Paul Lemonidis. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mulnick, Al To: [ExchangeList] Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 8:21 PM Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Mutliple Recipient Update Services. http://www.MSExchange.org/ I am way confused about the warnings. Can you give details? Keep in mind that if you put Exchange on a GC, Exchange will only use that GC for it's lookups. No other GC will be used, so no failover. If the GC is not yet populated, then it may not work. Be interested in why yours didn't work specifically, but I'm more interested why a second GC would cause you an issue?!? I've setup many installations with countless GC's in a domain without issue. I've also removed Active Directory from Exchange servers (that's an upgrade path for Exchange 5.5 servers that are also BDC's), so I'm unclear why the problem exists. Al ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Paul_Lemonidis@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Paul_Lemonidis@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 1:40 PM To: [ExchangeList] Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Mutliple Recipient Update Services. http://www.MSExchange.org/ Hi Al Thanks for that. I would really like to uninstall AD from the Exchange Server but I have been told this is not an option with 2003 and was warned by a member off PSS not do so as well. On the other hand if I just allow the GC function on the Exchange box then as soon as I put in a second DC the services will not start up correctly at start-up no matter how I move around the Domain roles. Granted I did not try moving the Forest roles as well but leaving the GC functionality on the Exchange box. I would like the option of making the Exchange server an extra GC to the current one and leaving the roles as they are but I can see my start-up problem coming back and have slo been warned against two GC's in a single site. In addition I believe Exchange will never look for another GC if it is on one itself already. Granted I can see the logic in that but that does not resolve my start-up issue. At present the server reboots cleanly and all seems fine. What are the issues with not having the Exchange machine as a GC on a DC? The other option of just one DC on the Exchange box is not a nice option for almost 25 users and several servers. I am open to suggestions please. Many thanks in advance. Regards, Paul Lemonidis. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mulnick, Al To: [ExchangeList] Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 2:45 PM Subject: [exchangelist] RE: Mutliple Recipient Update Services. http://www.MSExchange.org/ Adding to the number of RUS's is not a problem. In fact, in large environments it's a way to make things faster and more predictable in terms of updates. However, you really should not put Exchange on a DC if it's not a GC. IIRC, this can be problematic to you in the way that Exchange finds usable Active Directory pieces. You can also just configure the RUS you already have to use a different DC if you wanted to; by default it likely chose the one you are running on. Al ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul_Lemonidis@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Paul_Lemonidis@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 7:32 AM To: [ExchangeList] Subject: [exchangelist] Mutliple Recipient Update Services. http://www.MSExchange.org/ Hi All A quick question please. I have a single Windows 2003\Exchange 2003 box that is a Domain Controller. It holds none of the roles and neither is it a GC any more. My question is about the RUS. I have had noticed on a number of occasions that it is slow to update considering our GAL only has about 40+ entries. Are there any issues with adding extra RUS entries to the other two DC's I have please? Many thanks in advance. Regards, Paul Lemonidis. ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist Exchange Newsletters: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/newsletter.asp Exchange FAQ: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 ISA Server Resource Site: http://www.isaserver.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this MSEXchange.org Discussion List as: al.mulnick@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist Exchange Newsletters: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/newsletter.asp Exchange FAQ: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 ISA Server Resource Site: http://www.isaserver.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this MSEXchange.org Discussion List as: paul_lemonidis@xxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist Exchange Newsletters: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/newsletter.asp Exchange FAQ: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 ISA Server Resource Site: http://www.isaserver.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this MSEXchange.org Discussion List as: al.mulnick@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist Exchange Newsletters: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/newsletter.asp Exchange FAQ: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 ISA Server Resource Site: http://www.isaserver.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this MSEXchange.org Discussion List as: paul_lemonidis@xxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist