pro-active Exchange server for DR Site

[RAM]

OK, I've searched for 3 days now and cannot find anything to help me
plan for the following:

We are pro-actively setting up a disaster recovery site in one of our
regional offices. We would like to set up a single Exchange server
(with an empty, "dial-tone" database) so that if our existing Exchange
system (front-end with 2-node clustered back-end) "dies," we can
easily switch to receiving mails for our users at the DR site.

Active Directory and DNS will already be set up at this site on the
office's domain controller.

We are running Exchange 2003 + SP2 (Enterprise edition) on Windows
2003 servers, and about 1800 mailboxes.

Any tips, or pointers to relavent documentation?

[daveberm]

On Jan 16, 2:47 pm, RAM <rmilbr...@gfnet.com> wrote:
> OK, I've searched for 3 days now and cannot find anything to help me
> plan for the following:
>

> We are pro-actively setting up adisasterrecovery site in one of our

> regional offices. We would like to set up a singleExchangeserver
> (with an empty, "dial-tone" database) so that if our existingExchange
> system (front-end with 2-node clustered back-end) "dies," we can
> easily switch to receiving mails for our users at the DR site.
>
> Active Directory and DNS will already be set up at this site on the
> office's domain controller.
>

> We are runningExchange2003 + SP2 (Enterprise edition) on Windows

> 2003 servers, and about 1800 mailboxes.
>
> Any tips, or pointers to relavent documentation?

You will want to read the Advanced Recovery Strategies doc found
here...

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125016.aspx

You will need to re-home the users to the new server as described in
the article. If the original server is offline, you may need to
reconfigure the Outlook profiles to point to the new server, or better
yet, just use OWA temporarily to redirect the clients.

There are many good third-party solutions which will do that and much
more to help proctect your Exchange server in the event of a disaster,
including LifeKeeper for Exchange, from my company, SteelEye
Technology. Here is a good review of some of the solutions...

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/02/40TCfailover_1.html

Sincerely,

David A. Bermingham, MCSE
Director of Product Management
http://www.steeleye.com

[RAM]

I HAVE read that article. It doesn't describe how to go about setting
up a recovery server AHEAD OF TIME. In fact,everything I've been
reading sounds like it's geared toward recovering AFTER THE DISASTER
HAS HAPPENED. We're trying to be pro-active and have a server set up
and ready to go.

Is a 3rd-party solution going to be my only option for this? Anyone?

[daveberm]

You may have to read it again. This section specifically tells you
how to re-home a mailbox to a different LIVE server.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125087.aspx

It is not for the faint hearted, and you should practice in a lab
environment, but it is basically how most 3rd party apps are doing DR
for Exchange. Of course, the 3rd party apps also replicate the
database, but you don't seem too concerned about losing data, you just
want dialtone, right?

DB

[RAM]

Yes, the plan is just to have a dial-tone server up and running
quickly, and then work on rebuilding the original server set-up.

I will re-visit the document. I'd also like to investigate some 3rd-
party apps, just to have the information available. Can you recommend
any?

-RAM

[daveberm]

Well...I highly recommend SteelEye's LifeKeeper Protection Suite for
Exchange, especially since I work for SteelEye Technology! You can
request a 30-day eval here...

http://www.steeleye.com/evaluate/

That review I mentioned earlier also looks at some of our
competitors...http://www.infoworld.com/article/
06/10/02/40TCfailover_1.html

Mention my name when you request the eval so that I can answer any
remaining questions you may have, otherwise the lead will probably
just be handled by the SE in your region - which also fine since they
know just as much as I do!