Failover Cluster : Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

exchange-2010failoverclusterhyper-vwindows-server-2008-r2

The scenario is:

I got 2 identical 2U rack mount servers with Operating System Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise. They are :

  1. in same domain.
  2. both installed Exchange 2010 in Hyper-V
  3. both are domain controller

If I want to enable failover clustering for both Exchange 2010, ensure zero downtime. What are the steps? Thanks for advice.

Best Answer

If I want to enable failover clustering for both Exchange 2010, ensure zero downtime. What are the steps?

RTFM.

First, failover cluster DOES NOT GIVE ZERO DOWNTIME. Bad news, isn't it - happens because you did not read the documentation. Failover cluster will start exchange / a VM on another server if the first fails. It takes some time (seconds) to realize the original system is down, plus the time it takes for the system to start (larger for a VM), so while the time is small, IT IS NOT ZERO DOWNTIME.

Second, Exchange can do that a lot better WITHOUT a failover cluster. Exchange has it's own cluster mechanisms that can work with multiple data copies... which means one less thing that can g o wrong (corrupt files in a node crash), so it is (a) superior to failover cluster and (b) faster in switching.

So, I sgugest getting your requirements straight, and then using Exchange integrated mechanisms to ensure uptime.

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