I have exchange 2013 CU2, on windows server 2012 r2 and the physical machine is HP ProLiant ML310e Gen8.
Now I want to implement a DAG server, can anyone please guide me through the requirements like which machine I should purchase for the DAG and can I use windows server 2008 R2 standard. and how to make the physical connection with the existing server.
I have 1TB on existing server, does the server I implement in DAG should have the same amount of Storage.
thanks all and appreciate your assistance.

Hello safam00, you should purchase the same hardware, install the same operating systems and patch level ( Windows and Exchange)

Then I recommend you to have 2 network: one for connectivity, one for replication.

The storage could be different, just be careful to have more than the Database.

The physical connection is a second server in the same network, same domain and follow the guide: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979799%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

It is just as Christophe says, keep the machines as identical as possible regarding both software and hardware. When it comes to storage I would say it is a must not just a recommendation. The reason fort his is simple, if you have two servers doing the same thing but with different configurations it increases the complexity and it is very easy to make a logical error when workin in the environment. People tend to assume that servers is identically configured if they perform the same type of work.

If they have the same hardware and storage configuration it will also make the Exchange configuration much easier since you can look at the first machine and configure the second one based on that.

One thing you can do before installing server two is to makesure that server one has the latest version of Exchange 2013 installed. Then you can use the same media for server two and you can be sure that they are both on the same version. And you get to upgrade server one in the process :)

Hello safam00, you should purchase the same hardware, install the same operating systems and patch level ( Windows and Exchange)

Then I recommend you to have 2 network: one for connectivity, one for replication.

The storage could be different, just be careful to have more than the Database.

The physical connection is a second server in the same network, same domain and follow the guide: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979799%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

• Proposed as answer by Allen_WangJFMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 04, 2015 3:05 AM
• Marked as answer by Allen_WangJFMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, May 04, 2015 3:07 AM

I have exchange 2013 CU2, on windows server 2012 r2 and the physical machine is HP ProLiant ML310e Gen8.
Now I want to implement a DAG server, can anyone please guide me through the requirements like which machine I should purchase for the DAG and can I use windows server 2008 R2 standard. and how to make the physical connection with the existing server.
I have 1TB on existing server, does the server I implement in DAG should have the same amount of Storage.
thanks all and appreciate your assistance.

As everyone has already mentioned you need to use the same version of Windows in order to use the Failover Cluster components (the DAG uses these to establish quorum and other operations).  You really should use the same hardware if possible as well.    The other thing I want to mention, is that if you really are running CU2 you need to upgrade Exchange to a newer CU.  You are currently running in a unsupported environment.  First you are more than 2 CU's behind (MSFT supports the 2 most current CU's and they are at 8 now) and second Windows Server 2012 R2 was not supported as an OS to host Exchange 2013 until SP1 (or CU4).  I would recommend making the jump to a more recent CU before creating the Dag.

Thanks a Lot Guys, now I got my views clear.

I will sure go for same server machine & configuration to keep it simple and manageable.