Exchange 2007 as Store & Forward
Hi All, is it possible to setup exchange 2007 as a store and forward / backup exchange servers for one of my other exhange servers in the event that one goes down temporarily?
April 13th, 2009 3:40pm

Using Exchange 2007 you can have a warm server standing by and use it to restore an Exchange 2007 server.See this link for more details: http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Recovering-Exchange-2007-Server-RecoverServer-switch.htmlBP
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April 14th, 2009 2:41am

Yes as BP told or another method is implement SCR and keep the database on second Exchange server and bring it up manually with Database Portability method when first server goes down. Standby Continuous Replication http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb676502.aspx Database Portability http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123954.aspx But looks like you are searching for any temporary downtime of any Exchange server and for that Cluster Continous Replication is best (provides you hardware, OS as well as database downtime protection and automatic failover) but it requires 2 separate servers for Exchange Mailbox server roles and other 2 servers for CAS & Hub NLB, if you are looking for real High Availibility solution for all Exchange server roles.Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com
April 14th, 2009 6:06am

I also like the CCR in a distributed environment. If you have enough pipe between the two DCs you can have Node1 in Datacenter A and Node2 in Datacenter B. The thing for this to work is to strench your AD site across the two datacenters.BP
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April 14th, 2009 6:35am

I appreciate you responses but not quite what i was after to be honest. I would like to setup a store and forward service for my other servers. They are in different sites and locationsand are not part of my domain. Iwould setupDNS to forward mail to my exchange server in the event that it cannot reach the primary exchange server(temporarily down or the internet service is down). Is it possible to setup my exchange server to accept mail on behalf of another domain, store it for an element of time till the primary exchange server is back up and running, then forward all stored mail to that server??.
April 14th, 2009 12:20pm

I would not recommend using exchange for store and forward, the database management becomes a big trouble later. You can opt for any other POP3 solution instead which uses the plain file system in stead of a database system to store emails. This is not at all a good idea to use an Exchange box for store and forward.If at all for some reasonsyou want other exchange servers in altogether another forest to recieve emails from your exchange server you can design your infrastructure in such a way that: 1. Configure one or more exchange servers and enable POP3 on it or may be IMAP4. This is totally your decision.2. ther exchange servers should be able to download the messages either using a POP or IMAP connection.I have intentionally not written anything about configuration part because it changes everytime depending on the scenario. A couple of things more, all MX records should point to the server which has the store and forward configured, recieve connectors configuration, send connector configuration, etc.MMilind Naphade | MCTS:M | http://www.msexchangegeek.com
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April 14th, 2009 12:41pm

I agree with Milind... What is the reason looking behind store and forward method? Normally emails coming from outside have default 2 days of expiration time period in sender's email system (if they didn't change it) so your server downtime is less than 2 days, you will get your mails. However if you still want to store mails for similar period of time in the queue on another server which is available in your premises then you can configure it as an internal or external relay as per below article to keep incoming emails in their queue until your original server is down. You can add a secondary MX record in public DNS for another Exchange server so first MX record which is pointing to current Exchange goes down, another server start accepting emails and keep in queue for sometime. Managing Accepted Domains http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124423.aspxAmit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com
April 14th, 2009 12:58pm

If I recall the Hub Transport Server keep the emails until the mail server becomes available? So in a sense the emails are stored, and then will be forwarded to the mailbox server once it become available. If you are concerned with losing emails you could enable Journaling as well. This basically copies all emails sent into the organization into a journaling mailbox. Some good articles on Journaling: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/06/22/444296.aspx, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.12.journaling.aspxBP
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April 14th, 2009 4:21pm

BP, CCR and SCR have been combined in Exchange 2010 and evolved into a single framework calledadatabase availability group (DAG) and you can add Exchange servers in it from any AD site. It will be really easy in E2010 due many new features and changes in to HA/DR functionality... New High Availability Functionality http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335211(EXCHG.140).aspxAmit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com
April 15th, 2009 8:16am

Amit, thanks for the update. Where can I get my hands on a Beta of Exchange 14?!BP
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April 15th, 2009 5:13pm

Here you go... http://exchangeshare.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/exchange-2010-beta-available-for-download/ Here is the installation guide... http://blogs.technet.com/scottschnoll/archive/2009/04/15/how-to-install-exchange-server-2010.aspx Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com
April 15th, 2009 5:17pm

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