We have a remote Exchange 2003 mailbox server in a Houston office. The power to that office is down due to Hurricane Ike and we expect it to be down for the next several weeks. All incoming email for users on that mailbox server comes into our data center in Chicago, IL to our Exchange servers there and then routes to Houston. Currently emails are being accepted and then queuing up on our ChicagoExchange servers since power went out in Houston Saturday morning. 1. Will these messages that have been accepted into our Exchange servers in Chicago, IL continue to queue up until the Houston Server powers back up or will they eventual fail and produce NDR's to the senders (something we really don't want to occur) 2. If they will produce NDR's eventually, what can we do to prevent the NDR's as we want the messages to eventually be delivered to the mailboxes in Houston once the power is restored. 3. Since the Houston mailboxes are inaccessible, how can we setup a Out of Office message for these users in the meantime? Thanks for any assistance, Dan

Hi, Can you describe your mail environment and active directory, this is needed to give a good answer Regards, Johan blog: www.johanveldhuis.nl

We have a single forest with global catalog servers at both the data center in Chicago in addition to each of our remote sites that we have an Exchange server. All incoming email for our organization comes into the Chicago datacenter and is then routed via WAN links to each of our remote sites. Hope this helps, Dan

Dan, If this is the case why don't you install an extra server in your exchange environment and let mail be delivered to that one for the Houston server. I think when the requirements are met an NDR will be generated but I am not 100% sure. Regards, Johan blog: www.johanveldhuis.nl

There are different attributes that determine when to NDR a message if destination is unreachable. In general a normal message will timeout in 2 days if defaults are not changed on your servers. You can create a dial tone database which can continue accepting emails for users in Chicago datacenter. You have to carefully plan your server recovery in Houston when power is restored. Here is the link that can help you understand Dial Tone recovery. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998947.aspx In your scenario, you may choose not to restore anything but have empty database accept emails for houston users. When power is restored in houston, you will have to merge databases to retain mail.

Dan, I work for the Aldridge Company here in Houston. We have a Data Center that is up and running and has been throughout the storm thanks to our generator and dedicated team. If you would like, we can move your Houston server to our Data Center to get it back up and all your email functions will run as normal. Please contact me at bgregory@aldridge.com if you would like more information. We can also send a tech to assist you with any other challenges you are having. Thanks, Bryan