Unable to see witness server entry in Failover Cluster DAG 2013

Hi

You have an un-even set of nodes in your DAG, when you added the 3rd server you would have noticed it said "not using Witness server" (cant remember exact words).

June 17th, 2015 1:57pm

I have 3 node culster and i have which is working absolutely fine but i have a query on my failover cluster, when i check the failover cluster and check for witness it shows me none, where in when i check the DAG config usin get-databaseavailblitygroup i can see that FSW is configured correctly also the alternatewitness is configured correctly.

Just wondering is it because the nodes are having odd number of nodes in DAG hence it is not showing me the wintenss directory 


RunspaceId                             : 94d5fce7-4ccc-4fd1-8774-eb58d54ff26d
Name                                   : DAG-01
Servers                                : {MBXSRV1, MBXSRV2, MBXSRV3}
WitnessServer                          : Fliesrv1.local.com
WitnessDirectory                       : H:\FSW\DAG-01
AlternateWitnessServer                 : Fliesrv2.local.com
AlternateWitnessDirectory              : F:\FSW\DAG-01
NetworkCompression                     : InterSubnetOnly
NetworkEncryption                      : InterSubnetOnly
ManualDagNetworkConfiguration          : True
DatacenterActivationMode               : DagOnly
StoppedMailboxServers                  : {}
StartedMailboxServers                  : {MBXSRV1, MBXSRV2, MBXSRV3}
DatabaseAvailabilityGroupIpv4Addresses : {10.xxx.x.xxx}
DatabaseAvailabilityGroupIpAddresses   : {10.xxx.x.xxx}
AllowCrossSiteRpcClientAccess          : False
OperationalServers                     :
PrimaryActiveManager                   :
ServersInMaintenance                   :
ServersInDeferredRecovery              :
ThirdPartyReplication                  : Disabled
ReplicationPort                        : 64327
NetworkNames                           : {}
WitnessShareInUse                      :
DatabaseAvailabilityGroupConfiguration :
AutoDagSchemaVersion                   : 1.0
AutoDagDatabaseCopiesPerDatabase       : 1
AutoDagDatabaseCopiesPerVolume         : 1
AutoDagTotalNumberOfDatabases          : 0
AutoDagTotalNumberOfServers            : 0
AutoDagDatabasesRootFolderPath         : C:\ExchangeDatabases
AutoDagVolumesRootFolderPath           : C:\ExchangeVolumes
AutoDagAllServersInstalled             : False
AutoDagAutoReseedEnabled               : True
AutoDagDiskReclaimerEnabled            : True
AutoDagBitlockerEnabled                : False
AutoDagFIPSCompliant                   : False
ReplayLagManagerEnabled                : False
MailboxLoadBalanceMaximumEdbFileSize   :
MailboxLoadBalanceRelativeLoadCapacity :
MailboxLoadBalanceOverloadedThreshold  :
MailboxLoadBalanceUnderloadedThreshold :
MailboxLoadBalanceEnabled              : False
AdminDisplayName                       :
ExchangeVersion                        : 0.10 (14.0.100.0)
DistinguishedName                      : CN=DAG-01,CN=Database Availability Groups,CN=Exchange Administrative Group
                                         (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=local,CN=Microsoft
                                         Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=local,DC=com
Identity                               : DAG-01
Guid                                   : 9c0421ac-2789-45ea-b3c6-807d0f873091
ObjectCategory                         : local.com/Configuration/Schema/ms-Exch-MDB-Availability-Group
ObjectClass                            : {top, msExchMDBAvailabilityGroup}
WhenChanged                            : 6/12/2015 5:43:37 PM
WhenCreated                            : 6/12/2015 11:17:58 AM
WhenChangedUTC                         : 6/12/2015 12:13:37 PM
WhenCreatedUTC                         : 6/12/2015 5:47:58 AM
OrganizationId                         :
Id                                     : DAG-01
OriginatingServer                      : DC.local.com
IsValid                                : True
ObjectState                            :
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June 18th, 2015 3:21am

Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity dag-01 -Status | fl name,servers,witnessserver,witne
ssdirectory,alternatewitnessserver,alternatewitnessdirectory,operationalservers,primaryactivemanager,witnessshareInUse


Name                      : DAG-01
Servers                   : {MBX1,MBX2,MBX3}
WitnessServer             : filserv1.local.com
WitnessDirectory          : H:\FSW\IN-DAG-02
AlternateWitnessServer    : filserv2.local.com
AlternateWitnessDirectory : F:\FSW\IN-DAG-02
OperationalServers        : {MBX1,MBX2,MBX3}
PrimaryActiveManager      : MBX2
WitnessShareInUse         : None
June 18th, 2015 9:28am

Does the output posted last makes sense??
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June 22nd, 2015 4:50am

Hi,

Do you have deploy Witness server in your DAG environment? When you initially create the DAG, you must specify the server and file location that will act as the file share witness regardless of how many servers are in the DAG (0 to start) to ensure that if you do add an even number of DAG members the FSW will be properly used.
If so, it will display when run "Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup <Identity> |FL".

Witness server only used in when the DAG contains an even number of servers withtin it, as mentioned in below link: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/exchange/en-US/521789ef-69cc-47a4-83d3-fb21331f4908/what-is-witness-server-used-for

Thanks

June 23rd, 2015 11:31pm

Hi Allen,

Thanks for you post.

Yes i have DAG environment with Primary witness and Secondary witness specified in it.

So my understanding now is that if i have 3 Nodes the FSW will not be used until i have number of nodes which can be divided by 2..

Am i right on this point?

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June 25th, 2015 12:04am

Hi Allen,

Thanks for you post.

Yes i have DAG environment with Primary witness and Secondary witness specified in it.

So my understanding now is that if i have 3 Nodes the FSW will not be used until i have number of nodes which can be divided by 2..

Am i right on this point?

June 25th, 2015 12:04am

Hi,

Correctly.

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June 29th, 2015 11:05am

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