Conference decwet::winnt-clusters

861.0. "Exchange Failover by Vinca's StandbyServer" by VAOU09::LAM () Thu Jun 05 1997 12:17

    Could somebody in Engineering please comment on this tech note from
    Vinca regarding their StandbyServer for NT support of Microsoft
    Exchange. Is this something that we can easily implement on our
    Digital Clusters for WNT 1.1?
    http://www.vinca.com/support/techno26.html
    Vinca Tech Note 26
    
     Configuring Microsoft Exchange to failover
    
     This document describes the steps to configure Microsoft Exchange to
    be available on the standby
     machine subsequent to a failover. These steps walk through the
    installation of Microsoft Exchange on
     the both machines so that the application exists on the SYS: volumes
    and the data is on a mirrored disk
     device. If Exchange is already installed to the primary server and the
    data does not reside on a mirrored
     disk device, make this adjustment before continuing. 
    
     Unlike other applications that can be configured for failover,
    Exchange requires that the application be
     installed to the standby machine while it is the primary role.
    Therefore, during this process, you will
     need to down the primary server and allow the standby machine to
    failover and assume the primary
     role. 
    
     Note that the Exchange client application (running on user's machines)
    must be exited and restarted in
     order to continue using the Exchange after a failover has occurred. 
    
     To configure Microsoft Exchange for
     failover
    
     On the Primary Server: 
    
       1.Install Exchange to a mirrored drive. 
       2.Open the Control Panel and start Services. Select each of the
    following services in turn, click on
          Startup, and change the Startup Type to Manual:* 
               Microsoft Exchange Directory
               Microsoft Exchange Information Store
               Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent
               Microsoft Exchange System Attendant
       3.Create a command file called EXCHPRIM.CMD and add it to the
    primary server's startup
          group. The command file must include the following lines in this
    exact order, where n is the
          mirrored drive letter Exchange was installed to in step 1**: 
               net start "Microsoft Exchange System Attendant"
               net start "Microsoft Exchange Directory"
               n:\exchsrvr\bin\isinteg -patch
               net start "Microsoft Exchange Information Store"
               net start "Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent"
    
     On the Standby Machine: 
    
       1.Shut down the primary server and allow the standby machine to
    failover and assume the primary
          role (take the primary server's name). 
               NOTE: If Exchange is installed under the standby machine's
    name, it will not work when
               failover occurs.
    
       2.Create a partition on the standby machine large enough to hold the
    Microsoft Exchange files.
          Assign a drive letter to this partition that is the same as the
    drive letter of the mirrored partition
          on the primary server where Exchange was installed. If there is
    not enough free space on the
          standby machine's disk devices to create such a partition, an
    existing partition can be used by
          temporarily re-assigning its drive letter to match the primary's.
    When the installation is
          completed, the drive letter can be returned to its previous
    setting. 
    
          Example: If Exchange was just installed to the mirrored partition
    G: on the primary server,
          assign the drive letter G: to a partition on the standby machine,
    install Exchange to that drive,
          then delete the partition or reassign the drive letter if
    necessary. 
    
          Note: If this step is ignored or the wrong drive letter is used,
    the application will not failover
          properly. The registry values which contain the paths to the
    application and its data must match
          exactly on the primary server and standby machine.
       3.Install Microsoft Exchange. At the Organization and Site dialog
    box, choose Create a new
          site, and make sure the Organization Name and Site Name match
    those used when Exchange
          was installed on the primary server. 
       4.Open the Control Panel and start Services. Select each of the
    following services in turn, click on
          Startup, and change the Startup Type to Manual:* 
               Microsoft Exchange Directory
               Microsoft Exchange Information Store
               Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent
               Microsoft Exchange System Attendant
       5.Create a command file called EXCHSTRT.CMD in the
    <drive>:\Vinca\CMDFiles directory,
          where <drive> is the drive letter where StandbyServer was
    installed to. The command file must
          include the following lines in this exact order, where n is the
    mirrored drive letter Exchange was
          installed to in step 2**: 
               net start "Microsoft Exchange System Attendant"
               net start "Microsoft Exchange Directory"
               n:\exchsrvr\bin\isinteg -patch
               net start "Microsoft Exchange Information Store"
               net start "Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent"
    
          In StandbyServer Manager, click on the Options menu, choose
    Failover, and type
          "EXCHSTRT.CMD" in the "After Failover" command file box. This
    will cause
          EXCHSTRT.CMD to be run after the standby machine has completed
    the failover process. 
       6.Create a command file called EXCHSTOP.CMD in the
    <drive>:\Vinca\CMDFiles directory,
          where <drive> is the drive letter where StandbyServer was
    installed to. The command file must
          include the following lines in this exact order, where <n> is the
    mirrored drive letter Exchange
          was installed to in step 2**: 
               net stop "Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent"
               net stop "Microsoft Exchange Information Store "
               net stop "Microsoft Exchange Directory"
               net stop "Microsoft Exchange System Attendant "
       7.In StandbyServer Manager, click on the Options menu, choose
    Failover, and type
          "EXCHSTOP.CMD" in the "On Revert to Standby" command file box.
    This will cause
          EXCHSTOP.CMD to be run before the standby machine returns to the
    standby role. 
       8.In StandbyServer Manager, click on the Server menu, then choose
    Revert to Standby to return
          the standby machine to the standby role. 
       9.Restart the primary server, then re-establish the mirrors to
    return to a fault-tolerant state. 
    
     * Depending on your installation of Microsoft Exchange, there may be
    other services installed. This
     document covers the services installed by a typical installation. 
    
     ** Depending on your installlation of Microsoft Exchange, there may be
    other services installed. If this
     is the case, the additional services may be added below the listed
    ones. 

I think that would be quite impossible for NT Cluster to implement similar 
stuff as Standby Server use a quite different technology as NTCluster, they
use
share nothing technology , which means they don't need to have share SCSI Bus
and
they can take over failed machine 's IP and Server Name .


[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]