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Moving DAG nodes between AD-Sites

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I was recently involved assisting customer on how to move nodes in a DAG from an existing AD-SITE to another.  Due to the changes in Exchange 2010 architecture, Exchange 2010 Hub Transport servers can't pick up messages from and deliver messages to Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers.  Similarly Exchange 2007 Hub Transport servers can't communicate with Exchange 2010 Mailbox servers. As a result, to have both Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007 in the same Active Directory site, we need to maintain both versions of Hub Transport servers in that site.  Maintaining both versions are fine in the same AD site but there could be a potential issue if you want to prevent message flow across Remote AD sites where Exchange loses the versions and messages can potentially be relayed to either version Transport Servers. This could be beneficial for customer running Preview Pilots for Exchange 2010.

In our case my customer had 3 Roles installed on each of the nodes in the DAG (MAILBOX , CAS, HUB). The customer did not want to physically move the nodes so we decided to assign the individual IP addresses to the new AD-SITE .

Move Exchange 2010 Servers to a Separate Site

 As a first step the Hub Transport Service was disabled on all of them so no email is being routed through any of them.  In that case, moving servers to a separate AD site requires servers being shut down before the AD changes take place.

Changes Required on the AD Side 

The only changes that need to be made in AD to accommodate the Exchange 2010 servers is separate AD site and the association of the Exchange 2010 server IP addresses to the AD site where the nodes are being moved.

Steps to move Exchange 2010 servers to the new AD Site.  

  1. Open the AD Sites & Services console and select the Subnets folder.
  2. Right click the Subnets folder and select New Subnet.  Add the individual IP addresses of the Exchange 2010 servers with a /32 prefix.  Assign the IP addresses to the RTL AD site.
  3. Add the individual IP addresses of the Exchange 2010 DAG with a /32 prefix.  Assign the IP addresses to the new AD site.
  4. Add the Exchange 2010 DAG IP Addresses  with a /32 prefix and assign to the new AD Site.

 

 

  1. Select the OK button after each IP address has been entered.  Repeat the step 2 for each Exchange 2010 server IP address.
  2. Confirm the IP addresses have been entered correctly and are associated with the new AD site.

Power on the Exchange 2010 Servers 

When the AD changes are complete and the servers are assigned to the designated subnet, start the E2010 servers and you would need to follow those steps:

  • Configure site affinity for Autodiscover for the site to which you moved the Client Access server
  • Get-ClientAccessserver –id “servername” | Set-ClientAcessServer –AutoDiscoverSiteScope “New SiteName”

 

Repeat above step for the all E2010 server that you are moving to the new AD Site. 

 

Great you are all done :) Enjoy the moment for a JOB WELL DONE... Until next time HAVE FUN !!!!

 

i would like to Thank my friend (Si Ch) for sharing data on this Article.