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Decommissioning Standard Edition Servers and Enterprise Pools

Topic Last Modified: 2009-05-22

Some situations require removing a Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool and rolling back the environment. Such situations could be the result of a disaster recovery, hardware failure, an upgrade scenario, or other situation that makes it necessary to completely remove the Standard Edition server or the Enterprise pool.

Most of the steps of the procedures in this section can be completed using the following tools:

  • The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in
  • The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 management components for Active Directory Users and Computers
  • The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in extension for the Computer Management console

Some steps require the use of command-line tools, including the following:

  • The version of the DBImpExp.exe tool that is available with Office Communications Server 2007 R2. This tool is available from the <drive>:\Support folder of the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 installation media and is also in the %programfiles%\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2\Server\Support folder of a server on which Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is installed.
  • The Ldifde.exe tool, which is available from %SystemRoot%\system32.

Before decommissioning a Standard Edition server or a server in an Enterprise pool, do the following:

  • Provide users with sufficient notice to ensure that they can plan for the down time.
  • Deactivate the server roles on the weekend or holiday, or during other off-peak hours.

To decommission a Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool

Use the procedures in this section to decommission a Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool:

  1. Before starting, verify that the current RTC database has been backed up. For details about backing up the database, see the Backup and Restoration section of the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 documentation at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132106.

  2. If user information is to be restored at a later time, export the user information using DBImpExp.exe.

    Note

    The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 version of the DBImpExp.exe tool is required for this operation. Do not use earlier versions of this tool.
    The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 User Services database (the RTC database) must be available when you perform this procedure, but users should not sign in while you are running the DBImpExp.exe tool. To prevent users from signing in, stop the Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Front End Server service on the server.
    For details about the DBImpExp.exe tool for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, see the DBImpExp-Readme.htm file in the <drive>:Program Files\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2\Server\Support folder of a server on which Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is installed.

    To use DBImpExp.exe, run the following command from the command prompt:

    dbimpexp.exe /hrxmlfile:"%temp%\SavedUserData.xml"
    

    Important

    Before proceeding to the next step, verify that the exported file contains the expected information.

  3. Log on to the Standard Edition server or the Front End Server of an Enterprise pool as a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  4. Open the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in.

  5. Deactivate the server roles as follows:

    Note

    Before deactivating server roles, we recommend that you stop the Office Communications Server services to help ensure that no users are connected.
    Only server roles that are installed on the server and activated are available for deactivation.
    Additionally, because the Web Conferencing Server is dependent on the Web Components Server, you must deactivate the Web Conferencing Server role before you deactivate the Web Components Server.

    Important

    Each server role is deactivated separately. After you deactivate each role, use the log file to verify that the deactivation status in the Execution Result column (including the status of each deactivation task) for a server role is Success. If there is any task that does not complete successfully, you must resolve the problem and run the Deactivation Wizard again to complete the deactivation before proceeding to the deactivation of the next server role or to the next step.

    • For an Enterprise pool, expand the forest, expand Enterprise pools, expand the pool, right-click the server, point to Deactivate, and then click the server role you want to deactivate. Deactivate all server roles, except the Front End Server, in the following sequence: A/V Conferencing Server, Web Conferencing Server, and Web Components Server.
    • For a Standard Edition server, expand the forest, expand Standard Edition servers, expand the pool, right-click the server, point to Deactivate, and then click the server role you want to deactivate. Deactivate all server roles, except the Front End Server, in the following sequence: A/V Conferencing Server, Web Conferencing Server, and Web Components Server.
  6. Log on to a computer on which Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in and Active Directory Users and Computers are installed and available, using an account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group.

  7. Identify the SIP-enabled users.

    Note

    You can use Ldifde.exe to create a list of SIP-enabled users. For details about the Ldifde.exe tool, see “Using LDIFDE to import and export directory objects to Active Directory” at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137375.

    To use Ldifde.exe to list SIP-enabled users, run the following command from the command prompt:

    ldifde -d "OU=Users' OU,DC=Domain,DC=Dom" -l msRTCSIP-UserEnabled:TRUE -f SIPEnabledUsers.txt
    

    Note

    If SIP-enabled users are in more than one organizational unit (OU), run the command for each OU.

  8. Open the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in.

  9. In the console tree, delete users from the Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool by expanding the forest and then doing the following:

    • For an Enterprise pool, expand Enterprise pools, expand the pool, and then click Users. In the details pane, select and right-click the names of the users you want to delete, and then click Delete users to start the Delete Office Communications Server Users Wizard.
    • For a Standard Edition server, expand Standard Edition servers, expand the pool, right-click Users, and then click Delete users to start the Delete Office Communications Server Users Wizard.
  10. Complete the wizard to delete the users, and then verify on the Delete Operations Status page that the deletions succeeded.

  11. In the console tree, right-click Users, click Refresh, and then verify that no users are listed in the details pane.

  12. In the console tree, deactivate the Front End Server role by doing the following:

    • For an Enterprise pool, expand Enterprise pools, expand the pool, right-click the FQDN of the server, point to Deactivate, and then click Front End Server.
    • For a Standard Edition server, expand Standard Edition servers, expand the pool, right-click the FQDN of the Standard Edition server, point to Deactivate, and then click Front End Server.

    Important

    Use the log file to verify that the deactivation status in the Execution Result column (including the status of each deactivation task) for the Front End Server is Success. If any task does not complete successfully, you must resolve the problem and run the Deactivation Wizard again to complete the deactivation before proceeding to the next step.

  13. If no other Standard Edition server or Enterprise pool (and no other Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers, such as a Mediation Server or an Archiving Server) is deployed in the forest or domain (that is, the Standard Edition server being decommissioned is the only Office Communications Server deployment in the forest or domain), use the Unprep task to remove relevant objects and attributes from Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).

    Note

    In the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in, Unprep is available only if View Options is set to Show Active Directory Domains. For details about specifying view options, see “Changing the Domain View and Server View” in Using the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Snap-in.
    Running Unprep for a domain removes the access control entries (ACEs) granted to Active Directory universal groups to host and manage users within the domain that were created when the domain was prepared for Office Communications Server 2007 R2.
    Running Unprep for a forest removes the Active Directory global settings and objects that were created when the forest was prepared for Office Communications Server 2007 R2.
    For details about the preparation of forests and domains, see Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Active Directory Guide in the Deployment documentation.

    Warning

    Do not run Unprep unless you have deactivated and removed all Office Communications Server 2007 R2 servers (including all Standard Edition servers and all Enterprise pools) and deleted Office Communications Server users from this domain.

    To perform the Unprep task, do the following:

    • To unprep the domain, expand Domains, right-click the domain, and then click Unprep.

      Important

      In the log file, verify that the status in the Execution Result column (including the status of each Unprep task) is Success. If any task does not complete successfully, you must resolve the problem before proceeding to the Unprep forest task.

    • To unprep the forest, right-click the forest, and then click Unprep.

      Important

      Use the log file to verify that the Unprep forest status in the Execution Result column (including the status of each Unprep task) is Success. If any task does not complete successfully, you must resolve the problem before proceeding to the next step.

  14. Optionally, to verify that all relevant objects and attributes have been successfully removed from Active Directory Domain Services, run the following command from the command prompt of a domain controller:

    ldifde -d CN=Microsoft,CN=System,DC=Domain,DC=DOM -f Microsoft_Container.txt  
    
  15. Log on to the Standard Edition server or Front End Server in an Enterprise pool as a member of the local Administrators group.

  16. Remove Office Communications Server 2007 R2 components by opening Add or Remove Programs in Windows Server 2003 or Programs and Features in Windows Server 2008, and then locating and removing programs in sequence as follows:

    • If this is an Enterprise pool, click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Administrative Tools, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Audio/Video Conferencing Server, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Web Conferencing Server, and then click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Web Components Server, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Front End Server, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

      Note

      You must also remove Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Core Components, Application Server, and all unified communications applications.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Speech Redist, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Windows Workflow Activities Redist, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    • Click Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Core Redist, click Remove, and then complete the removal.

    Note

    To remove a Web Components Server, you may need to manually remove permissions. During installation, Full Control permissions are granted to the RTC Component Local Group account for the Web and non-Web folders. If these folders contain any files or subfolders, the permissions remain after removing the Web Components Server. To remove the permissions from the folders, you can use the Security tab in the Properties dialog box of each folder. By default, these folders are installed at the following locations:
    %programfiles%\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2\Web Components\Data MCU Web\Non-Web
    %programfiles%\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2\Web Components\Data MCU Web\Web

  17. After completing the removal of each of these programs, locate and delete the \LC Data and \LC Log folders.

  18. In Active Directory Users and Computers, locate and delete the following RTC service accounts:

    • RTCComponentService
    • RTCGuestAccessUser
    • RTCService
  19. In DNS, delete the DNS SRV and Host records by doing the following:

    • Expand the forward lookup zones, select the domain zone, and then locate and delete the pool Host A record.
    • Expand the domain zone, expand _tcp, and then locate and delete the _sipinternaltls and _sipinternal SRV records.
    • If appropriate, delete the Web Farm Internal/External records. (This is required if you have created nondefault external and internal Web farm URLs, with the appropriate host records in the DNS forward lookup zone for the domain to represent these Web farm URLs.)
  20. Remove the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 certificate by opening the Certificates snap-in, expanding Certificates (Local Computer), expanding Personal, clicking Certificates, and then locating and deleting the certificate issued to the FQDN of the Standard Edition server or the pool name of the Enterprise pool.