Share via

How to Enable Redundant Cluster Networks for Log Shipping and Seeding on Windows Server 2008

  • Article

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Shell to configure one or more mixed cluster networks for log shipping in a cluster continuous replication (CCR) environment on Windows Server 2008. A mixed cluster network is any cluster network that is configured for both cluster (heartbeat) and client access traffic.

When a mixed cluster network has been configured, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 uses that network for log shipping. Multiple mixed networks can be specified, and if more than one network is available, Exchange 2007 randomly selects one of the networks. If the network currently in use becomes unavailable, Exchange 2007 automatically selects another available network.

When enabling a redundant network for log shipping or seeding, you must also make configuration changes to the network adapter being enabled for continuous replication activity. On the network adapter being configured with a continuous replication host name, the administrator must configure name resolution. We recommend that you clear the Register this connection’s addresses in DNS check box on the Advanced TCP/IP properties dialog box for the network adapter being used and use either static Domain Name System (DNS) server entries for the continuous replication host names, or add the appropriate continuous replication host name and IP address to the Hosts file on each node. If name resolution of each node's continuous replication host names fails, the redundant network cannot be used for log shipping or seeding.

Important

When using CCR on Windows Server 2008, you must also ensure that NetBIOS is enabled on the network adapter. If NetBIOS is not enabled, the Network Name resource will not come online, even if you enable NetBIOS for the adapter after the resource has been created. To resolve this issue, you must remove the cluster group and resources for the continuous replication host name, enable NetBIOS for the adapter, and then perform the following procedure.

Note

If the network being enabled is not properly configured as a mixed network, the following procedure fails with the error message: "Cluster Common Failure Exception: Cluster Common Failure Exception: The cluster network is not valid. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800713BE)."

Before You Begin

To perform this procedure, the account you use must be delegated the Exchange Server Administrator role for the target server. For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange 2007, see Permission Considerations.

The following procedure must be performed on both nodes in the cluster, once for each host name. For example, if you want to specify two mixed networks, because each network requires a unique host name, you would perform the following procedure a total of two times (one network and host name per node).

Procedure

To use the Exchange Management Shell to enable a redundant cluster network for log shipping and seeding

  1. Run the following command:

    Enable-ContinuousReplicationHostName -Identity <CMSName> -TargetMachine <NodeName> -HostName <NetworkNameforReplication> -IPV4Address <IPv4DottedDecimalIPAddress>

  2. Repeat the preceding command for both nodes for each host name and IP address that you want to enable for continuous replication.

For More Information

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Enable-ContinuousReplicationHostName.