Here is a fast and simple way to setup a clustered Exchange 2003 Server. This is a 2 node active/passive cluster -
Run Exchange Setup on node 1.
Run Exchange Setup on node 2.
Create a cluster group for the Exchange Virtual Server (EVS).
Move disk resources that the EVS will use to the Exchange cluster group.
Create the resources that the EVS requires (e.g., Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator—MSDTC—an IP Address resource, a Network Name resource).
Create a System Attendant resource for the EVS. As part of this step, you must supply the name of the EVS, the administrative group and routing group in which the EVS will reside, and a shared-storage folder in which Exchange will create and store its databases, transaction logs, and SMTP folders at installation.
Cluster Administrator automatically creates Exchange cluster resources for the EVS (e.g., the Information Store—IS; HTTP servers for the virtual server; the required dependencies for the IP Address and Network Name resources). IMAP and POP are not created automatically.
Use Exchange System Manager (ESM) to relocate the Exchange components (i.e., databases, transaction logs, and SMTP folders) to shared-storage drives or folders, according to established best practices. Exchange needs to be able to access these resources from each node as the EVS fails over
Once all this is done, simply bring the Cluster Group online. You're in business !
Later on I will go in details on how to create a geographically dispersed cluster that is not physically connected to a shared Quorum....all using NSI's Geocluster
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