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VMotion and Database Availability Groups (DAG)

Categories: Exchange Server VMware
August 5th, 2010 by Scott

Over the past few weeks I have been busy deploying Exchange 2010.  Many of these deployments involved deploying Exchange 2010 on VMWare ESX environments.   In a previous post I mentioned how Vmotion and Exchange 2010 DAGs was not supported.  However, based on some testing I have changed my opinion of this approach.  Perhaps it is just a fluke and I would be interested to hear what everyone out there is experiencing but here goes.

When leveraging DAG on Exchange 2010 and the need to VMotion the server comes up there seems to be an issue with doing a migrate when the Exchange 2010 mailbox server is powered off for the Vmotion.  I have seen this occur at two separate client sites.  Power off the Mailbox Server, Migrate, DAG broken.  Got it?

Now, what I am seeing that if I leave the Passive node online and replicating the passive databases with the active node a live migrate seems to work just fine!  I have tested this twice now (which is why I don’t know if it is a fluke or not) and both times migrating the passive node while powered on and replicating caused NO problems.  I even went as far as to reboot the passive machine anticipating it to break, but nope, nothing! 

So, I’m going to challenge the community out there to try this if you can.  Live migrate your passive VM Mailbox node and see what happens.  If you can, power it off and migrate and see what happens.  I seem to have the same occurrence when the VM is powered down and/or when the VM is powered on. 

Either way, from my testing it appears that if you migrate while the DAG member is online (keep in mind I didn’t have any active databases running on the node) it seems to successfully migrate without any problems!

Let me know what your findings are, but this is great news!

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BES 5.0 SP2 – reduction to disk I/O on Exchange!

Categories: BlackBerry Enterprise Server Exchange Server General
July 30th, 2010 by Scott

As you may or may not know about 3 weeks ago RIM released SP2 for BES 5.0.  Since I have some clients that run BES I thought I would read through the release notes for SP2 and came across an interesting bullet:

  •  reduction to disk I/O — impact The BlackBerry Enterprise Server does not write updates for user statistics to mailboxes to reduce the load on the Microsoft® Exchange Server.

 What does this mean?  Well, my guess is it reduces the disk I/O impact on Exchange servers!  As you may know in previous articles when building an Exchange environment you need to factor in an additional I/O on the disks of 3.64 (I like to round up to 4) for each BlackBerry Device in your organization.  Meaning if you have 100 BlackBerry’s you can expect to have an extra demand of 400 IOPS on your Storage platform. 

 Well, with this new fix with the “does not write updates for user statistics to mailboxes” I would have to assume that this would reduce that 3.64 number.  I have heard a rumor that this number has been reduced to 1.85 IOPS per device.

 Considering I don’t have easy access to BES 5.0 SP2 I’m curious if anyone out there can confirm this?  Please comment if you have tested and confirm!

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VMotion and Exchange 2010 DAG Not supported!

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related
July 26th, 2010 by Scott

Where have I been!  I have been a very busy bee.  Sorry for not posting too much lately, seems there isn’t enough time in the day.

Anyway, I came across an interesting article that I thought I would share.  Apparently, as it stands right now, VMotion and Exchange with DAGs is not supported!  I actually felt this problem about two weeks ago on a Wednesday night when a client called with problems in their Exchange 2010 environment.  Mail wasn’t routing and I thought, hey, this will be a quick fix.  Well, it turned out there were more issues in the environment then what they had thought.  The biggest problems was DAG replication was not occuring.  The Exchange 2010 DAG member could not be brought back on line on the cluster, and the Windows Cluster had kicked it out.  The way I resolved the issue was to evict the node via ConfigurationOnly and Remove it from Windows Clustering.  When I tried to bring the node back into the cluster the cluster would be joined and then evicted.  The problem?  The Witness!  It appears the Witness was locked and the new (old) node could not access it.  As it turns out the client vmotioned the server to another node and that’s when all the problems began.

I came across this article which talks about the problem I had above and I thought I would share.  Link: http://virtualkenneth.com/2009/11/20/vmotion-and-exchange-2010/

Morale of the story?  If you’re running a Database Availability Group don’t VMotion the server to another host!  Honestly you shouldn’t have to, ever.  Why?  Well, you have other servers that are capable of hosting the database of the node that is offline!  That’s what I tell my clients now who are running Exchange 2010 on VMs and they want to vmotion to a new host.  “You don’t need to vmotion to a new host.  With DAGs you have HA which means you can take a node off line for maintainence and still have your mailboxes!  So Please, don’t vmotion!”

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Outlook Profile not updating after creating CAS Array

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related
June 28th, 2010 by Scott

I came across an interesting situation this morning where I created a CAS Array in Exchange 2010, updated the RPCClientAccessServer property on the existing database, and re-launched outlook.  As it turns out there is a Bug in Outlook 2007 (and apparently 2010) where the users profile will not update to the new CAS Array.  Instead the profile will remain until the profile is updated or the target is taken off line.   To resolve the issue I had to update the users Outlook Profile.  Thankfully I only have six users testing Exchange 2010 at this point. 

I can’t stress from what was learned this morning the importance of configuring your CASArray prior to migrating to Exchange 2010.  Even if you do not plan on using a CASArray I would suggest you create one and point it to the single CAS in your environment.  This will this give you the ability to add a NLB CAS Array in the future AND save you a ton of work of having to repair all the existing profiles connected to Exchange 2010 at a later date. 

For more info on a CASArray see my previous post Exchange 2010 Client Access Server Array (CAS Array).

I should point out that after some research I did manage to find a blog article pertaining to the issue on Elan Shudnow Blog.  Thanks Elan for sharing!

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Microsoft Technet Wiki!

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related
June 25th, 2010 by Scott

Microsoft has introduced a new Wiki site on Technet!  The Technet Wiki is a site where members of the Microsoft community can add content related to multiple Microsoft Technologies!  Not a bad idea if you ask me.  It is actually turning out to be a great resource already!  If you haven’t done so you can go and check it out via the following links:

TechNet Wiki Beta - Main Page
Exchange 2010 Overview - Exchange 2010 related conent

There are many more articles.  I like Exchange so I thought I would include that here.  Enjoy the new wiki!

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Exchange 2010 RU 4 released (KB982639)!

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related
June 18th, 2010 by Scott

Back on April 22nd you may recall an article I wrote dealing with a Bug identified with Exchange 2010 where there is a “.” in the NETBIOS name (KB981033).  Well last night the MS Exchange Team released Exchange 2010 RU 4.  As part of this rollup there is  a fix for the “.” in the NETBIOS name issue.  I noticed that it wasn’t listed in the KB Article but I did email my contact at Microsoft and he did confirm that this RU does address the “.” in the NETBIOS name.  

For all of you out there having this problem I strongly encourage you to go and get  Exchange 2010 RU 4 (KB982639) and apply it, after all, it’s what you have been waiting for!

NOTE:  For those of you who recieved the Interim Update from MS (KB981033) you will need to remove this update prior to installing Exchange 2010 RU4. 

Have a great day!

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Exchange 2010 Client Access Server Workload Sizing

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related TechEd
June 14th, 2010 by Scott

During TechEd 2010 in New Orleans I was able to attend a session dealing with the CAS workload Sizing.  Microsoft put together a new chart to help with the different workloads that hit a CAS.  The chart is based on the amount of workload that a typical CAS will see and the CPU Cost and Network Cost.  I have attached a copy of the Chart that MS will be publishing to help with CAS sizing in the future.  The chart is based on a 100 messages sent/received per day. 

The Chart:
CAS Workload Sizing

The chart gives a potential impact of using all Outlook using in the form of Outlook Anywhere, Outlook Web Application, Outlook, and ActiveSync.  You can see that the chart includes IMAP and POP3 but those protocols are used for reading and not submitting mail.    

If you take a look at the chart you will notice that Outlook Anywhere and Outlook Web App are basically the same thus simplifying the sizing used for those roles.  ActiveSync is actually an additional cost to Outlook.  The logic here is that users will both be using Outlook and ActiveSync at the same time.  Rarely do you see a user just using ActiveSync and not use Outlook at any given time during the day.  (Actually I’m using Outlook right now and ActiveSync since my phone is automatically syncing) 

Another key take away from this session is the use of Windows 2008 R2.  It was mentioned that the improvements to Windows 2008 R2’s rpcproxy service allows for the expansion of 15,000 Outlook Anywhere users on an 8-core CAS i.e. 2 sockets with 4 cores each (Recall my previous post?)

Anyway, I felt this chart was very useful and since it hasn’t been published on TechNet yet I thought I would share.

Enjoy!

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Microsoft TechEd 2010 is over.

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related TechEd
June 11th, 2010 by Scott

Well, last night was the TechEd 2010 closing party.  The location was Mardi Gras World right next to the convention center in New Orleans.  Inside we were able to go through the shop where all the floats are stored and created.  It was rather interesting to see the amount of work that goes on there to build all those floats.

After the first building came the mansion and a hall.  Microsoft provided beer, wine, and food.   Given how much I love food I had to give all of the food a try.  The best was the beef brisket on top of some sort of cucumber pasta thing.  I also have to say the cupcakes were good as well.  Another cool aspect was the four bands there.  Two rock and roll, a brass band, and a polka band.  It is also located right off the Mississippi River where we could watch ships coming in and out.  There was a number of Xbox 360’s provided for competitive game play.  I sat down and tried my luck on a first person shooter but got my butt whipped my some younger fella.  Guess I’m a bit out of practice.  They also had charactures, gambling (with pretend money) and tarot card/palm readers.  Overall it was a pretty cool night. 

As for the overall TechEd 2010 Experience I had a great time.  I couldn’t believe how much information I learned, the people I met and the activity’s I was fortunate enough to attend.  I really wanted to send special thank you to the Krewe for keeping track of the events and making it easy for a first timer at TechEd to meet people.  If you’re not familiar with the Krewe they basically track the events going on at TechEd and present new comers and opportunity to meet people and socialize.  Thanks to Jeff Guillet over at the Expta.com blog for organizing the Exchange round table at Rusty Nails.  I have to admit, this was probably one of the best events for me at TechEd.  I had the opportunity to sit down with other exchange experts and talk Exchange.  Not to mention some of the Exchange Product team members showed up!  The amount of knowledge these guys have about Exchange is unreal.  I learned more about Exchange 2010 in that night then all week just because I was able to ask those questions where I was confused and got solid Answers.   I have to also give thanks to the Exchange Product team for taking time out of their busy weeks to meet up with us at the Exchange Round Table.   Thank you very much Kumar Venkateswar, Ross Smith IV, Scott Schnoll for hanging out with us on Monday night!  I had a blast and it was great meeting you guys!

Well, that’s it! The last post for me from New Orleans.  Next step is to review my notes and digest all that I have learned here at TechEd 2010.  I’m looking forward to coming back next year where TechEd 2011 will be in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Take Care!

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Change to CPU recommendation for Exchange 2010

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related
June 11th, 2010 by Scott

Well, today was the last day of TechEd.  I have to admit I learned a great deal and met some great people, but that is for another post.

I wanted to mention something I heard today during one of the presentation.  It sounds like Microsoft is going to change the recommendation around CPU sizing for Exchange 2010.  Currently Microsoft has CPU core ratios on their website listing the required cores for a server based on the roles it is running.  For example, in Exchange 2010 for every 4 mailbox cores you need to have 3 CAS cores.  If you happen to have a Hub/CAS combined roles you would have a core ratio of 1:1.

In the very near future Microsoft is planning to release a new technet article that will recommend CPU Sockets rather than cores in their CPU recommendations.  The speaker that mentioned this didn’t go into too much detail on the reason for the change.

He did mention however that for Exchange 2010 the ideal number of sockets are two sockets.  This was practically the recommendation for every server type in Exchange 2010.  From listening to the speaker each socket was quad core, which is nearly default configuration on new servers hence the change in requirement specifications, my thoughts.  I will be interested to see when the Technet article comes out and what it has listed for Sizing Exchange 2010 servers.  If you’re interested you can take a look at the TechNet article discussion Exchange 2010 sizing and performance.    Keep in mind the current link as of 6/11/2010 still states server cores, we will have to pay attention for the change.

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New feature in Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1 regarding cross-site database failover

Categories: Exchange Server Microsoft Related
June 10th, 2010 by Scott

I am currently down in New Orleans attending TechEd 2010 and was able to attend a session by Ross Smith IV.  During the presentation Ross brought to our attention a new feature in Exchange 2010 SP1 regarding Outlook behavior is a cross-site (two datacenters) database failover.

As it stands now in the event that a failover would occur in a DAG the outlook client will connect directly to its preferred CAS server which is set at the RPCClientAccessServer property.  So for example, say you have two AD sites.  Each site contains a CAS Array, CAS1 in Datacenter 1 and CAS2 in Datacenter 2.  The preferred CAS Array in this scenario is CAS1 (RPCClientAccessServer).  So, what this means is that the outlook client is going to default to CAS1 and then to its local database in Datacenter 1.   Now, in the event of a Database failure and the Database fails over to a mailbox server in Datacenter 2 the outlook client will have a direct connect to CAS1 and CAS1 will have a direct connect to the mailbox server in Datacenter 2.  In RTM you can only get a redirect to CAS2 by changing the RPCClientAccessServer property on the database.

In Exchange 2010 SP1 you can choose to enable or disable cross-site direct connect.  You can also define an activation preference for a database which determines whether to perform a direct connect or a redirect. 

What this means is that if you consider our scenario above where we have two datacenters and two CAS Array’s CAS1 and CAS2 we can control the cross-site failover event.  In the event where Cross Site Connections are allowed the RPCClientAccessServer remains CAS1 and CAS1 will connect the user to their mailbox server in Datacenter 2.  However, say we wish to disable Cross Site Connections, in the event of a failover Autodiscover detects the profile change and updates the client to point to CAS2 (requires restart).  CAS2 then will provide the mailbox access to the mailbox server in Datacenter 2!  This behavior in SP1 is based on three properties.
1.  Home server property in Outlook
2. Preferred database site (RPCClientAccessServer)
3. Active database site

Now, keep in mind that since the Autodiscover service is being used this feature will not work well with Outlook 2003.  Actually during one of the session it was strongly encouraged that if you are still using Outlook 2003 you should move off of it prior to moving to Exchange 2010.  In the event that you have disabled Cross Site Connections and have outlook 2003 when outlook attempts to connect to CAS1 it will detect the failover via ecWrongServer and redirect to CAS2.  However, in the event that CAS1 goes down, Outlook 2003 can’t update if the source CAS goes down.

Don’t ask me how to configure, that part wasn’t convered and I haven’t had a chance to play with SP1 in a lab yet.  

Hope you enjoyed this article, I will continue to work on getting more for everyone!  Have a great night!

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