- Overview of Exchange Server Clustering
- Designing an Exchange Server 2000 Cluster
- Installing Exchange Server 2000 on a Cluster
- Conclusion
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Installing Exchange Server 2000 on a Cluster
Installing Exchange Server 2000 on a cluster is a five-step process. First you must install the required components. Then you must configure the Active Directory using the Forestprep and Domainprep configuration options. Once the Active Directory has been configured, you must install the cluster aware Exchange Server 2000 on both nodes within your cluster. Lastly, you must configure all of the cluster resources, enabling them to create and configure the Microsoft Exchange datastore.
Installing IIS Components
To install the necessary IIS components, complete the following steps:
Choose Start, Settings, Control Panel, and Add/Remove Programs.
Click on the Windows Components button on the left to access the Windows Components dialog box.
Scroll down and click on the IIS Internet Information Services option, then select Details.
Within the Internet Information Server options, scroll down and ensure that the SMTP Service is checked, along with the NNTP Service then click Ok.
If you have installed terminal services in the past, you may need to verify the type of terminal server installation mode you wish to use. Click the appropriate selection and click Next. Windows will begin installing the selected components. This could take several minutes, depending on the options you have selected.
Once the setup has completed, the Component Wizard will notify you that the installation has been successfully completed, click Finish. Although a restart is not required, it is recommended before moving to the next step.
If for any reason your installation fails, uninstall the entire IIS package, restart your computer, and then reinstall the selected components. The Exchange XML/HTML components are dependent upon a clean installation of Internet Information Server so that the necessary components can be installed and configured.
Exchange Forestprep Installation
The next part of the Exchange 2000 installation is called the "forestprep." This process allows the Exchange Server 2000 Wizard to modify the existing Active Directory Forest configuration, preparing it to host the Exchange 2000 objects and properties. Remember, Exchange 2000 is fully integrated with Active Directory, and therefore it is critical that the "forestprep" installation be run prior to installing Exchange 2000.
To run the "forestprep" installation, complete the following steps:
Place your Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server CD in the CD-ROM drive and choose Start, Run, and type the following command:
CD_Drive_Letter:\setup\i386\setup.exe /forestprep
This will begin the Forestprep installation. The wizard that appears will lead you to believe that you are installing Exchange 2000, but if you used the /forestprep switch correctly, then you doing a "forestprep" install only, which actually does not install files to the local drive.
Click Next to display the End-User License Agreement. Read the license agreement in its entirety, select the I Agree option, and click Next to continue.
When prompted for a product information key, obtain the key from your software media or license, type it in the space provided, and click Next.
The Selecting Components dialog box will appear. In most installations of this kind, this is where you would make changes to the installed components, by selecting what you want and deselecting what you don't want installed. Because this is a "forestprep" installation and not the complete Exchange install, you must accept the default. You should notice that next to the Microsoft Exchange 2000 component listing there is an option that says "forestprep." If this option does not say "forestprep" then you are not performing a "forestprep" install and you must exit the program and follow the earlier instructions to begin a "forestprep" install. Click Next to continue the installation.
If this is the first Exchange 2000 Server to be placed within your domain, a dialog box will ask you to choose whether you want a new organization or you want to join an existing Exchange 5.5 Organization. Select Create a New Exchange Organization if you do not have any existing Exchange 5.5 organizations. If you already have Exchange 2000 Server running within this domain, the setup will skip this step, assuming that you want to add the new server to the existing organization.
Warning
If you have an existing Exchange 2000 Organization within the same domain as the cluster servers, the wizard will automatically make the new server a part of the same organization. For the cluster configuration of Exchange 2000 (which will be done later) to succeed, you must add the cluster service account to the existing Exchange 2000 organization as an administrator. If the cluster service account does not have this privilege, you will receive an error message that says, "An unknown error has occurred. Facility: Win32 ID no: c0075000 Microsoft Exchange Cluster Administrator Extension" during the cluster configuration.
On the next screen, type in a name for your organization. It is imperative that you remember this name for later reference. It is not as important to the Exchange installation or administration of the Exchange server as it is to the recovery options that would be necessary in the event of a catastrophic failure. Many administrators do not document these items because they know they have easy access to them through the Active Directory or Exchange System Manager, but if the server is down or failed in some way, access to this information will be restricted and it may be needed to rebuild your Exchange database from a backup. Be sure to document your configuration prior to bringing the Exchange Server online. Once you have named the organization select Next to continue.
The Exchange administrator account is the account within the domain that is assigned full administrative rights to the Exchange Server configuration. This account will be the user that assigns rights to other users within the organization. If your organization uses "Enterprise Admins" for the delegation of network privileges, it is recommended that this account be a part of the "Enterprise Admin" group. Type in the domain and username of the administrator you would like to assign complete rights to the Exchange organization and select Next to continue.
As the install begins, you will be notified that Exchange has recognized that you are running setup on a cluster server and that it will run the cluster-aware version of Microsoft Exchange. Click Ok to begin the installation.
As the installation begins you will see the progress bar as well as the operations that the install is performing. During this process the installation will configure registry entries, modify schema attributes of the Active Directory, and prepare the forest to host Exchange Server 2000. The wizard will inform you when installation is complete. Click Finish to continue.
Exchange Domainprep Install
The next step towards an Exchange Server 2000 cluster is to modify the current domain to prepare it for the Exchange installation. This is accomplished by running the same setup you did in the last section, but omitting the /forestprep option and adding a /domainprep option. This tells the Exchange Server 2000 installation that you have completed the forest preparation and you are ready to install Exchange Server 2000 within the domain. To begin the install, choose Start, Run, and type the following command:
CD_Drive_Letter:\setup\i386\setup.exe /domainprep
This will begin the Domainprep installation. Follow the same steps (1 through 9) you took through the Forestprep installation to complete the Domainprep configuration. For brevity, all of the steps will not be repeated here.
Installing Exchange Server 2000 on all nodes
Now that you have completed the Forestprep and Domainprep installations, you are ready to install Exchange Server on all nodes within the cluster. To do so, complete the following steps:
Place the CD in the first node and choose Start, and type the following command to begin the Exchange 2000 installation wizard:
CD_Drive_Letter:\setup\i386\setup.exe
Click Next at the startup screen to begin the installation. Once again, review the license agreement, and then continue on to input your license key.
In the Exchange 2000 component selection dialog box, click the down arrow next to Microsoft Exchange 2000 and select the Typical option. This will enable the Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Services as well as the Microsoft Exchange System Management Tools. If you need to select tools or components outside of the typical install such as the Chat service or the Connector for Lotus Notes, select the Custom option instead and modify the action next to those components to "install." If you do select alternate components, make sure that you install the identical set of components on the other nodes within the cluster.
The drive for all components should be set to the C: drive. As a cluster aware installation, the wizard will not install database files, only binaries, which in Exchange Server 2000, are stored locally to each machine. The database files will be created later in the configuration. Click Next to continue the installation.
The next screen presents a license agreement. This agreement is different from the previous agreement, for it specifies that Exchange Server 2000 is licensed based on a "per seat" licensing only. It is required that you purchases a client access license for every client that connects to the Exchange Server. Select the "I agree that I have read and agree to be bound by the license agreements for this product" option and click Next.
The component summary lists the components that you have selected for your installation. If the summary is incorrect, select Back to change your settings, otherwise click Next to continue.
The Exchange 2000 installation wizard copies all of the files necessary to run Exchange Server 2000 on the local computer. No database files or message stores are copied at this time. The wizard will request that you reboot your computer after the installation of Exchange Server and proceed to the cluster administrator to complete the configuration of Exchange Server. Click Ok to continue.
Once the installation is complete, click Finish to continue.
Once the installation of Exchange Server is complete on node one, you need to repeat the process on the second node. However, you do not need to go through the Forestprep or Domainprep installs again. Just run the basic installation and configure the server identical to the previous node. Once installation is complete, reboot both nodes, one at a time.
Configuring Cluster Resources
Once you have Exchange Server installed on both nodes within the cluster, you now have to create the necessary group and resources to host the Exchange services. Remember, the Exchange installation was "cluster-aware" and therefore did not install database services to the machine. This step does not take place until the resources are correctly created and configured through the cluster administrator. This section assumes you are familiar with Cluster Resource Groups and the Cluster Administrator program.
Make sure that both nodes have the Exchange Server software installed, and that both have been restarted since the installation. If this is not the first Exchange Server in your organization, make sure that the user account that the cluster services use is assigned administrator privileges to the existing Exchange Organization. The creation of Exchange databases will not work without this privilege in place.
To begin configuring the cluster resources for Microsoft Exchange, complete the following steps:
Open cluster administrator, right-click on the groups folder, and create a new group to host the Exchange Server application. The description is only for labeling purposes and is an optional field. Click Next to continue.
The next dialog box asks you to select a preferred owner for the resource group. This will be the server that you wish to run the services on in most situations. During a failure, the other nodes will be available, but will not serve as a primary host for the application. Click the server you would like to become the preferred server and select Add to add it to the preferred owners list and click Finish to continue.
The next step is to create an IP address resource for the cluster. Each application should be contained within a disk group, and each disk group should house their own IP address. The IP address resource you create here will be the address of the Exchange Virtual Server you will create later. To create an IP address resource, right-click on the disk group you created and select New, Resource from the menu.
In the New Resource dialog box, enter the Name you wish to use to refer to the IP address resource you are creating. It is recommended that your resources be named in a way that is descriptive of their function. For instance, you would not want to name a resource "resource1", because that is not very descriptive and would not allow you to recognize it for what it is. The suggested name is "Exchange IP Address".
Type a Description for the resource to help you identify it in a list of resources. In the Resource Type field, select IP Address from the drop down list. In the Group field, make sure that the disk group you created is listed.
All resources you create can be run in a separate resource monitor if you choose, but this option is resource intensive and should only be used when troubleshooting resource failures. Select Next to continue.
In the Possible Owners dialog box, select the nodes within your cluster that may need to run the application you are creating in the event of a failure. Typically, this will include all nodes within your cluster; however, you may have a four-node cluster and choose to run Exchange on two nodes. In this case you would select the two nodes that you wish to be possible owners and select Add to add them to the list of possible owners. Click Next to continue.
The Dependencies dialog box is used to specify which resources must be brought online before the resource you are creating can be started. Because this is an IP address resource, it has no dependencies and you can select Next to continue.
In the Parameter dialog box, you are asked to supply an IP address to be used for the resource. Type in the IP address you choose to use. The subnet will be populated for you. Make sure the network connection that allows connectivity to the clients is selected, and enable the Enable NetBIOS for this Address option. Then click Finish to create the resource.
The next resource you need to create is the network name resource. This will be the NetBIOS name assigned to the IP address you created in the previous step. In the New Resource dialog box, type in a name for the name resource. This is only the name used within cluster administrator, not the actual network name to be used. Also type a Description for your resource. Select Network Name as the resource Type and make sure the Group is set to the Exchange group you created earlier. Click Next to continue.
In the Possible Owners dialog box, select the same nodes you selected for the IP address resource. Once you have selected the possible owners, click Next to continue.
In the Dependencies dialog box, select the IP address resource you created earlier and then click Add. Obviously you cannot bring a network name online without an IP address, so the IP address resource is a dependency of the network name resource. Click Next to continue.
In the Network Name Resource Parameters dialog box, type in a name that you would like to use for this resource. This will be the network name registered within DDNS and WINS. This name should be no more than 14 characters long and should conform to the NetBIOS naming standards. Click Finish to complete the creation of the network name resource.
The next step is to move the shared disk resource from the default group to the new group you have created. When the cluster was built, the service should have assigned every shared disk to a disk group. At this time, locate the disk group that contains the disk resource you would like to use for the Exchange databases and transaction logs. With your mouse, left-click and drag the disk resource to the new group.
Once you drop the disk resource onto the new group, you will be given a warning asking you to confirm the move from one disk group to another. Select Yes to continue.
Once you have confirmed the move, another confirmation screen will pop up asking you to confirm the move once again. The reason for the two confirmations is a mystery, but obviously moving disks from one group to another is not something to be taken lightly. Click Yes to confirm the move once again.
Now that the disk has been moved and you have created the IP address and network name resources, right click on each resource and select Bring Online. The disk resource is most likely already online, but if it isn't make sure to bring it online first. The IP address and network name resources should be brought online beginning with the IP address, then the network name resource.
The next resource to create is the Exchange System Attendant resource. This resource is unique because it will automate the creation of all the other resources necessary to run Exchange Server on your cluster.
Right-click the group once again and select New, Resource. In the New Resource dialog box, type the name of the new resource. It is recommended that you use "Exchange System Attendant" for the name to help keep all of the resources straight once they are created. Type in a description, select Microsoft Exchange System Attendant as the resource, and make sure the group selected is the Exchange group you created earlier. Click Next to continue.
In the Possible Owners dialog box, select the nodes that you selected for the IP address and network name resource and click Add to add them to the list of possible owners. Click Next to continue.
In the Dependencies dialog box, select the disk resource and the network name resource and click Add to add them to the dependencies lists. You do not need to add the IP address resource, for the network name resource already has an IP address dependency. Click Next to continue.
On the next screen, the path to the Exchange Server database files should default to driveletter:\EXCHSRVR. If you wish to change this, feel free to do so, but be advised that the drive letter must reference the shared disk that is a part of the Exchange group. In other words, if the disk resource that you added to the resource group refers to Z: then you cannot install the system attendant onto the X: drive.
Click Finish to complete the resource configuration.