Common issues seen in Exchange 2007 migrations to Exchange 2010

Common issues seen in Exchange 2007 migrations to Exchange 2010

• Strange errors may appear during OWA/Outlook Anywhere, Offline Address book management (e.g. Event ID 9519 "Error 0x80004005" in the application event log, etc.).
• Event ID 9519 "Error 0x80004005" is logged in the Application log when you try to mount a database in Exchange Server 2010 or in Exchange Server 2007
  
  • In rare situations, you may need to apply the solution from the link above, to “Exchange Enterprise Servers” group (e.g. Give the group the user right to”Manage auditing and security log” in the domain controllers GPO) – I saw this issue when the original Exchange 2007 server was installed on a domain controller!
• After creating a new Exchange 2010 database, the new database will not mount and the following error may appear in the application log: “Active Directory operation failed on <<Name of DC>>. This error is not retrievable. Additional information: The name reference is invalid. This may be caused by replication latency between Active Directory domain controllers. Active directory response: 000020B5: AtrErr: DSID-03152392, #1: 0: 000020B5: DSID-03152392, problem 1005 (CONSTRAINT_ATT_TYPE), data 0, Att 200f4 (homeMDB)”
• You cannot create a new Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox database in a multiple domain environment
• This issue also appears in customer environments with only a single domain, so if you see this I recommended you review the steps below;
  • Use the following options when creating a new Exchange 2010 database:
    • Create a new Exchange 2010 database without mounting it. Allow for AD replication. If DB will still not mount, continue with the next steps;
• Use powershell to force the Exchange 2010 to use a preferred local domain controller: "Set-ADServerSettings –PreferredServer "mydomaincontrollername.domainname.local"
• Mount the database by using the following powershell command: "Mount-Database -Identity "Second Mailbox Store" -DomainController mydomaincontrollername.domainname.local"

DATA Storage

NAS (Networked Data Storage)

Separating storage from the server reduces the file serving activity and I/O bottlenecks and increases server bandwidth. CPU cycles can then be dedicated to handling application requests, resulting in improved client response time.
There are three major technologies:

• iSCSI (Internet SCSI) commands over the Internet
  
• NAS (Network Attached Storage) serving files
  
• SAN (Storage Area Network) on separate network fabric
  
• Combination's of the above
  

iSCSI (Internet SCSI)

The iSCSI (Internet SCSI) RFC 2026 at draft 20 completed in February 2003 specifies how to run SCSI commands over TCP/IP, providing a lower cost alternative for storage area networking, using cards from:

• QLogic SANblade[tm] 4000 Series
• Intel PRO/1000 T IP Storage Adapter
• Emulex GN9000/SI(VI) 1Gb/s iSCSI Host Bus Adapters
• Adapter ASA-7211 iSCSI HBA
  

iSCSI IETF RFC 3720 introduces complete error recovery mechanisms called Error Recovery Level Two (ERL 2)
In any SCSI connection there is at least one initiator and one target.
Initiators are the devices which request, or initiate, any SCSI communications. They request data writes, reads and any other SCSI operations. Usually initiator is the HBA in the computer which is using SCSI disks, tapes and other target devices.
Targets are the devices which perform SCSI commands at a request from initiators, but never initiate SCSI activity. Examples of SCSI targets are: disks, tapes, RAID arrays, robotic libraries and many more.

Network Attached Storage (NAS)

NAS filers are special-purpose file servers (i.e., "appliances") that attach to a local area network (LAN) to deliver files to client systems - or other servers acting as clients - via TCP/IP within a LAN.
NAS filers are sometimes called NAS "heads" because the NAS "node" is referenced using the IP address of the head device.
Most NAS supports Multi-platform File Sharing by simultaneously supporting Windows Common Internet File System (CIFS) and Unix Network File System (NFS) as well as file systems associated with Macintosh, Novell, and other operating systems. This makes them ideal for sharing files across OS platforms on the same network.
CIFS was formerly known as Server Message Block (SMB) developed by IBM and Microsoft to support file sharing in DOS. This protocol is used today in UNIX systems as part of the Samba open-source utility package.
Many NAS systems also support HTTP so that clients can download files and administer the system using their Web browser.
Since NAS filers do not need a general-purpose operating system, they cost less, have less to go wrong. They also have less avenues of attack, which make them more secure than file servers.
Some NAS systems can expand into multiple terabytes. Non-scaling NAS systems need to be taken offline to redistribute data when adding capacity.

Storage Area Network (SAN) Storage

Due to the high-speed (1 to 2Gb/s data transfer rates in 2006, and 10Gg/s in 2008), SANs usually run though a fiber channel (IEEE 802.2) networking equipment.
At the fabric layer, fibre technology provides sophisticated cascading switches, switch initialization, and zoning.
It is almost a mute point to compare the total costs of a SAN, since in may large/enterprise shops that need highly-available central consolidated data store for clusters of servers to access, it has become a "must-have" for its ability to handle large amounts of data quickly and securely at low per-byte hardware, power, and manpower cost.
Fiber comes with advanced services such as

• Fabric Login (FLOGI) Enables nodes to be successfully initialized (allocated a unique address) in a switched environment, enabling communication between two nodes
• Simple Name Server (SNS) Helps a source node to discover the destination node within the fabric without causing unnecessary communication overhead
• Registered State Change Notification (RSCN) that notifies Fibre Channel nodes about the changes in the existing topology
  

Fibre Channel technology are used on trans-oceanic cables (which have repeaters every 10km, powered by a copper sheath around the fiber.) But the HBA and devices can be up to 500m apart.
A series of standards from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) defines 3 main topologies:

• point-to-point, where devices are directly connected to each other (without the use of hubs, switches, or routers). Transmissions are sychronous (cannot transmit and receive, simultaneously).
• Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL), which shares bandwidth with up to 126 nodes on a distributed uni-directional ring topology, connects with hubs — the simplest form of a fabric topology.
• Fibre Channel Switched Fabric (FC-SW) provides nondisruptive scalability and switch connection among up to 16 million nodes — the highest performance and connectivity topology.
  

Transmits data in frames of 2148 bytes maximum.

Exchange server 2010 installation using command line

Step by Step 1. Prepare your forest and organization in Active Directory First you need to do the Schema preparation. Since this is a fresh new setup in the lab, I will perform the preparation on domain controller

Run Setup from the directory where your Exchange 2010 installation files are located. Here is the cmdlets Setup /PrepareSchema or Setup /ps *If you are running the prep process on the computer which is member of the forest or domain, and the OS is Windows Server 2008, you need to install the following component before executing the prep. ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS Below screen capture shows that its completed.

Next, you will need to prep the domain and organization. Here is the cmdlet Setup /p /on:SG or Setup /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:SG (where SG is my organization name in the Lab)

Now we have done the initial preparation. The forest and domain are ready to have the first Exchange 2010 server installed. 2. Install first Exchange 2010 server We will do that on server "Bugis" which will have Client Access Role, Transport Role and Mailbox Role. But we will eventually remove the Mailbox role and deploy DAG on server "Outram", "Redhill" and "Dover". There is a reason behind why I choose to have 3 mailbox servers to form a DAG. That will be discussed in my future articles soon. There are additional components needed before Exchange installation., As my first Exchange server is a combination all the 3 roles mentione above, I used the following command (refer the below screen capture) ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext Web-Digest-Auth Web-Dyn-Compression NET-HTTP-Activation Web-ISAPI-Ext RPC-over-HTTP-proxy RSAT-ADDS

Here is the break down of what you will need to install in role level. Client Access Role ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext Web-Digest-Auth Web-Dyn-Compression NET-HTTP-Activation Web-ISAPI-Ext RPC-over-HTTP-proxy RSAT-ADDS Transport Role ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext RSAT-ADDS Mailbox Role ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext RSAT-ADDS *For Mailbox Role, you have to install another component call "MSFilter Pack" After the installation, you are required to perform restart server.

There are some updates & fixes need to be applied in specific. Client Access Role KB951725, KB950888, KB952664, KB953290 Transport Role KB951725, KB950888, KB952664 Mailbox Role KB951725, KB950888, KB952664 Now we are truly ready for the installation. I will not talk about installation using UI, because I prefer using command line. Execute the command as shown in the screen capture below.

Here are the definitions of the parameters /m = /mode /r = /role, /roles H = Transport or you can use HT C = Client Access or you can use CA M = Mailbox or you can use MB Just hit "Enter" and sit back enjoy your coffee or newspaper. :-)