May we create HA/DR setup of Exchange without SAN Drives

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Environment

Media available  =  Exchange 2003 with SP2 , Windows 2003 R2  and Sfha version  5.1 SP2

 I have two nodes. One for Primary Site and one for DR site. Is that necessary that we must have SAN available on both sides(Primary and DR) ? OR there is a way to make the HA/DR environment for Exchange2003 environment without SAN availability ?

[mikebounds · Accepted solution]

You need some way of having sharing storage between the 2 sites.  If you do not have a shared SAN between the 2 sites, then you can use replication over IP using Veritas Volume Replicator (VVR) or hardware replication like EMC SRDF over IP.  However you cannot replicate from the same LUN that your O/S is on, so if you are using internal disks, you need a separate LUN for the Exchange Data.  This must be seen as a separate disk in Windows, it cannot be a partition on the same disk as the O/S.

Mike

[Wally_Heim]

Hi Zahid,

In addition to what Mike mentioned, the disk(s) used should support SCSI-2 reservations and should be on a seperate bus than the system drive (different controller.) You can use a vxclus command to get around the disk not being on a seperate bus. There is a tech note on it if you need it.

If you hare using RAID controllers then you really need to check if it supports SCSI reservations.  This can be done by creating a clustered disk group with the disk and successfully being able to deport and reimport it via CLI or VEA. 

Depending on the hardware there might be other options that we can do if by chance it does not support SCSI reservations.  If this is your case I would recommend opening a support case to see if there is more that we can do.

Thanks,

Wally

[Zahid_Haseeb]

What about the Veritas Cluster ? Am I also able to create one node cluster on each Site(Primary and DR Site)

[mikebounds]

Yes you can have one node VCS clusters linked together using GCO or a 2-node Replicated Data Cluster (RDC) - see the following discussions for GCO versus RDC: 

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/global-cluster-option-two-single-node-cluster

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/cluster-configuration-rdc-or-gco

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/sf-cfs-rac-without-gco-option

 Mike

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Yes you can have one node VCS clusters linked together using GCO or a 2-node Replicated Data Cluster (RDC)

I agreed with you but keep in mind without the SAN availability. but yes I have multiple/additional drives apart from the OS drive.

[mikebounds]

If you have multiple/additional drives apart from the OS drive, then you can set-up 2 one-node clusters using VVR and GCO or a 2-node RDC using VVR.  As Wally points out, if the drives are on the same controller as the boot disks, then you will need to use vxclus to set something like "UseSystemBus=on".  This all works because I have done this before.

Mike

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Got it :)

Thanks Wally and Mike

Now the last question. I installed win2003 OS and now start installation of SFHA 5.1SP2 but here I notice that the Exchange 2003 agent is not available. Does it mean that SFHA 5.1 SP2 does not support Exchange2003 ? OR we have to create the Service Group of Exchange 2003 manually means without Wizard ?

[Wally_Heim]

HI Zahid,

Exchange 2003 is supported with SFW-HA 5.1 SP2.  The only thing that comes to mind as to why the option would not be available is if you installed a 64 bit version of Windows 2003.  This would block the installation of the Exchange 2003 agent because Exchagne 2003 will only run on 32 bit versions of Windows.

Thanks,

Wally

[mikebounds]

5.1SP2 does support Exchange 2003 - see https://sort.symantec.com/public/documents/sfha/5.1sp2/windows/productguides/pdf/VCS_Exch_Agent_51SP...

When you installed SFWHA, there should have been an option called "Veritas Cluster Server Application Agent for Exchange" and this should install a wizard to create the Exchange SG (Start > Programs >Symantec > Veritas Cluster Server > Configuration Tools > Exchange Server)

Mike

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Yes Wally you are right.

Exchange 2003 is supported with SFW-HA 5.1 SP2.  The only thing that comes to mind as to why the option would not be available is if you installed a 64 bit version of Windows 2003