EV 10 and Exch 2013 DAG

[Ravi_Bhandari]

I'm after some clarification regarding setup of EV when archiving mail on Exchange 2013 which involves Database Availability Groups.

We are already archiving our 2013 exchange server but now the Exchange administrator is moving to DAG.

The 8 Mailbox databases will be spreadout out over two hosts where each host will contain active databases. This is not a straight forward D/R type failover one to the other host type situation. So the question is do I require system mailboxes in each mailbox database? Or just one for each host where the mailbox is contained in an active database?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance given.

[GertjanA]

Hello Ravi,

You need an EV System Mailbox per host (Exchange server)

In the scenario you describe, this would be:

Exchange01 - create a database that is not replicated, so only can exist on the Exchange01 server. Create the EVSystemMailbox01 in this database. Make sure the permissions etc are ok.

Exchange02 - create a database that is not replicated, so only can exist on the Exchange02 server. Create the EVSystemMailbox02 in this database. Make sure the permissions etc are ok.

Create Mailbox Archiving task to Exchange01, use EVSystemMailbox01

Create Mailbox Archiving task to Exchange02, use EVSystemMailbox02

The above will make sure that each task uses the dedicated EVsystemmailbox.

Distribute the databases in Exchange

Run provisioning task in EV. Refresh the Tasks container in EV, or close/open EV console. Doubleclick Task, check targets tab. You should see only the active databases.

If now a database fails-over, you need to rerun provisioning. You will then see the failedover database in the targets tab.

In theory, you run provisioning before you run your archiving task, so the archiving task has the most recent information on where the database resides, and which task is needing to archive it.

[AndrewB]

in short, yes, one EV System Mailbox per Exchange Mailbox host. the main caveat here is that you make sure to always have a system mailbox on an active database on each exchange server. this can be difficult depending on how things are configured and how the databases move around in Exchange. one way to avoid a scenario where you end up with both system mailboxes on the same Exchange server after a failover leaving you with no system mailboxes on the other Exchange server is to home them each on a local database outside the DAG. other enterprise applications call for this as well so maybe you already have it in place.

[Ravi_Bhandari]

Many thanks for that, I don't think anyone has considerted databases outside of the DAG. Is it worthwhile just creating a tiny database for the ev system mailbox.

[AndrewB]

i like to think so

[GertjanA]

that's how we do it. this way, you always have the EVSystemMailbox on the exchange server