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Enterprise Vault - Add an Additional Server & Migrate to Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster

Moshe_Raz
Level 2

My customer’s environment contains one EV Server at version 12.3.
The customer have today around 6,500 archives and soon he will add another 2,500-3,000 additional archives.
I would like to install an additional EV Server under the same site that will hold also all EV Services.
After this implementation I would like to migrate both servers to an Active/Passive Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster.
Regarding to this scenarios, I have some queries and I will appreciate your help.

Adding an additional EV Server under the same site :

- The existing Vault Store ptn & Indexes locations are under a NAS storage,
Can the new EV Server will able to use these locations also or it will need new ones?I am pretty sure that it will need new locations.Please consider that the new EV Server will hold also all EV Services like the existing EV Server and not only Shopping & Task Controller Services.

- Regarding to the first query, assuming that the new EV Server will need new locations for Vault Store Partitions & Indexes,
Should I need to create them under a Vault Store Group & Index Group with the other EV Server locations?

- The customer have 3 Exchange 2010 Servers on DAG Environment, he will add another Exchange Server to this DAG.
I will add the new Exchange Server as a new target and will create a new Archive Task for it on the new EV Server.
I assume that the new EV Server will archive the mailboxes under this server and will write it to the new Vault Store ptn & Index locations. What will happen if there will be an issue with this Exchange Server and the databases will fail over to another Exchange Server that has been archived by the first EV Server? Does the first EV Server will keep archive all mailboxes under these databases? Does the first EV Server will know that these archives have been archived before by another EV Server? Does the first EV Server will write archive & indexes for them to the new locations or to its existing locations?

- In the end, the existing EV Server will archive the current 3 Exchange Servers and the new EV Server will archive the new Exchange Server. Will it be possible to move one of the existing Exchange Servers to be archived by the new EV Server for redundancy? What are the meanings for this scenario?


Migrate EV Servers to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster : 

- Is it possible to migrate an environment that contains two EV Servers under the same site to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster?

- Does each EV Server will have its own Passive node?

- For a scenario that contains a single EV Server it does not seem to be complicated to migrate to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster according to Veritas Documentations. I didn’t find any document or an article that explains how it can be done with two EV Servers under the same site. I will appreciate to hear about the best way according to Veritas to implement it.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

VirgilDobos
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Hi there,

Please find below inline response:

- The existing Vault Store ptn & Indexes locations are under a NAS storage,
Can the new EV Server will able to use these locations also or it will need new ones?I am pretty sure that it will need new locations.Please consider that the new EV Server will hold also all EV Services like the existing EV Server and not only Shopping & Task Controller Services. Response: You could use the same NAS share, but you will need to create a new folder for each Vault Store Partition. For indexes, it is highly recommended to use NTFS (high-speed disks if possible) and not NAS shares.

- Regarding to the first query, assuming that the new EV Server will need new locations for Vault Store Partitions & Indexes,
Should I need to create them under a Vault Store Group & Index Group with the other EV Server locations? Response: Assuming the new users are part of the same Exchange site (same location), the Vault Stores should go in the same Vault Store Group. For indexes, just create new Index location on the new server, no need to create an Index group.

- The customer have 3 Exchange 2010 Servers on DAG Environment, he will add another Exchange Server to this DAG.
I will add the new Exchange Server as a new target and will create a new Archive Task for it on the new EV Server.
I assume that the new EV Server will archive the mailboxes under this server and will write it to the new Vault Store ptn & Index locations. What will happen if there will be an issue with this Exchange Server and the databases will fail over to another Exchange Server that has been archived by the first EV Server? Does the first EV Server will keep archive all mailboxes under these databases? Does the first EV Server will know that these archives have been archived before by another EV Server? Does the first EV Server will write archive & indexes for them to the new locations or to its existing locations? Response: The EV server running the Exchange Archiving task will archive the emails and store them on the EV Server that hosts the Vault Store/Vault Store Partition where the archive is stored. Hence, no worries about this.

- In the end, the existing EV Server will archive the current 3 Exchange Servers and the new EV Server will archive the new Exchange Server. Will it be possible to move one of the existing Exchange Servers to be archived by the new EV Server for redundancy? What are the meanings for this scenario? Response: Yes, it is as simple as deleting the task on one side and create it on the other EV server (optionally, you will need to remove its MSMQs as well though to keep things clean). Also, notice that the archives will still be stored on the original server unless you move them via Move Archive feature.


Migrate EV Servers to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster : 

- Is it possible to migrate an environment that contains two EV Servers under the same site to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster? Response: Yes, but you will have one cluster for each of the standalone servers.

- Does each EV Server will have its own Passive node? Response: Yes, see above.

- For a scenario that contains a single EV Server it does not seem to be complicated to migrate to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster according to Veritas Documentations. I didn’t find any document or an article that explains how it can be done with two EV Servers under the same site. I will appreciate to hear about the best way according to Veritas to implement it. Response: You will have to migrate them (or convert to clustered format) one by one by following the same procedure.

--Virgil

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3

VirgilDobos
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Hi there,

Please find below inline response:

- The existing Vault Store ptn & Indexes locations are under a NAS storage,
Can the new EV Server will able to use these locations also or it will need new ones?I am pretty sure that it will need new locations.Please consider that the new EV Server will hold also all EV Services like the existing EV Server and not only Shopping & Task Controller Services. Response: You could use the same NAS share, but you will need to create a new folder for each Vault Store Partition. For indexes, it is highly recommended to use NTFS (high-speed disks if possible) and not NAS shares.

- Regarding to the first query, assuming that the new EV Server will need new locations for Vault Store Partitions & Indexes,
Should I need to create them under a Vault Store Group & Index Group with the other EV Server locations? Response: Assuming the new users are part of the same Exchange site (same location), the Vault Stores should go in the same Vault Store Group. For indexes, just create new Index location on the new server, no need to create an Index group.

- The customer have 3 Exchange 2010 Servers on DAG Environment, he will add another Exchange Server to this DAG.
I will add the new Exchange Server as a new target and will create a new Archive Task for it on the new EV Server.
I assume that the new EV Server will archive the mailboxes under this server and will write it to the new Vault Store ptn & Index locations. What will happen if there will be an issue with this Exchange Server and the databases will fail over to another Exchange Server that has been archived by the first EV Server? Does the first EV Server will keep archive all mailboxes under these databases? Does the first EV Server will know that these archives have been archived before by another EV Server? Does the first EV Server will write archive & indexes for them to the new locations or to its existing locations? Response: The EV server running the Exchange Archiving task will archive the emails and store them on the EV Server that hosts the Vault Store/Vault Store Partition where the archive is stored. Hence, no worries about this.

- In the end, the existing EV Server will archive the current 3 Exchange Servers and the new EV Server will archive the new Exchange Server. Will it be possible to move one of the existing Exchange Servers to be archived by the new EV Server for redundancy? What are the meanings for this scenario? Response: Yes, it is as simple as deleting the task on one side and create it on the other EV server (optionally, you will need to remove its MSMQs as well though to keep things clean). Also, notice that the archives will still be stored on the original server unless you move them via Move Archive feature.


Migrate EV Servers to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster : 

- Is it possible to migrate an environment that contains two EV Servers under the same site to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster? Response: Yes, but you will have one cluster for each of the standalone servers.

- Does each EV Server will have its own Passive node? Response: Yes, see above.

- For a scenario that contains a single EV Server it does not seem to be complicated to migrate to a Microsoft Fail-Over Cluster according to Veritas Documentations. I didn’t find any document or an article that explains how it can be done with two EV Servers under the same site. I will appreciate to hear about the best way according to Veritas to implement it. Response: You will have to migrate them (or convert to clustered format) one by one by following the same procedure.

--Virgil

Thank you very much for your answers. I realy appreciate it.

VirgilDobos
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

You are welcome.

--Virgil