Dear All, I have a question regarding CAS arrays, can we create 2 CAS arrays in one exchange organization. The Scenario is the following 1. We have 2 Sites one is Head office another one is data center in which we will deploy 1 hub/cas and 2 mailbox servers in head office and 2 hub/cas and 2mailbox servers in data center. 2. The site where we will deploy 1 hub/cas which is head office will connect directly to internet because of disjoint name spaces. This is required by our CEO that those users who are in head office and having abc.com name space, email should come directly from internet to this hub/cas server 3. The site where we will deploy 2 hub/cas which is Data center will also connect directly to internet because of disjoint name spaces. This is required by our CEO that those users who are in data center and having xyz.com name space, email should come directly from internet to those hub/cas servers. These are 2 different sites and internal email will go as usually emails routes but from outside both sites will recieve email separately. in this case on the second site where i have only one hub/cas server will be expended to up to 3 hub/cas servers and i think it would be good to create the CAS Array initially so that we can just add servers in to the CAS Array. However in the data center site where have 2 hub/cas servers will be a cas array. Now my questions are 1. is it possible to create 2 CAS arrays 2. is it possible to tell the Mailbox servers that they are related to their own CAS Arrays 3. if i would create one CAS array and put all HUB/CAS servers including both sites in to one CAS Array then what will happen (i think it will do the NLB and request will be distributed parallel if yes then i dont want only one CAS array) 4. In this case how many certificates will be required 2 or only 1 5. What would be MX and A record for both sites CAS Arrays and SMTP Regards, SKHATRI

Have you read the documentation on the CAS Array configuration and operation? It would answer many of your questions, particularly about the mailbox databases. CAS Arrays are attached to the AD site, so you can have as many as you like. Therefore if you have CAS servers in multiple AD sites, then you must have multiple arrays. CAS arrays cannot stretch across AD sites. The CAS array is not part of your SSL certificate, so you will need a single certificate with all of the CAS servers, plus the common name/s and autodiscover. It also has nothing to do with SMTP, that is the Hub Transport role. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources

In addition to above, here are 3 links for you to read through http://howtoexchange.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/configuring-client-access-array-for-exchange-2010-walkthrough/ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee332317.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd351149.aspxJonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

Hi, thank you for your answeres appreciate it one more question if i have one CAS server in a site can i create a CAS array so that if in future i would like to add another CAS i can simply add that server in to this Array. Regards,SKHATRI

Yes that's a good idea!Jonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

so that means it is also supported by Microsoft and if Microsoft came for auditing it will not harm any thing right. Regards,SKHATRI

AFAIK that's fully supported, you can have "as many" casarrays you want in a site If it shouldn't be active, just don't set it as rpcclientaccessserverJonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog