My environment: Main Datacenter: Exchange 2007 SP1 UR9 Win2k3 R2 SP2 SCC 3x active nodes running MBX role, 1x passive node + 2x Exchange 2007 Servers running HT and CAS roles, same OS and EX build DR Datacenter: Exchange 2007 SP1 UR9 Win2k3 R2 SP2 3x stand alone servers running MBX role + 2x Exchange 2007 Servers running HT and CAS roles, same OS and EX build Branch Offices: (many, configured identically) Exchange 2007 SP1 UR9 Win2k3 R2 SP2 1x stand alone servers running MBX, HT and CAS roles Notes: - All Storage Groups from all (NON-DR) Exchange Servers except "first storage group" are replicated via SCR to Storage Groups on one of the Exchange Mailbox Servers at my DR site - I currently only have One (1) Public Folder Database in my organization. It resides on one of the servers at my Main Datacenter. - Public Folders exist ONLY for Exchange Forms (specifically Mimosa Nearpoint, if you know what that is). No user content exists in the PF database. Issue: We had an issue where there was a WAN link outage and connectivity from many of our branch offices to the Main Datacenter was disrupted. When this occurred, connectivity to the Public Folders was lost, and users were prompted with the standard "explorer" logon box, like it was trying to log in to the Exchange Server hosting the public folders, but could not. Things continued to work, however, this was mostly an annoyance and cosmetic issue, but anything that relied on the FORMS in the public folders failed. Solution: I was going to create a (second) public folder database on one of the server, however, I found documentation in many places suggesting that if you use SCR in your organization, you could only have one (1) public folder database. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164368(EXCHG.80).aspx) "SCR and public folder replication are two very different forms of replication built into Exchange. Due to interoperability limitations between continuous replication and public folder replication, if more than one Mailbox server in the Exchange organization has a public folder database, public folder replication is enabled and public folder databases should not be hosted in SCR environments." Inside this document, it suggests using SCR on the storage group which hosts the public folder to replicate it, but that would be problematic in the situation I described, because using SCR, you have to set up "dummy" storage groups and db's ahead of time, so you can mount them when needed, and even though they wont be used, they exist. Furthermore, in a WAN-Down situation, there would be an issue if the Public Folder DB is mounted in 2 servers, and when the WAN came back up and AD replicated, it would see this and there would be problems I think. I am confused by this process and need some guidance here. Thanks,

Basically that document is telling you not to use SCR for a public folder database. But you can host a public folder database at your DR site, just make it a standard storage group and allow normal public folder replication to work. This may present problems depending on how you plan to do recovery. You could also put the public folder storage group and database on a separate server, or on a hub transport server. -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "Troy12n" wrote in message news:f70c83b4-6931-4bfa-b052-211a08a40f72... My environment: Main Datacenter: Exchange 2007 SP1 UR9 Win2k3 R2 SP2 SCC 3x active nodes running MBX role, 1x passive node + 2x Exchange 2007 Servers running HT and CAS roles, same OS and EX build DR Datacenter: Exchange 2007 SP1 UR9 Win2k3 R2 SP2 3x stand alone servers running MBX role + 2x Exchange 2007 Servers running HT and CAS roles, same OS and EX build Branch Offices: (many, configured identically) Exchange 2007 SP1 UR9 Win2k3 R2 SP2 1x stand alone servers running MBX, HT and CAS roles Notes: - All Storage Groups from all (NON-DR) Exchange Servers except "first storage group" are replicated via SCR to Storage Groups on one of the Exchange Mailbox Servers at my DR site - I currently only have One (1) Public Folder Database in my organization. It resides on one of the servers at my Main Datacenter. - Public Folders exist ONLY for Exchange Forms (specifically Mimosa Nearpoint, if you know what that is). No user content exists in the PF database. Issue: We had an issue where there was a WAN link outage and connectivity from many of our branch offices to the Main Datacenter was disrupted. When this occurred, connectivity to the Public Folders was lost, and users were prompted with the standard "explorer" logon box, like it was trying to log in to the Exchange Server hosting the public folders, but could not. Things continued to work, however, this was mostly an annoyance and cosmetic issue, but anything that relied on the FORMS in the public folders failed. Solution: I was going to create a (second) public folder database on one of the server, however, I found documentation in many places suggesting that if you use SCR in your organization, you could only have one (1) public folder database. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164368(EXCHG.80).aspx) "SCR and public folder replication are two very different forms of replication built into Exchange. Due to interoperability limitations between continuous replication and public folder replication, if more than one Mailbox server in the Exchange organization has a public folder database, public folder replication is enabled and public folder databases should not be hosted in SCR environments." Inside this document, it suggests using SCR on the storage group which hosts the public folder to replicate it, but that would be problematic in the situation I described, because using SCR, you have to set up "dummy" storage groups and db's ahead of time, so you can mount them when needed, and even though they wont be used, they exist. Furthermore, in a WAN-Down situation, there would be an issue if the Public Folder DB is mounted in 2 servers, and when the WAN came back up and AD replicated, it would see this and there would be problems I think. I am confused by this process and need some guidance here. Thanks, Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Basically that document is telling you not to use SCR for a public folder database. But you can host a public folder database at your DR site, just make it a standard storage group and allow normal public folder replication to work. This may present problems depending on how you plan to do recovery. You could also put the public folder storage group and database on a separate server, or on a hub transport server. That seems contrary to the documentation. Here is some more confusing stuff from that article: (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164368(EXCHG.80).aspx) The following are the recommended configurations for using public folder databases and SCR in your Exchange organization : (NOTE: this says in the entire ORG) If you have a single Mailbox server in your Exchange organization, and that Mailbox server is a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC, the Mailbox server can host a public folder database and the storage group containing the public folder database can be enabled for SCR, provided the storage group is not enabled for LCR. In this configuration, there is a single public folder database in the Exchange organization. Thus, public folder replication is disabled. In this scenario, public folder database redundancy is achieved using SCR; SCR maintains two copies of your public folder database. If you have multiple Mailbox servers and only one of the Mailbox servers contains a public folder database, and that Mailbox server is a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC, the Mailbox server can host a public folder database and the storage group containing the public folder database can be enabled for SCR , provided the storage group is not enabled for LCR. In this configuration, there is a single public folder database in the Exchange organization . Thus, public folder replication is disabled. In this scenario, public folder database redundancy is also achieved using SCR . If you are migrating public folder data into a storage group enabled for SCR, you can use public folder replication to move the contents of a public folder database from a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC to the SCR-enabled storage group. When replication has completed successfully, all public folder databases outside of the SCR-enabled storage groups should be removed, and you should not host any other public folder databases in the Exchange organization. If you are migrating public folder data out of a storage group enabled for SCR, you can use public folder replication to move the contents of a public folder database from the storage group to a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC. When replication has completed successfully, all public folder databases inside of all SCR-enabled storage groups should be removed and all subsequent public folder databases should not be hosted in SCR-enabled storage groups. I am at a loss to comprehend #2, it seems to indicate you can use SCR to replicate a storage group that has a public folder database. But how would you actually activate the storage group if you can only have 1 public folder store in your exchange ORG when utilizing SCR? Also, in order to put the public folders on my Hub Transport server, I would have to install the Mailbox Role, which I really dont want to do.

I read the document. -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "Troy12n" wrote in message news:96654f36-88da-4196-9577-ebf434e15a93... Basically that document is telling you not to use SCR for a public folder database. But you can host a public folder database at your DR site, just make it a standard storage group and allow normal public folder replication to work. This may present problems depending on how you plan to do recovery. You could also put the public folder storage group and database on a separate server, or on a hub transport server. That seems contrary to the documentation. Here is some more confusing stuff from that article: (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164368(EXCHG.80).aspx) The following are the recommended configurations for using public folder databases and SCR in your Exchange organization : (NOTE: this says in the entire ORG) If you have a single Mailbox server in your Exchange organization, and that Mailbox server is a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC, the Mailbox server can host a public folder database and the storage group containing the public folder database can be enabled for SCR, provided the storage group is not enabled for LCR. In this configuration, there is a single public folder database in the Exchange organization. Thus, public folder replication is disabled. In this scenario, public folder database redundancy is achieved using SCR; SCR maintains two copies of your public folder database. If you have multiple Mailbox servers and only one of the Mailbox servers contains a public folder database, and that Mailbox server is a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC, the Mailbox server can host a public folder database and the storage group containing the public folder database can be enabled for SCR , provided the storage group is not enabled for LCR. In this configuration, there is a single public folder database in the Exchange organization . Thus, public folder replication is disabled. In this scenario, public folder database redundancy is also achieved using SCR . If you are migrating public folder data into a storage group enabled for SCR, you can use public folder replication to move the contents of a public folder database from a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC to the SCR-enabled storage group. When replication has completed successfully, all public folder databases outside of the SCR-enabled storage groups should be removed, and you should not host any other public folder databases in the Exchange organization. If you are migrating public folder data out of a storage group enabled for SCR, you can use public folder replication to move the contents of a public folder database from the storage group to a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC. When replication has completed successfully, all public folder databases inside of all SCR-enabled storage groups should be removed and all subsequent public folder databases should not be hosted in SCR-enabled storage groups. I am at a loss to comprehend #2, it seems to indicate you can use SCR to replicate a storage group that has a public folder database. But how would you actually activate the storage group if you can only have 1 public folder store in your exchange ORG when utilizing SCR? Also, in order to put the public folders on my Hub Transport server, I would have to install the Mailbox Role, which I really dont want to do. Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

I read the document. -- So can you answer my question?

I did. I'm sorry that you didn't like my answer. -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "Troy12n" wrote in message news:35b2684f-f734-401d-a13c-5e6ac5725174... I read the document. -- So can you answer my question? Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

I did. I'm sorry that you didn't like my answer. Your answer defies all documentation regarding Exchange 2007 I have found on Microsoft's website including the document I linked. [quote]Basically that document is telling you not to use SCR for a public folder database.[/quote] Does not jive with: [quote]If you have multiple Mailbox servers and only one of the Mailbox servers contains a public folder database, and that Mailbox server is a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC, the Mailbox server can host a public folder database and the storage group containing the public folder database can be enabled for SCR , provided the storage group is not enabled for LCR. In this configuration, there is a single public folder database in the Exchange organization . Thus, public folder replication is disabled. In this scenario, public folder database redundancy is also achieved using SCR .[/quote] Furthermore [quote] But you can host a public folder database at your DR site, just make it a standard storage group and allow normal public folder replication to work.[/quote] Is contrary to: [quote]CR and public folder replication are two very different forms of replication built into Exchange. Due to interoperability limitations between continuous replication and public folder replication, if more than one Mailbox server in the Exchange organization has a public folder database, public folder replication is enabled and public folder databases should not be hosted in SCR environments.[/quote] Also [quote] You could also put the public folder storage group and database on a separate server, or on a hub transport server.[/quote] Since you can only have one (1) Public Folder Database in your entire Exchange Organization according to the Microsoft documents, this suggestion will not work if I need to have a public folder database in two (2) different locations. So which information is accurate? Its not an issue of not liking your answer, I just believe it is inaccurate. If it is accurate, then Microsoft's published information is inaccurate. Which should I believe?

Comments inline below. -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "Troy12n" wrote in message news:563c9691-ce58-4089-93b8-65ff2eb0f5b6... I did. I'm sorry that you didn't like my answer. Your answer defies all documentation regarding Exchange 2007 I have found on Microsoft's website including the document I linked. [quote]Basically that document is telling you not to use SCR for a public folder database.[/quote] Does not jive with: [quote]If you have multiple Mailbox servers and only one of the Mailbox servers contains a public folder database, and that Mailbox server is a stand-alone Mailbox server or a clustered mailbox server in an SCC, the Mailbox server can host a public folder database and the storage group containing the public folder database can be enabled for SCR , provided the storage group is not enabled for LCR. In this configuration, there is a single public folder database in the Exchange organization . Thus, public folder replication is disabled. In this scenario, public folder database redundancy is also achieved using SCR .[/quote] >>> There are so many limitations with using SCR to replicate public folder content, you shouldn't bother to do it. It's so easy to set up a non-SCR replica of a public store at the DR site, that why would you want to bother using SCR for that? Perhaps my statements below will help you to understand what you are missing. Furthermore [quote] But you can host a public folder database at your DR site, just make it a standard storage group and allow normal public folder replication to work.[/quote] Is contrary to: [quote]CR and public folder replication are two very different forms of replication built into Exchange. Due to interoperability limitations between continuous replication and public folder replication, if more than one Mailbox server in the Exchange organization has a public folder database, public folder replication is enabled and public folder databases should not be hosted in SCR environments.[/quote] >>> Reread that. It's saying not to use SCR for public folders, but you want to argue with me about it. Also [quote] You could also put the public folder storage group and database on a separate server, or on a hub transport server.[/quote] Since you can only have one (1) Public Folder Database in your entire Exchange Organization according to the Microsoft documents, this suggestion will not work if I need to have a public folder database in two (2) different locations. >>> You can have only 1 if you use SCR (or CCR for that matter) to replicate it. Don't use SCR or CCR to replicate it and you can have 100 replicas in 100 locations. So which information is accurate? Its not an issue of not liking your answer, I just believe it is inaccurate. If it is accurate, then Microsoft's published information is inaccurate. Which should I believe? >>> I have answered your questions accurately throughout this thread. You should believe what I am telling you and not what you have misinterpreted from Microsoft's explanation. Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Ok, thank you, I believe the MS documentation is very misleading in this regards. I was able to create multiple PF databases in an exchange org using CCR in my test domain, but sometimes things that work, but are not supported is a situation I do not want to put myself in. I was not trying to argue with you, you definitely explained your answer better this last time.

Or perhaps you listened better! -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "Troy12n" wrote in message news:cff246d2-c055-4ce5-a019-56e5c5e6142c... Ok, thank you, I believe the MS documentation is very misleading in this regards. I was able to create multiple PF databases in an exchange org using CCR in my test domain, but sometimes things that work, but are not supported is a situation I do not want to put myself in. I was not trying to argue with you, you definitely explained your answer better this last time.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."