First time on these forums - sorry if a repost.I currently work for a retail company that runs an exchange server for around 77 employees.They have 1 server in one location - so if a store loses internet - or corporate looses internet, or if the server goes (and it has, its over 5 years old and barely still functioning) everyone looses email abilities.I was asked to fix this probably and upgrade the server.I have purchased a new server, and was thinking about setting up a cluster.I researched it and a few people told me it is not going to work like I want it to.Also the version of ms server that i run does not support clustering (standard).I am not familier with exchange, and this is the first time i have ever been in charge of an exchange server.So I was wondering if anyone could tell me a better solution other than clustering. the goal is that if one server goes offline there is always a constant backup machine that will handle the work load until primary is back online.is clustering my only choice, or is there another route that i can choose to perform this?

Which version of Exchange do you use?Yes, that's true, clustering feature is not available in Windows Standard edition and Exchange 2003/2007 standard edition.Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com

If you are working with Exchange 2007 and you want to cluster the mailbox server you will need 3 servers. You could always go with just one server and enable LCR. See this link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125195.aspxYour new server will need to be x64 though.So, if you could please provide more details on what version of Exchange you would like to use that would give us a better idea on how to help. BP

You can build an Exchange cluster with only2 servers, depending on the Quorum model and available storage. There are several ways to configure Excahnge for HA solutions, but as mentioned, clustering requires Enterprise level OS and Exchange. If that is an option, provide some more detail and maybe we can answer your questions about clustering. Like, are you going to have the cluster nodes geographically spearated or in the same physical location? Where do you most need the resiliency - geographic site, server hardware, etc... be happy to help out if possible.Also, if you decide to go with clustering, now you have to separate your other Exchange roles onto other hardware- CAS and HUB cannot be on a Windows cluster... Nate

If clustering isnt an option for you, what we can do when product exchange server downs is, disaster recovery (DR): Recover a lost exchange, use dial-tone to recover basic e-mail services and recover a mailbox database to another server with database portability (For Exchange Server 2007) Of course, LCR is a good choice as Bardepony suggested, if you are using Exchange Server 2007 For Exchange Server 2003, please see Disaster Recovery Operations Guide

sorry it took so long to replythe version of exchange is 2003. it isnt really in the company budget to upgrade to 2007.The cluster would be in the same location (i didnt know i could have them in different locations..)i am going to download and read the disaster recovery operations guide that james-luo provided, see if that gets me anywhere.is there another way to have a backupserver take over the primarys job if the primary goes offline besides clustering?.thanks for your help

Actually, have a backupserver take over the primarys job if the primary goes offline equals to Clustering. You will know the high availability that you can give the exchange after you see Exchange 2003 High Availability Guide