I am planning to implement Exchange 2010 SP1 in high availability configuration across two data centers (two different sites and different IP segment. 40 sec latency). I have only four servers to use. two DL360’s and two DL380’s. The configuration that I am thinking about is as follows. Site 1 DL360 (HUB, CAS and FWS) DL380 (mailbox) Site 2 DL360 (HUB and CAS) DL380 (Mailbox) Questions 1) Can I configure DAG in this situation? 2) Can I failover to secondary server in normal situation (for maintenance like security patch installation etc.)? 3) I believe there will be some manual tasks when site 1 goes down. Can you please help me to list those tasks? 4) Is it possible to set secondary FWS for DR site? 5) Can I further reduce the TCO by installing all roles on same server i.e DL380 will have all roles (HUB, CAS and mailbox, FWS will be on file server share)? 6) Can I use DFS for FWS Regards, Shridhar

You would need to know how many mailboxes in each site and if you have enough disk space on one of the DL360s to also be a mailbox server. Can we assume the same cpu and memory for all of the servers? McCue

Site 1 will have 400 mailbox. Site 2 will be passive and will only be used if Server in site 1 goes down or incase of DR. I am not planning to use DL360 incase of question 5. I will use DL380 G7. These servers are packed with disk (16 disk to full capacity with separate RAID controller). memory is 36 GB. two 6 core processors. Both DL380's have same config.

Questions 1) Can I configure DAG in this situation? Yes 2) Can I failover to secondary server in normal situation (for maintenance like security patch installation etc.)? Yes 3) I believe there will be some manual tasks when site 1 goes down. Can you please help me to list those tasks? Yes:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd638104.aspx 4) Is it possible to set secondary FWS for DR site? Yes 5) Can I further reduce the TCO by installing all roles on same server i.e DL380 will have all roles (HUB, CAS and mailbox, FWS will be on file server share)? Yes: But make sure you have enough hardware on that server, CPU, RAM and Harddrive 6) Can I use DFS for FWS Yes Cheers, Gulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah | Blog: www.iExchangeRanger.com

Thanks Gulab. 1) Is it possible to use DAC with two node intersite DAG? Is it supported configuration? Do I need to have FSW for DAC Setup? 2) What will happen if my HUB server in site 1 goes down due hardware errors? mails be stuck in mailbox server or they will automatically pass through HUB server in Site 2? Regards, Shridhar

1: No, DAC is for multi site scenario not for the intrasite. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979790.aspx 2: If the HUB transport server goes down than it all depends where the mails have reached, if they are on the HT server than they will in the queue not on the MBX server. If you have multiple HT server (Shadow Redundancy) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd351091.aspx and mails will be redirected to site2 HT server. Cheers, Gulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah | Blog: www.iExchangeRanger.com

I am so sorry. It was about DAC between two datacenter. DAC Between Node 1 in AD Site 1 Datacenter 1 and Node 2 in AD Site 2 Datacenter 2. These datacenters are physically separated by 500 Km distance and are connected by 100 MBPS dedicated line. Regards, Shridhar

Yes, you can. Go through that article it explains everything. Cheers. Gulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah | Blog: www.iExchangeRanger.com

Thanks gulab for help.

No Problem :) Cheers,Gulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah | Blog: www.iExchangeRanger.com