It is very incorrect that Outlook doesn't update when there is a CAS server migration, as long as Autodiscover is working properly in the domain.
The best way we setup Autodiscover was as an alias that resolved to the IP address of an Exchange aware Load Balancer. With EX2010, you can use the free Windows Network Load Balancer IF you have your mailbox and CAS roles on separate servers. If you have everything in one box, then you should buy a 3rd party load balancer, This is all the recommendation of Microsoft, not me. They certify many Load Balancers to use, we use Kemp and are happy with them. So, for example, in our environment: In DNS, created an A record with IP address of load balancer called mail.contoso.com In DNS, created an Alias record for Autodiscover.contoso.com that points to mail.contoso.com On Load Balancer, created a Virtual Service with the IP corresponding to mail.contoso.com. In the settings for the virtual service, listed the real server IPs of the CAS servers. We just finished an upgrade from EX2010 to EX2013 (so using new servers) using this method and never had to update anyone's Outlook. We never had a CAS array either before. With the project you are facing, and if I were a consultant, I would suggest you upgrade to EX2013 because it is much more friendly with DAG and CAS servers in different AD sites. Also, there is no longer a need to Load Balance at layer 7 as with EX2010, which makes CAS load balancing much less of a pain the butt. In fact, you can even use DNS round robin for load balancing in EX2013, but you will not see anyone recommending that approach for medium to large organizations. On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 3:51 PM, Kennedy, Jim <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/03/23/demystifying-the-cas-array-object-part-1.aspx > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Richard Stovall > *Sent:* Wednesday, February 25, 2015 3:47 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [Exchange] CAS Array question > > > > The CAS array is apparently just an AD object that tells internal Outlook > clients where to find CAS servers. If you don't create one at Exchange > 2010 installation, one is created for you with the fqdn of your mailbox > server. The issue is down the line (like now, for me) when you want to > move mailboxes to a new server in order to decommission the old one. > Outlook doesn't update and each user profile has to be reconfigured either > manually or via pushing a prf file. (I may have some of the description > not quite right, but that's the gist of it.) I figure it's better to fix > the problem now rather than leave it to the next person to figure out. > > > > On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 3:37 PM, Steve Ens <[email protected]> wrote: > > I dunno Richie, do you really need an array for 100 users? I have a > single server virtualized. Never any problems with client access. > > > > On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 2:29 PM, Richard Stovall <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I will soon be moving Exchange 2010 to new hardware (or maybe virtual > hardware, but that's another question). > > > > I have a single server with fewer than 100 users spread across two AD > sites. Of course I did not create a CAS array all those years ago, so I am > preparing to deal with the ramifications of that now. > > > > Currently all mailboxes are (obviously) hosted on one server in one of the > sites, but that may change in the future if we grow, add data center > capacity, whatever. > > > > Given the need to create a CAS array now, should I create a single > site-specific array for each site? Can an array for site 2 specify an ip > in site 1? If not, should I create a single array and not specify the site? > > > > Thanks for the help, > > > > Richard > > > > >
