BDC+Exchange restore is really not that hard. Experience shows that even a
group of unskilled drooling monkeys can accomplish the task in a week. The
people I choose to hang out with after work can do it within 4 hours.
S.
"Where did all the skilled minions go?"
-----Original Message-----
From: Linton Smith (WBTQ) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 2:55 PM
To: Exchange Discussions
Subject: RE: Exchange installed on BDC
I don't understand the fear of restoring Exchange on a BDC. I can
understand how this might be awkward if the system were the only DC for the
domain, but even this isn't difficult as long as you have a good current
backup of the SAM.
One of my clients has 25+ sites, each with a single server acting as BDC,
File/Print, Exchange, WINS, DHCP, GroupShield - you name it. Number of
users varies from 10 to over 100. They all run remarkably well. When I go
to upgrade hardware, I don't use the Ed Crowley Move Server method - I do it
as though it was a disaster recovery. This allows me to keep the same
server name - important given that client systems reference this for file
and print. It also allows me to complete the job in one day, taking the old
hardware with me.
To do this, I:
- ensure the Exchange queues are clear
- yank the network cable
- run an online backup of Exchange
- shut down and disable Exchange
- plug the network cable back in
- rename the server, keeping it in the domain (allows for quick
re-instatement if rollback is necessary)
- create a backup of all user files etc.
- dump out a listing of user shares (including home directories). I modify
this to recreate them on the new server
- turn off the old system
- delete the old computer account from the domain
- begin building a new BDC with the same name from scratch, allowing the SAM
to replicate from the PDC (what's hard about that?)
- completely re-install all software and drivers from scratch
- restore the Exchange online backup
- restore user data
- recreate shares, printers etc.
- go home.
The obvious drawback of this approach is downtime (typically, 24 hours with
DAT tapes, much less with DLT).
What makes this easy? Complete and up to date documentation describing the
entire configuration, every driver (and source), every printer, every share
and so on. This isn't anything special, however. If you are serious about
disaster recovery, you should be fully documenting your servers anyway.
HTH,
Linton
-----Original Message-----
From: Drewski [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 1:59 PM
To: Exchange Discussions
Subject: RE: Exchange installed on BDC
ever have to restore it from scratch?
Drew (MOS)
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-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of LH
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 12:00 PM
To: Exchange Discussions
Subject: RE: Exchange installed on BDC
We have Exchange 5.5 SP4, also Norton Anvtivirus for Exchange. It is also a
BDC. About 80 users and it has been very happy. Server is Compaq Proliant
ML530, 256MB RAM, 18GB RAID 5.
Lharris
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