This document discusses high availability and site resilience features in Exchange Server 2013, including: - Dynamic quorum, which allows a cluster to maintain quorum and continue running even if multiple nodes fail sequentially by dynamically adjusting quorum vote assignments. - Guidance for performing maintenance on Exchange Server 2013 database availability group (DAG) members, which is different than Exchange 2010 due to architectural changes. - Resources like Microsoft blogs that provide additional information on Exchange and other Office products.

2. Exchange Server 2013
High Availability and Site Resilience
(2/2)
Scott Schnoll
Senior Content Developer
Microsoft Corporation
scott.schnoll@microsoft.com
http://aka.ms/Schnoll
Twitter: @Schnoll
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

3. Agenda – Part 1
• DAG Architecture
• Witness Server
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

4. Agenda – Part 2
• Dynamic Quorum
• DAG member maintenance
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

5. DYNAMIC QUORUM
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

6. Dynamic Quorum
• In Windows Server 2008 R2, quorum majority
is fixed, based on the initial cluster
configuration
• In Windows Server 2012 (and later), cluster
quorum majority is determined by the set of
nodes that are active members of the cluster
at a given time
• This new feature is called Dynamic Quorum,
and it is enabled for all clusters by default
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

7. Dynamic Quorum
• Cluster dynamically manages vote assignment
to nodes, based on the state of each node
– When a node shuts down or crashes, the node loses its
quorum vote
– When a node rejoins the cluster, it regains its quorum vote
• By adjusting the assignment of quorum votes,
the cluster can dynamically increase or
decrease the number of quorum votes
required to keep running
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

8. Dynamic Quorum
• By dynamically adjusting the quorum
majority requirement, a cluster can sustain
sequential node shutdowns to a single
node
– This is referred to as a “Last Man Standing” scenario
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

9. Dynamic Quorum
• Does not allow a cluster to sustain a
simultaneous failure of majority of voting
members
– To continue running, the cluster must always maintain
quorum after a node shutdown or failure
• If you manually remove a node’s vote, the
cluster does not dynamically add the vote
back
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

10. Dynamic Quorum
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
Majority of 7 required

11. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 4 required
7
X
X
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

12. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 3 required
X
X
#mstechdays
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

13. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 2 required
X
X
X
#mstechdays
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

14. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 2 required
X
X
X
#mstechdays
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

15. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 2 required
X
0
1
#mstechdays
X
X
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

16. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 2 required
X
1
0
#mstechdays
X
X
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

17. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 2 required
X
X
1
0
#mstechdays
X
X
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

18. Dynamic Quorum
Majority of 2 required
X
X
X
0
#mstechdays
1
X
X
X
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration
X

19. Dynamic Quorum
Use Get-ClusterNode to verify DynamicWeight property
0 = does not have quorum vote
1 = has quorum vote
Get-ClusterNode <Name> | ft name, *weight, state
Name
---EX1
#mstechdays
DynamicWeight NodeWeight State
------------- ---------- ----1
1
Up
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

20. Dynamic Quorum
• Works with most DAGs
– Third-party replication DAGs not tested
•
•
•
•
All internal testing has it enabled
Office 365 servers use it
Exchange is not dynamic quorum-aware
Does not change quorum requirements
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

21. Dynamic Quorum
• Cluster team guidance:
– Generally increases the availability of the cluster
– Enabled by default, strongly recommended to leave enabled
– Allows the cluster to continue running in failure scenarios
that are not possible when this option is disabled
• Exchange team guidance:
– Leave it enabled for majority of DAG members
– In some cases where a Windows 2008 R2 DAG would have
lost quorum, a Windows 2012 DAG can maintain quorum
– Don’t factor it into availability plans
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

22. DATABASE AVAILABILITY GROUP
MEMBER MAINTENANCE
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

23. DAG Member Maintenance
• Exchange 2010 guidance
–
–
–
–
Run StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1
Perform the maintenance (e.g., install the SP or UR)
Run StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1
Optionally rebalance the DAG by running
RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1
• Exchange 2013 guidance different due to
architectural changes
– http://aka.ms/DAG2013MM
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

24. DAG Member Maintenance
Go into maintenance mode
Set-ServerComponentState <Server> -Component HubTransport -State Draining -Requester Maintenance
Restart-Service MSExchangeTransport
Set-ServerComponentState <Server> -Component UMCallRouter –State Draining –Requester Maintenance
Redirect-Message -Server <Server> -Target <FQDNTarget>
Suspend-ClusterNode <Server>
Set-MailboxServer <Server> -DatabaseCopyActivationDisabledAndMoveNow $True
Set-MailboxServer <Server> -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Blocked
Set-ServerComponentState <Server> -Component ServerWideOffline -State Inactive -Requester Maintenance
Verify production mode
Get-ServerComponentState <Server> | ft Component,State -Autosize
Get-MailboxServer <Server> | ft DatabaseCopy* -Autosize
Get-ClusterNode <Server> | fl
Get-Queue
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

25. DAG Member Maintenance
Go into production
Set-ServerComponentState <Server> -Component ServerWideOffline -State Active -Requester Maintenance
Set-ServerComponentState <Server> -Component UMCallRouter –State Active –Requester Maintenance
Resume-ClusterNode <Server>
Set-MailboxServer <Server> -DatabaseCopyActivationDisabledAndMoveNow $False
Set-MailboxServer <Server> -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Unrestricted
Set-ServerComponentState <Server> -Component HubTransport -State Active -Requester Maintenance
Restart-Service MSExchangeTransport
Verify production mode
Get-ServerComponentState <Server> | ft Component,State -Autosize
Get-MailboxServer <Server> | ft DatabaseCopy* -Autosize
Get-ClusterNode <Server> | fl
Get-Queue
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

26. Related Content
• Exchange 2013 Dimensionnement et
Performance – 12/02/14 – 17:45-18:30,
salle 252B
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

27. APPENDIX – RESOURCES
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

28. Office-related Blogs
•
•
•
•
•
•
Office Blogs – http://blogs.office.com/
Exchange Team Blog – http://aka.ms/ehlo
Lync Team Blog – http://aka.ms/lyncblog
SharePoint Blog – http://aka.ms/spblog
Yammer Blog – http://aka.ms/yammerblog
Outlook Blog – http://aka.ms/outlookblog
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

29. Office-related Blogs
• Excel Blog – http://aka.ms/excelblog
• Power Bi Blog – http://aka.ms/pbiblog
• Office 365 for Business Blog –
http://aka.ms/o365fbblog
• Project Blog – http://aka.ms/msprojectblog
• OneNote Blog – http://aka.ms/onenoteblog
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

30. Office-related Blogs
•
•
•
•
•
Access Blog – http://aka.ms/accessblog
OneDrive Blog – http://blog.onedrive.com/
PowerPoint Blog – http://aka.ms/pptblog
Word Blog – http://aka.ms/wordblog
Office for Mac Blog – http://aka.ms/ofmblog
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

31. Promote with customers
www.iammec.com
Internal site for all info
aka.ms/MECfield
Sign up for the newsletter
<mecupdates>
Join the conversation
#iammec

32. QUESTIONS?
Thank You!
#mstechdays
Infrastructure, communication & collaboration

33. Digital is
business