Last week we updated our Exchange TechNet articles. Within that update are two new articles that I wanted to call out: Understanding High Availability Factors - This article summarizes my US...
Updated Jul 01, 2019
Version 2.0
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@Exchange,
No I'm definitely not confusing the RAD script with the CRD script. Like I said, I want to schedule a task that will move databases. It doesn't seem this can be done, because the commands to do it, wait for confirmation.
For example, I'd like to schedule a task run 15 minutes after startup to run "RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1 -BalanceDbsByActivationPreference". This way when a server comes back up after a reboot, the databases will be automatically moved back to it. Sounds easy enough right? The problem is, as I mentioned, the databases will not move without human interaction. The script waits for confirmation. If no one is there to type "Y" for Yes, and hit enter, the script will not complete, and the databases will not be moved.
At 54:30 of Ross's TechEd session video, he starts talking about this. At 55:23 he says "So you can implement this script as a scheduled task if you will, and have it automatically redistribute your databases back to the lowest activation preferences, and thus have an automatic means to get your databases back to the preferred state."
That is the goal. There's nothing in the documentation on how to bypass confirmation. The script itself uses the Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase command, which I have found will ask for confirmation every time. Now the documentation on this command says you can use the "-Confirm" switch to force it to ask for confirmation, however there's nothing that says how to make it NOT ask. You would think that by default the command would not ask for confirmation without that switch being used, but this is not the case.
Example:
[PS] D:exchange serverscripts>Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase -Identity testdb -ActivateOnServer mail2
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Moving mailbox database "testdb" from server "MAIL1.domain.com" to server "MAIL2.domain.com".
Yes Yes to All No No to All [?] Help (default is "Y"):
Notice I did not use the -Confirm switch, and it still asks for Confirmation. Using this command in a script, which the RAD script does, does not allow for automation via scheduled task, because it sits there waiting for an answer.
So again, if what Ross said in his TechEd session is true, how is this achieved?
No I'm definitely not confusing the RAD script with the CRD script. Like I said, I want to schedule a task that will move databases. It doesn't seem this can be done, because the commands to do it, wait for confirmation.
For example, I'd like to schedule a task run 15 minutes after startup to run "RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1 -BalanceDbsByActivationPreference". This way when a server comes back up after a reboot, the databases will be automatically moved back to it. Sounds easy enough right? The problem is, as I mentioned, the databases will not move without human interaction. The script waits for confirmation. If no one is there to type "Y" for Yes, and hit enter, the script will not complete, and the databases will not be moved.
At 54:30 of Ross's TechEd session video, he starts talking about this. At 55:23 he says "So you can implement this script as a scheduled task if you will, and have it automatically redistribute your databases back to the lowest activation preferences, and thus have an automatic means to get your databases back to the preferred state."
That is the goal. There's nothing in the documentation on how to bypass confirmation. The script itself uses the Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase command, which I have found will ask for confirmation every time. Now the documentation on this command says you can use the "-Confirm" switch to force it to ask for confirmation, however there's nothing that says how to make it NOT ask. You would think that by default the command would not ask for confirmation without that switch being used, but this is not the case.
Example:
[PS] D:exchange serverscripts>Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase -Identity testdb -ActivateOnServer mail2
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Moving mailbox database "testdb" from server "MAIL1.domain.com" to server "MAIL2.domain.com".
Yes Yes to All No
Notice I did not use the -Confirm switch, and it still asks for Confirmation. Using this command in a script, which the RAD script does, does not allow for automation via scheduled task, because it sits there waiting for an answer.
So again, if what Ross said in his TechEd session is true, how is this achieved?