Hi from Alabama. This is a follow-up to my last post, which was about building a lab with Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2003 using a PowerShell script. This post is about building the same lab using Exchange Server 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. I just got a new server and started playing with 64-bit Windows Server 2008 guests in Hyper-V, and that gave me the tools I needed to build the new lab.
This lab is exactly the same lab (from the Exchange viewpoint) as the one referenced in my earlier post. Same servers, same IP addresses, same naming convention, etc. For a refresher on those, please see my previous post. I did change the lab domain name to contoso.com. Not that it affects anything in the lab - make your domain anything you want it to be.
On Windows Server 2008, I found that the pre-Exchange setup steps were much simpler than on Windows Server 2003. Of course, there are some steps that are exactly the same, but much of the installation of pre-requisites (IIS, ADAM, failover clustering, etc.) is handled by the script.
Also, there are some significant differences in the scripts and some slight changes in the CSV files, so a careful comparison of the Windows Server 2003-based script and CSV files could be helpful.
Here's a diagram of the lab that we will be using (same lab diagram as Exchange 2007 on Windows 2003, I just added it here for your convenience):
I found that the lab build-out was much easier on Windows Server 2008. There was very little I had to do to prepare the base operating system install for my script.
Here are the steps you need to take to prepare your lab:
Node Name | IP Address | Subnet Mask |
Node1 | 10.1.1.101 | 255.255.255.0 |
Node2 | 10.1.1.102 | 255.255.255.0 |
NOTE: That says "R1" and "R2" on the end, not "N1" and "N2". This is for the "Enable-ContinuousReplicationHostName" cmdlet where we need unique names for cluster resources to configure continuous replication across a redundant network.
The CSV files for this lab are very similar to the Windows 2003-based lab, but there are some differences. Be careful to use the right set of CSV files with the right operating system. Each of these files is detailed below by describing what each element is. The actual format, as CSV files, is that the descriptive name of each element is in the first line of the file, with the various attributes to be given to the install script on each line below. Take care to ensure that the right attributes line up in the same order as the "header line" in the first line of the file.
Descriptive Name (from file) | Description | Example |
ProductKey | This is a product key for Exchange Server 2007 that will be applied to each and every server in the environment. | 12345-12345-12345-12345-12345 |
GCServer |
This is the short name of a single global catalog server that will be used on all of the commands in the script that write to the Active Directory. This will ensure that when we have writes to Active Directory followed quickly by a read that Active Directory replication delays will not affect execution of our script. |
labhsv-dc001 |
FirstPFServer | This is the short name of the first Hub Transport server installed in the organization. Could be used in the future to facilitate replication of public folders. | labhsv-xhb001 |
Descriptive Name (from file) | Description | Example |
HTName |
This is the name of the Hub Transport server where the file share witness (FSW) share will be hosted. This was added to allow for FSW creation on two different Hub Transport servers in two different data centers with the same data file. |
labhsv-xhb001 |
CMSName |
This is the name (not necessarily the FQDN) of the clustered mailbox server (CMS) for which given FSW is being created. |
labhsv-xmb001 |
Share |
This is the share name that will be created on the Hub Transport server and later utilized by the CMS (the specific CMS in this row) as the FSW share. |
fsw-labhsv-xmb001 |
ClusterServer |
This is the account (in domain\account format) that represents the cluster machine account. |
corp\labhsv-xcl001 |
Descriptive Name (from file) | Description | Example |
CMSName |
This is the name (not necessarily the FQDN) of the CMS for which given FSW is being created. |
labhsv-xmb001 |
ClusterAddr |
This is the TCP/IP address of the cluster represented by the CMSName that defines this row. |
192.168.0.182 |
CMSAddr |
This is the TCP/IP address of the CMS that defines this row. |
192.168.0.183 |
Node1ReplName |
This is a host name used by the Exchange cluster to define replication on a redundant network. This name is specific to the first cluster node, and should be the same as the cluster node with the "n" node designator replaced with "r". For the example here, the cluster node would be labhsv-xcl001n1. |
labhsv-xcl001r1 |
Node1ReplAddr |
This is the TCP/IP address of the Node1ReplName on this row. |
10.1.1.1 |
Node2ReplName |
This is a host name used by the Exchange cluster to define replication on a redundant network. This name is specific to the second cluster node, and should be the same as the cluster node with the "n" node designator replaced with "r". For the example here, the cluster node would be labhsv-xcl001n2. |
labhsv-xcl001r2 |
Node2ReplAddr |
This is the TCP/IP address of the Node2ReplName on this row. |
10.1.1.2 |
Descriptive Name (from file) |
Description | Example |
SCRName |
This is the name (not necessarily the FQDN) of the SCR target server. |
labhsv-xsc001 |
SourceCMS |
This is the name (not necessarily the FQDN) of the CMS that will act as an SCR source. |
labhsv-xmb001 |
If the lab is built with the machine names and IP addresses listed above, the included CSV files will work without modification.
During execution of the script, it is assumed that the CSV files are located in the same directory as the script itself.
You should deploy this lab in the following order:
On each server where Exchange will be deployed, follow these steps:
As with my last blog, you can download the scripts for the Windows 2008-based lab from here.
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.