Video: demo of upgrading a CCR cluster from Exchange 2007 RTM to SP1

[The_Exchange_Team]

To demonstrate upgrading a CCR cluster from Exchange 2007 RTM to SP1, I have created a video demo that takes you through the process of upgrading the passive node followed by upgrading the CMS to SP1 and finally upgrading the active node. This demo also demonstrates "Managing Clustered Mailbox Server" via the Exchange 2007 SP1 Exchange Management Console.

I also want to make a few points clear. The demo is actually for upgrading the entire CCR environment to SP1, not just the CMS.  It is important that both nodes be upgraded for the entire environment to work properly. I would also like to clarify that at some point in the video, I mention that before you do the upgrade, all resources on CCR-NodeA need to be taken offline or moved to the other node.  You should move the resources to the other node and NOT take them offline. This is because one of the groups should be the default Cluster Group, and if you take that offline, the cluster shuts down.

The following illustrates the environment that was used when creating this video:

You can find product documentation on "How to Upgrade a Clustered Mailbox Server in a CCR Environment to Exchange 2007 SP1", with very detailed steps, at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb676320.aspx.

Your feedback is always welcome. Thanks for watching. There are more demos on Installing CCR and SCC on Windows Server 2008 coming soon. Stay tuned!

- Nagesh Mahadev

[#2]

I really appreciate you guys preparing us for the 'never coming' Exchange 2007 SP1 with your articles, videos, etc. For my surprise, even Windows XP SP3 has got RC1 status. Come on guys, Management is killing me for delaying the project more than 4 months waiting for SP1. Your 'Q4 Calendar Year' is not good for me. I will wait till next week and then I'm gonna apologize to My Exchange 2003 for ditching her for Exchange 2007 and bring her back!!!

[#3]

Thanks Nagesh for this useful post.
I'm looking for an article which describes the upgrade process of an CCR cluster with ForeFront Security for Exchange (SP1) installed on.
Could someone please provide us with at least the steps? Thanks in advance, TOM

[#4]

easy1ndian

I guess you missed it because SP1 came out last week.

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/11/29/447611.aspx

[#5]

my question is pretty off topic, but I'm not sure where I can post on here.. maybe I'll get lucky.
Is there a way to set a rule or something that populates every new mailbox with an email (or anything really) for our acceptable email use policy. (dang lawyers ;))
thank you.. and sorry.

[#6]

Hi Jason,

You could do something along the lines of a logon disclaimer via registry edit as mentioned here:  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/jan05/hey0117.mspx

Or you can do it via the Domain Group Policy.  Edit the Domain Policy and go to computer configuration - security settings - local policies - security options.  Then edit the "Interactive logon:  Message text for users attempting to log on" with your disclaimer.  Of course this only happens when they log on to the workstation and not their Outlook client but could serve as a blanket disclaimer for company network resources.  Would this satisfy your legal department's requirements?

[#7]

Thank you very much Kevin. something strange happened. I checked on 3rd of December and the page was still showing 'come back later' perhaps a cached page. well i am not a bad guy but i think i'll have to ditch my X2K3 again!

[#8]

plus, why is it not available on MSDN yet?

[#9]

Tom, please review:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/antigen/2006/gettingstarted/exchange-userguide/default.mspx?mfr=tru...

On CCR and SCC, you will need to upgrade forefront to SP1 first, then stop the services and finally proceed to exchange upgrade. This is documented in the rel notes, .chm for Exchange Server 2007 and Forefront instructions

[#10]

Great Post.

I have CCR Cluster, 2 node SCC cluster, 4 HT, and 6 CAS servers. How should I deploy sp1 as in what order? Thx

[#11]

Thanks Liban. When installing Exchange 2007 SP1 on multiple Exchange 2007 servers within an organization, it is  recommended that you first upgrade the Client Access servers. In an organization that has multiple Active Directory sites that use multiple Client Access servers in a proxy situation, you must upgrade the Internet-facing Client Access servers before the Client Access servers that are not Internet-facing. You would then upgrade HT and then either CCR or SCC.

[#12]

By any chance do you know when ForeFront Security Server SP1 will actually be released?

Thank you

BTW RC1 of Windows 2008 is now available for download from MSDN

[#13]

RobK, Forefront SP1 is out:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2ceb14d4-404b-4d8f-8a21-ebfc71b2e82b&displa...

[#14]

tfd6412, that's awefully nice of you to try to help, however not all my email users are on my domain.  We're in a hosted environment in fact and have several domains all over.. and several not even on a domain.  Kind of has to be done at the exchange mailbox level.  I had found a script in vb that you could schedual every day that check for mailboxes less then 24 hours old and sends them a message, but it doesn't seem to work in my lab environment for 2007 (it was made for 2000 I think).. and I'm no VB expert.

[#15]

Hi There,
Was wondering if we need to upgrade "exchange rollup 5" before installing on our CCR?

Thanks
Trejay

[#16]

terjay,

No, rollups are not required and in fact - SP1 install will uninstall older rollups.

[#17]

I'm running Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition with Exchange 2007.  I follow the guides in upgrading to Exchange 2007 sp1 and when it goes through the server check it fails with error "this computer is not running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 or later"

what am I missing?

[#18]

We have a 2 node CCR mailbox cluster with 1 Hub/Cass server that we are in the process of upgradeing from 2007 RTM to SP1.  We upgraded the Hub/Cass with no problems.  We then upgraded the Passive nodeb.  We have not yet upgraded node A because I saw a couple of funny errors in the app error log.  I am getting warnings on MSExchangeIS stating that Log truncation open RPC context to the Information store faild for storage group...  Error code 1745.  Is it normal to get this prior to upgrading the cms or node A?  

When we stopped the clustered mailbox server and moved it to node B we noticed that it stayed offline.  Do you have to run the setup /upgradecms before it will go online?  If so about how long will this take?  We only have about 200 mailboxes and may need to schedule downtime if is going to take a while.  We are a little nervious about completing the upgrade until we know that these issues are normal.   Thanks for your help.