Moving Exchange Cluster to new SAN hardware   

Hi guys,

We are planning on moving our Exchange cluster from our old SAN to our new 
SAN.  The old one is out of warranty.  

Our plan A consists of using dumpcfg from the resource kit, which we have 
used successfully in the past.  But we like to be prepared with a plan B or 
C.  Can anyone offer any help as to what steps need to be taken to move an 
Exchange cluster from one SAn to another?

thanks in advance.

date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:50:05 -0700   author:   decipher

Re: Moving Exchange Cluster to new SAN hardware   

If you are on Windows Server 2003, the cluster recovery tool works even 
better then dumpcfg. 
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/TechRef/7e782055-450b-46dd-a0a4-164eebf2ae18.mspx

Get the tools here - 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en

Cheers,

Rod

MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
http://www.itsummitseries.com/experts/fournier.htm - My Cluster class near 
you!

"decipher"  wrote in message 
news:762AB340-E069-42D7-88B5-EF5B23703647@microsoft.com...
> Hi guys,
>
> We are planning on moving our Exchange cluster from our old SAN to our new
> SAN.  The old one is out of warranty.
>
> Our plan A consists of using dumpcfg from the resource kit, which we have
> used successfully in the past.  But we like to be prepared with a plan B 
> or
> C.  Can anyone offer any help as to what steps need to be taken to move an
> Exchange cluster from one SAn to another?
>
> thanks in advance.

date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 13:15:02 -0500   author:   Rodney R. Fournier [MVP]

Re: Moving Exchange Cluster to new SAN hardware   

Thanks for the response.  We are on windows 2000.  With Exchange 2000sp3.  
Any other ideas to move exchange from one san to another?

"Rodney R. Fournier [MVP]" wrote:

> If you are on Windows Server 2003, the cluster recovery tool works even 
> better then dumpcfg. 
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/TechRef/7e782055-450b-46dd-a0a4-164eebf2ae18.mspx
> 
> Get the tools here - 
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Rod
> 
> MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
> http://www.nw-america.com - Clustering Website
> http://msmvps.com/clustering - Blog
> http://www.itsummitseries.com/experts/fournier.htm - My Cluster class near 
> you!
> 
> "decipher"  wrote in message 
> news:762AB340-E069-42D7-88B5-EF5B23703647@microsoft.com...
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > We are planning on moving our Exchange cluster from our old SAN to our new
> > SAN.  The old one is out of warranty.
> >
> > Our plan A consists of using dumpcfg from the resource kit, which we have
> > used successfully in the past.  But we like to be prepared with a plan B 
> > or
> > C.  Can anyone offer any help as to what steps need to be taken to move an
> > Exchange cluster from one SAn to another?
> >
> > thanks in advance. 
> 
> 
>

date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 12:52:06 -0700   author:   decipher

Re: Moving Exchange Cluster to new SAN hardware   

"decipher"  wrote in message 
news:762AB340-E069-42D7-88B5-EF5B23703647@microsoft.com...
> Hi guys,
>
> We are planning on moving our Exchange cluster from our old SAN to our new
> SAN.  The old one is out of warranty.
>
> Our plan A consists of using dumpcfg from the resource kit, which we have
> used successfully in the past.  But we like to be prepared with a plan B 
> or
> C.  Can anyone offer any help as to what steps need to be taken to move an
> Exchange cluster from one SAn to another?

I have done this a couple of times. What I find works best is to (I am doing 
this from memory, sorry, my notes are not availble right now):
1. Connect the new SAN to the existing SAN fabric.
2. Create the new LUNS and configure them to be visible to the Exchange 
servers and run a rescan on the Exchange servers so they can see the new 
LUNS. Partion, format, and add the new physical disk resources
3. Use the quorum tab on the server properties in Cluster Admin to move the 
quorum to its new home (btw, you can have a great deal of fun moving it 
multiple times if you want to end up with the letter Q again for the quorum 
drive by moving it to a temp drive, deleting the old Q, relettering another 
drive and then moving from the temp drive to the new Q)
4. Use the Exchange tools to move the stores and logs to their new 
locations.
5. Delete the old drive resources from the active node
6. Turn off the old SAN (say a few prayers)
7. Rescan from the Exchange servers

This should get you there without having to worry about disk signatures.

date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 15:32:02 -0600   author:   Russ Kaufmann [MVP]