Repliction vs Cluster vs Another Mailbox

win2k8

Hello all,

I do not know that much about exchange, I was wondering what is the best solution and cheapest to have another exchange box so if our primary goes down we do not have downtime? I looked at replication but is very expensive, clustering cannot be done because of operating system restrictions and its too complex, would setting up another exchange server at another location work, and how would i do it, just put it up at another location and it'll start working, with out clustering that is.

Thanks,

win2k8

Claymoore

We could get into a long discussion about the high availability options in Exchange 2007, but it sounds like you are interested in implementing Standby Continuous Replication. SCR uses log shipping to copy and replay the transacation logs to a remote server and database. When you need to 'activate' the remote server due to a site failure, you rely on the database portability of Ex 2k7 to redirect the clients to their new home using some powershell scripts. The failover isn't automatic - and there is some downtime - but you can be up and running very quickly. Of course you would still need to have all the other roles (CAS, HT) and external services (AD, DNS) required by Exchange to be fully functional.

All of those 'too complex' solutions are retired in Exchange 2010 which relies on database availability groups rather than the LCR, SCC, CCR, and SCR option in 2007.

High Availability Strategies