Thoughtsofanidlemind's Blog

Tag: Database Availability Group

  • Exchange 2013: Using crimson events to track transaction log truncation within a DAG

    Prior to Exchange 2007, transaction log truncation (removal) used to be a pretty simple affair. A successful good backup would truncate the log set or, if you used circular logging, Exchange used a small set of logs to capture transactions and would reuse the files once the transactions in the…

  • Exchange 2013 simplifies DAG management

    As I work through the process of understanding Exchange 2013 so that I can write about it for “Microsoft Exchange 2013 Inside Out”, various odd thoughts come into my mind. One of those that recently arrived was that Microsoft has dumbed down the new Exchange Administration Center (EAC) when it…

  • April 2012 articles published on WindowsITPro.com

    Here’s the digest of articles published on my WindowsITPro.com blog in April 2012. FAST searching coming to Office 15 server applications (April 26) reports that the Office 15 wave of server applications (Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013, and Lync 2013) will share a common enterprise search capability powered by the FAST technology acquired…

  • September 2011 wrap-up

    Lots has happened during September, much of which I have covered in other posts. This post serves as a wrap-up for other bits and pieces that I haven’t managed to get to over the month. First, a recommendation for rugby fans. Have a look at Brendan Fanning’s WordPress blog where he’s been…

  • Moving a database between DAGs

    A recent email discussion between MVPs focused on a topic that I totally missed in my Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Inside Out book (also available at Amazon.co.uk), so think of this as an update to chapter 7. The problem arises after you set up a Database Availability Group (DAG) with mailbox servers and…

  • Microsoft reveals the truth about single-role servers

    In the April 8 post on the Exchange team’s blog, a clear direction is given that single-role Exchange servers are not the preferred starting point for designs. In fact, a rather bold statement is made: “… always start design discussions with multi-role, and that is the recommended solution from the…

  • The changing need for backups

    New technology and different business requirements are seminal events that cause technologists to ponder on well-held tenets of their trade. The need for Exchange backups is one such instance. The technical developments are the elimination of streamed backups in Exchange 2010 (only VSS-based backups are now supported) allied to the…

  • Thoughts about having a dedicated archive server in a DAG

    An article covering some aspects of the deployment of archive mailboxes posted on SearchExchange by Brian Posey, a well-known and respected writer about Exchange, attracted my attention. While Brian makes some good points, I think the general thrust of his argument is flawed. Here’s why. His central point is that…

  • Be careful with VM snapshots of Exchange 2010 servers

    Those who are considering virtualizing production Exchange 2010 servers should read the fine print contained in the TechNet article “Exchange 2010 System Requirements“. In particular, this text is crucial: “Some hypervisors include features for taking snapshots of virtual machines. Virtual machine snapshots capture the state of a virtual machine while…

  • Varying replication mode within a DAG

    Log shipping is a well-known method for data replication between Exchange servers (and other computers). It made its first appearance in Exchange in the Local Continuous Replication (LCR) and Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) features of Exchange 2007, added to with Standby Cluster Replication (SCR) in Exchange 2007 SP1, and is…