| Author | Messages | |
r00tb00t
Posts:98
 | | 02/01/2010 11:51 AM |
| Hey List,
Scenario is a one trick pony Exchange 2007 SP1 server (it runs client
access, mailbox database and hub transport roles). It needs to be
formatted and set up again from scratch, the various partition sizes
are all wrong and need re adjusting but obviously you can't resize the
OS partition (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Standard Edition). Not a big
deal, will come in and do it on Sunday but having only ever installed
exchange servers never uninstalled them I understand there are things
I should keep an eye out for?
Obviously I will be copying to database off of the server (onto two
drives for redundancy and exporting mailboxes as PSTs for belt and
braces) but then am I correct in thinking I can simply format the
sever, reinstall Windows, set up Exchange and set everything as it
was. Same host name, same updates etc and then copy the database back
across and remount it?
I'd like to think everything would be that easy but I have a suspicion
it won't be. Any advice people can offer would be greatly appreciated.
I'm off to google on this!
Ta.
--
Regards,
James 
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach - "Even a stopped clock is right twice a
day." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/marie_von_ebnereschenbac.html
| | | |
| derek.rose
Posts:56
| | 02/01/2010 1:33 PM |
| I had a similar experience over the weekend, although mine wasn't planned so it was much more fun 
Basically I used the same host name and only ran into two problems. A- I got an error message during setup saying the Exchange server was in an inconsistent state. Easily fixed by using ASDI Edit - steps here
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/exchangesvradmin/thread/340e1e54-72fd-45ad-8e55-50c8b9d84c5b/
Then there was something about the default OAB server not being valid and I had to promote another. Forget the exact details but I did some additional ASDI trickery and got past that too.
Outside of that, no problems but I can't say you won't run into it
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org [mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of James Bensley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 6:47 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
I have found the below article online. Despite the fact I'm not moving
to another physical server it will be almost the same process. Can
anyone confirm if the processes described here would apply to my
situation?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332343(EXCHG.80).aspx
--
Regards,
James
Mike Ditka - "If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have
given us arms." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mike_ditka.html
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| | | |
| kurtbuff
Posts:169
| | 02/01/2010 5:41 PM |
| Download and burn gparted to CD, boot from the CD, resize the
partitions. This assumes that the CD recognizes the disk controller
(and arrays, if any).
Alternate: Download and burn UBCD4WIN to CD. Also get a USB external
drive (or more than one if needed, but they come as large as 2tb) and
copy all of the files from the server to the external drive. Then
repartition and recover from the USB drive. I believe that that
UBCD4WIN has partitioning utilities that you can include. Same
assumptions as the first option.
Second alternate: Several commercial partitioning utilities - I'll bet
one of them will help with this scenario. Acronis, Partition Magic, or
some other vendor should have what you need.
Kurt
On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 03:38, James Bensley <jwbensley@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey List,
>
> Scenario is a one trick pony Exchange 2007 SP1 server (it runs client
> access, mailbox database and hub transport roles). It needs to be
> formatted and set up again from scratch, the various partition sizes
> are all wrong and need re adjusting but obviously you can't resize the
> OS partition (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Standard Edition). Not a big
> deal, will come in and do it on Sunday but having only ever installed
> exchange servers never uninstalled them I understand there are things
> I should keep an eye out for?
>
> Obviously I will be copying to database off of the server (onto two
> drives for redundancy and exporting mailboxes as PSTs for belt and
> braces) but then am I correct in thinking I can simply format the
> sever, reinstall Windows, set up Exchange and set everything as it
> was. Same host name, same updates etc and then copy the database back
> across and remount it?
>
> I'd like to think everything would be that easy but I have a suspicion
> it won't be. Any advice people can offer would be greatly appreciated.
> I'm off to google on this!
>
> Ta.
>
> --
> Regards,
> James
>
> Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach - "Even a stopped clock is right twice a
> day." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/marie_von_ebnereschenbac.html
>
>
| | | |
| Marty1_0
Posts:0
| | 02/01/2010 5:43 PM |
| Done it once with GParted on a W2K3 with Exchange 2003 : worked without a problem.
However always have a good backup ready...
-Bart
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org [mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of Kurt Buff
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 18:40
To: activedir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
Download and burn gparted to CD, boot from the CD, resize the partitions. This assumes that the CD recognizes the disk controller (and arrays, if any).
Alternate: Download and burn UBCD4WIN to CD. Also get a USB external drive (or more than one if needed, but they come as large as 2tb) and copy all of the files from the server to the external drive. Then repartition and recover from the USB drive. I believe that that UBCD4WIN has partitioning utilities that you can include. Same assumptions as the first option.
Second alternate: Several commercial partitioning utilities - I'll bet one of them will help with this scenario. Acronis, Partition Magic, or some other vendor should have what you need.
Kurt
On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 03:38, James Bensley <jwbensley@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey List,
>
> Scenario is a one trick pony Exchange 2007 SP1 server (it runs client
> access, mailbox database and hub transport roles). It needs to be
> formatted and set up again from scratch, the various partition sizes
> are all wrong and need re adjusting but obviously you can't resize the
> OS partition (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Standard Edition). Not a big
> deal, will come in and do it on Sunday but having only ever installed
> exchange servers never uninstalled them I understand there are things
> I should keep an eye out for?
>
> Obviously I will be copying to database off of the server (onto two
> drives for redundancy and exporting mailboxes as PSTs for belt and
> braces) but then am I correct in thinking I can simply format the
> sever, reinstall Windows, set up Exchange and set everything as it
> was. Same host name, same updates etc and then copy the database back
> across and remount it?
>
> I'd like to think everything would be that easy but I have a suspicion
> it won't be. Any advice people can offer would be greatly appreciated.
> I'm off to google on this!
>
> Ta.
>
> --
> Regards,
> James
>
> Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach - "Even a stopped clock is right twice a
> day." -
> http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/marie_von_ebnereschenbac.h
> tml
>
>
| | | |
| r00tb00t
Posts:98
| | 02/01/2010 6:00 PM |
| On 1 February 2010 17:43, Bart Van den Wyngaert <bart.vdw@gmail.com> wrote:
> Done it once with GParted on a W2K3 with Exchange 2003 : worked without a problem.
> However always have a good backup ready...
>
> -Bart
I see I was under the impression that Windows couldn't handle its OS
partition being resized. Lets recap, I have two 250GB drives in a
hardware RAID 1 which is 1 giant 250GB virtual disk partitioned into
OS (C and Data (D. I did think I could grow C: thusly shrinking D:
can Windows Server 2003 handle this?
--
Regards,
James
Joan Crawford - "I, Joan Crawford, I believe in the dollar.
Everything I earn, I spend." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joan_crawford.html
| | | |
| Marty1_0
Posts:0
| | 02/01/2010 6:14 PM |
| It did when I did it... You only need to extend the C: partition afterwards
with diskpart from a WinPE CD or something, you can't extend C: when you
booted Windows...
If I remember it all well, that was the only thing.
Like said before: make sure you have a good backup ready next to you in case
things go wrong...
-Bart
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org
[mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of James Bensley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 18:58
To: activedir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
On 1 February 2010 17:43, Bart Van den Wyngaert <bart.vdw@gmail.com> wrote:
> Done it once with GParted on a W2K3 with Exchange 2003 : worked without a
problem.
> However always have a good backup ready...
>
> -Bart
I see I was under the impression that Windows couldn't handle its OS
partition being resized. Lets recap, I have two 250GB drives in a hardware
RAID 1 which is 1 giant 250GB virtual disk partitioned into OS (C and Data
(D. I did think I could grow C: thusly shrinking D:
can Windows Server 2003 handle this?
--
Regards,
James
Joan Crawford - "I, Joan Crawford, I believe in the dollar.
Everything I earn, I spend." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joan_crawford.html
| | | |
| michael1
Posts:386
| | 02/01/2010 7:09 PM |
| That does apply to your situation. However, as several people have pointed
out, using a utility to do this would be the "right answer", IMHO. I've done
this a number of times over the years.
As always, backups are your best friend.
Regards,
Michael B. Smith
Exchange MVP & Owner: The Essential Exchange
http://TheEssentialExchange.com/blogs/michael
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org
[mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of James Bensley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 6:47 AM
To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
I have found the below article online. Despite the fact I'm not moving to
another physical server it will be almost the same process. Can anyone
confirm if the processes described here would apply to my situation?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332343(EXCHG.80).aspx
--
Regards,
James
Mike Ditka - "If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have given
us arms." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mike_ditka.html
| | | |
| r00tb00t
Posts:98
| | 02/01/2010 7:33 PM |
| Well thanks for the info this is greatly appreciated. As far as
backups are related copying the database onto external storage and
exporting mailboxes to PST should be ok do we think? Database is only
20GBs 100-110 mailboxes so it doesn't take to long? Do we think this
is adequate?
--
Regards,
James
Charles de Gaulle - "The better I get to know men, the more I find
myself loving dogs." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/charles_de_gaulle.html
| | | |
| michael1
Posts:386
| | 02/01/2010 8:12 PM |
| Uh, I would do a full backup, personally.
If you are going to copy the database to "external storage" you should
probably take an offline copy of the database.
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org
[mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of James Bensley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 2:33 PM
To: activedir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
Well thanks for the info this is greatly appreciated. As far as backups are
related copying the database onto external storage and exporting mailboxes
to PST should be ok do we think? Database is only 20GBs 100-110 mailboxes so
it doesn't take to long? Do we think this is adequate?
--
Regards,
James
Charles de Gaulle - "The better I get to know men, the more I find myself
loving dogs." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/charles_de_gaulle.html
| | | |
| r00tb00t
Posts:98
| | 02/01/2010 8:22 PM |
| On 1 February 2010 20:10, Michael B. Smith
<michael@theessentialexchange.com> wrote:
> Uh, I would do a full backup, personally.
>
> If you are going to copy the database to "external storage" you should
> probably take an offline copy of the database.
Yes, sorry that is what I meant I just wasn't being very clear :S
By full backup do you mean as in NT Backup?
--
Regards,
James
Mike Ditka - "If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have
given us arms." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mike_ditka.html
| | | |
| michael1
Posts:386
| | 02/01/2010 8:59 PM |
| Indeed.
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org
[mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of James Bensley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 3:21 PM
To: activedir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
On 1 February 2010 20:10, Michael B. Smith
<michael@theessentialexchange.com> wrote:
> Uh, I would do a full backup, personally.
>
> If you are going to copy the database to "external storage" you should
> probably take an offline copy of the database.
Yes, sorry that is what I meant I just wasn't being very clear :S
By full backup do you mean as in NT Backup?
--
Regards,
James
Mike Ditka - "If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have given
us arms." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mike_ditka.html
| | | |
| pbbergs
Posts:173
| | 02/02/2010 9:57 PM |
| You could just bring up another Exchange server and move all the mailboxes to the new storage group on the new server, bring down the old machine, format as you see fit and build the original server backup. Little bit more work, but if you have the resources that is how I would go.
Thanks
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org [mailto:activedir-owner@mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of James Bensley
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 2:21 PM
To: activedir@mail.activedir.org
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] [OT] Exchange, How To Reinstall?
On 1 February 2010 20:10, Michael B. Smith
<michael@theessentialexchange.com> wrote:
> Uh, I would do a full backup, personally.
>
> If you are going to copy the database to "external storage" you should
> probably take an offline copy of the database.
Yes, sorry that is what I meant I just wasn't being very clear :S
By full backup do you mean as in NT Backup?
--
Regards,
James
Mike Ditka - "If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have
given us arms." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mike_ditka.html
| | | |
| r00tb00t
Posts:98
| | 02/08/2010 7:51 AM |
| On 2 February 2010 21:56, Paul Bergson (ALLETE) <pbergson@allete.com> wrote:
> You could just bring up another Exchange server and move all the mailboxes to the new storage group on the new server, bring down the old machine, format as you see fit and build the original server backup. Little bit more work, but if you have the resources that is how I would go.
That would be a better idea but I haven't got another server 
I am also now getting this error when shrinking my data partition;
Extended record support needed (1172 > 1024) yet not supported!
Please try to free less space.
I believe this is because there is either a fragmented or unmovable
file that ntfsresize is trying to move which is presumably going to be
the exchange database, can anyone confirm? If so I have made multiple
backups of the database to external drives so I will try deleting the
database off of the server and running the GParted live cd again. But
I can't do this for a few days now so if anyone has any other info in
the mean time I'm all ears!
--
Regards,
James
Ted Turner - "Sports is like a war without the killing." -
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/ted_turner.html
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