Exchange DR Testing

[kjc3303]

Hi All

Firstly I know this is not technically a Veeam question and more of a MS one but I know you are all good guys on here and will help if you can

I have run with domino for years now and veeam has protected fine apart from no app-aware processing this year have migrated to Exchnage and am planning my first DR test. Have tested backup and all works great ( surebackup, AIR etc)

Set up

Site A
AD Site A
Subnet 10.1.A.0/24
vCenter 1
Veeam B&R 1(Used for backups)
DC 1 (DNS, GC)
DC 2 (DNS, GC)
Exchange 2010 CAS/HT
Exchange 2010 MB

Site B
AD Site B
Subnet 10.1.B.0/24
vCenter 2
Veeam B&R 2 (Used for replication)
DC 3 (DNS, GC, Holds all FSMO)
DC 4 (DNS, GC)
Exchange 2010 CAS/HT -Replica
Exchange 2010 MB -Replica

The two sites(and some satellite sites) are connected via a MPLS network with a core breakout.

I have 2 questions

If I start up the exchange replicas re-ip them to subnet B in AD site B change the NAT rule on breakout firewall to point to new CAS/HT IP, make sure DNS is all updates ( Flush Cache etc) will it all work?
Will AD have any problems with me moving the exchange servers across AD Sites, will the EX servers automatically look at the local DC's?

To use SureReplica will i need to replicate a DC from site A to use in the application group?

Can anyone else who has done this give me any further tips.

Cheers

Kev

[Andreas Neufert]

To use SureReplica will i need to replicate a DC from site A to use in the application group?

Hi,
yes, without a DC your Exchange Server Information Store will not start. So if you want to test the information store as well... Yes

[Andreas Neufert]

Regarding your other question...

Your try to restore a VM with a different IP address and DNS settings. Never tested such an environment. I suggest to setup 2 test networks with test VMs and test this out.

In theory your Exchange Server will register the new IP addresses in the DNS and after that everything works fine.
Please check with MS if this is a supported way (restoring Exchange Server with a different IP address,...)

Maybe it is an option to use MPLS Layer2 and span the vlan of the Exchange Server to the second site and place the Exchange Servers there so that you do not have to deal with this.

[kjc3303]

Thanks Andreas.

[kjc3303]

*****UPDATE - TESTED AND ALL WORKING *****

TEST STEPS

Create isolated network on DR site
Clone DR site DC
Add Cloned DC, CAS/HT & MB VM's to Isolated Network
Boot DC, give a little time for DNS to sync, services to come up etc
Boot CAS\HT & MB VM re-ip to DR subnet, set dns to point at cloned DC
Reboot both CAS\HT & MB VM's
Check DNS updates
Test Mail via OWA
Start sleepng at night again

Would still need to change NAT config for External mail.

Kev

[Andreas Neufert]

Cool. Thanks for the feedback.

For those who try this with a DAG. Don´t forget that you need 2 DAG member + Whitness in the lab.