Need clarification on server switchover process

jremmc 56 Reputation points
2021-09-27T20:24:41.913+00:00

We have 1 DAG across 2 AD sites each with 2 E2K16 servers. Site A has FSW. Site B will have a scheduled electric outage (est. 6 hours). I have only done maintenance mode on a per server basis, not server switchover or datacenter switchover. Thinking of using server switchover to move the active databases of both Site B servers to Site A. But I'm confused; the server switchover docs/articles (including Microsoft's) I've read say to just shut down the server(s) after active databases moved using Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase. What about draining transport queues, shutting down cluster nodes, setting database activation policy to blocked, etc.? Don't we still need to run those commands on the Site B servers? (And then reverse them when Site B servers turned back on) We want to control the process as much as possible.

Thanks,
Joan

Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Andy David - MVP 141.6K Reputation points MVP
    2021-09-27T20:54:04.183+00:00

    IF Site A has the FSW, then you are arent really doing a switchover if shutting down SiteB .

    I would move any active databases to Site A drain the transport queues on the Site B server ( https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/exchange/redirect-message?view=exchange-ps)
    and then simply shut the servers in SiteB.

    The quorum wont be affected if the the FSW and active node are in Site A.

    Then when its back up, simply boot the Site B server and it should rejoin the cluster.

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  1. KyleXu-MSFT 26,211 Reputation points
    2021-09-28T07:42:20.95+00:00

    @jremmc

    From this article, we can know that if DAG in the DAC mode we need to run "Stop-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup" on the site that you want to shut down. If the computer cannot running, you could add the " –ConfigurationOnly" to this command.

    Then you could use Restore-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup command on the site A to configure the site A, then use the "Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase" to active the Database.

    Here also exist a blog for this step, it may also useful to you: Data Center Switch Over

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