After upgrading Unity, MS Exchange 2003 cluster stop working

[hmimranraza]

Hi All,

I have a box of Win2003 with Active Directory and Unity version 4.0(4). Exchange 2003 is running on 2 servers in a Microsoft cluster mode. I took a new box, install windows 2003. Installed the unity version 4 and then upgraded to 5 and then 7. I have stopped the unity services on the old box. After upgrading, I have successfully tested the unity functionality on new box.

After 1 hour or 2 hour, I came know that MS Exchange 2003 cluster has been broken. I shut down the new box and started the services on old box, everything is fine. I revert back to new system; problem came back on Exchange servers.

Any idea, why Exchange server going down???

[Bradford Magnani]

Hi,

First, what do you mean "Exchange is going down"?  Is the actual server powering off?  Are certain services stopping on the Exchange server?  First you'll want to narrow down what exactly is happening on the Exchange server.  Then I would first start by looking at the Event logs on the Exchange server.  I would also make sure that you've got the latest Microsoft patches running on Exchange too.  There is a certain ES level you need to be running in order for 7.x to work with Exchange 2007 clustering, which doesn't fit your scenario.  But, everything should be working like the 4.x server since 7.x doesn't require any specific ES for 2003 clusters.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/unity/7x/requirements/7xcusysreq.html#wp472839

Clustered Exchange servers require special hardware that Cisco does not provide and advanced knowledge of Windows and of Exchange clusters. Cisco will not help with configuration or support of the Exchange cluster; it is the responsibility of the customer to obtain support for the Exchange cluster.

Given that, I would suggest first determining what the Exchange server is saying/doing by beginning with the application logs and go from there.

Hope that helps,

Brad

[hmimranraza]

Thank you very much for the comments. MS Exchange 2003  cluster goes down, sometimes one server of Exchange is stop responding and sometimes the whole cluster of exchange 2003 stop responding and kill all the process. Exchange servers took a long time to come back online. Exchange server does not shutdown their self except the exchange services stop.

I have not touch the existing unity 4.0.4 server except talking the backup by DIRT. I have installed the unity version 4.0.4 on the new box. Restore the backup by using DIRT. Then upgrade it to version 5 and then version 7. All this has been done in same day.