standby server - repoint mailboxes in AD

[wallst32]

I'm looking for a way to get e-mail flowing as quickly as possible in the event an Exchange server fails. Users would have the ability to send and receive, but access to older mail would not be avaiable until restored from backup and exmerged in. Most published procedures involve some sort of restore from backups, but this is a time consuming process.

The scenario; Site1 has an domain controller and the primary Exchange server; Site2 has a domain controller and a standby Exchange server. All systems are in the same domain. All maiboxes are located on the primary Exchange server. The standby system has Exchange installed into the same organization, but isnt' used for anything, and can be powered on or off.

Suppose now that Site1 fails (both the DC and Exchange are no longer accessible). Would I be able to modify the AD at site2 so that all user mailboxes point to the standy server? Or could I simply just create new mailboxes for each user?

TIA

 

[jbud]

Or could I simply just create new mailboxes for each user?

It's not this simple.

Would I be able to modify the AD at site2 so that all user mailboxes point to the standy server?

Not exactly. You should look at the following AD option:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307350&Product=exch2k

Since you won't immediately care about restoring the mailbox, the procedure you could follow in the event of a catastrophe would be:
1. remove the user's exchange attributes
2. replicate
3. in Exchange tasks, mailbox enable the user onto the recovery server

When the old server's mailbox stores come online, you can use an administrative account to exmerge out the old mailbox contents.

Naturally, you should thoroughly understand and test this procedure before deploying it.