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Articles
Q. How do I create a routing group
connector to transport messages between my first Exchange Server 2007
server and my existing Exchange Server 2003
environment?
by John
Savill
2.11.08
A. When installing an Exchange 2007 server into an Exchange 2003
or Exchange 2000 Server environment, the system will prompt you to
select an Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 bridgehead server. A hub
transport server uses the routing group connector to transport messages
between the Exchange 2007 server and the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000
bridgehead servers.
You don't use routing groups in exclusive Exchange 2007 environments.
Instead, you use Active Directory (AD) sites and site link costs to
transport messages. The Exchange 2007 environment uses the routing group
connector only to enable message flow to and from the legacy Exchange
servers. It is best to add additional source- and target-servers to this
automatically created routing group connector for redundancy and load
balancing.
If your email topology didn't change when you introduced the Exchange
2007 server, you don't have to manually add another routing group
connector. The connector should automatically create a connector during
setup, and it should route messages between the legacy and Exchange 2007
servers. The system automatically places all Exchange 2007 servers in a
single routing group -- Exchange Routing Group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR). This
routing group is connected to the legacy environment through the
automatically generated routing group connector. Don't rename this
routing group or remove the Exchange 2007 servers from it.
I've seen instances in which the routing group connector wasn't
automatically created. If this happens, check the Exchange setup logs
and event logs for errors. You might need to use the following
PowerShell to manually add a connector. You can add multiple source and
target servers by specifying multiple FQDN server names separated by a
comma (e.g. 'SourceTransportServers '','').
New-RoutingGroupConnector -Name 'Exchange 2007 RGC'
-SourceTransportServers ''
-TargetTransportServers 'FQDN of Exchange 2003 Bridgehead Server' -Cost
100 -Bidirectional $true -PublicFolderReferralsEnabled $true
The command Get-RoutingGroupConnector can verify the existence of the
routing group connector. You won't be able to see it from the GUI
console.
Q. When installing Exchange Server
2007 into an Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 200 Server environment, do
the names of the automatically created routing group connector group and
administrative group always have the same random letters and
numbers?
by John
Savill
2.12.08
A. Installing Exchange 2007 into an existing Exchange 2003 or
Exchange 2000 organization automatically creates an administrative group
named CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT), and a routing
group named CN=Exchange Routing Group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR).
Those letters and numbers aren't as random as you think, and they're
always the same. A Caeser cipher was applied to EXCHANGE12ROCKS to
create the two seemingly random group names. The letters and numbers in
the administrative group name are all one letter or number before the
letters and numbers of EXCHANGE12ROCKS. The letters and numbers in the
routing group name are all one letter and number after the letters and
numbers in EXCHANGE12ROCKS.
Q. Is it possible to install
additional routing group connectors between newly installed Exchange
Server 2007 servers and Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server
environments?
by John
Savill
2.13.08
A. Yes. By default, all Exchange 2007 servers are placed in a
single routing group, which shouldn't change. The system also creates
one routing group connector between one or more Exchange 2007 hub
transport servers in one site, and one or more Exchange 2003 or Exchange
2000 bridgehead servers within a routing group.
In a widely distributed environment, it might not make sense for all the
mail flow between Exchange 2007 servers and Exchange 2003 or Exchange
2000 servers to pass through one particular Active Directory (AD) site
and one particular Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 routing group.
For example, let's say I create a routing group connector between
Exchange 2007 servers in Dallas and the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000
bridgehead servers in a Dallas routing group. This setup is great for
the Exchange servers in Dallas, and probably any other U.S. servers. But
what if I have Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 servers
in London? For a London-based Exchange 2007 server to send mail to a
London-based Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 server, the message would
probably be sent to the Dallas-based Exchange 2007 hub transport server,
which would then send the message to the Dallas-based Exchange 2003 or
Exchange 2000 bridgehead server, which would then send the message to
the London-based Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 server.
The New-RoutingGroupConnector cmdlet can create a new routing group
connector between the London-based Exchange 2007 servers and the London
routing group Exchange 2003 bridgehead servers with the following
code:
New-RoutingGroupConnector -Name 'Exchange 2007 RGC'
-SourceTransportServers ''
-TargetTransportServers 'FQDN of Exchange 2003 Bridgehead Server' -Cost
100 -Bidirectional $true -PublicFolderReferralsEnabled $true
You would need to ensure that the cost of the new London routing group
connector cost is equal to the Dallas routing group connector cost.
Otherwise, the routing group connector cost is the first factor that
Exchange uses to calculate the message route, even though the London
routing group connector is in the same AD site as the Exchange 2003 or
Exchange 2000 servers.
- Examine all possible routing paths across routing group connectors
and select the routing path that has the least total routing group cost
(this ignores the AD site link costs).
- If more than one routing path has the same cost, examine all
possible routing paths across IP site links to reach the first routing
group connector, and select the routing path that has the lowest total
IP site link cost. In our example, if the Dallas routing group connector
has the same cost as the London routing group connector, the London
routing group connector would be used because the IP site link for the
London-based Exchange 2007 server is less for a London Exchange 2007
server.
- If more than one routing path has the same routing group cost, and
it has the same IP site link cost, select the routing path that includes
the least number of hops.
- If more than one routing path has the same routing group cost, the
same IP site link cost, and the same number of hops, select the routing
path in which the name of the last AD site before the destination site
has the lowest alphanumeric value.
Now, if the London routing group connector has a cost of 101, the
message would still go through the Dallas-based routing group connector,
because the routing path for the routing group connectors would be
cheaper.
It's vital that you disable minor link state updates on all Exchange
2003 servers prior to creating additional routing group connectors
between Exchange 2007 routing group and any other routing groups in the
Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 infrastructure. If you don't, routing
loops might occur. Exchange 2003 might make updates to its routing
topology based connector-down situations, which the Exchange 2007 server
would be unaware of. The Exchange 2003 server would send a message to a
particular Exchange 2007 server to avoid a down connector, but the
Exchange 2007 server would send it back because it sees a cheaper route,
and the message would keep bouncing between them.
Q. How do I disable Exchange Server
2003 minor link-state changes?
by John
Savill
2.14.08
A. Exchange 2003 can detect link state changes, notify other
Exchange servers about the changes, and advise them to use other routes.
A minor state change is when a link is detected as either available or
unavailable. The notification actually sends the entire state table. A
major state change is an administrator-made manual routing change, such
as adding a new connector or changing an existing connector's
attributes.
Sometimes, minor state-change notifications are undesirable, such as
when the notification sending of the entire state table could flood a
network. This could happen in a large Exchange environment. It could
also happen in a combined Exchange Server 2007and Exchange 2003
environment with multiple routing group connectors between routing
groups and different Exchange 2003 bridgeheads in different routing
groups.
To disable minor link state changes, use the following commands on each
Exchange 2003 server:
- Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
- Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RESvc\Parameters.
- From the Edit menu, select New - DWORD value.
- Enter SuppressStateChanges as a name and press Enter.
- Double-click the new value and set the value to 1, then click OK.
- Close the registry editor and restart the SMTP, Microsoft Exchange
Routing Engine, and the Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks services.
Q. Can I change the site link cost
just for Exchange Server 2007?
by John
Savill
2.15.08
A. Exchange 2007 doesn't have its own routing topology. Instead,
it relies on Active Directory (AD) sites and associated site link costs.
If there are situations in which the AD site link cost doesn't meet your
requirements, you can set an Exchange 2007-specific site link cost by
using the following command:
Set-AdSiteLink -Identifty -ExchangeCost
In the future, Microsoft will probably use this procedure to link
everything together, including automatic information gathering. In 10
years, I suspect these tools will dynamically assess the environment,
client usage, and connectivity, then dynamically create additional
virtual servers to meet demand in the most efficient manner. Time to
learn how to be a plumber!
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