XADM: How to Remove the First Exchange Server in a Site

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0
• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.0

SUMMARY

This article outlines the steps necessary to remove the first Microsoft Exchange Server installed in a Microsoft Exchange site.

In addition to any mailboxes and public folders, by default the first Server in a Site will contain and be responsible for the Site Folders. Site Folders consist of the Off-line Address Book folder (OAB), the Schedule+ Free Busy Information folder, and the Organizational Forms folder, if one exists. Other Servers installed in the Site rely, by default, on the first Server for this information. For example, in order for the third Server in the Site to generate the OAB, it must make a connection to the first Server. Removing the first Server in the Site without performing the steps in this article might lead to the data contained in these Site Folders becoming inaccessible or lost.

The first Server in the is also, by default, the Routing Calculation Server. The Routing Calculation Server is responsible for updating the Site's Gateway Routing Table (GWART). This responsibility also must be re- assigned before removing the first Server from the Site. For information about doing this, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q162012
   TITLE     : XADM: Unable to Change the Routing Calculation Server     

   ARTICLE-ID: Q152960
   TITLE     : XADM: Rebuilding the Site Folders in a Site

MORE INFORMATION

Before removing the first Microsoft Exchange Server in the Site, follow these steps to avoid problems:

IMPORTANT: If there are any users or Public Folders (non-Site) homed on this Microsoft Exchange Server, the mailboxes must be moved to another Server in the Site, and any Public Folders must be replicated to other Servers in the Site, to ensure no loss of data. Please refer to the Microsoft Exchange Administrator Guide, chapters 12 and 15, for more information.

Off-line Address Book:

1. Pick a Server in the Site to contain the OAB.

   Configuration container and open the properties of the DS Site
   Configuration object.

   that was chosen in Step 1.

Schedule+ Free Busy Information and Organizational Forms:

1. Pick a Server in the Site to contain the Schedule+ information and the Organizational Forms.

   Configuration container, the Servers container, and the Server chosen in
   step 1.

   Information and Organization Forms folders and click Add. Note that
   these folders should have the name of the first Server in the Site after
   the dash, in other words, Schedule+ Free Busy Information - firstserver.
   This process creates a replica of these folders on the Server chosen in
   step 1.

Routing Calculation Server:

1. Pick a Server in the Site to be the new Routing Calculation Server.

   Configuration container and double-click the Site Addressing object.

   chosen in Step 1. You must make some other change in the properties
   pages to activate the Apply button so the changes will be retained.

NOTE: We recommend that the first Server in the Site be powered off or unplugged from the network temporarily after the above steps are performed to verify that this procedure has completed successfully. Once the changes have been verified to work (start a Microsoft Exchange client and verify that you are able to access the Schedule+ free/busy information of another user and can generate an Offline Address Book), leave the first Server off the network, or powered off, and then perform the following steps to permanently remove this Server from the Site:

1. Using the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program, select the Configuration container and then the Servers container.

NOTE: If a Microsoft Exchange Schedule+ Free/Busy Connector still appears in the Server Recipients Container of the first Server after all other items have been moved (re-homed) to the new Server, the Schedule+ Free/Busy Connector will not move automatically and will also be deleted when the first Server is removed from the Site. To recreate this object, follow the steps listed in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q148199
   TITLE     : Recreating a Deleted Schedule+ Free/Busy Agent         

The Schedule+ Free Busy Information site folder will be repopulated as users log on to Schedule+ and generate changes. During this period some users' Free Busy information will be temporarily unavailable.

Until a user logs on and makes an appointment (a "busy" time) there will be no "free / busy" information to view.