Microsoft Exchange 2010 DAG database moving

For every environment comes a moment in which it appears that we lack the space. Despite numerous retention policies, backup, mailbox limits, we finally reach the base of such a size that forces us to change the place of their location.

Prior to moving Microsoft Exchange 2010 databases to a new location that we need to know:

• transfer database operation will break in access to mailboxes located in the database. The time interval depends on the size of the database and move the time of replication in Active Directory
• best to plan the transfer bases outside working hours, thus touches the smaller number of users and the network used by us will not be charged by other systems
• transmitted base can not be enabled CircularLoggingEnabled
  CircularLogging can be disabled using Exchange Management Console or by using PowerShell:

Set-MailboxDatabase DatabaseName -CircularLoggingEnabled $False

• moving the base alone, and not all at once
• Replication between copies of the database logs can take a long time before attempting to move the database to make sure that all the queue logs are 0
• after the “big” changes always wait for replication of these changes in Active Directory, especially when we do: turn the active database backup, change the path to the database, adding active database copies
• After the move operation bases zrestartujmy MSExchangeSearch service
• after moving the databases, installing and connecting the active database copy of the database, let us check the status of indexes (ContentIndexState). All indexes should have the status of Healthy

Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | select Name,ContentindexState | ft –AutoSize

For Microsoft Exchange Server DAG, the process of moving databases should look like this:

Backup Database
Prior to any change in configuration of your Exchange environment, we must be sure that we have to date and some copies of the databases and the environment.

Connection of new shares
On servers that support the Exchange database (Mailbox Role), connect the new shares to which you want to move the database, and create a directory structure which will be transferred to the base.

Unmount the active copy of the database
To move a DAG in the environment we need to unmount (Dismount) active copy of the database.
Unfortunately, the whole operation is associated with a temporary loss of access to mailboxes in the database.

Disable all copies of the database
To transfer the database is required to disable all copies of the database that will be transmitted. In this case, not just setting the suspend database copy, replication, database only needs to be disabled. We use the Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy
Do not delete the physical database files and log files for backup database.

Replication in AD
When you turn off a copy of the database must wait for replication in Active Directory so long that all changes have been made for all controllers.

Transfer of base (active dimounted)
In the Exchange Management Console, the Organization Configuration, select Mailbox unmounted database, right-click and choose Move Database Path choose a new location for the database file (. EDB) and the new location for the database log (Transaction Logs)

Changing the location of a copy of the database
For each copy of the database you are moving too must change the path to the files. If the transfer to a larger share base required only active, then all copies of the database must also be transferred to the same path as the active base.
This operation is performed for each of Nod, and who has transmitted a copy of the database.

AD Replication
Again, we look forward to replicate all changes to Active Directory

Mounting Base
Following the transfer of active database and its backup can mount an active base and add back to it all the copies.

Operation of DAG
Finally, check the environment to function DAG after changes.
Using PowerShell, we can use:

Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus – DAG health check
Test-ReplicationHealth – check all aspects of the replication and replay status to provide a complete overview of a specific Mailbox server