Article ID: 837852 - Last Review: November 14, 2007 - Revision: 3.5

Windows Clustering is not supported on front-end servers in Exchange Server 2003

View products that this article applies to.
System TipThis article applies to a different operating system than the one you are using. Article content that may not be relevant to you is disabled.
Expand all | Collapse all

INTRODUCTION

This article discusses an installation limitation of Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server or Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in a clustered environment. The installation of an Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 front-end server is not supported on a server cluster.

MORE INFORMATION

When you configure Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 in a front-end and back-end configuration (FE/BE), the Exchange front-end server typically relays Internet client protocol commands to the back-end Exchange mailbox server. A server cluster provides failover capability for Exchange mailbox servers if they are connected to a shared storage location. Because the Exchange front-end server does not store mailbox information, there would typically be only a small benefit to having an Exchange front-end server installed on a server cluster.

To help increase the fault tolerance of Exchange front-end servers, use more than one front-end server, and configure these servers by using a clustering technology such as Network Load Balancing.

For additional information about the Windows Clustering technologies in Microsoft Windows Server 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/technologies/genclust.mspx (http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/technologies/genclust.mspx)


For additional information about the Windows Clustering technologies in Microsoft Windows Server 2000, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/2000/default.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/2000/default.aspx)


For additional information about how to deploy Exchange 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx)


For additional information about how to deploy Exchange 2000, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb330824.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb330824.aspx)



APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server
  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition
Back to the top
Keywords: 
kbclustering kbinfo KB837852