Exchange 2003 on a Windows 2003 Server DC

[David Lightman Robles]

I know I shouldn't have done it, but since we just have 2 servers, both
domain controllers, I had to install Exchange 2003 on one of them. The fact
is that since then, rebooting the Exchange server takes a lot of time; not
only for the shutdown process, but also during the restart.

Worst of all: after the last restart, the server has stuck during the
msgbox that states 'Aplying machine configuration' and does not go any
further. After 4 hours, the message box is still there and no one can log
onto the server, exchange has not started (mailboxes cannot be read) and I
don't know what to do.

Has anyone a solution for this? When the problem is solved, can I demote
that DC to be a member server without any major problem or will other issues
appear?

Thanks in advance and regards.

 

[Massimo]

I know I shouldn't have done it, but since we just have 2 servers, both
domain controllers, I had to install Exchange 2003 on one of them. The
fact is that since then, rebooting the Exchange server takes a lot of
time; not only for the shutdown process, but also during the restart.

Same here. A full shutdown can take up to 10-15 minutes... :-(

Worst of all: after the last restart, the server has stuck during the
msgbox that states 'Aplying machine configuration' and does not go any
further. After 4 hours, the message box is still there and no one can log
onto the server, exchange has not started (mailboxes cannot be read) and I
don't know what to do.

Well, if it really is stuck there, I fear hard-rebooting it can be the only
available solution :-(
Have you tried something like a "shutdown" command sent from another
computer in the domain?

Has anyone a solution for this? When the problem is solved, can I demote
that DC to be a member server without any major problem or will other
issues appear?

I don't know, sorry.
But, even if you could, I don't suggest running a domain with only one DC...
if it ever crashes, you'll definitely regret having done that.

Massimo

 

[Philip Nunn]

You should also try posting in the Exchange 2000 admin or general newsgroup.
There is a lot of good resources there.

Phil

 

[Ben Winzenz [Exchange MVP]]

NO No no. Please don't hard reboot the server. A little time and research
will show quite clearly that this is the result of having Exchange 2003
installed on a Windows 2003 Domain Controller. When you reboot, what
happens is that I believe the Netlogon service stops before the Exchange
services have shut down and you end up with the Exchange services trying to
communicate with the DC (as they shut down), but they can't because the
Netlogon service has stopped. I believe that the timeout period is 15
minutes, which is why it takes so darn awful long to reboot an Exchange
server that is on a DC.

The easiest way around this is to stop the Exchange services prior to
rebooting the server. This can easily be accomplished by writing a simple
batch file that stops the System Attendant service (that will stop all other
required services). Try this out and see if it doesn't cut down the reboot
time dramatically!

--
Ben Winzenz
MVP - Exchange
Network Engineer
Gardner & White
http://www.techtidbits.net

Exchange FAQ's: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm
Exchange 2000 FAQ's: http://www.swinc.com/resource/e2kfaq.htm

 

[Massimo]

NO No no. Please don't hard reboot the server. A little time and
research will show quite clearly that this is the result of having
Exchange 2003 installed on a Windows 2003 Domain Controller. When you
reboot, what happens is that I believe the Netlogon service stops before
the Exchange services have shut down and you end up with the Exchange
services trying to communicate with the DC (as they shut down), but they
can't because the Netlogon service has stopped. I believe that the
timeout period is 15 minutes, which is why it takes so darn awful long to
reboot an Exchange server that is on a DC.

The easiest way around this is to stop the Exchange services prior to
rebooting the server. This can easily be accomplished by writing a simple
batch file that stops the System Attendant service (that will stop all
other required services). Try this out and see if it doesn't cut down
the reboot time dramatically!

Thanks for the suggestion, this will greatly help when I have to reboot my
DC-Exchange server.
Howewer, please re-read the original post: I suggested hard-rebooting that
server because it (apparently) got stuck *after* the reboot, during the boot
process, and it stayed there for over four hours. Now, this definitely seems
to be a server that needs a hard reset...

Massimo

 

[Ben Winzenz [Exchange MVP]]

Yep - you are right. I missed that part.

--
Ben Winzenz
MVP - Exchange
Network Engineer
Gardner & White
http://www.techtidbits.net

Exchange FAQ's: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm
Exchange 2000 FAQ's: http://www.swinc.com/resource/e2kfaq.htm

 

[Mark Arnold [MVP]]

In addition to the entire thread with replies from Ben, have you also
got DNS running on the DC that has Exchange and won't come up? I had a
problem in a lab some while ago where I loused up the network card and
couldn't start DNS. This caused the machine to take, literally, hours
to come up (I had all night) I uninstalled the DNS, reconfiguring the
box to point at another DNS server and rebooted. It came back pretty
quickly (taking the pre shutdown closure of the exchange services
first)

And only because I can't see anyone else's thread state it Don't
dcpromo a box that's got E2K3 on it.

Same here. A full shutdown can take up to 10-15 minutes... :-(


Well, if it really is stuck there, I fear hard-rebooting it can be the only
available solution :-(
Have you tried something like a "shutdown" command sent from another
computer in the domain?


I don't know, sorry.
But, even if you could, I don't suggest running a domain with only one DC...
if it ever crashes, you'll definitely regret having done that.

Massimo

Mark Arnold MCSA MCSE+M MVP, (e-mail address removed)
FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exchange.htm &
http:http://www.swinc.com/resource/e2kfaq.htm