The Exchange Server mail flow is working great. At the moment, only one domain is…
Install second Exchange Server 2016 in domain
We have an existing Exchange organization with only one Exchange Server. For high availability, we like to install a second Exchange Server 2016 in the domain. The steps will work the same for other on-premises Exchange Server versions. In this article, you will learn how to add a second Exchange Server 2016 in domain.
Table of contents
Exchange Server prerequisites
Before you install Exchange Server, you need to have a Windows Server available. It’s because you will install Exchange Server on Windows Server. You can install Exchange Server 2016 on these Windows Servers:
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2012R2
- Windows Server 2016 (Exchange Server 2016 CU3 or higher)
Read more in the article Install Exchange Server 2016 prerequisites.
Before you start to install second Exchange Server in domain
It’s good that after setting up the Exchange Server requirements on the Windows Server, to follow and configure these settings:
- Pagefile Exchange 2013/2016 best practice
- Configure power plan Exchange Server
- Disable NIC Power Management in Exchange best practice
- Configure ReFS volume Exchange 2013/2016/2019
Find Exchange Server version
We recommend installing the same Exchange Server version as the one that is running in the organization. Start Exchange Management Shell as administrator. Run the Get-ExchangeServer cmdlet to check which Exchange Server version is running in the domain.
[PS] C:\>Get-ExchangeServer | Format-Table Name, Edition, AdminDisplayVersion
Name Edition AdminDisplayVersion
---- ------- -------------------
EX01-2016 Enterprise Version 15.1 (Build 2044.4)Exchange Server 2016 CU17 is running in the organization.
Install Exchange Server 2016
Download Exchange Server 2016 CU 17 ISO image. Open the ISO image and check to which drive letter it’s mapped. You don’t have to prepare Active Directory and domains for Exchange Server because it did already prepare when you installed the first Exchange Server.
Open Command Prompt as administrator. Run the command to install the Exchange Mailbox server role.
C:\>E:\Setup.exe /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms /mode:Install /r:MB
Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 17 Unattended Setup
Copying Files...
File copy complete. Setup will now collect additional information needed for installation.
Languages
Management tools
Mailbox role: Transport service
Mailbox role: Client Access service
Mailbox role: Unified Messaging service
Mailbox role: Mailbox service
Mailbox role: Front End Transport service
Mailbox role: Client Access Front End service
Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check
Configuring Prerequisites COMPLETED
Prerequisite Analysis COMPLETED
Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server
Preparing Setup COMPLETED
Stopping Services COMPLETED
Copying Exchange Files COMPLETED
Language Files COMPLETED
Restoring Services COMPLETED
Language Configuration COMPLETED
Exchange Management Tools COMPLETED
Mailbox role: Transport service COMPLETED
Mailbox role: Client Access service COMPLETED
Mailbox role: Unified Messaging service COMPLETED
Mailbox role: Mailbox service COMPLETED
Mailbox role: Front End Transport service COMPLETED
Mailbox role: Client Access Front End service COMPLETED
Finalizing Setup COMPLETED
The Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.
Setup has made changes to operating system settings that require a reboot to take effect. Please reboot this server
prior to placing it into production.After Exchange Server setup finished. Restart the Exchange Server.
Read more in the article Install Exchange Server 2016 step by step.
Get Exchange autodiscover URL
After installing Exchange Server, we will get the Exchange autodiscover URL and set the Exchange autodiscover URL. Otherwise, the users will get a security alert certificate warning.
The users will see it as a security risk and will call the IT support desk. Save the support desk from these calls and immediately change the autodiscover URL after you install the second Exchange Server to the domain.
Run Exchange Management Shell as administrator. Run the cmdlet to get the Autodiscover URL. We need to adjust the Exchange Server EX02-2016 AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri to a generic namespace, just as EX01-2016 is already configured.
[PS] C:\>Get-ClientAccessServer | Select Name, AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri, AutoDiscoverSiteScope | Format-List
WARNING: The Get-ClientAccessServer cmdlet will be removed in a future version of Exchange. Use the Get-ClientAccessService cmdlet instead. If you have any scripts that use the Get-ClientAccessServer cmdlet, update
them to use the Get-ClientAccessService cmdlet. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=254711.
Name : EX01-2016
AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri : https://autodiscover.exoip.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml
AutoDiscoverSiteScope : {Default-First-Site-Name}
Name : EX02-2016
AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri : https://ex02-2016.exoip.local/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml
AutoDiscoverSiteScope : {Default-First-Site-Name}Read more in the article: Find autodiscover URL in Exchange with PowerShell.
Set Exchange autodiscover URL
Set the autodiscover URL and restart IIS to apply the changes. We have seen in the past that it’s better to restart the Exchange Server after we configure autodiscover URL to have the change take immediate effect.
[PS] C:\>Set-ClientAccessServer -Identity "EX02-2016" -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri https://autodiscover.exoip.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml
[PS] C:\>iisreset
Attempting stop...
Internet services successfully stopped
Attempting start...
Internet services successfully restartedRead more in the article: Configure autodiscover URL in Exchange with PowerShell.
After you set the autodiscover URL, you will not bother anyone in the organization with a certificate warning.
What’s next?
Configure the next steps on the second Exchange Server:
- Enter product key Exchange Server 2016
- Configure Internal and External URL in Exchange 2016
- Move mail queue Exchange 2016 to another location
- Cleanup Exchange logs automatically with scheduled task
- Antivirus exclusions for Exchange 2013 and 2016
Conclusion
In this article, you learned how to install a second Exchange Server 2016 in the domain. It’s almost the same process as installing the first Exchange Server. The only difference is that you don’t have to prepare Active Directory and domains.
After you install a second Exchange Mailbox server, pay close attention, and change the autodiscover record. Otherwise, a certification security alert shows up in Outlook, and that will bother the users.
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What Others Are Reading
quick question, if you add a new exchange mailbox server how will it access the mailbox database from the existing MB server? or you migrate the mailboxes to the new Exchange?
thank you
Here are some examples which can help you:
– If this is a second Exchange Server and the same version already exists in the organization, create a DAG (Database Availablity Group). The mailboxes will be available on both Exchange Servers.
– If this is a second Exchange Server and newer than the existing Exchange Server in the organization, the mailboxes will up-proxy to the new Exchange Server.