Troubleshooting

Migrating Exchange 2010 To Dell Advanced Infrastructure Manager Environment
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Deploying Exchange with AIM - A Greenfield scenario
This section describes setting up an Exchange with AIM environment in a Greenfield scenario. A
Greenfield scenario assumes that both AIM and Exchange are yet to be deployed. We first set up the
AIM environment, and then deploy Exchange into the environment. The primary difference between a
Brownfield scenario and a Greenfield scenario is that there is no existing topology to take into
consideration when deploying AIM. Therefore the network planning is easier. Also, the availability of
Exchange services to Outlook clients is not a concern. The following subsections describe a step-by-step
deployment of Exchange with AIM.
Upgrading firmware
This is the first and most important step as it ensures efficiency in the AIM environment. The
preparation was done with respect to AIM release 3.4.1 GA. Dell recommends that you update the
firmware on the modular switch fabrics PowerConnect M6220s, the Chassis Management Console (CMC),
iDRAC and the network interfaces as mentioned in the AIM 3.4.1 GA interoperability matrix.
Plan and configure Networking
In a Greenfield scenario, the user has more flexibility in selecting fabrics for AIM SCN and Exchange
networking than that in a Brownfield scenario. Allocate chassis switch fabrics for:
- AIM SCN – boot NICs (E.g. Fabrics A1 and A2)
- Exchange public network (E.g. Fabric B1)
- Exchange private network (E.g. Fabric B2)
- Exchange iSCSI database network (E.g. Fabrics C1and C2)
Plan the VLANs for all the above networks and configure the chassis switches and top-of-the-rack
switches accordingly. Ensure that you configure Virtual Redundancy Routing Protocol (VRRP) on the
top-of-the-rack switches.
Install and setup AIM Controller software
Once the networking is configured, you can install the AIM controller software on a dedicated M610
blade server. Before you install the controller software, make sure you complete all the prerequisites:
follow prepare for AIM controller installation section described in the Brownfield scenario.
Discover the hardware resources to be managed by AIM
Refer to the Hardware discovery section of the Brownfield scenario.
Operating System Installation on local drives
Select a sample server with RAIDed local drives to install an operating system. Follow standard
installation of Windows 2008 R2 OS on the local drives in this case.
Prepare the image for net boot
Once the OS has been installed on the local drives, it can be migrated to SAN using SMU. Prepare the
boot NICs (Fabric A1 and A2) for iSCSI booting. Refer to the migration section in the Brownfield
environment. Make sure you refer to the fabrics selected for AIM in this scenario, e.g. A1 and A2.
Clone the Gold Copy
Preserve the OS image on the SAN prepared for iSCSI booting as a gold copy. Whenever needed, you
can clone this copy to save the OS installation time.