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Change the File Share Witness on Exchange Server

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Change the File Share Witness on Exchange Server

The requirements for the witness server are as follows:

 

    • The witness server can't be a member of the DAG.

 

    • The witness server must be in the same Active Directory forest as the DAG.

 

    • The witness server must be running Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows Server 2003.

 

    • A single server can serve as a witness for multiple DAGs; however, each DAG requires its own witness directory.

 

 

  • We recommend that you use an Exchange 2013 Client Access server in the Active Directory site containing the DAG. This allows the witness server and directory to remain under the control of an Exchange administrator. Regardless of what server is used as the witness server, if the Windows Firewall is enabled on the intended witness server, you must enable the Windows Firewall exception for File and Printer Sharing.

 

  • If the witness server you specify isn't an Exchange 2013 server, you must add the Exchange Trusted Subsystem universal security group to the local Administrators group on the witness server prior to creating the DAG. These security permissions are necessary to ensure that Exchange can create a directory and share on the witness server as needed.

 

Command to change FSW

 

Set-DatabaseAvailabilitygroup -Identity <DAGNAME> -WitnessDirectory <C:\FSW_DIR_DAG1> -WitnessServer <Server FQDN>

 

 

You can use the below method to verify the status of File share witness on windows server 2008 R2

 

Method 1.

  • Using Failover Cluster Manager connect to the cluster service.  You can connect to either a node or specify the DAG name as the connection point.
  • Click on the cluster name in the upper left hand corner of the utility.
  • In the center window information is displayed regarding the cluster configuration.
  • One piece of information is the “Quorum Configuration”.  This will list the type of quorum in use and if a file share witness is configured the server and share name utilized as the witness.

 

dag1

 

Method 2:

 

  • open cmd prompt and run cluster dag.contoso.com res

dag2

 

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298065(v=exchg.150).aspx

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 27, 2016
    Good one Karthik
  • Anonymous
    September 27, 2016
    Best one Karthik.
  • Anonymous
    September 28, 2016
    Why Windows Server 2012 (and R2) is not in the supported server list?Thanks.
    • Anonymous
      September 29, 2016
      Thanks Bekir for pointing out. I will get the post updated
  • Anonymous
    February 07, 2017
    Any impact on DAG while changing FSW. Any downtime required. Please cofirm.
    • Anonymous
      February 07, 2017
      No Impact during the change if all your nodes are up.
  • Anonymous
    July 31, 2018
    Thanks you!U save me some time.