Configure activation policy for a mailbox database copy in Exchange Server

Article
02/22/2023

Activation is the process of changing a mailbox database copy from a passive copy to an active copy. Activation can occur automatically (by the system as part of a database or server failover operation) or it can be performed manually (by an administrator as part of a database or server switchover operation). Blocking a database for activation prevents it from becoming the active copy during a database or server failover.

Looking for other management tasks related to mailbox database copies? Check out Manage mailbox database copies.

What do you need to know before you begin?

Estimated time to complete this task: 1 minute
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox database copies" entry in the High availability and site resilience permissions topic.
For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard shortcuts in the Exchange admin center.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at: Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.

Use the EAC to configure the activation policy for a mailbox database copy

In the EAC, go to Servers > Databases.
Select the database that you want to configure.
In the Details pane, under Database Copies, locate the database copy you want to configure and click Suspend.
Optionally, add a comment, and select the check box that says This copy can only be activated by manual intervention.
Click Save to save the configuration changes for the mailbox database copy.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to suspend or resume a database copy for activation

This example blocks the copy of the database DB1 on the server MBX2 for activation.

Suspend-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity DB1\MBX2 -ActivationOnly

This example resumes the copy of the database DB1 on the server MBX2 for activation.

Resume-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity DB1\MBX2

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Suspend-MailboxDatabaseCopy or Resume-MailboxDatabaseCopy.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to configure the activation policy for a server

This example configures the database copies on server MBX2 as blocked for activation.

Set-MailboxServer -Identity MBX2 -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Blocked

This example configures the database copies on server MBX3 as blocked for out-of-site activation.

Set-MailboxServer -Identity MBX3 -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy IntrasiteOnly

This example configures the database copies on server MBX4 as unblocked for activation.

Set-MailboxServer -Identity MBX4 -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Unrestricted

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Suspend-MailboxDatabaseCopy, Resume-MailboxDatabaseCopy, or Set-MailboxServer.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully configured the activation policy, do one of the following:

In the Exchange Management Shell, run the following command to verify activation settings for a database copy.
```
Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus <DatabaseCopyName> | Format-List ActivationSuspended
```
In the Exchange Management Shell, run the following command to verify activation settings for a DAG member.
```
Get-MailboxServer <ServerName> | Format-List DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy
```

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