How to Remove the Active Mailbox Role from a CCR Environment

Article
01/23/2017

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic explains how to remove an active node from a cluster continuous replication (CCR) environment. There are two uninstall procedures that you can perform to remove an active node:

Uninstalling the clustered mailbox server (CMS) only and converting the active node to a passive node
Uninstalling the CMS and the Mailbox role and removing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 from the node

The command-line version of Setup (Setup.com) can be used to perform both procedures. The Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Setup wizard can be used only to perform the second procedure; it cannot be used to convert an active node to a passive node.

Note

The Exchange Server 2007 Setup wizard from the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Exchange 2007 can also be used to perform the last procedure below. The steps are the same for both the RTM and SP1 Setup wizard (except that only the SP1 Setup wizard can be run on Windows Server 2008).

Before You Begin

All mailboxes must be removed before performing this operation.

In the command-line procedures, <CMSName> is the name of the CMS to be removed.

The Network Name resource and IP Address resource for the CMS must be online for Setup to remove a CMS.

Determine what node in the cluster is currently hosting the CMS. This can be determined by running the Get-ClusteredMailboxServerStatus command and specifying the name of the CMS.

To perform this procedure, you must be logged on to the computer that is currently hosting the clustered mailbox server that you want to delete and be delegated the Exchange Server Administrator role and local Administrators group for the target server. For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Procedure

To use Setup.com to remove a CMS and the Mailbox role from the active node in a CCR environment running Exchange 2007 SP1

Open a Command Prompt window on the active node.
Change to the bin directory under the location of the Exchange Server program files. By default, Exchange Server is installed at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin.
Run the following command:
```
Setup.com /mode:uninstall /removeCMS /CMSName:<CMSName>
```
Note

<CMSName> is the name of the CMS to be removed.
After Setup has completed, restart the node.
After the node is restarted, remove any remaining files and folders from the Exchange Server program files folder and subfolders. You can also remove the %SystemDrive%\ExchangeSetupLogs folder and subfolders.

To use Setup.com to remove a CMS and the Mailbox role from the active node in a CCR environment running Exchange 2007 RTM

Open a Command Prompt window on the active node.
Change to the bin directory under the location of the Exchange Server program files. By default, Exchange Server is installed at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin.
Run the following command:
```
Setup.com /removeCMS /CMSName:<CMSName>
```
Note

<CMSName> is the name of the CMS to be removed.
After the CMS has been removed, run the following command to uninstall Exchange Server:
```
Setup.com /m:uninstall
```
After Setup has completed, restart the node.
After the node is restarted, remove any remaining files and folders from the Exchange Server program files folder and subfolders. You can also remove the %SystemDrive%\ExchangeSetupLogs folder and subfolders.

To use Setup.com to remove a CMS and convert the active node to a passive node in a CCR environment running Exchange 2007 RTM or running Exchange 2007 SP1

Open a Command Prompt window on the active node.
Change to the bin directory under the location of the Exchange Server program files. By default, Exchange Server is installed at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin.
Run the following command:
```
Setup.com /removeCMS /CMSName:<CMSName>
```
Note

<CMSName> is the name of the CMS to be removed.
After Setup has completed, restart the node. After the restart is completed, the node has the passive clustered Mailbox and the Management Tools roles installed.

To use the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Setup wizard to remove a CMS and the Mailbox role from the active node in a CCR environment

Open the Windows Control Panel on the active node, and navigate to Programs and Features (Windows Server 2008) or Add or Remove Programs (Windows Server 2003).
Select Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and click Uninstall (Windows Server 2008) or Remove (Windows Server 2003).
The Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Setup wizard starts in Exchange Maintenance Mode. Click Next.
On the Server Role Selection page, clear the check boxes for Active Clustered Mailbox Role and Management Tools, and then click Next.
On the Readiness Checks page, the status will appear as the checks are performed. When the checks complete successfully, click Uninstall.
The Progress page shows the steps that will be performed. Progress is shown as these steps are processed, and completion status is provided as each step completes. After all of the steps complete successfully and the Completion page appears, click Finish.
Close Programs and Features (Windows Server 2008) or Add or Remove Programs (Windows Server 2003), and then restart the node.
After the node is restarted, remove any remaining files and folders from the Exchange Server program files folder and subfolders. You can also remove the %SystemDrive%\ExchangeSetupLogs folder and subfolders.

For More Information

For more information about the Get-ClusteredMailboxServerStatus cmdlet, see Get-ClusteredMailboxServerStatus.

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