How to remove a dead Exchange 2010 server?

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lyonrouge

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#84388 30-May-2011 10:05

I have a dead Exchange instance that I'm trying to reinstall. I could not uninstall it, so ended up deregistering the host from the domain and have started from a from OS image, however, I can not run the install with the following message

"Some controls aren't valid.
- The Exchange Server is in an inconsistent state. Only disaster recovery mode is available. Please use Setup /m:RecoverServer to recover this Exchange server.

When I use setup /m:RecoverServer something starts but disappears and then nothing? Can I use the other Exchange server console to remove this broken instance?

dpw

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#475683 30-May-2011 10:18

LOL! I'm sorry, I know this is not a helpful answer but when I first saw the topic I thought the answer should be simple... rip it out of the rack and throw it out the window!

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Dunnersfella

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#475684 30-May-2011 10:21

Ha! I immediately thought 'CROWBAR'!
But seriously, I'm not helping here...

Regs

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Snowflake

#475688 30-May-2011 10:40

do you have backups of all the data from it? I've had a couple of failures in the past (human error, rather thamn software error) but because i had the full data directories available due to them running on a san, the reinstall/recovery was as simple as install OS, run exchange setup with the recovery flag.

removing an exchange server manually is a real pain. lots of adsiedit work. Was this server the first exchange server in the org, or a subsequent one?

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lyonrouge

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#475690 30-May-2011 10:44

Regs: do you have backups of all the data from it? I've had a couple of failures in the past (human error, rather thamn software error) but because i had the full data directories available due to them running on a san, the reinstall/recovery was as simple as install OS, run exchange setup with the recovery flag.

removing an exchange server manually is a real pain. lots of adsiedit work. Was this server the first exchange server in the org, or a subsequent one?

subsequent one. No backups as it failed during installation, i.e. it never made it to a running state. As you state, I suspect a great deal of manual corrections to AD are going to be needed.

lyonrouge

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#475766 30-May-2011 14:24

Recovery only needed IIS6 Management Console added (my install instructions for Exchange 2010 does not include this, however it is needed for recovery), with this sevice included, the recovery was successful and the Exchange servers appear to be living in harmony.

lyonrouge

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#478422 7-Jun-2011 08:01

Now that I have recovered this server, I was to decommission it in a controlled manner, what I've read so far this should be done through the "Uninstall" wizard (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee332361.aspx) I'm just wondering if there are any preparation or post uninstall steps I need to be aware of to return to a single Exchange instance?

Regs

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Snowflake

#478702 7-Jun-2011 20:20

the uninstall wizard does a pretty good job of removal. you just need to make sure you've migrated any roles specific to that server off first.

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lyonrouge

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#479093 8-Jun-2011 20:43

thanks