Notes on the new Antigen Cluster Resource (Antigen 9 SP1 RU5 and above)

FSS SME — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:14:00 GMT

Microsoft recently released Rollup 5 for Antigen 9 SP1, which contains a particularly important fix for Exchange 2000 / 2003 clusters. The full issue behind this fix is documented in KB957015. Essentially, the ‘fix’ adds a new Antigen Cluster Resource (‘AntigenClusRes’) to each EVS group. I’d like to add some more meat to the fix description in the KB-article to help guide cluster administrators through the install/upgrade procedure for this new Rollup.

What does AntigenClusRes do?

‘AntigenClusRes’, or the Antigen Cluster Resource, manages the replication of Antigen registry values between active and passive nodes during failover. Without this resource, it is possible for the Antigen registry to get into an inconsistent state under certain circumstances.

I see that both a standard hotfix and a full install package are available. Which should I use?

You will only need the full install package if you are planning to perform a fresh install of Antigen.

Where can I get Rollup 5 from?

You can either request the package directly from the Rollup 5 for Antigen 9 SP1 KB article page (simplest and quickest method), or if you require additional advice as well, open a case with Customer Service and Support (CSS).

Ok – I’ve got the package. How should I install it?

This will depend upon whether you’re deploying the standard hotfix package, or the full install package:

Full install package (fresh installs only – not recommended for upgrades)

1. Review and ensure compliance with the Prerequisite mentioned below.

2. Install the full package, as per the Antigen Cluster Installation Guide (setup will run just like any other Antigen version).

3. Check in Cluster Administrator that you can see AntigenClusRes resource present for each EVS. See Checking for the Antigen Cluster Resource below for more information.

Hotfix package (upgrades-only)

1. Make sure that you are running at least Antigen 9 SP1 prior to installing the hotfix.

2. Review and ensure compliance with the Prerequisite mentioned below.

3. Run the hotfix package on all nodes.

4. ê On each active node, change a command prompt to the %Program Files%\Microsoft Antigen for Exchange folder and run the command antutil /disable. This will bring the EVS offline automatically.

5. ê On each active node, run the command antutil /enable. This will automatically bring the EVS online again, will register the AntigenClusRes resource type and install the AntigenClusRes cluster resource for the current EVS.

6. Check in Cluster Administrator that you can see AntigenClusRes resource present for each EVS. See Checking for the Antigen Cluster Resource below for more information.

ê Warning: do not bring the EVS offline or online manually, since this will result in the Antigen Cluster Resource not being created.

Prerequisite:

In order for this resource to be created, the name of the Physical Disk Resource on which Antigen database files reside (often the same disk as Exchange) must contain the corresponding physical drive letter followed by a colon ( e.g. X:). If this is not the case, the Antigen Cluster Resource will not be created for the EVS.

Examples:

· If EVS1 is associated with a Physical Disk Resource called ‘XDisk’ and physical drive X:, the Antigen Cluster Resource will not be created for the EVS.

· If EVS2 is associated with a Physical Disk Resource called ‘Disk Y:’ and physical drive Y:, the Antigen Cluster Resource will be created for the EVS.

Note: if you are not able to rename your shared disks in Cluster Admin, contact Customer Service and Support (CSS) for further advice.

Checking for the Antigen Cluster Resource:

Once Rollup 5 is installed and you’ve completed all of the appropriate steps above, you should see the AntigenClusRes resource entries in Cluster Administrator. They will be named as AntigenClusRes<EVS_name>.

Here’s a screenshot from a cluster with 3 EVS instances, so we have 3 AntigenClusRes resource entries:

Cheers,

Andy Day

Microsoft CSS (Customer Service and Support)