Exchange Server is a Member of a Database Availability Group | Error Resolved
Summary: Microsoft Exchange Server recovery operation terminates with an error i.e. “Exchange Server is a member of a database availability group” when the users perform the server recovery operation. This write-up will provide the solution (Exchange PowerShell) that helps the users to resolve this server error. Thus, helping in recovering the crashed Exchange Server.
Generally, DAG (Database Availability Group) is the base component of the MS Mailbox Server. It contains up to 16 Mailbox servers which provide automatic data recovery when a database network or server fails.
Note: The Exchange Server running must be of the same version within a Database Availability Group.
How “Exchange Server is a Member of a Database Availability Group” Error Occur?
This error occurred when an IT admin or the MS Exchange Server user run this command (/m:RecoverServer) for the server recovery operation and it gets failed, when an Exchange came across an error.
Following are the error appear when the user runs the command:
Setup /m:RecoverServer
Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check
| Configuring Prerequisites | Completed |
| Language Pack Checks | Completed |
| Hub Transport Role Checks | Completed |
| Client Access Role Checks | Completed |
| Mailbox Role Checks | Failed |
Exchange Server is a member of a Database Availability Group
The Exchange Server setup operation didn’t complete. More details can be found in ExchangeSet.log located in the :\ExchangeSetupLogs folder.
Exchange Server Setup Encountered an error
Users cannot recover the crashed Exchange server when it is a part of the Database Availability Group. First, they have to remove it from DAG.
If the user Exchange Mailbox Server is having any MailboxDatabaseCopy then they cannot remover it from Database Availability Group. In that case, users have to remove all database copies hosted on a particular server, after that they can remove it from DAG.
Important Points to Remember Before Fixing the Error
1. Before beginning the process users need to assign some permissions for the “Mailbox database copies” for the High availability and site resilience permissions.
2. If the user Exchange is not installed on default location then they can use the /TargetDir Setup switch which specifies the target location of the Exchange program files. If users don’t use the given command, the MS Exchange program files are installed in the default location i.e. C:/Program Files/Microsoft/Exchange Server/Version Name.
3. Suppose if the user doesn’t know the install location, they can follow the given steps:
• Start ADSIEDIT.MSC or LDP.EXE.
• Go to the following location:
CN=ExServerName, CN=Servers, CN=First Administrative Group, CN=Administrative Groups,CN=ExOrgName, CN=MicrosoftExchange, CN=Services, CN=Configuration,DC=DomainName, CN=Com
• Right-click on the Microsoft Exchange Server object, select Properties
• Find the msExchInstallPath attribute. The current installation is stored in this attribute.
Steps to Resolve “Exchange Server is a member of a database availability group” Error
For example: Consider that the ExServer02 is crashed. To resolve this error run the given command in the Exchange Management Shell.
1. Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus *\ExServer-02
2. Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus *\ExServer-02 | Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Confirm
3. Remove-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG1 -MailboxServer ExServer-03 –ConfigurationOnly
Note: ConfigurationOnly switch will clean all the configuration from the Active Directory.
But before that users have to write down all database names and other details. Then if there is no Exchange Server left then the user can delete all the configuration.
This is just the same as we are starting from the start. After deleting all the configuration, install the Exchange Management Tool which is important to run the Exchange Management Shell.
4. Now users should have reset the server’s computer account in Active Directory (AD). For the complete steps know how to reset a computer account.
5. Start the Exchange PowerShell and insert the following command:
Setup /m:RecoverServer
When the command executes successfully, the user can load the recovered Exchange Server to the Database Availability Group (DAG).
Sometimes there are some scenarios where some problems occurred in MS Exchange Server Active Directory and Configuration Settings. Then users can use Exchange Database Recovery software to overcome all these problems.
This recovery manager for Exchange database tool helps the users to repair EDB file & recover the corrupted Exchange Server Mailboxes. The utility is capable to recover dismounted and offline .edb files. It supports private/public Exchange Database and STM files. The professional software can recover and repair Exchange mailbox from corruption and errors like Exchange Dirty Shutdown State, 1018, 1216 Jet Error & Mount Error.
Users can preview all the mailbox data items such as emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, journals, and notes. The software can export the EDB file into Live Exchange, Office 365, MBOX, HTML, EML, MSG, PDF, & PST file formats.
Procedure to ADD Recovered Server to DAG
1. Insert the “Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer” into cmdlet. When the Setup recovery process is complete.
Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG01 -MailboxServer ExServer-02
2. After adding the server to the DAG, the user can reconfigure mailbox database copies by using the given command:
Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity DB1 -MailboxServer ExServer-02
To verify the above command worked:
1. Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell and verify the health and status of recovered DAG member:
Test-ReplicationHealth
Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server
Bringing It All Together
This write-up solves the error “Exchange Server is a member of a database availability group” by using Exchange Management Shell. The comprehensive guide also provides the theoretical and practical solution which helps users to understand the error more easily and how the user can solve it.
Therefore, in some cases, there might be some problem occurred in Exchange Active Directory and Configuration Settings. For this, users can try the one-stop solution described in this write-up. The professional software will helps the user to solve their problem without any data loss.