Configuring Site Resiliency Options for Exchange (Example Configuration)

GEO functionality provides options to Exchange administrators to assist in dealing with the unique issues posed by an Exchange endpoint failover. These options can be found within the Site Failure Handling section of the FQDN configuration page, which is accessed as follows:

  1. In the main menu, go to Global Balancing > Manage FQDNs.

  2. Click Modify for the relevant FQDN.

Failure Delay

This setting determines how long (in minutes) the LoadMaster waits until it designates a site as having failed, thereby initiating a site failover.

It is recommended that this setting is enabled when configuring multi-site Exchange deployments. The optimal value given to the delay depends on the configuration of the Exchange deployment.

Site Recovery Mode

The Site Recovery Mode options only become available when a Failure Delay is set. The Site Recovery Mode determines what recovery options are implemented when a failed site recovers.

  • Automatic - when the endpoint recovers (passes the health check), the endpoint is marked as up and the LoadMaster automatically makes the endpoint available for use

  • Manual - upon failure, the endpoint is administratively disabled and is not available for use until you click Enable for the relevant endpoint and the health check is passing.

The Manual option is recommended for multi-site Exchange deployments to ensure that failbacks do not occur until the administrators ensure that the optimal conditions for a failback exist.