{"id":56899,"date":"2020-05-22T08:43:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T08:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stellarinfo.com\/blog\/?p=56899"},"modified":"2022-10-07T07:42:41","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T07:42:41","slug":"fix-exchange-database-availability-group-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stellarinfo.com\/blog\/fix-exchange-database-availability-group-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Error Solved: “Exchange server is a member of a database availability group”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Database Availability Group <\/em>or DAG<\/em> is a critical base component of the Exchange Mailbox server environment. DAG is basically a set of up to 16 Exchange mailbox servers which maintains several copies of Exchange Mailbox database to ensure high availability. It stores these copies of database files on other member servers of same Database Availability Group.<\/p>

To be a member of DAG, the server must be running on the same Exchange version. This helps in disaster recovery and restore a failed or corrupt Exchange database or member server when required.<\/p>

Why “Exchange server is a member of a database availability group” Error Appears?<\/h2>

The error message, “Exchange server is a member of a database availability group”<\/em> appears when the server recovery process fails as Exchange setup encounters an error.<\/p>

The error appears specifically when admin or Exchange user runs the Setup \/m:RecoverServer cmdlet to recover a failed Exchange server. The error reads,<\/p>

Setup \/m:RecoverServer\nPerforming Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check\nConfiguring Prerequisites COMPLETED\nLanguage Pack Checks COMPLETED\nHub Transport Role Checks COMPLETED\nClient Access Role Checks COMPLETED\nMailbox Role Checks FAILED\nExchange server is a member of a database availability group.\nThe Exchange Server setup operation didn’t complete. More details can be found in ExchangeSetup.log located in the <SystemDrive>:\\ExchangeSetupLogs folder.\nExchange Server setup encountered an error.<\/pre>
This indicates that the crashed server, that user is trying to recover with RecoverServer \/m switch, is a part of DAG that you cannot recover unless you remove the crashed server from the group (DAG). The problem becomes more complex when the mailbox server is storing a copy of the mailbox database.<\/p>
Thus, you will need to first remove all the mailbox database copies from the server. You must also check and remove the copy of databases of a failed server that you want to recover from other member servers. Only then you can remove the server from DAG and resolve the error.<\/p>
Once the error is fixed and the server is restored, you can add the recovered server back to the DAG.<\/p>
So now that we have covered the theoretical part of the error, let’s jump into the practical approach and fix the Exchange server is a member of a database availability group<\/strong> error.<\/p>
Read<\/strong> How to use Setup \/m:RecoverServer<\/strong> to restore failed Exchange server <\/a>to know more.<\/em><\/p>
Steps to Fix Exchange server is a member of a database availability group<\/h2>
Consider the server that crashed, which you are trying to restore, is ExServ01.<\/strong>To fix the error, run following commands in the PowerShell.<\/p>
NOTE:<\/em><\/strong> You will need permission to execute these commands. Before proceeding, <\/em>read this<\/em><\/a> to assign the required permission to the user account that you are going to use.<\/em><\/em><\/p>
Remove the database of crashed server ExServe01 <\/strong>from the DAG by using following commands,<\/p>
Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus *\\ExServ01\nGet-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus *\\ExServ01 | Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Confirm\nRemove-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG01 -MailboxServerExServ01 –ConfigurationOnly<\/pre>
NOTE: <\/em><\/strong>Use of <\/em>ConfigurationOnly<\/em><\/strong> switch is important as it cleans all the configurations from Active Directory.<\/em><\/em><\/p>
At this stage, you need to note all the configuration settings of the server, database names, and other details. Then create a new server and use the same configuration and version that were on the crashed server. You can also delete the Exchange configuration from the crashed server and start afresh by installing the Exchange Management tools. The Exchange Management tools are necessary to run the Exchange Management Shell to proceed further.<\/p>
Use the \/TargetDir<\/strong> switch to specify the install location of Exchange if it is installed on a location other than the default one, which is C:\/Program Files\/Microsoft\/Exchange Server\/V…<\/strong><\/p>
If you don’t know the install location, follow these steps to find out,<\/h2>
  1. Launch ADSIEDIT.MSC and navigate to<\/li><\/ol>
    CN=ExServerName, CN=Servers, CN=First Administrative Group, CN=Administrative Groups,CN=ExOrg Name,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=DomainName,CN=Com<\/pre>