These are the procedures for installing Microsoft Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server (FPE) on a cluster or a cluster-like system. The procedures are generally the same for both active and passive nodes.

Before you begin

You install FPE on LCR and DAG systems just as you would on a standalone system. The other types of cluster systems have special installation considerations. Before you begin the installation, be sure to read these sections:

SCR systems—See About SCR systems.

CCR systems—See About CCR systems.

SCC systems—See About SCC systems.

Installing the product

Log on to the local server by using an account that has domain administrator rights. This is necessary for the setup process to be able to perform service registration.

To install FPE, see Installing on a standalone server by using the Setup Wizard or, for an unattended installation, see Installing from a command prompt - specifying parameters.

Additional considerations when installing on a cluster or cluster-like system

There are some additional considerations for clustered systems:

  • Install FPE on the active node first, then on the passive node.

  • As in most installations, the installation program updates shared Microsoft files on your computer. If you are requested to restart your computer, you do not have to do that immediately, but it may be necessary for certain FPE features to work correctly. Do not, however, restart any computers until FPE is installed on all the nodes. If you reboot during the installation on an active node, the CMS will failover to the passive node. Since FPE has not yet been installed on the passive node, the CMS fails to go online, and the cluster becomes unstable.

  • The CMS must be recycled before FPE is used for the first time. FPE will not be functional until you recycle the CMS.

  • When installing FPE on the active node of SCC clusters, on the Installation Folders page of the Setup Wizard you get a list with all mount points and shared drives. Select one of these for the data folder. There is no data folder in the passive node of an SCC cluster.

  • When performing an unattended installation on the active node of an SCC cluster, be sure to specify the path to the shared drive in the DataFolder node of the answer file. Then, when a failover occurs, the newly active node will have access to all of the FPE data files. Do not specify the data folder when installing on the passive node of an SCC cluster.

  • When you perform the initial configuration steps, your settings are replicated across cluster nodes, so no separate configuration steps are needed for the passive nodes.