How to configure the IsAlive private properties for Exchange Server 2003 clusters

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 includes two private properties to improve the control of IsAlive timeout failure handling for Exchange Server 2003 in a cluster environment.

You can use the following private properties to control timeout failure handling in an Exchange Server 2003 cluster.

IsAliveTimeout

The IsAliveTimeout private property controls the length of time that the resource can remain in an unresponsive state before a timeout occurs. To change the IsAliveTimeout private property value in Exchange Server 2003, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. To change the value, for example, to a value of 600000, type the following, and then press ENTER:
   cluster res "ResourceName" /priv IsAliveTimeout=600000:DWORD
4. Bring the resource offline. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   Note When you take a resource offline, all the resources that depend on that resource are forced offline.
   1. Start Cluster Administrator.
   2. In the console tree, click the Resources folder.
   3. In the details pane, click the ResourceName from step 3.
   4. On the File menu, click Take Offline.
5. Bring the resource online. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. In the details pane, click the ResourceName from step 3.
   2. On the File menu, click Bring Online.
6. Quit Cluster Administrator.

Setting this value to 600000 sets the IsAliveTimeout private property to 600,000 milliseconds or 10 minutes. The default timeout value in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and in Exchange Server 2003 is three minutes. The IsAliveTimeout private property value is read when the resource first comes online.

To set the IsAliveTimeout value to the default setting, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box , and then click OK.
2. To revert to the default setting, type the following, and then press ENTER:
   cluster res "ResourceName" /priv IsAliveTimeout=usedefault
3. Bring the resource offline. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   Note When you take a resource offline, all the resources that depend on that resource are forced offline.
   1. Start Cluster Administrator.
   2. In the console tree, click the Resources folder.
   3. In the Details pane, click the resource that you are taking offline.
   4. On the File menu, click Take Offline.
4. Bring the resource online. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. In the Details pane, click the resource that you are bringing online.
   2. On the File menu, click Bring Online.
5. Quit Cluster Administrator.

IsAliveMaxRetries

The IsAliveMaxRetries private property is available in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). The IsAliveMaxRetries private property controls the number of retries after an IsAlive failure before the resource is considered to be in an unresponsive state. To change the IsAliveMaxRetries private property value in Exchange Server 2003, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. To change the value, for example, to a value of 6, type the following, and then press ENTER:
   cluster res "ResourceName" /priv IsAliveMaxRetries=6:DWORD
4. Bring the resource offline. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   Note When you take a resource offline, all the resources that depend on that resource are forced offline.
   1. Start Cluster Administrator.
   2. In the console tree, click the Resources folder.
   3. In the details pane, click the ResourceName from step 3.
   4. On the File menu, click Take Offline.
5. Bring the resource online. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. In the details pane, click the ResourceName from step 3.
   2. On the File menu, click Bring Online.
6. Quit Cluster Administrator.

Setting this private property to a value of 6 increases the IsAliveMaxRetries private property to six retries. By default, the number of IsAlive retries in Exchange Server 2003 is four. The IsAlive retries occur in a geometric progression. For example, four retries occur at 50, 100, 200, and 400 millisecond intervals. If the IsAliveMaxRetries private property is set, each interval between a retry will double in duration up to a maximum delay of five seconds. The IsAliveMaxRetries private property value is read when the resource first comes online.

To set the IsAliveMaxRetries value to the default setting, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. To revert to the default setting, type the following, and then press ENTER:
   cluster res "ResourceName" /priv :IsAliveMaxRetries /usedefault
4. Bring the resource offline. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   Note When you take a resource offline, all the resources that depend on that resource are forced offline.
   1. Start Cluster Administrator.
   2. In the console tree, click the Resources folder.
   3. In the details pane, click the resource that you are taking offline.
   4. On the File menu, click Take Offline.
5. Bring the resource online. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. In the details pane, click the resource that you are bringing online.
   2. On the File menu, click Bring Online.
6. Quit Cluster Administrator.