Single free/busy replica found

[This topic is intended to address a specific issue called out by the Exchange Server Analyzer Tool. You should apply it only to systems that have had the Exchange Server Analyzer Tool run against them and are experiencing that specific issue. The Exchange Server Analyzer Tool, available as a free download, remotely collects configuration data from each server in the topology and automatically analyzes the data. The resulting report details important configuration issues, potential problems, and nondefault product settings. By following these recommendations, you can achieve better performance, scalability, reliability, and uptime. For more information about the tool or to download the latest versions, see "Microsoft Exchange Analyzers" at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=34707.]  

Topic Last Modified: 2005-12-15

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool queries the Exchange_PublicFolder Microsoft Windows® Management Instrumentation (WMI) class under the root\MicrosoftExchangeV2 namespace to determine the number of free/busy replicas that are present in each administrative group.

If the Exchange Server Analyzer finds that only a single free/busy replica exists in an administrative group, the Exchange Server Analyzer displays a best practice message.

It is generally recommended that more than one replica of the free/busy folder exist in each administrative group. Sometimes multiple free/busy replicas can increase performance and resilience. In large Exchange organizations, a single replica of free/busy data may become overloaded. In all Exchange organizations, a single replica of the free/busy data is a single point of failure.

It is recommended that multiple replicas be used despite the following considerations:

  • Multiple replicas cause additional replication traffic over the network.

  • The risk of scheduling conflicts increases with multiple replicas.

At a minimum, there should be one replica for every 10,000 mailboxes.

For more information about free/busy folders and publishing free/busy information, see "Working with Exchange Server 2003 Stores" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47595).