How to Remove Exchange 2003 from a Node

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This procedure describes how to remove Exchange 2003 from a node.

Before You Begin

To remove Exchange 2003 from a cluster node, you must uninstall Exchange 2003 as you would from a stand-alone (non-clustered) server. However, only remove Exchange from those nodes that you no longer want Exchange to use. If you want Exchange 2003 to use the node (for example, as a passive node), do not uninstall Exchange 2003 from the node.

Before removing Exchange from a node, do the following:

  • Move all Exchange Virtual Servers that the node owns to another node or perform the steps in the previous section "Removing an Exchange Virtual Server" to remove every Exchange Virtual Server that the node owns.

  • Move any important cluster resources owned by the node to another node before proceeding. If you do not move these resources, Exchange Setup blocks removal of Exchange 2003 from the node.

Before you start managing your Exchange cluster, you may want to review what constitutes an Exchange Virtual Server and its associated Exchange resources. You may also want to become more familiar with Cluster Administrator—the primary tool used to configure and manage clusters.

Note

Before performing the cluster administration tasks outlined in this chapter, you must be familiar with the clustering concepts described in "Checklist: Preparation for installing a cluster" in the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition Online Help and in the Windows Server 2003 Technical Reference.

Also, make sure that you are familiar with "Using Server Clustering" in Planning an Exchange Server 2003 Messaging System and with "Deploying Exchange 2003 in a Cluster" in the Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide.

Procedure

To remove Exchange 2003 from a node

  1. In Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs.

  2. In the Currently Installed Programs list, select Microsoft Exchange 2003.

  3. Click Change/Remove.

  4. In the Welcome dialog box, click Next.

  5. In the Component Selection dialog box, make sure that the action next to Microsoft Exchange 2003 is Remove, and then click Next.

  6. In the Component Summary dialog box, verify your installation selections, and then click Next.

  7. In the Microsoft Exchange 2003 Installation Wizard dialog box (see the following figure), click Yes if you are removing the last node in the cluster, or click No if it is not the last node.

    Warning when removing Exchange 2003 from a cluster

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    If you remove Exchange from the last node in the cluster, Exchange Setup removes Exchange cluster resource types from the cluster.

  8. In the Completion dialog box, click Finish.