Setup previously failed while performing the action "Install". You cannot resume setup by performing the action "BuildToBuildUpgrade"

If you are upgrading your cluster Exchange server into SP2 and you did not fallow the release notes step by step in regards to cluster upgrade, most likely your cluster is not coming up, information store and other cluster resources cannot be brought up due to version mismatch , physical nodes exchange version numbs won’t match your CMS version number.

if you are receiving fallowing error keep reading this article the CMS SP2 upgrade it still possible as it is explained later on

Setup previously failed while performing the action "Install". You cannot resume setup by performing the action "BuildToBuildUpgrade"

Release notes

Before I talk about how to fix this I want to give mention about the installation recommended sequence and couple other important information you will need to look at it.

Upgrade your server in below sequence

• · Client Access servers
• · Unified Messaging servers
• · Hub Transport servers
• · Edge Transport servers
• · Mailbox servers

The most places the installation sequence will be C, H, M and easy way to keep memorize to see the letters goes same as Alphabet from beginning to next one ( this is notes in the release notes)

Cluster servers cannot be upgraded by using GUI setup, so you need to execute the setup from command line

Setup.com /mode:upgrade

If you have Exchange server in different AD site where your Schema master in on another AD site you will receive below errors on setup

to resolve this issue move the Schema master role to DC on the same site as your Exchange Server make sure changes got replicated and run the setup again. When Exchange setup is happy and done you can move the role back to original DC as fist time.

In order to move the schema master register below DLL file on the DC you wish to move to Schema role.

• regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll

Note: some people are very apprehensive moving SFMO roles among DC’s and to me , these worries are pointless.

Now upgrading Cluster servers read the article bb676559 carefully.

Lets say this is your configuration

• Exchange Server 1 ( Active Node)
• Exchange Server 1 ( CMS)
• Exchange Server 2 Passive node

• First ( upgrade the passive node Server 2) Reboot log back in and make sure server is happy at this point Server 2 is running on SP2
• Second ( Upgrade the CMS, CMS must be Stopped Cluster services must be “STOPED” ( see PS Command)
• After stopping Cluster. CMS needs to be moved to upgraded server, Exchange Server 2, via Cluster Fail over and be upgraded to SP2 there.
• Via command “Setup.com /UpgradeCMS”

Stop-ClusteredMailboxServer MBX –StopReason “SP2 Upgrade”

• Third upgrade the Active node AFRTER CMS Upgrade.

Now if you did not fallow the sequence and trying to run CMS upgrade setup will fail. In order to get the setup going you need to change the watermark registry Values.

on the Exchange server click start run , type regedit , hit enter

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• Software
• Microsoft\Exchange
• v8.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0

You will see separate sub keys for each role installed, since the CMS installation is failing you will see sub key called “ClusteredMailboxServer”

• AdminTools
• ClusteredMailboxServer
• MailboxRole
• Setup

Double click on the watermark and make sure there is nothing in the Value data filed.

This Watermark is very important! It is how setup notes where it left off, and what still needs to be completed. Since your CMS installation has failed when you try to run it again the setup comes back here reads this valued and wont run again since it knows is has run already. When there is no “Value” you can delete the key as well which will be created on the setup process, the setup will run happily and you will be able to upgrade your CMS to SP2

oz Casey Dedeal,

MVP (Exchange)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +

Http://smtp25.blogspot.com (Blog

Http://telnet25.spaces.live.com (Blog)

Http://telnet25.wordpress.com (Blog

Exchange 2010 Installation Prep work.

Below steps are showing prep work installing Exchange 2010. You will need to open “CMD” and navigate to script folder in the Exchange 2010 installation CD or folder in order to run these commands. In my case I have placed Exchange 2010 binaries on second drive folder called 2010. Every new version of Exchange installation is becoming more efficient and easy and evolving in a smart way in my opinion, which is making our job more efficient and painless

You will also need to download and install

• .NET Framework 3.5
• WIN RM 2.0 PS V2
• HTS , install Microsoft filter pack

E:\2010\Scripts>

• For a server that will have the typical installation of CAS, HTS, and the Mailbox role:

sc config NetTcpPortSharing start= auto

ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-Typical.xml -Restart

• For a server that will host only the Client Access role

sc config NetTcpPortSharing start= auto

ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-CAS.xml -Restart

• For a server that will host only the Mailbox role:

ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-MBX.xml -Restart

Exchange 2010 Prerequisites ( TechNet)

Exchange Team Blog

oz Casey Dedeal,

MVP (Exchange)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +

Http://smtp25.blogspot.com (Blog

Http://telnet25.spaces.live.com (Blog)

Http://telnet25.wordpress.com (Blog

!!!!Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant!!!!!!

First quick look to EDA 2010. Exchange 2010 is for sure shinning in many areas and yet another great tool to help us migration existing mail infrastructure to Exchange 2010.

Here is the link to EDA 2010

The idea behind this tool is real nice to be honest. I will list some of my feedbacks and if you can think of anything please do leave some comments, hopefully we can contribute to make this great tool even better

Tool should include some basic PS scripts and should be able to generate reports

• Mailbox count ( number of mailboxes on existing environment)
• Size of the mailboxes and item count ( good to know prior to mail move and capacity planning)
• Some basic Information for mail growth, some guidelines how to measure it ( capacity planning, leads for design)
• Measure current IOPS on the Exchange servers
• PS scripts showing white space on each database ( capacity planning , after move, it will be great to know estimated data for each mail database
• Some guidelines & best practices how to design the databases given scenario, maybe links to download white papers right from this tool.
• Estimated time for mailbox move, some estimated numbers ** indicating , Exchange is able to accomplish four concurrent move treat each time***
• Build instruction for each server role ( this is already included in the current tool)
• Some reporting capabilities to be represented to upper management during preparation and after start accomplishing move mailbox task.
• Some Design best practices with Exchange 2010, Redundancy configurations (DAG) and DB size considerations , along with some basic DAS and disk recommendations given some basic scenario.
• Some backup recommendations , best practices
• Decommission check list , steps and KB links

• Anything I did not mention you guys would like to include, please leave some comments

oz Casey Dedeal,

MVP (Exchange)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +

Http://smtp25.blogspot.com (Blog)

Http://telnet25.spaces.live.com (Blog)

Http://telnet25.wordpress.com (Blog

Exchange Online $5 , what is next ?

I talked about several times in regards to improvements in Exchange 2010 and tried to explain why this version is not similar to any other previous versions. The most significant difference is shining on ***Cost*** as I brought up. Here is the article talking about the cost of Exchange mailbox for $5 dollars per users ( BPOS) . The future of Exchange seems to be living in hosted services “ in the cloud “ as it was , intended. We have seen benefits moving into cloud computing and some of us to be honest not liked the idea of running e-mail within the cloud for many valid reasons, per scenario which I wont get into details here. The big and most important point to see or understand to me is that, the cloud computing is here and getting more and more powerfully and eventually, most critical applications will be running from cloud and getting ready for the cloud experience seems real. I am not big supporter of cloud computing but , I foreseen quickly changes in IT will always exist and keeping up with these changes always fun and new learning material is beneficial to most of people I work and worked with so far (-:

The drop from $10 per user per month to $5 for Exchange Online is significant because it brings Microsoft much closer to the price Google charges for its Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) suite that is anchored by Gmail. In addition, Microsoft said allowable mailbox sizes would go from 5GB to 25GB, a move that ups Microsoft’s stake in the so-called “bottomless” inbox war with other online providers.

Read more

oz Casey Dedeal,

MVP (Exchange)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +

Http://smtp25.blogspot.com (Blog)

Http://telnet25.spaces.live.com (Blog)

Http://telnet25.wordpress.com (Blog