Exchange 2016 DAG - File Share witness server and Witness Directory - Change and Troubleshooting

 Hello Everyone

Recently have encounter the issue on exchange 2016 server DAG environment , on which  File Share witness member server and Witness Directory has been crashed. It has been decided to move out the File Share witness server and Witness Directory to another new build member server.

So , have changed the File Share witness server and Witness Directory from GUI

After added the administrators groups in Exchange Trusted subsystem in the local groups . The above error got vanished and able to save from GUI

 

Finally , when I try to do the validation  of DAG Replication and i got the below error

=========================================================================

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Test-ReplicationHealth

Server          Check                      Result     Error

------          -----                      ------     -----

EX02CM          ClusterService             Passed

EX02CM          ReplayService              Passed

EX02CM          ActiveManager              Passed

EX02CM          TasksRpcListener           Passed

EX02CM          TcpListener                Passed

EX02CM          ServerLocatorService       Passed

EX02CM          DagMembersUp               Passed

EX02CM          MonitoringService          Passed

EX02CM          ClusterNetwork             Passed

EX02CM          QuorumGroup                *FAILED*   Quorum resource 'Cluster Group' is not online on server

                                                      'EX02CM'. Database availability group 'CMDAG' might not be

                                                      reachable or may have lost redundancy. Error:

                                                                File Share Witness                                      

                                                      (\\cmfsw01.cloudmonkeys.xyz\CMDAG.cloudmonkeys.xyz): Offline

                                                                File Share Witness                                      

                                                      (\\aadcm01.cloudmonkeys.xyz\CMDAG.cloudmonkeys.xyz): Failed

                                                       is offline. Please verify that the Cluster service is running

                                                      on the server.

EX02CM          FileShareQuorum            Passed

EX02CM          DatabaseRedundancy         Passed

EX02CM          DatabaseAvailability       Passed

=========================================================================

Checked the ClusterResource status and found the new File Share Witness showing offline

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-ClusterResource

Name                                                                   State   OwnerGroup    ResourceType

----                                                                   -----   ----------    ------------

File Share Witness (\\aadcm01.cloudmonkeys.xyz\CMDAG.cloudmonkeys.xyz) Failed  Cluster Group File Share Witness

File Share Witness (\\cmfsw01.cloudmonkeys.xyz\CMDAG.cloudmonkeys.xyz) Offline Cluster Group File Share Witness

=========================================================================

Checked the DatabaseAvailabilityGroup  status and  WitnessShareInUse was shown as Invalid Configuration

PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity "CMDAG" -Status | ft Name, Witness*,Servers

WARNING: Database availability group 'CMDAG' witness '' isn't a valid path. Please use the

Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup cmdlet to re-create the witness server and directory.

Name  WitnessServer            WitnessDirectory    WitnessShareInUse Servers

----  -------------            ----------------    ----------------- -------

CMDAG cmfsw01.cloudmonkeys.xyz C:\CMFSW         InvalidConfiguration {EX02CM, ONPREMEX01}

=========================================================================

Restarted the cluster services , No Luck

Resolution:

Started the cluster Resources using the below command and re configure the file share witness  server and witness directory from the PowerShell

==========================================================================

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-ClusterResource | Start-ClusterResource

Name                                                                   State  OwnerGroup    ResourceType

----                                                                   -----  ----------    ------------

File Share Witness (\\cmfsw01.cloudmonkeys.xyz\CMDAG.cloudmonkeys.xyz) Online Cluster Group File Share Witness

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity "CMDAG" -WitnessServer "cmfsw01.cloudmonkeys.xyz" -WitnessDirectory C:\cmfsw

Finally the replication got passed and success

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Test-ReplicationHealth

Server          Check                      Result     Error

------          -----                      ------     -----

EX02CM          ClusterService             Passed

EX02CM          ReplayService              Passed

EX02CM          ActiveManager              Passed

EX02CM          TasksRpcListener           Passed

EX02CM          TcpListener                Passed

EX02CM          ServerLocatorService       Passed

EX02CM          DagMembersUp               Passed

EX02CM          MonitoringService          Passed

EX02CM          ClusterNetwork             Passed

EX02CM          QuorumGroup                Passed

EX02CM          FileShareQuorum            Passed

EX02CM          DatabaseRedundancy         Passed

EX02CM          DatabaseAvailability       Passed

EX02CM          DBCopySuspended            Passed

EX02CM          DBCopyFailed               Passed

EX02CM          DBInitializing             Passed

EX02CM          DBDisconnected             Passed

EX02CM          DBLogCopyKeepingUp         Passed

EX02CM          DBLogReplayKeepingUp       Passed

I hope this would be helpful for someone during the troubleshooting of DAG and File share witness configurations. Happy Learning 😊