How to recover a Single DAG Mailbox Server Member

Whoa!!! One of my servers in DAG crashed and its crashed for good (RIP)
what next???
The steps outlined in this document is a MUST-MUST HAVE for all Exchange
pros as a part of your DR documentation. I can tell you with confidence that
you dont want to wait for a server to crash and then go haywire looking for
this. Read and understand every single information outlined here and try to
replicate it in a lab if you have any Lets get started!
In case of single server failure there will not be any impact to the production
as the DBs copies will come online on the other member in DAG. We still
need the server back to the production so that we can continue providing the
agreed DAG infrastructure. The following step will guide the recovery of the
single server failure in the Exchange 2010 DAG.
So, I have a 2 member DAG setup and one of them failed. Following are the
steps if you want to recover that server. Yes I know you can add a different
server as a member of DAG, but knowing this process wont hurt.
Note:
If Exchange is installed in a location other than the default location, you must
use the /TargetDir Setup switch to specify the location of the Exchange
program files. If you dont use the /TargetDir switch, the Exchange program
files will be installed in the default location (%programfiles
%MicrosoftExchange ServerV14).
To determine the install location, follow these steps:
1. Open ADSIEDIT.MSC or LDP.EXE.
2. Navigate to the following location:
CN=ExServerName,CN=Servers,CN=First Administrative
Group,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=ExOrg Name,CN=Microsoft
Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=DomainName,CN=Co
m
3. Right-click the Exchange server object, and then click Properties.
4. Locate the msExchInstallPath attribute. This attribute stores the
current installation path.
Steps of DAG Single server recovery
Clean-up of the crashed server data from Exchange DAG:
Retrieve any replay lag or truncation lag settings for any mailbox database
copies.
Get-MailboxDatabase DB1 | Format-List *lag*
Remove any mailbox database copies
Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy DB1MBX1
Remove the failed servers configuration from the DAG.

Remove-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG1

-MailboxServer MBX1 ConfigurationOnly
Evict the node from failover cluster- Open the Failover cluster and evict the
crashed node from the cluster.
Now proceed with steps below:
1. Reset the servers computer account in Active Directory
2. Join the server to the domain with the same name.
3. Install IIS.
4. Install .net framework 3.51
5. Install Office Filter Pack
6. Open a Command Prompt window with run as administrator.
7. Run the exchange setup with the below cmdlet.
Setup.com /m:RecoverServer
8. When the Setup recovery process is completed. Open the Exchange
management shell and run the below cmdlet.
Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity DAG1
-MailboxServer MBX1
9. After the server has been added back to the DAG, reconfigure mailbox
database copies using below 3 cmdlets
Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity <DBName>
-MailboxServer <destination mailboxservername>
-ReplayLagTime 0.00:01:00 truncationlagtime 0.00:01:00
-ActivationPreference number
Suspend-MailboxDatabasecopy identity
<DBNamedestinationservername>
Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity
<DBNamedestinationservername> -SourceServer <sourcemailbox
server> -DeleteExistingFiles
Note: Wait for the seeding to complete which might take more than 24hrs
(depending on the DB)
Prabhat Nigam (Wizkid)
Team@MSExchangeGuru