Can't mount Exchange 2013 Database

Overview

We are currently in the process of finding an easy Exchange fail over solution for our company. We have a working Exchange 2013 running on Windows Server 2012 (server1). We also have another identical Exchange 2013 set up on another Windows Server 2012 machine (server2). The second server is intended to only be used if we need to fail over to it. No mail is being sent to this server. We are using the following article as a fail over solution:

TechNet - Database Portability

Right now we are testing this procedure by doing the following:

1. Create new test database on server1.
2. Add mailbox to database on server1.
3. Create new test database on server2.
4. Copy log files and edb files from test database on server1 to test database on server2

5. Run the following command on server2 to allow restore on database.

   Set-MailboxDatabase testDatabase -AllowFileRestore $true

6. Finally, the problem comes when we try to mount the database with the following:

   Mount-Database testDatabase

Probelm

Here is the following error that we receive:

Failed to mount database "testDatabase". Error: An Active Manager operation
failed with a transient error. Please retry
the operation. Error: Database action failed with transient error. Error: A
transient error occurred during a database
operation. Error: MapiExceptionNetworkError: Unable to mount database.
(hr=0x80040115, ec=-2147221227)
Diagnostic context:
Lid: 65256
Lid: 12514   Win32Error: 0x6BE
Lid: 62184
Lid: 16280   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: ComputerName: n/a
Lid: 8600    dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: ProcessID: 10700
Lid: 12696   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Generation Time: 0416-03-01T20:02:44.0600000Z
Lid: 10648   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Generating component: 2
Lid: 14744   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Status: 1726
Lid: 9624    dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Detection location: 974
Lid: 13720   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Flags: 0
Lid: 11672   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: NumberOfParameters: 0
Lid: 49064   dwParam: 0x1
Lid: 12514   Win32Error: 0x6BE
Lid: 62184
Lid: 16280   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: ComputerName: n/a
Lid: 8600    dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: ProcessID: 10700
Lid: 12696   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Generation Time: 0416-03-01T20:02:48.7480000Z
Lid: 10648   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Generating component: 2
Lid: 14744   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Status: 1726
Lid: 9624    dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Detection location: 974
Lid: 13720   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: Flags: 0
Lid: 11672   dwParam: 0x0 Msg: EEInfo: NumberOfParameters: 0
Lid: 1047    StoreEc: 0x80040115 [Database: testDatabase, Server: DECKLE.lmtl.local]
+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (testDatabase:ADObjectId) [Mount-Database], InvalidOperationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=DECKLE,RequestId=4f69c8d9-6a00-4143-ba0f-c1340b70f7a7,TimeStamp=3/1/2016 8:02:48
PM] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-InvalidOperationException] 80B363A1,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.SystemConfiguration
Tasks.MountDatabase
+ PSComputerName        : deckle.lmtl.local

Notes

We did check to make sure the database had a clean shutdown before trying the procedure above using the following command:

[PS]E:\ExchangeData>eseutil /mh "E:\ExchangeData\testdatabase\testDatabase.edb"

This shows that it was indeed a clean shutdown.

This procedure is supposed to be very simple, as we have read many guides, and we have yet to see anyone run into this problem. Any help is appreciated.

It sounds like the exchange server can't see a domain controller. You don't want it connecting to a live DC for this kind of thing to be honest.

This is a terrible idea for a "fail-over" solution. Use a DAG as joeqwerty suggests. It'll be supportable and both faster and more reliable to fail over in the event of an outage.

The scenario you describe for DB portability is pretty much recovering after a disaster, not a quick "oops this server's a bit sick, let's fail over quickly to the spare while we have the first one up on blocks for the day" kind of thing.

To test this as a recovery scenario you will need to stand up a replica DC alongside the second exchange server in a recovery environment for this kind of thing.

If you want to test your ability to recover the databases in the event of an issue, can you not mount the database as a recovery database?

If you want to improve service resilience for your email users, use a DAG. That's what they're for.