Error when running Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy command: The seeding operation failed

 Error when running Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy command: The seeding operation failed

Symptoms

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2019, 2016, or 2013, you run the Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy cmdlet to copy a mailbox database from one mailbox server and seed another server. After you run the cmdlet, you receive the following error message in Exchange Management Shell:

The seeding operation failed. Error: An error occurred while running prerequisite checks. Error: The specified database isn't configured for replication and therefore cannot be used to perform seed operations. [Database: DB01, Server: Contoso-E16B.Contoso.com]

+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (DB01:String) [Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy], InvalidDbForSeedSpecifiedException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=Contoso-E16A, RequestId=5acbfa9e-76ac-497a-82c2-26cbaa31xxxx,TimeStamp=mm/dd/yy 2:22:36 PM][FailureCategory=Cmdlet-InvalidDbForSeedSpecifiedException] FFCD68C3,Microsoft.Exchange. Management.SystemConfigurationTasks.AddMailboxDatabaseCopy

+ PSComputerName : Contoso-e16a.Contoso.com

Cause

This error occurs if the source and target servers point to different domain controllers.

When the source server creates a copy of the mailbox database, the target server flushes its cache and updates its content. The cache has to be flushed during the default time-out that occurs between running the Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy cmdlet and starting the seeding process. If the cache is not flushed within this timeframe, the target server doesn't see the updated information. This situation generates the error message.

Eventually, the cache is flushed within the appropriate timeframe, and the copy of the mailbox server is seeded on the target server.

Status

The copy operation itself is not affected by this error. Therefore, the error message can be safely ignored.

Workaround

You can avoid this error by running the Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy cmdlet with the ConfigurationOnly switch.

PowerShell

Copy

Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy DB01 -MailboxServer Contoso-E16B -ConfigurationOnly

This cmdlet adds a copy of the mailbox database without invoking automatic seeding. In this example, a copy of mailbox database DB01 is added to mailbox server Contoso-E16B.

Next, run the following cmdlet to suspend the copy of the database on the target server to be able to allow the seeding of the copy:

PowerShell

Copy

Suspend-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity DB01\Contoso-E16B

Next, run the following cmdlet to seed a copy of the database on the target mailbox server:

PowerShell

Copy

Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity DB01\Contoso-E16B

In this example, a copy of database DB01 seeds mailbox server Contoso-E16B.

More information

To determine which domain controller is being used by a server that's running Exchange, run the following cmdlet on a local computer:

PowerShell

Copy

Get-ExchangeServer -Status -Identity $env:COMPUTERNAME | Format-Table CurrentDomainController

For more information, see Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy.