The Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Management Pack (SCOM MP) is now live! As I discussed in my Managed Availability article, the key difference between this management pack and previous releases, is that our health logic is now built into Exchange, as opposed to the management pack. This means updates to Exchange 2013 (like our cumulative updates), will include changes to the probes, monitors, and responders. Any issues that Managed Availability cannot solve are bubbled up to...

download readme It’s been a long road, but the initial release of the Exchange 2013 Server Role Requirements Calculator is here. No, that isn’t a mistake, the calculator has been rebranded.  Yes, this is no longer a Mailbox server role calculator; this calculator includes recommendations on sizing Client Access servers too! Originally, marketing wanted to brand it as the Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Client Access and Mailbox Server Roles Theoretical Capacity Planning Calculator...

Prior to Exchange 2007, there were two primary methods of implementing automated resource scheduling – Direct Booking and the AutoAccept Agent (a store event sink released as a web download for Exchange 2003) . In Exchange 2007, we changed how automated resource scheduling is implemented. The AutoAccept Agent is no longer supported, and the Direct Booking method, technically an Outlook function, has been replaced with server-side calendar booking function called the Resource...

Since the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Exchange 2013, you have been waiting for our sizing and capacity planning guidance. This is the first official release of our guidance in this area, and updates to our TechNet content will follow in a future milestone. As we continue to learn more from our own internal deployments of Exchange 2013, as well as from customer feedback, you will see further updates to our sizing and capacity planning guidance in two forms: changes to...

“You mean… this is really happening?” Last November we gave you a teaser about public folders in the new Exchange. We explained how public folders were given a lot of attention to bring their architecture up-to-date, and as a result of this work they would take advantage of the other excellent engineering work put into Exchange mailbox databases over the years. Many of you have given the new public folders a try in Exchange Online and Exchange Server 2013...

Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer is a web-based tool that provides administrators and end users with the ability to run connectivity diagnostics for our servers to test common issues with Microsoft Exchange, Lync and Office 365. The tool started as Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer , and based on your feedback we've continued to add functionality to test connectivity with Lync and Office 365, and made other enhancements such as tests for Outlook Anywhere...

Download Frequently in support, we encounter several backup related calls for Exchange 2010 databases. A sample of common issues we hear from our customers are: “My backup software is not able to take a successful snapshot of the databases” “My backups have been failing for quite a while. I have several thousand log files consuming disk space and I will eventually run out of disk space” “My backup software indicates that the backup...

These days, some customers are deploying Exchange databases and log files on advanced format (4K) drives. Although these drives support a physical sector size of 4096, many vendors are emulating 512 byte sectors in order to maintain backwards compatibility with application and operating systems. This is known as 512 byte emulation (512e). Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 support native 512 byte and 512 byte emulated advanced format drives. Windows 2012 supports drives of all sector...

We’re happy to announce updates to the Exchange Server 2013 Deployment Assistant ! We’ve updated the Deployment Assistant to include the following new scenarios: Upgrading from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2013 Upgrading from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Configuring an Exchange 2013-based hybrid deployment for Exchange 2007 organizations These new scenarios provide step-by-step guidance about how to upgrade your existing Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 organizations to benefit from...

A few years back, a very detailed blog post was released on Troubleshooting Exchange 2007 Store Log/Database growth issues . We wanted to revisit this topic with Exchange 2010 in mind. While the troubleshooting steps needed are virtually the same, we thought it would be useful to condense the steps a bit, make a few updates and provide links to a few newer KB articles. The below list of steps is a walkthrough of an approach that would likely be used when calling Microsoft Support...