****Note 14.3.38.2 has been pulled.  If you implemented this already, please see

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/06/28/mailboxes-on-a-database-are-quarantined-in-an-environment-with-system-center-operations-manager.aspx

Version 14.02.0247.005 (14.3.38.2 MP version) of the Exchange 2010 MP has been updated.  This is the SP2 compatible version of the MP that many have been expecting.

Available here:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=692

What’s new?  From the guide:

• Resolved ObjectNotFoundExceptions in correlation engine   The SP1 version of the Correlation Engine could encounter ObjectNotFoundExceptions on a regular basis.  The number of exceptions of this type is significantly reduced in this update.
• Reduced load on RMS/MS   A number of improvements were made to reduce the load of the Management Pack on the RMS/MS.  The following specific changes were made:
  • Reduced the number of read operations the Correlation Engine makes to the SDK to get entity and monitor states
  • Improved cache handling in Correlation Engine when Management Pack updates are applied
  • Increased correlation interval time from 1.5 minutes to 5 minutes
• Reduced load due to discovery  The discovery interval was increased from 4 hours to 24 hours and improved handling of Domain Controller objects to decrease churn
• Improved Database Copy Health monitoring  Replaced KHI: Database dismounted or service degraded with One Healthy Copy monitor to decrease load on RMS
• Improved Performance monitoring  Non reporting Perf Instances are now enabled by default and some write operations were removed to decrease unnecessary writes to the database

Doesn’t sound like to many major changes.  Hopefully this will help the MP scale better for very larger Exchange 2010 environments and have less of an impact on the management group for all environments.

My experience:

One of the things the guide fails to tell you, is how to *upgrade* to this version of the Correlation Engine and management pack.  It is essentially the same process as installing new.  Just keep in mind if you had previously customized items or configuration, you will need to revisit those customizations.

I download and install the correct MSI of the Exchange pack for my OS version (64bit), by executing Exchange2010ManagementPackForOpsMgr2007-x64.msi.

As you step through the installer, you need to ensure you provide the correct locations if you had changed these previously.

The install/extraction begins…. it can hang for a long time on “Stopping Services”:

When complete:

Apparently this update is going to require a reboot of your management server where you run the Exchange correlation engine, so be prepared for that!

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MsiInstaller
Date:          6/18/2012 12:42:34 PM
Event ID:      1038
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          OPSMGR\kevinhol
Computer:      OMMS2.opsmgr.net
Description:
Windows Installer requires a system restart. Product Name: Microsoft Exchange 2010 Management Pack for OpsMgr 2007. Product Version: 14.3.38.2. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation. Type of System Restart: 2. Reason for Restart: 0.

So, I reboot my management server that is running the correlation engine. 

First thing I noticed – is that my service was reset from running as my SDK account, back to local system.  This is not documented behavior so watch out, if you were previously running your correlation engine under a defined account.

Next – I go looking for the updated management packs, in the default folder:

Before:

After:

So I import the two updated MP’s.  You can see for some reason the download version and MP version don’t match for these MP’s.

We can also see the updated version in Programs and Features:

Before:

After:

Next, I’ll have a peek at the actual correlation engine binary and config files:

Before:

After:

Open up my Microsoft.Exchange.Monitoring.CorrelationEngine.exe.config file:

Before:

After:

You can see – we have changed the interval for the CE to connect to the SDK to every 5 minutes, from 90seconds.  We apparently have also change the logging days kept from 7 to 30 days, which is kept at C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\v14\Logging\MonitoringLogs\Correlation

Overall, pretty straightforward.