Exchange Ideas - Daniel Kenyon-Smith

ServerManager Depreciated?

2009-10-15T20:46:07Z

ServerManagerCmd is deprecated in R2 (we are trying to move away from that model although it still works) See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(EXCHG.140).aspx#WS08R2 (The new command is now Add-WindowsFeature)

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Exchange 2010 Q&A

2009-09-06T18:43:47Z

please Join me at this event to talk about Exchange 2010, you can register here

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2

2009-09-01T15:06:45Z

Download Exchange 2007 SP2 and see what's new:-

Deploying Exchange Server 2010
Exchange Backup Functionality
Enhanced Auditing
Dynamic Active Directory Schema Validation
Public Folder Quota Management
Centralized Organizational Settings

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Release Candidate

2009-08-18T23:20:07Z

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c6d27da1-ba2c-4570-a491-c0d7b39ede8b&displaylang=en

Have fun!

Combined HT and CAS

2009-08-07T23:00:59Z

Take a look at the new guidance for combing HT and CAS and you can install both roles by running Setup.com /mode:install /role:H,C (nice and easy)

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

CCR or Stretched CCR?

2009-08-07T22:42:47Z

Having spoke with a few customers about whether a local CCR and SCR is the best solution or a stretched CCR across 2 data centres I thought I'd write a post.

There is no right and wrong answer to that question, in typical consulting style 'it depends'. There are various factors to take into consideration when designing the right solution for your customer:-

Network Infrastructure such as data centre locations, network bandwidth, latency, redundant links (including switches)
Customer requirements (do they require full site resilience without manual intervention)
Cost
Does the customer currently have the right skills to manage the environment
How many copies or the database are required, (2 with a stretched cluster, 3 with CCR and SCR)
Can a 3rd data centre be used to host the File Share Witness (FSW)

There are also some factors to think about from the client side, such as DNS refresh. If the customer doesn't have a stretched Virtual LAN (VLAN) between data centres, the cluster will be assigned 1 Network Name resource and 2 IP address resources (since both nodes are separate IP subnets). When the the clustered mailbox server (CMS)fails over the CMS will be assigned a different IP. As part of the cluster configuration in Windows 2008 we recommend the default DNS TTL value for the CMS Network Name resource should be changed.

By default the cluster service has a setting of 20mins, you need to be careful if you change the DNS TTL value through the DNS management console as this will be over written by the cluster settings. So if you want to change the default value from 20mins to our recommended setting of 5 mins you'll need to make the change through cluster administrator.

In order to make this change you'll need Local Admin on each node in the cluster and have full control permission to the cluster.

From a cmd prompt run - cluster.exe res <CMSNetworkNameResource> /priv HostRecordTTL=300 (where 300 is the recommended 5 mins as mentioned above)

Take the cluster offline by running Stop-ClusteredMailboxServer cmdlet in Power Shell

Bring the cluster back online by running Start-ClusteredMailboxServer cmdlet.

I’ve listed below a few risks and how they can be mitigated if you do decide to go with a stretched CCR over CCR + SCR

Risk	Mitigation
File Share Witness (FSW) Location	Locate the FSW at an alternate location to provide additional resilience to the cluster
Client cache IP refresh interval	this can configured on the cluster in Windows 2008, or a stretched VLAN can used
Logical corruption of the databases	SCR would provide this feature, but take into consideration your Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
Is the network link between physical locations resilient	Ensure there is alternate routes available
Does the network link between physical locations have low latency (below 50ms)	Test network latency
Network link between between physical locations has enough bandwidth	Test network bandwidth
Backup solution can backup any node in any physical location	ensure your chosen backup solution can back up both locations in the event of a site failure
Manual configuration required to control message routing within a data centre (SubmissionServerOverridelist)	Ensure your operational guides are up to date with how to configure mail routing
Control Client Access within a Datacentre	ISA Server
Querying of AD may take place across the data centre interconnect	None
Potential loss of email data in the event of a site failure	Email will be stored in the transport dumpster of the HT server in the failed site
Operational Management	Having an in-depth understanding of cluster technology and Window 2008 and Exchange 2007 experience

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

A Guide to Migrating Public Folders to SharePoint

2009-07-25T11:05:04Z

Check out the WindowsITPro ‘Guide to Migrating Public Folders to SharePoint’ well worth a read

Written By Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Relocate the ADAM (Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS))

2009-07-24T20:33:30Z

In order to relocate the ADAM database and logs on Edge you need edit the ConfigureAdam.PS1 to update the location of dsbutil.exe as shown below

Then for example run:-

configureAdam.PS1 –logpath:”E:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TRansportRoles\Data\Adam –DataPath:”D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TRansportRoles\Data\Adam

This will relocate the logs and database to the locations specified

Written By Daniel Kenyon-Smith

DatabaseMaxCacheSize

2009-07-24T20:21:24Z

In Exchange 2007 SP1 the default database cache size is set to 128MB, to allow for better cache growth. The new guidance is to increase the DatabaseMaxCacheSize from 128MB to 512MB (on Hub Transport servers with more than 4GB of RAM)

This can be done editing the EdgeTransport.exe.config file as shown below:-

More details can found on Microsoft Exchange Team Blog

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Transport Rules

2009-07-24T14:46:27Z

Whilst working for a customer they had a specific requirement to apply a disclaimer to all outbound mail e.g. not to apply disclaimers to mail sent to other users within the Exchange organisation. Their requirement also included to only apply the disclaimer if it had not already been applied (or where it contained the same text). So i created a powershell script to do this:-

Get-TransportRulePredicate SubjectOrBodyContains

$Action = get-TransportRuleAction ApplyDisclaimer

$Action.Text = “my test disclaimer”

Get-TransportRulePredicate SubjectOrBodyContains

$Exception = Get-TransportRulePredicate SubjectOrBodyContains

$Exception.Words = @("My test disclaimer”)

$Condition = Get-TransportRulePredicate SentToScope

$Condition.Scope = "NotInOrganization"

New-TransportRule –Name “My test” –Action @($Action) –Exception @($Exception) –Condition @($Condition)

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Exchange 2007 SP1 certificate generation

2009-06-18T11:35:00Z

I created a cert the other day for a customer so thought I'd share the Powershell command, you never know it might help!

New-ExchangeCertificate -GenerateRequest -Path c:\CompanyA.csr -KeySize 2048 -SubjectName "c=GB, s=London, l=London, o=CompanyA, cn=Mail.CompanyA.com" -DomainName Server1.CompanyA.com, Server2.CompanyA.com, Autodiscover.CompanyA.com, Server1, Server2 -PrivateKeyExportable $True

This cert will allow CompanyA to access external services to exchange, such as Exchange Active sync (EAS), Outlook Web Access (OWA), Autodiscover, Outlook Anywhere (RPC/HTTPS), etc…

Obviously in order to access these services you will need to setup ISA and publish the relevant rules. In this example Mail.CompanyA.com will be configured in ISA as a multiple path rule, allowing a single url for client access to services like OWA and EAS for example.

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Another Snack to fill you up

2009-06-17T19:37:10Z

So another Exchange 2010 snack has been released for your viewing pleasure!

Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2010

Written By Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Learning Snacks

2009-06-11T16:07:32Z

Learning snacks are short and interactive presentations on popular technologies, see this one for Exchange 2010, more to follow.

Take a look at the Learning snack portal for other great presentations.

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith

Storage and Capacity Planning – Exchange 2007

2009-05-12T11:55:07Z

Come and attend my presentation on Exchange 2007 capacity planning, the link is below:-

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-GB&EventID=1032398347&CountryCode=GB

Mini Series - Improve User Experience V

2009-04-02T20:59:58Z

Avoid Constant Interruptions for Quiet Work Time
How many interruptions do you get every day? It's nearly impossible to complete anything when you allow constant interruptions from the phone, people stopping by your office, and instant messaging.
In Microsoft Office Outlook, you can book yourself a recurring appointment for an hour a day to process e-mail, and mark the time as Busy. During this time, don't answer the phone or permit interruptions, and work only on dealing with your Inbox.
At first, keeping these appointments will take discipline. But over time, it will become a habit. And after you get to zero e-mail in your Inbox, you'll see the value of this one hour a day and stick to it.

2003 to 2007 Tri-Pane Review
In Microsoft Office Word 2003, you can use the Compare Side-by-Side command to display two documents next to each other so that you can compare them. However, this is only a view and doesn't indicate actual changes to the document. The Compare and Merge command shows document changes but automatically merges the two together, regardless of whether or not you're ready.
In Microsoft Office Word 2007, a side-by-side view is still available if you want it, but the Compare feature now offers a tri-pane review: the original document in one pane, the revised document in another pane, and a combined version of the document with changes marked in a third pane. The tri-pane view shows document changes even if the other person forgot to turn on the Track Changes feature. If you want to keep the combined document, you can simply save it as a separate file.

Written by Daniel Kenyon-Smith