Is this thing on? : Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange Server Training Portal

Scott Schnoll — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:38:00 GMT

Microsoft Learning has just launched their Exchange Server training portal, which includes training for both Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010. Visit the portal, take advantage of new Exchange 2010 training resources, and become an expert on Exchange 2010!.

While you're there, be sure to check out the Special Offers, such as the free online clinic for Exchange 2010.

Exchange Server 2007 SP2 and Backups

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:07:00 GMT

In my Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Tips and Tricks session last year at Microsoft Tech•Ed 2008 in Orlando, Florida, I announced that we would be providing a VSS-based plug-in for Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 that will enable customers to take Exchange-aware, VSS backups on Windows Server 2008. We didn’t have many details to share at that time because we were still formulating our plans, but we wanted everyone to know that we took their feedback on the lack of a built-in backup solution for Exchange very seriously, and that we were going to work to provide a solution for this issue.

Today, at Microsoft Tech•Ed 2009 in Los Angeles, California, and on the Exchange Team blog, we have announced and provided details on Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Exchange Server 2007. Among other features, SP2 includes a VSS plug-in for Windows Server Backup to support Exchange backups. Once SP2 is installed, you can use Windows Server Backup to back up and restore your Exchange 2007 SP2 databases.

The new plug-in is delivered in the form of a single executable called WSBExchange.exe. This plug-in is automatically installed by SP2 on all Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers. The plug-in enables Windows Server Backup to be able to make Exchange-aware VSS backups as described below:

· Backups are VSS-based only. You cannot perform streaming ESE backups using Windows Server Backup with or without the plug-in.

· Backups taken with Windows Server Backup occur at volume level. To back up a storage group and database, you must back up the entire volume containing the storage group and database. You cannot back up any data without backing up the entire volume containing the data.

· The backup must be run locally on the server being backed up, and you cannot use the plug-in to take remote VSS backups. There is no remote administration of Windows Server Backup or the plug-in. You can, however, use Remote Desktop or Terminal Services to remotely manage Windows Server Backup and your backup jobs.

· The backup can be created on a local drive, or on a remote network share.

· Only Full backups can be taken. Log truncation will occur only after a successful completion of a full backup of a volume containing an Exchange storage group and database.

· The plug-in does not support the Exchange Replication VSS Writer; as a result, you cannot perform backups of passive copies of databases in a continuous replication environment.

· When restoring data, it is possible to restore only Exchange data. This data can be restored to its original location, or to an alternate location. If you restore the data to its original location, Windows Server Backup and the plug-in will automatically handle the recovery process, including dismounting any existing databases and replaying logs into the recovered database.

· The restore process does not directly support the Recovery Storage Group (RSG). However, if you restore the data to an alternate location, then you can manually move the restored data from the alternate location into an RSG, if needed.

· When restoring Exchange data, all backed up storage groups must be restored together. You cannot restore a single storage group or database.

Documentation on using Windows Server Backup for backup and recovery of Exchange data will be added to the core content for Exchange 2007 on TechNet once SP2 is available for download.

Why You Should Attend Tech·Ed North America 2009

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:13:00 GMT

The Tech·Ed Web site has some great reasons as to why you should attend this year, but I thought I would add a few more:

Sessions, sessions, and more sessions. In case you haven't looked at the Session List, there's 738 technical sessions available.
Of the 738 sessions, 67 of them are Unified Communications sessions.
If you review the 67 UC sessions, you'll see titles like:

UNC204 Introduction to Microsoft Exchange Server "14"
UNC312 Archiving and Retention in Microsoft Exchange Server "14"
UNC313 High Availability in Microsoft Exchange Server "14" (this one is presented by yours truly)
UNC316 Microsoft Exchange Server "14" Architecture
etc., etc. (I think you know where this is going)

You'll also find several Hands On Labs, interactive instructor led sessions, and more!
If you need help convincing your boss that you should attend, we can help with that.
If you need help convincing your friends and co-workers to attend, we can help with that, too.

The future is coming, and you can see it at Tech·Ed North America 2009!

Check out the Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer Beta

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:25:00 GMT

Want an easy way to check if AutoDiscover is working? Not sure if Exchange ActiveSync is configured correctly? Need to test your inbound mail flow? For help with these questions, and more, check out the Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer. This newly announced tool, nicknamed ExRCA, is a free Web-based test tool developed internally by Shawn McGrath and Brad Hughes.

Shawn and Brad announced the tool on the Exchange team blog.

You can check out ExRCA, which is currently in Beta, at http://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com. You can also follow ExRCA on Twitter and also join the ExRCA Facebook group.

Update Rollup 7 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Released

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:58:00 GMT

UR7 for Exchange 2007 SP1 (Build 08.01.0359.002) is now live. I recommend this update for all Exchange 2007 SP1 servers, especially if you use standby continuous replication. UR7 for Exchange 2007 SP1 includes three critical SCR fixes:

KB 961281 Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 introduced an error when you enable SCR for a storage group in an environment with a parent/child domain structure. See Tim's blog post for more info.
KB 957834 This fixes an issue where network shares are deleted and created intermittently by the Replication service on a CMS in a single copy cluster when the CMS is an SCR source.
KB 958331 This fixes an issue where Restore-StorageGroupCopy can fail in SCR environment.

UR7 for Exchange 2007 SP1 also includes a design change request:

KB 956069 Design change to address encapsulation and the way it is handled by Exchange Server 2007. See Jason’s blog post for more info.

You can find the complete list of fixes in UR7 for Exchange 2007 SP1 at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=960384.

Video: HP Direct Attach Storage and Exchange 2007 CCR

Scott Schnoll — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:27:00 GMT

Check out this new video HP, featuring Systems Engineers Evan Morris and Karl Robinson. Evan and Karl show how show how an HP Proliant DL385 server with direct attach(ed) storage (DAS) - using StorageWorks MSA70 storage and SmartArray P800 controller - provides a simple and economical solution for large mailboxes with great Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for Exchange 2007.

Video: Exchange 14 and Exchange Labs

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:01:00 GMT

Check out this Exchange 14 video on the Exchange Team blog.

Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick: Exchange 2003 and the File Share Witness

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:12:00 GMT

About two-and-a-half years ago, I blogged about about a new feature in Exchange Server 2007 called Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR). In that blog, I explained that because CCR does not use shared storage for the Exchange data, we wanted to make sure we didn't need shared storage anywhere in the cluster. The Exchange team worked very closely with the Windows Cluster team to create a new type of quorum device based on the Majority Node Set (MNS) quorum model called an MNS quorum with File Share Witness (FSW). The Windows Cluster team originally delivered the MNS+FSW quorum model in the form of QFE (hotfix) 921181 back in July 2006, several years after the release of Exchange Server 2003.

From time to time, we get questions from customers asking if the MNS+FSW quorum model can be used for clustered mailbox servers running Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003. The answer is Yes, you can! And yesterday, we updated our Exchange 2003 content to reflect this.

Specifically, we now state:

When deployed in a multi-node cluster, Exchange Server 2003 requires one of the following quorum models:

Single quorum device (shared disk quorum)

Majority Node Set (MNS)

Majority Node Set with File Share Witness (MNS+FSW)

So, even though Exchange 2003 came out well before the MNS+FSW quorum model, you can still use that quorum model for your multi-node clusters running Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003.

Tech·Ed Online

Scott Schnoll — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:28:00 GMT

Microsoft Tech·Ed is our premier worldwide technical education conference for IT professionals and Developers. It's held annually in Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, North America, South Africa, Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and it is chock full of Microsoft product and technology goodness.

If you can't make it to one of these events, there's also Tech·Ed Online. These are brief 10-20 minute technical talk videos featuring product, technology and subject matter experts. I recently presented one on Exchange Server 2007 SP1 with my colleague, Andrew Ehrensing, where we chatted about migration, transitions, and virtualization.

You can find other tech talk videos at the Portal page and the Library page.

Important Information about Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Scott Schnoll — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Please see the Exchange Team blog entry, The case of disappearing Update Rollup 4, for important information about UR4 for Exchange 2007 SP1.

Exchange Server and Hardware Virtualization

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:22:00 GMT

Today Microsoft announced some significant changes to its licensing and support policies for applications in hardware virtualization environments. For details on the announcement, including links to updated support policies and recommendations for Exchange 2007 SP1 in a hypervisor environment, see Microsoft Virtualization and Licensing Announcements.

TechNet Webcast: High Availability in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 (Part 2 of 2): Disaster Recovery and SCR Deep Dive Recording Available

Scott Schnoll — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:15:00 GMT

Thanks to the nearly 150 folks who attended my Webcast last week. A recording of the Webcast is now available at https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=1032381322&role=attend&pw=27903285. I recommend that you download or view the High Fidelity Live Meeting Replay, as that version will also show the animations that were used on several slides. The WMV version does not include the animations.

As an aside, part 1 of this 2-part Webcast (which is presented by Ayla Kol, a PM on the Exchange high availability team) had some initial audio problems and is being re-recorded. The recording is expected to be available on August 26. I'll post a link here when it's ready.

Enjoy!

TechNet Webcast: High Availability in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 (Part 2 of 2): Disaster Recovery and SCR Deep Dive

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:47:00 GMT

Are you prepared for outages that affect e-mail service or data availability? Have you defined recovery strategies and procedures for disasters big and small? In this webcast, I'll cover the recommended strategies for protecting Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 messaging service and data, with an emphasis on the ultimate disaster: a full site failure. Join me this Friday (August 15, 2008) from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM PST as I also dive deep into standby continuous replication (SCR), which was designed with these disasters in mind. This is a 300-400 level Webcast that covers disaster recovery options and strategies for Exchange 2007 SP1, standby continuous replication, and site resilience.

You can register for this free Webcast at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032381322&Culture=en-US.

Speed Up Windows PowerShell Startup

Scott Schnoll — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:36:00 GMT

Jeffrey Snover, the inventor of Windows PowerShell, has posted an important message on how to speed up startup of Windows PowerShell. The fix is detailed here.

New White Paper: Continuous Replication Deep Dive

Scott Schnoll — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:20:00 GMT

As part of our monthly content refresh today, we released a new White Paper - Continuous Replication Deep Dive. This comprehensive deep dive white paper includes technical details about the replication components, the replication service, log shipping and replay, scheduled and unscheduled outages, lost log resilience, transport dumpster, database re-seed scenarios and incremental reseed, log truncation, and more!

You can read the White Paper at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc535020(EXCHG.80).aspx, and a Printer Friendly version can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc535020(EXCHG.80,printer).aspx.

We also release some other good stuff, too:

White Paper: Planning for Large Mailboxes with Exchange 2007: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/07/01/449112.aspx
Performance Counter and Thresholds: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/07/01/449113.aspx

Enjoy!