Google Desktop search and Outlook Problems

We came across a interesting issue with users having performance issues accessing their Exchange server 2003 mailbox using Outlook 2k3 and 2k7.

And the problem as it turned out to be, users were using Google Desktop search, which searches and indexes the mailbox and Public folder, creating a lot of RPC requests resulting in poor Outlook performance.

There are a lot of interesting articles relating to various issues, they are Public folder issues , Cross desktop search , Exchange server performance issues!. It's worth reading these articles to make sure the performance issue is not relate Desktop search Engine!

In the KB article Exchange server performance issues! they have given a tool called EXMON.exe to identify which all users have installed the desktop search software, cool isn't it.

Calendar sharing and reminders in outlook

• We all know that user can share his/her outlook resources with other users through delegates tab, but the point to note is that the user can only share the default system calendar container and not the user created custom calendar.
• Outlook reminders will work as long as the mails received is in it's original container, in other words if a item received in Inbox folder is moved another folder, the remainder feature won't work, as the exchange server generates remainders for only items in their received folder.

Windows server 2008 - The next big thing!

As all of the Exchange Administrators would have been aware that Exchange 2007 is making ripples in the IT industry for the advanced features and simple design, Microsoft is ready with the release of the next big server lines

• Windows 2008
• SQL 2008 and
• Visual Studio 2008

Find the details in Windows server 2008 home page and the countdown clock indicating the launch date.

Windows 2008, incorporates some amazing features like:

• Option for Windows core installation.
• Installation of server roles as opposed to default installation in 2003.
• Windows fail-over clustering.
• Virtualization support.
• Stoppable Domain services.
• Federation service.
• Rights management service.
• New backup tool (not pre-installed).
• Read only Domain controller for unsecured office locations.
• 32 installable features and 16 installable roles in total.
• Ease of administration through Server manager console.
• Reduced attack surface.

The list goes on, so why not go to the Technet Windows 2008 site and check it out.

Windows 2008 guide by Mitch Tulloch is an excellent book to start with Windows 2008 and adopt early for the technology.

 

Enjoy learning!

Creating Calendar public folders

We can create a calendar public folder only through Outlook under the public folder in which you have permissions to create a folder.

To create a Calendar PF:

1. Select the Public Folder in which you have "Create Sub-folders" permission on.

• Right-click and select New folder
• In the Pop-up dialogue box Give the name of the folder you want to create.
• In the drop down list below, select the type of the folder you want to create (Calendar PF in this case) and click OK.

Exchange System Manager, stores and policies

In this continuation blog, we'll look at some of the basic things about what Exchange System Manager(ESM), Information stores and Policies are all about.

Exchange System Manager (ESM) is the interface through which we manage most of the Exchange related object. The Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide covers all the interfaces in ESM, though i'll give you some of the areas you will frequently access.

• Queue viewer:

This interface as shown above provides status of the various mail routing queues handled by the exchange server. You can freeze the mail flow by right clicking a queue a selecting FREEZE. This helps view the contents of the queue easily. Each queue in the above screen shot shows mails in various states and destinations, which is clearly described in the Server Admin guide.

• Message Tracking Center:

This important peace of tool located in the TOOLS container of ESM is used for tracking the path of the mails sent/received by users for finding:

1. Possible mail delays using time stamps.

2. Means to confirm the delivery of a mail to a recipient.

3. Recipients of a mail in a Distribution list etc.

Every mail handled by a server is entered in a transaction log file, which can be used in a later date to view the overall flow of the mail through the Exchange organization, by collecting the logs from the servers that handled a particular mail.

In the Tracking Center the mandatory fields are Sender, Server, Recipient, Time range. When the results of a tracking job appears, double click it to view the sub-process and time stamps.

You can view the racking log settings in the General Tab of a server's properties.

Exchange stores are containers that hold the mailboxes and the data relevant to them. Exchange stores are made up of two system file <infoStoreName>.edb and <infoStoreName>.stm

Here the .EDB is the Exchange Database files stores the mailbox contents a particular format by converting them from their original form (this is for efficient handling of the data by the server). The .STM file is the streaming contents database, meaning it stores the Internet streaming contents as it is without converting them to a particular format (since converting them back and forth would require a good deal of CPU power and can bring down server performance).

These two system files are managed by a database engine called Extensible Storage Engine (ESE). This is the Engine responsible for handling every transaction like mails deletion, correction etc. Information on ESE is L300 stuff so this bit of information will suffice for now to dram a mental map of the exchange server back end.

• Policies:

System policies container is under the Administrative group container in ESM.

There are three types of policies you can create, Server, Public Folder and Server policies.

For public folders store, you can set policies on Database settings, Replication settings, Limits settings and Full-text indexing settings as shown below.

For Mailbox store you can set policy for Store Limits, Database settings and Full-text indexing.

Apart from this you can set Administrative group Servers settings, which is basically enabling Exchange servers for Message tracking.

The links below have a good collection of key features of the ESM.

ESM Part1, Part2, Part3

Recovering Hard-deleted items a.k.a Exchange Dumpster

One of the basic features that comes in handy for customers that come with the request of recovering deleted mails from backup is to use Dumpster mail recovery feature in Exchange server to check if mails are there in the server.

There are two ways in which this recovery operation can accomplished:

1. Registry editor option: - This option is for remote user support guys only not for users!!!

A. Go to Start --> Run and type “regedit”.
B. In the Registry editor click on the + sign next to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”.
C. Click on + sign next to “SOFTWARE”.
D. Click on + sign next to “Microsoft”.
E. Click on + sign next to “Exchange”.
F. Click on + sign next to “Client”.
G. Click on + sign next to “Options”.
H. Right-click the options folders and select NewàDWORD value
J. Name it as “DumpsterAlwaysOn” (Without quotes and no space inbetween).
K. Double click the key and set the value as 1
L. Exit the registry Key and re-open the Outlook.
M. Select the folder where the items were hard deleted (i.e, shift+delete).
N. Go to ToolsàRecover Deleted items and select the items you want to recover and press the arrow button at the top of the window.

2. Now another easy way is to copy the below content and ask the user to save it as .reg file (say dumpster.reg) in the desktop. Double click the file and say OK for the pop-up window.

The content of the file is below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options]
"DumpsterAlwaysOn"=dword:00000001

3. The third way is using Add-in manager:

A. Go to Tools -->Options.
B. Select the “other” tab.
C. Click on the “Advanced features” button.
E. Click the “Add-in Manager” button.
F. In the opened popup window Click on the “Install” button.
G. Select the DUMPSTER.ECF and click OK, also make sure that the "Deleted items recovery" is selected.
H. Exit all the windows by clicking OK.
I. Now access the Folder where you Hard deleted (shift+delete) the mails.
J. Go to Tools --> Recover deleted items.
K. In the open window select the item you want to recover and click the arrow button at the top of the window.

Missing or Disabled Out Of Office (OOO)

Came through this interesting issue a while ago, thought it’s worth writing.

A user reported that he is not able to use his OOO, because it’s grayed out.

While checking some features found out the root cause, to enable the OOO feature again, follow the below steps:

1. Go to Tools menu -->Options
2. In the pop-up window select the “Other” tab.
3. Click the “Advanced options” button at the top part of the window.
4. In the pop-up window click on the “Add-in manager” button.
5. A small window with various options opens, in that, click on the install button and select OUTEX.ECF and say OK also make sure that the "Exchange Extensions property Pages" option is selected.
6. Exit all the window by clicking OK.
7. Re-open Outlook and use the OOO feature.

Exchange system manager explored!

For a beginner to start Exchange administration he/she should begin by getting a feel of the GUI of the Exchange console and the Active Directory Users and Computers(ADUC).

To begin with you can start by studying the Exchange Administration guide:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=98e45481-1458-4809-97d6-50d8aeebd8a1&displaylang=en

Though it is a big e-book like all other Microsoft Guides, a very use full one. There is no hard and fast rule as to how to start learning Exchange, most of the Admins start by administering Outlook, others by doing Exchange user administration like creating/deleting/modifying user accounts, distribution lists, contacts etc.

But for campus recruits like me, i had only one option that of installing and configuring the Exchange servers and playing with it. Admins with previous Windows knowledge should start with creating and modifying various Exchange users like:

• Mailbox Enabled users.
• Mail-Enabled users.
• Contact objects.
• Distribution lists etc.

In the Exchange System Manager(ESM) there are four containers that hold all the Exchange related settings and objects, they are:

• Global settings
• Administrative groups
• Folders
• Tools

Global settings container holds the Exchange organisation wide settings like the primary SMTP address that will be stamped for the newly created users, message conversion settings, delivery receipts etc.

Administrative groups container holds sub-containers like Routing groups, policies, servers etc. This container basically holds the Exchange servers grouped based on the connectivity(Routing groups) and administrative boundary(Administrative Groups).

Folders container has the Public Folders of the Exchange organisation, that includes both system folders and IPM(Inter-Personal messages) folders.

Tools container has the Message tracking tool, which is helpful in tracking mails handled by the servers. Message tracking tool helps admins track whether a mail sent or received by a user within a time frame, it also gives time stamp of the mails, which is helpful in tracking mail delays.

There are few areas which are frequently accessed by the administrators like:

• The queue viewer.
• Exchange stores,storage groups.
• Exchange organisation policies.
• Connectors and their settings.
• Message tracking center etc.

The queue viewer has the details of the mails handled by the server to various destinations at any point in time. It shows the total size all the mails in the queue at any point in time, number of mail etc. You can actually view the mails in the queue by right-clicking the queue and choosing find message option. When the mails are listed, you can choose to freeze certain mails, if you find them too big and they are actually hampering the delivery of other mails. Once other mails are delivered, you can un-freeze the Hugh sized mails.

Exchange storage groups are containers that hold Exchange Information stores(uh oh...), which are in turn is a container that hold mailboxes of the users. Mailbox stores display all the mailboxes they hold and their related data like size, number of items, deleted items, last logged on date etc.

Exchange information stores are made up of two system files they are .edb and .stm types. The .edb file is Exchange database file and the .stm file streaming database file. These are two storage files in which exchange stores and handles all the mailboxes. If you right click the Exchange stores, you will can see the options for Mounting or Dis-mounting the stores, (depending on the current state).

What these two options mean?. Exchange Information store files are used by a process called store.exe to process the mail data stored in them. So when you mount the Information store database, the store.exe process locks the two files (.edb & .stm) and does so till you dis-mount the stores. Till the time of locking you cannot do any operation them like moving them, taking file backup of them or doing a file scanning.

In the subsequent blogs lets look at a little deeper in to the stores, connectors and policies.

Missing Contacts Lookup in Outlook

Last month i came across a intersting issue with Outlook. A user's personal contacts list in Outlook is not available for lookup in address book.



After a lot of head scracthing and ms-office site research found the solution. Outlook looks up the configured address books for lookup function. If the personal contacts are listed, it will not be available for lookup.



Here is the procedure to add the personal contacts for lookup:

1. Go to Tools --> Email Accounts.
2. In the pop-up box Select the "Add a new directory or Address book" option.
3. Click next and select the "Additional address book" option.
4. Select the "Personal address book" option and click next.
5. Click OK to finish the wizard.

Now when you compose a mail and use address look up you will have Outlook contacts available for look up.

Outlook Administration in Focus

The second type of issues that a administrator faces in job is that of Outlook and User's Exchange server related settings. Let's get some insight to what Outlook 2003 is all about.


Outlook is the primary client for accessing Exchange server mailboxes. Outlook uses a Microsoft's proprietary MAPI protocol. Outlook apart from providing access to mailbox, leverages the collaboration experience by providing various features like:

• Calendaring.
• Global Address list(a.k.a GAL)
• Public folder access
• Contacts management.
• Personal Storage Folders(a.k.a PST)
• Cached Mode (For working offline)
• Reminders and
• Rules(Both Client and Server side)

Let's look in to each of these features in brief, but first the Mailbox access. When the outlook is setup for the first time outlook offers a option to setup exchange in Cached Exchange Mode. So what exactly cached exchange is? Let's consider it analogous to folder synchronisation. Outlook uses the logged in user's credentials and authenticates with the Exchange server and accesses the user's mailbox, creates a Outlook storage file (a.k.a OST) and starts synchronising the Mailbox with this folder.

Once the Sync. is complete, the outllook performs something called send/receive to send all pending itmes in the outbox and receive new items received in the user's mailbox at a set interval(typically 3 minutes). The advantage of this mode is that it allows the users to work offline(typically for laptop users).

If you do not select this mode, there actually will not be much of a difference in user's experience, Outlook directly accesses the mails from the server each time you open any item that's stored in the mailbox.

One of the collaboration features of Exchange server is Calendaring. It allows user's to store their free/busy information which is accessible to everyone in the organisation. This free/busy information is one among various data stored in Public folders for organisation wide access. The other things stored in public folders are:

• Offline address list (Offline version of Enterprise GAL)
• Eforms registry (Email templates to be simple)
• OWA scratch pads (Temporary storage location for data accessed by OWA users)

That brings us to the topic what are Public Folders?. Public Folders(PF) are publicly accessible storage location where mails, notes and calendars are stored and accessed based on permissions(Just like a Windows folder share). User's with permissions can access the PFs and post mail messages or notes or calendar items depending upon the type of the PF. No need to mention they can create subfolders if they have permissions.

Our next topic Global Address Lists(GAL). These are analoguous to telephone directory, contains information about other telephone users, similarly GAL presents with data about other Exchange users be it any type of user (Contacts or mail-enabled or mailbox enabled). Each Exchange server generates a Offline address list, which are downloaded by the outlook clients configured with cached mode for offline use.

Offline address lists are similar to GAL, except that they do not provide certain details like Organisation information, Group membership etc of a Exchange user, which are actually accesses from a Global catalog server (a type of Active directory server).

Let's have a quick look at other feature of Outlook, PST. A PST folder is a simple outlook folder to store mail messages, so that they can be accessed later, mail archiving being the major usage of PST folders.

The reminder feature alerts users about a approaching followup set either by the user themselves on a mail or by a mail set sent by sender. Reminder to a mail can be set by right-clicking on a mail and selectin followup, which gives you options for the remider.

Another important feature of Outlook is Rules feature. The rules and alerts can be set/accessed by going to Tools-->Rules and alerts. You can set either client side rules, which run only your outlook is open of server side rules which run independant of Outlook. Playing a sound or displaying alert window on arrival of a mail will be client side rule for the obvious reason. Moving a specific type of mail from inbox to user created folder in mailbox will be server side rule, because the rule dose not reaquire Outlook.

There is a lot to outlook than it might seem to be in a weeks usage. Will try to put as much basic stuff as possible.

Getting Started

First things first! Before you get to troubleshoot Mail flow and other stuff, a novice administrator should be aware of certain things that will make his/her life easier.



Generally a Exchange administrator receives two types of issues:

• Server Incidents and
• User related (Outlook and Exchange settings related)

For a Novice to start learning exchange, a great place to start is the Microsoft Technet site.

http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/exchange/default.aspx

Coming back to Exchange Issues, there are a lot of things that can go wrong in a Exchange environment, in any case the places to check for clues of what could have went wrong are:

• Event logs(eventvwr) and
• Performance Monitors(perfmon)

Event logs are a great idea to track the issues real time and diagnose a incident.

To start with there are different types of events, the default ones are:

• Application.
• Security and
• System.

We will be interested in Application logs(For Exchange related events) and System logs(For Windows Server OS related logs)

The types of Event logs are:

• Information
• Error and
• Warning.

There are various parameters to a Event log like:

• Event ID.
• Source.
• Category.
• Time.
• Date and
• Computer in which event took place.

Event logs might look scary with out the necessary tools to decode, the most important site you need to have in your favourites is Microsoft Technet Events and Errors lookup page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/ee_advanced.aspx

Instead of wasting time by typing all the version details and stuff just enter the Event ID and from the result choose the appropriate one by using the Source, Category and Version of a product.

Another place you can lookup Events in case that event is logged by a Non-Microsoft product or application is:

http://www.eventid.net/

and ofcourse there is www.google.com for all other things

Once you get used to these tools, you can easily troubleshoot the events or at least get pointers to where to start from.

Another place to monitor system activity in real time to see the status of a Hardware or a software is Performance Monitor(perfmon).

Here you can add the counters of various applications or hardware and monitor their real time activity easily. Just play around with it to know which counter is for what hardware or application.

We will share about Outlook related issues in the next Blog.

Exchange Server from Novice level!

I have always searched for blogs and articles written by novice to intermediate level Exchange administrators, who don't assume anything and give relate experiences in administration that matches mine.

But i haven't found one. Not long ago when I'm just a lay man starring at the piece of material called computer, had no idea where to start from. Being a campus recruit did not help either.

So in this blog about Exchange servers and other related server technologies, I'll start from basics of system administration, troubleshooting, where to start, where to look for materials among other things which i really had tough time finding.

Let's get it started!