If you create a new distribution group, and need this to go live instantly, you should run the following command: Start-EdgeSynchronization
User and group data is synchronized between the Messaging and edge servers every 4 hours by default.
July 29, 2008
July 20, 2008
Vista blue screened on a system restore “Event viewer service” error 4201
We found that after doing a system restore on a Vista x64 sp1, it blue screened on startup, however a safe mode boot worked; after enabling msconfig, and disabling all the Symantec modules, the system booted;
Next step was uninstalling Endpoint which failed on the services screen, on further investigation we found that the “event viewer service” was not starting, and was generating a “Error_WMI_Instance_Not_Found 4201 The instance passed was not recognized as valid by WMI data provider”
We found the quickest fix was to boot into repair mode, and rename Repository locate in C:\windows\systems32\wbem\
If this does not work, then
net stop winmgmt
winmgmt /resetrepository
restart computer, event viewer should now be working, Endpoint did not not to be uninstalled.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/110886-event-viewer-error-4201-a.html
July 17, 2008
Outlook 2003 outbound mail delayed for 60 seconds
Thanks to Mark S. for this fix;
We found that after migrating mailboxes to Exchange 2007, Outlook 2003 clients that were not in cache mode, had all outbound emails waiting for 60 seconds before leaving the clients outbox, however if you clicked on any folder it immediately left.
here is the solution:
Outlook 2003 against previous versions of Exchange Server registers a random UDP port with the Exchange for update notifications. This means that the client UI is refreshed every time an event fires. This port no longer registers against an Exchange 2007 server; instead, Outlook relies on the server’s maximum polling interval setting. This is set to one minute by default. The vast majority of installations use cached mode, so they would not normally notice this behavior. To clarify, the mail in the outbox has been sent and delivered, it is only the client that has not refreshed.
Polling frequency can be increased by modifying the value of
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
MsExchangeIS\ParametersSystem\Maximum Polling Frequency on the Messaging Server.
This key has a value of 60000 milliseconds (1 minute) by default. Changing it to 15000 or even 10000 will gives a faster client refresh time. The trade-off, of course, will be slightly higher load on the server, but it would be hard to impact performance with <250 users.
A few notes:
- After setting the value (make sure to specify decimal )
- MSExchangeIS needs to be restarted for the setting to take effect
- Setting this key is probably an acceptable workaround for a deployment up to 250 users. Monitor CPU, memory and disk queue length to make sure that they are still at acceptable levels after lowering the threshold
- would not recommend setting the frequency much lower than 10 seconds. This will result in more traffic to the server, but probably not to an appreciable amount on a gigabit network
- Real time for the refresh is an additional 2-3 seconds over the polling time because of latency, disk writes, etc
- Cached mode clients will see that the mail leaves immediately, but there will be a corresponding delay for delivery until the polling frequency is hit
- This behavior is not present in Outlook 2007 because of its different polling architecture
July 16, 2008
Mobile 6.1 release for I760
Samsung released today the long awaited 6.1 upgrade the files can be located here
July 11, 2008
Pushing out SCE agent fails and the Fix.
We had a new Windows 2008 x64 joined to the domain acting as a Terminal Server. we could not push the SCE agent out, and kept on getting this error error is 800706BA The RPC server is unavailable
We investigated and found no DNS entry for this newly added server.
As soon as we added the A record, we could successfully push the agent.
July 10, 2008
EBS official release date has been announced.
Steven VanRoekel, senior director, Windows Server Solutions Group at Microsoft announced that the release date will be on November 12th 2008.
July 8, 2008
Excel 2007 on Vista slow to save
We ran into a situation where Vista clients with Excel 2007 were slow in open and saving of files.
We came across the following which has helped the situation
We checked the “Lookup wizard” Add-Ins in Excel Options Add-Ins this made excel faster in most areas.
July 7, 2008
Word 2007 started crashing after installing add-ins
We tried removing the addins, and we kept on getting this error. “The connected state of Office Add-Ins registered in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE cannot be changed”
We found that the only way to disable the addins is by opening the office program using the “Run as Administrator”
We could then uncheck or delete the add-ins
This did fix the issue.
July 1, 2008
SCR IN EBS!!! Step By Step instructions: Fail-over Steps part2
This is the 2nd blog in the series of “failing over the SCR server” if ever needed.
1. If possible, Dismount both databases on the exchange server.
2. Run on backup exchange: Restore-StorageGroupCopy “exchange\First Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
a. If the exchange server is not available add the parameter –force at the end of the command.
b. If you get the following error, wait a short amount of time and then run the command again as the copy might just need to finish:
3. Run on backup exchange: Restore-StorageGroupCopy “exchange\Second Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
a. If the exchange server is not available add the parameter –force at the end of the command.
4. check database state
a. On Exchange-bu
b. eseutil /mh “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\first storage group\Mailbox Database.edb “
c. if it shows dirty shutdown run
d. d: cd “d:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\first storage group”
e. eseutil /r e00
f. On public folder
g. eseutil /mh “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\second Storage Group\Public Folder Database.edb”
h. if it shows dirty shutdown run
i. d: cd “d:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\second storage group”
j. eseutil /r e01
5. If these were not created during the replication setup then create Storage Groups and Databases on backup exchange that have same names as the ones on exchange. They should point to temporary paths, not to the path of the copied data. Also be sure that when you create these you check DO NOT MOUNT them, and that you right click on them and go into properties, and check “Do not mount this database at startup”.
6. Run on backup exchange: Move-StorageGroupPath “exchange-bu\First Storage Group” -SystemFolderPath “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\First Storage Group” -LogFolderPath “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\First Storage Group” –ConfigurationOnly
7. Run on backup exchange: Move-StorageGroupPath “exchange-bu\Second Storage Group” -SystemFolderPath “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\Second Storage Group” -LogFolderPath “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\Second Storage Group” –ConfigurationOnly
8. Run on backup exchange: Move-DatabasePath “exchange-bu\first storage group\mailbox database” -EdbFilePath “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\First Storage Group\Mailbox Database.edb” –ConfigurationOnly
9. Run on backup exchange: Move-DatabasePath “exchange-bu\second storage group\public folder database” -EdbFilePath “D:\Windows Essential Business Server\Exchange\Mailbox\Second Storage Group\Public Folder Database.edb” -ConfigurationOnly
10. Go into the properties windows of both databases on backup exchange(right click on database, select properties) in the Exchange Management Console and put a checkmark next to “This database can be overwritten by a restore”
11. Right click on both databases in the backup exchange management console and click on Mount.
12. Run on backup exchange: Get-Mailbox -Database “exchange\first storage group\mailbox database” |where {$_.ObjectClass –NotMatch ‘(SystemAttendantMailbox|ExOleDbSystemMailbox)’}| Move-Mailbox -ConfigurationOnly -TargetDatabase “exchange-bu\first storage group\mailbox database”
13. Right-click on the Mailbox Database in the backup exchange console. Click on client settings. Change the default public folder database location from EXCHANGE\Second Storage Group\Public Folder Database to EXCHANGE-BU\Second Storage Group\Public Folder Database
14. On exchange-bu set “Microsoft Exchange Transport” service to automatic and start the service (if you recall we changed this during the SCR setup)
15. If needed
- Remove Edge Certificate from the exchange-bu server using the Remove-EdgeSubscription command in powershell (when prompted for identity, enter name of security server, then select “y” when prompted).
- Restart Microsoft Exchange Transport Service on all servers.
- On security server (edge), in powershell, create a new Edge subscription using the command New-EdgeSubscription -filename “c:\subscription.xml”
- Put subscription.xml into a shared folder.
- On one of the exchange servers (hub), in Exchange Management Console, click on Organizational Configuration >> Hub Transport on the left hand tree. Then click on the Edge Subscriptions tab.
- Right click in windows and select “New Edge Subscription”, and select subscription.xml.
- Run command on the exchange server Start-EdgeSynchronization, in powershell.
Then run Test-EdgeSynchronization
- (For an EBS server environment, several certificates will be involved in the communication. The EBS wizard is mainly used to update the certificate for the purpose of external TLS connection. The certificate going to expire could be for the internal transport usage. To resolve this issue, please use the following steps
1. On the Messaging server, open the Exchange management shell (This is done on edge server as well if needed)
2. Run the command New-ExchangeCertificate
3. You will get following warning message.
WARNING: This certificate will not be used for external TLS connnections with an FQDN of ‘message.domain.local’ because the CA-Signed certificate with the thumbprint ‘xxxxxxxxxxxxxx’ takes precedence. The following connectors match that FQDN: Default server, Client Server.
Confirm
Overwrite existing default SMTP certificate, ‘XXXXXXXXXXXXX’Please make sure ‘xxxxxxxxxx’ is CEA…
4. Please click Y to confirm the update.
After above steps, please restart the Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync service to update the certificate information on the Edge Transport servers that are subscribed to the organization.
For more information:
Source: MSExchangeTransport Event ID: 12017 (Exchange 8.0)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/transform.aspx?ProdName=Exchange&ProdVer=8.0&EvtID=12017&EvtSrc=MSExchangeTransport&LCID=1033How to Configure Mail Flow Between an Edge Transport Server and Hub Transport Servers Without Using EdgeSync
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232082.aspxNew-ExchangeCertificate
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998327.aspx)
If the Outlook clients are 2007 then they should detect the exchange-bu automatically, on previous version of outlook the profile will need to be changed manually.
“check for any AV such as SMSTP wich controll inbound mail, and or outbound mail
Once the EBS Server is back in production, follow the steps in reverse to migrate the mailbox over.
Hope this comes in handy on a rainy day.
S.R
June 25, 2008
SCR IN EBS!!! Step By Step instructions: Setup Part1;
Will post 2 blogs; The first will be on setup; the 2nd will be on failing over.
Install the 2nd Exchange on a clean windows 2008 standard
For this blog we have named the Messaging server “exchange” and the standby server “exchange-bu”
dcpromo and make this server a member dc
change the time zone to match the other servers; by default the server will be at Pacific time zone
Run Windows Update patch
install Windows power Shell
Install IIS
specifically IIS Management Console; IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility; IIS 6 Management Console; IIS7 Dynamic Content Compression; IIS7 Basic Authentication; IIS 7 Windows Authentication; IIS 7 Digest Authentication. Ensure WWW service is running, otherwise you will get this error
Install Exchange using the “Typical Exchange Server installation”
make sure that the install path match the Messaging server for example “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server”
Your screen will move along to
The Hub Transport Role can take over 10 minutes to install.
Once the install has completed make sure to run windows update to update Exchange to the latest release
the 2 servers always have to have matching builds.
Check the event viewer for event 1032 “No Credentials was found for security_server.domain.local
If you see this follow these steps.
___________________________________________________
1. Remove Edge Certificate from an exchange server using the Remove-EdgeSubscription command in powershell (when prompted for identity, enter name of security server, then select “y” when prompted).
2. Restart Microsoft Exchange Transport Service on all servers.
3. On security server in powershell, create a new Edge subscription using the command New-EdgeSubscription -filename “c:\subscription.xml”
4. Put subscription.xml into a shared folder.
5. On one of the exchange servers (hub), in Exchange Management Console, click on Organizational Configuration >> Hub Transport on the left hand tree. Then click on the Edge Subscriptions tab.
6. Right click in windows and select “New Edge Subscription”, and select subscription.xml.
7. Run command on the exchange server Start-EdgeSynchronization, in powershell.
______________________________________________________
- In TMG firewall policy go to “Allow Microsoft exchange EdgeSync Traffic from messaging server” and add in the exchange-bu server
- In TMG firewall policy go to ” Allow Outbound SMTP Mail Traffic to Security Server” and add in the exchange-bu server
_______________________________________________________
- Add the “Windows PowerShell” to the Exceptions list on both exchange servers under Windows Firewall settings
- On “exchange-bu” set “Microsoft Exchange Transport” service to manual and stop the service
_______________________________________________________
1. run on exchange Enable-StorageGroupCopy -identity “First Storage Group” -StandbyMachine exchange-bu -ReplayLagTime 0.1:0:0
2. run on exchange Enable-StorageGroupCopy -identity “Second Storage Group” -StandbyMachine exchange-bu -ReplayLagTime 0.1:0:0
3. run on exchange : Suspend-StorageGroupCopy -Identity “exchange\First Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
4. run on exchange: Suspend-StorageGroupCopy -Identity “exchange\Second Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
5. run on backup exchange: Update-StorageGroupCopy -Identity “exchange\First Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
You should see the a similar screen to this (this can take some time to start if the database is over 30 gigs)
6. run on backup exchange: Update-StorageGroupCopy -Identity “exchange\Second Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
7. run on backup exchange: Resume-StorageGroupCopy -identity:”exchange\First storage Group” -standbymachine “exchange-bu”
8. run on backup exchange: Resume-StorageGroupCopy -identity:”exchange\Second Storage Group” -standbymachine “exchange-bu”
9. Run commands to Test Replication Health (on backup)
a. Get-StorageGroupCopyStatus “exchange\First Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
b. Get-StorageGroupCopyStatus “exchange\Second Storage Group” -StandbyMachine “exchange-bu”
c. Test-ReplicationHealth
Should get back passed on all tests
You can check the following link for some errors you might come across; http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/05/28/448929.aspx
