Exchange Technical bLog

Exchange 2010 SP1 – prerequisites information

2010-09-20T10:05:00.001+02:00

Before installing Service Pack 1 for Exchange 2010 there are some updates that need to be downloaded and installed first. Service Pack 1 installation will inform you that hotfixes with their appropriate KBxxxxxx numbers should be installed. When you open the links in Microsoft’s web site, you will find out that multiple files exist and it is not quite clear what file to download. I suggest you

New version of Microsoft Exchange Server Public Folder DAV-based Administration Tool

2010-05-17T10:58:00.001+02:00

New version of Microsoft Exchange Server Public Folder DAV-based Administration Tool is released and can be found on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=635BE792-D8AD-49E3-ADA4-E2422C0AB424&displaylang=en

Outlook keeps asking for credentials when connecting to Exchange 2010 server

2010-05-05T09:31:00.001+02:00

Strange behavior occurred after installation of Update Rollup 3 for Exchange 2010, where Outlook users were constantly asked to provide credentials despite they were logged onto domain. The problem was in Internet Information Server (IIS) RPC virtual application folder on which suddenly Windows authentication method was disabled. After we enabled Windows authentication, it worked for 5 minutes

Backup/Restore of Exchange 2010 using Windows Backup

2010-03-04T14:37:00.001+01:00

All of us, who grew up using ntbackup for backing up Exchange databases by using disk-to-disk-to-tape method, were unsatisfied when we discovered that in Windows 2008 it was not possible anymore to use ntbackup as the tool of choice. Exchange 2007 backup was therefore complicated or impossible to execute with native tools. With Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2 it is possible to backup/recover

Installation of Exchange 2007 SP2 with Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controllers fails because of outdated Best Practices Analyzer files

2009-10-12T15:22:00.001+02:00

When trying to install Exchange 2007 SP2 in a network where all domain controllers are Windows 2008 R2 version, setup fails with following error: [ERROR] Cannot find at least one domain controller running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later in domain 'DC=DCName,DC=com,DC=DCName'. This could be the result of moving domain controller objects in Active Directory. Check that at least one

Installation error when installing Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008 R2

2009-10-12T15:15:00.001+02:00

When installing Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 R2 (probably the same error exists on Windows 2008), you get error that doesn’t contain descriptive information: Error: The system cannot find the file specified "Warning: An unexpected error has occurred and debug information is being generated: The system cannot find the file specified" What you need to do is run:

Exchange 2007 SP2 unable to delete drafts in OWA

2009-09-07T10:00:00.003+02:00

I found an interesting problem in Exchange 2007 SP2 Outlook Web Access. Since I had problems with mail flow, all the mails that I sent went to the drafts folder. When I tried to delete mails from drafts folder it deleted two, and after clicking delete button one more time it restored all previously deleted mails. Check video…

Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments

2009-05-13T09:17:00.001+02:00

Microsoft published a web page with the details about support policies and recommendations for virtualized Exchange servers. For all of you that are using virtualized Exchange servers, it’s worth reading the article. Article can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx

Hyper-V problem with Network Load Balancing (NLB) in virtual machines running Windows 2008

2009-05-11T09:44:00.001+02:00

I recently had a problem with virtualized Exchange 2007 SP1 with CAS role installed and NLB enabled. Exchange is installed on top of Windows Server 2008 and two network cards were added to configuration. One network card for Outlook Anywhere on port 443 in NLB and the other card for other traffic and server management. After some time one of the virtualized Exchange 2007 servers started to

Go Green! … with Virtualization technology

2009-01-25T18:19:00.001+01:00

Microsoft published a web site that helps you calculate savings after you virtualize given number of the servers within your company. The calculator can be found at http://www.hyper-green.com/

Exchange 2007 SP1 Rollup 5 released

2008-11-25T15:10:00.001+01:00

Rollup 5 for Exchange 2007 SP1 fixes plenty of issues: 925371 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925371/ ) Domino users cannot find meeting request attachments that are sent from Exchange 2007 users 939037 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939037/ ) By default, managed content settings apply to the root folder and all subfolders in an Exchange 2007 environment 949722 (http://

Disable POP3 for ALL users

2008-11-17T14:33:00.001+01:00

To disable POP3 for all users with mailboxes on exchange 2007 (only this was executed this time; probably it works in a mixed environment too) you need to execute following command: Get-CASMailbox | Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled $False In the same way the script can be executed to enable/disable: OWA Get-CASMailbox | Set-CASMailbox -OWAEnabled $False ActiveSync

Linked or any other mailbox has insufficient rights on OWA

2008-11-04T15:37:00.001+01:00

After the migration from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, some users could not access their mailbox through OWA. On your first login to OWA 2007 you need to select the language OWA will be displayed in. After the language selection and hitting Next button, you get following screen: The solution to the problem lies in Allow permissions inheritance for Authenticated users under permissions for

Outlook Web Access Loading... in mixed Exchange 2003 and 2007 environment

2008-06-02T11:25:00.001+02:00

There are plenty of web sites that can help you resolve now already well known problem in OWA when your browser does not display any pictures in it and hangs with Loading... text. Use Google to find other resolution if it is not the one described below. You setup Exchange 2007 into the existing Exchange 2003 environment. You reroute Internet users to use your new Client Access Server (CAS) for

Exchange Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) and GFI MailEssentials on the same machine

2008-05-21T14:49:00.001+02:00

I found a strange problem on Exchange 2003 with Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) disabled on SMTP virtual server. Despite the fact that GFI's MailEssentials was installed on the machine and that IMF was disabled, IMF was still doing most of the antispam job. If I for example changed the default action on Intelligent Message Filter tab to Archive then I found lots of spam in the default IMF

Keyloggers and Outlook Web Access

2008-04-11T15:36:00.000+02:00

There are lots of questions on the Internet about possibility of keyloggers being installed on the public computers and the use of Outlook Web Access (OWA) on such machines. Let's presume that you are using public computer in an Internet Café anywhere in the world. You want to connect to your company's e-mail by means of Outlook Web Access interface. Since you are not the administrator of the

February 29th 2008 - the day you spent with your Exchange server

2008-03-07T14:42:00.001+01:00

A lot of Exchange administrators that restarted their Exchange servers on 29th February this year, ended in endless research of discovering why they can't create mailboxes, enable mailboxes or even start Exchange setup. The problem was not in network or any other service but in Exchange 2007 server's bug. Nino Bilic from Exchange's team wrote on the team's blog: After investigation of this

Upgrading a Single Copy Cluster to Exchange 2007 SP1

2007-12-13T14:23:00.001+01:00

Upgrading the Exchange 2007 single copy cluster requires a bit changed steps than in previous Exchange Server's releases. You still have to work on a passive node tough :))) I suggest that you run Microsoft Update on all nodes prior to Exchange SP1 install. The most important part is .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 update, since Exchange is .NET Framework application! The change from previous versions

Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 is out

2007-11-30T12:57:00.001+01:00

Finally, long expected Service Pack 1 for Exchange 2007 is out. You can download it here: 64-bit version 32-bit version Release notes can be found here. To find out what's new in Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 read the following article from the TechNet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb676323.aspx

Exporting Client Access role (CAS) settings

2007-11-28T14:48:00.001+01:00

A few days ago MS Exchange team published a script that helps you export CAS role settings. Usage of the script: .\exportcasconfig -cloneConfigData:"C:\CASConfigData.xml" -Key:"A9ABA4D2C21C4bc58B303EA47BBE3608" (32 byte string used for password encryption/decryption) -Key parameter is optional and is used in case there are any passwords that need to be encrypted. Script will export:

Upgrading Dynamic Distribution Groups

2007-11-21T09:42:00.001+01:00

Dynamic distribution groups These are distribution groups for which membership is based on specific recipient filters rather than a defined set of recipients. Dynamic distribution groups were called query-based distribution groups in Exchange 2003. Source: Microsoft Exchange TechNet library If you created query-based Distribution Group in Exchange 2003 it was filtered by using LDAP query

MCITP - Enterprise Messaging Administrator- CHARTER MEMBER

2007-11-09T12:46:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I got my MCITP Enterprise Messaging Administrator certificate and was surprised to see that I am CHARTER member! First 5.000 pros in the world who pass the exams become Charter members. I didn't know I was that fast :))))))

Microsoft Exchange 2007 Rollup 5 is out

2007-11-04T19:31:00.001+01:00

On 26th of October 2007 Microsoft released Update Rollup 5 for Exchange 2007. There are 11 issues fixed in this update: The recipient information in an e-mail message incorrectly contains the character string "%40" in the address instead of the at sign (@) in Exchange Server 2007 Non-English characters in the meeting description field are replaced by question marks when an Exchange Server

Standby Continuous Replication (Part I)

2007-10-08T10:23:00.001+02:00

One of the most interesting features of Exchange Service Pack 1 (in the time of writing still in Beta) is probably Standby Continuous Replication (SCR). In RTM version of Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft introduced Local Continuous Replication and Cluster Continuous Replication which are variations of SQL Server's Log shipping feature. To enable more disaster-recovery situations/possibilities

Adding additional e-mail address to Exchange 2007 public folder

2007-09-19T15:43:00.001+02:00

If you want to add additional e-mail address to your public folder in Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 (BETA!!!!) you open Exchange Management Console, select Toolbox and open Public Folders Management Console. On Public Folders - SERVERNAME right-click and choose Connect to Server... --> Browse and Select the server from the list. Under Default Public Folders choose the public folder you want to add