Exchange

Exchange 2010 Database Availability Groups

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

I found a post at Henrik Walther Blog over at MSExchange.org that talk about DAG. http://blogs.msexchange.org/walther/2009/04/18/exchange-2010-database-availability-groups/

It is one of the most interesting new features in Exchange 2010. Here is a list of the new DAG functionality from the blog. 

  • The new Database Availability Group (DAG) HA/site resilience feature replaces CCR/SCR/LCR
  • Also note that SCC has been deprecated/cut with Exchange 2010
  • DAG built on the functionality we know from CCR and SCR, that is it still uses asynchronous log shipping and replay etc
  • An interesting thing about DAGs is that you’re no longer required to form a cluster before you install the MBX server role
  • The limited cluster features that are used by DAGs (primarily cluster heartbeat and quorum) are configured automatically when adding the first MBX server to the DAG and thereby more or less invisible to the administrator
  • With DAG you can have up to 16 copies of a Mailbox database
  • In addition, you can also have other Exchange 2010 server roles such as HT and CAS installed on the MBX server which is member of a DAG
  • Also, you can have DAG members located on different subnets and in separate AD sites

This image over at MSExchange.org describes very well the most important changes in the EMS for administrators regarding DAG.

How to Install Exchange Server 2010 Beta

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

This is a link to Scott Schnoll’s weblog where he goes through a step by step guide to install Exchange 2010 Beta. It is an interesting read and I followed his steps when installing the beta in my own lab environment. Click this link to visit the guide. I found a few gotchas in Brian Ricks’s blog

After installing it myself i have some gotchas and experience

  • The beta does not support coexistence with  older Exchange versions, not even Exchange 2007. So when i tried to install it in my lab environment the readiness check stopped me and I ended up creating a new domain for the Exchange beta
  • Got the  “The WinRM client cannot process the request”. This is because the wrong version of WinRM was installed. Download WinRM 2.0 CTP3 here

Configuring custom email address policies using powershell

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

If you want to configure email address policies with custom setting you need to do this by using powershell. Here you see an example where the reply e-mail address is set to a custom address. The template used below changes spaces in given names and surenames to “.”. This gives the user with the name of Martin Steven Williams the email address of Martin.Steven.Williams@msunified.net.

By typing smtp with capital letters the system sets this address as the primary smtp address. Additional addresses should have smtp as shown below

Set-EmailAddressPolicy -Identity “Default Policy” -EnabledEmailAddressTemplates SMTP:”%r .%g.%r .%s@msunified.net”, smtp:%m@msunified.net

 

This can be expanded upon by replacing and converting nordic characters to compatible character like this: “%r .%råa%ræa%røo%rÆA%rÅA%rØO%g.%r .%råa%ræa%røo%rÆA%rÅA%rØO%s@msunified.net”

New Features in Exchange 2010

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

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There is some new features in Exchange 2010 and the ones that I am most excited about is Database Availability Groups (DAG) and the new features in Outlook Web Access. Elan Shudnow have created a more comprehensive list of new features, check it out here

See Webcasts here http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/05/26/451465.aspx

Changing the Queue Database path in Exchange Server 2007

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

Any Post starting with this disclaimer means that this post was not written by me however I liked it and added to my blog. I will also include the link to the original or similar post to provide credit to the original author

http://msmvps.com/blogs/andersonpatricio/archive/2007/06/12/changing-the-queue-database-in-exchange-server-2007.aspx

If you do a default installation of Exchange 2007 the queue database config is located in “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Bin\EdgeTransport.exe.config” and the database is stored under “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TransportRoles\data\Queue\” as default.  To change this settings, we should open the file EdgeTransport.exe.config in this file we have to parameters:

  • QueueDatabasePath: Database path (mail.que and trn.chk files)
  • QueueDatabaseLoggingPath: transaction logs path (*.log and *.jrs files)

Now, let’s change both parameters for the c:\Database folder, as shown in the figure below. 


Click on the image to see in the original size (readable)

After changing the config file, we have to methods do accomplish our queue database moving process:

Moving the current database

  1. Click on Start / Run and type services.msc  click OK
  2. Stop the service called Microsoft Exchange Transport
  3. Move the database files(mail.que and trn.chk) from original location to the new place
  4. Move the transactions log files (*.log and *.jrs) from original location to the new place 
  5. Start the Microsoft Exchange Transport service

Creating a new queue database

  1. Click on Start / Run and type services.msc  click OK
  2. Restart the the Microsoft Exchange Transport service

In both cases the result will be the same, the new database will be changed for the directory specified in the .config file.

Send Email Using Telnet

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

Here is how to send email using Telnet

  1. Open the cmd prompt.
  2. Type telnet server.com 25 (where “server.com” is the name of the smtp (outgoing) server of your email provider, such as smtp-server.austin.rr.com). This can be found by checking your account info in the program you normally use for email.
  3. Type HELO server.com.
  4. Type MAIL FROM: you@server.com.
  5. You may get a message saying “250 ok”
  6. Type RCPT TO: Friend1@anotherserver.com, friend_two@someotherserver.org, friend.3three@Someserver.com, etc.
  7. again, You may get a message saying “250 ok”
  8. To write the message, type DATA, followed by your message.
  9. To end the message, put a period on a new line by itself and press Enter.
  10. Type QUIT to exit Telnet. 
  • Just a note: you may have to enter a “:” after the “mail from” and the “rcpt to”
  • This can also be used to send email as other people.
  • Some servers also accept ‘EHLO’ in place of ‘HELO’.

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    Got this info over at wikihow.com