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DAG (Database Availability Group) is the answer for Exchange 2010 database high availability. The Database Availability Group is a set of up to 16 exchange 2010 mailbox servers which gives automatic database-level recovery from a Database, Server or Network failures. If you are new to DAG concept see Database Availability Group. In this blog we will see how to configure the Database Availability Group. We will be covering the following aspects, Configure Databases Create New DAG(Database Availability Group) Add Mailbox Servers into DAG (Add members) Managing DAG.
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As you all know that Microsoft has introduced the Personal Archiving solution with the release of Exchange 2010, one of the much talked about the features in exchange 2010 feature. But when we create it the personal archive mailbox is also resides in the same database as the mailbox is in till SP1 released. Now with the exchange 2010 SP1 you have the option of pointing the archive mailbox to a different database. See more Exchange 2010 SP1 Improvements. Now, let us see how we can create/move the archive mailbox to a different database in Exchange 2010 SP1. Before creating or moving the archive mailbox to a different mailbox database we need to ensure that both the mailbox databases are on SP1. There are two scenarios; one is creating an Archive mailbox and moving and existing Archive mailbox.
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Database Availability Group is the new cluster concept of Microsoft Exchange 2010. In other words DAG is the answer for Exchange 2010 database high availability. In this post I am trying to give you more insight about the Database Availability Group concept of Exchange 2010 and will try to clarify the queries as much as possible even though I know it is really not possible to cover every features of DAG in a post. Before get into the feature of Database High Availability, let me tell you few more information about DAG. A Database Availability Group is a set of up to 16 exchange 2010 mailbox servers which gives automatic database-level recovery from a Database, Server or Network failures. DAGs are similar to Exchange 2007's SCR and CCR technologies, but mixed together, along with a few benefits. Incremental Deployment:- You don't require to plan the numbers of server for DAG…
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By default when you install the Exchange 2010 CAS server, it enables the Microsoft Exchange Active Sync. The active sync feature lets us to synchronize our emails(Exchange 2010 mailbox) into a mobile phone. Exchange ActiveSync can synchronize e-mail messages, calendar items, contacts, tasks, and notes. Here in this post I have tried to share you more about the security features of Exchange Active Sync. Exchange Active Sync security: We can configure Exchange Active Sync to use SSL encryption for the communication between the Exchange server and the mobile device. The certification can be either self-signed or a third party certificate. You can use the certificate along with the other security features such as device password to turn the device into a smartcard. The private key and the certificate for the client authentication are saved in the device memory. Any unauthorized access to the device will purge all the user data along…
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Hope you all aware about the Role Based Access Control (RBAC) permission model introduced with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Here we will discuss more about the RBAC Management Role Assignment Policy. If you are not clear about how RBAC works as a permission model, see http://www.exchangedictionary.com/index.php/Articles/role-based-access-control-exchange-2010.html As I discussed in my previous post about RBAC, Management role assignment policies associate end-user management roles to users. Role assignment policies consist of roles that control what a user can do with his or her mailbox or distribution groups. When we create an assignment policy we can define all action that a user can do with his or her mailbox. By using an assignment policy you can control what specific mailbox and distribution group settings our end users can modify.
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Recently I came across a request from our HelpDesk for a tool to view the User Mailbox properties from their desktop with very minimal information. The challenge was all the machines that they use are running 32 bit OS (Windows 7 or Windows 8), which they could not upgrade due to some other application dependancy. Here is a script which invoke the powershell library from Exchange Server through the ConnectionUri, and can run from any Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines. I hope the pulled information will help the HelpDesk team to do a first level analysis of the end user issues. Take a look at the sample Exchange 2010/2013 Server Helpdesk Pack script below. Download the complete Script Here Now, let us look at the modification that you will have to do to make it work on your infra, Change the Exchange Server name of –ConnectionUri in the line…
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We all are aware about the Mailbox ‘Full Access’ and ‘Send As’ permissions. What if we have to assign permissions in more granular level? Is it possible with Exchange Mailboxes? The answer is “Yes”, it is possible with a little administrative efforts. We will make use of 2 PowerShell commands to achieve this goal, Add-MailboxPermission and Add-MailboxFolderPermission. There is a two-step approach to achieve the desired result. Step 1 – Execute the Add-MailboxPermission command to delegate the read permission at mailbox level. Step 2 – Execute Add-MailboxFolderPermission command to delegate the required permissions on specific folders inside the mailbox. Step1 Add-MailboxPermission -Identity "Common Mailbox Name" –User “Read Delegate Account Name”-AccessRights ReadPermission -InheritanceType All Now try to access the mailbox by adding as an additional mailbox, you will receive an access permission warning when you try to expand the additional mailbox ReadTest. To grant access to expand and view folders, we…
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This video will help you to deal with the Exchange Server 2013 SSL Certificate administration with ease and simple. The video has been created to give you an idea about the following, How to Create a Certificate Signing Request on Exchange Server 2013 How to Submit the CSR to Certificate Authority (I have used an Enterprise CA to complete my request) How to Complete a Pending Certificate Request (CSR) in Exchange Server 2013 How to Verify and Enable the installed SSL Certificate on Exchange Server 2013 Share your comments, also let me know if you have any issues in dealing with SSL certificate on Exchange (any version). -Praveen
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Restore-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup is one of the cmdlets used when we do a datacenter switchover of Exchange DAG, especially during a disaster recovery situation. We might end up unsuccessful in executing the Restore-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup and will fail with below error. WARNING: Server 'EX2010-02' was marked as stopped in database availability group 'DAG-01' but couldn't be removed fromthe cluster. Error: A server-side database availability group administrative operation failed. Error: The operationfailed. CreateCluster errors may result from incorrectly configured static addresses. Error: An error occurred whileattempting a cluster operation. Error: Cluster API '"EvictClusterNodeEx('EX2010.fabrikam.com') failed with 0x46.Error: The remote server has been paused or is in the process of being started"' failed. [Server:Ex2010-DR.fabrikam.com] WARNING: The operation wasn't successful because an error was encountered. You may find more details in log file"C:\ExchangeSetupLogs\DagTasks\dagtask_2013-09-18_07-23-26.439_restore-databaseavailabilitygroup.log".Server 'EX2010' in database availability group 'DAG-01' is marked to be stopped, but couldn't be removed from the cluster. Error: A server-side database availability group administrative…
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Exchange installation will set the Exchange Server Transport Queue database and Logging path inside the installation directory by default. Many times due to various reasons we change the location of Transport queue database and logging into another drive. You can adopt anyone of the following method, Method 1: Use the Powershell Script Move-TransportDatabase.ps1 This is the easiest method, and I strongly recommend too. 1. Move the Queue Database Path by running the below cmdlet, .\Move-TransportDatabase.ps1 -queueDatabasePath:"H:\ExchangeDatabases\TrasportQueue" 2. Move the Queue Database Logging Path by executing the below cmdlet, .\Move-TransportDatabase.ps1 -queueDatabaseLoggingPath:"H:\ExchangeDatabases\TrasportQueue" You are done! Method 2: Modify the EdgeTransport.exe.config file in "%ExchangeInstallPath%Bin" path. Open "%ExchangeInstallPath%Bin\EdgeTransport.exe.config" in a notepad and modify the below entries, <add key="QueueDatabasePath" value="<LocalPath>" /> <add key="QueueDatabaseLoggingPath" value="<LocalPath>" /> Replace the <LocalPath> with the new location you created, in my case it is “H:\ExchangeDatabases\TrasportQueue” and the changed entries as shown below. <add key="QueueDatabasePath" value=" H:\ExchangeDatabases\TrasportQueue " /> <add key="QueueDatabaseLoggingPath"…
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We sometime might have to modify the replication network settings to accommodate either more DAG members, or to completely change the replication network with an alternate IP range due to some network revamp etc. I have outlined the steps to which you can safely modify the NIC settings and the DAG replication network properties without any downtime. There are basically 2 scenarios, Extend the existing replication VLAN subnet to accommodate more DAG members Migrate the replication network to another VLAN as part of some network revamp Extend/Modify the existing replication VLAN subnet to accommodate more/less DAG members You can follow the below steps to extend the VLAN, it is always better to keep the databases active on limited number of servers during the operation. Modify the subnet mask on the replication NIC settings. Open the EMC and navigate to DAG Configuration window (Organization Configuration -> Mailbox; then click on Database…
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Follow the below simple steps create and activate blackberry enterprise service 10 account. The process 2 stages as usual, i.e. creation of account in BES 10 server (console), and activating on the Blackberry 10 device. Steps to create (add) the account on Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 (BDS). 1. Logon to Blackberry Adminstration Console (Blackberry Device Service) 2. On the left pane, locate "Profiles" and expand 3. Click on "Create an Email Profile" 4. Enter the Person Name in the "Name" text box and select the "Type" as "Active Sync" (only one option) 5.Click on Continue and Enter your "Server Name" (in my case it is CAS array name) 6. Click on "Save" at the bottom of the wizard. 7. Now Expand User menu in the left pane and Click on Create 8. Search for the User and Add the user similar to the BES 5.0 process 9. Click the User…
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It is now time to change our Blackberry infrastructure with Blackberry Enterprise Service 10. Blackberry has released help documentation for how to install and configure different modules of enterprise service 10. In BES 10, RIM has come up with 3 main modules. BlackBerry Device ServiceUniversal Device ServiceBlackBerry Management Studio There is an order in which you should install these modules on a single server. The help document provide a good insight about all these, I recomend you to go through this small documentation before you introduce your Blackberry Enterprise Services10 on your infrastrucure. Installing BlackBerry Device Service, Universal Device Service, and BlackBerry Management Studio on the same host server BlackBerry Management Studio 6.4 - Installation and Upgrade Guide BlackBerry Device Service 6.2 - Installation and Configuration Guide Universal Device Service 6.2.1 - Installation and Configuration Guide I was successful in installing all the above modules on a single server, and…
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Recently I had to do a recovery installation of Public Folder hosting DAG member, due to some hardware issues. The PF is hosted only on single server, hence I had to plan for a quicker recovery to ensure the minimum downtime to Public Folder access. The process is simple if you are familiar with the recovery installation of Exchange Server 2010 DAG member. Dismount the Public Folder (if the public folder is heavily used, select an off peak time to ensure lesser changes to PF) Copy the Public Folder Database and Logs to the new server Do a recovery installation of server to new hardware, follow Recovery Installation of a DAG Member with Multi Roles – Exchange Server 2010 Ensure that the Copied public folder is at the right location, and mount the database You may follow the same procedure if you wish to do the recovery installation of Exchange…
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