Solutions (37)
I have observed the similar situation couple of times in the past one year. Everything is normal from event viewer, server component state, service status, database copy health but the database activation will fail every time when I try to activate it from one of the nodes in 4 node DAG cluster. The databases are easy to do all possible operations in other 3 nodes, but one node. The issue occurs after a reboot, but will not resolve even if we wait for so longer or do another round of reboot. Errors received are listed below, An Active Manager operation failed. Error: The database action failed. Error: An error occurred while trying to validate the specified database copy for possible activation. Error: SERVER: A server-side administrative operation has failed. The Microsoft Exchange Replication service may not be running on server server.domain.local. Specific RPC error message: Error 0x6ba (The RPC…
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Recently I observed this issue during the migration of Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016. Following are the symptoms noticed not for all but for very few users (less than 1%). 1. Unable to do Deep search on Outlook Address Book (Cached mode), such as with phone number, department etc. 2. Unable to succeed “Test E-mail AutoConfiguration” test from Outlook 3. Availability information were not displaying 4. Outlook returns following error while configuring profile, "An encrypted connection to your mail server is not available. Click next to attempt using an unencrypted connection." And similar other symptoms which occurs due to inadequate autodiscover information. Suspected Reason and Solution As you may aware, the mailbox move disconnects the Exchange 2010 mailboxes and connects the Exchange 2016 mailbox during the “Completing” stage if migration/move process. Which means, following stale information are present in the infra, 1. Mailbox Move for each user in the…
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Since the introduction of DAG into Exchange Server architecture, the DR situations became more easy and comfortable to deal with. On this article I have tried to pen down a simple and straight forward process on how to deal with DR scenario. My LAB Servers: Exchange Servers (4 nos): EX16-01, EX16-02, EX16-03, EX16-Dr1 AD Servers: 2010adc1 & 2010adc2 (both work as Witness/Alternate Witness servers respectively) DAG Name: DAG02 (Please note I have configured Exchange Server 2016 DAG without cluster object) Witness Server Information: WitnessServer : 2010adc1.lab.ed.com WitnessDirectory : c:\DAG02 Alt Witness Server : 2010adc2.lab.ed.com Alt Witness Dir : c:\DAG02 Scenario: 2 Servers in Primary Datacenter & 2 Servers in Secondary datacenter. I plan to bring down 2 servers EX16-02 & EX16-03 and restore the DAG with EX16-01 & EX16-dr1 server. Assumptions: Database Auto activation has been blocked on…
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We often think how to Move Exchange Server 2016 to Different Active Directory Site. This kind of situation arises when you plan to extend the Messaging Infrastructure DR for Site resilience. Replicating small databases are possible by installing Exchange Server in DR site, however it may not be viable option replicate databases over narrow bandwidth if we plan to host bigger databases. From Exchange Server 2010, we can easily shift/move exchange server one active directory site to different AD Site by following simple steps outlined below. 1. Ensure that you have created and replicated required AD site and Subnets for DR/Secondary datacenter. 2. Ensure that the Exchange Server Infrastructure is healthy, and all the databases are replicated properly. 3. It is also recommended to check the AD and Exchange replication help using, Test-ReplicationHealth from DR Exchange Server & nltest from DR Domain Controller 4. Verify the current AD site status…
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You may experience similar problems in version from Exchange 2010, here I have showcased an issue I faced in Exchange Server 2016 infrastructure. You will see one or more of the following events/status on the server, Event IDs 4026, 1009 etc. Log Name: Application Source: MSExchangeRepl Event ID: 4026 Level: Error Computer: ex16-01.lab.ed.com Description: [Seed Manager] The seed request for database 'LAB-DB01' encountered an error during seeding. Error: An Exception was received during a FAST operation. Log Name: Application Source: MSExchangeFastSearch Event ID: 1009 Task Category: (1) Level: Warning Computer: ex16-01.lab.ed.com Description: The following information was included with the event: LAB-DB03 Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Core.Abstraction.OperationFailedException: The component operation has failed. ---> Microsoft.Exchange.Search.Engine.FeedingSkippedException: "Feeding was skipped for '45fc6bd2-7221-4c3d-8314-4e6e75473703 (LAB-DB03)' due to the state 'Unknown', error code: 'Unknown'." Explanation: This issue can cause due to many factors, and most cases it can be mitigated by Solutions mentioned in the next section. The reasons…
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You may receive the following error when you tried to re-add a recovered Exchange 2016 Mailbox server back to Database Availability Group (DAG). -A server-side database availability group administrative operation failed. Error The operation failed. CreateClustererrors may result from incorrectly configured static addresses. Error: An error occurred while attempting a clusteroperation. Error: Node EX16-01 is already joined to a cluster..- You may also see that the following error when trying to run the command "Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup". Please note I ran the command from the cluster node which I was trying to add to DAG. -The following servers in the Windows Failover Cluster are not in Active Directory: ex16-01. This is usually the resultof an incomplete membership change (add or remove) of the database availabilty group.- The above error usually the result of disabled cluster service, or AD replication errors. Solution: It is evident that, some stale entries or communication error stops…
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Recently when I was installing and configuring Exchange Server 2016 on a LAB infrastructure to test some configuration, I encountered the following error, Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Exchange.Net, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The paging file is too small for this operation to complete. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800705AF) Initially I thought, it was due to the resources of the server, where as it turned out to be in complete installation of pre-requisites for Exchange Server 2016. I did not bother to follow any document, instead I did it my own thinking that all steps are complete. Solution: I was able to fix the issue by following the instruction below, Step 1: Add the server feature Microsoft Media Foundation, by running the below command. Install-WindowsFeature server-media-foundation Step 2: Install the .NET Framework 4.5.2 if you missed during the pre-requisite preparation. .NET Framework 4.5.2:Download If you have…
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Recently I was taking an inventory of Distribution Lists in my messaging infrastructure, which lead me to take an additional step to look at the statistics about the total number of members and the usage of each group. As you would be wondering, it wouldn’t be as easy as we think if we plan to achieve it without a script. Here is one simple script, which let you extract the DL usage statistics with the following information, - The total number of users in each Distribution Group - The total number of times the group has used in the past number of days Most Exchange Server Administrators keep the tracking log retention period as 30 or 60 days. Which means you will only be able to extract usage statistics for the past number of days equal to the message tracking log retention. Permissions Required: You need to login as Server…
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Query: How to install Exchange Server 2010 Management Console on Windows 10 machine. You need to follow the steps below to install Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools on a Windows 10 machine. As the RSAT version for Windows 10 is released by Microsoft now ( Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 10 Released ), we are all set ready to install Exhange Management Console for Windows 10. Install RSAT and additional pre-requisites manaully, because the availble Exchange Setup wizard pre-requisite install option (Automatically install Windows Server roles....) will no succeed. Pre-requisites, -Install Windows 10 RSAT Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 10 Released - Install IIS Components Now you are all set to run the Exchange Setup Wizard to isntall the Management Tools. Start the Setup Wizard and choose the Custom wizard, and select only Management Tools option. Most importantly, do not select the Automatically install Windows Server…
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A short video has been uploaded to share you the process of installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2016. The video gives you an idea about preparing a new infrastructure for Exchange Server 2016, however you might need to work on understanding the co-existence scenario. If you have not gone through the earlier articles including the installation guide, please do so to understand in detail. Step by Step Installation Guide – Exchange Server 2016, preview version Exchange Server 2016 Architecture, farewell to CAS role Meet Exchange Server 2016 - Microsoft Ignite 2015 Your experiences are important to me, therefore please do not forget to share through the comments. -Praveen
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I have tried to make it simple on how to install your first Exchange Server 2016 on a Windows Server 2012 r2 infrastructure. My Lab, One Domain Controller (Windows Server 2008 r2 Std), and the functional level is Windows 2008 r2 (you may chose 2012 as well). – DC1 One Member Server (Windows Server 2012 r2 Std) – EX1 Domain Name is ed.com (I used short form of ExchangeDictionary.com) Once you added the EX1 server into domain, you have 2 following options to install the exchange pre-requisites. - Use the exchange installation wizard and select the option “Automatically install Windows Server roles and features that are required to install Exchange Server” - Manually install the pre-requisites and start the Exchange installation wizard. I recommend you to follow the first option, which will ensure all required roles are installed and the easiest between the two. Download the required software’s before we…
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As you are aware, by November 2015, the 3rd party SSL providers will stop supporting the internal domain names if you don’t own them publically. For example, if you use domain.local as internal domain, then please be aware that the 3rd party CAs will stop issuing certificates with these internal names with effect from November 2015. In simple words, you can only get SSL certificates for the domains you own publically as each domain names included in the SSL certificate should be validated against the domain ownership. Ref: https://cabforum.org/wp-content/uploads/Guidance-Deprecated-Internal-Names.pdf In order or to avoid service break down, you must reconfigure the internal service URLs to be trusted with a publically trusted domain OR you should use an Enterprise CA SSL for the internal service URL. The later configuration, in my opinion, is bit more complicated because it would lead you to create separate traffic rules for internal and external messaging…
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We, Microsoft Exchange Admins, usually or frequently edit hosts file to verify some changes prior to the production. The below script will enable you to modify (adding or removing host entries) the hosts file from a remote computer. The script will also record the machine names against the host entries are changed. There are two scripts, first one to add the entries to the hosts file, and the second one for removing it once any testing is completed. Script for Adding Entries to Hosts file function add-host([string]$filename) { $addip = "10.10.10.100" $addhostnames = "casarray.domain.local" foreach ($addhostname in $addhostnames) { $HostEntries = Get-Content $filename $Count = 0 foreach ($line in $HostEntries) { $bits = [regex]::Split($line, "\t+") if ($bits.count -eq 2) { if ($bits[1] -eq $addhostname) {$Count+=1} } } if($Count -eq 0) { Write-Host "Adding…
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Couple of times in the past, I observed this behavior that the database copy status turns to DisconnectedAndResynchronizing from DisconnectedAndHealthy after removing the activation restriction. This situation arise because, the copy try to replay the recent logs from other nodes. If your database copy could not find any copy to copy the pending logs, the status would stay the same for longer period. Solution: If you wish to have 2 DAG cluster with one of the cluster node as DR instance, then it is not a good idea to keep the ActivationSuspended parameter to true. Following are the approach you should consider to ensure a seamless recovery in case of a failover. Option 1: 1. Disable the ActivationSuspended value in the second node 2. The database would failover immediately in the event of a node failure. Option 2: 1. Enable the ActivationSuspended value in the DR node…
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