Exchange 2010 SP2 on its way

“..With the release of Exchange Server 2010 SP2 later this year, we will add a new feature known as Address Book Policies . Following this addition, hosters who wish to deploy the standard on-premises configuration of Exchange and use ABP will be supported. As you may have read in a recent post over on the Exchange Partner Marketing blog, our view on whether to host Exchange using Hosting Mode or the standard on-premises configuration is changing in response to feedback we’ve had...”

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Emails stuck in submissions queue–Exchange 2010 sp1

While checking the message queue on a hub transport server I found many messages stuck with status retry and last error read something like the following

 400 4.4.7 The server responded with: 550 5.6.0 CAT.InvalidContent.Exception: InvalidCharsetException, Character set name (ISO-8859-6-i) is invalid or not installed.; cannot handle content of message with InternalId….

I always like to have the mail queue clear and specially submission (local deliveries), which can be a nightmare if clogged.

Resolution

by looking at the details of these messages one could tell that they are either spam of Exchange server cannot process it because the FromAddress field is <> empty.

to get rid of these messages from the queue, I just used the following cmdlet.

Get-Message -Filter {FromAddress -eq "<>"} -Server htserver | Remove-Message

Upgrade All Distribution Lists to Exchange 2010

To make use of Exchange 2010 distribution list features and make way to decommission your legacy servers upgrade you all your distribution lists to Exchange 2010 by running the following cmdlet

Get-DistributionGroup –ResultSize Unlimited | Set-DistributionGroup –ForceUpgrade

In Exchange 2010 management of distribution lists has changed a little due to exchange design. To manage permissions of who can edit membership of members of a group and who can manage groups see the following post.

http://mykbit.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-manage-distribution-lists-with.html

How to manage Distribution Lists with groups in Exchange 2010

Issue

When User1 tries to add a new member to the DistributionGroup1 distribution group, she gets this error:

Changes to the distribution group list membership could not be saved. You do not have sufficient permissions to perform this operation on this object.

Figure 1: User gets a permissions error when trying ot modifying a distribution group membership in Microsoft Outlook

In the past, User1 was able to add/remove members to the distribution group by using Outlook and didn’t need to call the help desk for assistance. What has changed?

You know that you had previously configured SecurityGroup1 to be able to manage this distribution group. Did someone make a change to User1’s security group membership? You look at ADUC first. No change – the user’s still a member of SecurityGroup1.

Figure 2: The user’s still a member of the security group that’s configured to manage the distribution group

Next, you check the distribution group configuration in ADUC to verify that DistributionGroup1 is still being managed by SecurityGroup1.

Figure 3: The user’s still a member of the security group that’s configured to manage the distribution group

Okay, so what’s the deal here? You know you recently migrated to Exchange 2010. So you take a look at DistributionGroup1 in EMC (which reveals that it’s managed by SecurityGroup1, but also displays an ‘Object Not Found’ error).

Figure 4: EMC displays the security group with an ‘Object not found’ error

Why is Exchange 2010 doing this?

This behavior is by design. In Exchange 2010, distribution groups can’t be managed by groups – only individual users can manage groups. So it’s possible that using Exchange 2003, you used groups to manage a distribution group. Group ownership was handled at a different level. Now that these mailboxes have been moved to Exchange 2010, members of these groups can’t modify the group.

So are there any workarounds?

We’ve created a script to work around this limitation. Download Set-DistributionGroupOwners.ps1 from the Script Center.

The script will allow you to simulate a group having ownership of a distribution group in Exchange 2010. The script can be run in three different modes depending on the switches you pass.

1. Mode 1 – Set Ownership for a particular distribution group. Modifications to the ManagedBy attribute are not set at this time. It will simply modify a Custom Attribute to have the information needed later when the script sets the ManagedBy attribute.
2. Mode 2 – Modify the ManagedBy attribute of a specific distribution group so the members of either a security group or distribution group can manage it.
3. Mode 3 – Is designed to be run as a scheduled task and ensure individual members of a group have ownership of the Distribution Group which they are set to own. This mode is used if you prefer to automate the process and perhaps run it nightly to look for any changes to security group and distribution group membership.

Read More from the Source: http://msibrahim.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/how-to-manage-groups-with-groups-in-exchange-2010/

Coming Soon: PST Capture Tool

Can you believe it! Finally!!!

Well done Exchange Team!

“…We're excited to announce that later this year we'll be adding a new tool to our already rich portfolio of planning and deployment tools. This new tool, PST Capture, will be downloadable and free, and will enable you to discover .pst files on your network and then import them into both Exchange Online (in Office 365) and Exchange Server 2010 on-premises. PST Capture will be available later this year. It doesn’t replace the New-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet that exists already for importing known .pst files into Exchange Server, but instead works in parallel to enable you to embark on a systematic search and destroy mission to rid yourself of the dreaded .pst scourge <*pirate growl*>…”

read more

After Installing Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1, Searching via OWA or Outlook Online Mode Fails

With Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1, you may find that performing a search via Outlook Web App (OWA) results in an error message, “The action couldn’t be completed.  Try again later.” Additionally, Outlook clients operating in Online Mode can no longer search for attachments or embedded emails. 

When this issue occurs, you will see the following events in the application log:

Log Name: Application
Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Store
Event ID: 9877
Task Category: Content Indexing
Level: Error
Description:
Content Indexing function 'CISearch::EcGetRowsetAndAccessor' received an unusual and unexpected error code from MSSearch. Mailbox Database: <Database Name> Error Code: 0x80043629

Log Name: Application
Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Store
Event ID: 9842
Task Category: Content Indexing
Level: Error
Description:
Function CISearch::EcGetRowsetAndAccessor detected that content indexing was disabled for database '<Database Name>' because of error '0x80041820' from MSSearch.

Resolution

1. Download the script Repair-ExchangeSearchSymlinks.ps1 from the Script Center.
2. Copy the Repair-ExchangeSearchSymlinks.ps1 script to the Scripts directory on the Mailbox server (default installation is C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\v14\Scripts).
3. On the afflicted Mailbox server, open the Exchange Management Shell by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting “Run as Administrator”.
4. Within the Exchange Management Shell, navigate to the Exchange Scripts directory.
5. Within the Exchange Management Shell, run the following script:

   .\Repair-ExchangeSearchSymlinks.ps1
   

6. Within the Exchange Management Shell, run the following script (without the symbols [] and substitute the database name(s) for any databases you wish to reset:

   .\ResetSearchIndex.ps1 [-force] <dbname> [<dbname>]...
   

7. You will receive an Event ID 109 when the rebuilding of the index starts for each database and an Event ID 110 for each database when the index rebuild has completed.
8. After receiving Event ID 110 for each database, test to make sure search functions correctly with both OWA and Outlook operating in Online Mode.

 

Source: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/06/30/after-installing-exchange-2010-service-pack-1-searching-via-owa-or-outlook-online-mode-fails.aspx

Slow Mailbox Move with Exchange 2010 SP1

If you are having trouble with the speed of moving mailboxes to Exchange 2010 SP1. This trick might help you speed up the move of mailboxes from Exchange 2003, 2007 to Exchange 2010 SP1

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nawar/archive/2010/10/06/slow-mailbox-move-with-exchange-2010-sp1.aspx

Couldn't find public folder–When Get-PublicFolderStatistics is run in Exchange 2010 SP1

 

When I tried the following cmdlet in EMS

Get-PublicFolder '\PublicfolderName' -Recurse | Get-PublicFolderStatistics

I got the following error

Couldn't find public folder "\PublicfolderName" on server "server.domain.org".
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (\PublicfolderName:PublicFolderIdParameter) [Get-PublicFolderStatistics], InvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 773CD1AB,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.MapiTasks.GetPublicFolderStatistics

Couldn't find public folder "\PublicFolderName\subfolder" on server "server.domain.org".
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (\PublicFolderName\subfolder:PublicFolderIdParameter) [Get-PublicFolderStatistics], InvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 773CD1AB,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.MapiTasks.GetPublicFolderStatistics

Solution

This seems to be bug (may be a feature :)

If you add the resultsize parameter to the cmdlet it works fine

Get-PublicFolder '\PublicfolderName' -Recurse | Get-PublicFolderStatistics –ResultSize unlimited

Announcing Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2

Microsoft bring Exchange 2010 SP2 in the second half of this year, it will include the following

• OWA Mini - A browse-only version of OWA designed for low bandwidth and resolution devices.
• Cross-Site Silent Redirection for Outlook Web App
• Address Book Policies: Allows organizations to segment their address books into smaller scoped subsets of users providing a more refined user experience than the previous manual configuration approach.
• Other Fixes

Read for more details

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/05/17/announcing-exchange-2010-service-pack-2.aspx

Error Mounting–Newly Created Mailbox Database in Exchange 2010 SP1

When you create a new database in a new Exchange 2010 environment following error occurs when trying to mount it.

Event ID – 15, Source – MSExchangeRepl

Active Manager failed to mount database DB2 on server servername.domain.org. Error: An Active Manager operation failed. Error: The database action failed. Error: Operation failed with message: MapiExceptionNotFound: Unable to mount database. (hr=0x8004010f, ec=-2147221233)

Resolution

Make sure that the database points to the correct Public Folder Database and has the Offline Address Book selected. After you have do the above, the database will mount correctly.

ScanMail for Microsoft Exchange – Java virtual machine is not installed

After a successful installation of ScanMail on our Exchange 2010 sp1 servers, when I tried to login to the Management site, I received the following error

Server had Internet Explorer 8 installed, I though I should try it from my Windows 7 64bit machine just to make sure that its not just the server. I received the same error on my workstation as well.

I am sure Java was installed correctly and was enabled for IE and Firefox, I tried opening the site in Firefox and got same error on all 64bit machines.

Resolution

Fix was simple

I had to install 32bit version of JRE on all 64bit machines. That solved the issue for all browsers.

thought this might be helpful for some out there.