Description

Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 customers.

You can download it from below location.

Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack1

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26554

More info. Here

More information about Outlook 2003 with Exchange 2010. Here

KB article :- Description of Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2

Download :- Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (KB972076)

1. Upgrading from Exchange Server 2007
2. Upgrading from a mixed Exchange Server 2003/2007
3. New Exchange Server 2010 installation

Click here to enter to Exchange Deployment Assistant.

MailTips are work with the Scenarios given below.

1. If one of the recipients is out of office.
2. When the recipient’s mailbox is full
3. Message size exceeds sender’s send limit.
4. If The Message quota exceeds of the recipient.
5. When Sending email to a large number of recipients.
6. When trying to send email to restricted recipients.
7. When a booking a room with exceeded invitees.
8. When sending to External and invalid domains.
9. When trying to send to moderated recipients.
10. Attaching more attachments than allowed.

Configuring MailTips

Gather Organization wide configuration MailTips settings.

Run below CMDlets on Exchange Management Shell to gather ORG settings. See figure 1.

Get-OrganizationConfig | fl *mailtips*

Figure 1

Enable or Disable MailTips.

You must use “Set-OrganizationConfig” CmdLet to enable or disable mailTips. Mailtips are enabled by default. See figure 2.

Set-OrganizationConfig -MailTipsAllTipsEnabled $true

Figure 2

Configure the large audience size for MailTips.

You must use “Set-OrganizationConfig” Cmdlet to configure large audience size. With a fresh Exchange Server 2010 installation it would be 25 by default. If we decrease it to 15, then Mailtip would be display to sender if sender add more than 15 recipients. See figure 3.

Set-OrganizationConfig -MailTipsLargeAudienceThreshold 15

Figure 3

Large Audience Threshold MailTip will display after adding more than 15 recipients . See figure 4.

Figure 4

Enable or disable the External Recipients MailTips

We have some embarrassing experiences of sending some internal information to external parties. However company doesn’t want to restrict sending emails to outside domains. With MailTips  at least we can give a alert to the sender before click send button. See figure 5.

Set-OrganizationConfig –MailTipsExternalRecipientsTipsEnabled $True

Figure 5

External Recipients MailTips displays when trying to send to an external domains. See figure 6.

Figure 6

Enable or disable MailTips that rely on mailbox data

Mailbox based MailTips are rely on the mailbox data. There are two Mailbox based Mailtips, The Recipient Out of Office and Mailbox Full MailTips, rely on the mailbox data. See figure 7,8 and 9 .

Set-OrganizationConfig -MailTipsMailboxSourcedTipsEnabled $true

Figure 7

The Recipient Out of Office. You can get to know if whether the recipient is out of the office before you send the email. See figure 8.

Figure 8

Mailbox Full. If recipient’s Mailbox is full, you can know that before sending the email. See figure 9.

Figure 9

Configure Group Metrics

MailTIps relies on Group Metrics data to provide information on the the size of distribution groups and dynamic distribution groups. Exchange  server normally query a lot of LDAP requests to the Active Directory to get group membership information for each message.This could affect the the performance experienced by the users. To eliminate these issues Exchange server uses the Group Metric data. Group Metric data can be scheduled to run during office hours. You should use Set-MailboxServer CmdLet to configure Group metric Data. See figure 10.

Set-MailboxServer EX10-MB01 -GroupMetricsGenerationEnabled $true

With Exchange Server 2010 all protocols should go through the Client Access Server and cannot connect to Mailbox servers by MAPI clients directly. This has been done by introducing a new Client Access Server(CAS) service known as the RPC Client Access service.

To configure Exchange Server 2010 CAS array, you should follow the five steps mentioned bellow.

1. You must configure internal DNS entry for the name of the CAS array. This name must be unique for the internal network.
2. You must configure Network Load Balancing. In this case i use Windows Network Load Balancing technology.
3. Create the new Client Access Array.
4. Configure a mailbox database to use Cas Array 
5. Verify the Autodiscover services is working with CAS Array. (This step is optional, but it would be good to verify this)

Architecture of Clients connecting through a CAS array to a mailbox database

Step 1 – Configure Internal DNS

1) Open DNS services manager in Administrative tools and add new a “A Record(Host)” for the Client Access Server array. I used “Client” as CAS Array name and 200.200.201.120 as IP Address of CAS Array. See figure 1.

Figure 1

Step 2 – Configure Network Load Balancing for the Client Access Server Array.

2.1) You must install Windows Network Load balancing feature in CAS servers, where you are supposed to configure CAS array. Run below commend in Powershell. See figure 2 and 3.

Import-Module ServerManager

Add-WindowsFeature NLB

Figure 2: Running “Import-Module ServerManager”

Feature 3: Running “Add-WindowsFeature NLB”

You will see the screen below after successful NLB installation. See figure 4.

Figure 4.

2.2) Start Network Load Balancing Manager by following – Start / All Programs / Administrative Tools/ Network Load Balancing Manager. See figure 5.

Figure 5: Network Load Balancing Manager.

2.3 ) Click Cluster –> New to create a new NLB Cluster. In the Host section add Netbios name or ip address of the first Client Access Server. In this scenario first CAS Netbios name is “EX10-CAHT”. Then click Next. See figure 6.

Figure 6.

2.4) Here you can see the parameters of the NLB cluster. Leave it as default. Click Next. See figure 7.

Figure 7: New Cluster: Host Parameters

2.5) Then you should add the IP Address of the CAS array. All clients should connect via this ip address and you must give the IP Address that you added in DNS manager during A Record creation. In this scenario it was 200.200.201.120. Then click ok and next. See figure 8.

Figure 8: Adding IP Address for CAS Array.

2.6) In this screen you must add Full Internet Name and Select Cluster Operation Mode. Give the internal FQDN for the Full Internet Name and Select Multicast as shown below. See Figure 9.

Figure 9:- Adding FIN and selecting operating mode.

2.7) Then appears the Port Rules screen. Leave it as default. Click Finish. See figure 10.

Figure 10: Port Rules.

2.6) At this point we have created a new NLB cluster. Then we must add the next Client Access Server(S) to the NLB. Right click the cluster name and click Add Host to Cluster. In this scenario our second CAS server is EX10-CAHT02. Then click Next and Finish. See figure 11 and 12.

Figure 11

Figure 12: Adding Second node’s Netbios name.

Now you can see Windows NLB has been created. See Figure 13.

Figure 13: NLB Manager

Step 3 – Create Client Access Server Array

3.1) We don’t have any pre-Created CAS arrays in this Organization. But would be better to check is there are any pre-created CAS Arrays. Run below command. if you didn’t create a CAS Array before, you will get nothing .  See figure 14.

Get-ClientAccessArray

Figure 14.

3.2) Then you should create new Client Access Array. Run below Cmdlet in EMS. See Figure 15.

Figure 15: Creating new CAS Array.

Now we have finished creating an NLB and a CAS array. Then we must associate databases with this CAS Array.

Step 4 – Adding Mailbox Databases to Client Access Server Array

Now we have come to the final step, that is need to add mailbox database to the Client access server array.

4.1) Use below CMDLet to add mailbox database to CAS array. Here we can add all mailbox databases at once as shown as shown  below. See Figure 16.

Get-MailboxDatabase | Set-MailboxDatabase -RPCClientAccessServer “Client.msglab.local”

Figure 16 : Adding MailBox databases to the CAS Array.

Step 5 – Configuring Outlook 2010 using Auto Discover

Now when Outlook connects to the Exchange Server, the CAS Array name Appears as client.msglab.local. See figure 17.

Figure 17: Account Information of Outlook

You can see below actual connections made by Outlook. See figure 18.

Figure 18: Connection Status

Note- Client Access Array is only used by MAPI Clients to connect MailBox ,Public Folders and Active Directory only. You must use Windows NLB or another 3rd party NLB solution to load balance Active Sync, AutoDiscover and Availability Services.

Exchange server 2010 doesn’t have LCR, CCR or SCR high availability options, instead it has DAG (Database Availability Group) . You can achieve your high availability goal with DAG adding minimum 2 database copies and up to 16 database copies. DAG uses Continues replication technology that was first introduced with Exchange 2007 and DAG is essentially a combination of CCR and SCR that was available in Exchange 2007. You can find more information of DAG here.

Best practices of Database Availability Group

1. Need to run two network adaptors on DAG nodes to support Windows Clustering.
2. Be aware of choosing server hardware for DAG nodes. Because exchange DAG node should have the ability to manage load of replica of other master copies.
3. Should be plan proper IP address schema for current and future requirements.
4. Running NLB and DAG on same node isn’t support by Microsoft.
5. Must disable Power Management setting on both BIOS and windows configurations.
6. Test failover and failback before migrating users to DAG databases.
7. Need to monitor DAG health periodically.
8. Make Sure Database names are unique.
9. Periodically move the master database among other DAG nodes to verify DAG is working properly.

In this article I’ll show you how to configure DAG using Exchange management Shell. Here I’ll use two DAG member servers, one  Hub transport, client access server and one domain controller.

Step 1 – Creating  new DAG

Create new database availability group using Exchange management shell. Run CMDlet  given below in the exchange management shell. This Cmdlet contains file share witness server name, DAG IP address for MAPI network and DAG name. (See figure 1)

New-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Name E14-DAG -WitnessServer EX10-CAHT -WitnessDirectory “c:\FSW” -DatabaseAvailabilityGroupIPAddresses 200.200.201.100 –Verbose

Figure 1 – Creating new DAG

Step 2 – Add first node to the DAG

At this point  DAG has been created, but DAG has no DAG members yet. So we should run cmdlet given below to add EX10-MB01 server to DAG. (See figure 2).

Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity E14-DAG -MailboxServer EX10-MB01 -Verbose

Figure 2 – Adding first node to the DAG.

Step 3 – Add second node to the DAG.

Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity E14-DAG -MailboxServer EX10-MB02 -Verbose

Figure 3 – Adding second node to the DAG.

Step 4 – Verify DAG through the Exchange Management Shell

Now we have finished creating DAG and adding members to that . Now we can see some new information via EMS made by the DAG.

Use Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup Cmdlet to verify DAG installation. Run this CMDlet in EMS. (See figure 4).

Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity E14-DAG –Status

Figure 4: Display operational Servers  

We can see E14-DAG has been added to the Exchange and EX10-MB01 and EX10-MB01 have been added to the DAG as members.

Run Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupNetwork Cmdlet to see available Network settings for the DAG. Run the CMdlet given below  in EMS. (See figure 5).

Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupNetwork -Identity E14-DAG

Figure 5: Display available Network Settings for the DAG.

At this point we have created the DAG.  Now we should add the Database copies to the DAG. Run CMDlet given below to replicate MB01 with EX10-MB02 and replicate MB02 with EX10-MB01 servers. See figure 6.

Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity MB01 -MailboxServer EX10-MB02

Figure 6: Adding MB01 database to EX10-MB02

Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity MB02 -MailboxServer EX10-MB01

Figure 7 : Adding MB02 database to EX10-MB01

At this point we have configured the DAG successfully. Now we should verify if whether  the DAG is configured or not . 

Run Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus to monitor the overall health check of database copies. (See figure 8).

Figure 8: Check overall health status of the DAG

We can see information of database copies by running the below CMDLets. Run below CMDlet to see MB01’s Database copy information. See highlighted area. (See figure 9).

Figure 9: See MB01 database copy information.

Run Test-ReplicationHealth CMDlet to check replication status of DAG. (See figure 10).

Figure 10 : Test replication health of DAG.

In this article I have guided you in deploying Database Availability Group, Which is the coolest feature out of many in the new Exchange 2010. I’ll show you how to test failover scenarios in a future article.

According to a commissioned study of technology early adopters conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft Corp., a customer can see a payback period of less than six months when upgrading to either Exchange Server 2010* or Windows Server 2008 R2. Here Microsoft PressPass story.

Here is some of the new top features

• Reduced deployment cost
• Simplified high availability and disaster recovery
• Greater mobility and flexible access
• Easier administration and decreased dependence on the help desk
• Decreased inbox overload and increased productivity
• Transformed voice mail
• Safeguards for sensitive information
• Simplified compliance
• Reduced risk of malware and spam

Download from here: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

More information at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/default.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/2010/default.aspx.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=6a516cc0-c337-40c5-adda-3e8f023870e1#tm

You would able to find new CMDlets syntex etc.. that are avliable in Exchange 2010.

• New user interface
• New CAPTCHA add-on
• Beta label has removed
• Exchange Web Services test added
• Outbound SMTP  test added
• Outlook anywhere test compatible with Exchange 2010
• added the TechNet forum link
• Added Password confirmation text box

See below Screenshots

Figure 1 – New added things on interface

Figure 2- password confirmation text box.

To see full story, Click here.