Question on ExchangeQ) what is Site Folder Server?

By default, the Site Folder Server is the first server that is installed in the administrative group. The public folder store on this server is the default location of the free/busy folders and offline address book folders for the administrative group. If you remove or decommission the Site Folder Server without replicating these folders to another server and designating that server as the offline address book server, Outlook users will see problems with the offline address book and with free/busy data. Q) what is Eseutil /p/d? 1. Eseutil is run in /P mode to perform a database page-level and table-level repair 2. Eseutil is run in /D mode to fully rebuild indexes and defragment the database 3. ISInteg is then run to repair the database at the application level

Q) What is Soft and Hard recovery? Soft recovery A transaction log replay process that occurs when a

database is re-mounted after an unexpected stop, or when transaction logs are replayed into an offline file copy backup of a database. Hard recovery A transaction log replay process that occurs after

restoring a database from an online backup.

Q) Rights require running Exmerge? Sens As and Receive As

Q) Port numbers?Application protocol Global Catalog Server Global Catalog Server LDAP Server Protocol Ports TCP TCP TCP 3269 3268 389

LDAP Server LDAP SSL LDAP SSL RPC

UDP TCP UDP TCP

389 636 636 135 1024 - 65535*

RPC randomly allocated high TCP ports TCP

Q) Types of Groups? Basic Introduction to Active Directory Group Definitions Groups are Active Directory objects used to collect users, contacts, computers, and other groups into manageable units. There are three kinds of groups: Security groupsUsed to manage user and computer access to shared network resources. When assigning permissions to access resources, administrators assign permissions to security groups rather than to individual users. Distribution groupsUsed as e-mail distribution lists. Distribution groups have no security function. Query-Based Distribution groupsUsed also as e-mail distribution lists but the difference that members of such a group are not specified statically. Membership of these groups is built in dynamic manner using LDAP queries. In terms of this document security and distribution groups is mentioned as group, but for a Query-based distribution group we refer as Query-based distribution group. Security and distribution group has a scope: universal, global, or domain local. UniversalUniversal groups can include groups and accounts from any domain in the domain tree or forest, and can be granted permissions in any domain in the domain tree or forest. GlobalGlobal groups can only include groups and accounts from the domain in which the group is defined. Global groups can be granted permissions in any domain in the forest. Domain LocalDomain local groups can include groups and accounts from a Windows 2000 or Windows NT domain. These

groups can only be granted permissions within the domain in which the group is defined.

Q) Security Group Vs Distribution Group? GROUP TYPE: SECURITY GROUPS Used to assign access permissions for network resources. Membership depends on the type of security group and the domain functional level. Can also be used as a distribution group. The most common type of group created and used in Active Directory.

GROUP TYPE: DISTRIBUTION GROUPS Cannot be used as security principals to grant permission to objects List of IDs used to group users together for use by applications in non-securityrelated functions Can be used only by directory-aware applications such as Microsoft Exchange Can be converted to a security group Security group can be used as distribution group, so distribution group may not be used

Q) How to tell whether the Standard or Enterprise edition of Microsoft Exchange Server is installed? Details: When licensing and/or installing VERITAS Edition (tm) 1.0 or 1.1 for Microsoft Exchange 2000, it is important to know what version of Microsoft Exchange 2000 is currently running. Since there is no distinction in the user interface between Exchange Server Standard and Exchange Server Enterprise editions, the method for finding this information is as follows: When Microsoft Exchange Standard Server is installed on a server and the Information Store service starts up, the following Application Event Viewer entry is logged: Event ID 1216 Source: MSExchangeIS Type: Information Category: General Description: The information store database "\ ()" has limited storage capacity enabled. The above entry states that the database has a limited storage capacity, indicating

that the Standard Edition of Microsoft Exchange is installed. When the Enterprise Edition of Microsoft Exchange is installed, the following Application Event Viewer entry is logged: Event ID: 1217 Source: MSExchangeIS Type: Information Category: General Description: The information store database "\ ()" has unlimited capacity enabled. The difference is that the database that is started has an unlimited capacity.

Q) Whats New in exchange server 2003 after SP2 Administration Features in Exchange Server 2003

New in SP2: Enabling or Disabling MAPI Access for a Specific User New in SP2: Enabling Direct Push Technology New in SP2: Managing Security Settings for Mobile Clients New in SP2: Remote Wiping of Mobile Devices New in SP2: Global Address List Search for Mobile Clients New in SP2: Certificate-Based Authentication and S/MIME on Mobile Devices New in SP2: Tracking Public Folder Deletions New in SP2: Manually Stopping and Resuming Replication New in SP2: Synchronizing the Public Folder Hierarchy New in SP2: Using the Manage Public Folders Settings Wizard New in SP2: Moving Public Folder Content to a Different Server Performance and Scalability Features of Exchange Server 2003

New in SP2: Improved Offline Address Book Performance Transport and Message Flow Features of Exchange Server 2003

New in SP2: Step 3: Specifying the Servers to Exclude from Connection Filtering New in SP2: Sender ID Filtering New in SP2: Intelligent Message Filtering Updated in SP2: Understanding How Enabled Filters Are Applied Storage Features of Exchange Server 2003

New in SP2: Database Size Limit Configuration and Management Schema Changes in Exchange Server 2003

Q) What is the significance of restore.env?

When you restore an Exchange 2003 database, a file called restore.env is created automatically. This is just a temporary environmental file holding path information about the data. Its purpose is to help the Exchange 2003 restore process find its files and match them with the corresponding email stores.

Examine the Contents of Restore.envTo discover what's in your restore.env run: eseutil /cm path to restore.env. Note: you probably need to navigate to the \Exchsrvr\Bin folder before executing the command. Example of Restore.env contents

Microsoft(R) Exchange Server(TM) Database Utilities Version 6.0 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1991-2003. All Rights Reserved. Restore log file: e:\restore Restore Path: e:\restore Annotation: Microsoft Information Store Backup Instance: EnglandStorage Target Instance: Restore Instance System Path: Restore Instance Log Path: Databases: 2 database(s) Database Name: York1 GUID: A2CFF078-782F-4BFE-43944BFEA1B46055 Source Files: D:\Exchsrvr\EnglandStorage\York1.edb D:\Exchsrvr\EnglandStorage\York1.stm Destination Files: D:\Exchsrvr\EnglandStorage\York1.edb D:\Exchsrvr\EnglandStorage\York1.stm Database Name: York2 GUID: 6ACF4E55-C7D6-433E-88AD433E9CD5CF03 Source Files: D:\Exchsrvr\EnglandStorage\York2.edb

D:\Exchsrvr\EnglandStorage\York2.stm Destination Files: C:\RestoredDB\York2.edb C:\RestoredDB\York2.stm Log files range: E0000001.log - E0000003.log Last Restore Time: Fri Dec 31 18:00:00 2004 Recover Status: recoverNotStarted Recover Error: 0x00000000 Recover Time: Tue Mar 1 13:30:15 2005 Operation completed successfully in 0.37 seconds.

Q) This is the last backup tape set option. When to check? When not to check?

As you complete the restore procedure, watch out for: Last Restore Set. After the database files are restored, then the log will start to replay the transactions. Without this setting the checkpoint file will prevent a hard recovery of the Exchange store. When you restore multiple differential or incremental tapes, you need to uncheck the ' Last Backup Set '. However, when you reach final tape, this time, you tick ' Last Backup Set '. If you forget to tick the ' Last Backup Set ' box, no worries, just run eseutil /cc instead.

Q) Why we use /3GB switch in exchange server 2003?When you install Exchange Server 2003 on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer that has more than 1 gigabyte (GB) of physical random access memory (RAM) installed, and that is home to mailboxes or public folders, you must edit the Boot.ini file to optimize the virtual memory usage of the Information Store service. Under typical circumstances and for each process, 2 GB of virtual address space is allotted for the user-mode process, and another 2 GB of virtual address space is allotted to the operating system. When you use the /3GB switch in Windows Server 2003, 3 GB of virtual address space is allotted for the user-mode process, and only 1 GB of virtual address space is allotted to the operating system. This reallocation of the extra 1 GB of address space helps to resolve the problem of memory fragmentation in the Store.exe virtual address space. With the larger address space allocated to Store.exe, memory can be more easily joined before all large memory blocks are used. Giving virtual-memory- intensive applications such as database servers a larger address space can improve their performance. It applies to 32-bit systems only. After you have installed Windows Server 2003, modify the Boot.ini file, and then add the /3GB and the /USERVA=3030 parameters to the startup line, as in the following example:

[Boot Loader] Timeout=30 Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT [Operating Systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows Server 2003" /fastdetect /3GB /USERVA=3030

Q) What is FRS?File Replication service (FRS) is a technology that replicates files and folders stored in the SYSVOL shared folder on domain controllers and Distributed File System (DFS) shared folders. When FRS detects that a change has been made to a file or folder within a replicated shared folder, FRS replicates the updated file or folder to other servers. Because FRS is a multimaster replication service, any server that participates in replication can generate changes. In addition, FRS can resolve file and folder conflicts to make data consistent among servers.

Q) What is DS2MB?DS2MB service (directory service to metabase service), a component of the Exchange System Attendant service, is responsible for propagating information from Active Directory into the IIS metabase. DS2MB is critical to the operation of SMTP, Internet Message Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4), Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), and the World Wide Web Publishing Service (W3SVC), which is the service for Microsoft Outlook Web Access. DS2MB replicates the following information from Active Directory into the IIS metabase: SMTP virtual servers and most of their configurable properties. SMTP connector address spaces so that the metabase for the advanced queuing engine routes messages properly. Authoritative domains from the recipient policies (replicated to the SMTPSVC/x/Domain subkey and used by the advanced queuing engine). At startup, DS2MB checks all objects that it has replicated in the past, as well as for any changes since the last replication. If DS2MB detects that no replication has previously occurred, it initializes and replicates all objects. After startup, DS2MB registers with the configuration domain controller so that the domain controller notifies DS2MB if any changes are made to the Exchange configuration and deleted objects container. As a result, almost as soon as a change is replicated to the configuration domain controller, DS2MB replicates that object to the metabase.

If DS2MB experiences problems, it logs an event with an ID of 1040. If this occurs, increase diagnostic logging to level 5 for MSExchangeMU, the metabase update service. You can turn on diagnostic logging in Exchange System Manager by rightclicking your Exchange server, clicking Properties, clicking the Diagnostic Logging tab, and selecting MSExchangeMU under Services

Q) Difference between HOST and LMHOST file?They both resolve computer names to IP addresses. HOSTS=TCP/IP ("universal"; just use it if you don't have a DNS server and/or you have a small -private- TCP/IP network) LMHOSTS=NetBIOS (Windows networks; use it only within a Windows domain)

Q) Difference between Mixed and Native mode?Mixed mode An organization that is running in mixed mode can handle all versions of Exchange Server. By default, Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003 are installed in mixed mode. Mixed mode organizations have the following characteristics:

Different versions of Exchange Server can coexist in the same organization. Functionality is limited to features that are shared by versions of Exchange Server that exist in the organization. Rules that apply to earlier versions of Exchange Server also apply to later versions, even though those limitations may not exist in the later version. When you introduce an Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 computer into an existing Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later site by using the installation process, Site Replication Service (SRS) and Active Directory Connector (ADC) are installed. If you upgrade an existing Exchange Server 5.5 computer to Exchange 2000 Server or to Exchange Server 2003, you must install ADC before you upgrade. However, SRS is automatically installed. These components work together to provide remote procedure call (RPC) replication in a site and mailbased replication among sites. ADC Connection Agreements between Active Directory and the SRS database are automatically established to enable directory replication. To other Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0, 5.0, and 5.5 computers in the site, the Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 computer appears as just another server. The servers send out directory replication notifications as usual. Also, the SRS database requests changes just like earlier versions of Exchange Server request changes.

Mixed mode exists to maintain backward compatibility. However, mixed mode limits the system to the constraints that are imposed by earlier software releases. In a mixed mode site, the rules that apply to earlier versions of Exchange Server also apply to Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003. The following limitations apply to Exchange 2000 Server or to Exchange Server 2003 in a mixed-mode environment: Exchange Server 5.0 and 5.5 sites are mapped directly to administrative groups. Administrative groups are mapped directly to Exchange Server 5.0 and 5.5 sites. Routing group membership consists only of servers that are installed in the

administrative groups.

Native mode

An organization that is running in native mode can contain only Exchange 2000 Server or later computers. New Exchange Server 5.0 or 5.5 computers cannot be introduced into the organization. When you have a configuration with Windows 2000 domain controllers and global catalog servers on the local network, these servers must have Windows 2000 Server SP3 or later installed if the domain controllers and global catalog servers will communicate with the Exchange Server computer or with Active Directory Connector (ADC). You can change an Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 organization to native mode after all the servers are upgraded to Exchange 2000 Server or to Exchange Server 2003 and if earlier release restrictions no longer apply. You cannot switch to native mode until you either upgrade or decommission all earlier versions of Exchange Server.

The following are some of the features of Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 native mode: Routing groups can consist of servers from multiple administrative groups. Servers can be moved between routing groups. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the default routing protocol. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) queries can be used to create dynamic query-based distribution groups. Routing bridgehead server pairs use 8BITMIME data transfers to provide significant bandwidth improvement over routing group connectors. The Information Store service in Exchange Server 2003 automatically ignores and removes "zombie" Access Control Entries (ACEs) from the Exchange Server 5.5 computers that were previously used in an organization. Mailboxes can be moved across administrative groups. The InetOrgPerson object class can be mailbox-enabled or mail-enabled.

Note Servers cannot be moved between administrative groups in either mixed mode or in native mode.

Q) What is recovery storage group?The Recovery Storage Group feature in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 allows you to mount a second copy of an Exchange mailbox database on the same server as the original database, or on any other Exchange server in the same Exchange administrative group. This can be done while the original database is running and serving clients. This capability allows you to recover data from an older backup copy of the database without disturbing user access to current data.

Q) What is Zero out deleted Items and how to configure?If you configure your server to zero out deleted database pages, every time you delete an item from the database, multiple pages are deleted. Exchange will then overwrite the deleted pages with zeros. This feature is only run during an online streaming backup, and causes more physical disk I/O during backup.Page zeroing occurs during Exchange backups (if configured)

Q) Can we recover public folder store through recovery storage group?You can only use the recovery storage group to recover mailbox stores, and not to recover public folder stores.

Q) What is Recipient update service (RUS)?The Recipient Update Service (RUS) is responsible for updating existing e-mail addresses and for creating new e-mail addresses. You can specify the Server which is responsible for the RUS and the Update interval. The RUS creates a recipient policy for every Windows 2003 Domain which has Exchange 2003 installed. If you have three Domains in your Active Directory Forest, you will see three RUS Configurations. There is only one RUS per Forest/Exchange Organization called Enterprise configuration. The Enterprise Configuration is responsible for updateing e-mail addresses for components in the Configuration Naming Context in Active Directory which is forestwide available.

Q) Why we create administrative groups? For providing the separate local administration for separate region.

Q) Why not install Exchange on the same machine as a DC?Microsoft recommends against installing Exchange on a domain controller, but does support this practice in environments that need to run this way. However, if you do find that you need to run Exchange on a domain controller--perhaps for budgetary reasons--make sure you know the limitations and make an informed decision:

Once Exchange is installed on the domain controller, you cannot reduce the Normally considered a best practice, don't use the /3GB switch on domain

server to member server status. controllers that are also running Exchange as this can result in Exchange using too much system RAM. A shut down or restart of a domain controller running Exchange can take more than 10 minutes due to the order in which services are unloaded for a shutdown. Before you restart these servers, manually stop the Exchange services to avoid these delays. This installation method seriously hinders your high availability efforts as Exchange will use only the services offered by the host domain controller and will not seek out others if the AD services (i.e. Global Catalog servers) experience a problem. In general, unless you absolutely have to run Exchange on a domain controller, you should try to install Exchange to a member server.

Q) What type or permissions do you need in order to install the first Exchange server in a forest? In a domain?Requirements Forest wide permissions to manage Active Directory Member of the Enterprise Administrators and Schema Administrators groups Member of the local Administrators group

Q) What is the Send As permission?If you grant a user "Send as" permissions for another user's mailbox, the DelegateUser can send mail as the MailboxOwner.

Q) What is the Link State Table? How would you view it?

The link-state information is actually stored in memory on the Exchange Server system and isn't written to disk. The routing master in each routing group receives and maintains the link-state information (i.e., the link-state table) that routing-group members send to the routing master whenever an Exchange Server system determines that a link has changed state. The routing master is the only server that can increment the link-state version numbers in the link-state table. The routing master also sends the link-state table to routing masters in other routing groups, so that each routing group has a complete picture of the entire Exchange Server organization. The link-state table contains information about the connectors, servers, routing groups, address spaces, link states, costs, versions, and organization to determine the most cost-effective route for a message delivery. You can use the WinRoute tool to obtain link-state information about your Exchange Server organization. Winroute.exe displays all unformatted information that's transferred from the linkstate port (TCP port 691) in the bottom pane of its UI. You can find the WinRoute tool in the \support\utils\i386 folder on the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 CDROM.

You can use the WinRoute tool to verify that link state information is propagating. To do this, use the WinRoute tool to view the link state information from several different locations in the Exchange organization, and then compare the version numbers for each routing group. The WinRoute tool connects to the link state port on an Exchange computer and extracts the link state information for the Exchange organization. Although link state information is typically a series of globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), WinRoute matches the GUIDs of connectors and of bridgehead servers to objects in the Active Directory directory service and presents the information in a readable format.

Q) What is the Routing Group Master? Who holds that role?The routing group master's job is to maintain link state information sent to it by bridgehead servers. Let's say that the WAN connection fails for a routing group connector that exists between two routing groups. Initially, only the bridgehead server is aware of the failure. It contacts the routing group master to inform it of the link state failure. (It will also inform the routing group master if the link comes back up or if a new routing group connector is created.)

Before I go on, you might be wondering why Exchange servers get link state information from a routing group master instead of the bridgehead server. Exchange is designed this way, because multiple servers within a routing group can potentially function as bridgeheads. Rather than risk having link state information scattered

across multiple servers, Microsoft decided to make the routing group master responsible for storing link state information for the entire routing group.

When you create a routing group, Exchange designates the first server in the routing group as the routing group master. Each routing group has its own master, which is responsible for maintaining link state information within that routing group

Q) What type of authentication is used on the front end servers?Kerberos.

Q) Exchange versions and storage capacity?

Store Features

Exchange 2000* Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2003 Standard /w SP2 Standard Pre-SP2 1 + 1 RSG** 1 + 1 RSG**

Exchange 2000 or 2003 Enterprise

# of Storage Groups # of Stores

4 + 1 RSG**

Store Size Limit

1 Mailbox store and 1 Mailbox store and 5 per Storage Group 1 Public Folder Store 1 Public Folder Store per Storage Group per Storage Group 16GB per Store 75GB per Store 16TB per Store

* Any Exchange 2000 service pack level **RSG = Recovery Storage Group

Q) Storage Group and Databases?A Storage Group will contain one or more Mailbox and Public Folder stores, depending on the version and the needs of the organization. Mailbox stores contain the user and system mailboxes and the Public Folder Store contains the Public Folders and their contents. For most organizations, a single Storage Group, with one Mailbox Store and one Public Folder Store is more than enough, however as the

database grows in size, splitting one large database into multiple smaller databases can ease the management of backups.

Default Exchange installation will create a Storage Group that contains a Mailbox Store and a Public Folder Store. Each Mailbox Store is made up of a database set that contains two files:

Priv1.ebd is a rich-text database file that contains the email messages, text attachments and headers for the users e-mail messages Priv1.stm is a streaming file that contains multi-media data that is formatted as MIME data.

Similarly, each Public Folder Store is made up of a database set that also contains two files: Pub1.edb is a rich-text database file that contains the messages, text attachments and headers for files stored in the Public Folder tree. Pub1.stm is a streaming file that contains multi-media data that is formatted as MIME data

Exchange utilizes what Microsoft terms a single-instance message store. This singleinstance message store works on a per database basis. What does this mean? If an e-mail message is sent to multiple mailboxes that are all in the same database, the message is stored once and each mailbox has a pointer to the message. The transaction is also logged in the transaction logs for the Storage Group that contains the database. However, if the e-mail message is sent to multiple mailboxes that are located in different databases, the message is copied to each database and written to the transaction logs for each Storage Group the contains the database with a copy of the message. For example, if I send 10 users a 1MB email message and all the mailboxes are located in the same database, one copy of the message is written to the database and each mailbox points to this message which will consume 1MB of disk space in total. If the 10 recipients are located in two different databases, each database will get a copy of this message which will consume 2MB of disk space. As you can see this is a much more efficient use of space as opposed to the alternative of 10 1MB messages using up 10 MB of disk space.

Q) What is ESEutil and ISinteg?ESEutil checks and fixes individual database tables and ISinteg checks and fixes the links between tables. To better understand the difference between ESEutil and ISinteg, let?s use a building construction analogy. Running ESEutil is like having a structural engineer check your house's foundation. The engineer doesn't care what's inside the house. The engineer cares only whether the underlying structure is sound. Running ISinteg is like having an interior decorator come inside your house to check the way you've laid out your furnishings. The decorator doesn't care about the house's foundation. The decorator cares only whether the rooms' layout and decor meet with their approval.

Q) What is Direct Push? What are the requirements to run it?Direct Push is a client initiated HTTP connection to the server where the device opens a connection to the Exchange Server and keeps it alive for a duration known as the heartbeat interval. Basically the client sets up the connection, chooses the appropriate heartbeat interval and tears down and reestablishes the connection if and when necessary. The server sends notifications about new items over this connection and the client synchronizes to get the new items.

Q) What Exchange process is responsible for communication with AD?DSACCESS

Q) What connector type would you use to connect to the Internet, and what are the two methods of sending mail over that connector?SMTP Connector Forward to smart host or use DNS to route to each address.

Q) Name the process names for the following? System Attendant MAD.EXE Information Store STORE.EXE SMTP/POP/IMAP/OWA - INETINFO.EXE

Q) What are the required components of Windows Server 2003 for installing Exchange 2003?ASP.NET, SMTP, NNTP, W3SVC

Q) What 3 types of domain controller does Exchange access? Normal Domain Controller Global Catalog Configuration Domain Controller Q) What is Form based Authentication? Exchange Server 2003 offers a feature called "form-based authentication" that can make your Outlook Web Access more secure. When you enable this authentication method, OWA stores the users name and password in a cookie, rather than clients browser. After a certain period of inactivity, the cookie is automatically cleared. This offers better security because the users credentials are not cached on the clients computer. The credentials are only valid for the duration of the session and theres no "Remember my password" option available to the client.

Q) What is S/MIME? In basic terms S/MIME is a way of sending and receiving encrypted and digitally signed messages. S/MIME uses both public and private 'keys' (Certificates) to accomplish this

Q) What are Exchange Recipient types? 1) Mailbox- enable user. 2) Mail- Enable user.

3) Contact 4) Distribution Group 5) Query based distribution group 6) Security enabled group 7) Mail-enabled public folder Q) How many OWA Virtual Directories are in IIS?OWA Virtual Directories Exadmin

Description The Exadmin virtual directory is used when administering Public Folders via the Exchange System Manager. The Exchange virtual directory stores the mailbox root (\\.\BackOfficeStorage\domain\MBX) The Exchweb virtual directory stores all graphics and other subordinate files used by Outlook Web Access. This virtual directory points directly to C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\ExchWeb. The Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync virtual folder (please dont ask me why it was given this name ) stores all the files used by Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). This virtual directory points directly to C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\OMA\Sync. The OMA virtual directory stores all files used by Outlook Mobile Access (OMA). This virtual directory points directly to C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\OMA\Browse. The Public virtual directory stores the Public folders tree (\\.\BackOfficeStorage\domain\Public Folders).

Exchange

Exchweb

Microsoft-ServerActiveSync

OMA

Public

Q) Explanation of Exchange QUEUE types?Here is an explanation of Queue Types from Henrik Walther's article about Exchange 2003 Queue Viewer improvements. DSN messages pending submission This folder contains Delivery Status Notifications awaiting delivery. Its primarily used for NDRs Non Delivery Reports. Failed message retry queue Contains outbound messages which couldnt be delivered to their destination but will be given another attempt.

Local delivery Contains inbound messages for delivery to mailboxes on the Exchange server. Messages awaiting directory lookup Contains inbound messages awaiting recipient lookup in Active Directory. Messages pending submission Contains messages accepted by the SMTP virtual server, but havent yet been processed. Messages queued for deferred delivery Contains messages queued for deferred delivery (later time). Messages waiting to be routed Contains outbound SMTP/X400 messages still waiting to be routed to their destination server, when it has been determined the message will be sent.

Figure 1: Queue Viewer For Troubleshooting reasons it is also possible to Stop all Outbound Mail if you click the Symbol in the Queue viewer. Please note that in the picture above Outgoing Mail has already been stopped. Outbound e-mail delivery was stopped for the purposes of this article so that some Messages in the Queues can be easily shown.

Q) Difference between Exchange Online and Offline Backup?Online Backup - An Online backup is performed while the Information Store is still mounted and the Exchange server is operational. The Exchange is Online and available for transactions, therefore it still allows users to work without interruption. Online backups also automatically clear the database logs upon completion. Another major advantage of the Online backup method is the fact that the Exchange store is checked for corruption at the file-system level. This check is done by verifying the checksums on each 4 KB (Kilobyte) block or page in the database. If

there is a checksum failure, backup will terminate. Exchange will not allow you to back up an Exchange store with a wrong checksum in it. Therefore, after an online backup is complete, you should check the Event Viewer to find out whether your Exchange store is corrupted. If you see a failed backup with a page read error event in Event Viewer, this may be an early indication of a problem in the database. Offline Backup - Offline backup is performed by shutting down the Exchange Information Store service and performing COPY procedures on the Exchange databases (Public Folder or Mailbox stores). Using an Offline Backup provides a method to restore the Exchange system to its last known state or specific "point in time", and is usually considered to be less attractive than the Online backup. However, you may need to perform an Offline backup in the following situations: Your online backup failed. You can complete an Offline backup in situations where an online backup might fail (for example, due to an error such as a checksum1018 JET_errReadVerifyFailure). Your backup software does not support Exchange Online backup APIs, requiring you to dismount the Exchange 2000/2003 mailbox and public folder stores before you backup the server.

Some disadvantages to performing an Offline backup include: You must stop IS services (You do not need to stop the IS if you only want to backup the store, for that you can simply just dismount it. However if you want to backup the log files you do need to stop the IS service). Users will not be able to access their mailboxes during the offline backup. Log files that contain transactions already written to the database files will not be purged after the completion of the backup. The database is not checked for corruption during an Offline backup. You might have a corrupt database and backup sets that cannot be used to restore your server to full functionality. An increased chance of data loss due to files being copied to and from a backup location.

Q) What is Brick-Level Mailbox backup?Brick-Level mailbox backup is a method in which the backup program logs on into each mailbox on the store (by using MAPI, just like Outlook does) and then backs-up the contents of the mailboxes to the tape device. Each mailbox is backed up individually, and thus restoring a specific mailbox in case it has been deleted and purged from the database is easier than before.

Q) Requirements for implementing RPC over HTTP?Client-side requirements Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 or later

Server-side requirements

Hotfix from Microsoft Knowledge Base 331320 Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 on Exchange server Exchange Server 2003 on all front-end and backend servers Windows Server 2003 on global catalog servers Windows Server 2003 on RPC proxy servers

Q) What is Online & offline exchange database defragmentation?Online Defragmentation Exchange databases run a defragmentation process once a day by default. This process rearranges mailbox store and public folder store data more efficiently, eliminating unused storage space. Exchange database online defragmentation occurs automatically as part of the database maintenance process. Online defragmenting is performed automatically at 2:00 AM every day by default. Online defragmentation makes additional database space available by detecting and removing database objects that are no longer being used. The defragmentation process provides more database space without actually changing the file size of the database. Offline Defragmentation Although online defragmentation provides some additional database space, you should also defragment your Exchange database offline to reduce the physical size of your Exchange database. You can perform offline defragmentation by using the ESE utility (ESEUTIL) while your mailbox stores and public folder stores are offline. You would perform offline defragmentation, for instance, if you had recently moved a large number of users from a server running Exchange 2000/2003. In that case, defragmenting offline decreases the size of your Exchange databases by rearranging the data on the servers Exchange databases, and discarding any unused database pages. Note that the length of time that the defragmentation will take will depend on the amount of white space in the database, as well as the size of the transactions recorded in the database, and your hardware specifications. Offline defragmentation creates a new database by copying all records and tables from the old database into the new database. Because this is a copy, defragmentation requires free disk space equal to the size of the database (actually, you'll need 110% of free space). Very important note: After defragmentation is complete, ESE considers the new database to be a different database from the original. Therefore, the original database is deleted and its member log files cannot be replayed into the successor database.

Q) How would you plan for a public folder replication? When to make them replicate and when not? Replicate folders when 1) Provide fault tolerance. 2) Provide load balancing. 3) Minimize network traffic. Do not replicate folders when 1) Folders must be up to date. 2) Folder content constantly changes (Such as NNTP using case).

Q) What does the exchange use to determine the default referral server list? The default routing list, but we can do custom also. Q) Which set of permissions determine who can configure public folder size limits? Administrative rights. Q) How many methods are there for recovering mailboxes? 1) From mailbox store. 2) From recovery centre. Q) In exchange server 2003 enterprise edition, how many folder trees can exist in each public store? One tree per store.

Q) Describe default and additional public folder clients? Default public folder tree MAPI (Outlook) NNTP (Outlook Express) IMAP4 ( Outlook Express) HTTP ( Internet explorer) Additional Public folder tree NNTP (Outlook Express) IMAP4 ( Outlook Express) HTTP ( Internet explorer)

Q) What are the exchange system public folders? Where would you find them?

Offline address lists use system public folders to contain the required address list information. Their associated public folders are created during the public store maintenance interval, and the content of the public folder is updated according to the Update interval that you specify on the Properties dialog box of each offline address list. By default, the Offline Address List (System) public folders are hidden from users. This procedure outlines how to view the system public folders. Before You Begin In a mixed environment where some users connect to Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 servers, and other users connect to Exchange 5.5 servers, you must have multiple address lists. Those users who connect to Exchange 5.5 need to use the offline address book that is generated by Exchange 5.5. To see the System public folders 1. In Exchange System Manager, expand the administrative group, and

then expand the folders container. 2. Right-click the Public Folders container and then click View System

Folders.

Q) Exchange server Online Backup vs. Offline Backup?

Online Backup An Online backup is performed while the Information Store is still mounted and the Exchange server is operational. The Exchange is Online and available for transactions, therefore it still allows users to work without interruption. Online backups also automatically clear the database logs upon completion. Another major advantage of the Online backup method is the fact that the Exchange store is checked for corruption at the file-system level. This check is done by verifying the checksums on each 4 KB (Kilobyte) block or page in the database. If there is a checksum failure, backup will terminate. Exchange will not allow you to back up an Exchange store with a wrong checksum in it. Therefore, after an online backup is complete, you should check the Event Viewer to find out whether your Exchange store is corrupted. If you see a failed backup with a page read error event in Event Viewer, this may be an early indication of a problem in the database.

Offline Backup - Offline backup is performed by shutting down the Exchange Information Store service and performing COPY procedures on the Exchange databases (Public Folder or Mailbox stores). Using an Offline Backup provides a method to restore the Exchange system to its last known state or specific "point in time", and is usually considered to be less attractive than the Online backup. However, you may need to perform an Offline backup in the following situations: Your Online backup failed. You can complete an Offline backup in situations where an Online backup might fail (for example, due to an error such as a checksum1018 JET_errReadVerifyFailure). Your backup software does not support Exchange Online backup APIs, requiring you to dismount the Exchange 2000/2003 mailbox and public folder stores before you backup the server.

Some disadvantages to performing an Offline backup include: You must stop IS services (You do not need to stop the IS if you only want to backup the store, for that you can simply just dismount it. However if you want to backup the log files you do need to stop the IS service). Users will not be able to access their mailboxes during the offline backup. Log files that contain transactions already written to the database files will not be purged after the completion of the backup. The database is not checked for corruption during an Offline backup. You might have a corrupt database and backup sets that cannot be used to restore your server to full functionality. An increased chance of data loss due to files being copied to and from a backup location.

Q) What is the Dumpster?

If mail items are no longer in the "Deleted Items" folder, you'll need to recover them from the dumpster. When you empty your Deleted Items folder they are held in the "dumpster" for 30 days. To recover items from "dumpster" you'll need to:

Using Outlook 2003 o Select "Deleted Items" folder o Go to the top menu and select Tools, Recover Deleted Items o Select the item(s) you want to recover o On the menu bar in this window, click on the icon with the envelope (Recover Deleted Items) o They will be restored to your Deleted Items folder o Move them to their original folder by using the instructions in the prior section

Q) What event log exchange logs after online defragmentation?

Event ID 1221 message description contains the following text: The database "storage_group\mailbox_store (server_name)" has nnn megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.

Q) How many transactions log files exchange can create for a storage group?

Exchange can create up to 1,030,000 unique log files.

Q) What is the highest sequence can go for a storage group in exchange transaction log files?

Transaction log file names include sequential hexadecimal numbers that identify the sequence of the log files. For example, the first log file for the default First Storage Group is named E0000001.log, the second is E0000002.log, and so on. The sequence can go as high as E00FFFFF.log.

Q) Up to how many transaction logs you will find a warning message?

You will see this message as a warning if the specified server has used more than 950,000 transaction log files.Q) Up to how many transaction logs you will find a error message?

You will see this message as an error if the specified server has used more than 1,020,000 transaction log files.

Q) What is the Default database maintenance interval in exchange server 2003?

The default schedule of 1:00 A.M. to 5:00 A.M. is used.

Q) At what time the exchange default online defragmentation occurs?

By default, online defragmentation runs for a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 1 hour after the information store maintenance period.

Q) What does online database maintenance do?

Online Database Maintenance helps keeping mailbox and public stores in good health. It does that by performing three major tasks:

Dumpster cleanup, which means the deletion of messages that have passed their deleted item retention date. Public folder expiry, which means messages in public folders expire after a certain date has passed. Cleanup of deleted mailboxes. Online defragmentation, which means the detection and removal of database objects that are no longer being used, thereby freeing additional database space.

Q) What are the disadvantages of circular logging? In the event of corrupt database, data can only be restored to the last backup.

Q) Services and ports used by RPC in RPC over HTTP scenario?

RpcProxy.dll forwards RPC requests to specific services on Exchange servers. Each service is specified by a port number in the RPC request. The following services are the allowed services: 1- Microsoft Exchange Information Store service (port 6001) 2- The referral service of DSProxy within the Exchange system attendant service (port 6002) 3- DSProxy service within the Exchange system attendant service (port 6004) The valid ports are contained in the following registry key on the RPC proxy server: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Rpc\RpcProxy In Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), the system attendant can maintain the ValidPorts registry entry automatically. The system attendant updates the ValidPorts registry entry when you add new RPC over HTTP back-end servers to the organization.

Q) Which cluster configuration is preferred?

Microsoft recommends Active/Passive clustering because it:1. 2. 3. 4.

Scales better sizes the same way as a stand alone Exchange server can have up to 8 nodes in the cluster always fails over to a fresh node

Q) Why Active/Active Clustering is not preferred?

Active/Active clustering is only supported with a 2-node cluster limited to 1900 concurrent connections.Q) What is the maximum size limit you can fix for a user mailbox?

2097151 KB.

Q) What is HeapDeCommitFreeBlockThreshold and why we reset it?

The HeapDeCommitFreeBlockThreshold registry key controls the amount of free space required before the heap manager decommits (or frees up) memory. The default is zero, which means that the heap manager decommits each 4-KB page that becomes available. Over time, virtual address space can become fragmented. On servers that have 1 GB or more of physical memory, you can set the registry key to a higher value to reduce or eliminate fragmentation. Set the registry key as shown in the following table , and then restart the server. Settings for the HeapDeCommitFreeBlockThreshold registry key Path Parameter Type Default Recommended setting* HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager HeapDeCommitFreeBlockThreshold REG_DWORD Zero 262144

* This value is the number of blocks in decimal. The recommended value is 262144, which corresponds with a hexadecimal value of 0x00040000.