Information Technology Discussion Site http://blog.globalpointllc.com Helping To Solve Technology Problems Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:12:46 +0000 en hourly 1 serverConfigure an SSL Certificate for Exchange Server 2010 http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/configure-ssl-certificate-exchange-server-2010-2/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/configure-ssl-certificate-exchange-server-2010-2/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:06:25 +0000 admin http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=333  
By Paul Cunningham

Exchange Server 2010 like its predecessor Exchange Server 2007 makes heavy use of SSL certificates for various communications protocols. When you install a new Exchange server is comes pre-configured with a self-signed certificate. Before putting a new server into production you should create and assign a new SSL cert for the server.

In this example an SSL cert is being configured for the contoso.local organzation.

Generate a New Exchange Server 2010 Certificate

In the Exchange Management Console navigate to Server Configuration. Right-click the server and choose New Exchange Certificate.

Enter a friendly name for the new cert. In this example I have named it “Contoso Exchange Server”.

Although wildcard certificates are supported in Exchange Server 2010 it is recommended to use a SAN (Subject Alternative Name) cert instead.

Next we can configure the names for each of the Exchange 2010 services that are secured with the SSL certificate.

First is the Outlook Web App service. Enter the internal and external names of Outlook Web App. In this example I am using “ex2010.contoso.local” for internal, and “mail.contoso.local” for external.

Next configure the ActiveSync domain name. For ease of administration and configuration I am using the same name as for Outlook Web App.

Next are the Web Services, Outlook Anywhere and Autodiscover names. Once again I am using the same name of “mail.contoso.local”. For Autodiscover the additional names of “autodiscover.contoso.local” and “autodiscover.xyzimports.local” are also configured, for each of the accepted email domains in this example organization.

The Hub Transport server also requires SSL for secure SMTP communications. In this example I am using the name “mail.contoso.local”.

A legacy name for co-existence is required if you are planning to gradually transition services and data from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010. Configure legacy names for each of the namespaces in the organization, in this example “legacy.contoso.local” and “legacy.xyzimports.local”.

When all of the services have been configured proceed to the next step of the New Exchange Certificate wizard.

Confirm that all of the required names have been included in the cert request. You can add any additional names at this stage before proceeding.

Next configure the organization and location information for the certificate, and choose a location to generate the request file.

When you have finished filling out the wizard click the New button to generate the cert request file.

Confirm that the request file was successfully generated.

You will notice that the wizard makes a recommendation as to the type of certificate that is required for your Exchange organization. In most cases a “Unified Communications certificate” will be necessary, which is basically another name for a SAN certificate.

Although you can issue the certificate from a private Certificate Authority it is recommended to use a commercial Certificate Authority such as Digicert.

After you have acquired the new certificate return to the Exchange Management Console, navigate to Server Configuration, right-click the server and choose Complete Pending Request.

Browse to the location of the file you downloaded from the CA and complete the wizard. Confirm that the new SSL certificate was imported successfully.

The new certificate now appears in the list of valid certificates for the server.

Assign the New Certificate to Exchange Server 2010

With the valid SSL certificate installed it is now time to assign it to the Exchange Server 2010 services. Right-click the new certificate and choose “Assign Services to Certificate”.

Choose the new Exchange server and click the Next button.

Choose the services to assign to the certificate. In this example the IIS and SMTP services are being assigned.

Complete the wizard to assign the services to the new SSL certificate. You will be prompted to overwrite the existing self-signed certificate, so choose Yes to that prompt.

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/configure-ssl-certificate-exchange-server-2010-2/feed/ 0 Installing an SSL Certificate in Windows Server 2008 or 2008R2 http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/installing-ssl-certificate-windows-server-2008-2008r2/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/installing-ssl-certificate-windows-server-2008-2008r2/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:32:18 +0000 admin http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=287 Installing an SSL Certificate in Windows Server 2008 (IIS 7.0)

Microsoft’s new server platform, Windows Server 2008 uses Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0. This new version makes big changes in the way that SSL certificates are generated, primarily making it much easier than previous versions of IIS. In addition to the new method of requesting and installing SSL certificates, IIS 7 includes the ability to:

  • Request more than one SSL certificate at a time
  • Import, export, and renew SSL certificates easily in IIS
  • Quickly create a self-signed certificate for testing

This article will walk you through the process of ordering an SSL certificate from a commercial certificate authority and installing it on an IIS 7 Windows Server 2008 machine.

Create the Certificate Signing Request

The first step in ordering an SSL certificate is generating a Certificate Signing Request. This is very easy to do in IIS7 using the following instructions. Click here to hide or show the images

  1. Click on the Start menu, go to Administrative Tools, and click on Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. Click on the name of the server in the Connections column on the left. Double-click on Server Certificates.
  3. In the Actions column on the right, click on Create Certificate Request…
  4. Enter all of the following information about your company and the domain you are securing and then click Next.
    Name Explanation Examples
    Common Name The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of your server. This must match exactly what you type in your web browser or you will receive a name mismatch error. *.google.com
    mail.google.com
    Organization The legal name of your organization. This should not be abbreviated and should include suffixes such as Inc, Corp, or LLC. Google Inc.
    Organizational Unit The division of your organization handling the certificate. (Most CAs don’t validate this field) IT
    Web
    City/Locality The city where your organization is located. Mountain View
    State/province The state/region where your organization is located. This shouldn’t be abbreviated. California
    Country/Region The two-letter ISO code for the country where your organization is location. US
    GB
  5. Leave the default Cryptographic Service Provider. Increase the Bit length to 2048 bit or higher. Click Next.
  6. Click the button with the three dots and enter a location and filename where you want to save the CSR file. Click Finish.

Once you have generated a CSR you can use it to order the certificate from a certificate authority. If you don’t already have a favorite, you can compare SSL features from each provider using our SSL Wizard or by comparing cheap SSL certificates, Wildcard Certificates, or EV certificates. Once you paste the contents of the CSR and complete the ordering process, your order is validated, and you will receive the SSL certificate file.

Install the Certificate

To install your newly acquired SSL certificate in IIS 7, first copy the file somewhere on the server and then follow these instructions:

  1. Click on the Start menu, go to Administrative Tools, and click on Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. Click on the name of the server in the Connections column on the left. Double-click on Server Certificates.
  3. In the Actions column on the right, click on Complete Certificate Request…
  4. Click the button with the three dots and select the server certificate that you received from the certificate authority. If the certificate doesn’t have a .cer file extension, select to view all types. Enter any friendly name you want so you can keep track of the certificate on this server. Click OK.
  5. If successful, you will see your newly installed certificate in the list. If you receive an error stating that the request or private key cannot be found, make sure you are using the correct certificate and that you are installing it to the same server that you generated the CSR on. If you are sure of those two things, you may just need to create a new Certificate Request and reissue/replace the certificate. Contact your certificate authority if you have problems with this.

Bind the Certificate to a website

  1. In the Connections column on the left, expand the sites folder and click on the website that you want to bind the certificate to. Click on Bindings…in the right column.
  2. Click on the Add…button.
  3. Change the Type to https and then select the SSL certificate that you just installed. Click OK.
  4. You will now see the binding for port 443 listed. Click Close.

Install any Intermediate Certificates

Most SSL providers issue server certificates off of an Intermediate certificate so you will need to install this Intermediate certificate to the server as well or your visitors will receive a Certificate Not Trusted Error. You can install each Intermediate certificate (sometimes there is more than one) using these instructions:

  1. Download the intermediate certificate to a folder on the server.
  2. Double click the certificate to open the certificate details.
  3. At the bottom of the General tab, click the Install Certificate button to start the certificate import wizard. Click Next.
  4. Select Place all certificates in the following store and click Browse.
  5. Check the Show physical stores checkbox, then expand the Intermediate Certification Authorities folder, select the Local Computer folder beneath it. Click OK. Click Next, then Finishto finish installing the intermediate certificate.

You may need to restart IIS so that it starts giving out the new certificate. You can verify that the certificate is installed correctly by visiting the site in your web browser using https instead of http or using our SSL Checker.

 

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/installing-ssl-certificate-windows-server-2008-2008r2/feed/ 0 Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Small Business Server 2011 http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/migrate-small-business-server-2003-small-business-server-2011/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/migrate-small-business-server-2003-small-business-server-2011/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:27:21 +0000 gzejer http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=293
Reprint from article by  Demazter
 
 

Steps required:

  1. Health Checks on Small Business Server 2003
  2. Configure SBS2003 for single NIC
  3. Run Migration Preparation tool on SBS2003 & Create Answer File
  4. Administrative User Creation
  5. Setting data locations
  6. Configure the Network
  7. Configure the Internet Address
  8. Migrate Exchange Mailboxes and Settings
  9. Remove Legacy Group Policies and Logon Settings
  10. Migrate users’ Shared Data
  11. Migrate Fax Data
  12. Migrate Users and Groups
  13. Uninstall Exchange 2003 from Small Business Server 2003
  14. Check Transfer of the 5 FSMO roles to SBS2011
  15. DCPROMO SBS 2003 server so it is no longer a domain controller and remove from network

Step 1. Health Checks on Small Business Server 2003

The absolute first thing you need to do is take a SYSTEM STATE backup of your Small Business Server as well as a full system backup. There is little chance of the data getting lost but the SYSTEM STATE backup backs up Active Directory so that if it all goes wrong we can recover it if needed.

To do this from using your preferred backup product ensure that System Stare is selected from the selection list then run a backup.

What you then need to do on the SBS 2003 server is to make sure you have all the latest available updates. This means you should at a minimum have:

  • Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 – verify this by right clicking on My Computer and select properties. It should tell you here the Windows Service Pack
  • Windows Small Business Server Service Pack 1 – verify this by checking the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\ServicePackNumber you are looking for a value of 1 in the bracket.
  • Microsoft Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 – verify this using the Exchange System Manager. Navigate to first administrative > Servers. With the Servers folder highlighted on the right hand side you will see the SBS2003 server name with the service pack version listed.

Once you have installed all of the above, run Windows Update and make sure you select the option in the blue banner bar across the top for Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update will then allow you to update all Microsoft products installed on the server providing a more comprehensive update solution. Keep running the check and installing all updates until there are no more available.

Check the health of your Active Directory by running DCDIAG, if there is anything reported as an error fix it before moving on.

A common problem that can cause this migration to fail is that the SBS 2003 server does not have its own IP address listed for DNS in the network properties under TCP/IP. If this is the case, update it so that it does (do not use the loopback 127.0.0.1 address).

Step 2 – Configure SBS2003 for single NIC

Before you can migrate from SBS2003 it needs to be configured in a single NIC configuration and ISA server (if in use) needs to be removed.

To do this uninstall the ISA components from Add/Remove programmes.

You may also need an additional internet router appropriate for the type of connection you use. This should support NAT and needs to be configured with an IP address to match the internal NIC on your server.

Once you have done this, disable the second NIC and then run the Connect to the Internet Wizard to ensure SBS2003 is configured correctly.

I would then suggest a reboot to ensure that all these changes are taken in to effect.

Step 3. Run Migration Preparation tool on SBS2003 & Create Answerfile

As part of the Migration Preparation tool it will run the best practice analyzer to identify any issues with the current setup. Before you run the tool you will need to download and install from Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer which can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=1B6E9026-F505-403E-84C3-A5DEA704EC67&displaylang=en

We can then run the wizard by inserting the SBS2011 DVD in to the SBS2003 server drive. Allow it to autoplay and you should see the following screen. If you don’t have a DVD drive in the SBS2003 server then there are a few options. Either use a USB DVD Drive, share the drive out from another workstation that does have a DVD drive, or copy the contents of the SBS2011 DVD to the SBS2003 server hard drive. The folders you require specifically areTOOLS and SOURCES. If you copy these 2 folders then instead of seeing the link below you will need to run the SourceTool installer from the TOOLS folder.

From here we need to select the option for Install the Migration Preparation Tool. The first screen we will see asks about getting and installing installation updates. My recommendation here would be to not install updates unless you are encountering an issue that has been identified by the SBS team and you are following specific advice regarding this. (screen below)

Once you have made your choice, the following screen will ask you to confirm that you have an adequate backup of the SBS system. Obviously the data needs to be backed up. But the important thing that needs to be backed up that is often missed is the System State Backup. This includes Active Directory and will be needed to recover with should the migration fail. (screen below)

Once you check the box to say you have a backup and click next you will see the screen below. This is preparing Exchange and Active Directory for the introduction of your new SBS2011 server. We are looking for 4 green ticks here.

Once this has completed click next. The next stage is the Migration Wizard will use the baseline analyzer tools you installed earlier to check the organisation for any misconfiguration that should cause the migration to fail (screen below)

This could take a few minutes but what we are hoping to see is the screen below that says we have no errors. This means we are ready to proceed with the introduction of the new server.

Clicking Next to move on will tell us the source server has been successfully (image below) prepared and give us the option to view the migration guide. At time of writing this article there was no migration content on the link provided.

The second option is to create an answer file. This is essential for the successful migration to SBS2011 so click this option and complete with the detail as illustrated below. The reason I select these options is that it then asks you to confirm some information at the installation stage. Almost like a second check before proceeding. One of the key options is not to perform any updates. This can be done after the migration, and with my experience from SBS2008 migrations these updates have been known to make changes which cause the migration to fail.

Now we need to save the answer file using the save option. Once done, copy it to a USB drive and place this in your new server along with the SBS2011 DVD and post up.

The first screen we see is the language and keyboard selection screen (image below)

 

Make the appropriate selections and click next.

We then see the screen below. Click Install Now

We are then presented with the usual License Agreement screen (below). Put a check in the check box and click Next. Obviously only if you agree to the licensing terms as set out by Microsoft.

The following screen (below) provides any storage that has already been configured on your new hardware. If you don’t see anything here you will need to load 3rd party drivers from your vendor using the Load Driver option. If you still don’t see anything listed then you may need to configure your RAID Controller so that there is a volume, most will do this by default on first boot if you don’t select to configure yourself, but some might not.

Once you have made the appropriate selections click next and we will see the usual Windows 2008 R2 component configuration and file copy screen as below.

Once this has finished the server will reboot and display the screen below. As this is a migration we will be selectingServer Migration and then click next.

The screen below is the time zone and date/time selection screen. It is absolutely essential that this matches the source server otherwise connection to the domain and promotion to a domain controller will fail.

Verify the time zone and date/time then click Next.

The screen below asks you to verify the source server IP address, the IP address you wish to assign the new server and the gateway address. Confirm the details and then click next.

The next screen is more confirmation. This time it is the source server name and internal domain name along with the administrative user details and the source server name.

Confirm the details, and even retype the password just to be sure. Then click Next.

We then see the update screen below. Again, my recommendation here would be to not install updates. And then click next.

The screen below is your company details, this will be used on Companyweb/Remote Web Workplace. Fill in the form an click next.

We then see the screen below which is the start of the SBS2011 component installation, this could take around 30-45 minutes and you can expect the server to reboot at least once during this phase.

Once this has finished you should be presented with the SBS2011 desktop and the screen below. This means that the installation phase of the migration has been completed.

If there were any problems with the migration you would see a troubleshooting assistant informing you of what has failed and how to correct it.

Step 4. Administrative User Creation

Now that SBS2011 has been successfully installed and you have logged in for the first time we will see SBS console. Those of you familiar with SBS2008 will notice that not much has changed.

As with SBS2008 most of the tasks we need to complete need to be performed with an Administrative user other than the built-in Administrator account. This was not the case with SBS2003 and you probably do not have another Administrative user. If this is not completed we will receive the error below when trying to launch the Migration Wizard.

So the first step is to create this user.

Using the SBS Console select the Users and Groups option across the top of the console. You will then see the screen as illustrated below.

There will be no users listed here, don’t panic, this is perfectly normal. You will not see the existing users in the SBS Console until the migration is complete.

Click on the Add a new user account on the right hand side. This will launch the new user wizard.

Enter the details for your user. The important part is that you select Network Administrator as the User Role. Once you are done click next.

The following screen we are asked to enter a password for the user, enter a password and click Add User Account.

We then see the following screen, this can take a few minutes to complete but what we are looking for is 5 green ticks. If for any reason any of the stages fail the final screen will tell you what failed and why.

The following screen allows us to associate computers with this user or add an additional computer. There is no need to do this for the new Administrative User. Click finish to exit the wizard. From the SBS Console select the Home section and click Migrate to Windows SBS to start the migration tasks.

Step 5. Setting data locations

When launching the migration wizard there is a list of tasks to complete. These should be done in the order they are presented. As illustrated below.

The first task is to set the data locations for Exchange, Sharepoint, Shared Folders, Redirected My Documents and Windows Software Update Services. The wizards are the same for each so this guide will only run through one of them.

NOTE: If you don’t have a second volume configured there is no need to run this part. If you try to you will receive the following error.

If you do not have a second volume and don’t intend to have one, then on the first screen of the wizard put a check in the Task Complete radio and click next.

To run the wizards click the hyperlinks on the above screen one by one. The first screen (below) is simply the summary of what you will be doing, click next when ready.

The next screen runs a check of the configuration, one of the tasks this is completing is checking for available volumes and disk space for the files to be moved to.

Once this is complete we are given the options of locations to select from. At this stage because we have not configured a backup you will see an error that this has not been done. Click OK to continue.

Make the drive selection and then click Move. What we want to see is the screen below indicating that the move has been successful. Click finish and then move on to the next hyperlink to continue setting the data locations.

Step 6. Configure the Network

The next task the wizards want us to complete is the Configure the Network wizard. This is the Connect to the Internet Wizard.

When launched, the first screen we see is the one below. From here we need to select the Start the Connect to the Internet Wizard hyper link.

The following screen will give you a summary of some information that will be required to allow the wizard to be completed.

Make sure you have this information to hand and click Next.

The next screen does a check of the network configuration and will attempt to discover among other things your router. Part of these checks will also detect if there are any other DHCP services running on the network.

The wizard will not continue if another DHCP service is detected (see image below). Therefore if you plan to use another device for DHCP then this must be temporarily disabled to allow you to complete this task. I would however recommend that you do use SBS2011 for DHCP rather than another device.

Once you have disabled any DHCP services the wizard will move on and display what it has detected from your network configuration.

Check the information is correct and if so click Next. If not make any appropriate changes before clicking next.

Once done, we are looking for the big green tick as illustrated below that says our network has been configured.

Step 7. Configure the Internet Address

The 3rd task in the migration wizard is to Configure the Internet Address this wizard is for configuring the external domain you intend to use with the SBS2011 server.

The first screen we see is a summary screen explaining what the wizard will do.

Click the hyperlink for Start the Internet Address Wizard and then read the guidance on the screen below.

As this is a migration you will probably already have an external domain name and it will already be configured. The rest of this guide will assume you have a domain name registered and that you will use the control panel from your ISP to manage your External DNS. Click Next to start the configuration.

On the following screen, select the I already have a domain name that I want to use and click Next.

On this screen select the I want to manage the domain name myself and click Next.

The following screen we need to enter the external domain name we will be using, this will be the domain name used in the hyperlink for Remote Web Workplace, Outlook Web App, ActiveSync and will be used to create your email address.

Clicking the Advanced Settings link will allow us to reconfigure the name that appears in the self-signed SSL certificate from remote.domainname.com to something else. If you have mail.domainname.com or owa.domainname.com setup currently then this is where you would enter this information.

Once done click the configure button and the wizard will make the necessary changes. Once completed we want to see the summary screen as below. We are looking for 3 green ticks to say it has been successful.

Step 8. Migrate Exchange Mailboxes and Settings

The next step of the Migration process is to migrate the Exchange Mailboxes and Public Folders. When we launch the wizard for this task we see the following screen.

Clicking the hyperlink (at time of writing) takes you to the technet article for Migrating Mailboxes. To do this, we need to delve in to the Exchange Management Console. Click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and select Exchange Management Console.

Once the console has launched, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Mailbox. Here we should see all our mailboxes listed. All the mailboxes that appear as Legacy Mailbox are currently located on the SBS2003 servers mailstore.

You can either batch select the mailboxes using SHIFT or CTRL or do each mailbox one by one. Once you have selected the mailboxes to move, from the Action Pane on the right hand side select New Local Move Request. This will start the move mailbox wizard.

From the first screen click the browse button to select the Mailbox Store on the new SBS2011 Server. Once you have done this click Next.

For this screen, leave it at defaults for the first run. If you find that mailboxes fail to move due to corrupt items you may have to increase the value here to allow those corrupt items to be skipped and for the mailbox to move successfully.

The screen above is simply a summary of what task you will be performing, clicking the New button will start the mailbox moves.

Once complete, we are looking for the following screen, all green ticks.

If you are moving the mailboxes in batches then repeat this task until all mailboxes have been moved to the SBS2011 server.

The next stage is to migrate the Public Folders. To do this, complete the following steps on the SBS 2003 Server:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Exchange Server > System Manager
  2. Navigate to Administrative Groups > First Administrative Group > Servers > Servername > First Storage Group
  3. Right click on the Public Folder Store and select Move All Replicas. The only option that should appear in the list is your Exchange 2010 server. Click OK.

Now that we have moved the data to the SBS2011 server it’s best to leave the Exchange Settings as is for a day or so to a) make sure all the data is moved before we perform any other Exchange related tasks. b) Allow all the outlook clients to update automatically with the new server settings. We can now continue with the rest of the migration.

Step 9. Remove Legacy Group Policies and Logon Settings

The next step is to remove any Legacy Group Policies and Logon Configurations that are incompatible with SBS2011. The recommendation here is that any logon scripts in use should be migrated to Group Policies and/or Group Policy preferences. However in my experience it doesn’t cause any problems if this is not done.

Further information on these processes can be found here:

Remove old logon scripts for Windows SBS migration: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc527605(WS.10).aspx

Remove old Active Directory Group Policy objects for Windows SBS 2008 migration: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc527585(WS.10).aspx

Step 10. Migrate users’ Shared Data

This is another task where you need to perform the configuration manually. The steps required can be found here:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc527517(WS.10).aspx

Once you have the shares configured a simple backup of the SBS2003 server and restore to the 2011 server will restore all data with associated permissions.

Alternatively you could use robocopy which is part of the Windows 2003 Resource Kit which can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en

There is also command line reference for robocopy here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145(WS.10).aspx

Step 11. Migrate Fax Data

There is no fax function in SBS2011 (this may change in the final release) but if you already have Fax data stored on the SBS2003 server you will need to migrate this data.

Launching the wizard will display the following screen.

Clicking the hyperlink Click to start Migrating your fax data this will move the data to the new server. At this stage if there is no fax services installed/configured on the SBS2003 server you will receive the error displayed below.

This is not a problem and can be ignored, mark this task as complete.

Step 12. Migrate Users and Groups

As part of joining the SBS2011 server to the domain which contains SBS2003 and making it a Domain Controller it has already got a copy of the Active Directory and all the users and groups.

However, they will not appear in the SBS Console, this is normal and can be resolved following the instructions here.

To allow the users to be seen a new role needs to be applied. To do this on the first screen the wizard shows a hyperlink to Run the change user role wizard as illustrated below.

Click this link, to start the wizard. From the list displayed select the role you wish to assign to these users.

On the following screen put a check in the box for Display all user accounts in the Active Directory as illustrated below. This will display all of the users. Highlight your existing user then click the Add button to move them to the right hand side.

Click the change user role button. We are looking for a screen similar to the one below with lots of green ticks to confirm the roles have changed.

Step 13 – Uninstall Exchange 2003 from Small Business Server 2003

Hopefully you are arriving at this step a day or two after you have migrated all the mailboxes, if not then I would recommend you leave it for a day or two just to allow all client computers to automatically update the Exchange server setting in outlook. If you uninstall Exchange 2003 from the Small Business Server and this hasn’t happened then the clients will have to be changed manually.

To perform this task we will need Small Business Server 2003 CD 2, which will be asked for during the uninstallation. Before we can do this though, there are a few steps we need to perform otherwise we will not be able to uninstall it.

If you use Recipient Policies that are Manage Mailbox policies, then these will need to be removed. Likewise, if you have Recipient Policies that are used for both e-mail address definition and mailbox management, the settings defined under Mailbox Manager Settings will need to be removed. You DO NOT need to remove your e-mail address policies.

The Recipient Update Service is not used in Exchange 2010 and is therefore not required, so it can be removed. To do this you will need to use ADSI Edit. This can be done by using the following procedure:

  1. Click Start > Run > MMC > Click OK
  2. Select File then Add/Remove Snap-in
  3. Click Add and select ADSI Edit and click Add, then close and OK
  4. Right click on the ADSI Edit and select ‘Connect to’. From the drop down under ‘Select a well known Naming Context’, select Configuration and click OK
  5. Expand Configuration > Services > Microsoft Exchange > Organisation Name > Address List Container > Recipient Update Services

Right click on Recipient Update Service (Enterprise Configuration) and select Delete. There may also be a Recipient Update Service (ORGNAME) this also needs to be deleted

Only delete the Recipient Update Service entries under the container; DO NOT delete the container itself or any other entries

The final step in preparation for uninstalling Exchange Server 2003 is to delete the routing group connectors that would have been created as part of the installation. I have highlighted them in the image below. Simply right click on each connector and select delete.

We are now ready to uninstall Exchange 2003. To do this, navigate to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs. From the list of installed applications, highlight Windows Small Business Server 2003 and click Change/Remove.

Click next on the Welcome screen, and next on the screen that follows. Once the component screen opens pull down the drop down next to Exchange Server and select remove, as shown below. Then click next and next again.

Step 14. Check Transfer of the 5 FSMO roles to SBS2011

All of the 5 FSMO roles should already have been transferred to the SBS2011 as part of the installation process but it’s always worth a check. The steps below will give instructions on how to do this if required.

Caution needs to be taken when performing this next step.[/b] I would advise that ALL of the previous steps need to be completed before this is done as Small Business Server MUST hold all 5 FSMO roles.

Once you are ready, the roles can be transferred as follows. Working on the Windows 2008 server do the following:

  1. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers
  2. Right click on the domain name and select Operations Masters. You will see the screen below.
  3. On each tab (RID, PDC & Infrastructure) click the change button.
  4. Accept the confirmation that you want each role to be transferred.

 

That is 3 of the 5 roles transferred. To do the next one, which is the Domain Naming Master we need to do the following:

  1. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Domains and Trusts.
  2. Right click where it says Active Directory Domains and Trusts and select Operations Master.
  3. Once again click the Change button and say yes to the notification dialog.

4 down with 1 to go. To move the Schema Master role we need to do the following:

  1. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll
  2. Click OK to the confirmation
  3. Click Start > Run and type MMC and click OK
  4. Select File > Add/Remove Snap-in from the console
  5. From the list select Active Directory Schema, click Add
  6. Click Close and OK.
  7. Right click on Active Directory Schema and select Change Active Directory Domain Controller
  8. Choose the Windows 2008 Server from the list and click OK
  9. Click OK on the warning Dialog box.
  10. Right click on Active Directory Schema and select Operations Master
  11. Click the Change button and say yes to the notification dialog

That’s all the FSMO roles transferred from the Small Business 2003 Server. The next and final step is to demote the server from being a Domain Controller.

Step 15. DCPROMO SBS 2003 server so it is no longer a domain controller and remove from network

This is the final step of the migration process. If you have made it this far, well done! This is the easy bit!

At this point it is worth double checking that both the SBS2003 and SBS2011 server are both configured to use the SBS2011 server for DNS in the TCP/IP properties of the NIC. The only DNS entry should be the IP address of the SBS2011 server.

The first thing we need to do is make sure the SBS2003 is no longer a Global Catalog Server. Click on Start > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Sites and Services. Locate the Small Business Server

Right click on NTDS settings located under the Small Business Server and select properties. Remove the check from the Global Catalog check box and click OK. Close Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in.

The final step is to run DCPROMO. To do this, do the following:

Click Start > Run and type DCPROMO and click OK

Click next on the Welcome screen

DO NOT check the box that says “This server is the last domain controller in the domain” and Click next

Enter a new administrator password for the local administrator user and click next

The server will then remove Active Directory Services from the SBS2003 server and it will no longer be a Domain Controller.

Once this has finished, allow the server to restart, login and then shut it down. You have now completed the migration.

If you are still with me, well done! There are a few sections of additional reading below if you would like to know some more detail about some of the processes we have just completed. There is an excellent article from EE Expert tigermatt around the purpose of the FSMO roles which you will find under the further reading section.

Further Reading

You will also need a trusted SSL Certificate which can be purchased from http://www.exchangecertificates.com

Move/Migrate Sharepoint Services: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288664.aspx

Move last legacy Exchange Server: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb288905(EXCHG.80).aspx

Demystifying the Active Directory FSMO Roles by tigermatt: http://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/Software/Server_Software/File_Servers/Active_Directory/Demystifying-the-Active-Directory-FSMO-Roles.html

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/migrate-small-business-server-2003-small-business-server-2011/feed/ 0 Installing Windows Server Backup on Windows Server 2008 R2 http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/installing-windows-server-backup-windows-server-2008-r2/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/installing-windows-server-backup-windows-server-2008-r2/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:21:41 +0000 admin http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=323  

Overview

Reprint from Petri IT Knowledgebase.

Windows Server Backup is a built-in component of Windows Server 2008 R2 that consists of a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, command-line tools, and Windows PowerShell cmdlets. Windows Server Backup, like its predecessor – Ntbackup (on Windows Server 2000/2003), provides a complete solution for your day-to-day backup and recovery needs.

When compared to Windows Server 2008 RTM, in Windows Server 2008 R2 there are new features that expand what you can back up, where you can store backups, and how you can perform recoveries.

Note: One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot recover backups with Windows Server Backup that were created in earlier versions of Windows with Ntbackup. However, a read-only version of Ntbackup is freely available if you want to recover data from backups created using Ntbackup, and can be installed to recover files on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7:

Download Details – Microsoft Download Center – Windows NT Backup – Restore Utility
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=4220

What You Can Backup with Windows Server Backup

You can use Windows Server Backup to back up a full server (all volumes), a selected list of volumes, the system state, or specific files or folders—and to create a backup that you can use for bare metal recovery.

Note: In Windows Server 2008 RTM, you were very limited in what you could choose to backup, with the only choices being volumes or the entire server. Luckily, this was changed in R2.

After performing a backup, and if need arises, you can recover volumes, folders, files, certain applications, and the system state. And, in case of disasters like hard disk failures, you can even perform a bare metal recovery.

You can use Windows Server Backup to create and manage backups for the local computer or a remote computer (even for Server Core installations), and you can schedule backups to run automatically.

Installing Windows Server Backup

When you add the Windows Server Backup Features and subordinate items, you also install the following tools:

  • Windows Server Backup Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in
  • Wbadmin command-line tool
  • Windows PowerShell cmdlets for Windows Server Backup

To install Windows Server Backup you can use one of 3 methods:

  1. Using Server Manager
  2. Using Servermanagercmd.exe
  3. Using PowerShell (See why every admin needs to learn PowerShell)

We’ll take a look at each of the installation methods in more detail below.

To install Windows Server Backup, log on to the computer by using the local Administrator account or another account with Administrator privileges. To perform backups or recoveries by using Windows Server Backup, you must be a member of the Administrators or Backup Operators groups.

1. Installing Windows Server Backup Using Server Manager

Probably the easiest for this specific role. I would use this method.

1. Open the Server Manager and wait for it to load.

2. Click on “Features” and wait for it to load.

3. Click “Add Features“.

Installing Windows Server Backup Using Server Manager

4. In the “Add Features Wizard” page, scroll down and click to select “Windows Server Backup features“. If you also want to get the PowerShell command samples, manually select “Command Line Tools“. You do not need this addition if you plan to use the GUI or the WBADMIN command line tool. Click “Next“.

Select features in Server Manager

5. In the “Confirm Installation Selections” page click “Install“.

Confirm Installation Selections

Windows Server Backup Installation Complete

8. Once finished, there is no need to reboot the server.

 

 

 

2. Installing Windows Server Backup Using Servermanagercmd.exe

Using the servermanagercmd.exe command is easy, however this command will be deprecated in future versions of Windows, so don’t get used to it too much…

1. Open a Command Prompt window with elevated permissions (right-click CMD and select “Run as Administrator“).

2. Type:

servermanagercmd -i Backup-Features

servermanagercmd -i Backup-Features

Note: Servermanagercmd.exe is not case sensitive.

3. Installing Windows Server Backup Using PowerShell

In Windows Server 2008 R2, PowerShell is installed by default. However, in order to install roles with it, you need to import the Server Manager module.

1. Open a PowerShell window with elevated permissions (right-click PowerShell and select “Run as Administrator“).

2. Type:

Import-Module servermanager

3. Once imported, type:

Add-WindowsFeature Backup-Features

Add-WindowsFeature Backup-Features

Note: The Add-WindowsFeature command is not case sensitive.

Get the full Microsoft article:

Windows Server Backup Step-by-Step Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee849849(WS.10).aspx

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/03/23/installing-windows-server-backup-windows-server-2008-r2/feed/ 0 Increasing Exchange 2010 send/receive message size in the organization or individual user. http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/02/22/increasing-exchange-2010-sendreceive-message-size-nthe-organization-individual-user/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/02/22/increasing-exchange-2010-sendreceive-message-size-nthe-organization-individual-user/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:06:28 +0000 gzejer http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=318 Reprint from Khrishna MVP

There is always been the requirement that in any organization few users or High profiles users wanted to send and receiver bigger attachment. Bigger the attachment, bigger the challenges for the Administrators. It is recommended to keep attachment size smaller. Smaller the email faster will be processing both on the SMTP gateway servers and Hub servers. Bigger the attached size bigger the storage you need. These some of the few challenges as an administrator you may come across when users asks for bigger email attachments. Restricting the message size is important and some times in most times its been neglected. This can have a great Impact on the Exchange organization.

Lets understand this better with the below scenario and configure attachment based on new business requirement

Current Status

1. 100000 Normal users

2. 1000 High Profile Users

3. 10 MB of email attachment size for all

New Business Requirement

1. 1000 High profiles users should be able send and receive 30 MB attachment emails

2. Normal users should be able to continue with sending and receiving 10 MB size

attachments

We can implement this solution in two way, Now we need to really new think and decide which is the solution will ideally fit into our organization. You also need to consider to convent conversion when exchange converts from MAPI/Exchange format to Internal/ MIME Message format and vice versa. Content conversion normally increases the message size by 30 MB. This is really important which should not be overlooked.

Solution 1

This solution will be good for smaller origination

1. First we need to make changes with the Transport organization(Global) configuration.

Below command gets us the details of the current MaxSendSize and MaxReceiveSize limits set.

Get-TransportConfig | fl MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize

clip_image002[8]

2. This Global configuration is applied to all the Exchange Hub Servers. To change this global configuration we can use blow commands. We can also set this MaxSize limits on the individual Hub Servers. Below is the example on how to Increase the MaxSend and MaxReceive Size limits on the Organization level

Set-TransportConfig -MaxReceiveSize 30MB -MaxSendSize 30MB

clip_image004

3. Exchange 2010 uses AD Site topology to determine the low cost path to route the email to the Destination if user is located in the different site. If Message to be delivered to the remote AD size is larger then the limits set on Site link then message delivery will be failed. By Default MaxMessageSize on the AD Site link is set to unlimited.

Get-Adsitelink <AdSitelink> | select Maxmessagesize

clip_image006

4. If we are changing the Maxsize limitation, its important that you need to check if there is any limits set on the AD site link and change it accordingly if required. Below is the command to set the new MaxMessageSize

 

Set-Adsitelink <Sitelinkname> -MaxMessageSize 30MB

clip_image008

5. To Send Bigger email to Internet we need to make sure that Send connectors is configured correctly with appropriate message size. To get the current MaxMessageSize configuration on the send connecters

Get-Sendconnector “To Internet” | fl Name,MaxMessageSize

clip_image010

6. To Set MaxMessageSize we can use powershell to command to set the same. This will allow users to send bigger attachment.

Set-Sendconnector “To Internet” -MaxMessageSize 30 MB

clip_image012

7. How about receiving bigger attachment email ? our requirement is that High profile users should also receive bigger attachment email from Internet. For this we need to configure receive connector which receives email from Internet. To Get the current size limit on receive connector, below is the command

Get-Receiveconnector -Identity “<Connectorname>” | fl Name,MaxMessagesize

clip_image014

8. To Set the MaxMessage size to 30 MB we need to use the below command for the connector which receives email from Internet

Set-ReceiveConnector -Identity “<connectorname> -MaxMessageSize 30 MB

clip_image016

9. With this we are almost done with the configuration on the organization and Connectors end. Now the Final Part is to set the Message Size restriction on the users mailbox. By default all users will be able to send and receive based on the global configuration. If any users wanted to send or receive bigger email then we need to Increase Sending and Receiving MaxMessageSize from mailbox configuration.

There is catch here which you should know

Setting Higher limits on the Individual recipients bypasses organization size limits but its only Internal. Users with Individual Higher limits cannot send and receive email from Internet (unauthenticated users)

 

This is reason why we have configured higher organization size limits, higher connecter limits for users to send and receive higher email. With Higher organization size limits all users will be able to send and receive bigger emails. We wanted only few users to have this higher limits and others to retain 10 MB size limits. For this we need to make changes on max size limit on individual mailbox configuration on all the mailbox except the high profile mailbox. As we have already discussed setting individual mailbox limits

will override the organization limits.

10. Below command get you the current Send and Receive Size configuration on the mailbox By Default it is set to unlimited. This setting uses the Global size limits

Get-Mailbox <mailbox> | fl MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize

clip_image018

11. To Set Size on the Individual mailbox limits you need to use the below mentioned command. As we have configured Global Max message size configuration to 30 MB, now we wanted to restricted all users except High profile to 10 MB limits. Below is the example to set on the Individual Mailbox and get the status

Set-Mailbox <mailbox> -MaxSendSize 10MB -MaxReceiveSize 10MB

 

clip_image020

12. We can use powershell commands to set all the mailbox size limit using single command. This is bit tedious right, you really don’t wanted to configure on every Individual Mailbox. I know we can do this easily with powershell but this would be ongoing and needs to apply for any new users. In the coming days if you wanted to apply the Bigger size limits for the Entire organization then you have change this configuration on every mailbox.

Below are the few cmdlets which helps to get where all the message size is applied and to get the current MaxMessageSize limits.

01 <em>Get-ForeignConnector | fl Name,MaxMessageSize
02 Get-SendConnector | fl Name,MaxMessageSize
03 Get-ReceiveConnector | fl Name,MaxMessageSize
04 Get-ADSiteLink | fl Name,MaxMessageSize
05 Get-RoutingGroupConnector | fl Name,MaxMessageSize
06 Get-TransportConfig | fl MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize
07 Get-DistributionGroup | fl name,MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize
08 Get-DynamicDistributionGroup | fl name,MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize
09 Get-Mailbox | fl name,MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize
10 Get-MailContact | fl name,MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize
11 Get-MailPublicFolder | fl name,MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize
12 Get-MailUser | fl name,MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize</em>

Solution 2

This solution will be good for Bigger organization

1. First we need to make changes with the Transport organization(Global) configuration.

Below command gets us the details of the current MaxSendSize and MaxReceiveSize limits set.

Get-TransportConfig | fl MaxSendSize,MaxReceiveSize

clip_image002[1]

2. This Global configuration is applied to all the Exchange Hub Servers. To change this global configuration we can use blow commands. We can also set this MaxSize limits on the individual Hub Servers. Below is the example on how to Increase the MaxSend and MaxReceive Size limits on the Organization level

Set-TransportConfig -MaxReceiveSize 30MB -MaxSendSize 30MB

clip_image004[1]

3. Exchange 2010 uses AD Site topology to determine the low cost path to route the email to the Destination if user is located in the different site. If Message to be delivered to the remote AD size is larger then the limits set on Site link then message delivery will be failed. By Default MaxMessageSize on the AD Site link is set to unlimited.

Get-Adsitelink <AdSitelink> | select Maxmessagesize

clip_image006[1]

4. If we are changing the Maxsize limitation, its important that you need to check if there is any limits set on the AD site link and change it accordingly if required. Below is the command to set the new MaxMessageSize

 

Set-Adsitelink <Sitelinkname> -MaxMessageSize 30MB

clip_image008[1]

5. To Send Bigger email to Internet we need to make sure that Send connectors is configured correctly with appropriate message size. To get the current MaxMessageSize configuration on the send connecters

Get-Sendconnector “To Internet” | fl Name,MaxMessageSize

clip_image010[1]

6. To Set MaxMessageSize we can use powershell to command to set the same. This will allow users to send bigger attachment.

Set-Sendconnector “To Internet” -MaxMessageSize 30 MB

clip_image012[1]

7. How about receiving bigger attachment email ? our requirement is that High profile users should also receive bigger attachment email from Internet. For this we need to configure receive connector which receives email from Internet. To Get the current size limit on receive connector, below is the command

Get-Receiveconnector -Identity “<Connectorname>” | fl Name,MaxMessagesize

clip_image014[1]

8. To Set the MaxMessage size to 30 MB we need to use the below command for the connector which receives email from Internet

Set-ReceiveConnector -Identity “<connectorname> -MaxMessageSize 30 MB

clip_image016[1]

9. With this we have almost done with the configuration on the organization level. Now all users where be able to send and receive 30 MB of email size but our requirement is allow only 1000 users to send and receive 30 MB emails. This can be configured with Transport rules

10. Before configuring Transport rules, lets create a Distribution group with list of High Profile users. Below is the command to create a new DL. Once you created the below DL then you can add the required(1000) users to this DL

New-DistributionGroup -Name ‘HighProfileUsers’ -Type ‘Distribution’ -Samaccountname ‘Highprofileusers’ -Alias ‘Highprofileusers’

 

11. Now lets create a new Transport rule. Open Exchange Management console -> Expand Organization Configuration -> Hub Transport Server -> on the Result pane click on Transport rules Tab -> click on New Transport rule on Action pane to create a new Transport rule

clip_image022

12. Provide Suitable name for the new transport rule. Providing the appropriate name is very Important. If there are multiples rules then name will help in easy identifying of the rules . Once this is done click on Next

clip_image024

13. Select option When the size of any attachment is great then or email to limit and enter the value 10240 (10 MB) on the below edit pane. This is shown in the below Image and click on Next

clip_image026

14. Select the option Send reject message to the sender with enabled status code and Enter appropriate Bounce messages and Error code. Enabling option will restrict users from sending email size with attachment bigger then 10 MB and if sends bigger email then this will be error message which users will be Getting. Make sure that you enter the appropriate Error message with the Status code. This message should be very clear that senders should be able to Identify the Issue and should send smaller attachment size.

Then click on Next

clip_image028

15. Here we select except when the message is from the member of the Distribution list and except when the message is sent to the member of distribution list and add the newly created DL to this exception. Here we are setting except the members of the DL. Except DL members other users will be to able to send and receive bigger attachment size email.

As we have excluded for DL members, now you may think what is the Max message for the DL members. Its 30 MB. This is the global configuration. Now DL members will come under global configuration. Only they can enjoy email with bigger attachment up to 30 MB. Need to make sure that any new High profiles users should be added to the DL so that they also enjoy 30 MB attachment restriction.

clip_image030

 

16. Click on new to create this new transport rule. Once this rule is create any email sent with higher attachment other than the members of High Profile users will get the bounce back messages with the custom message set in the transport rule

 

clip_image032

 

Idea of Transport rule is that any email send from mailbox goes to the Hub transport servers where email is categorized and it will applied again all the transport rules available. If any of the condition matches then according action will be taken based on the rules.

I think solution with Transport rule would be easy and Simple. Where in you don’t have the make changes on the every individual mailboxes and also if you wanted to scale this solution to every one in the organization then all you need to do is to just remove the transport rule. Then every one in the organization will be able to send and receive email of 30 MB size.

You have the choice to use both the solution and you are best person to decide which solution will ideally fit into your organization.

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2012/02/22/increasing-exchange-2010-sendreceive-message-size-nthe-organization-individual-user/feed/ 0 How to Configure a Cisco Wireless Access-Point (AP) http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/10/11/configure-cisco-wireless-access-point-ap/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/10/11/configure-cisco-wireless-access-point-ap/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:53:16 +0000 admin http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=289

by DAVID DAVIS

Cisco APs are strong and reliable but require a little more configuration than your typical Linksys, Dlink, or Netgear. In this article, you will find out how to configure this enterprise grade wireless AP (a Cisco 1242G) to allow your wireless users to connect to your LAN, through your Wireless LAN (WLAN). Lots of photos are included!

 

This article was originally published at SearchNetworking.com

This Cisco 1242 wireless access-point (AP) is a wireless AP for business-grade users. If you have a lot of traffic, you need reliability, and some advanced features, this AP is for you. For a business, you should never install any consumer grade AP unless you are asking for trouble. The reason being is that those consumer grade APs (the ones you can buy at your local electronics store), just don’t have the capabilities, the reliability of connections, the troubleshooting, or the throughput to do what you need them to do.

This AP has an power connection port (which goes to an AC/DC adaptor), a console port, Ethernet port (to connect to the physical LAN), and indicator lights. You can also power the AP over the Ethernet wire with PoE (802.3af) On this model of AP, you will notice 4 black rubber covers. These cover the connectors for the wireless antennas (2 on the front and 2 on the back). On the front of the AP are the 2 antenna connectors for the 2.4Ghz network with the right connector being the primary. On the back, are the connectors for the 5Ghz network. These antennas can be bought separately and are only required if you want to extend the range in some way or do point to point bridging between APs. Many times, in a business you do want to extend or shape the wireless range, both for coverage and security. In that case, you would want to investigate and use the external antennas.

The 1242 offers the following:

  • A, B, and G wireless protocols in the 2.4 and 5Ghz wireless ranges
  • A long list of security protocols that you won’t find in consumer grade APs
  • Intrusion Detection & Prevention
  • Hardware assisted AES encryption
  • Locking mounting bracket and a rugged NEMA metal case
  • Compatibility with Cisco’s wireless management applications
  • That Cisco IOS CLI look and feel that we are used to configuring (or a web browser interface if you so desire)

You can find more specifics on these APs at the Cisco homepage for the Aironet 1242 series.

Configuring the 1242 Wireless AP

Here are the steps I took to get my wireless AP functioning on my network:

  1. Connect to power and LAN Ethernet
  2. AP obtains IP address from DHCP server. I went to my DHCP server and found the IP address that it had obtained:

  

  1. Point your web browser to the AP. In my case, the DHCP-obtained IP address was 192.168.1.106. The default login (console or web) is Cisco and Cisco (not cisco and cisco) for the username & password. Here is what I saw:

Notice how both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz radios show to be “down”. On APs with version 12.3(4)JA and above, the wireless radio is disabled by default and there is no SSID configured. This is for security reasons.

Also, note on the menu selections for the interface that there are options for Express Setup and Express Security. If these are available, why not use them?


  1. Click on Express Set-up. Notice the changes I made in the following screen. Not all of these are required. I changed the AP’s name, set it to a static IP, changed the SNMP community string, and took the default of “Access Point” for both radios.

Next, I clicked Apply. I was redirected to the new IP address of the AP and I had to login again.

  1. Next, I clicked on Express Security and set the SSID, the SSID to be broadcast, and 40bit WEP encryption with a static key (basic I know but just an example).
  1. Still, there are two important things left to do- change the admin password and enable the radios. To enable the radios, I clicked in Network Interfaces, on the left. In my case, I was only using the 2.4Ghz radio so I clicked on Radio0-802.11G, then on the Settings tab. I clicked on Enable for the radio and took all the other default settings.

At the bottom of the page, I clicked Apply.

  1. Finally, let’s change the admin password so that no one else can get into our AP. To do this, I clicked on Security on the left hand side, then Admin Access. From here, I changed the default Authentication password and clicked Apply. I had to reauthenticate to the AP.

Then, I created a new account called Admin with a secure password, andRead-Write capability (clicked Apply). After that, I deleted the default Cisco account (clicked Apply).

Here is what is looked like:
Note that we are still using a single global password for all users instead of individual users having their own passwords. You may want to change this.

  1. At this point, I could see the wireless network from my Windows computer and was successfully able to connect to it using the configured WEP key. My computer received a DHCP IP address from my DHCP server.

 

Configuration Successful!
Complete Cisco documentation for the Cisco AP1242 is available at:http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/wireless/airo1240/index.htm

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/10/11/configure-cisco-wireless-access-point-ap/feed/ 0 Setting Message Size Limits in Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007 http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/09/26/setting-message-size-limits-exchange-2010-exchange-2007/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/09/26/setting-message-size-limits-exchange-2010-exchange-2007/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:21:59 +0000 gzejer http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=285

by BHARAT SUNEJA

In Distribution Groups and maximum recipients per message, we looked at how the maximum recipients per message settings are treated differently by Exchange Server 2010/2007 and Exchange 2003/2000 when sending to Distribution Groups.

Message size limits are an important mechanism to control mailbox sizes, guarantee service availability, and protect from potential DOS attacks. Another commonly asked question is about message size limits and the inability to send messages that are apparently within the maximum sizes configured. Let’s take a look at the message size settings in different places in Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007.

1Organizational limits: The organizational send and receive size limits apply to all Exchange servers in the Organization. The default is 10MB.

You can modify these using the Set-TransportConfig cmdlet from the Exchange shell:

Set-TransportConfig -MaxReceiveSize 40MB -MaxSendSize 40MB

In Exchange 2007 SP1 and later, you can also set the organizational message size limits using the EMC by going to Organization Configuration | Hub Transport | Global Settings tab | Transport Settings | properties | General tab.

Exchange Server 2007 | Transport Settings
Figure 1: Setting the organizational message size limits from the Global Settings tab in the EMCin Exchange 2007 SP1 and later

2Receive Connector limit: Unlike Exchange SMTP Virtual Servers in Exchange Server 2003/2000, Exchange 2007′s Receive Connectors are only used to receive messages. The maximum message size limit can be different on different Receive Connectors on a Hub Transport or Edge Transport server. For example, a Receive Connector for inbound Internet mail may have lower message size limits, but you may want to allow larger messages on Receive Connector for authenticated senders or partners.

To modify the maximum message size on a Receive Connector using the Exchange console, select Server Configuration | Hub Transport | select a Hub Transport server | Receive Connectors -> select a connector | Properties | General tab.

Screenshot: Maximum message size on a Receive Connector
Figure 2: Setting the maximum message size on a Receive Connector

To set ReceiveConnector limit using the shell:

Set-ReceiveConnector “CONNECTOR NAME” -MaxMessageSize 40Mb

What’s a Unique Binding for a Receive Connector?

Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007′s definition of a unique binding for a Receive Connector is different than Exchange 2003/2000.

Whereas the latter considers a unique combination of an IP address + TCP port number as a unique binding, and does not allow another SMTP Virtual Server to be boundto the same combination of IP address + port number, Exchange 2010/2007 view a combination of IP address + port number + RemoteIPRanges as unique. This allows you to create a Receive Connector using the same IP address + port number, but using different RemoteIPRanges to specify the remote hosts that can connect to it. For example, you can create a Receive Connector for a set of remote hosts and specify a different message size to allow those hosts to send larger messages, or to restrict them to smaller messages.

3Send Connector limit: Send Connectors are used for sending outbound messages to the internet or particular address spaces (domains). Edge Transport servers also have a Send Connector to send inbound messages to Hub Transport servers in an AD Site. To modify the maximum message size on Send Connectors, select Organization Configuration | Hub Transport | Send Connectors -> select connector | Properties | General tab.

Screenshot: Maximum message size on a Send Connector
Figure 3: Setting the maximum message size on a Send Connector

To set SendConnector limit using the shell:

Set-SendConnector “CONNECTOR NAME” -MaxMessageSize 40Mb

4Recipient limits: In Exchange 2010/2007, you can configure individual message size limits on the following recipient types to bypass the Organizational limits:

  • Mailbox (Mailbox User, aka mailbox-enabled user in previous versions)
  • Contact (aka Mail Contact)
  • Mail User (aka mail-enabled user in previous versions)
  • Distribution Group
  • Personal Folder

To set these using the Exchange console: Recipients | Mailbox -> select mailbox (or select another recipient type such as a contact or mail user from the corresponding node) |properties | Mail Flow Settings tab | Message Size Restrictions.


Figure 4: Setting the maximum message size on a mailbox

To set these using the Exchange shell:

Set-Mailbox “Joe Adams” -MaxSendSize 20Mb -MaxReceiveSize 20Mb

Distribution Groups and Contacts (MailContacts) only have maximum receive size in the Exchange console, but both MaxReceiveSize and MaxSendSize properties can be set for them using the Exchange shell.

Do individual message size limits bypass the Organization message size limits?

Setting higher message size limits on an Exchange recipient bypasses the maximum message sizes in the Exchange Organization configuration, but only for internal messages, not for messages sent to or received from the Internet and other unauthenticated sources.

Remember, for a message to be delivered successfully, the message size must be within the max message size limits applicable to both – the sender and the recipient. Because the identity of unauthenticated or anonymous senders and recipients can’t be established(because… they’re unauthenticated!), the organizational limit applies.

Troubleshooting Sender and Recipient Size Limits

Consider the sender’s MaxSendSize and the internal recipient’s MaxReceiveSize when troubleshooting message size issues.

If the the sender isn’t allowed to send a message of that size, you get the following NDR:

#550 5.2.3 RESOLVER.RST.SendSizeLimit; message too large for this sender ##

If the sender’s size limits allow sending a large message, but the recipient’s limits do not allow receiving a message of that size, you get a NDR with the following text (note the enhanced status code informing you exactly why the message was rejected):

#550 5.2.3 RESOLVER.RST.RecipSizeLimit; message too large for this recipient ##

5Active Directory SiteLink limit: In Exchange Server 2007 SP1, you can also set maximum message size limit on AD Site Links. Exchange Server 2007 uses the AD Site topology to determine the least cost paths. If the message size to be delivered to a remote AD Site exceeds the limit on the AD Site Link, message delivery will fail. By default, the MaxMessageSize on AD Site Links is set to unlimited. This can be changed using the following command:

Set-ADSiteLink “SITE LINK NAME” -MaxMessageSize 20Mb

Message size limits during coexistence with Exchange 2003

Global Settings: Besides the above, another message size limit can impact Exchange Server 2010/2007 recipients if you’re transitioning from Exchange 2003/2000, but it’s often overlooked when troubleshooting. This is the one in Exchange Server 2003 Global Settings | Message Delivery -> Properties.

Screenshot: Using ADSIEdit to configure message sizes and max recipients per message in Global Settings
Figure 5: You can use ADSIEdit to configure message size and max recipients per message in Global Settings

- If you have these configured to a specific value before you upgrade the Organization to Exchange Server 2010/2007, these are left untouched.
- If you have these set to “No Limit” before the Exchange Server 2007 upgrade, these are reset to the Exchange Server 2007 defaults.
- In case Exchange Server 2007′s Organization settings (the ones you can set using Set-TransportConfig) conflict with these legacy Global Settings, the lower of the two sizes are used.

The problem is, these are neither visible in the EMC, nor using any of the Exchange shell commands.

If you still have an Exchange Server 2003 server in the Organization, you can use ESM to modify these limits. Alternatively, you can use ADSIEdit to browse to the Configurationcontainer | Services | Microsoft Exchange | YourOrgName | Global Settings |Message Delivery -> Properties, and modify the following attributes as required:

  1. delivContentLength -> corresponds to MaxReceiveSize parameter in Set-TransportConfig command.
  2. SubmissionContentLength -> corresponds to MaxSendSize parameter in Set-TransportConfig command.Note: The maximum value for both of the above is 2097151 KB, slightly under 2 Gb.
  3. msExchRecipLimit -> corresponds to MaxRecipientEnvelopeLimit parameter in Set-TransportConfig command.

Set these to be the same as the equivalent Organization settings in Exchange Server 2007.

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 makes managing changes to Exchange 2003′s Global Settings easier— if they have numeric values (i.e. aren’t set to “No Limit”), using Set-TransportConfig to change maxReceiveSize, maxSendSize ormaxRecipientEnvelopeLimit also changes the corresponding Global Settings.

Routing Group Connector Limit: Routing Group Connectors are used in co-existence scenarios to transfer messages between Exchange Server 2003/2000 Routing Groups and the Exchange Server 2007 Routing Group (yes, there is one under the hood.. ). Messages exchanged between these Routing Groups should be below the message size limits of their respective RGCs. The default is set to unlimited. To set the MaxMessageSize on a Routing Group Connector:

Set-RoutingGroupConnector “CONNECTOR NAME” -MaxMessageSize 20Mb

Content conversion and message size limits

When troubleshooting message size-related issues, the content conversion process was another source of confusion. Content conversion happens when Exchange converts an internet/MIME message to MAPI/Exchange format, and vice versa. Content conversion generally increases the message size — roughly by 30%. If you set a maximum message size of 10Mb., and wonder why a 9 Mb. attachment didn’t make it through, consider the content conversion overhead, as also message headers (which are computed along with the DATA portion of the message to calculate the message size), and any actions taken by Transport Rules or other transport agents.

How does Exchange 2010/2007 handle such messages? When a message enters the Exchange 2010/2007 Organization, it gets stamped with a X-MS-Exchange-Organization-OriginalSize header, which indicates the original size of the message before content conversion. When considering message size limits, if the message has since ballooned to a larger size due to content conversion, added headers, etc. the lower of the original message size and the current (converted) message size is considered, eliminating some of the confusion seen with message sizes in previous versions.

Using the Exchange shell to track failed message delivery

You can use the Exchange shell to track messages that could not be delivered because of message size issues. The RecipientStatus field in Message Tracking logs is used to store the SMTP response and enhanced status codes. The Message Tracking EventID we’re looking for is FAIL. (Read previous post on message tracking: “Exchange Server 2007: Message Tracking from the command line“)

To track messages that failed because of recipient’s MaxReceiveSize:

Get-MessageTrackingLog -EventID FAIL | where {$_.RecipientStatus -like “*RecipSizeLimit*”}

To track messages that failed because of the sender’s MaxSendSize:

Get-MessageTrackingLog -EventID FAIL | where {$_.RecipientStatus -like “*SendSizeLimit*”}

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/09/26/setting-message-size-limits-exchange-2010-exchange-2007/feed/ 0 How to defragment with the Eseutil utility (Eseutil.exe) http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/09/24/defragment-eseutil-utility-eseutil-exe/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/09/24/defragment-eseutil-utility-eseutil-exe/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:06:01 +0000 admin http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=280 Eseutil Defrag Tool

Database defragmentation is a process to arrange non-contagious data into contagious form to reduce the size of database and eliminating the extra space. In case of Microsoft Exchange Server, online defragmentation of the Exchange database is performed automatically during normal database maintenance. But, being the system administrator you cannot just rely on online defragmentation to manage the disk space. Therefore, Microsoft provides you a command-line tool called eseutil, which you can use for defragmentation of Exchange database.

Eseutil uses /d switch or eseutil defrag command to defragment the database. When you defragment the database using eseutil /d command, the Exchange database gets also compacted i.e. extra free space gets deleted leading into the reduced size of the database. Using eseutil defrag is not an easy task; for this you must have good technical knowledge. Let us explore more about eseutil /d under following headings :

  • How eseutil /d command works?
  • How much time is required to defragment Exchange database?
  • How to confirm free space available in the database?
  • At what time eseutil /d should be executed.
  • When eseutil /d should not be used.
  • Using eseutil /d.

How eseutil /d command works?

When you execute eseutil defrag with /d switch to defragment the database then the eseutil defrag utility creates a temporary copy of the original database having all of the information similar to the original database. While copying data from original file to its copy, the tool discards the empty pages and then rebuilds the indexes of the database pages. After that the original file is replaced with the temporary copy, which is then renamed as the original file.

While using eseutil /d command, you should make sure that the hard disk will have 110% of the free disk space to store the temporary database otherwise the database defragmentation will not be completed. Another reason due to which the defragmentation process gets aborted is presence of bad records. If eseutil /d come across bad records in the database then it stops defragmenting the database and displays an error message saying bad records are found in the database. After that you have to repair the database before defragmenting it. To repair the Exchange database use Exchange Server recovery tool.

How much time is required to defragment the database?

The time required to defragment the Exchange database depends on two factors. First, the availability of free space in the database. Second, the presence of the temporary database on same drive. If you think that eseutil takes more time in defragmenting the database if the size of Exchange database is more then you are wrong. Eseutil considers empty space in the Exchange database not the size of database. For example, if the size of Exchange database is 50 GB and free space is 20 GB then it will take the same time in defragmenting the database, as it takes to defragment the database of 30 GB having 20 GB of free space.

Another factor that affects the speed of defragmentation is presence of the temporary database on the same drive and availability of free space on that drive. If the temporary database is available on the same drive having original database and the free available disk space is 110% of the original database then eseutil /d will defragment the database in less time. But, in case the temporary database is stored on any other drive or at network drive then the time consumption will be more. Therefore, always try to keep temporary database on the same drive having original database that you want to defragment.

How to confirm free space available in the database?

As discussed that the time utilization while defragmenting the database depends on the free space available in the database, you must check the free space available in the database. Use eseutil defrag tool to defragment the database only when large amount of free space is available in the database. Free space available in Exchange database file is recorded in an event log file after online defragmentation, which is done automatically by Exchange Server. By viewing that event log you can find out the free space available in the database. The event log contains following information related to the availability of free space:

  • “Event Type: Information
  • Event Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Store
  • Event Category: General
  • Event ID: 1221
  • Date: 8/16/2006
  • Time: 9:15:00 AM
  • User: N/A
  • Computer: Computer Name
  • Description: The database “storage_group\mailbox_database” has xxx megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.”

In above log, xxx is the amount of free space available in the database while the computer name is the name of the computer having Exchange Server. Once you have confirmed the presence of free space in database, you can move ahead for eseutil defrag.

At what time eseutil /d should be used

Eseutil /d command must be executed when following situations are true:

  • Exchange Server database must have sufficient free space so that you can free up that space during the defragmentation process.
  • When you get ESE -1018 error. This error occurs when there is some problem in the indexes of the database.
  • After repairing the database using eseutil /p command you must perform Exchange defragmentation.
  • When database is in consistent state.

When eseutil /d should not be used

Eseutil /d command must not be executed when following situations are true:

  • Exchange Server automatically performs online defragmentation regularly; therefore, there is no need to run eseutil /d for normal maintenance of the database.
  • When sufficient free space is not available in the database.
  • You should not execute this command when database is in inconsistent state.
  • When ESE -1018 error is affecting some portion of Exchange database.

Using eseutil /d

Now, when you have gathered information about what eseutil /d is, when it should be executed, when it should not be executed, and affect of free space on defragmentation, let us see how to use eseutil /d for defragmenting the database. Before executing eseutil /d command makes sure that you login as an administrator and 110% of the free disk space is available on the disk for storing temporary database file. Now, execute the following steps to defragment the Exchange database on mailbox server:

  1. Dismount the Exchange database by right clicking the database that you want to defragment in the Exchange Server console.
  2. Now, type the location of Exchange Server at command prompt, as shown below:
    <Drive>:\program files\microsoft\exchange server\bin
  3. In the preceding location replace the term Drive with the letter where Exchange Server is available. Now, type the following command to defragment the database on mailbox server:
    <Drive>:\program files\microsoft\exchange server\bin eseutil /d <db_name>

    In the preceding command, replace the term Drive with the letter where Exchange Server is available and replace the term db_name with the name of database that you want to defrag.

Let’s execute the following steps to defragment the Exchange database on Hub Transport or Edge Transport Server:

  1. Dismount the Queue database.
  2. Stop the Microsoft Exchange transport service using Service snap-in.
  3. Now, type the location of Exchange Server at command prompt, as shown below:

    <Drive>:\program files\microsoft\exchange server\bin

  4. In the preceding location replace the term Drive with the letter where Exchange Server is available. Now, type the following command to defragment the database on Edge Transport server:

    <Drive>:\program files\microsoft\exchange server\bin eseutil /d <Drive>:\program files\exchange server\TransportRoles\data\queue\mail.que

In step 4 above, replace the term Drive with the Drive letter where Exchange Server and the Exchange database is available. This is how you can defragment the Exchange database on mailbox server and Edge Transport server. As discussed, the defragmentation process may be aborted if any sort of inconsistency or bad records are found in the database. At that time, you have to repair the database. You can repair the Exchange database using Exchange Server Recovery tool.

]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/09/24/defragment-eseutil-utility-eseutil-exe/feed/ 0 How to Calculate Exchange 2010 Mailbox Sizes with PowerShell http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/08/23/calculate-exchange-2010-mailbox-sizes-powershell/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/08/23/calculate-exchange-2010-mailbox-sizes-powershell/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:38:24 +0000 gzejer http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=268 Article is a re-print from exchangeserverpro.com by Paul Cunningham

The Exchange Management Shell, powered by PowerShell, makes it easy to collect size information for the mailboxes in an Exchange 2010 organization.

For example, to list the sizes of all mailboxes on a particular database we can use this command.

[PS] C:\>Get-Mailbox -Database MB-HO-01 | Get-MailboxStatistics | ft displayname,totaldeleteditemsize,totalitemsize

DisplayName      TotalDeletedItemSize    TotalItemSize
-----------      --------------------    -------------
Administrator    0 B (0 bytes)           85.42 KB (87,468 bytes)
Alan Reid        80.08 KB (82,000 bytes) 30.9 MB (32,400,667 bytes)
Alex Heyne       12.35 KB (12,644 bytes) 8.734 MB (9,158,159 bytes)
Aisha Bhari      0 B (0 bytes)           190.4 KB (194,983 bytes)
Aleisha Harrison 0 B (0 bytes)           142.4 KB (145,797 bytes)

If we wanted to know the total size of all of those mailboxes we could output the data to CSV file, import it into Excel, and use formulas to get the results. However that is time-consuming if all you are after is a quick answer.

So instead we can use the Measure-Object command in PowerShell to get the answers we’re looking for. However if we try to use it with the data shown above we’ll get this error.

Measure-Object : Input object "79.95 KB (81,870 bytes)" is not numeric.

So first we need to convert the data into numeric form.

For example, to see the sum, average, minimum and maximum size of the “total item size” for the mailboxes above we run this command.

[PS] C:\>Get-Mailbox -Database MB-HO-01 | Get-MailboxStatistics | %{$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToMB()} | Measure-Object -sum
 -average -max -min

Count    : 5
Average  : 7.6
Sum      : 38
Maximum  : 30
Minimum  : 0
Property :
]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/08/23/calculate-exchange-2010-mailbox-sizes-powershell/feed/ 0 How to Restore an Individual Exchange 2010 Mailbox or Mailbox Items with Windows Server Backup http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/08/23/restore-individual-exchange-2010-mailbox-windows-server-backup/ http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/08/23/restore-individual-exchange-2010-mailbox-windows-server-backup/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:26:36 +0000 gzejer http://blog.globalpointllc.com/?p=262 Article is a re-print from exchangeserverpro.com by Paul Cunningham

Restoring an Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox Database to an Alternate Location

The first step is to perform a restore of the mailbox server backup, redirecting the restore to an alternate location on the server.  Start by launching Windows Server Backup, and then in the Actions panel click on Recover to start the Recovery Wizard.

Launch the Windows Server Backup Recovery WizardLaunch the Windows Server Backup Recovery Wizard

Choose the location of the backup you wish to restore from, and click Next to continue.

Choose the Backup Location to Restore fromChoose the Backup Location to Restore from

Choose the backup date and time to restore from, and click Next to continue.

Choose the Backup Date and Time to Restore fromChoose the Backup Date and Time to Restore from

For Exchange Server 2010 mailbox database restores choose Applications as the Recovery Type.  Click Next to continue.

Choose the Recovery Type of ApplicationsChoose the Recovery Type of Applications

Choose Exchange as the application to recover, and check the box to not perform a roll forward of the database.  Click Next to continue.

Select Exchange as the application to recoverSelect Exchange as the application to recover

This step is very important.  Select Recover to another location and enter the path to a folder that is different to the location of the live mailbox database or log files.  Click Next to continue.

Select Recover to Another LocationSelect Recover to Another Location

At the confirmation screen if you are happy with the selections you’ve made click on Recover to start the restore.

Click on Recover to start the restoreClick on Recover to start the restore

When the restore has completed successfully you can close the Recovery Wizard.

Close the Recovery Wizard when the restore is completeClose the Recovery Wizard when the restore is complete

On the Exchange Server 2010 mailbox server where the database files were restored open Windows Explorer and look at the folder where the restored files are located.  Notice how the recovery process has created the original folder structure for the data under the D:\Recovery folder.

Recovered data in Windows Explorer

Those restored paths are important for the next steps.

Bringing the Restored Database to a Clean Shutdown State with ESEUtil

The restored database file will be in a state known as “dirty shutdown”.  You can confirm this by running the following ESEUtil command, specifying the path to the restored .edb file on your server.

[PS] D:\>eseutil /mh 'D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb

Extensible Storage Engine Utilities for Microsoft(R) Exchange Server
Version 14.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating FILE DUMP mode...
         Database: D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb

DATABASE HEADER:
Checksum Information:
Expected Checksum: 0x1d0abd9b
  Actual Checksum: 0x1d0abd9b

Fields:
        File Type: Database
         Checksum: 0x1d0abd9b
   Format ulMagic: 0x89abcdef
   Engine ulMagic: 0x89abcdef
 Format ulVersion: 0x620,17
 Engine ulVersion: 0x620,17
Created ulVersion: 0x620,17
     DB Signature: Create time:12/03/2010 21:20:08 Rand:715244149 Computer:
         cbDbPage: 32768
           dbtime: 21550 (0x542e)
            State: Dirty Shutdown
     Log Required: 143-143 (0x8f-0x8f)

Next check the state of the log files with the following ESEUtil command, specifying the path to the restored log files. Note the end of the path is the log file prefix, in this case “E00″.

[PS] D:\>eseutil /ml D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E00

Extensible Storage Engine Utilities for Microsoft(R) Exchange Server
Version 14.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating FILE DUMP mode...

Verifying log files...
     Base name: E00

      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000007B.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000007C.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000007D.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000007E.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000007F.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000080.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000081.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000082.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000083.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000084.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000085.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000086.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000087.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000088.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000089.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000008A.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000008B.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000008C.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000008D.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000008E.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E000000008F.log - OK
      Log file: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201\E0000000090.log - OK

No damaged log files were found.

Operation completed successfully in 0.922 seconds.

Now we can run ESEUtil in recovery mode to bring the database into a clean shutdown state.

[PS] D:\>eseutil /r E00 /i /l D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201 /d 'D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb'

Extensible Storage Engine Utilities for Microsoft(R) Exchange Server
Version 14.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating RECOVERY mode...
    Logfile base name: E00
            Log files: D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201
         System files:
   Database Directory: D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb

Performing soft recovery...
                      Restore Status (% complete)

          0    10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90  100
          |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
          ...................................................

Operation completed successfully in 0.985 seconds.

Now run ESEUtil to check the database state again.

[PS] D:\>eseutil /mh 'D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb' | findstr "State:"
            State: Clean Shutdown

Note: if the database is still in a dirty shutdown state you can try a repair using ESEUtil /p instead.

[PS] D:\>eseutil /p 'D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb'

Extensible Storage Engine Utilities for Microsoft(R) Exchange Server
Version 14.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating REPAIR mode...
        Database: .\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb
  Temp. Database: TEMPREPAIR1492.EDB

Checking database integrity.

The database is not up-to-date. This operation may find that
this database is corrupt because data from the log files has
yet to be placed in the database.

To ensure the database is up-to-date please use the 'Recovery' operation.

                     Scanning Status (% complete)

          0    10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90  100
          |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
          ...................................................

Integrity check successful.

Note:
  It is recommended that you immediately perform a full backup
  of this database. If you restore a backup made before the
  repair, the database will be rolled back to the state
  it was in at the time of that backup.

Operation completed successfully in 3.547 seconds.

Creating an Exchange Server 2010 Recovery Database

The next stage of the recovery process is creating the Recovery Database.  Launch the Exchange Management Shell.  Run the New-MailboxDatabase cmdlet with the following parameters:

  • -Recovery:$true (specifies that the database will be a Recovery Database)
  • -EdbFilePath (the path to the restored mailbox database file)
  • -LogFolderPath (the path to be used for transaction log files, which must be an empty folder)
  • -Server (the server that the recovery is being performed on)

In this example the following command is run.

[PS] D:\>New-MailboxDatabase RecoveryDB -Server EX2 -Recovery:$true -EdbFilePath 'D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb' -LogFolderPath 'D:\Recovery\E_\Logs\EX201-RecoveryDB'

WARNING: Recovery database 'RecoveryDB' was created using existing file
D:\Recovery\D_\Data\EX201\Mailbox Database EX2 01.edb. The database
must be brought into a clean shutdown state before it can be mounted.

Name                           Server          Recovery        ReplicationType
----                           ------          --------        ---------------
RecoveryDB                     EX2             True            None

Note the warning about the database not being in a clean shutdown state. Since we’ve already brought the database to a clean shutdown state we can now mount the recovery database.

[PS] D:\>Mount-Database RecoveryDB

Restoring Mailbox Items from a Recovery Database

With the recovery database mounted we can now proceed with mailbox item restores.  You can see the available items to restore by looking at the mailbox statistics for the recovery database.

[PS] D:\>Get-MailboxStatistics -Database RecoveryDB

DisplayName               ItemCount    StorageLimitStatus
-----------               ---------    ------------------
Alex Heyne                11                   BelowLimit
SystemMailbox{f13446dd... 1                    BelowLimit

To restore all mailbox items into a sub-folder of the existing mailbox so that they can be inspected use the following command.

[PS] D:\>Restore-Mailbox -Identity "Mark Ju" -RecoveryDatabase RecoveryDB -RecoveryMailbox "Mark Hu" -TargetFolder Restore

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Recovering mailbox content from mailbox 'Mark Ju' in the recovery database 'RecoveryDB' to the mailbox for 'Mark Ju (Mark.Ju@globalpointllc.com)'. This operation may take a long time to complete.
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [?] Help (default is "Y"): y

The restored items will now be visible in the mailbox.

Restored Individual Mailbox in Exchange Server 2010Restored Individual Mailbox in Exchange Server 2010
]]> http://blog.globalpointllc.com/2011/08/23/restore-individual-exchange-2010-mailbox-windows-server-backup/feed/ 0