CHAPTER 12
MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR EXCHANGE 2000
SERVER
By combining snap-ins, you can create your own customized management tools. Such tools
can greatly improve the efficiency of administering the entire Microsoft Windows 2000 and
Exchange 2000 environment.
Lesson 1:
Windows 2000 Tools and Snap-Ins
More than 100 MMC snap-in exits for Windows 2000 Server, and Exchange 2000
Server adds additional components to this collection.
Depending on the situation, you might need to use additional tools, such as the Registry
Editor or the ADSI Edit Utility.
RAM is important, Exchange requires lots of RAM.
Active Directory Users and Computers
This Snap-in is the central tool for user and computer accounts management in Windows
2000 Server domains.
When you install the Exchange 2000 management utilities on a computer running Windows
2000, the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in is extended to support the
management of the mailbox settings.
Services Snap-in
The Services snap-in, which you find in the Administrative Tools group, is also an important
Exchange 2000 administrative tool. It allows you to control all of the services running on
your server (Start, Stop, Pause and Resume), including the Exchange 2000 services.
COMMAND-LINE TOOLS: NetStop and NetStart
SYSTEM ATTENDANT (SA) is the most important and all of exchange hinges on it and
there are several dependent services:
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Microsoft Exchange System Attendant depends on these services:
These services depend on “Microsoft Exchange System Attendant:
NOTE: To check the dependencies and the services required look in the Services snap-in
and go to the properties of the service, and the dependencies tab.
Recovery Operations
You can also exclude services from specific hardware profiles (Log On Tab) and determine
the server’s reaction if a service fails (Recovery tab). You can choose Take No Action,
Restart the Service. Run a File, or Reboot the Server.
Rebooting the Server
It is advisable to warn your users to save their work before a server is restarted automatically.
The default delay is 1 minute, but it is a good idea to increase it to 2 or 3 minutes.
NOTE: Reboot the Server may cause the server to reboot repeatedly if the system restart
does not solve the problem. Hence, allow for enough time to log on and step in; otherwise,
the server may
become unmanageable.
Computer Management
Using the Computer Management utility, you can conveniently manage services and
applications on the local computer as well as remote server.
Performance Utility
When you add counters to a chart, you have the option to specify different computers.
You can monitor the performance of local and remote computers anywhere in your
network and summarize the performance data.
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When adding Exchange 2000 performance counters to a performance chart, such as User
Count from the MSExchangeIS object, you can gain an overview of the state of your
messaging organization in real time.
Internet Services Manager
Generally, use the Exchange 2000 management utilities to set the configuration parameters
of Internet Information Services (IIS) in the Active Directory directory service. The
metabase update service will then transfer the changes into the IIS metabase.
Event Viewer
Events are recorded in event logs (Application, Directory Service, DNS Server, File
Replication Service, Security, and System). Exchange 2000 services keep a record
of their activities primarily in the application event log.
Backup and Restore Utility
When Exchange 2000 Server has been installed on the local machine, you also can save
the storage groups of the Information Store online, meaning you don’t need to shut
down the server services.
The Backup utility allows you to schedule jobs to run automatically, for instance every
night at
to check how long it takes to complete backup and restore operations.
Task Manager
You can launch this tool by right-clicking the clock on the Windows toolbars and selecting
Task Manager from the shortcut menu.
The End Task button in the Applications tab and the End Process button in the
Processes tab enables you to terminate running processes.
NOTE: You might get the impression that an Exchange 2000 Server service stops
responding and hangs for no apparent reason, occupying close to 100% of the CPU’s
capacity. This does not necessarily indicate a critical system state, as the server might
be busy with a processor-intensive task, such as the expansion of a very large distribution
group. Use the Performance tool to monitor the affected system for a period of time, and
don’t terminate server processes if you are not absolutely sure that the suspicious
component is malfunctioning.
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Windows 2000 Registry Editors
Windows 2000 Editors REGEDT32.EXE and REGEDIT.EXE can be used to inspect
and modify the startup parameters of Exchange 2000 Server services because their
settings are maintained within the Windows 2000 Registry.
REGEDIT.EXE is more convenient to use, and it is accessed at the RUN Command,
and better for searches.
REGEDT32.EXE is Read-only, you can set the security keys, and dependencies,
but it is more difficult to use.
When both utilities you need to be very careful when modifying parameters directly
because modifications are usually written to the Registry immediately without activating
an explicit Save command.
Active Directory Service Interface Edit (ADSI)
The Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI) Edit snap-in is not included in the
standard Windows 2000 Server installation for good reasons. Similar to the Registry
Editors for the Registry database, ADSI Edit enable you directly to access, modify,
and delete Active Directory information from the Domain, Configuration, and the
Schema partitions. This risks seriously damaging that displays Active Directory
objects in a hierarchical view and allows modifications through the standard properties
page, ADSI Edit gives you the access to all attributes of a directory object.
It is not installed by default. Go to the snap-ins and create one in Add/Remove
Snap-in Console.
Lesson 2:
Exchange 2000 Tools and Snap-ins
Dedicated management tools for Exchange 2000 Server are installed during a typical
server or custom installation when you select the Microsoft Exchange System
Management Tools on the Component Selection page of the Setup Wizard.
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Exchange System Management Tools
A typical installation, four shortcuts to management tools are created in the
Microsoft Exchange Program Group:
The Active Directory Users and Computers shortcut points to the USERS AND
COMPUTERS.MSC file, which launches the Active Directory Users and
Computers snap-in that was introduced earlier. By default, the USERS AND
COMPTUERS.MSC file resides in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin directory.
Management Tools and Outlook 2000
The Exchange System Management tools come with a new version of Massaging
Application Programming Interface (MAPI) that causes Outlook 2000 to display
warning messages. Because those conflicts cannot be resolved, it is not advisable
to install Outlook 2000 and the Exchange System Management Tools on the same
computer.
Exchange 2000 Snap-ins
To check out the components that actually perform the work, click Start, select
RUN, and type mmc in the Run dialog box.
Without extensions, the Exchange System snap-in give a rather lean impression.
You can configure global settings, such as Internet Message Formats, and define
parameters for outgoing and incoming properties, and the Connectors container,
which allows you to add messaging connectors to the configuration, not much of
the original Exchange System Manager’s functionality remains.
Snap-in Registration
With stand-alone snap-ins relying on extensions, which in turn rely on other extension
snap-in, how many MMC components does the Exchange 2000 Setup program
register on the local computer when installing the Microsoft Exchange System
Management Tools? To count the registered Exchange snap-ins, launch the Registry
Editor (REGEDIT.EXE), and open the following key:
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HKEY_LOCAL _MACHINE
\SOFTWARE
\Microsoft
\MMC
\Snap-Ins
From the Edit menu, select Find, and in the Find dialog box type Exchange, then click OK.
The Setup program of Exchange 2000 has registered 29 snap-ins in the Windows 2000
MMC.
Exchange System Manager and Active Directory Directory Service
Changes are first written to the domain controller that is selected by default and then
replicated to the other domain controllers in the forest. The Active Directory replication
process performs this job.
The Exchange System Manager Window
When you launch Exchange System Manager, a window with two panes is displayed
as a child window of the MMC.
NOTE: Exchange 2000 configuration information is stored in the Microsoft Exchange
container under Services in the Configuration partition of Active Directory. You can use
Active Directory Sites and Services or the ADSI Edit utility to view the complete
directory tree.
New Window From Here
The MMC is capable of displaying multiple Exchange System Manager windows at the
same time. Just right-click the desired node and, then from the shortcut menu select
New Window from Here, which opens a new Exchange System Manager window
with the right-clicked object as the root of the console tree.
Hidden Directory Objects
Unlike the ADSI Edit Utility, which generates displays the complete set of directory
objects, Exchange System Manager suppresses several structures by default to
simplify the console tree.
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System Policies
Administrative groups within Exchange System Manager allow you to configure
multiple Exchange 2000 servers from a central point of view by creating a single or
multiple system policies.
NOTE: The property sheets for mailbox and public store policies correspond to
those displayed for each individual mailbox or public store when right-clicking on
the store and selecting the Properties command. Some settings, such as database
locations, however, can only be applied to individual stores and are deactivated in
the store policies.
Creating the System Policies Container ** MUST CREATE **
By default, however, this container does not exist. You need to add it explicitly to
your administrative group by right-clicking the group, pointing to New, and then
selecting System Policies Container. Right-clicking the System Policies Container
and pointing to New, you can create new server, public store, and mailbox store
policies.
Server Policies
Server policies serve the purpose of maintaining message tracking options for multiple servers.
Mailbox Store Policies
Mailbox store policies give you the ability to schedule database maintenance cycles,
define storage limits, and configure full-text indexing, among other things.
You can configure the following tabs for mailbox store policies:
General. To specify a default public store and an offline address list.
Database. To specify the maintenance interval during which the system attendant will
defragment the database online of the servers placed under this policy.
Limits. To set storage quotas and set the warning message intervals.
Full-Text Indexing. To specify an update interval and a rebuild interval during which
the Indexing service refreshes its indexes for the data in mailboxes on the servers
placed under this policy.
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Public Store Policies
Public store policies enable you to configure similar settings to mailbox store policies. You can
configure database maintenance cycles, storage limits, retention times, and full-text indexing. In
addition, you can configure a public folder replication interval and replication limits.
You can configure the following tabs for public store policies:
General. To specify that messaging clients support S/MIME signatures and whether to
display plain text messages in a fixed-size font.
Database. To specify the maintenance interval during which the system attendant will
defragment the database online.
Replication. To set a replication interval during which new, modified, and deleted items
are replicated to other instances of the same public folders across the organization, and
to specify replication limits for the interval and the message sizes.
Limits. To set storage quotas.
Full-Text Indexing. To specify an update interval and a rebuild interval during which the
Indexing service refreshes its indexes for the data in public folders on the servers placed
under this policy.
Exercise Summary:
way to achieve simplified system management is to configure system policies and apply
them to multiple servers.
conflicting policies.
Chapter Summary:
numerous stand-alone and extension snap-ins.