11-12
) Rank the possible causes by probability, and define their solutions.
Create a list of either solutions or additional troubleshooting that is required to address each potential cause.
Pages Input/Sec;
Shows the rate at which pages are read from disk to resolve hard page faults. Hard-page faults occur when a process refers to a page in virtual memory that is not in its working set or is elsewhere in physical memory, and which must be retrieved from disk. (a) Expected value should be below 1000 on average.
) Pages/sec;
Shows the rate at which pages are read from or written to disk, to resolve hard page faults.
Pages Output/sec;
Shows the rate at which pages are written to disk to free space in physical memory. Pages are written back to disk only if they are changed in physical memory, so they are likely to hold data, and not code.
LDAP Search Time;
Shows the time (in ms) to send an LDAP search request and receive a response. (a) Expected value: Should be below 50 ms on average, and spikes should not be higher than 100 ms.
) LDAP Read Time;
Shows the time in milliseconds (ms) that it takes to send a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) read request to the specified domain controller and receive a response.
Version buckets allocated;
Shows the total number of allocated version buckets. Shows the default backpressure values as listed in the edgetransport.exe.config file.
Requirements Calculator for Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Roles ;
The Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator is an Excel-based tool that you use before deploying the Mailbox server role.
Exchange Deployment Assistant;
The Exchange Deployment Assistant is a web-based tool that can help you deploy Exchange Server 2010 in the existing environment.
Inter-Organization Replication (exscfg.exe; exssrv.exe);
Use to replicate public folder information (including free/busy information) between Exchange organizations. You can use this between forests.
DNS Resolver (DNSDiag) (Dnsdiag.exe);
Use to troubleshoot Domain Name System (DNS) issues. The tool simulates the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service's internal code path, and prints diagnostic messages that indicate how the DNS resolution is proceeding.
) Telnet (telnet.exe);
Use to troubleshoot Exchange mail flow.
MTA Check (Mtacheck.exe; A)
Use when the message transfer agent (MTA) will not start due to corruption or suspected corruption in the MTA database. This tool provides a soft recovery of a corrupted MTA database.
The basic components for managing change are:
(a) A number of well-defined frameworks are available. (b) Adopting an established framework may make educating employees easier, because they already may be familiar with the framework.
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) GUI: MBSA.exe Command line:
; Use to scan local or remote systems for common configuration errors, and to verify security best practices
Error Code Look-up (Err.exe);
Use to determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Windows products. This is a downloadable tool.
Memory;
Another key performance indicator is the memory counter. Tracking the available memory and how much memory has to be written to the page file can tell you when you need to increase server memory, or reduce server load.
. MSExchange ADAccess Domain Controllers
Exchange Server relies heavily on Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for information. Therefore, it is essential to measure the response time and connection health.
MSExchange Transport Queues
Additionally, you also should monitor the transport server queues to ensure delivery of email messages.
Client Access During Coexistence;
After you deploy the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access and Mailbox servers, the process for when non- MAPI clients access the user mailboxes depends on the type of client that you are using, and on the location of the user mailbox.
Counter:
Avg. Disk sec/read Avg. Disk sec/ Write - Avg. Disk sec/Transfer
Moving Resources to Exchange Server 2010 Servers;
Before removing the Exchange Server 2007 servers, you should move all required functionality and data to the Exchange Server 2010 servers:
) Define the problem's scope.
By defining scope, you actually define the area that the problem affects. (a) For example, scope can be defined by the number of users affected by a specific problem. Or, scope can present a number of services that experience troubles.
) Exchange Store TreeView Control (Extreeview.ocx);
Use to display a hierarchical list of node objects that correspond to folders in the Exchange store.
Process Monitor (procmon.exe);
Use to monitor real-time file system, registry, and process/thread activity.
) UDP (ldp.exe);
Use to perform LDAP searches against AD DS
Microsoft Error Reporting;
Exchange 2010 uses Microsoft Error Reporting (also known as Watson 2.0) to collect crash dumps and debug information.
) Exchange Server Database Utilities (Eseutil.exe);
Use to perform offline database procedures, such as defragmentation and integrity checking.
) Proactively monitoring hardware
performance—processor, memory, disk, or network—is the best way to determine whether bottlenecks exist in the environment.
) Public folder contents.
If the organization stores important information in public folders, you may need to replicate the public-folder contents between the messaging systems.
) Public folders.
If you require system folders or other public folders after the upgrade, create replicas of the public folders on an Exchange Server 2010 server hosting the public-folder database.
. Coexistence Components;
In most coexistence scenarios, you must ensure that users with mailboxes on both messaging systems have access to the following:
Transition Pages Repurposed/sec;
Indicates system cache pressure.
. MSExchange Database ==>
Instances Transport servers store message queue information in databases. Therefore, monitoring database performance will help you identify issues with reading or storing queue information in the databases
. Monitoring Services and Logs;
It is also important to verify that each of the Exchange services are running and servicing requests.
Rank solutions by ease of resolution and impact to complete.
It would be obvious to try the most likely solutions first, one at a time, until you discover the solution. In some cases, however, the solutions are invasive and require long outages or more resources to complete, in which case you might want to try the less probable but less invasive solutions first.
. Logical Disk;
Logical Disk counters determine whether disk performance is meeting demands. As disk latency increases, database reads and writes take more time. Monitor the following performance counters for Mailbox server logical disks.
) Exchange Profile Analyzer (epa.msi) ;
Use to collect estimated statistical information from a single mailbox store, or from across an entire Exchange Server organization. Use the collected data for tasks such as analyzing the performance and health of a server that has mailboxes.
Clearly define the problem.
Obtain an accurate description of the problem by verifying the reported problem, including when you noticed it and how you can reproduce it.
Define a process and use it consistently.
Once you have a process, ensure that everyone involved understands why it was adopted, and how to follow the process.
. Since Exchange Server 2010 is complex, you need to monitor several aspects.
Primarily, you should gather and monitor metrics from the processor, memory, disk, and the Exchange services. You may monitor additional information, depending on the Exchange Server roles that you install.
Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer ;
Run the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer in the current Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange Server 2007 messaging environment.
Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager (iis.msc);
Use to configure Outlook Web App settings.
Page Reads/sec;
Shows that data must be read from the disk instead of memory. Indicates there is not enough memory, and paging is beginning. A value of more than 30 per second means the server is no longer keeping up with the load.
Available Mbytes:
Shows the amount of physical memory, in MB, immediately available for allocation to a process, or for system use. It is equal to the sum of memory assigned to the standby (cached), free, and zero page lists. (a) Should remain above 100 MB at all times.
Log Generation Checkpoint Depth;
Shows the amount of work (in count of log files) that needs to be redone or undone to the database file(s) if a process crashes. (a) Expected value: Should be less than 1,000 at all times.
Long running LDAP operations/min;
Shows the number of LDAP operations on this domain controller that took longer than the specified threshold per minute. (Default threshold is 15 seconds.) (a) Expected value: Should be less than 50 at all times. Higher values may indicate issues with AD DS and resources of AD LDS on Edge transport servers.
LDAP Searches timed out per minute;
Shows the number of LDAP searches that returned LDAP_Timeout during the last minute.
Log Record Stalls/sec;
Shows the number of log records that cannot be added to the log buffers persecond, because they are full. If this counter is non-zero most of the time, then the log buffer size may be a bottleneck. (a) Expected value: Should be less than 10 per second on average, and spikes should not be greater than 100 per second.
Retry Mailbox Delivery Queue Length;
Shows the number of messages in a retry state that are attempting to deliver a message to a remote mailbox. (a) Expected value: Should be less than 100 at all times.
) Unreachable Queue Length;
Shows the number of messages in the Unreachable queue. (a)Expected value:Should not exceed 100
Active Mailbox Delivery Queue Length;
Shows the number of messages in the active mailbox queues. (a) Expected value: Should be less than 250 at all times.
Active Remote Delivery Queue Length;
Shows the number of messages in the active remote delivery queues.
Largest Delivery Queue Length;
Shows the number of messages in the largest delivery queues. (a)Expected value:Should be less than 200
Poison Queue Length;
Shows the number of messages in the poison message queue. Poison messages are messages that were detected as harmful. These messages often cause a Transport service failure. (a)Expected value:Should be 0 at all times
Aggregate Delivery Queue Length (All Queues);
Shows the number of messages queued for delivery in all queues.
) Pool Paged Bytes;
Shows the portion of shared system memory that you can page to the disk paging file. Paged pool is created during system initialization, and is used by kernel mode components to allocate system memory.
RPC Ping utility (rpings.exe and rpingc.exe);
Use to confirm the remote procedure call (RPC) connectivity between the computer that is running Exchange, and any of the client workstations on the network.
*Upgrading an Exchange Server organization to Exchange Server 2010 is usually the easiest option.*
Therefore, most organizations choose this path for upgrading their existing Exchange Server deployments. However, this option has several prerequisites.
a. Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA).
This invaluable tool enables you to identify potential issues based on deviations from best practices, and for gathering a great deal of information about the Exchange Server organization that you can use for reference and for troubleshooting problems.
The Exchange Mail Flow Troubleshooter.
This tool helps provide easy access to various data sources that are required to troubleshoot problems with mail flow, such as non-delivery reports, queue backups, and slow deliveries.
Performance Troubleshooter.
This tool helps you locate and identify performance-related issues that could affect Exchange servers.
Calendar information.
To facilitate scheduling of meetings between the two messaging systems, you must ensure that Free/Busy information replicates between the two messaging systems.
. Processor;
The processor is one of the fundamental components that you need to monitor to ensure server health on all Exchange Server roles.
Reduce logging to normal.
To reduce server loads, be sure to return all settings back to normal.
Global Address List (GAL).
To simplify the process of sending messages between messaging systems, you must ensure that you synchronize the GAL between the messaging systems.
. Obtain the required server certificates.
To support external client coexistence with the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server and legacy Exchange servers, you may need to acquire a new certificate.
. AD DS Requirements for Upgrading to Exchange Server 2010 ;
To upgrade from a previous Exchange Server version to Exchange Server 2010, you must meet the following AD DS requirements: Supported Upgrade Deployments; When upgrading an existing Exchange Server organization to Exchange Server 2010
Gather information related to the problem.
Turn up logging, review event logs, and try to reproduce the problem.
Exchange Load Generator (Loadgen.msi);
Use as a benchmarking tool to test the response of servers to mail loads.
Exchange Server Jetstress;
Use as a benchmarking tool to validate your storage subsystem.
ADSI Edit (adsiedit.msc);
Use for low-level AD DS and Active Directory editing. Install with the Remote Server Administration Tools.
Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer;
Use for testing and troubleshooting connectivity to Exchange Server from Internet using various protocols.
Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc);
Use this MMC snap-in to view logged events such as errors and warnings
DSACLS (dsacls.exe);
Use this command-line tool to query and change permissions and security attributes of Active Directory objects.
Considerations for Client Access during Coexistence;
When implementing client access during coexistence, consider the following:
. Identifying performance issues.
When problems arise, you can pinpoint and repair them without relying on users to report the problems.
Email message flow.
When you run two messaging systems, users must be able to send email to other organizational users, and to and from users on the Internet.
List the potential cause of the problem.
With the problem statement and gathered data, you can enumerate all potential problem causes
Try the most probable and easily implemented resolutions first.
Work through the list of solutions, one at a time, until you resolve the issue, or gather additional information that changes the definition of the problem.
Transport connectors.
You can add Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport servers as source servers on Send connectors created in Exchange Server 2007. To upgrade message-transport functionality, add the Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport servers to the Send connectors, and then remove the Exchange Server 2007 servers.
) Mailboxes.
You can move mailboxes from Exchange Server 2007 SP2 to Exchange Server 2010.
. Exchange Pre-Deployment Analyzer ;
You can use the Exchange Pre-Deployment Analyzer (ExPDA) to perform an overall topology readiness scan of your environment.
Install and configure the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server.
You should configure external name space during or after Setup by using the Exchange Management Console or EMS
Install and configure the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server.
You should configure external name space during or after Setup by using the Exchange Management Console or EMS.
. Choosing a Single-Phase or Multiphase Upgrade;
Your first choice when planning the upgrade is to decide whether to use a single-phase or multiphase upgrade:
Support the change management process.
a) If you do not support the process properly, it will not be as effective as possible. (b)It is essential that everyone works to support the process.
Measuring performance
against service level agreements. Demonstrating whether Exchange Server meets performance-based service level agreements and measuring the end-user experience shows the value that Exchange Server administrators are providing. Identifying security issues and denial-of-service attacks.
Update rollups for the release to manufacture (RTM) version of Exchange Server 2010, pack 0
also known as Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 0, will continue to be released as long as Exchange 2010 is supported in accordance with the support timeline that the Microsoft Support Lifecycle website describes. *The latest update rollup in the series *includes the fixes that were released in previous update rollups for the same series.
The Exchange Deployment Assistant wizard
presents a series of questions about your current environment, and based on your answers, provides instructions on how to deploy Exchange Server 2010.
Document resolution and root cause
for future reference. Although you may remember details of the solution later, documenting the root cause and the resolution will reduce resolution times in the future.
The most important change is that all client connectivity, including Outlook MAPI connectivity,
now goes through the Client Access server role.
Modify the external URLs
on the Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server to use the alternate name.
. To determine which thresholds denote an existing problem,
set a monitoring baseline by reviewing monitoring data over a full business cycle.
processor%Standard counters include
the total percentage of processor time, the percentage of user-mode processor time, and the *percentage of privilege-mode processor time. (less than 75% on average)* If this number is greater than 10, per processor core, this is a strong indicator that the processor is at capacity, particularly when coupled with high CPU utilization.
Identifying growth trends
to improve plans for upgrades
You can update Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 by applying rollup update packages and service packs. Unlike other products such as Windows Server
you cannot update Exchange Server by releasing single update files, but rather must use packages with several updates and fixes.
When you collect performance data about Mailbox servers,
you may focus on disk-response time and the speed with which the server responds to requests. The average response time for reading data should be under 20 milliseconds (ms) and the average write-response time should be less than 100 ms on average.
Single-phase upgrade. In a single-phase upgrade,
you replace your existing messaging system with Exchange Server 2010, and move all required data and services to the new system.
Multiphase upgrade with coexistence. In a multiphase upgrade,
you upgrade one server or site at a time to Exchange Server 2010.