Author: Ward

Software Load Balancers for Exchange Server 2010

Listed below are software load balancers that have been tested by the vendor and reviewed by Microsoft to meet Exchange Server 2010 requirements. It is recommended that you visit the vendor’s web site for the latest information regarding product specifications, capacity, country support and documentation including release notes and known issues. Please contact the vendor for more information on these products.

Vendor

Qualified Product

Software Version Tested

Vendor’s Exchange Page

Citrix Systems

Netscaler VPX

9.1.102.8

Netscaler for Microsoft Exchange

F5

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Virtual Edition

10.1 and 10.2

F5 Solutions

KEMP Technologies

LoadMaster VLM

5.1-28

KEMP Exchange 2010 Deployment Guide

How to demote a Exchange 2007 CCR Cluster with Load balanced CAS/HUB Servers

I used the following steps to do this.

1. All public folders and system folders that are housed on the Exchange 2007 CCR Cluster computer must be replicated to another Exchange 2007/2010 computer that is in the site.

2. Verify the contents of the public folder store with the following Powershell commands
Get-PublicFolderStatistics -server <Exchange 2007_Server_Name> | fl | out-file d:\PFstat.txt

Get-PublicFolder -server < Exchange 2007_Server_Name > \ -recurse | fl | out-file d:\PFIPMSub.txt

Get-PublicFolder -server < Exchange 2007_Server_Name > \non_ipm_subtree -recurse | fl | out-file d:\PFNonIPMSub.txt.

3. Remove the replicas from the public folder store

MoveAllReplicas.ps1 -Server ccrclustername –NewServer newservername

4. Remove the public folder store

Remove–PublicFolderDatabase –Identity "Public_Folder_Store_Name"

5. Change the server that is responsible for generating the Offline Address Lists

Move-OfflineAddressBook –Identity OfflineAddressBookIdParameter -Server ServerIdParameter

6. Move the Routing Group Connectors by using the following command:

Get-RoutingGroupConnector | where {$_.SourceTransportServers -like "<First Exchange 2007 server>"} | Set-RoutingGroupConnector -SourceTransportServers "<Second Exchange 2007 server>"
Get-RoutingGroupConnector | where {$_.TargetTransportServers -like "<First Exchange 2007 server>"} | Set-RoutingGroupConnector -TargetTransportServers <Second Exchange 2007 server>

7. To modify any Send connectors that have the first Exchange 2007 server as the source transport server, run the following commands:

Get-SendConnector | where {$_.SourceTransportServers -like "<First Exchange 2007 server>"} | Set-SendConnector -SourceTransportServers "<Second Exchange 2007 server>"

8.Important:
How to use the Exchange Server SP1 2007 Setup wizard to remove Exchange 2007

  1. Log on to the server from which you want to remove Exchange 2007.

  2. Open Control Panel, and then double-click Programs and Features.

  3. In Programs and Features, select Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and then click Uninstall.

    If you click Change instead of Uninstall, you can add server roles, but you cannot remove server roles.

  4. In the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Setup wizard, on the Exchange Maintenance Mode page, click Next.

  5. On the Server Role Selection page, clear all the server role check boxes, clear the Management Tools check box, and then click Next.

    By default, all server roles are selected. This indicates that no server roles will be removed. To remove a server role, you must clear the appropriate check box.

  6. On the Readiness Checks page, after the check completes, click Uninstall.

  7. On the Completion page, click Finish.

  8. (Optional) If you are removing Exchange from a Mailbox server, remove the Exchange database files (*.edb) and storage group log files (*.log).

    If you reinstall the Mailbox server role on this server, you must first remove the database and log files from the server.

  9. (Optional) Remove the setup log files that are located at %systemdrive%\ExchangeSetupLogs.

  10. (Optional) Remove the following virtual servers that are created for Exchange 2007 under the Default Web Site in IIS:

    • Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync
    • OAB
    • Owa

    When you remove Exchange 2007, neither IIS nor these virtual servers are removed

9.  First Remove the Passive Mailbox Node

10. Second the Primary Mailbox Role

11. Remove the CAS/HUB’s Role on the nodes
Important: NOT AT THE SAME TIME

12. Demote the Cluster

13. Demote the NLB Cluster

14. Remove the Servers from the domain

15. Shutdown the Servers

16. Take a cold bier when you are don with testing and everything works Winking smile

Exchange 2010 Free space within a Mailbox Database

In previous versions of Exchange Server there was a process called "online maintenance". This process ran at night and one of the tasks was to an online defragmentation to do within the database. The task was that the empty spaces are grouped together resulting in more efficient use of the Mailbox Database.

In Exchange 2010 has changed and there is a 24×7 online process. There is also the option of online, direct to see how much space is available within the databases with the Powershell command:

Get-MailboxDatabase –Status | fl Name,AvailableNewMailboxSpace

Output:

image

If we were to do an offline defragmentation on the Mailbox Database the mailbox database would be approximately a 90MB smaller.

This is on my test Exchange 2010 server with only a few mailboxes. In normal production enjoinment this will  be a lot more.

In Exchange 2010 you can you a online mailbox move. There fore you can
better create a new mailbox database en move all the mailboxes to the new mailbox database.
Then you have the same result with no down time.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 5.5

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) is an agentless, automated, multi-product planning and assessment tool for quicker and easier desktop and server migrations. MAP provides detailed readiness assessment reports and executive proposals with extensive hardware and software information, and actionable recommendations to help organizations accelerate their IT infrastructure planning process, and gather more detail on assets that reside within their current environment. MAP also provides server utilization data for Hyper-V server virtualization planning; identifying server placements, and performing virtualization candidate assessments, including ROI analysis for server consolidation with Hyper-V.

MAP helps make the following IT planning projects faster and easier:

  • Migration to Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft Office 2010
  • Migration to Windows 7 compatible versions of Internet Explorer
  • Migration to cloud-based services
  • Server virtualization with Hyper-V
  • SQL Server consolidation and migration to SQL Server 2008 R2
  • Assessment of current software usage and client access history for simplified software asset management
  • PC security assessment and migration to Microsoft Forefront Client Security

You can use MAP to inventory the following technologies:

  • Windows 7
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows XP Professional
  • Office 2010 and previous versions
  • Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 R2
  • Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server
  • VMware ESX
  • VMware ESXi
  • VMware Server
  • Linux variants
  • LAMP application stack discovery
  • SQL Server 2008
  • SQL Server 2008 R2
  • MySQL
  • Oracle
  • Sybase

Download MAP 5.5 HERE

Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010

Microsoft has released rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010:

This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 customers.

For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB2407113.

The is only one fix:

You cannot uninstall Exchange Server 2010 RTM after you install Update Rollup 2, Update Rollup 3, or Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010

Download the rollup here. 

Note to Forefront users:

If you don’t disable Forefront before installing a rollup or service pack, and enable afterwards, you run the risk of Exchange related services not starting. You can disable Forefront by going to a command prompt and navigating to the Forefront directory and running FSCUtility /disable. To enable Forefront after installation of a UR or SP, run FSCUtility /enable.

Favo links for Microsoft Lync

The Lync Server Open Interoperability Program is now available

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg131938.aspx

Other useful Links:

Hardware Requirements. Link

Bandwidth Table. Link

Lync New features – server side. Link

Lync New features – Client Side. Link

Port Requirements. Link

Lync Server 2010 Protocol Workloads Poster. Link

Architecture – Server Roles. Link

Architecture – Topologies. Link

Publishing Outlook Anywhere Using NTLM Authentication With Forefront TMG or Forefront UAG

This white paper provides detailed information about publishing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 using Forefront TMG or Forefront UAG to secure access for Outlook Anywhere when using NTLM Authentication.

When you publish Exchange, Microsoft offers two software-based options: Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 and Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010. Both options offer publishing wizards and security features to provide secure access to Exchange when it’s accessed from outside the safety of the corporate network.

This white paper provides detailed information about publishing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 using Forefront TMG or Forefront UAG, including how to choose between them for different scenarios, and provides specific steps you can take to configure Forefront TMG and Forefront UAG to publish Exchange 2010 while using NTLM authentication for Outlook Anywhere access.

Download details Publishing Outlook Anywhere Using NTLM Authentication With Forefront TMG or Forefront UAG

Microsoft Lync Error: Microsoft.Rtc.Common.Data.SqlConnectionException Cannot open database xds requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user Domain\administrator.

Lync

Error:

An error occurred: Microsoft.Rtc.Common.Data.SqlConnectionException Cannot open database xds requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user CONTOSO\administrator.

When Installing Lync there is automatically added a firewall rule that opend the port for the SQL Server Service

Solution:

Create a Windows Firewall port exceptions to enable access to the SQL Server Browser service, follow these steps:

    1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
    2. Open the Windows Firewall program.
    3. Click Change Settings to open the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.
    4. Make sure that Windows Firewall is turned on, and then click the Exceptions tab.
    5. Click Add port to open the Add a port dialog box.
    6. Enter a name for the port exception, such as SQL Server Browser Service.
    7. Make sure that UDP is selected, and then enter UDP port number 1434. This is the default port that the SQL Server Browser service listens on.
    8. Click OK two times to close the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box

Microsoft Lync Error: "Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deployment.DeploymentException" "Cannot determine where to install database files because Windows Management Instrumentation on the database server is unavailable from your computer or user account. To continue, you can resolve this issue, or you can specify where you want to install the files."

Lync

When Installing Lync I get the following error:

Error: An error occurred: "Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deployment.DeploymentException" "Cannot determine where to install database files because Windows Management Instrumentation on the database server is unavailable from your computer or user account. To continue, you can resolve this issue, or you can specify where you want to install the files."

Solution: Make Sure that Windows Firewall is Enabled on Windows 2008 R2

Step 1:

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Open the Windows Firewall program.
  3. Click Change Settings to view the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box. 
  4. Verify that Windows Firewall is turned on, and then click the Exceptions tab. 
  5. In the To enable an exception, select its check box window, scroll to locate the Remote Administration Program or Port exception.
  6. Make sure that the Remote Administration Program or Port exception is selected.
  7. Click OK to close the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

image

Step 2: I had named the pool different than the server name, so I needed to add an A record or CNAME Record to DNS to get past.

Clipboard Copy and Paste option is disabled in vSphere Client 4.1

I upgraded my home test server to ESXi 4.1 and I the Clipboard Functie is disabled by default and that is so annying

Solution:

Starting with vSphere 4.1, the Copy and Paste options are, by default, disabled for security reasons.

To be able to copy and paste between the guest operating system and the remote console, you must enable the Copy and Paste options using the vSphere Client. Alternatively, you can use RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) to connect to the Windows virtual machines.

To enable this option for a specific virtual machine:

  1. Log into a vCenter Server system using the vSphere Client and power off the virtual machine.
  2. Select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab.
  3. Click Edit Settings.
  4. Navigate to Options > Advanced > General and click Configuration Parameters.

  5. Click Add Row and type the following values in the Name and Value columns:

    • isolation.tools.copy.disable – false

    • isolation.tools.paste.disable – false
      Note: These options override any settings made in the VMware Tools control panel of the guest operating system.

  7. Click OK to close the Configuration Parameters dialog, and click OK again to close the Virtual Machine Properties dialog.
  8. Power on the virtual machine.

Note: If you vMotion a virtual machine to a host where the isolation.tools.*="FALSE" is already set, the copy and paste options are automatically activated for that virtual machine.

To enable this option for all the virtual machines in the ESX/ESXi host:

  1. Log in to the ESX/ESXi host as a root user and open the /etc/vmware/config file using a text editor.
  2. Add these entries to the file:
    isolation.tools.copy.disable="FALSE"
    isolation.tools.paste.disable="FALSE"
  3. Save and close the file. The Copy and Paste options are only enabled when the virtual machines restart or resume the next time.

For more information, see the Limiting Exposure of Sensitive Data Copied to the Clipboard section of the  ESX Configuration Guide.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1026437

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