Exchange Server Monitoring Software

Microsoft Exchange Server Monitoring, the buzzword sweeping across all industries is undoubtedly what every organization is striving to master. A day filled with issues like email delivery delays, information store about to exceed the size limits, error messages popping across the screens with server being down are traumatizing to even think about, let alone mastering and resolving them. As an Exchange personnel, the need to learn the tricks of this trade is pretty much on the rise.

To ease it out, Exchange Reporter Plus brings in a wholesome package of reports specifically designed to make the Exchange server resource monitoring tasks simple. With these reports, the entire process of performance monitoring of Exchange servers can be effectively broken down to just three steps!!!

• The first step revolves around scheduling of the appropriate report.
• Secondly, analysis of the data to gain real-time insights.
• Thirdly, proactive measures to keep things in control.

That's it! It's that simple. Microsoft Exchange server monitoring highlights include the following.

• Keep a check on your Exchange server health

  Be it Windows Server 2003, 2007 or 2010, Exchange server performance anomalies are now at bay with live reports on the operating conditions of the Exchange server. Important insights that can be tracked include the server volume utilization and its growth, server traffic data across all servers over any given period or day, delivery times by the server, server sending or receiving maximum number of email messages and many more. With such statistics, uptime and optimum utilization of the server resource and capacity planning is guaranteed.

• Quick facts on the Information Store

  Exchange Reporter Plus can provide accurate, actionable data on the Information store which is next on the watch list. The Exchange store can be monitored in terms of the store growth over any given period, the utilization of the store space by the mailboxes and the store restrictions in place. These specifics aid an administrator to keep a vigilant eye on the mailbox and public stores and take appropriate measures for Exchange server management.

• An overall Exchange Server Monitoring Tool

  Exchange Reporter Plus can function as a simple and an effective tool to constantly monitor the Exchange environment and keep it up and running. Quick information on stale mailboxes throughMailbox status reports can help in keeping the Exchange environment clean and will ensure effective utilization of the server resources. Not just the mailboxes, the access to mailbox data can also be monitored for security issues. With the OWA reports, precise information on the complete logon specifics can be obtained.

• Mail traffic monitoring

  Email traffic monitoring forms the large chunk of the pie with exclusive reports to monitor each individual traffic component like server traffic, overall organziational traffic, internet traffic reports to monitor the communication happening beyond the Exchange boundary, custom recipients' traffic and so on. These traffic details present the current scenario which can serve as a vital source to plan the necessary future action and perform a detailed Exchange traffic analysis.

With such robust reports, monitoring of the Exchange servers becomes simple. These reports help in quickly identifying the current trend and spotting any kind of performance anomalies. These Exchange health indicators help in taking proactive measures and not reactive ones.

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Installing Exchange 2010 Step-by-Step

With our handy guide, you'll have Exchange 2010 installed and running on top of Windows Server 2008 R2 in no time.

This is the second part of a two part series on Microsoft Exchange 2010. In the first article we examined the changes and enhancements in Exchange 2010. This time we'll walk through the steps required to install a fully functional Exchange 2010 server on Windows Server 2008 R2.

System Requirements

First, you need to make sure that your Active Directory (AD) environment and your Exchange server meet the minimum requirements:

• AD forest functional level is Windows Server 2003 (or higher)
• AD Schema Master is running Windows Server 2003 w/SP1 or later
• Full installation of Windows Server 2008 w/SP2 or later OR Windows Server 2008 R2 for the Exchange server itself
• Exchange server is joined to the domain (except for the Edge Transport server role)

Prerequisites

In this example we are going to install Exchange 2010 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Before installing Exchange we need to install some Windows components. It's important that you don't miss anything here because the Exchange 2010 installer does not provide very good feedback if Server 2008 R2 is missing required components.

1. Install the 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack
2. Add the appropriate Windows components/features
   1. Open PowerShell via the icon on the task bar or Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Windows PowerShell >> Windows PowerShell. Be sure that PowerShell opened with an account that has rights to install Windows components/features.
   2. Run the following command: Import-Module ServerManager
   3. For a typical install with the Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox roles run the following command:Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy -Restart. For a full matrix of the required Windows components with regards to the Exchange server roles see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspx#WS08R2
3. If your Exchange server will have the Client Access Server role set the Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service to start automatically
   1. Open PowerShell via the icon on the task bar or Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Windows PowerShell >> Windows PowerShell. Be sure that PowerShell opened with an account that has rights to modify service startup settings.
   2. Run the following command: Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

Exchange 2010 Installation

Now we're ready to run the Exchange 2010 installer. We'll go through a typical installation that includes the Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox roles. This is what you will want to install if you are only going to be running one Exchange server. If you scale out your Exchange architecture with multiple servers then you will want to familiarize yourself with the Exchange server roles for a proper deployment.

1. Logon to the desktop of your soon to be Exchange server with a Domain Admin account.
2. Run setup from the Exchange 2010 media.
3. Click on "Step 3: Choose Exchange language option" and choose one of the options (Install only languages from the DVD will be fine in most cases).
4. Click on "Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange."
5. Click Next at the Introduction page.
6. Accept the license terms and click Next.
7. Make a selection on the Error Reporting page and click Next.
8. Stick with the default "Typical Exchange Server Installation" and click Next.
9. Choose a name for your Exchange Organization and click Next.
10. Make a selection on the Client Settings page and click Next.
11. If you want your Exchange server to be available externally then choose a domain name such as mail.myorganization.com, click Next.
12. Make a selection on the Customer Experience Improvement Program page and click Next.
13. If all the prerequisites are there then you can click Install.
14. Grab a cup of coffee or take a walk while the installation process does its thing.
15. When the installation has finished go back to the Exchange installation page click on "Step 5: Get critical updates for Microsoft Exchange."
16. Install Microsoft Update (if necessary) so that Windows update will check for non-OS updates, and verify that there are no Exchange updates.

Post Installation Steps

Now that you have Exchange 2010 installed, you will need to do some basic configuration in the Exchange Management console to get mail flowing to/from your server.

1. Open the Exchange Management Console via Start >> All Programs >> Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 >> Exchange Management Console
2. Expand Microsoft Exchange On-Premises so you can see: Organization Configuration, Server Configuration, Recipient Configuration, and Toolbox
3. Under Organization Configuration >> Hub Transport >> Accepted Domains add a new Accepted Domain for the domain you wish to use for email addresses. For example, your AD domain will be listed by default (i.e. ad.myorganization.com). You will probably want to add "myorganization.com" as an Authoritative Domain.
4. Under Organization Configuration >> Hub Transport >> Send Connectors >> New Send Connector ... >> Pick a name such as "MyOrganization Internet Send Connector" >> change the drop down to "Internet" >> Next >> Add ... >> enter "*" in the Address field and check the box to include all subdomains >> OK >> Next. Now, if you want your Exchange server to route mail directly, then click Next on the Network setting page, but if you want to route your email through an upstream provider then select "Route mail through the following smart hosts" and Add ... a mail gateway such as smtp.comcast.net. Click Next >> Next >> Next >> New
5. Under Server Configuration >> Hub Transport >> Right-click Default *** >> Properties >> Permission Groups tab, check the box for Anonymous users. This will allow your Exchange server to accept incoming mail delivery from remote mail servers.
6. Under Recipient Configuration >> Mailbox, create mailboxes for your existing AD users (or create a new user & mailbox)
   1. New Mailbox ... >> select User Mailbox >> Next >> Existing users >> Add ... >> select an existing AD account >> OK >> Next >> specify an alias (e.g. the AD user name) >> Next >> New
7. If you want to use an SSL certificate for Outlook Web App, IMAP, POP, etc. click on Server Configuration and import or create the certificate

Mail Routing Configuration

Now the final piece you need to configure to receive mail is your external DNS records. The method for configuring your DNS records will depend on whether you host your own DNS or have a provider that hosts it for you. Either way you will need to create an "A" record that points mail.myorganization.com to the IP address of your mail server, and an "MX" record that points myorganization.com to mail.myorganization.com. You will also want to make sure that port 25 is open both inbound and outbound to your Exchange server.

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