Delete Exchange Computer Account from Active directory in production Environment

Problem:

Exchange computer accounts have been deleted, from active directory. The network administrator deleted the OU (Organizational Unit) where all Exchange computer accounts in.

Side effects:

No mail flow, outage for E-mail, Exchange application logs showing following errors 9187, 9186

Solution:

• Log into exchange server locally and take then exchange servers out the domain,
  
• Reboot the exchange servers
  
• Re-join the exchange servers back to the domain
  

Notes:

• Each Windows-based computer maintains a machine account password history containing the current and previous passwords used for the account. When two computers attempt to authenticate with each other and a change to the current password is not yet received, Windows then relies on the previous password. If the sequence of password changes exceeds two changes, the computers involved may be unable to communicate, and you may receive error messages (for example, "Access Denied" error messages when Active Directory replication occurs).
  
• Resetting a computer account breaks that computer's connection to the domain and requires it to rejoin the domain. In my scenario this was done on Exchange server. The computer account was reset and there was no way to log into the server, except server itself locally. Taking the server out from domain rebooting it, adding the server back to the domain worked. All exchange services were up and running after joining to domain with same name. Remember renaming Exchange will break the exchange and there will be no way to bring exchange back to the live from death, this is of course not supported by Microsoft.
  

Event Type: Error Event Source: MSExchangeSA Event Category: General Event ID: 9187 Date: 4/7/2008 Time: 2:12:44 PM User: N/A Computer: RCOBHSCHI010 Description: Microsoft Exchange System Attendant failed to add the local computer as a member of the DS group object 'cn=Exchange Domain Servers,cn=Users,dc=smtp25,dc=org'. Please stop all the Microsoft Exchange services, add the local computer into the group manually and restart all the services. For more information, click http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect.asp.

Event Type: Warning Event Source: MSExchangeSA Event Category: General Event ID: 9186 Date: 4/7/2008 Time: 2:27:44 PM User: N/A Computer: RCOBHSCHI010 Description: Microsoft Exchange System Attendant has detected that the local computer is not a member of group 'cn=Exchange Domain Servers,cn=Users,dc=smtp25,dc=org'. System Attendant is going to add the local computer into the group. The current members of the group are 'CN=CH,OU=Computers,OU=CH Rich VA,DC=smtp25,DC=org; CN=CH,OU=Computers,OU=CH Wilkes PA,DC=smtp25,DC=org; CN=CH,OU=Computers,OU=CH MilfCT,DC=smtp25,DC=org; CN=CH,OU=Computers,OU=CH High NC,DC=smtp25,DC=org; CN=CH,OU=Computers,OU=CH Lee VA,DC=smtp25,DC=org;; CN=CH,OU=Computers,OU=CH Charles SC,DC=smtp25,DC=org; CN=CHNY,OU=Computers,OU=CH White NY,DC=smtp25,DC=org; '. For more information, click http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect.asp.

Oz ozugurlu,
Systems Engineer
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA),
MCSE 2003 M+ S+ MCDST
Security Project+ Server+
oz@SMTp25.org

http://smtp25.blogspot.com

How to recover deleted items from Public folders.

This is one of the common tasks for exchange administrators and it is easy to accomplish. First, download PFDEVAdmin by clicking the link here. Open PFDEVAdmin and follow the simple step described below. Second, follow the simple steps described in KB#924044.

Move to the PFDEVAdmin folder, and then double-click the PFDAVAdmin.exe file.

• On the File menu, click Connect.
  
• In the Exchange server box, type the name of the Exchange server to which you want to connect.
  
• In the Global Catalog box, type the name of the global catalog server.
  
• If it is required, click to clear the Authenticate as currently logged-on user check box. Type an appropriate user name, password, and domain in the respective boxes.
  
• In the Connection area, click Public Folders, and then click OK.
  
• Expand Public Folders, and then click the parent folder of the deleted folder.
  
• Right-click the parent folder, and then click Show deleted subfolders. The deleted subfolder is shown in red.
  
• Right-click the subfolder, and then click Recover folder.
  
• Click OK to acknowledge the Recovery succeeded message. The recovered folder name appears as Folder_Name Recovered.
  
• Test access to the folder by using an e-mail client.
  
• In Exchange System Manager, right-click the recovered folder, and then rename the folder.
  

 

Regards,

Oz ozugurlu

Why RUS (recipient update service) is giving you hard time?

IS your RUS not stamping newly created accounts in active directory? Are you seeing many Event ID: 9562
MSExchangeIS on the exchange server application log, and you research entire Google and all you could find was manually rebuild the Recipient Update Service (RUS), this is what Microsoft recommends anyway. Here is the good news; RUS no longer exist in Exchange 2007. Exchange 2007 uses, instance turn on, when mail enabled object created Exchange stamps it instantly (read more) .The RUS trouble shooting can be very frustration. Before start performing RUS trouble shooting lets refresh our memories about RUS and recipient update service.

Recipient Update Service,

• The Recipient Update Service creates and maintains Exchange-specific attribute values in Active Directory.
  
• RP (recipient policy) recipient policies to control e-mail address settings and to manage mailboxes.
  Recipient policies are a set of configurable rules that run on a schedule and evaluate all the messaging-enabled objects in your Active Directory forest. The policy uses the rules to filter all of the objects and to selectively apply e-mail addresses of specific types to those instances that fit the predefined rules
  

May of the RUS troubleshooting starts turning the diagnostic logon on the exchange server

• MSExchangeAL\LDAP Operations
  
• MSExchangeAL\Address List Synchronization
  
• MSExchangeSA\Proxy Generation (Exchange 2003 only)
  

Troubleshooting RUS part 1 there is part two as well.

Please pay attention the notes in the article follow as below

• Repeatedly choosing Rebuild on the RUS or Apply This Policy Now on a policy can complicate the troubleshooting process by causing the RUS to process large numbers of objects.
  
• These results in the application log quickly overwriting itself and make it difficult to follow the sequence of events described above. When troubleshooting the RUS, it is best to avoid Rebuilding or Applying and instead focus on a single test user and use only Update Now to check for new and modified objects. After an Update Now, you can walk through the events described above to understand what the RUS is doing to a particular recipient
  

Each instance of the Recipient Update Service associates one Exchange server (where the Recipient Update Service runs) with one Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 domain controller (on which the Active Directory objects are updated). Only one Recipient Update Service object can be associated with one Active Directory domain controller.

If you have multiple sites, you can also add multiple instances of the Recipient Update Service for each domain. In this scenario, an instance of the Recipient Update Service is hosted on a domain controller in each site and mailbox creation is not dependent on the inter-site replication schedule of Active Directory.

The recent troubleshooting scenario I have to deal was a lot of Event ID: 9562 on the exchange server.

The RUS did not run due to replication issues on the Child domain. The RUS was running from another child domain targeting a DC with in the second domain controller. The exchange server who was having 9562 errors was located in the second child domain. I quickly figured out the configuration on the exchange server (DNS) was not set correctly. I wrote many articles about why Exchange must point to Local DC/DNS server. After making necessary correction I have to go to AD Site and services. I verified the KCC has replication connection created automatically, with one of the remote bridgehead server (DC/DNS). I created manual replication partner from problem site to the remote bridgehead server. I created another KCC replication form remote bridgehead server back to the problem exchange server, and have them force replication.

After this rebuilding the RUS, made the trick

• Troubleshooting RUS part 1
  
• Recipient policy)
  

Regards,

Oz ozugurlu

Exchange 2000 16 Gig limits

Exchange 2000 is seems to be not working, event log is showing 9175 Mapi session errors .We followed below registery hack to get the Exchange databases to 17Gig. We will have to perform in-place upgrade after we complete the ESEUTIL. Event log 1221 shows not much of a claimable space. We will have to perform in place upgrade for exchange from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003, without upgrading to OS to windows 2003 and doing Exchange in-place upgrade, is breaking my heart (-:, management decision is overruling my desicion and my feelings one more time getting beat up my management desicion. Below is the registery hack to bump the databases up to 17Gig.

My proposed plan in this scenario is follow below

1. Identify the large mailboxes. ( located 5 mailbox close to 6Gig)
   
2. Requested Network administrator perform, local archive for those accounts
   
3. Applied register hack brought the server up and running ( I had to stop and restart several times, SMTP and MTA services along with Information store, finally changes took effect. Be patient if register may take little time to go in effect after the changes
   
4. Purge any mailbox, which has been deleted, run Cleanup agent
   
5. Finally run ESEUTIL /D , have enough coffee and rent good movie, to wait ESEUTIL to finish.
   

1. Click Start, click Run, and then type regedt32.exe.
2. Locate the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\<Exchange Server Name>\Private-<long hexadecimal string>
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then type the following in the Value name box: Temporary DB Size Limit Extension
4. Select REG_DWORD for the data type, and then click OK.
5. Enter a value of 1, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor.
If the Temporary DB Size Limit Extension registry value exists for a specific database and if the value is set a value other than zero, the database size limit (if any) is increased by 1 gigabyte. However, this registry value is not read dynamically; it is only read when a database is started. When the Exchange Information Store starts, an event 9657 will be logged as a warning to inform you that you are using a temporary database size limit.

If the Temporary DB Size Limit Extension registry value exists for a specific database and if the value is set a value other than zero, the database size limit (if any) is increased by 1 gigabyte. However, this registry value is not read dynamically; it is only read when a database is started. When the Exchange Information Store starts, an event 9657 will be logged as a warning to inform you that you are using a temporary database size limit.
Note To prevent new e-mail content from being added to the mailbox store beyond the temporary 17-GB limit during the recovery process, we strongly recommend that you stop the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service and the Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks service before you mount the mailbox store. For more information about how to remove unnecessary database content and how to defragment the database, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Best

Oz Ozugurlu

SIS (Single Instance Storage)

In year may 1999 Tech-Ed Microsoft represented declared, Exchange is the first messaging system which is using SIS. It is up to you believe Microsoft product manager or not, I am just a messenger. What is this SIS? It is shared message storage if you would think so, Exchange stores copy of message and creates pointer to multiple mailboxes within the same mail store. If a message is sent to one recipient, and if the message is copied to 20 other recipients who reside in the same mailbox store, Exchange Server maintains only one copy of the message in its database. Exchange Server then creates pointers

These pointers link both the original recipient and the 20 additional recipients to the original message. If the original recipient and the 20 additional recipients are moved to another mailbox store, only one copy of the message is maintained in the new mailbox store.

As you can imagine the benefits clearly listed below

• Reduce I/O positive impact
  
• Less work on Exchange, more power for non redundant work
  
• Without it, Exchange may go crazy and losing all its resources, imagine a mail 10Meg send to 1000 people on the same mail store.
  
• Reduced storage improvements ( less data to store obviously)
  
• Any other similar effect you can think of.
  

Think all the garbage you get when you receive your newspaper, free coupons etc. Imagine in your neighborhood 10 homes receive all these garages, or instead there is a shared mailbox, postman puts only one copy of each garbage collection so that people can read if they want it.

In Exchange 5.5, there is one database on the server.  Mail sent to multiple mailboxes on that server is only stored once, with pointers delivered to each recipient.  In Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003, you can have up to 20 databases, where each database could have one copy of the message should recipients reside on each database. Each additional database adds an additional 2 percent to the database IOPS. How well Exchange utilizes single instance storage depends on the percentage of time messages are sent to recipients on the same database, and the average message size. Larger messages have more benefit with single instance storage.

Lastly I want to mention about Brick level backup. Why everyone don't recommend brick level backup? Lest start with Microsoft, the company who invented Exchange server application does not recommend brick level backup, due to several reasons. Introduction of RSG in exchange 2003, there really is not logic having brick level backups; it is such a waste of time and resources. I happen to have experience recently , one of your helpdesk administrators could not find out the reason, why he was backing three times more data than, his actual database sizes when he performs brick level backup. The reason easily can be discovered with understanding the SIS and how it works.

Regards,

Oz ozugurlu

No Free/Busy Information

You have noticed clients are not able to locate each other free busy information. The fact is that the organization went through a mail migration from exchange 2000 to exchange 2003 and all free busy data is gone. You have asked to bring the free busy back to life from death.

• Problem: Free /Busy information is not present
  
• Cause: Recent migration from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003
  
• Solution: make sure the distinguish name of the PF folder is same as the site folder name attribute.
  
• Solution 2: If you have verified the DN matches to site folder name, you need to backup the data on the PF folders delete the PF database and recreate another one.
  
• Distinguish name

CN=Public Folder Store (CHTXFTWEX1),CN=First Storage Group,CN=InformationStore,CN=CHTXFTWEX1,CN=Servers,CN=CH Fort Worth TX,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=chapTELNET25,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=chapTELNET25,DC=org

• Site folder name

CN=Public Folder Store (CHTXFTWEX1),CN=First Storage Group,CN=InformationStore,CN=CHTXFTWEX1,CN=Servers,CN=CH Fort Worth TX,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=chapTELNET25,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=chapTELNET25,DC=org

PS: You are still not seeing the Free/Busy folder under public folders (backup all PF information) delete the PF database and recreate the new one.

http://smtp25.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-freebusy-information-could-be.html

Best,

Oz ozugurlu

How to Detect Slow Link with a formula

Here is the scenario; you have connected to the client PC, who is complaining about seeing big Christmas balloon "Exchange is retrieving information from ExchangeServer". The outlook freezes up client cannot do anything, the windows are not responding to anything, task manager is the only way to kill the outlook and get back to a desktop. As soon as outlook opens up the problem arises.16000 ms (number miniseconds per minute) divided by /average millisecond on the extended ping. Slow link detection is accomplished with consecutive ICMP pings that are sent to the Authenticated Domain Controller. IF the response from any of the pings is less than 10 Millisecond (ms) the link considered to be a fast link.

If the response from any of the pings is higher than 10 Millisecond, this indicates latency. Here is the magic formula as below

Link Speed = 16000 / (average ping for 2048 byte packet)

Now we will do troubleshoot and find out the culprit. The message may cause for several reasons, including

• Poor Network Connection (Not enough bandwidth) this is what the cause in most of the cases. If VPN is being used, even WORST, Because now every traffic is going inside of VPN tunnel which is encrypted, so implement RPC/HTTPS or recommend to use
  
• Exchange server is performing poor
  
• I/O issues, CPU, HD, Memory Bottleneck
  
• GC is performing poor, when Exchange does the queries, this is Chocking exchange down.
  
• Local PC related issues (NIC speed, HD, CPU, Memory)
  

Now let's get to a work and show you the use a formula and find out the speed of the client

• Click Start, Run, CMD
  

You need to know the IP address of the Exchange server, so in this example the IP Address of the Exchange server is 10.74.0.41

In the CMD windows type below

• -l is resizing the ICMP Packet Size
  
• -t (Extended ping, Ping the specified host until stopped.)
  

C:\>ping 10.74.0.41 -l 2048 -t

Pinging 10.74.0.41 with 2048 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=570ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=253ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=397ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=216ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=322ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=405ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=708ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=157ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=217ms TTL=126

Reply from 10.74.0.41: bytes=2048 time=207ms TTL=126

Ping statistics for 10.74.0.41:

Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 157ms, Maximum = 708ms, Average = 345ms

Average is 345 so the formula will be

16000 / divide into 345 = 46Kbpc

The link would be considered slow, the trash hold round-trip time for a fast link (default = 500 Kbps) is 32 ms. This is great way to see the link speed and make some assumptions and recommendations. If you remember on 100meg LAN connection the Speed would be less than 1ms, if you perform the same test within the LAN.

From Experience if these ms go above 200 and up, good luck even opening up Outlook. The bandwidth is the culprit and client must get better conection.

Best Regards,

Oz ozugurlu

No Free/Busy information could be retrieved

Here is one of the common problems I have seen after not successful migration. The old server still has the Schedule + Free Busy information, and Exchange administrator forget to replicate it over to new server and decommissions the old server. The new exchange server works the most part works just fine except Free Busy information. Lets clear this up first what is free busy and where we find this folder in Exchange org.

Here is the location

• Public Folders
  
• SCHEDULE + FREE BUSY
  

 

Exchange Server 2003 stores free/busy information in a dedicated public folder that is named SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY

This folder contains a separate subfolder for each administrative group in your Exchange organization. When a user publishes free/busy data, Exchange Server 2003 posts the information in a message in the appropriate free/busy subfolder. The free/busy folders are system folders and function in a manner that is similar to offline address book folders.

How a user locates this information

When a user schedules an appointment or meeting and wants to determine the availability of another user, the client must obtain free/busy data for that user. To do this, the client must first locate the appropriate free/busy folder, and then identify the free/busy message for the specified user. Outlook performs this task slightly differently than Outlook Web Access and Outlook Mobile Access

Locating Free/Busy Information with Outlook

When locating a user's free/busy public folder, Outlook uses a process that is similar to its publishing process. Outlook starts by retrieving the user's legacyExchangeDN value from Active Directory, and then uses that value to identify the name of the free/busy folder and the subject line of the appropriate free/busy message. Outlook then searches for the appropriate folder and message, starting with the specified user's default public folder store, and if necessary, requesting a referral to an appropriate server

Location Free/Busy with OWA and OMA

When Outlook Web Access or Outlook Mobile Access requests free/busy information for a selected user, the Exchange server that supports the Outlook Web Access applications (generally a front-end server) processes the request.

The front-end server sends a query to the users default public folder store ( if you don't have the Free/Busy folder there here you will have problems), which responds with a list of available free/busy servers. As is the case with a normal public folder referral, the front-end server sends a query to the first available server in the list, which responds with the free/busy data. The front-end server only queries another free/busy server if the first server in the list does not respond. If Outlook Web Access or Outlook Mobile Access does not use a front-end server, the users default public folder store will only respond with a single free/busy server. If that server is unavailable, the request will fail. No other servers can be queried.

Multiple Sites Consideration

When Outlook Web Access or Outlook Mobile Access requests free/busy information, the mailbox store will use one free/busy server to find the information. This limitation may cause problems if your topology has multiple sites, because in the default configuration, each free/busy server holds only that site's free/busy data. You need to configure the free/busy folders to replicate if you want data from multiple sites to be available to all users.

Removed a users still getting conflicting meeting request, here is the reason

I have seen many times, a secretary leaves the company who and account gets deleted but people still gets conflicting meeting request, and cannot understand why. Sometimes users will retrieve old free/busy information for a user with a moved mailbox because the legacyExchangeDN is not valid or has been manually changed. This situation causes significant problems for the moved user because the user may receive many conflicting meeting requests. The free busy data is the information which is published on the Public folder and shows the user availability or schedule.

Common mistakes and the fix are in the KB article 284200. The summarization of the cause is as below

Cause

This behavior occurs because the only instance of the "Schedule+ Free/Busy" system folders has been deleted or contains invalid data. The new Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 Server points to an incorrect Exchange Server computer as being the public folder server for the administrative group.

Basically the Administrator forgets to replicate all system folders properly, and causes the Free/Busy to be lost on the new exchange server.

Solution

Follow the article 284200

Open adsiedit.msc and locate the following

• Configuration Container [Computer.Domain.Com]
  
• CN=Configuration, DC=(YourDomainController),DC=com
  
• CN=Services
  
• CN=Microsoft Exchange
  
• CN=(YourOrganization)
  
• CN=Administrative Groups
  
• CN=(YourAdministrativeGroup)
  

 

Go to attributes, Properties, and locate "SiteFolderServer"

If you are seeing old server name this has to be changed to new server name. In order to do that, you need to know the distinguishedName.

Drill down in ADSIedit.msc

• Configuration Container [Computer.Domain.Com]
  
• CN=Configuration, DC=(YourDomainController),DC=com
  
• CN=Services
  
• CN=Microsoft Exchange
  
• CN=(YourOrganization)
  
• CN=Administrative Groups
  
• CN=(YourAdministrativeGroup)
  
• CN=(Servers)
  
• CN=(YourServer)
  
• CN=InformationStore
  
• CN=First Storage Group
  

 

• In the right pane, double-click CN=Public Folder Store (YourServerName) to open the properties.
  
• Under Select a Property to View, click distinguishedName.
  
• Copy the value.
  

You need to paste this value into SiteFolderServer" on the first step. Close ADSIedit.msc and restart information store service on the Exchange server.If you are still not seeing the Free/Busy folder under public folders (backup all PF information) delete the PF database and recreate the new one.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998998.aspx

Conclusion:

Do not forget to replicate the Free/Busy information and all other system folders if you do a migration.

 

Best,

Oz Ozugurlu

Locating Duplicated SMTP Proxy Address in Active Directory

I am trying to add a user account in AD which is fine but when I try and change the email alias it tells me that the address is already in use. I am having a hard time finding which user has this alias. I have tried to query

AD for the email address but cannot find it. What can I use to find the user in AD that is using the alias?

Solution 1:

• First go to ADUC (active directory computers users)
  
• Click, start, run, type DSA.MSC
  
• Click on Icon (find objects in active directory) Top far right corner
  
• Click Drop down menu and pick Custom Research, Click Advance, in the LDAP queries
  
• Type following
  

ProxyAddresses=SMTP:oz@smtp25.org (Modify the name oz and the @Smtp25.org part to your scenario)

Solution 2:

Download Adfind.exe

Run below command to locate the SMTP Proxy address

adfind -b dc=SMTP25,dc=Net -f (proxyAddresses=smtp:oz*) name proxyaddresses

adfind -b dc=SMTP25,dc=Net -f (proxyAddresses=smtp:oz*)

Best

Oz Ozugurlu

Trouble shooting 5.1.1 errors in large Enterprise environment

The user A is belonging to Child Domain A. the user B is belonging to Child Domain B. The Forest infrastructure is as below. User A can sent mail to user B, User B cannot sent mail or reply any of the mails coming from User A. When user B tries to reply, he gets 5.1.1, and mail bounce now, keep it mind these domains are two child domain, and domain controllers on both domains are GC (Global Catalog servers)

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: RE: Test

Sent: 8/21/2007 11:42 AM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

oz@usa.Smtp25.org on 8/21/2007 11:42 AM

The e-mail account does not exist at the organization this message was sent to. Check the e-mail address, or contact the recipient directly to find out the correct address.

<sscncchaex2.bio.ri.Smtp25.net #5.1.1>

Now we have three DC/GC involving into our problem scenario

DC1. Archq.SI.Smtp25.net (user A resides)

DC2.BIO.SI.Smtp25.net Another DC/GC (

DC3.BIOSI.Smtp25.net (User B Resides)

We will ask first domain controller is the user object reside in the GC (Global Catalog)

adfind -h DC1.archq.si.Smtp25.net –b dc=archq,dc=RI,dc=Smtp25,dc=Net -gc -f (samaccountname= oz)

It returned below information, so we know the information is there.Now we will ask second DC/GC same question

adfind -h DC2.bio.si.Smtp25.net –b dc=archq,dc=RI,dc=Smtp25,dc=Net -gc -f (samaccountname= oz)

The information is being returned as well.Now we will ask third DC/GC same question

adfind -h DC2.bio.si.Smtp25.net –b dc=archq,dc=RI,dc=Smtp25,dc=Net -gc -f (samaccountname= oz)

We get object cannot be found, BINGO here is where the problem lays. The Third DC/GC does not have the information about the requested user

The Adfind is incredible fast and efficient. I am appreciating more every day how useful Adfind toll is.

We are still working on the failed replication issue, we know the replication failed due to orphan object in AD, and trying to empty to deleted item dumpster in the effected DC/GC

If Joe Nagy won't lose his patient on me I am going to write more about Adfind and exchange and share with Exchange community.

Using server: bfvadtcdc2.bio.ri.Smtp25.net:3268

Directory: Windows Server 2003

dn:CN=Ozugurlu\, Oz (Consultant),OU=Users,OU=CSC,OU=NHQ Region,DC=archq,DC=ri,DC=Smtp25,DC=net

>objectClass: top

>objectClass: person

>objectClass: organizationalPerson

>objectClass: user

>cn: Ozugurlu, Oz (Consultant)

>sn: Ozugurlu

>l: Falls Church

>st: Virginia

>title: Senior Messaging Administrator

>description: NHQJPK1FS1, ETS Ops, 05/26/06

>postalCode: 22042

>physicalDeliveryOfficeName:

>telephoneNumber:

>facsimileTelephoneNumber:

>givenName: Oz

>distinguishedName: CN=Ozugurlu\, Oz (Consultant),OU=Users,OU=CSC,OU=NHQ Region,DC=archq,DC=ri,DC=Smtp25,DC=net

>instanceType: 0

>whenCreated: 20060525194528.0Z

>whenChanged: 20070728124729.0Z

>displayName: Ozugurlu, Oz [Consultant]

>garbageCollPeriod: 0

>mDBUseDefaults: FALSE

>extensionAttribute1:

>extensionAttribute2:

>extensionAttribute3:

>extensionAttribute4:

>extensionAttribute5:

>extensionAttribute6:

>extensionAttribute7:

>extensionAttribute8:

>extensionAttribute9:

>extensionAttribute10:

1 Objects returned

Best

Oz ozugurlu

Missing Free/Busy information

The solution to this problem is fairly simple, as long as the person is comfortable with ADSIEDIT.MSC. It takes some time to work with this toll to make the changes within the NTDS.DIT database, and needs attention since deleting the whole org would be very easy to achieve, so please be very careful when you get there.

 

Problem:

Users are not able to see others Free/Busy information, Group colander is no longer functioning

History:

The Client went through a migration from Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003. Prior to migration all free/Busy information seems to be working fine, after the migration Client releases the group calendar, is no longer functioning.

Solution:

The attribute "SiteFolderServer" has the old Server name, and this information need to be updated to a new server follow the article span>284200

You will need ADSIEDIT.MSC installed on the server

The attribute "SiteFolderServer" is located

• Configuration Container [Computer.Domain.Com]
  
• CN=Configuration, DC=(YourDomainController),DC=com
  
• CN=Services
  
• CN=Microsoft Exchange
  
• CN=(YourOrganization)
  
• CN=Administrative Groups
  
• CN=(YourAdministrativeGroup)
  

Locate the attribute make sure the name of the server is NOT matching to a current server

Now you need to place the valid Value

Go to

• Configuration Container [Computer.Domain.Com]
  
• CN=Configuration, DC=(YourDomainController),DC=com
  
• CN=Services
  
• CN=Microsoft Exchange
  
• CN=(YourOrganization)
  
• CN=Administrative Groups
  
• CN=(YourAdministrativeGroup)
  
• CN=(Servers)
  
• CN=(YourServer)
  
• CN=InformationStore
  
• CN=First Storage Group
  

Go to property locate the
distinguishedName, copy it and paste it into , SiteFolderServer properties

Exit out from ADSIEDIT.MSC

 

Best Regards

Oz ozugurlu

GalMode.Exe

Problem:

Galmode.exe is having intermitting problems; some of the users are not able to update their personal information by using Galmode.exe

Information about Galmode.exe:

Part of the BackOffice Resource Kit, Microsoft has supplied a utility called GALMOD32.EXE which allows users to modify certain attributes of their own. (NT 4.0) Maintaining user attributes may become very difficult in big environment therefore GALMODE32.EXE is very useful tool to let users to perform this task by their own without any administrative afford. Naturally, non-admin users can only change their own details with this utility and since it can be run from a network share, it doesn't even need to be installed on their own computers. It is an Executable read the information from outlook profile and users area blow to change the following fields.

GALMOD32.EXE is supported with NT 4.0 and Exchange server version 5.5

Fix:

It seems to be missing membership in Active directory is causing problems for users who cannot update their corresponding setting with Gal mode. revamping these membership and establishing  proper rights seems to be fixing the issue

GALMOD32.EXE is supported with NT 4.0 and Exchange server version 5.5. (It works in AD 2X and Exchange 2003) as well.

• 1.Click to select the Only the following objects in the folder check box, click User objects in the list, and then click Next.
  
• 2. Click to select the Property-specific check box, set each attribute that you want your users to modify, and then click Next. Click Finish.
  

Users can now use Galmod32 or the Windows Search applet to update their information in Active Directory. The permissions on your user account determine the global address list entries that you can modify. If you have Domain Users permissions, you can modify the following fields in your own global address book entry:

Address

City

Business Phone Number

State

Fax

Home Phone Number

Mobile Phone Number

Notes

Office

Pager

Zip Code

 

If you have Domain Administrator permissions, you can modify the following fields:

Assistant

Company

Country

Department

Title

 

The user account needs to be member of, domain users group. Also self account needs to be present on the security tab of the object. Make sure you assign

• Read
  

• Write
  

Allow permissions for both of them. Enjoy your GALMode.exe

The utility is small you can zip it and sent it via e-mail or keep it on network share and give your access to get it from there

Best

Oz Ozugurlu

Do not point your DC/DNS servers to your ISP DNS servers

Do not configure the DNS settings on the domain controllers to point to your Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) DNS servers .Here is the short story behind why or why not you should not point your DC (domain Controller)/DNS server to another IP address, than server itself IP address. When you promote a server to be domain controller active directory database gets installed on the server (NTDS.DIT database.) After installation, the DNS service on the domain controller, and the clients who needs to be serviced by your DC, needs to be able to provide the services and the information to your clients (work stations)

The DC/DNS server, which is Authentication server is ready to service the clients (work stations) when they need to use these services.

What type of services a client would request in Active directory environment. Authentication service( when a client enters user name and password) some entity needs to look into existing database, and compare the information against, existing information and provide validation, also assign a windows token back to the clients, so that client can log into the domain.

Let's say, Client needs file access on the File server, or your work station needs DHCP service, to obtain IP address. How your client will get thee services. Client will use DNS and look at the SRV (service records) and identify the Domain controller, DHCP server File server and so on.

Who your client will ask all these questions is going to be your DC/DNS server, and you want your DC/DNS server to go to DIT database and get all these good information and return it back to the client as services.

Now think about a scenario, if you configure your DC/DNS server primary DNS IP addresses point to your ISP DNS servers. In sense you are telling your server, if someone asks you a question, you need to ask this server (ISP DNS server). Let's think if this will work or not. If your client is asking question to your DC/DNS and wants to locate a printer, and your DC/DNS has to ask ISP DNS servers, where the closes printer is located? ISP DNS servers will go back and tell your DC/DNS server, what are you talking about? Who cares about your internal printer, ask me how to get to such web site I will assist you, please do not ask me personal questions and I don't care. So you got the answer from ISP DNS servers and now you need to pass this on to your client, do you think your client will be happy to hear this? Answer will be no.

So short of this story is when you run DCPROMO and define DNS name space (yourcompany.com), your server becomes authoritative for this DNS name space. Your server should be able answer all the question regarding to this DNS name space.

The story with using forwarders, When a client ask question about another DNS name space, where your server is not autherative for, you are telling your server, ask this guy (ISP DNS server), called recursive query, if he does not know he will ask someone else and get partial answer and eventually the information has been asked by a client will come back to the client, so that client can make direct TCP/IP connection to the requested resource

By the way windows 2003 server out the box can connect to the internet by asking questions to the root servers by using root hints.

http://smtp25.blogspot.com/2007/05/do-not-configure-dns-client-settings-on_818.html

Best

Information Store fails with MSExchangeIS 9564

Problem: Information store won't come online, and event log has MSExchangeIS 9564

Cause: Antivirus software is causing the problem, in this case

Solution: Disable AV from register and restart the information store service

Information store won't mount, and event log will have the following error Event ID: 9564

After performing several tests, and disabling most of the services have figured out the AV software is causing the issue. Disabling AV from register did the trick

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\VirusScan

Set enabled to 0 to disable the AV

Event Type: Error

Event Source: MSExchangeIS

Event Category: General

Event ID: 9564

Date: 6/28/2007

Time: 9:12:34 AM

User: N/A

Computer: CHTNCHAAP1

Description:

Error 0xffffffff starting the Microsoft Exchange Information Store.

Failed to init VSERVER.

For more information, click http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect.asp.

Oz Ozugurlu