Exchange 2013 EAC ( Exchange Admin Center)

For sure new version of Exchange ( 2013) has many improvements. One of the most striking future is EAC which will be  new to almost everyone out there. The new management interface for E2013 is now comes with the browser there is no more heavy, slow MMC interface. The previous versions of management understanding and experience in Exchange versions always been problematic and such changes are hear breaking (-: remember the news we no longer see active directory and Exchange within the ADUC, and how that felt.
Yes to understand the value better and give credits to Exchange team, we need to focus on changing fast technology. Coloration and online services , their increasing heavy usage , pushed the product to have sharp changes in my opinion and yes they have the correct tract.
I am sure many of you will be surprised and some of you may get disappointed, but once again IMO this is necessary change and will improve the messaging quality for administrators. Now I like to share with you little secrets I figured out , might help you to get over with these changes (-:
You install E 2013 preview and excited to get on it to play on the new E2013 server after successful install you will see this

Now you open Exchange tool box and here is what you see

Now you are confused and wondering how you jump onto EAC ???? you need to open IE and type the fallowing URL in there

https://localhost/ecp

and now if install did go well here is EAC

Okay you can start playing with new way of managing your environment , now if you like to see things bit more organized
open MMC

• Add remove snap in
• Lets say pick AD snap in
• Pick Active Directory
• Pick Link to Web address

in the URL insert

https://localhost/ecp/default.aspx

Give it a name



Now you have the tool box, ADCU and EMC ( Wish adding PS here too)

I hope this makes bit easy for you guys to see things together.

You can utilize to use Pick Link to Web address add Exchange team blog and any other useful website you use in your daily administration day.
Stay tuned for more exciting news, and remember IOPS gain in E2013 is somewhere over %40 over Exchange 2010, and I am sure case studies will be available for us to verify this soon. Exchange 2013 ROCKS and has many great futures and offerings, I am very excited to see the improvements.
Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Installing Exchange 2013 Preview, error failed to connect to an Exchange Server in the current site.!!!!!

If you are installing Exchange 2013 preview and getting error “ failed to connect to an Exchange server in the current site, have a look fallowing steps to remedy the issue.

To alleviate this error you will need to register ASP.NET with .NET Framework 4.5 in

• Open a Windows Command Prompt.
• Run the following command

%SystemDrive%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -ir –enable

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Installing Exchange 2013 Preview

If you are installing Exchange 2013 Preview  and running into issues or problems here are quick tips for you to get moving.

I have installed E2013 on windows 2008 R2 and here is the link you need to fallow to get the work done.

Exchange 2013 Prerequisites, MBX and CAS Roles install is same as any other version install you have done in the past.

Before install you must  fallow the steps listed in this article.

Import-Module ServerManager

Add-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework, NET-HTTP-Activation, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Web-Server, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI

After you manage the install this is all you will have

You may ask yourself what is next (-: , first open EMC and verify you are connecting to your Exchange server.

IF you are , now time to open EAC Exchange Administration Center, by putting this URL into your browser

https://localhost/ecp

 

Enjoy your new fast interface to manage your environment.

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Configuring HLB ( Kemp LoadMaster) Exchange 2010

 

If you are going to configure Kemp HLB here is quick reference for you to get going. Installing HLB into production environment with existing CAS ARRAY might sound bit concerning but the reality , the actual work needs to get done is fairly simple.

Existing environment

CAS01	192.168.1.101
CAS02	192.168.1.102
CAS03	192.168.1.103
CAS04	192.168.1.104

****

CAR ARRAY Configuration ( existing)

CAS ARRAY =  Outlook.smtp25.org

****

Outlook.smtp25.org	192.168.1.101
Outlook.smtp25.org	192.168.1.102
Outlook.smtp25.org	192.168.1.103
Outlook.smtp25.org	192.168.1.104

****

How does it work ?

• Outlook client checks its configured settings and finds out where to connect to get the user mail from ( This case it is CAS ARRAY = outlook.smtp35.org=10.10.10.150
• The DNS Server the client is talking too, has A record matches the RPC Client Access Server outlook.smtp25.org=10.10.10.150
• Each Database has attribute called RPCclientAccessServer which is equal to CAS ARRAY name. ( this is where the magic happens……)

Now we will plug Kemp HLB into this picture

*** In DNS the existing A record point to outlook.my company.com , the TTL has been lowered see details ***

Configuring KEMP LoadMaster for Outlook MAPI

Connect to your Kemp HLB

Step1    Create a Virtual Service

Virtual Address	172.21.7.15
Port	*
Service Name (Optional)	RPC MAPI
Protocol	tcp

Create a Virtual Service. Click Virtual Services and then click Add New.

**** Click Add this Virtual Service****

Step2  Configure Basic Properties

Note make sure “L7 Transparency” is not checked the Kep document says check this on and if you do, MAPI client MAPI request comes to Kemp HLB and Kemp HLB will not response back to MAPI ( Outlook) client and thus Client outlook will crash badly.. This made me slow down a bit, after turning on Sniffer I was able to see what was going on and Henrik post came to rescue Thanks Henrik

Advanced Properties

 Real Servers (  Existing CAS Servers in the environment)

Now we will create another one for Address Bok Services

Click Virtual Services , add new

Virtual Address	172.21.7.15
Port	135
Service Name (Optional)	MAPI Endpoint Mapper
Protocol	tcp

****

****

Basic Properties

Standard Options

SSL Properties

Advanced Properties

Real Servers

Now final Configuration will look like

It is good idea to create backup after you are done

All you have to do it just to save it

As you can see KEMP HLB is supper easy to configure

Now how are you going to test this without effecting production and schedule a day to do the cut over, remember this example the existing CAS ARRAY is pointing to all existing CAS Servers…

Log into your test PC where outlook is installed and change the host file to point to  VIP IP address of the KEMP HLB. Once you are done this open outlook , you can ping the outlook.YourCompany.org from test PC to verify it is pinging to  VIP IP of the HLB *** Not one of the CAS Servers***

Now under statistic real servers you will be able to see how many connections etc.

Conclusion:  configuring KEMP HLB is real easy and the price very reasonable in my opinion, once you get the HLB you will be more appreciated how much it can make your life easy (-:

If you get stuck at any point ping me , I will be happy to give hand fo configuring KEMP HLB with your existing SMTP domain.

 

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)