Module 11
Maintaining Microsoft®
Exchange Server 2010
Module Overview
• Monitoring Exchange Server 2010
• Maintaining Exchange Server 2010
• Troubleshooting Exchange Server 2010
Lesson 1: Monitoring Exchange Server 2010
• Why Is Performance Monitoring Important?
• Tools for Monitoring Exchange Server
• Collecting Performance Data for the Exchange Server
• Collecting Performance Data for the Mailbox Server
• Collecting Performance Data for the Hub Transport and
Edge Transport Servers
• Collecting Performance Data for the Client Access Server
• Using the Collected Performance Data
Why Is Performance Monitoring Important?
Performance monitoring can help you:
•
Identify performance issues
•
Identify growth trends to improve plans for
upgrades
•
Measure performance against service level
agreements
•
Identify security issues and denial-of-service
attacks
Tools for Monitoring Exchange Server
The following tools can help you monitor system
health:
•
System Center Operations Manager or System
Center Essentials (with Exchange Server 2010
Management Pack)
•
Third-party monitoring products
•
Performance and Reliability Monitor
Collecting Performance Data for the Exchange Server
Suggested performance counters for all Exchange Server
roles:
Processor:
System:
• _Total\% Processor
Time
• Processor Queue
Length
• _Total\% User Time
• _Total\% Privilege
Time
Memory:
• Available Mbytes
MSExchange ADAccess
Domain Controllers:
• LDAP Read Time
• LDAP Search Time
• LDAP Searches time out
per minute
• Long running LDAP
operations/min
• Pool Paged Bytes
• Transition Pages
Repurposed/sec
• Page Reads/sec
• Pages/sec
• Page Input/sec
• Pages Output/sec
Collecting Performance Data for the Mailbox Server
Suggested performance counters for all Mailbox server roles:
LogicalDisk:
MSExchangeIS:
• Avg. Disk sec/Read
• RPC Requests
• Ave. Disk sec/Write
• RPC Averaged Latency
• Avg. Disk sec/Transfer
• RPC Operations/sec
• RPC Num Slow Packets
MSExchangeIS Mailbox:
• Messages Queued for
Submission
• RPC Average Latency
MSExchangeIS Public:
• Messages Queued for
Submission
Collecting Performance Data for the Hub Transport
and Edge Transport Servers
Suggested performance counters for the Hub Transport and
Edge Transport server roles:
LogicalDisk:
• Avg. Disk sec/Read
• Avg. Disk sec/Write
• Avg. Disk Queue Length
MSExchange Database
==> Instances:
• Log Generation
Checkpoint Depth
• Version buckets
allocated
• Log Record Stalls/sec
MSExchangeTransport
Queues:
• Aggregate Delivery Queue
Length (All Queues)
• Active Report Delivery
Queue Length
• Active Mailbox Delivery
Queue Length
• Retry Mailbox Delivery
Queue Length
• Unreachable Queue Length
• Largest Delivery Queue
Length
• Poison Queue Length
Collecting Performance Data for the Client
Access Server
Suggested performance counters for the Client Access server
role:
LogicalDisk:
MSExchange OWA:
• Avg. Disk sec/Read
• Average Response Time
• Ave. Disk sec/Write
• Average Search Time
ASP.NET:
MSExchange ActiveSync:
• Application Restarts
• Average Request Time
• Worker Process Restarts
• Requests Current
• Request Wait Time
MSExchangeFS OAB:
• Download Task Queued
ASP.NET Applications:
MSExchange Availability
Service:
• Requests in Application
Queue
• Average Time to Process
a Free Busy Request
RPC/HTTP Proxy:
• Number of failed back-end connection attempts per second
Using the Collected Performance Data
To use the collected performance data:
Create a baseline:
• Monitor performance for a full business cycle
• Note any peaks or troughs in the data
Set warning and error level thresholds
Review growth trends regularly to:
• Adjust threshold
• Adjust server configuration
Lesson 2: Maintaining Exchange Server 2010
• Discussion: What Is Change Management?
• Considerations for Managing Change
• Discussion: What Are Software Updates?
• Process for Deploying Software Updates
• Determining the Need for Hardware Upgrades
• Process for Implementing Hardware Upgrades
Discussion: What Is Change Management?
• How does your organization address change management?
• Are there some situations where change management is
more important than others?
• What are the benefits of having a formal change
management process?
• Are there situations in which you cannot follow the normal
change process?
Considerations for Managing Change
• Define a process and use it consistently
• Support the change management process
• Use a process model like MOF to describe a system
life cycle
Discussion: What Are Software Updates?
• What is the difference between a hotfix and an update?
• Why should your organization deploy software updates?
Process for Deploying Software Updates
1 Determine which updates are needed
2 Test and document the update in a compatible
environment
3 Test and document the back-out plan
4 Backup the server
5 Schedule and install the software update
6
Verify and monitor the software update installation
You can manage software updates by using WSUS
Determining the Need for Hardware Upgrades
• Investigate causes of poor user experiences
• Monitor processor counters
• Monitor memory counters
• Monitor disk counters
• Monitor network counters
Process for Implementing Hardware Upgrades
1 Determine which upgrades are needed
2 Test and document the upgrade in a test environment
3 Test and document the back-out plan
4 Backup the server
5 Schedule and install the hardware upgrade
6
Verify and monitor the hardware upgrade
Lesson 3: Troubleshooting Exchange Server 2010
• Developing a Troubleshooting Methodology
• Troubleshooting Tools
• Discussion: Troubleshooting Mailbox Servers
• Discussion: Troubleshooting Client Access Servers
• Discussion: Troubleshooting Message Transport Servers
Developing a Troubleshooting Methodology
1
Clearly define the problem
2
Gather information related to the problem
• Turn up logging
• Review logs
• Try to reproduce the problem
3
List the probable cause of the problem
4
Rank the cause by probability and define solutions
5
Rank solutions by ease of resolution and impact to complete
6
Try the most probable and easily implemented resolution until
the problem is resolved
7
Reduce logging to normal
8
Document resolution and root cause for future reference
Troubleshooting Tools
All Exchange servers:
• Best Practices Analyzer
• Performance Troubleshooter
• Network Monitor
• Performance and Reliability Monitor
• Test cmdlets
Hub Transport and Edge
Transport servers:
• Mail Flow Troubleshooter
• Message tracking
• Queue Viewer
• Routing Log Viewer
• Telnet
Discussion: Troubleshooting Mailbox Servers
A database has gone offline. What process can you use to
troubleshoot the problem?
Discussion: Troubleshooting Client Access Servers
Outlook users no longer can connect to the system. What
process can you use to troubleshoot the problem?
Discussion: Troubleshooting Message Transport
Servers
Users are reporting undeliverable and slow-to-deliver
outbound e-mail. What process can you use to troubleshoot
the problem?
Lab: Maintaining Exchange Server 2010
• Exercise 1: Monitoring Exchange Server 2010
• Exercise 2: Troubleshooting Database Availability
• Exercise 3: Troubleshooting Client Access Servers
Logon information
Virtual machines
10135A-VAN-DC1
10135A-VAN-EX1
User name
Administrator
Password
Pa$$w0rd
Estimated time: 60 minutes
Lab Scenario
You are the messaging administrator at A. Datum Corporation.
You need to configure basic monitoring by using the
Performance and Reliability Monitor. You also must troubleshoot
issues with a mailbox database and a Client Access server.
Lab Review
• Was the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer helpful in
troubleshooting the database error? When might using
Exchange Best Practices Analyzer be a better fit?
• Why do you need to run IISReset after reconfiguring
Outlook Web App?
Module Review and Takeaways
• Review Questions
• Common Issues and Troubleshooting Tips
• Real-World Issues and Scenarios
• Best Practices