Tag Archives: Exchange2007

Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 6

Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2608656). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.245.2.

Here’s the list of changes included in this rollup:

  • 2289607  The week numbers displayed in OWA do not match the week numbers displayed in Outlook for English users and French users in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2498852  “0×80041606″ error message when you perform a prefix search by using Outlook in online mode in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2499841  An arrow icon does not appear after you change the email message subject by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2523695  A “System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException” exception occurs when you click the “Scheduling Assistant” tab in Exchange Server 2007 OWA
  • 2545080  Users in a source forest cannot view the free/busy information of mailboxes in a target forest when the cross-forest Availability service is configured between two Exchange Server 2007 forests
  • 2571391  Applications or services that depend on the Remote Registry service may stop working in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2572010  The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may crash after you run the Test-ExchangeSearch cmdlet in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2575360  A new feature is available to automatically stop the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service when a time-out is detected in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2591655  A journaling report remains in the submission queue when an email message is delivered successfully in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2598980  The PidLidClipEnd property of a recurring meeting request has an incorrect value in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2616427   An Outlook Anywhere client loses connection when a GC server restarts in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2617784  Journal reports are expired or lost when the Microsoft Exchange Transport service is restarted in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2626217   Certain changes to address lists may not be updated in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2629790   The Exchange IMAP4 service may stop responding on an Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server when users access mailboxes that are hosted on Exchange Server 2003 servers
  • 2633801   The SCOM 2007 SP1 server cannot alert certain issues in an Exchange Server 2007 organization
  • 914533  The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may stop responding on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  • 976977  The scroll bar does not work in OWA when there are more than 22 all-day event calendar items in an Exchange Server 2007 user’s calendar
  • 2641312  The update tracking information option does not work in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2653334  The reseed process is unsuccessful on the SCR passive node when the circular logging feature is enabled in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2656040  An Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server may respond slowly or stop responding when users try to synchronize the Exchange ActiveSync devices with their mailboxes
  • 2658613  The “PidLidClipEnd” property of a no ending recurring meeting request is set to an incorrect value in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that update rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous update rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest rollup.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 6 here.

Thoughts on “Automatic E-mail Server Notifications in Exchange 2010″

In an article on MsExchange.org, Markus Klein elaborates on the reasons behind the changed message delivery notification (MDN) behavior in Exchange 2010. Examples of MDNs are read or delivery receipts or out of office messages. Issues may arise with MDNs because Exchange 2010 (and Exchange 2007) will use a blank sender address and not all e-mail systems can cope with that, making Exchange compliant with the related RFC. The article ends with workarounds to mitigate the issue. Here are my thoughts on that article.

The article refers to RFC2298, dated March 1998. However, MDNs are defined by RFC3798 of May 2004, which obsoletes RFC2298. Nevertheless, like Klein indicated, both RFCs dictate the following:

The envelope sender address (i.e., SMTP MAIL FROM) of the MDN MUST be null (<>), specifying that no Delivery Status Notification messages or other messages indicating successful or unsuccessful delivery are to be sent in response to an MDN.

The idea behind using a blank sender address is that e-mail systems will not return DSN messages, e.g. mailbox unavailable or disk quota exceeded, as a reply to an MDN, preventing potential message loops. However, there are some side-effects as not all e-mail systems or messaging hygiene products are RFC compliant. For example, the default setting of ForeFront Protection 2010 for Exchange is to block messages with an empty sender address. These products may simply block those messages, since blank senders could potentially be an indicator for spoofed messages. When you suspect such product to be causing the issue, check and reconfigure when appropriate.

The author continues the article by describing how to configure and troubleshoot routing of MDNs to the internet. The author shows how to enable and inspect the receive connector logs. Instead, I suggest monitoring the send connector logs when troubleshooting MDN delivery. Inspecting the send connector log files, you can get a clue on why MDN delivery fails and will see if Exchange is trying to deliver the MDN at all, and if so, the reason why. To enable send connector logging use the following cmdlet:

Set-SendConnector <ConnectorID> -ProtocolLoggingLevel verbose

The log files are generated in the “V14\TransportRoles\Logs\ProtocolLog\SmtpSend” folder below the location where you installed Exchange.

Finally, the author suggests the following workarounds:

  1. Use Outlook “out of office”
  2. Switch Relay Provider
  3. Implement Exchange Server Edge Roles

The first workaround is a less preferable option, as it’s configured per-user as a rule and rules, stored in the user’s mailbox, can’t easily be managed. When using the OOF option, administrators can, using the Get-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration and Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration cmdlets. Also, it makes the end user responsible for working around the issue. Meanwhile, despite this instruction, you can still expect lots of users to keep using the OOF function.

The second and third suggestions are non-options, since they don’t eliminate the issue and will only add a product and an extra hop to the e-mail route. Yes, you can switch to using a different SMTP relay or implement an Exchange Edge server which will accept MDN messages with an empty sender address. However, that may not be the final destination of the e-mail message, so the (unpredictable) MDN delivery issue remains. Nobody can guarantee that the e-mail system or message hygiene appliance at the recipient blocks blocks your OOF message with an empty sender address. You can read that between the lines of the PSS statement the author quotes as well:

The Exchange edge server will not reject the OOF message as the edge server will be incorporated into the Exchange organization. The HUB server will transfer the OOF messages in the address of OOF mailbox to the edge server and the edge server will then send the messages with empty return path e.g. blank sender, MAIL FROM: <> “null” to Internet.

Now, when the issue lies outside of your Exchange organization, e.g. the hosted message hygiene service or destination mail system, you might be left with no other option than to violate RFC3798 by adding a sender address. In Exchange this isn’t possible, but other e-mail gateways could help you with that. Note that when using a hosted message hygiene service or appliance for outbound messages, using a non-blank sender might be less of an issue since you’re offloading the delivery, compared to trying to deliver the message to the destination mail system yourself.

However, when opting to resort to these measures, I’d strongly suggest reconsidering sending out of office messages (or MDNs in general) outside of your Exchange organization, regardless of the sender. Spammers love confirmed e-mail addresses, so treasure your business e-mail addresses like you probably treat your own personal address.

Note that this blog isn’t to condemn the author of the discussed article, but to clarify things up since many people moving from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 may run into these behavioral differences. You’re invited to comment or share your opinions in the comments below.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 5

Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2602324). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.213.1.

Here’s the list of changes included in this rollup:

  • 981820  New X-headers of a message item do not appear when the message item is retrieved by IMAP4 or by POP3 in an Exchange Server 2007 SP2 environment
  • 2292150  A deleted hyperlink remains in the HTML source of an email message if you create the email message by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2411423  The Msftefd.exe process constantly consumes up to 100 percent of CPU resources when your mailbox language is set to German on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  • 2450078  The sent time in an email message body is incorrect when you reply or forward the email message by using an EWS application in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2451415  “There was a problem logging onto your mail server” error message when you use a POP3 client to access a mailbox in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2536652  EdgeTransport.exe randomly stops responding on a Hub Transport server after you configure public folder replication in Exchange Server 2007
  • 2536695  “Some items cannot be deleted” error message when you try to delete or modify an email message in a public folder in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2536697  DBCS characters in a rule name are converted to question marks after you move a mailbox from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007
  • 2537783  The EdgeTransport.exe process crashes occasionally after you install Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 SP3
  • 2538958  Extended Protection Warning Displayed in Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell After Installing RU2 for Exchange 2007 SP3
  • 2554575  Items accumulate in the MRM submission folder when managed folder assistant journal items in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2556751  The EdgeTransport.exe process crashes when processing certain email messages on an Exchange Server 2007 Hub Transport server
  • 2557304  The Store.exe process may consume excessive CPU resources and memory resources intermittently when a user opens a calendar item by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that update rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update rollups for the same product level (RTM, SPx). This means you don’t need to install previous update rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest rollup available right away.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 5 here.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 4

Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2509911). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.192.1.

Here’s the big list of changes included in this rollup:

  • 2531208  You cannot synchronize a folder hierarchy by using Outlook for Mac 2011 in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2528437  EWS applications cannot connect to Exchange Server 2007 servers after you make changes on accepted domains
  • 2521063  You are incorrectly displayed as a meeting organizer after you synchronize the meeting by using your mobile device in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2517337  You cannot open a mailbox that has a “#” character in the primary SMTP email address by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2515428  The MSExchangeMailboxAssistants.exe process crashes when the managed folder assistant tries to journal a message in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2508872  The W3WP.exe process in the Autodiscover application pool on the Exchange Server 2007 Client Access servers consumes excessive CPU resources
  • 2507374  “Cannot open this item” error message in Outlook online mode in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2506827  An UM auto attendant times out and generates an invalid extension number error message in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2502276  A meeting request series are deleted unexpectedly from the calendar in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2498924  “Could not connect to a directory server” error message when you click the last page button in the search results in Exchange Server 2007 OWA
  • 2498156  OLM/OLD incorrectly runs against databases in a RSG in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2496806  A mobile phone times out when you use ActiveSync to synchronize the calendar on the mobile phone with an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox
  • 2543879  A PDF attachment sent from a Mac Mail client does not display when you open the email message by using Outlook 2010 in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2491751  Spell checking does not function correctly in OWA when an S/MIME control is used and SSL Offloading is enabled in Exchange Server 2007
  • 2484147  “HTTP Error 400 Bad Request” error message when you use OWA to log on to a newly created Exchange Server 2007 mailbox
  • 2466220  Question mark (?) characters appear in the subject of a reply email message in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2223294  A new feature is available to disable the “No end date” check box in OWA when you create a recurring meeting item in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 977906  You receive an error message when you run certain commands in the EMS on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  • 2495010  The EdgeTransport.exe process consumes 100% CPU usage on an Exchange Server 2010 Edge Transport server or an Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport server
  • 2484817  A mailbox does not show in certain address lists after you run commands on an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that update rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update rollups for the same product level (RTM, SPx). This means you don’t need to install previous update rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest rollup available right away.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 4 here.

Exchange Environment Report

A quick post on Exchange fellow Steve Goodman who created a nice PowerShell script which generates a basic HTML report on your Exchange environment. When required, you can also e-mail the report, which is nice if you want to schedule the script to run on a daily basis for example.

The script is provided as-is so you can tailor it to your needs. It’s still work in progress, so if you got any requests just send Steve a message.

You can find the post and script here.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 1

Back from a 2 week holiday, so I have some catching up to do.

First up is the release of Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2279665). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.106.2.

Here’s the list of changes included in this rollup (KB2279665):

  1. 2188615 Event ID: 4999 is logged when the EdgeTransport.exe process crashes intermittently on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  2. 2203381 “554 5.6.0 STOREDRV.Deliver; Corrupt message content” NDR is generated when you send an email message to an Exchange Server 2007 user
  3. 2251714 The connecting information is not logged when a user accesses a mailbox that is hosted on an Exchange Server 2007 server by using POP3 or by using IMAP4
  4. 958305 An incorrect user is displayed as the caller in a mail message in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  5. 973040 The Bcc information is lost when the Exchange Server 2003 journalized messages are sent to an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox
  6. 973637 Exchange Server 2007 creates incorrect Lotus Notes proxy email addresses
  7. 975424 The “legacyExchangeDN” value is shown in the “From” field of an email message instead of the Simple Display Name in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  8. 975993 “The message could not be opened” error message when an Exchange Server 2007 user tries to open or accept a meeting request
  9. 976100 Shared calendar items are shown incorrectly in the server time zone instead of the time zone of an Exchange Server 2007 user who is accessing the shared calendar
  10. 977189 The meeting time of a meeting forward notification is incorrect on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  11. 978144 A warning message is received when you run the Test-ReplicationHealth cmdlet on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  12. 978468 You receive an error message and Event ID: 1008 is logged when you move an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox
  13. 979038 A memory leak occurs in the Microsoft.Exchange.Monitoring.exe process when you run the Test-OwaConnectivity cmdlet or the Test-ActiveSyncConnectivity cmdlet in Exchange Management Shell on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  14. 979194 Excluding domain names from the Sender ID filter does not take effect after you run the Set-SenderIDConfig cmdlet on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  15. 979338 Fax communication sessions are dropped by an Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging server
  16. 979519 The PR_REPORT_TEXT property represents an incorrect read notification in Exchange Server 2007
  17. 979803 Internet Explorer unexpectedly focuses on an Exchange Server 2007 user’s OWA inbox or on an OWA calendar that is added as a web part on a SharePoint Server-based website
  18. 980205 Public folder replication is blocked unexpected in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  19. 980301 The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service stops responding during a Volume Shadow Copy Service backup on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  20. 980404 A multibyte character is converted into a “0xFFFD” character or into unrecognized characters when you use Exchange Web Services in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  21. 980725 You experience issues when you move messages from one mailbox folder to another mailbox folder in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  22. 980914 A user does not receive any new email messages by using a third-party POP3 client in a mixed Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2003 environment
  23. 980953 A second dot is added to the file names of the automatic generated attachments on an Exchange Server 2007 SP2 or later version server
  24. 981794 The Get-AgentLog cmdlet operation stops and you receive an error message Exchange Server 2007
  25. 982055 The store.exe process crashes occasionally on an active node when you move the Exchange Virtual Server from an active node to a passive node in an Exchange Server 2007 cluster environment
  26. 982099 Unexpected issues occur after you run the Set-mailbox cmdlet on an Exchange Server 2007 server to convert a shared mailbox into a regular mailbox
  27. 982118 The VSS backup operation fails occasionally and Event ID: 2034 is generated on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  28. 982213 The display name or the address of a user is displayed in garbage characters when you reply to an email message in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  29. 982475 The inline image of an email message that is sent by using OWA with S/MIME enabled is lost for an Exchange Server 2007 user
  30. 982542 Attachments of certain email messages disappear at the client-side when you use an ExOLEDB-based application to change email messages in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  31. 982722 It takes a long time to copy or move items from one public folder to another public folder by using Outlook in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  32. 982928 The Msftesql.exe process continues using memory on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  33. 983296 Exchange ActiveSync crashes on an Exchange Server 2007 server causing the client synchronization to be unavailable
  34. 983447 A NDR is not generated when an email message is not delivered after you set the value for “Maximum number of recipients” of “Transport Settings” to “0″ on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  35. 983529 The EdgeTransport.exe process crashes and then restarts on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  36. 983540 “Http 500″ error message when you use Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant on an Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server to diagnose issues

As the Exchange Team mentioned, when running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it by using fscutility /enable

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 1 here.

Exchange Help Files Updated

The Exchange Help (.CHM) files on the Microsoft Download Center have been updated for Exchange 2007 Sp3, Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2010 SP1 Beta. Handy if you’re on the road or in a data center without internet connection.

You can download the help files from the following locations:

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 Help

Exchange Server 2007 SP3

Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for Exchange Server 2007. SP3 raises Exchange Server 2007 version number to 8.3.83.6.

Major change in this Service Pack is that it enables you to install Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 R2. It will also allow you to install the Exchange 2007 Management Tools on Windows 7.

Another nice addition is the new password reset tool for OWA users; no more fiddling around with the IISADMPWD in IIS on Client Access Servers. Enabling the password reset rool just requires creating or setting the following registry key on CAS servers (its disabled by default):

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA\ChangeExpiredPasswordEnabledValue (REG_DWORD) = 1

More information on the new password reset tool can be found on TechNet here.

The Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Release Notes are available on TechNet here; the What’s New in Exchange Server 2007 SP3 topic is located here.

Note that the download contains the full set of binaries; you can use it to upgrade existing installations but it can also be used to deploy new Exchange 2007 SP3 installations. Note that upgrading or installing Exchange 2007 SP3 on a system which is going to be or has been upgraded from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2 in any way is unsupported.

You can download the x64 or x86 version of SP3 from here. The updated Unified Messaging Language Packs can be found here.

The Exchange versions, builds and dates table has been updated accordingly and can be found here.

Exchange Mailbox Role Calculator updates

Updates? Yes, updates. Both the Exchange 2007 Mailbox Role Calculator as well as the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Role Calculator have been updated.

The Exchange 2010 Mailbox Role Calculator has been updated to version 7.7 (was 6.3, so major update). This version includes the following enhancements:

  • 32-core support;
  • Fourth mailbox tier in the calculator;
  • Two new columns to the primary data center “Active Database Configuration / DAG” table to expose the total number of databases activated in each site after server failure events. This change was added to expose cross-site database fail-over events;
  • Option to activation block secondary data center mailbox servers that host HA database copies. This allows you to design a solution where you can activate the secondary data center in the event of a primary data center failure mode, or choose to activate a copy in the secondary data center manually, but prohibits Active Manager from automatically activating a copy in the secondary data center;
  • Modified IOPS Multiplication Factor calculations from “Base + (Base * Multiplier)” to “Base * Multiplier” to accommodate some 3rd party factors (so now you should use 1.5 instead of 0.5).

Besides enhancements, the updated Exchange 2010 Mailbox Role Calculator also contains some bug fixes which are described in the changeblog. You can download the updated calculator here. Usage instructions can be found here.

Regarding the Exchange 2007 Mailbox Role Calculator, it has been updated to version 17.5 (was 17.3). It contains some minor fixes. The Exchange 2007 Mailbox Role Calculator can be found here (changeblog, instructions).

Exchange 2007 Mailbox Role Calculator 17.3

Exchange 2007? Yes! With all this Exchange 2010 coverage one might forget about Exchange 2007, but not the Exchange team who updated the Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Role Storage Requirements Calculator to version 17.3.

The major change in this version compared to version 16.9 (released April, 2009!) is a change in the IOPS calculation. This change is to based on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Performance Benchmarking Guide which simplifies the IOPS calculation in combination with 3rd party software.

The update also contains some bug fixes which are contained in the release notes. You can download the calculator here; usage instructions can be found here.

Mailbox Server Role Storage Requirements Calculator