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How to find out how many users have mailboxes on Exchange server?

To find the total number of users which have mailboxes quickly, you can use search function of “Active Directory Users and Computers” management tool. 

. Select the domain example.com 
. Right-click the domain exmaple.com  and select “Find…”
. Select the “Exchange” tab
. Check the box “Show only Exchange Recipients”
. Also check “Users with exchange mailboxes”
. Click “Find Now”

When the search finishes, the number of objects will be displayed at the bottom left-hand corner. It includes system mailboxes as well.

July 9th, 2009 | Category: MS Exchange | Leave a comment

Creating a quiesced snapshot failed because the created snapshot operation exceeded the time limit for holding off I/O in the frozen virtual machine.

When using the VSS or SYNC driver within a virtual machine, the tools attempt to quiesce all I/O (storage, memory, etc) within the virtual machine. Because the virtual machine has a MS iSCSI initiator LUN attached within it, the VSS or SYNC is unable to quiesce the guest operating system in the time allocated for the quiesce operation.

You have to disable the SYNC or VSS driver within the guest operating system to allow non-quiesced backups of the virtual machine. 
 
Note: VMware snapshot operations (quiesced or non-quiesced) do not provide backups of any network attached storage mounted within the guest operating system (including iSCSI LUNs mounted via in-guest iSCSI software initiator, or CIFS/NFS share mounted within the guest operating system). For information on creating backups for these types of guest accessible storage, refer to your backup solution provider or storage hardware vendor for an appropriate solution. 

Disabling VSS

This applies to virtual machines created on ESX 3.5 U2 or later.
 
To disable the VSS driver that is installed VMware tools in ESX 3.5 U2 and higher, use Add/Remove programs within the virtual machine. 

Disabling SYNC

This applies to virtual machines created on ESX 3.5 U2 or prior.
 
To disable SYNC drivers:
  1. Open Device Manager, click View, and select Show hidden devices.
  2. Expand Non-Plug and Play Drivers.
  3. Right-click Sync Driver and select Disable.
  4. Click Yes twice to disable the SYNC driver and restart the virtual machine.
After removing the VSS and SYNC driver you do not have an application consistent backup of your guest operating system. Disabling the quiescing provides only a crash consistent backup of the virtual machine. This is similar to having a host powered off abruptly, then powering it back up, any data that was stored in memory is not saved to disk.
 
If you are running mission critical applications like Exchange, SQL, or Oracle, they require a separate backup process or workaround to ensure application level consistency.
 
vRanger Solution:
 
installing vRanger VSS within database server and doing the LAN-based backup instead of VCB back, and also enable “-noquiesce” switch for vRanger backup job. In this way, you should be able to take the consistency snapshot of database VM for backup. 
 
June 24th, 2009 | Category: MS Exchange, MS SQL, MS Windows Server, Quick "Error" Fix, Troubleshooting Cases, VMware, iSCSI SAN | 2 comments

Troubleshooting Exchange e-mail effective size limits

Examples of effective size limits

Example 1

In this example, the following size limits have been configured:

  • The global setting is set to 5 MB.
  • The Exchange SMTP connector is set to 3 MB.
  • The SMTP virtual server is set to 4 MB.
  • The user mailbox setting is set to 2 MB.

Because of these settings, users in the Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 organization can send and receive messages that are a maximum of 5 MB. Users can send messages through the connector that are a maximum of 3 MB. All mail that passes through the SMTP Virtual Server (sending or receiving) is limited to 4MB. The individual user, whose mailbox setting is 2 MB, is also limited to sending and receiving messages that are a maximum of 2 MB.

Example 2 Continue reading Troubleshooting Exchange e-mail effective size limits

June 16th, 2009 | Category: MS Exchange, Troubleshooting Cases | Leave a comment

How to set size limits for messages in Exchange Server

Size limits for messages depend on various settings. Settings can vary across users. You can customize the settings for the Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 organization, a specific connector, a specific virtual server, and an individual user.

Global setting

This setting determines the maximum size of the messages in the Exchange 2000 organization; the messages can be incoming, outgoing, or internal.

To configure the global setting, follow these steps:

  1. Start Exchange System Manager. To do this, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
  2. Expand Global Settings.
  3. Right-click Message Delivery, and then click Properties.
  4. Click the Default tab to configure the global settings. Continue reading How to set size limits for messages in Exchange Server
June 16th, 2009 | Category: MS Exchange, Troubleshooting Cases | 3 comments

Incoming E-mail is missing

Problem: 2 clients were supposed to receive the same e-mail, but only 1 client received it, the other client couldn’t receive it. Checked the spam filter Postini, Barracuda, Outlook rules and Junk mail folder, there is no that e-mail for the client.

Environment: Postini Spam Filter, Barracuda Spam Firewall, Exchange Server, Outlook client 

Solution: Continue reading Incoming E-mail is missing

May 27th, 2009 | Category: MS Exchange, Troubleshooting Cases | One comment