Monitoring Exchange Server 2007 with System Center Operations Manager

Monitoring Exchange Server 2007 with System Center Operations Manager

by Michael B. Smith
Released March 2009
Publisher(s): Sybex
ISBN: 9780470148952

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Book description

System Center Operations Manager 2007 is the new version of Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and offers valuable new advantages for improving the manageability of Microsoft servers and applications. With this book, you'll get high-level instruction for using Microsoft's powerful server administration tool to manage Exchange Server 2007. Focused on monitoring and managing Exchange Server using Microsoft's powerful new server admin tool, this book delivers exactly the information you need to deploy, manage, and maintain Systems Center Operations Manager 2007.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Dear Reader,
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. About the Author
  5. Introduction
    1. Who Should Read This Book?
    2. Exchange Versions and Features
    3. Monitoring Tools
    4. Operations Manager 2007
    5. Day-to-Day Operations
    6. Try It Yourself
    7. Chapters at a Glance
    8. Conventions Used in This Book
    9. A Final Word
  6. 1. An Evolution of Server Management
    1. 1.1. Exchange Server 2007: A Little History
    2. 1.2. System Center Operations Manager 2007: A Little History
    3. 1.3. Monitoring: Do We Care?
    4. 1.4. Health Monitoring in the Old Days...
      1. 1.4.1. Tools Background
        1. 1.4.1.1. Nslookup
        2. 1.4.1.2. Ping
        3. 1.4.1.3. Tracert (traceroute)
        4. 1.4.1.4. Telnet
        5. 1.4.1.5. What Other Tools Are Available?
      2. 1.4.2. Additional Health Resources
        1. 1.4.2.1. Disk Space Utilization and Connection Velocity
        2. 1.4.2.2. WMI
        3. 1.4.2.3. System Monitor (Perfmon)
        4. 1.4.2.4. Protocol-Specific Tests
        5. 1.4.2.5. Usability
        6. 1.4.2.6. Resource Availability
        7. 1.4.2.7. SNMP
    5. 1.5. Exchange Server Roles
      1. 1.5.1. Exchange 2003 and Earlier
      2. 1.5.2. Exchange 2007
    6. 1.6. Extracting Information from the Environment (Logging)
      1. 1.6.1. Diagnostic Logging
      2. 1.6.2. Protocol Logging
      3. 1.6.3. Event Logging
      4. 1.6.4. Message Tracking
      5. 1.6.5. Performance Monitor
      6. 1.6.6. Helping Yourself
    7. 1.7. Administrative Models
      1. 1.7.1. Command-Line Interface (CLI)
      2. 1.7.2. Graphical User Interface (GUI)
      3. 1.7.3. Mixed Interfaces (GUI and CLI)
    8. 1.8. Summary
  7. 2. Monitoring Exchange Server 2007
    1. 2.1. Types of Monitoring
    2. 2.2. Generic Server Information
      1. 2.2.1. Memory
        1. 2.2.1.1. Use of the Paging File
        2. 2.2.1.2. Available Memory
        3. 2.2.1.3. Exchange Server 2007 Memory Requirements
        4. 2.2.1.4. Memory Summary
      2. 2.2.2. Processor
        1. 2.2.2.1. Exchange Server 2007 Processor Requirements
        2. 2.2.2.2. Processor Summary
      3. 2.2.3. Disk
        1. 2.2.3.1. Exchange Disk Performance
        2. 2.2.3.2. Disk Performance Counters
          1. 2.2.3.2.1. Tier 1 Disk Performance Counters
          2. 2.2.3.2.2. Tier 2 Disk Performance Counters
        3. 2.2.3.3. Disk Summary
    3. 2.3. Exchange-Specific Information
      1. 2.3.1. Active Directory
      2. 2.3.2. Network
      3. 2.3.3. MAPI
    4. 2.4. Summary
  8. 3. Installing and Confi guring OpsMgr 2007
    1. 3.1. Planning for Your OpsMgr Installation
    2. 3.2. Installing OpsMgr 2007
      1. 3.2.1. Installing OpsMgr 2007 Prerequisites for Server 2003
      2. 3.2.2. Installing OpsMgr 2007 Prerequisites for Server 2008
      3. 3.2.3. Release Notes
      4. 3.2.4. Installing Operations Manager 2007
        1. 3.2.4.1. Install OpsMgr Database
        2. 3.2.4.2. Install OpsMgr Application
        3. 3.2.4.3. Installing OpsMgr Service Pack
        4. 3.2.4.4. Installation Summary
    3. 3.3. Initial Configuration
      1. 3.3.1. Recipients and Subscriptions
        1. 3.3.1.1. Creating a Recipient
        2. 3.3.1.2. Creating a Subscription
    4. 3.4. Management Packs
    5. 3.5. Backing Up the Server Key
    6. 3.6. Summary
  9. 4. Deploying OpsMgr 2007
    1. 4.1. An Introduction to Agents
    2. 4.2. Monitoring with Windows Agents
      1. 4.2.1. Agent Security
      2. 4.2.2. Agent Deployment
        1. 4.2.2.1. Push Installation
        2. 4.2.2.2. Manual Installations
          1. 4.2.2.2.1. Manual Installation with UI
          2. 4.2.2.2.2. Manual Installation without UI
    3. 4.3. Monitoring with UNIX-Like Agents
    4. 4.4. Monitoring Windows Agentless
    5. 4.5. Monitoring with SNMP
    6. 4.6. Other Monitoring Choices
    7. 4.7. Summary
  10. 5. The First Management Pack: Windows Server
    1. 5.1. PowerShell
      1. 5.1.1. Some PowerShell Basics
        1. 5.1.1.1. Starting PowerShell
        2. 5.1.1.2. Tweaking the Shell
        3. 5.1.1.3. Starting Your Own Command Shell
        4. 5.1.1.4. Snap-Ins
        5. 5.1.1.5. OpsMgr Cmdlets
        6. 5.1.1.6. What Does All This Mean to Me?
    2. 5.2. Back to Management Packs
      1. 5.2.1. Modifying Management Objects
      2. 5.2.2. Analyzing a Rule
      3. 5.2.3. Modifying Objects and Creating New Objects
        1. 5.2.3.1. Modifying Objects
        2. 5.2.3.2. Creating New Objects
    3. 5.3. Configuring the Management Pack
      1. 5.3.1. Physical Disk Discovery
      2. 5.3.2. Individual Processor Discovery
    4. 5.4. Windows Server Health
      1. 5.4.1. Availability
        1. 5.4.1.1. Hardware
        2. 5.4.1.2. Operating System
      2. 5.4.2. Configuration
      3. 5.4.3. Performance
        1. 5.4.3.1. Hardware
        2. 5.4.3.2. Operating System
      4. 5.4.4. Security
    5. 5.5. Summary
  11. 6. The Active Directory Management Pack
    1. 6.1. How Exchange Uses Active Directory
      1. 6.1.1. Here a Schema, There a Schema...
      2. 6.1.2. Tools
        1. 6.1.2.1. LDIFDE.EXE
        2. 6.1.2.2. DSQUERY.EXE
        3. 6.1.2.3. LDP.EXE
        4. 6.1.2.4. ADSIEDIT.MSC
        5. 6.1.2.5. ADFIND.EXE
      3. 6.1.3. Mailbox-Enabled Users
      4. 6.1.4. Other Exchange Objects
    2. 6.2. A/D Client versus A/D Server Health
    3. 6.3. The Management Pack
      1. 6.3.1. Create an Override Management Pack
      2. 6.3.2. Management Pack Discoveries
      3. 6.3.3. Enable Agent Proxy
      4. 6.3.4. Replication Monitoring
      5. 6.3.5. Enabling Client Monitoring
        1. 6.3.5.1. Create a Group
        2. 6.3.5.2. Add Members to a Group
          1. 6.3.5.2.1. Add Explicit Computer Members
          2. 6.3.5.2.2. Add Subgroups
        3. 6.3.5.3. Override the Rule for a Group
      6. 6.3.6. Intersite Replication Latency Threshold
      7. 6.3.7. Disabling Performance Data
      8. 6.3.8. Configuring External Command Paths
    4. 6.4. Active Directory Health
      1. 6.4.1. AD Client Health
      2. 6.4.2. AD Server Health
        1. 6.4.2.1. Availability
        2. 6.4.2.2. Configuration
        3. 6.4.2.3. Performance
        4. 6.4.2.4. Rules
        5. 6.4.2.5. Reports
    5. 6.5. Summary
  12. 7. The Domain Name System (DNS) Management Pack
    1. 7.1. What Is DNS?
      1. 7.1.1. Views on DNS
        1. 7.1.1.1. DNS as a Directory Service
        2. 7.1.1.2. DNS as a Flat File
        3. 7.1.1.3. DNS as a Database
      2. 7.1.2. RFCs
        1. 7.1.2.1. Relevant Basics
      3. 7.1.3. Windows Extensions
      4. 7.1.4. DNS Client vs. DNS Server
        1. 7.1.4.1. DNS Client
        2. 7.1.4.2. DNS Server
    2. 7.2. How Exchange Server Uses DNS
      1. 7.2.1. Destination Servers
      2. 7.2.2. Antispam
      3. 7.2.3. Active Directory Server Choice
      4. 7.2.4. Site Routing
    3. 7.3. The Management Pack
      1. 7.3.1. Create an Override Management Pack
      2. 7.3.2. Management Pack Discoveries
      3. 7.3.3. DNS Server Health
        1. 7.3.3.1. Availability
        2. 7.3.3.2. Configuration
        3. 7.3.3.3. Performance Rules
        4. 7.3.3.4. Reports
        5. 7.3.3.5. Security
        6. 7.3.3.6. Tasks
        7. 7.3.3.7. Views
    4. 7.4. Summary
  13. 8. The Internet Information Services Management Pack
    1. 8.1. Understanding Some IIS Basics
      1. 8.1.1. IIS Administration
      2. 8.1.2. FTP Server
      3. 8.1.3. WWW Server
        1. 8.1.3.1. Outlook Web Access (OWA)
        2. 8.1.3.2. Outlook Mobile Access (OMA)
        3. 8.1.3.3. Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
        4. 8.1.3.4. Outlook Anywhere (RPC/HTTP)
        5. 8.1.3.5. Autodiscover
        6. 8.1.3.6. Offline Address Book (OAB) Distribution
        7. 8.1.3.7. Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
        8. 8.1.3.8. Exchange Web Services (EWS)
        9. 8.1.3.9. Free/Busy Availability Service
        10. 8.1.3.10. Computer File Access
      4. 8.1.4. POP Server
      5. 8.1.5. NNTP Server
      6. 8.1.6. IMAP Server
      7. 8.1.7. SMTP Server
      8. 8.1.8. IIS Basics Summary
    2. 8.2. Understanding the Management Pack
      1. 8.2.1. Creating an Override Management Pack
      2. 8.2.2. Management Pack Discoveries
      3. 8.2.3. Configuring IIS Logging
      4. 8.2.4. Overriding Necessary Rules
    3. 8.3. Checking the IIS Server's Health
      1. 8.3.1. Availability
      2. 8.3.2. Configuration
      3. 8.3.3. Performance Rules
      4. 8.3.4. Tasks
      5. 8.3.5. Reports and Views
    4. 8.4. Understanding PowerShell
      1. 8.4.1. Writing the Code
      2. 8.4.2. PowerShell Summary
    5. 8.5. Summary
  14. 9. SQL Server: An Ancillary Management Pack
    1. 9.1. Understanding the Basics of SQL Server
    2. 9.2. Understanding How Exchange Server Uses SQL Server
    3. 9.3. Understanding How OpsMgr Uses SQL Server
    4. 9.4. Understanding the SQL Server Management Pack
      1. 9.4.1. Creating an Override Management Pack
      2. 9.4.2. Management Pack Discoveries
      3. 9.4.3. SQL Server Logging
    5. 9.5. Monitoring SQL Server Health
      1. 9.5.1. Availability
      2. 9.5.2. Configuration
      3. 9.5.3. Performance/Rules
      4. 9.5.4. Reports and Views
      5. 9.5.5. Security
      6. 9.5.6. Tasks
      7. 9.5.7. Synthetic Transactions
    6. 9.6. Summary
  15. 10. Exchange Server 2003
    1. 10.1. Understanding Exchange Server 2003 Basics
      1. 10.1.1. Exchange Server 2003 System Requirements
      2. 10.1.2. Basic Client Requirements
        1. 10.1.2.1. Office Outlook
        2. 10.1.2.2. Outlook Web Access
        3. 10.1.2.3. Outlook Mobile Access
        4. 10.1.2.4. Exchange ActiveSync
      3. 10.1.3. Considerations for Exchange Server 2003
        1. 10.1.3.1. Exchange Standard or Exchange Enterprise
        2. 10.1.3.2. Windows Server Version
        3. 10.1.3.3. Hardware Requirements
        4. 10.1.3.4. Disk Partitioning
        5. 10.1.3.5. Exchange Server Security
        6. 10.1.3.6. Active Directory
        7. 10.1.3.7. Licensing
      4. 10.1.4. Configuration Concerns for Exchange 2003
        1. 10.1.4.1. Domain Name System (DNS)
        2. 10.1.4.2. Recipient Policies
        3. 10.1.4.3. Deleted Item Retention/Deleted Mailbox Retention
        4. 10.1.4.4. Outlook Web Access/POP3/IMAP
        5. 10.1.4.5. RPC/HTTP
        6. 10.1.4.6. Mailbox Size Management
        7. 10.1.4.7. Incoming/Outgoing Message Size Limits
          1. 10.1.4.7.1. Per User
          2. 10.1.4.7.2. Per SMTP Virtual Server
          3. 10.1.4.7.3. Per Organization
        8. 10.1.4.8. Standard and Circular Logging
        9. 10.1.4.9. Security
        10. 10.1.4.10. Message Tracking Center Security
    2. 10.2. Learning the Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack
      1. 10.2.1. Management Pack Configuration Wizard
        1. 10.2.1.1. Installing the Configuration Wizard
        2. 10.2.1.2. Using the Configuration Wizard
        3. 10.2.1.3. XML Documents
      2. 10.2.2. Creating an Override Management Pack
      3. 10.2.3. Management Pack Discoveries
      4. 10.2.4. Exchange Server Logging
      5. 10.2.5. Necessary Overrides
        1. 10.2.5.1. Message-Tracking Collection
        2. 10.2.5.2. Exchange Topology View
        3. 10.2.5.3. Monitoring Clusters
    3. 10.3. Understanding Exchange Server 2003 Health
      1. 10.3.1. Availability, Configuration, and Security
        1. 10.3.1.1. ExBPA Basics
        2. 10.3.1.2. Availability Monitors
      2. 10.3.2. Performance and Rules
      3. 10.3.3. Reports and Views
      4. 10.3.4. Tasks
    4. 10.4. Summary
  16. 11. Exchange Server 2007
    1. 11.1. Understanding the Basics of Exchange Server 2007
      1. 11.1.1. Exchange Server 2007 Discontinued Features
      2. 11.1.2. Exchange Server 2007 Server Roles
    2. 11.2. Understanding Exchange Server 2007 System Requirements
      1. 11.2.1. Infrastructure Requirements
      2. 11.2.2. Software Requirements
      3. 11.2.3. Hardware Requirements
        1. 11.2.3.1. Processor Cores
        2. 11.2.3.2. Memory
        3. 11.2.3.3. Storage Size
        4. 11.2.3.4. Storage Performance
        5. 11.2.3.5. Storage Architecture
    3. 11.3. Learning Client Requirements and Special Features
      1. 11.3.1. Office Outlook
      2. 11.3.2. Outlook Web Access
      3. 11.3.3. Outlook Mobile Access
      4. 11.3.4. Exchange ActiveSync
    4. 11.4. Understanding Special Considerations for Exchange Server 2007
      1. 11.4.1. Standard vs. Enterprise
      2. 11.4.2. Windows Server Version
      3. 11.4.3. Licensing
        1. 11.4.3.1. Server Licensing
        2. 11.4.3.2. Client Access Licensing
      4. 11.4.4. Disk Partitioning
      5. 11.4.5. Exchange Server Security
      6. 11.4.6. Active Directory
    5. 11.5. Understanding Configuration Concerns for Exchange Server 2007
      1. 11.5.1. Domain Name System
      2. 11.5.2. Email Address Policies
      3. 11.5.3. Messaging Records Management
      4. 11.5.4. Mailbox Size Management
      5. 11.5.5. Deleted Item Retention/Deleted Mailbox Retention
      6. 11.5.6. Outlook Web Access/POP3/IMAP
      7. 11.5.7. Outlook Anywhere
      8. 11.5.8. Incoming/Outgoing Message Size Limits
        1. 11.5.8.1. Per User
        2. 11.5.8.2. Per SMTP Connector
        3. 11.5.8.3. Per Organization
      9. 11.5.9. Standard and Circular Logging
      10. 11.5.10. Logging
    6. 11.6. Understanding the Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack
      1. 11.6.1. Creating an Override Management Pack
      2. 11.6.2. Management Pack Discoveries
      3. 11.6.3. Exchange Server Logging
      4. 11.6.4. Necessary Overrides
    7. 11.7. Monitoring Exchange Server 2007 Health
      1. 11.7.1. Availability, Configuration, and Security
        1. 11.7.1.1. ExBPA Basics
        2. 11.7.1.2. Availability Monitors
      2. 11.7.2. Performance and Rules
      3. 11.7.3. Reports and Views
      4. 11.7.4. Tasks
    8. 11.8. Summary
  17. 12. Exchange Server 2007 Redundancy
    1. 12.1. Understanding Service-Level and Operational-Level Agreements
      1. 12.1.1. Service-Level Agreements
      2. 12.1.2. Operational-Level Agreements
      3. 12.1.3. Cost of Service
    2. 12.2. Understanding Availability
    3. 12.3. Understanding Resiliency
      1. 12.3.1. Common Usage
    4. 12.4. Understanding Redundancy and the Edge Transport Role
      1. 12.4.1. DNS MX Records
      2. 12.4.2. Windows Load Balancing Services
    5. 12.5. Understanding Redundancy and the Client Access Server Role
    6. 12.6. Understanding Availability and Redundancy for the Hub Transport Role
    7. 12.7. Understanding the Unified Messaging Role
    8. 12.8. Understanding High Availability for the Mailbox Role
      1. 12.8.1. Failover Clustering
      2. 12.8.2. Single Copy Cluster (SCC)
      3. 12.8.3. Continuous Replication
      4. 12.8.4. Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR)
      5. 12.8.5. Local Continuous Replication (LCR)
      6. 12.8.6. Standby Continuous Replication (SCR)
      7. 12.8.7. Public Folder Replication
    9. 12.9. Monitoring Resilient and Highly Available Solutions
    10. 12.10. Summary
  18. 13. Exchange Server Operations
    1. 13.1. Performing Backups
      1. 13.1.1. Some Background on ESE
        1. 13.1.1.1. Built-in Error Detection and Correction
        2. 13.1.1.2. ESE Errors
        3. 13.1.1.3. Transaction Logs
        4. 13.1.1.4. ESE Defragmentation
      2. 13.1.2. Choosing a Backup Window
        1. 13.1.2.1. Streaming Backup
        2. 13.1.2.2. VSS Backup
        3. 13.1.2.3. Continuous Replication Backup
      3. 13.1.3. Backup Types
        1. 13.1.3.1. Normal Backups
        2. 13.1.3.2. Copy Backups
        3. 13.1.3.3. Daily Backups
        4. 13.1.3.4. Incremental Backups
        5. 13.1.3.5. Differential Backups
      4. 13.1.4. Backup Media Rotation
        1. 13.1.4.1. Grandfather-Father-Son
        2. 13.1.4.2. Tower of Hanoi
      5. 13.1.5. How to Do a Backup
        1. 13.1.5.1. What to Back Up
        2. 13.1.5.2. NTBackup
          1. 13.1.5.2.1. Optimizing NTBackup
          2. 13.1.5.2.2. Backup Sets
          3. 13.1.5.2.3. NTBackup Batch File
          4. 13.1.5.2.4. Scheduling NTBackup
    2. 13.2. Initiating a Recovery
      1. 13.2.1. Mailbox Behavior
      2. 13.2.2. Transaction Log Replay
      3. 13.2.3. Recovery Storage Groups
        1. 13.2.3.1. Exchange Server 2003
        2. 13.2.3.2. Exchange Server 2007
        3. 13.2.3.3. Using the Recovery Storage Group
      4. 13.2.4. NTBackup Restore
    3. 13.3. Understanding Security Validation and Patching
      1. 13.3.1. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
        1. 13.3.1.1. Acquiring and Installing the Software
        2. 13.3.1.2. Executing MBSA
    4. 13.4. Using the Knowledge Base
    5. 13.5. Summary
  19. 14. Tracking Mail Flow
    1. 14.1. Understanding Mail Flow Through Your Organization
    2. 14.2. Generating Email for Testing Purposes Using PowerShell
    3. 14.3. Using the Queue Viewer Tool
    4. 14.4. Using the Message Tracking Tool
    5. 14.5. Using the Routing Log Viewer Tool
    6. 14.6. Interpreting SMTP Protocol Log Files
    7. 14.7. Using the Mail Flow Troubleshooter
    8. 14.8. Summary

Product information

  • Title: Monitoring Exchange Server 2007 with System Center Operations Manager
  • Author(s): Michael B. Smith
  • Release date: March 2009
  • Publisher(s): Sybex
  • ISBN: 9780470148952