Thoughtsofanidlemind's Blog

Category: Exchange

  • On the naming of DAGs

    Most Exchange administrators, even those who don’t have much hands-on experience with Exchange 2010, are now aware that the Database Availability Group (DAG) feature is built on Windows 2008 failover clusters. Exchange 2010 does an excellent job of hiding the complexities of Windows clusters and in normal operation you aren’t…

  • Removing mailbox export and import requests

    Exchange 2010 SP1 introduces a new cmdlet set to handle mailbox export requests to avoid the previous requirement to install Outlook on mailbox servers. With SP1 you can run the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet to create a request for the Mailbox Replication Service (MRS) running on a Client Access Server (CAS) to…

  • One or two NICs?

    During the development of Exchange 2010, Microsoft originally required that any mailbox server participating in a Database Availability Group (DAG) had to be equipped with at least two NICs (Network Interface Controllers). One NIC handles “MAPI” or client traffic; the other handles the replication traffic generated by Exchange to keep…

  • Kindle edition of Microsoft Exchange 2010 Inside Out available now!

    I’m delighted that my Microsoft Exchange 2010 (including SP1) Inside Out book published by Microsoft Press is now available in a Kindle edition. The book is also available at Amazon.co.uk and other country-specific sites. Other e-book formats (ePub, MOBI, PDF) for the book are available from the O’Reilly web site.…

  • Exchange 2010 SP1 Store Driver throttling

    The Store Driver is a very important Exchange component. Running on all hub transport servers, its function is to provide the mechanism to deliver inbound messages to mailbox databases. Unlike Exchange 2003 and previous versions, all messages go through a hub transport server, even if they are sent between two…

  • Tweaking the Mailbox Replication Service configuration file

    The Mailbox Replication Service (MRS) is an essential component of any Exchange 2010 deployment as it controls the movement of mailboxes between databases. MRS runs on all Exchange 2010 Client Access Servers (CAS). MRS gets involved in migrations from Exchange 2003 or 2007 to Exchange 2010 because moving mailboxes is…

  • Batching Exchange 2010 mailbox moves

    My post from November 22 about clearing mailbox move requests prompted some questions about auto suspending moves. This is new functionality introduced in Exchange 2010 as all mailbox moves performed in earlier versions occur synchronously. In other words, an administrator decides to move a selected mailbox and the chosen management…

  • Clearing out mailbox move requests

    After you’ve run Exchange 2010 for a while, you’ve probably moved a few mailboxes around and have accumulated some completed mailbox move requests. When it begins to move a mailbox, the Mailbox Replication Service (MRS) stamps the user object for the mailbox with six attributes that it uses to indicate…

  • Thoughts on lagged database copies

    One of the best things about delivering training to smart people is the questions that they pose after you introduce a topic. During the recent Exchange 2010 Maestro seminars that Paul Robichaux and I delivered in Boston and Anaheim, I took the lead in talking about the Database Availability Group…

  • RTM of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (SP1) Inside Out

    I see from the Microsoft Press blog that my Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Inside Out book, also available at Amazon.co.uk and other fine booksellers, has now been Released To Manufacturing (RTM’d). RTM is a term that is normally applied to software or hardware products. It’s usually the point when a…