Re-release of Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1

By Gulab | Thursday, July 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Note: If you are running Microsoft Forefront, it is important to disable Forefront protection during the update:
Before running patch: fscutility /disable
After running patch: fscutility /enable

Cheers,

Exchange 2010: How to delete the First database and move the system mailboxes

By Gulab | Monday, July 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

How to Increase number of Mailbox move in Exchange 2010

By Gulab | Wednesday, July 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Assume you are doing migration to Exchange Server 2010 and you want to move 50 Mailbox at a time rather than the default number.
Check the reference Tech Net article:
Throttling the Mailbox Replication Service

To increase the number of moves you will have to make the changes in MSExchangeMailboxReplication.exe.config file.
A) Go to all Exchange 2010 CAS Servers, open the below file in notepad or any file editor:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Bin\MSExchangeMailboxReplication.exe.config

B) Change the below values:

1. MaxActiveMovesPerSourceMDB = “50″
2. MaxActiveMovesPerTargetMDB = “50″
3. MaxActiveMovesPerTargetServer = “50″

C) Save the file and restart the “Microsoft Exchange Replication Service".

Cheers,

Communicator & Lync Lync Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool Version 3.0

By Gulab | Leave a comment

The OCS & Lync Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool V3.0
Download
  1. You can download the tool here (save locally, unzip, and run on a Windows client).
Description
The OCS & Lync Sign-In Troubleshooter helps diagnose Microsoft Office Communicator and Lync clientsign-in issues.
Features
1] DNS Information.  The tool queries for the DNS SRV and A records used by the Communicator or Lync client to automatically locate the OCS or Lync server. It queries the DNS server (as configured on the client machine) and displays the results for the following DNS records:
  1.  _sipinternaltls._tcp.<domain.com>
  2. _sipinternal._tcp.<domain.com>
  3. _sip._tls.<domain.com>
  4. _sip._tcp.<domain.com>
  5. sipinternal.<domain.com>
  6. sip.<domain.com>
  7. sipexternal.<domain.com>
The preferred DNS match (that the client will first attempt to use) is then highlighted in the results.
2]  Test Port Availability.  A user can click on any of the DNS sign-in records that returned a match (resolved on the client) and then test the connectivity of the hostname and port associated with that DNS record.
3] Remotely Retrieve Certificate Information.  A user can click on any of the DNS automatic sign-in and remotely retrieve the X509 Certificate information if the port is secured using TLS (or SSL).  Certificate information returned includes the Common Name (CN), Subject Name, Issuer, Certificate Authority, Expiry Date, Creation Date, and Subject Alternative Names (SANs).
4] The tool also retrieves and displays the Installed Version of the Office Communicator or Lync client.

To Use
  1. Click on the Download link and save the file on the client computer where the Lync or Office Communicator client is running.
  2. Extract the MOCLogin.exe file.  Right-click | Properties | “Unblock” it.  Double-click it to run the tool.
  3. Enter a SIP address or SIP domain name, and press Go.
  4. Optionally select a matching DNS record result and test the port connectivity or retrieve the certificate information.
Support
This tool is offered on a best effort basis by Curtis Johnstone. No formal support or warranty is offered, implied or intended.
Tested On
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 2003, Windows 7, and Windows 2008 with the latest Service Pack’s (as of July 2011).  The only language it was tested with is English.
Copyright
 This tool is Copyright © 2011 Curtis Johnstone and cannot be distributed without explicit permission.
Screen Shots
Main DNS Queries (Example)
Certificate Information (Example)

Cheers,

Error code 0X80004002 while doing In-Place upgrade from Exchange 2003 Standard to Enterprise

By Gulab | Saturday, July 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

It's been long time I worked on Exchange Server 2003. I got a chance to work on it this week and it's interesting. Client had Exchange 2003 Std edition and database crossed the 75 GB limit.
The good part was that client got this issue on weekend, hence there were no issues in production.
After long discussion we decided that migrating to Exchange 2010 won;t be possible due to the budget (as if now) hence he asked for the alternate resolution. After checking the event 1221 for Mailbox and Public Folder Store we found that there  is nothing we can achieve even after running the Defragmentation.

We decided to do In-Place upgrade from Standard to Enterprise.The good part is, client had the licensing for Enterprise(I don't know why didn't they installed Ent. edition).
Started the upgrade and it failed. Check the application log and found the below event id.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeSetup
Event Category: Microsoft Exchange Setup 
Event ID: 1002
Date:  7/10/2011
Time:  10:21:37 AM
User:  N/A
Computer: 2003
Description:
Exchange Server component Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Services failed. 
Error: 0xc107041d - 0xc007041d - The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion. (EXIFS) 
For more information, click http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect.asp. 
Checked the ExchangeSetupLog and got the error:

CComBOIFacesFactory::QueryInterface (d:\jtrs\admin\src\udog\bo\bofactory.cxx:54)
           Error code 0X80004002 (16386): No interface.

After doing little research I found that it's EXIFS which need's be corrected in the registry. 
Changed the value from 2 to 3 on Start key at the below location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\EXIFS\Start
After changing the registry value continued the upgrade and it completed successfully.
Installed SP2 on the server. Restarted the Exchange Server and checked the application log for event  ID 1217 for Enterprise edition and it was present, which says that server has been successfully upgraded to Enterprise edition.

Checked the Mailbox Store and Public Folder Store and they mounted successfully. Created New Mailbox Store without any issue.

Cheers,

EXCHANGE RANGER