Management & Administration

Home
- Articles & Tutorials
  - Exchange 2003 Articles
    - Management & Administration

Management & Administration categories topic

[	163	]	Exchange 2007 Articles	Last updated: May 15, 2008
[	269	]	Exchange 2003 Articles	Last updated: Feb 07, 2008
[	19	]	High Availability & Recovery	Last updated: Feb 07, 2008
[	70	]	Management & Administration	Last updated: May 10, 2007
[	27	]	Migration & Deployment	Last updated: Dec 05, 2006
[	28	]	Mobility & Client Access	Last updated: Jun 27, 2006
[	16	]	Monitoring & Operations	Last updated: Mar 27, 2007
[	30	]	Planning & Architecture	Last updated: Sep 12, 2006
[	46	]	Security & Message Hygiene	Last updated: Dec 07, 2006
[	33	]	Tools	Last updated: Feb 01, 2007
[	71	]	Exchange 2000 Articles	Last updated: Jul 06, 2004
[	12	]	Exchange 5.5 Articles	Last updated: Jan 05, 2005
[	10	]	Product Reviews	Last updated: Mar 01, 2005

Management & Administration Articles

Exchange 2003 System Mailboxes: Date - May 10, 2007; Author - Marc Grote; Overview of Exchange Server 2003 System mailboxes.
Troubleshooting Mailbox Manager Policy Application: Date - Apr 12, 2007; Author - Neil Hobson; Troubleshooting which Mailbox Manager policies are being applied.
Resetting OWA Folder and IIS security permissions in Exchange 2003: Date - Feb 13, 2007; Author - Chris Dalby; The various steps needed to reset OWA folder and Internet Information Services (IIS) security permissions.
Explaining Exchange Message formats: Date - Jan 11, 2007; Author - Marc Grote; How to configure Message formats on Exchange for interoperability with other messaging systems or mail clients.
Implementing Custom Recipient Policies: Date - Jan 04, 2007; Author - Marc Grote; What task the Recipient Update Service (RUS) has in an Exchange environment and how to implement custom Recipient Policies in Exchange 2003 with variables for the SMTP Prefix and how to Add/Remove/Change custom E-Mail Addresses with ADModify.NET.
Dealing with NDRs on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003: Date - Dec 19, 2006; Author - Markus Klein; How to deal with non delivery reports within Exchange Server 2003 as part of Small Business Server 2003.
Exchange 2003 SMTP Namespace Sharing: Date - Dec 12, 2006; Author - Marc Grote; How to share your Exchange Server 2003 SMTP Namespace with another Messaging System.
Exchange 2003 Hacks: Date - Nov 09, 2006; Author - Rodney Buike; This article takes a look at some of the lesser known Exchange 2003 hacks.
Sending 'As': Date - Nov 02, 2006; Author - Neil Hobson; This article takes a look at methods for sending messages as another user, as well as distribution groups or public folders.
A User Comes and a User Goes: Date - Oct 26, 2006; Author - Amit Zinman; This article shows how to deal with overlapping and replacing Exchange users.
Exchange Server 2003 Mailflow (Part 2) - Troubleshooting: Date - Sep 21, 2006; Author - Marc Grote; This article shows you how to troubleshoot message flow within the Exchange Organization.
Remotely Administering Exchange 2003: Date - Sep 14, 2006; Author - Amit Zinman; In this article we will discuss accessing the Exchange Management Console anywhere, anytime.
Public Folder Basics (Part 2): Date - Aug 31, 2006; Author - Amit Zinman; In the previous article I went over the most basic uses of public folders. However, as mentioned, public folders can be used for all kinds of purposes and have many features which are easy to overlook. In this article I will try to cover more of these features.
A Closer Look At Directory Service Access (DSAccess) - Part 2: Date - Aug 15, 2006; Author - Neil Hobson; Here in part 2 of this article series we’ll take a look at how you can see the results of the tests that DSAccess performs, hard coding servers, cache information and a brief look at some performance counter information.
Public Folder Basics (Part 1): Date - Aug 08, 2006; Author - Amit Zinman; This article should server as a tutorial for beginners or occasional Exchange administrators, for setting up the folders and their permissions and points out the benefits of doing so.
A Closer Look At Directory Service Access (DSAccess) - Part 1: Date - Jul 20, 2006; Author - Neil Hobson; In this two-part article I will take a closer look at what DSAccess is and what it does.
Configuring Incoming and Outgoing Email for Windows Small Business Server 2003: Date - Jul 04, 2006; Author - Markus Klein; In this article we will discuss how to configure SBS 2003 to properly recieve and send mail using the wizard.
Creating Exchange Users with Excel (Part 2): Date - Jun 29, 2006; Author - Amit Zinman; In this article I will show you how to overcome certain problems and how to synchronize an Excel sheet with Active Directory.
Finding Duplicate SMTP Addresses: Date - Jun 23, 2006; Author - Neil Hobson; In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the methods available for finding which object within Active Directory currently owns a duplicate SMTP address.
Troubleshooting RPC over HTTPS (Part 2): Date - Jun 06, 2006; Author - Rodney Buike; In this article we will look into problems that occur with SSL certificates, RPC proxy and Exchange server configurations.
Transaction Logs, The Lifeblood of Exchange: Date - May 30, 2006; Author - Rodney Buike; Transaction logs are a fundamental component of Exchange server and crucial to the proper operation of an Exchange server. This article hopes to leave you with a better understanding of what they are and how to manage them.
Troubleshooting RPC over HTTPS (Part 1): Date - May 23, 2006; Author - Rodney Buike; Part 1 of this article will shine a light on some common issues with client configuration and firewall settings when using RCP over HTTPS.
Troubleshooting the Exchange Recipient Update Service (RUS): Date - Apr 13, 2006; Author - Rodney Buike; The Exchange Recipient Update Service is an important component for a properly functioning Exchange organization. Typically it runs in the background without issue but when problems occur, mail flow suffers and it is important to get it fixed!
Understanding Exchange Access Control and Administrative Delegation: Date - Apr 06, 2006; Author - Rodney Buike; Microsoft Exchange interacts with Windows at many different levels and uses different levels of administrative permissions to control access. The goal of this article is to help you understand the different levels of administrative rights and how to delegate these rights to your administrative staff.
Understanding and using the External Associated Account in Windows Server 2003 and Exchange 2003: Date - Feb 28, 2006; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will give you some information about the External associated Account in Windows Server 2003 and how to use it.
Exchange System Manager and Domain Controller Selection: Date - Feb 21, 2006; Author - Neil Hobson; Exchange System Manager itself can be considered a client of many other different services, for it has to obtain different types of information from different sources. For example, Exchange System Manager uses the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) to display information about mailbox resources as well as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to display information about the queues within the Queue Viewer. As you might expect, it also has to contact Active Directory to retrieve information about the configuration of Exchange. In this article, I want to cover how you can determine which domain controller Exchange System Manager is communicating with to retrieve this information.
Explaining the new MAPI Access feature included in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2: Date - Feb 16, 2006; Author - Henrik Walther; In this article we’ll have a look at the new MAPI access feature included in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2. This feature makes it possible to enable or disable MAPI (Outlook) access on a per user-basis.
Creating Exchange Users with Excel (Part 1): Date - Feb 14, 2006; Author - Amit Zinman; In previous articles we discussed tools that create users and their mailboxes in Active Directory. LDIFDE has been mentioned and also VBScripts. However, the most powerful and flexible tool in my opinion is Excel. Excel can read information from various formats and can serve as a handy intermediary. You can manipulate the information in Excel as you find necessary before exporting it to Active Directory. A lot of data originates from Excel which is a common place for large tables. You can also combine data from a few sources into Excel.
How to change the POP3 / IMAP4 and SMTP banner in Exchange 2003: Date - Feb 02, 2006; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will show you how to change the banner for the POP3/IMAP4 and SMTP service in Exchange 2003. Changing the banner for these Exchange services enhances the security if an attacker and illegitimate users don't know, on the first try, which server is communicating with them. Please keep in mind that this is only one of several methods of securing the Exchange environment.
Creating and Using Moderated Public Folders in MS Exchange Server: Date - Jan 31, 2006; Author - Lee Derbyshire; Public Folders are one of the most useful features of Exchange Server. However, it’s possible that there are situations in which a folder’s visibility makes it desirable to have some extra layer of control, one final check, if you like, before something actually appears in full public view. This is where Moderated Folders come in. In this article, I will describe how you create and use a moderated folder in Exchange Server.
Booking Resources with Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook System 2003: Date - Jan 17, 2006; Author - Markus Klein; After a successful implementation of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, the next step would be implementing lots of improvements within the working processes of the company and its organizational infrastructure. Many companies are willing to plan their company resources using Exchange and Outlook to make it easier for each employee to find out if a resource is already booked or still available.
In-depth look at the Public Folder Improvements in Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2: Date - Jan 12, 2006; Author - Henrik Walther; In this article we’ll take an in-depth look at the new Public Folder improvements included in Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2).
Understanding Mailbox Enabled and Mail Enabled Recipients in Exchange 2003: Date - Dec 27, 2005; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will show you the differences between mailbox enabled and mail enabled recipients in Exchange 2003 and how to use them.
How to Regain Access to an Exchange Server 2003 Organization: Date - Dec 20, 2005; Author - Markus Klein; Exchange Server 2003 relies on a complex but detailed and strict access control hierarchy. This means that you as an administrator have to check whether any users will have any access to the Exchange Organization itself.
Explaining the Database size limit changes in Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2: Date - Dec 13, 2005; Author - Henrik Walther; In my previous article we had a closer look at the new Sender ID feature included in Exchange 2003 SP2, in this article I’ll show you how to configure and take advantage of the new database size limit increase in Exchange 2003 SP2.
Offline Address Book - Best Practice: Date - Oct 27, 2005; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will give you some tips how to implement Offline Address Books in Exchange Server 2003. This article deals also with some basics about Offline Address Books and the implementation of Offline Address Books in Outlook 2003.
Using Microsoft Office Outlook Live: Date - Oct 11, 2005; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Microsoft Office Outlook Live (or MOOL for short) is a subscription based service offered by Microsoft that combines MSN's Hotmail Plus service and Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 so that you can have the freedom of having a fully flexible and functional e-mail client, without the responsibility of managing an e-mail server. Microsoft's popular Outlook 2003 client application can be used and with special connector software, you can have a good e-mail solution in minutes. In this article we will cover MOOL, as well as how to install it and discuss the benefits provided.
Designing Outlook Forms (Part 2): Date - Sep 27, 2005; Author - Amit Zinman; In the first part of the article, I concentrated on the very basics of using Outlook Forms by creating a sample Help Desk application. In this article we will learn how to improve the form's GUI and use form automation to improve the accessibility and usability of Outlook Forms.
Free/Busy Folders in Exchange Server 2003 in Depth: Date - Sep 15, 2005; Author - Markus Klein; With every Exchange Server environment, you as the administrator have to deal with the free/busy functionality and its problems. To understand how this works and what you have to consider in projects and processes, this article will dive a little bit deeper into this topic. We will have a close look at the system folder itself and how to deal with this topic during migrations and normal work troubleshooting topics.
Public Folder Replication – Troubleshooting Basics: Date - Sep 06, 2005; Author - Neil Hobson; Public folders are important to Exchange because not only do they contain user data, they also contain important system information required for the smooth operation of your Exchange environment. Replicating these folders between Exchange servers can sometimes be troublesome and so in this article I want to look at the initial steps you can take to troubleshoot your public folder replication issues.
Designing Outlook Forms (Part 1): Date - Aug 02, 2005; Author - Amit Zinman; This article will show how to utilize the power of Outlook Forms combined with Exchange Public Folders by using a sample help desk example.
How to Set Size Limits for Messages: Date - Jun 16, 2005; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will show you how to set size limits for messages in Exchange Server 2003.
10 Tips to Optimize Exchange 2003 Performance (Part 2): Date - May 10, 2005; Author - Rui Silva; Performance is not only about tuning but also about preventing problems. Or maybe it all boils down to getting the most bang for the buck. In part 1 of this article I covered the first 5 tips to achieve better performance with Exchange 2003. In this last part I’ll talk about 5 more tips to help you make a better Exchange design and optimize your environment.
Harnessing the power of Ambiguous Name Resolution (ANR): Date - May 03, 2005; Author - Erik Rozman; The computer industry loves acronyms. Acronyms save time, instead of having to utter long sentences and waste time; you can speak the latest buzzword in the form of an acronym and in addition to saving time you will also sound cool.... The following article deals with such an acronym - ANR.
10 Tips to Optimize Exchange 2003 Performance (Part 1): Date - Apr 28, 2005; Author - Rui Silva; We would like to welcome Microsoft MVP Rui J.M. Silva to our team of authors as he presents his first article to MSExchange.org readers. Everybody likes to keep their systems running smoothly and tuned for performance. For simpler scenarios with basic configuration you can probably use Exchange 2003 out-of-the box without ever having performance issues. But if you are responsible for a complex environment, then you have probably already felt the bitter taste of a system bottleneck. If you identify yourself with this description or if you are just a tweak fanatic, then this article is for you.
Implementing Exchange 2003 Message Journaling: Date - Apr 14, 2005; Author - Marc Grote; Exchange 2003 provides a native Journaling feature which allows you to archive all incoming and outgoing e-mails for a specific mailbox store. Beginning with Exchange 2003 SP1 you can download EXEJCFG.EXE from the Exchange 2003 download site. EXEJCFG enhances the current Exchange archiving features to capture recipients on distribution lists, BCC recipients and other message details. In this article I will show you how to implement Exchange 2003 Journaling for e-mails.
Scripting Exchange Using VBScript and ADSI (Part 1): Date - Mar 18, 2005; Author - Amit Zinman; In this article I will show you the basics of writing scripts in VBScript language using the ADSI interface provided by Active Directory for storing and retrieving Exchange information.
Dealing with Outlook Internet Headers: Date - Mar 15, 2005; Author - Henrik Walther; In this article I’ll give you a brief introduction to Outlook Internet Headers. Being an Exchange Admin it’s essential you know what an Internet Header is and just as important know how to read it, especially in troubleshooting situations and when dealing with spoofed e-mail messages.
Migrating Contacts and Distribution Lists from Outlook to Active Directory: Date - Feb 22, 2005; Author - Amit Zinman; Use script magic to turn your Outlook MAPI based contact information to a lightening fast Active Directory, Exchange enhanced LDAP implementation.
Exchange 2003 Real World Tweaks (Part 2): Date - Feb 10, 2005; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; In today’s high speed quick paced environments whether it be business or technology, it is essential to pay close attention to detail when attempting be a cut above the rest. Broken out into each subheading, you will find 15 tips that we consider very important points to cover when assessing your current Exchange environment. You will find Tips 8-15 in this article. Let's take a look at each in detail.
Exchange 2003 Real World Tweaks (Part 1): Date - Feb 03, 2005; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; In today's high speed quick paced environments, whether it be business or technology, it is essential to pay close attention to detail when attempting be a cut above the rest. It's those finer, smaller details that can make the difference in life and sometimes, can be what makes you stand out. When counting on your company's email system, it's imperative that you consider working to making it the best running system you can.
Command Line Administration of your Exchange Full-Text Index with the help of MSSEARCH_ADMIN.VBS: Date - Jan 25, 2005; Author - Marc Grote; In this article, I will show you how to administer the Full-Text index with a new command line tool – called MSSEARCH_ADMIN.VBS. This tool greatly expands the administration capabilities with a lot of missing features in the GUI administration (Exchange System Manager). You can use MSSEARCH_ADMIN.VBS with Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003.
Customizing the OWA 2003 Forms-Based Authentication Logon Page: Date - Dec 02, 2004; Author - Lee Derbyshire; In this article, we shall look at how you can make some visual changes to the MS Exchange 2003 Forms-based Authentication (FBA) logon screen.
User, groups, distribution list and contact management with Windows 2003 Active Directory: Date - Nov 09, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will give you a detailed Step by Step solution how to create mailbox enabled users, mail enabled users, contacts and distribution list.
Neat OWA 2003 End-User Tips & Tricks: Date - Nov 04, 2004; Author - Henrik Walther; In this article I will provide you with a few useful OWA 2003 end-user tips & tricks. First I will show you some of my favourite OWA 2003 keyboard shortcuts, and then I will move on and explain how you can improve the awkward OWA 2003 Attachment feature simply by installing the S/MIME ActiveX component. I will also show you how you can have multiple mailboxes opened through OWA using one username. Last but certainly not least I will give you an insider tip on how it’s possible to recover shift-deleted (aka “hard deleted”) mailbox items through OWA 2003.
Using General Purpose Public Folder Trees in Exchange 2003: Date - Aug 31, 2004; Author - Mark Fugatt; If you are going to allow people outside of your organization to use Exchange to collaborate with each other you don’t really want to give them access to your default Public Folders, so in this article we will look at creating a new Public Folder tree, a new Public Folder Store, how to allow access to it via a web browser, and some of the configuration options you might want to apply.
Mailbox Management: Date - Aug 24, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will give you an overview of Exchange 2003 Mailbox Management. We will cover the following topics: Mailbox creation, Recipient Policies, Mailbox Management, and Mailbox Recovery.
Using Telnet to connect to Exchange 2003 POP3 mailboxes and using SMTP to send e-mail for troubleshooting purposes: Date - Jul 29, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; In this article I will give you tips for troubleshooting Exchange 2003 POP3 access and SMTP E-Mail transfer using the good old Telnet client. Why am I writing an article about POP3 and SMTP troubleshooting with the help of Telnet? Telnet gives you some powerful information about every connection step for POP3 or SMTP processes.
Configuring an SMTP Connector: Date - Jun 30, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; You can configure an SMTP Connector to connect your Exchange Organization with the Internet or with another organization using SMTP as a transport protocol. This article explains in detail how to configure an SMTP Connector in Exchange 2003.
Defragmenting your Exchange Database: Date - Jun 24, 2004; Author - Amit Zinman; This article deals with the importance of shrinking your Exchange database using the ESEUTIL tool. Defragmenting your database is a good practice though should not be overdone due to its disk intensive nature. It is a useful tool but as all tools should be dealt with care when used in a production environment.
Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2003 Web-based Administration: Date - Jun 15, 2004; Author - Lee Derbyshire; The Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2003 Web-based Administration tool provides a long-awaited way of easily (and safely) making UI changes that previously required direct manipulation of the registry.
Implementing a Full-Text Index for your Information Store: Date - May 21, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server can create and manage full-text indexes for mailbox stores and public folders to provide users to search in message or public folder contents. With the help of full-text indexing, the content in an exchange database is indexed with the result of faster content searching. This article gives you best practices for deploying full-text indexing with Exchange 2003 Server.
Using the Exchange 2003 Mail Wizard: Date - May 11, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; “I will be back” – said Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator I – This is true for the IMW (Internet Mail Wizard) in Exchange 2003. Available first in Exchange 5.5, left in Exchange 2000 and new in Exchange Server 2003. This article explains in detail how to use the Exchange 2003 Mail Wizard to configure Internet E-Mail Access for your organization.
Queue Viewer Improvements in Exchange 2003: Date - Apr 28, 2004; Author - Henrik Walther; Being an Exchange Administrator involves several different maintenance tasks, one of them is to regularly check if mail messages flows properly through your X.400 and SMTP Virtual Server queues, which is where the Queue Viewer contained in the Exchange System Manager comes into the picture. In this article I will introduce you to the Queue Viewer improvements found in Exchange 2003, as well as give a brief description of the different queue types available.
Configuring Outlook 2003 for Offline Use with Exchange 2003: Date - Apr 19, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; When you use Outlook 2003 with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, you can configure some folders in your mailbox for offline use, that is, you can use the contents of a folder without a Network connection. This article explains in detail how you can create, use, and synchronize offline folders.
Moving Mailboxes with the Exchange 2003 Move Mailbox Wizard: Date - Apr 15, 2004; Author - Henrik Walther; In this article I will spend some time covering the much improved Move Mailbox Wizard found in Exchange Server 2003. The new Move Mailbox Wizard has been improved in several areas, its now possible to move up to 4 mailboxes at the same time (called Multithreading), you can decide how corrupted items are handled, mailbox moves can now be scheduled and there are different options for reporting etc.
Troubleshooting and Monitoring Exchange Server 2003 Message Flow: Date - Apr 08, 2004; Author - Markus Klein; Nowadays, with the great success of Exchange Server 2003, you have to prepare yourself on what action to take should message flow related problems occur. To ensure that you, as an administrator, become aware and recognize any problems before your users have reported them, you will need to make use of monitoring. This article will describe how to monitor your server queues and how to react if there are any problems.
Query-based Distribution Groups: Date - Jan 16, 2004; Author - Marc Grote; A query-based distribution group is a new additional type of distribution group in Exchange 2003. This new type of distribution group provides the same functionality as a standard distribution group; however, instead of specifying static user memberships, a query-based distribution group allows you to use an LDAP query to dynamically build membership in the distribution group (for example All employees with a special group membership). Using query-based distribution groups we can reduce the administration costs dramatically. However a Query-based Distribution Group needs more Server resources like CPU power and RAM.
Dealing with Localization of Outlook Folders: Date - Dec 17, 2003; Author - Amit Zinman; This article provides a few tips and tricks for making sure that Outlook folders are using the language you want when Exchange is involved.
Using the SMTP Connector Internally: Date - Nov 26, 2003; Author - Amit Zinman; Although all of us Exchange administrators would like to have Exchange as the sole mail server, sometimes more SMTP mailers exist. The following article explains how to configure Exchange to relay mail for these systems.