This email newsletter comes to you free and is supported by the following advertisers, which offer products and services in which you might be interested. Please take a moment to visit these advertisers' Web sites and show your support for Exchange & Outlook UPDATE.
Manage Email, PSTs & Public Folders (FREE TRIAL)
The Competitive Advantages of Multi-Platform Remote Control: A Pathway to Increased Productivity
Quest E-mail Discovery Tech Briefing
===============
1. Commentary
- The Exchange User Monitor Tool, Part I
2. Peer to Peer
- Featured Thread: Exchange 2003 Message Queues - Outlook Tip: Using a Message to Create a New Item in a Different Folder
3. New and Improved
- Create Business-Focused Exchange Reports
==========
3. New and Improved
~~~~ Sponsor: Sherpa Software ~~~~
Manage Email, PSTs & Public Folders (FREE TRIAL)
Having trouble accessing PST Files? Looking for a cost-effective email management solution? Mail Attender Enterprise gives you the ability to automatically manage PST files (network accessible/local), Public Folders and Mailboxes from a central location. Perform keyword searches to retrieve information, implement retention policies, address compliance issues, compress attachments, compact PSTs, archive data to a secure storage device and view email statistics across your enterprise. Management is transparent to end-users and can be applied to certain users or groups. With Mail Attender Enterprise, you will reduce your liabilities and reclaim server space while saving time and expense. Download a FREE TRIAL and instantly view statistics like total message/attachment count, size, and type across your entire Exchange information store! http://www.sherpasoftware.com/windowsnetEO.shtml
==========
Editor's note: Share Your Exchange Discoveries and Get $100
Share your Exchange Server and Outlook discoveries, comments, or problems and solutions for use in the Exchange & Outlook Administrator print newsletter's Reader to Reader column. Email your contributions (500 words or less) to [email protected]. We edit submissions for style, grammar, and length. If we print your submission, you'll get $100.
==========
==== 1. Commentary: The Exchange User Monitor Tool, Part I ====
by Paul Robichaux, Exchange Editor, [email protected]
During the last 30 years, the balance of power in the enterprise has shifted. When I first began working as a programmer (mind you, this was when Led Zeppelin was still touring), the power belonged to the high priests of the mainframe. Users had terminals, and their applications were centrally controlled and maintained. We know what's happened since then: Individual users now have, in aggregate, a lot more computing power than the mainframe clergy ever dreamed of, and they aren't afraid to use it.
By its very nature, however, messaging still involves centralized servers, and the performance and integrity of those servers is obviously important to the administrators and users who depend on them. This theme sounds like a return to the old days, and in some ways it is. But today's users are much more sophisticated and savvy, and they have much higher expectations. This situation leads to conversations such as this:
User: Outlook is slow.
Admin: How slow is it?
User: Well, you know, it's slow. It used to be faster.
Admin: When did it start slowing down?
User: I don't know, but it definitely used to be faster.
Admin:
Monitoring the overall performance of your Exchange server is relatively easy. In fact, by watching half a dozen counters in the Performance Monitor (such as the disk queue length, the number of remote procedure call--RPC--operations per unit time, and the amount of page faults per second) or by using the synthetic alerting features in Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) and other management tools, you can get a good view of how your servers are performing. The data you gather with these tools tells you only how the server's doing overall, however; it tells you nothing about particular users, and that's often what you most want to know. In the aggregate, however, this data is useful. By careful tweaking, you can simulate realistic user loads with a tool such as LoadSim or the Exchange Server Stress and Performance (ESP) tool, which often gives you insight into performance bottlenecks on your server. You can certainly find ways to get some level of performance data for individual users; for example, you can use a network monitor or similar tools to watch the network traffic between the client and the server. Doing so isn't always feasible, however, especially if the user who reported a slowdown is outside your corporate network. You can also monitor the client directly to see whether other operations are slow, too--what's reported as an Outlook slowdown might well be caused by another application or by other problems that have nothing to do with messaging. (My favorite example of this is when a well-known application for managing MP3 players has a bug that forces all other application threads spawned after its launch to a lower priority, slowing down every other application on the machine.) Because Exchange uses the concept of maintaining an independent session for each user, I've always assumed that it must have some amount of performance data that could be exposed but isn't. Exchange can gather per-user performance data, but we haven't had any supportable way of getting to the data. With last week's release of the Exchange Server User Monitor (ExMon) tool, that situation has changed. ExMon, which is part of the most recent Microsoft Web release package of Exchange tools, collects and exposes performance and resource-consumption data for individual user sessions. Now you can answer questions such as how much CPU time is being used to handle individual user requests; in this context, the "user" could be any application that logs on to the Information Store, including virus scanners, backup programs, and similar tools. Next week I'll describe how ExMon works and what you can do with it. Until then, you can download the tool from the Exchange tools Web site at http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/5/b/35b64e21-44b6-4d30-b4d2-3a41f3635e7e/Exmon.msi . ExMon requires Exchange 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Exchange 2000 SP3. The tool includes documentation and a set of release notes that will tide you over until next week.
==========
User: Outlook is slow.
Admin: How slow is it?
User: Well, you know, it's slow. It used to be faster.
Admin: When did it start slowing down?
User: I don't know, but it definitely used to be faster.
Admin:
~~~~ Sponsor: Netopia ~~~~
The Competitive Advantages of Multi-Platform Remote Control: A Pathway to Increased Productivity
In this free white paper discover how to achieve a faster resolution of IT-related problems, reduce end-user downtime, increase employee productivity, and operate in a more efficient manner. Learn how your company can intelligently manage their enterprise environment and possess an inherent competitive advantage. Discover how you can outperform the competition by controlling costs and boosting productivity and download this free white paper now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/whitepapers/netopia/remotecontrol/index.cfm?exchnl_0414
==========
==== Events and Resources ====
(A complete Web and live events directory brought to you by Windows IT Pro: http://www.windowsitpro.com/events )
Ensure SQL Server High Availability
In this free Web seminar, discover how to maintain business continuity of your IT systems during routine maintenance and unplanned disasters. Learn critical factors for establishing a secure and highly available environment for SQL Server including overcoming the technology barriers that affect SQL Server high availability. Find out about Microsoft's out-of-the-box high-availability technologies, including clustering, log shipping, and replication. Register Now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/seminars/SQLHighAvailability/index.cfm?code=0413emailannc
Get Ready for SQL Server 2005 Roadshow in a City Near You
Get the facts about migrating to SQL Server 2005. SQL Server experts will present real-world information about administration, development, and business intelligence to help you implement a best-practices migration to SQL Server 2005 and improve your database-computing environment. Attend and receive a 1-year membership to PASS and 1-year subscription to SQL Server Magazine. Register now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/sqlserverusa/index.cfm?code=0411emailanncs
Protect the Rest of Your Exchange Infrastructure
There's more to data protection for Exchange than protecting mail and mail servers. In this free Web seminar, you'll learn some methods for anticipating, avoiding, and overcoming technical problems that can affect your Exchange environment including, corruption or errors in Active Directory, DNS problems, configuration errors, service pack installation problems, and more. Register now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/seminars/ExchangeInfrastructure/index.cfm?code=0413emailannc
Detect Attempted Intrusions into Your Windows System
In Chapter 5 of this free eBook, you'll learn basic intrusion detection, Windows auditing, audit policy, auditing categories, event-log management, and audit policy best practices. Discover how to appropriately configure event auditing and capture critical information about most unauthorized events. Download your copy now! http://www.windowsitlibrary.com/Ebooks/SecurityPermissions/Index.cfm?code=0413emailannc
Find Out How to Secure Your Messaging Center
Secure your information workplace with award-winning antivirus, antispam, and content-filtering technologies from Sybari Software. Find out everything you need to know to secure your messaging and collaboration environment and get access to whitepapers, datasheets, free seminars, and more. Go to the Secure Messaging Center now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/microsoftexchangeoutlook/securemessaging
==== Featured White Paper ====
(from Windows IT Pro and its partners)
Quantify the Business Benefits of ITSM
This free white paper explores how to meet IT infrastructure's needs and manage crucial support and service processes by implementing Help desk, problem, change, configuration, and service-level agreement (SLA) management into a single workflow. Improve productivity and service delivery quality while reducing costs, resources, and downtime in your organization. Download it now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/whitepapers/hp/itsmbenefits/index.cfm?code=0413emailannc_WP
==== 2. Peer to Peer ====
Featured Thread: Exchange 2003 Message Queues
Our forum readers are having a conversation about Exchange 2003 messages to certain domains building up in the message queue without being delivered. To join the discussion, visit http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=131530
Outlook Tip: Using a Message to Create a New Item in a Different Folder
by Sue Mosher, [email protected]
Q: When I drag an email message to the Notes folder in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, a new sticky note pops up, but it contains only the From, To, and other header information. How can I get it to include the message body, too?
Find the answer (and links to more great tips) at
http://www.windowsitpro.com/MicrosoftExchangeOutlook/Article/ArticleID/43907/43907.html
==== Hot Release ====
Quest E-mail Discovery Tech Briefing
This free technical brief discusses the challenges of e-Discovery and how Quest Recovery Manager for Exchange can reduce effort and costs. http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;15181707;8469764;v?http://wm.quest.com/landing/?id=117
==== Announcements ====
(from Windows IT Pro and its partners)
Check Out the New Windows IT Security Newsletter!
Security Administrator is now Windows IT Security. We've expanded our content to include even more fundamentals on building and maintaining a secure enterprise. Each issue also features product coverage of the best security tools available and expert advice on the best way to implement various security components. Plus, paid subscribers get online access to our entire security article database! Click here to try a sample issue today: http://www.secadministrator.com/rd.cfm?code=fseu2554up
Nominate Yourself or a Friend for the MCP Hall of Fame
Are you a top-notch MCP who deserves to be a part of the first-ever MCP Hall of Fame? Get the fame you deserve by nominating yourself or a peer to become a part of this influential community of certified professionals. You could win a VIP trip to Microsoft and other valuable prizes. Enter now--it's easy: http://www.windowsitpro.com/mcphalloffame/index.cfm?code=0411emailannc
==== 3. New and Improved ====
by Angie Brew, [email protected]
Create Business-Focused Exchange Reports
Quest Software released Quest MessageStats 5.0, Exchange Server usage-reporting and -analysis software. The product features new business-focused reports that show how email traffic, storage, and related costs are distributed across multiple business units and departments. End users can customize MessageStats reports with no developer involvement, and the product includes a Custom Report Wizard that lets end users write their own custom reports in minutes. Version 5.0 features customizable "At A Glance" dashboards and auditing of subject lines, delivery times, mailboxes, and Internet SMTP domains to identify messages that might violate corporate policy or industry regulations. Pricing for MessageStats 5.0 starts at $7.50 per mailbox, and volume discounts are available. Contact Quest Software at 949-754-8000. http://www.quest.com
==== Sponsored Link ====
Quest Software
Heading to Exchange from Notes or GroupWise? Get Expert Help! http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;14771969;8214395;x?http://wm.quest.com/WITPUpdateNotesMigratorforExchange32005
=========
Get Ready for SQL Server 2005 Roadshow in a City Near You
Protect the Rest of Your Exchange Infrastructure
Detect Attempted Intrusions into Your Windows System
Find Out How to Secure Your Messaging Center
==== Featured White Paper ====
Quantify the Business Benefits of ITSM
==== 2. Peer to Peer ====
Featured Thread: Exchange 2003 Message Queues
Outlook Tip: Using a Message to Create a New Item in a Different Folder
Q: When I drag an email message to the Notes folder in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, a new sticky note pops up, but it contains only the From, To, and other header information. How can I get it to include the message body, too?
Find the answer (and links to more great tips) at
==== Hot Release ====
Quest E-mail Discovery Tech Briefing
==== Announcements ====
Check Out the New Windows IT Security Newsletter!
Nominate Yourself or a Friend for the MCP Hall of Fame
==== 3. New and Improved ====
Create Business-Focused Exchange Reports
==== Sponsored Link ====
Quest Software
~~~~ Contact Us ~~~~
About the newsletter -- [email protected]
About technical questions -- http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums
About product news -- [email protected]
About your subscription -- [email protected]
About sponsoring UPDATE -- [email protected] >
===============
About technical questions -- http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums
About product news -- [email protected]
About your subscription -- [email protected]
About sponsoring UPDATE -- [email protected] >
This email newsletter is brought to you by Exchange & Outlook Administrator, the leading publication for IT professionals managing, securing, optimizing, and migrating Exchange and Outlook. Subscribe today!
http://www.exchangeadmin.com/rd.cfm?code=00ep234xebManage Your Account
You received this email message because you subscribed to this newsletter on our Web site. To unsubscribe, click here:
View the Windows IT Pro Privacy policy at
Windows IT Pro a division of Penton Media Inc.
221 East 29th Street, Loveland, CO 80538,
Attention: Customer Service Department
Copyright 2005, Penton Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
