Exchange & Outlook UPDATE, Exchange Edition, October 02, 2003

1. Commentary

- Your Manual Maintenance To-Do List

2. Announcements

- Get Problem-Solving Scripts That Will Simplify Your Life

- Check Out Our 2 New Web Seminars!

3. Instant Poll

- Results of Previous Poll: Instant Messaging

- New Instant Poll: Outlook 2003

4. Resources

- Designing Monitoring and Maintenance Procedures

- Featured Thread: Massive Amount of Emails in Outbound Queues

- Outlook Tip: Finding Contacts Assigned in Two Categories

5. Events

- The Mobile & Wireless Road Show Is Coming to Tampa and Atlanta!

6. New and Improved

- Keep Your Address Book Updated

- Tell Us About a Hot Product and Get a T-Shirt!

7. Contact Us

- See this section for a list of ways to contact us.

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==== 1. Commentary: Your Manual Maintenance To-Do List ==== by Paul Robichaux, News Editor, [email protected]

Last week, I talked about Exchange Server's scheduled maintenance tasks. Aside from these tasks, which occur automatically, which manual tasks should you perform regularly, and which tasks should you perform only in the case of an emergency?

Let's start with backups. We all know we're supposed to perform regular backups, and most of us do so. Exchange Server 2003 likely will change the way we perform backups, though. Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), with its speed and convenient point-in-time copies that don't tie us to any specific vendor, promises to usurp our old friend the tape drive. (Only time will tell how well VSS will live up to its promise.) And Exchange 2003's Recovery Storage Group feature offers an immediate improvement to the way we perform restores. Recovery Storage Groups are particularly useful for restoring deleted messages or mailboxes: If you can use Recovery Storage Groups in your organization, you might not need to do mailbox-level backups.

Let's move on to running Isinteg and Eseutil. These tools check the logical and physical structure of your database's .edb and .stm files, respectively. Typically, you should run the tools only when you suspect a problem with a database; running the tools regularly wastes a lot of time, especially because you can run them only on an unmounted database. The way to discover database problems is by reviewing your event logs--and you should perform that task on a regular basis.

What about performing an offline defrag of your database? Doing so is necessary only when you're extremely tight on space. Because you must take databases offline during defragmentation, this "preventive" task actually causes downtime. Instead, the next time your servers are down for maintenance, install a FireWire (IEEE 1394) card and buy a couple of large FireWire disks. Presto! No more running out of disk space (which always seems to happen at the worst times).

Another task that ranks right up there with cleaning out your gutters each spring and fall is cleaning out the Badmail folders on your SMTP gateways. The messages in these folders can take up a surprising amount of space, and (unless you're morbidly curious) you've no reason to keep such mail around. While you're rooting around in the file system, you might as well have a look at the message-tracking log-retention settings for your servers and ensure that you aren't keeping log files longer than necessary. If you run Exchange 2000 Server, also check the permissions on the tracking.log shares; the default permissions are rather loose and might allow unwanted browsing of the tracking logs.

No discussion of regular Exchange maintenance would be complete without mentioning monitoring. Most Exchange administrators use some kind of monitoring infrastructure, even if it's only the Exchange monitoring tools. Be sure that your system is configured to send you alerts when necessary.

These kinds of basic maintenance tasks aren't as glamorous as, say, migrating a 20,000-seat organization from stone tablets to Exchange 2003. But as I learned a long time ago in the Marines, if you take care of your gear, it'll take care of you.

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==== 2. Announcements ==== (from Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)

Get Problem-Solving Scripts That Will Simplify Your Life

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Check Out Our 2 New Web Seminars!

"Plan, Migrate, Manage: Shifting Seamlessly from NT4 to Windows 2003" will help you discover tips and tricks to maximize planning, administration, and performance. "The Secret Costs of Spam ... What You Don't Know Can Hurt You" will show you how to quantify costs and find antispam solutions. Register today!

http://www.winnetmag.com/seminars

==== 3. Instant Poll ====

Results of Previous Poll: Instant Messaging

The voting has ended in Exchange & Outlook Administrator's nonscientific Instant Poll for the question "How important is Instant Messaging to your organization?" Here are the results from the 277 votes:

- 25% Very important

- 28% Not very important now, but will probably be important within the next few years

- 47% I can't imagine my company ever using it to any great extent

New Instant Poll: Outlook 2003

The next Exchange Instant Poll question is "What are your plans for Outlook 2003?" Go to the Exchange & Outlook Administrator home page and submit your vote for a) We plan to deploy it immediately, b) We'll deploy it within 6 months, c) We'll deploy it within 1 year, d) We'll deploy it within 2-3 years, or e) We have no plans to deploy Outlook 2003.

http://www.exchangeadmin.com

==== 4. Resources ====

Designing Monitoring and Maintenance Procedures

TechNet's "Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Upgrade Series" devotes an entire chapter to planning considerations for Exchange 2000 Server performance monitoring. You can read the chapter at the following URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/exchange2000/deploy/upgrdmigrate/ex2kupgr/planus/p_07_tt1.asp

Featured Thread: Massive Amount of Emails in Outbound Queues

A forum reader with a Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6) server running Exchange Server 5.5 SP4 has an outbound message queue that keeps filling up with 10,000 email messages. The messages return when deleted. To offer your advice or join the discussion, go to the following URL:

http://www.winnetmag.com/forums/rd.cfm?cid=40&tid=63853

Outlook Tip: Finding Contacts Assigned to Two Categories by Sue Mosher, [email protected]

Q: How can I find contacts who are assigned to two categories?

A: You can use a filter. Choose View, Current View, Customize Current View, Filter. On the More Choices tab, in the Category box, type

cat1 AND cat2

where cat1 and cat2 are the categories you want to find. Click OK twice to apply the filter. The view shows only items assigned to both categories.

See the Exchange & Outlook Administrator Web site for more great tips from Sue Mosher.

http://www.exchangeadmin.com

==== 5. Events ==== (brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine)

The Mobile & Wireless Road Show Is Coming to Tampa and Atlanta!

Learn more about the wireless and mobility solutions that are available today, plus discover how going wireless can offer low risk, proven performance, and compatibility with existing and emerging industry standards. Register now for this free, 12-city event!

http://www.winnetmag.com/roadshows/wireless

==== 6. New and Improved ==== by Carolyn Mader, [email protected]

Keep Your Address Book Updated

Corex Technologies announced AccuCard for Outlook, an application that updates Outlook contact information. The software sends quarterly email notifications to people in a user's Contacts folder, requesting updates or confirmation of information. When a contact updates information, the software also updates the user's Address Book. Pricing is $49.95 for a 1-year subscription. Contact Corex Technologies at 800-942-6739.

http://www.corex.com

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