Before I answer any questions, I need to clarify an answer from the January 2001 column. I wrote that you can use the Exchange Server 5.5 Move Server Wizard (MSW) in mixed Exchange 2000 Server/ Exchange Server 5.5 organizations. Strictly speaking, you can use the MSW in this way. However, you're limited to using the MSW to move servers from one organization to another. For example, you can safely move server A from OrganizationA/Site1 to OrganizationB/Site1, but not to OrganizationA/Site2.
Is there a fixed limit to the maximum size of an individual mailbox in Exchange Server 5.5? (Submitted by reader Scott Steenburgh.)
The size of the Information Store (IS) is the only hard limit to mailbox size, so theoretically you can have a 16GB mailbox in Exchange Server 5.5, Standard Edition (Exchange 5.5/S) or a 16TB mailbox in Exchange Server 5.5, Enterprise Edition (Exchange 5.5/E). However, in practice, very large mailboxes (e.g., more than 2GB) typically demonstrate fairly poor performance on the client. Of course, if you're using .pst files on the client side, you're stuck with the 2GB limit that the .pst file format imposes.
How can I move an Exchange 2000 server from one routing group to another?
When you install Exchange 2000 on a server, you must add that server to an existing routing group. The first Exchange 2000 server in an organization goes into the First Routing Group. After you've created multiple routing groups, you might want to move servers between routing groups. You can move servers with the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Exchange System Manager snap-in. Open the Members container that contains the server you want to move and the Members folder of the destination routing group, then drag the server to the new routing group. Note that you shouldn't move a server that's acting as a routing group master. Designate another server as the routing group master first by right-clicking it and using the Set as Routing Group Master command.
What's the easiest way to add a disclaimer to every outgoing SMTP message? (Submitted by reader Cathy Adams.)
In general, I discourage the use of these disclaimers because by adding a disclaimer to every message you might be giving up, rather than gaining, the protection you seek. If you label every message as confidential, how can you expect anyone to take seriously the notion that some messages really are confidential? On top of that, long disclaimers (and most are long) are annoying to recipients. However, if you must have disclaimers on an Exchange Server 5.5 server, the easiest way to add them is to use the Internet Mail Service (IMS) Extension DLL that Microsoft Consulting Services released some time ago. In "Using the IMS Extension DLL," April 2000, Joseph Neubauer explains how to install and use the tool. (You can obtain a copy of the tool from http://www.exchangefaq.org/content/0001.php3, or perform a Web search for disclaimer.zip.) This extension is a free but unsupported tool that lets you append a disclaimer to each outbound message. For Exchange 2000, you need to either roll your own (as the article at http://www.exchangefaq.org/platinum/0006.php3 describes) or buy a third-party product such as GFI's Mail essentials for Exchange 2000.
How can I see the contents of Exchange 2000's link-state routing table?
In Exchange 2000, Microsoft replaced the Gateway Address Routing Table (GWART) with the link-state routing table. (See the Microsoft article "XCON: Link State Routing in Exchange 2000 Server" at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q263/2/49.asp for an explanation of the link-state mechanism.) In Exchange Server 5.5, you can open the gwart0.mta file with a text editor to get a peek at what the Message Transfer Agent (MTA) thinks is in the GWART, but Exchange 2000 has no exact equivalent. The WinRoute tool lets you connect to any server in an Exchange 2000 organization and inspect its local link-state table. You can obtain WinRoute from the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Resource Kit (in the \exreskit\tools\admin\winroute directory) or the support\utils\i386 directory on the Exchange 2000 product CD-ROM. After you install winroute.exe, the tool lets you query servers in any routing group in your organization and find out about their connectors. To use WinRoute, the target server must be running the Routing Engine service (RESvc) and the SMTP and MTA services.
What's the maximum number of recipients that can be on one message? (Submitted by reader Alison Wheeler.)
By default, Exchange Server 5.5 doesn't limit the number of recipients on a message. The result is that in some situations it's possible, or even likely, that mail floods can bring your server to its knees. Consider this example: Joe sends an ill-advised message (e.g., a bogus virus warning) to every recipient in his Exchange organization—all 4000 of them. If even a small fraction of the recipients use Outlook's Reply to All command to tell Joe that he's an idiot, message traffic will quickly get out of hand. To prevent this situation, you can set a registry subkey to impose a limit on the number of recipients that a message can contain. To limit the number of addresses, add the Max Recipients On Submit REG_DWORD value to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem registry subkey. Set the value to the number of recipients you want to allow on one message.
As usual, Exchange 2000 takes a slightly different tack: It sets a default limit of 5000 recipients per message. If you remove this limit and reinstall Exchange 2000 on any server in the organization, Exchange restores the original 5000-recipient limit. This behavior is probably good because it encourages you to set a recipient limit.
If you want to change the number of permitted recipients on an Exchange 2000 server, follow these steps:
- Open Exchange System Manager, and expand the Global Settings node.
- Right-click Message Delivery, and use the Properties command to open its properties dialog box.
- On the Defaults tab, click Maximum Recipients and fill in the number of recipients you want to allow.
How can I display the Security tab for objects in Exchange System Manager?
Many objects in Exchange 2000 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) displayed the Security tab. However, in RC2 and subsequent builds, the tab disappeared except for address lists, databases, and public-folder hierarchies. If you want to make the tab visible for all objects, you have to add a registry key for each user for which you want to have the tab visible. Create the ShowSecurityPage REG_DWORD value under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\ExAdmin subkey, then set the value to 1. The change takes effect immediately.
Where can I buy Exchange Server 5.5?
Good question! As Mark Twain observed, the reason to buy real estate is because they aren't making any more of it; and so it is with Exchange Server 5.5. Microsoft isn't making Exchange Server 5.5 any more. You might still be able to find boxed copies in the distribution channel, particularly from large Internet retailers such as Zones.com. If you can't find a boxed copy, you can buy a copy of Exchange 2000 instead because the Exchange 2000 product CD-ROM includes Exchange Server 5.5. If you already have the Exchange Server 5.5 software but need more licenses, you can either buy some Exchange 2000 licenses or work with your Microsoft account manager or Technical Account Manager (TAM—if you have one) to see whether another solution is available. Licensing plans vary so much that I can't make a definitive statement that covers all bases.
I just found out that Microsoft doesn't support running Exchange Server 5.5 and Outlook 2000 on the same server. I've been running this configuration for almost a year. Should I uninstall Outlook? (Submitted by reader Ed Angerstein.)
In the article "INFO: Exchange 5.5 and Outlook 2000 on the Same Computer Is Not Supported (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q266/4/18.asp), Microsoft says the company doesn't support running Outlook 2000 and Exchange on the same server. Outlook and Exchange have different versions of mapi32.dll, and no guaranteed way exists to make them cleanly coexist. Remember that "unsupported" doesn't mean "doesn't work" in all cases, which is why you've been able to run in this configuration. However, if you start having problems and call Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS), the representative can't help you much. To be on the safe side, I'd uninstall Outlook on that particular machine.
In your November 2000 column, you said that because Exchange 2000 doesn't use an Exchange Server 5.5-style site service account, the administrator can't access mailboxes. Can I duplicate this functionality? (Submitted by reader David Michel.)
Fortunately, you can still access mailboxes in Exchange 2000; the functionality just isn't turned on by default as it was in Exchange Server 5.5. This change means that you still must be careful to use your superpowers only for good, not evil. The default Exchange 2000 permissions explicitly deny access to the Administrator account and the Domain Admins and Enterprise Admins groups. The reason for this design is to keep people in those groups from poking their noses into other people's mailboxes.
You can gain access to mailboxes in four ways:
- Use an ordinary account (i.e., not the Administrator account or any account that's a member of Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins), and add it to the Exchange Services or Exchange Domain Servers security groups.
- Display the Security tab on all objects (the earlier question "How can I display the Security tab for objects in Exchange System Manager?" explains how to display the Security tab), then remove the deny ACLs on the organization object in Exchange System Manager for the account to which you want to grant access. This technique won't work for accounts that are members of Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins, because those groups don't have separate deny ACLs.
- To give one account access to all mailboxes within a database, open the database's Properties dialog box, click the Security tab, and grant the target account full permissions, including Receive As and Send As. This technique works because explicitly granted permissions override inherited permissions. After you change permissions, you must log off the target account and log back on. Fully replicating the changes might take some time.
- Use the MMC Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in to change permissions on the object you want to edit. (Look under Services, Microsoft Exchange to find the objects.)
In Exchange Server 5.5, I could turn on diagnostic logging for SMTP and see event-log entries for each inbound or outbound message. How do I achieve the same level of logging detail for Exchange 2000? (Submitted by reader Eric Rintell.)
In Exchange Server 5.5, the IMS handled all SMTP traffic, but in Exchange 2000 the SMTP service—which is part of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0—handles SMTP traffic. When you install Exchange 2000, the program installs several extensions to the IIS SMTP server, including management tools that let you manage the SMTP virtual server from within ESM. However, a part of the server that still belongs to the IIS code base handles the diagnostic logging for SMTP, so you set up logging in a different way. Here are the steps:
- Open Exchange System Manager, and find the SMTP virtual server whose traffic you want to log.
- Right-click the server, and open its Properties dialog box.
- On the General tab, select the Enable Logging check box.
- Set the log file location and size you want for the logs.
- On the Extended Properties tab, select which specific protocol commands you want to log.
I'm running Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 4 (SP4) on a Windows 2000 Server SP1 computer. I receive event ID 1016 messages for the MSExchangeWeb, MSExchangeMSMI, MSExchangeDS, and MSExchangeCCMC services. The event message says the data in the performance counter isn't aligned on an 8-byte boundary. Why am I getting these messages, and what can I do about them? (Submitted by reader Greg Heinz.)
The Microsoft article "XCON: Message Transfer Agent Generates Event 1016 When Logging Performance Monitor Counter in Windows 2000 Server" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q263/1/12.asp) describes this problem. Event ID 1016 is an advisory telling you that the Win2K performance monitoring subsystem is receiving data that's not aligned on 8-byte boundaries. Windows NT didn't care, but Win2K does because 8-byte-aligned access is more efficient on some types of CPUs. The article mentions that Microsoft fixed this problem for the MTA in Exchange Server 5.5 SP4, but the fix evidently didn't make it to some other Exchange components. You can safely ignore these messages, though.
