ESEUTIL

ESEUTIL is a tool to defragment your exchange databases offline, to check their

integrity and to repair a damaged/lost database.
ESEUTIL is located in the \EXCHSRVR\BIN directory. This directory is not in the
system path so you must open the tool in the BIN directory or enhance the system
path with the \EXCHSRVR\BIN directory.
/d- defrag - /r-recovery - /g
e - /m file dump

integrity - /k

checksum - /c

restore - /y

copy fil

ISINTEG fix -test alltests - ISINTEG is the only repair utility that understands
the Exchange database as an Exchange database.
ESEUTIL looks into the database as just another ESE database, and can see their
tables and indexes. ESEUTIL just fixes the database tables.
Now it is time for ISINTEG. ISINTEG is aware of the relation between database ta
bles and records that turn them into folders and messages.
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Database Limit 03-07
As most of you recall,
Exchange Server 2003 Standard edition supported 1 Storage Group and 2 Stores one
Mailbox and one Public Folder Store (when excluding the Recovery Storage Group
of course).
Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition supported a total of 4 Storage Groups ea
ch containing a maximum of 5 store databases. The limit of a database in Exchang
e Server 2003
Standard edition was 16 GB (although raised to 75 GB when Exchange 2003 Service
Pack 2 was applied). There was no limit on a database when talking about Exchang
e Server 2003 Enterprise edition (well actually there is a 16 Terabyte limit but
this limit is caused by hardware).
Exchange Server 2007 comes in two flavors, a standard edition and an enterprise
edition, just like previous versions of Exchange. The Mailbox Server when talkin
g about the
Exchange Server 2007 Standard edition supports a total of 5 Storage Groups and 5
databases. Unlike Exchange 2003 and previous versions of Exchange there s no long
er a database storage limit in the standard edition. The Mailbox server in the E
xchange 2007 Enterprise edition supports up to 50 Storage groups and a maximum o
f 50 databases per server.
Exchange 2007 allows you to create up to 5 databases in each Storage Group as is
the case with Exchange 2003, but best practice is to create 1 database per Stor
age Group. So why should you have a one to one relationship between storage grou
ps and databases? Well primarily because you ll be up and running a lot faster con
sidering disaster recovery scenarios, etc.
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Difference Exchange 03/07
Exchange Server 2007- is that the transaction log files are now 1MB instead of 5
MB as was the case in previous versions of Exchange.
So what s the reason behind this decision? Well in previous versions of Exchange i

f a crash destroyed the last few log files that hadn t been committed to the datab
ase yet, you would need to restore or repair the database to have it mounted aga
in. Exchange Server 2007 introduces a new feature called Lost Log Resilience (or
LLR in short) which will hold the last few log files in memory until the databa
se is shut down. This means that you will never have a case where part of for ex
ample log file 5 has been written to the database, but part of log file 4 hasn t.
The benefit of this is that if you don t have anything against losing the last few
log files, you can tell Exchange to simply throw away the data and mount the da
tabase.
So the reason why the log files has been reduced to 1MB is to reduce LLR exposur
e. Now if you lose the last log, it costs up to 1MB of the most recent data inst
ead of 5MB.
No STm Files - the .STM file has been removed together with the Exchange Instal
lable File System (ExIFS). The reason behind this decision was in order to reduc
e the overall I/O footprint for Exchange Server 2007.
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4.Exchange Management Shell: a new command-line shell and scripting language for
system administration (based on Windows PowerShell). Shell users can perform ev
ery task that can be performed in the Exchange Server graphical user interface p
lus additional tasks, and can program often-used or complex tasks into scripts t
hat can be saved, shared, and re-used. The Exchange Management Shell has over 37
5 unique commands to manage features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
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5."Unified Messaging" that lets users receive voice mail, e-mail, and faxes in t
heir mailboxes, and lets them access their mailboxes from cell phones and other
wireless devices. Voice commands can be given to control and listen to e-mail ov
er the phone (and also send some basic messages, like "I'll be late")
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6.Removed the database maximum size limit. Database size is now limited by hardw
are capability and the window for backups and maintenance.
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7.Increased the maximum number of storage groups and mail databases per server,
to 5 each for Standard Edition (from 1 each in Exchange Server 2003 Standard), a
nd to 50 each for Enterprise Edition
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LCR Local Continuous replication
The LCR feature makes it possible to create and maintain an exact copy (replica)
of databases in a storage group on an Exchange 2007 Server to a second set of d

isks in the server or to a NAS/SAN (via iSCSI or LUNs). Exchange Administrators

dealing with Small Business Servers (SBS) might even want to use an externally a
ttached USB drive
Save Backup
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The Local Continuous Replication feature is enabled on a Storage Group level und
er the Mailbox node located beneath the Server Configuration in the left pane of
the Exchange System Management Console
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EDB
The rich-text database (EDB) is the database type we are used to seeing in pre-2
000 Exchange servers. The EDB database may also be called the MAPI database sinc
e it hosts all information submitted by the MAPI client(Outlook). The data itsel
f is stored in a proprietary format called Microsoft Database Encapsulated Forma
t (MDBEF).
It is worthwhile to mention that all messages (whether they are MAPI messages, S
MTP or HTTP messages) have some of their properties saved in the rich-text datab
ase.
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STM files
The native content database (STM) or the streaming database holds messages that
were submitted by non-MAPI clients (post Exchange 5.5). The file is called a str
eaming file since data is added to it sequentially in its native format. The dat
a itself inside the STM file is not encoded or encrypted in any way so if a stor
e is dismounted the file can be viewed using a text editor.
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Q : Difference between pop3 and imap4
POP3 and IMAP4 are both email retrieval programs. both allow you to connect to a
messaging server and download mail. All you can do with POP3 is connect and dow
nload mail, IMAP4 allows you to connect and browse inbox subfolders, and selecti
vely download mail instead of downloading it all in one shot. Neither protocol i
s used to send mail..
pop3 allows the user to retrive email when connected and then to view and manipu
late it........... whereas IMAP allows local client to access email on a remote
server.
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MAPI, POP, or IMAP allows you different levels of access to your Exchange mailbo
x:
MAPI connections give you full functionality to all of the services MS Exchange

offers:
Direct live connection to the Mail Server
Shared Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes and Free/Busy information for sch
eduling
Public Folders
Out Of Office Assistant
Server Side Rules and Alerts
Access to Outlook Web Access via any Web Browser
Optional Server Side SPAM Management
IMAP Connections allow a more limited functionality:
Direct Live Connection to the Mail Server
POP Connections offer the least functionality:
Send and Receive Email
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Recovery Storage Group and Disaster Recovery
Using Recovery Storage Groups in Exchange Server 2003
Topic Last Modified: 2006-05-30
Using the recovery storage group feature in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, you c
an mount a second copy of an Exchange mailbox database on the same server as the
original database, or on any other Exchange server in the same Exchange adminis
trative group. You can do this while the original database is still running and
serving clients. The recovery storage group can also be useful in disaster recov
ery scenarios. This guide provides information on how to determine if a recovery
storage group is useful in your deployment, how to set up a recovery storage gr
oup, and how to troubleshoot common problems.
When You Can Use a Recovery Storage Group
Recovery storage groups were designed to aid in database recovery under the foll
owing conditions:
The logical information about the storage group and its mailboxes remains intact
and unchanged in Microsoft Active Directory directory service.
In addition, you need to recover a single mailbox, a single database, or a group
of databases in a single storage group. Recovery scenarios include:
Recovering deleted items that a user mistakenly purged from their mailbox.
Recovering or repairing an alternate copy of a database while another copy remai
ns in production (typically, with the goal of merging data between the two datab
ases using the Mailbox Merge Wizard (ExMerge) tool.
Recovering a database on a server other than the original server for that databa
se. If needed, you can then merge the recovered data back to the original server
(although performance would be slower than if the recovery storage group and th
e original database were on the same server).
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No STM in 2007
The purpose of the streaming file (.STM) was to house raw Internet content messa
ge streams as defined in Request for Comments (RFC 822). Since the .EDB file isn t
very suitable for storing raw Internet content message streams, the idea of int
roducing the .STM file was understandable, but with Exchange Server 2007 the .ST
M file has been removed together with the Exchange Installable File System (ExIF
S). The reason behind this decision was in order to reduce the overall I/O footp
rint for Exchange Server 2007.

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Exchange Prtocols :
HTTP : used by the World Wide Web.
IMAP4 : Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4) allows a client to ac
cess messages in private and public folders on a server. Users with an IMAP4 cli
ent can access mail in their Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server mailbox without down
loading the entire mailbox to a specific computer
(Tcp/UDP
RFC
3501)
Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) - is used over TCP/IP networks -NNTP to ac
cess newsgroup public folders on computers running Exchange . (Tcp/UDP RFC977)
POP3 Support - allows a client to retrieve a specific user's mail from the serve
r - POP3 clients can access only their server Inboxes and cannot access other pu
blic or private folders - mail is usually only downloaded and then deleted. POP3
does not handle sending mail. . (Tcp/UDP
RFC1939)
SMTP Support - transporting and delivering electronic messages. (Tcp/UDP

RFC821)

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Circular Logging :
Exchange relies transaction logs before they are committed to the database.
When 4 logs have been filled up, it assumes that the first log must have been co
mmitted and recycles the logs to save disk space.
Problem with Circular Logging
it restricts disaster recovery. If you allow Circular Logging to over-write the
transaction logs then you can only restore as far as the last backup. Amd whe
n all the logs are available, exchange replays the transactions until the Exchan
ge Store stopped working.
So ideally it prevents Exchange 2003 making differential or incremental backups
and we r restricted to normal (full) backup
Where do you check the circular logging setting?
1.
Open the Exchange System Administrator, locate the Servers Icon.
2.
Drill down to the Storage Group where you want to enable circular loggin
g. (Note Storage GROUP not Store...)
3.
Right-click (The Storage Group), and select Properties.
4.
On the General tab, tick Enable circular logging, and then click Yes
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Disaster Recovery of Exchange 2003 Stores
When an email arrives, Exchange 2003 writes a transaction to the log. If the se
rver's disk is busy there will be a delay before the information is committed to

the store database file. Exchange also uses a checkpoint file. This file (E0.
chk) records which transactions have been written to the store database (Priv1.e
db).
So, if you allow circular logging to over-write some of those transaction logs,
then you cannot recover any data after the last backup. However, if you disable
circular logging, then you Exchange 2003 replays the transactions and restores
the Exchange store to how it was before the disaster. This re-reading the logs
is called a hard recovery and happens automatically.
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OST Vs PST
Offline folders (.ost) files are stored on your computer and are available even
when the network is down.
The difference between an .ost file and a set of .pst files is that the .ost fil
e starts as a mirror image of your folders on the Exchange Server, and works in
conjunction with the Exchange Serve during synchronization. A set of .pst files,
on the other hand, is simply exporting yur emails from outlook client and stori
ng them on location on your hard disk or a server other than the Exchange Serve
r.
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OAB
What is cached mode?
A1: Cached mode is the new default configuration for Outlook. It provides an exp
erience that is similar to the offline configuration in earlier versions of Outl
ook. When you are running in cached mode, your Exchange mailbox is synchronized
to a local file (an .ost file), and the offline address list from your Exchange
computer is synchronized to a collection of files (.oab files) on your client co
mputer. Outlook directly accesses the .ost file and the .oab files on your hard
disk instead of communicating directly with your server or servers. Therefore, n
etwork communication between Outlook and Exchange is significantly reduced.
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Q2: Why does cached mode generate an offline address book?
A2: The offline address book contains a set of all the properties of a user (suc
h as e-mail addresses and names) that Outlook requires. With an offline address
book, Outlook does not have to connect to the global catalog to resolve names, n
or does it have to open a person s details record. Instead, Outlook easily obtains
this information from the local offline address book.
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Q3: Does the offline address book function exactly like the global address list?
A3: The offline address book is a snapshot of the Active Directory directory ser

vice information that is available in the global address list. Therefore, some i
nformation is available in the global address list that is not available in the
offline address book.
Not available :
Custom properties in Active Directory that an administrator has added (for examp
le, the Employee ID of each employee)
Organization hierarchy information
Group membership information
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What are the new offline address book features with Microsoft Exchange Server 20
03?
he Unicode version is also known as Version 3a. Exchange 2003 also supports earl
ier ANSI versions of the offline address book for Outlook clients with earlier v
ersions. The ANSI version is also known as Version 2. Exchange 2003 computers al
so have a filtering mechanism in place that makes sure that only those certifica
tes that are used by Outlook for public key infrastructure (PKI) will be present
in the offline address book. This mechanism significantly reduces the size of t
he offline address book from servers that are running Exchange 2003 compared to
the offline address book from servers that are running earlier versions of Excha
nge. The reduction applies to both the Unicode version and the ANS
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How frequently is the offline address book updated on the Outlook client?
The 24-hour time period is measured from the time that the offline address book
was last downloaded successfully.
Journaling
Exchange 2003 provides a native Journaling feature which allows you to archive a
ll incoming and outgoing e-mails for a specific mailbox store.Message-only journ
aling sends a copy of a message to the journaling mailbox every time a user in a
journal-enabled mailbox database sends or receives a message
It is important to understand the difference between journaling and archiving. J
ournaling is the ability to record all communications; alternatively, archiving
refers to reducing the strain of storing data by backing it up, removing it from
its native environment, and storing it elsewhere. That said, you may use Exchan
ge journaling as a tool in your e-mail retention or archival strategy.
There are three different types of journaling that you can enable in Exchange Se
rver 2003.
1-Message-only journaling - Message-only journaling sends a copy of a message t
o the journaling mailbox every time a user in a journal-enabled mailbox database
sends or receives a message
2-BCC journaling - Bcc journaling is message-only journaling with the added abi
lity to capture the Bcc recipients. When Bcc journaling is enabled, Exchange cap
tures all recipients (including Bcc recipients) that are known at the originatin
g server
3-Envelope journaling - Envelope journaling differs from message-only journaling

and Bcc journaling because it archives information about the recipients who ac
tually received the message, including Bcc recipients and recipients from distri
bution groups and The original message is delivered as an attachment.
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-What's the difference between an Archive Sink and Journaling?
An Archive Sink allows only the capturing of e-mails that flow through a specifi
c SMTP virtual Server. Journaling captures every e-mail that is sent or received
by Exchange users in a specific mailbox store.
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Advantage of Front End Exchange Server
A front-end Exchange server increases the robustness of accessing public folders
, as it knows the state of back-end servers and can use multiple referrals to ac
cess public folder data. This includes system data such as calendar free/busy in
formation. In addition, in Exchange Server 2003, a front-end Exchange server ena
bles your users using Outlook Web Access to reply or forward to posts in public
folders. Without a front-end server, public folder posts can be only read.
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Admin Groups in 2003 and 2007
Exchange 2003 Security and Permissions Model
To help simplify management of permissions, Exchange Server 2003 provided predef
ined security roles that were available in the Exchange 2003 Administrative Dele
gation Wizard. These roles were a collection of standardized permissions that co
uld be applied at either the organization or the administrative group level.
In Exchange 2003, the following security roles were available through the Delega
tion Wizard in Exchange System Manager:
Exchange Full Administrator
Exchange Administrator
Exchange View Only Administrator
This model had the following limitations:
A lack of specificity. The Exchange Administrator group was too large, and some
customers wanted to manage their security and permissions model at the individua
l server-level.
A perception that the Exchange Server 2003 security roles only differed in subtl
e ways.
There was no clear separation between administration of users and groups by the
Windows (Active Directory) administrators and Exchange recipient administrators.
For
example, to perform Exchange recipient related tasks, you had to grant Exchange
administrators high level permissions (Account Operator permissions on Windows d
omains).
Exchange 2007 Security and Permissions Model

To improve the management of your Exchange administrator roles, which were calle
d "security groups" in Exchange 2003, the following new or improved features hav
e been made to the Exchange security and permissions model:
New administrator roles that are similar to the built-in Windows Server security
groups. For more information about these administrator roles, see "Administrato
r Roles in Exchange 2007" later in this topic.
You can use the Exchange Management Console (formerly Exchange System Manager) a
nd the Exchange Management Shell to view, add, and remove members from any admin
istrator role.
Administrator Roles in Exchange 2007
Exchange 2007 has the following predefined groups that manage Exchange configura
tion data:
Exchange Organization Administrators
Exchange Recipient Administrators
Exchange View-Only Administrators
Exchange Public Folder Administrators (New in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack
1)

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What is a DNS resource record?
A resource record is an entry in a name server's database. There are several typ
es of resource records used, including name-to-address resolution information. R
esource records are maintained as ASCII files.
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Routing Groups
Exchange Server 2003 supports the concept of routing groups to control the messa
ge flow between Exchange Servers. Routing groups are groups of servers running E
xchange Server 2003 that are connected over permanent highspeed network links. W
ithin routing groups, Exchange Server always transfers messages over SMTP.
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Role:
Client Access, Edge Transport, Hub Transport, Mailbox, and Unified Messaging
Cas-host client protocol
Mailbox Role
Stores Mailboxes and Public folder
Client Access Client request for mail are fetched by this Role
Browser-based clients using either the full-featured Outlook Web Access (OWA) or
a new OWA Light client
Mobile devices via Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
Phone devices via Outlook by Phone

POP3 or IMAP4 clients, such as Outlook Express and Eudora

Hub Transport
Responsible for all internal mail flow
Inbound mail are accepted by Edge Transport and passed on to Mailbox server and
all outbound mail is relayed from the Hub Transport to the Edge Transport and ou
t to the Internet.
Edge transport
permiter network
can used as firewall.
Unified Messaging
Unified Messaging combines email, voicemail and fax into the Exchange Server dat
abases, and makes this data available to mailbox users via both telephone and co
mputer.
Bridge Head Server:
A bridgehead server is a domain controller in each site, which is used as a cont
act point to receive and replicate
data between sites. For intersite replication, KCC designates one of the domain
controllers as a bridgehead
server. In case the server is down, KCC designates another one from the domain c
ontroller. When a bridgehead server receives replication updates from another si
te, it replicates the data to the other domain controllers within
its site. - By default, the Active Directory replication topology generator, th
e Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC), automatically chooses servers to act as b
ridgehead servers. However, if you are an administrator, you may select one or m
ore domain controllers in the site to be preferred bridgehead servers. These ser
vers are used exclusively to replicate changes collected from the site. Even tho
ugh you may have administratively configured several domain
controllers as preferred bridgehead servers, the KCC chooses one of these server
s to become the bridgehead
server for the site. However, if you choose only one bridgehead server for a par
ticular site, and that server
becomes unavailable, the KCC does not choose another domain controller to be the
bridgehead server. Therefore, if you assign a preferred bridgehead server, you
should assign more than one
A bridgehead server's job is to ease congestion over WAN links.
For example, imagine that you had a satellite office with five mailbox servers.
Exchange requires those servers to remain synchronized with the servers at the h
ome office. Therefore, if a change is made to an Exchange server in the main off
ice, the change is replicated to each of the five servers in the satellite offic
e. This means that the change must be sent across the WAN link five different ti
mes.
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What a bridgehead server does is allow you to transmit the change across the WAN
link once and then distribute it to each of the remote servers upon arrival. Br
idgehead servers work in pairs. In this example, there would be a bridgehead ser
ver in the main office and a bridgehead server in the remote office.
Technically, any Exchange server can function as a bridgehead server. In smaller
organizations, it's common for a mail server to also act as a bridgehead server

. In large enterprises though, a server may act solely as a bridgehead server.

If a server is acting solely as a bridgehead, then it might seem logical to thin
k that disk capacity and performance are unimportant. After all, the server does
n't have any stores of its own; it is merely acting
Time to live (sometimes abbreviated TTL) is a limit on the period of time or num
ber of iterations or transmissions in computer and computer network technology t
hat a unit of data (e.g. a packet) can experience before it should be discarded.
TTL or Time to Live refers to how many routers your packet can go through before
it expires. Usually a packet finds its home in less than 32 hops, but 64-128 is
a good default..