My blog has now been changed to http://blogs.technet.com/mfugatt
This site will continue to exist but all new postings will be made to my new blog.
Got this from Tony Soper's blog http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso/archive/2005/08/12/409120.aspx and it looks pretty cool.
Exchange SLA scorecard
Microsoft is developing an Exchange SLA scorecard. The userguide introduction explains:
"As we move into more complex and interdependent applications, it becomes increasingly difficult to track the capabilities of various IT services. Furthermore, it seems that there is no single formula or presentation mechanism to easily roll up the data and demonstrate that IT is in fact meeting the needs of the business and achieving its service level agreement (SLA) targets.
Microsoft IT has become a world-class IT organization, possessing much experience in managing a large enterprise and achieving great success in messaging service delivery. Microsoft IT is diligent in its operations management processes and metrics management. They track key components and derive measurements that truly show how IT services are performing against business needs. They measure service delivery based on IT scorecards and SLAs. These metrics and measures allow them to fine tune services and achieve high availability with the Microsoft® Exchange Server messaging platform. However, since there is no industry standard for measuring services, customers frequently ask, “How does Microsoft do it?” The SLA Scorecard Solution Accelerator for Exchange provides customers with best practices for measuring the service delivery of Exchange."
The official name of the Beta is Microsoft Solutions for Infrastructure and Management Exchange SLA Scorecard.
Beta 2 of the scorecard is in use by a small group for customers in the Technology Adoption Program under NDA and other formal agreements. The TAP program is closed to new customers for getting official support from Microsoft. However, anyone can download the SLA materials, with BetaPlace registration, which includes signing a EULA. These "open beta" customers only get limited best-effort email support from the product team as time allows, but can still enter bugs and suggestions.
You can download the SLA Scorecard Beta 2 at http://www.beta.microsoft.com with the user name MSIMExchangeSLA (Case sensitive).
The beta includes the following components and features that are compatible with Exchange 2000/2003:
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SLA Reporting Engine – Creates the reports using SQL Reporting Services and renders the reports to the SLA Reporting UI
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SLA Business Logic –
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Exchange 2000/2003 availability metrics for :
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FrontEnd Server Role
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Mailbox Server Role
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Public Folder Server Role
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Gateway and Bridgehead server roles.
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Client Availability (Outlook 2003)
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For Exchange 2000/2003 measures for:
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# of internet messages received
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# of messages filtered by IMF
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# of connections blocked
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# of recipients blocked
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# of senders blocked
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# of Exchange messages delivered
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# of anti-virus attachments removed
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# of anti-virus attachments purged
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% messages filtered by IMF
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Client Performance
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SLA DTS – The DTS package automatically extracts only the information from the MOM DW that is required by the Scorecard which reduces the footprint of the SLA DB thus reducing the time required to calculate and display the reports.
Why?
The scorecard shows more than just service uptime. It roles up availability by Exchange server role for all Exchange servers in the enterprise. It allows you to configure your SLA target metrics and aggregates MOM event and performance data, displaying actual availability vs. SLA target.
In addition, there are about 11 measures that give you a picture of the "workload" the infrastructure is doing. You can use this to help tune performance to more effectively achieve the SLA target. For example, using a version of the scorecard accelerator to monitor outage maintenance, Microsoft IT is able to categorize each particular outage and export the entire outage table to Excel. This helps Service Managers and IT Managers demonstrate that from an end to end perspective an email outage is more than an application outage. By slicing and dicing the outage data in prep for Service Review Meetings they can present where the majority of outages are occurring and focus efforts in those areas as appropriate. This makes a nice tie-in to change/problem management.
We've refreshed the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer v2.1 package at
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/exbpa. If you run the MSI, it will identify itself as v2.1a. You can in-place upgrade from v2.1 to v2.1a. Application version number (as shown in the About… link):
ExBPA v2.1 2.1.7599.0
ExBPA v2.1a 2.1.7599.4
NOTE: ExBPA v2.1a is available for U.S. English only.
Here is the list of bugs fixed with v2.1a:
MSI always sets the 'DataDirectory' registry value to the default setting even when the user has specified a different folder.
Output XML files are placed in the wrong folder when run under the scheduler.
Scheduling functionality does not work on Windows 2000 computers.
Date and numeric values are not interpreted correctly when running on a computer with non-U.S. English regional settings.
In addition, the latest Config XML (2.5.0.1) is included with the package. Short list of changes from the previous Config XML (2.4.0.1):
Warns if the store is stopped on a bridgehead server.
Correct PAE recommendations for Windows 2000.
Conditioning implemented to recognize the difference between Recipient and Mailbox Manager policies.
Performance check no longer executes if ExBPA is running under the MOM agent.
Front-end detection now works for both Exchange 2000 and 2003 servers (previously, only 2003 was detected).
The "Connectivity Test" now checks for perfmon accessibility problems.
The "Connectivity Test" should not create event log entries when running under MOM.
Replication metadata now collected for Exchange Domain Servers, Exchange Enterprise Servers and Routing Group objects.
Performance counter information now easier to read when looking at the 'Baseline report'.
Important CA eTrust process exclusions promoted from Warning to Error.
Thursday, August 18, 2005: 10:00 AM Pacific time (Coordinated Universal Time -7 hours)
This Support WebCast will present information to help you troubleshoot Offline Address Book (OAB) download issues in Microsoft Exchange Server. The WebCast will focus on how to troubleshoot issues that occur when the OAB is generated or downloaded.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=905482
This looks like it should be fun.
Thursday, August 11, 2005: 10:00 AM Pacific time (Coordinated Universal Time -7 hours)
This Support WebCast will describe how support engineers use the Microsoft Network Monitor utility to troubleshoot Exchange Client connectivity issues. We will go over a generic remote procedure call (RPC) logon sequence, best practices, tips and tricks, and why we ask for concurrent Client and Server captures to help resolve support incidents. We will also examine Network Monitor captures that were taken during support incidents to show how they helped resolve the issue.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=905465
Vardan Kushnir, Russia's Biggest Spammer, Beaten to Death
Russian anti-spam vigilantes are a tough bunch. Not that we'd advocate this approach to reducing the global spam problem, but it's a wonder that this hasn't happened before. The Mosnews has the details: http://mosnews.com/news/2005/07/25/spammerdead.shtml.
Source: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2901340
REDMOND, Wash. — July 20, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that it will acquire FrontBridge Technologies Inc., a leading provider of managed services that address corporate e-mail security, compliance and availability requirements. With this acquisition, Microsoft will deliver a service for enforcing compliance through archiving, minimizing spam and viruses, and ensuring e-mail availability in the case of a disaster. FrontBridge’s scalable service-delivery model can be applied to organizations using other SMTP-compliant e-mail servers, requires no upfront capital investment and minimizes IT management overhead, enabling companies to concentrate their scarce IT resources on areas that most directly impact their business, such as driving innovation, building efficiencies and increasing customer satisfaction.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/jul05/07-20FrontBridgePR.mspx
Detailed discussion of the conditions that result in error -1018. It also covers the detection mechanisms that Exchange uses to discover and recover from damage to its database files.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7d6d90f2-50f8-4072-8ce9-b073069b8756&displaylang=en
This does not have anything to do with Exchange but I had to Blog about it, two of the best Cluster Server guru's I know are working together to present this training, if you are looking the learn Clustering this course is a must, both Rod and Russ have a ton of real world experience.
You can get more information here http://www.clusterhelp.com/
Sybari Software provides security products that help businesses protect their messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms, and spam.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/solutions/security/sybari.mspx
I had forgot all about this little site, it worth checking out and placing and order or two:
www.cafepress.com/ehlo
Posted with permission from Paul Bowden.
We are pleased to announce the availability of the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer v2.1. The new version can be downloaded from here. Starting next week, for those running ExBPA v2.0, you will be prompted to upgrade to v2.1 the next time the tool is started.
List of enhancements included in ExBPA v2.1:
- HBA Collection - ExBPA.MSI package now installs the WMI extensions required for querying Host Bus Adaptors through the HBA API. This allows ExBPA to automatically collect configuration and diagnostic information from HBAs such as Emulex, Qlogic and LSI. The extensions need to be installed on the Exchange server. Either install ExBPA or the FCInfo tool on the server to enable collection of HBA information. NOTE: Once the extensions are installed on the server, ExBPA will be able to collect the information even when running from a remote workstation.
- Performance Baseline - In addition to the regular 'Health Check' scan, a new scan type of 'Health/Performance Check' can be run. This tells the BPA engine to sample key Exchange and Operating System performance counters and produce statistics showing the 90th percentile and maximum value. The list of counters is based upon the Exchange 2003 Performance Troubleshooting whitepaper. The performance statistics will be displayed in the "Baseline" report once the scan has completed. By default, 240 samples will be taken at 30 second intervals (i.e. 2 hour run). These defaults can be overridden with the following registry parameters:
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\ExBPA
Data: The total number of samples to collect (default: 240)
Data: The time to wait between each sample (default: 30)
1. The time estimation in the UI is fixed at 2 hours, it does not take into account any registry overrides.
2. ExBPA uses a global 3-hour timeout for processing each Exchange server. If you wish to increase the sample time beyond 2.5 hours, a modification will be necessary to the ExBPA.Config.xml. (MaxTime="ALL,180;...").
3. The percentage complete values shown during scanning are based on object completions. As the sampling process is implemented as a single object, the server completion state will appear to 'stick' between 35 and 40% for the 2-hour sampling period. This is expected.
4. It is possible to sample multiple servers at the same time. However, you should keep the number of servers in scope to a minimum (e.g. less than 10)
5. Unlike the regular 'Health Check' it is important to run the new 'Health/Performance Check' when the Exchange server is at its busiest. As ExBPA uses the performance data helper (pdh) library to sample counters, the overheads on the server should be no greater than regular sampling with performance monitor (sysmon). To reduce overheads, it is recommended that you run ExBPA from a workstation rather than the server console.
6. In the initial ExBPA v2.1 release, Error and Warning rules have not been implemented for performance data. These will be introduced in a web update.
7. The sample data is stored as a comma-separated list embedded within the output XML. The ExBPA UI does not support the graphing of this data, or direct conversion to performance monitor log format. The overhead of collecting and storing the data is small. For example, scanning an organization containing a single Exchange 2003/Windows 2003 server:
Health/Performance Check - 3,078 KB
- Cluster Reporting - Reports such as the 'Full Issues List' separates physical nodes from the virtual server. The new format makes it easier to identify issues that need to be corrected on individual physical nodes.
- Wildcard Collection - The BPA engine now supports wildcard collection from the registry. This enables a new set of rules, in particular exclusion settings for file-level antivirus products and Windows firewall configuration.
- Latest Rules - Includes the latest Config XML file (rules database). Over 100 new rules have been introduced in v2.1 - see the list at the end of this e-mail. Specific areas of improvement include the recipient update service, third-party anti-virus checking, and debug settings. In addition to the new rules, over 30 existing rules have been reconditioned to provide better clarity.
- Better Screen Layout - The size of the main report window is now based on the screen resolution rather than fixed at 800x600.
- Scan Selection Information - When viewing the list of previous scans, the Config XML version used for the collection is now displayed in the details panel.
- UDP Support - In addition to TCP, the new version of the tool can connect to ports using UDP. For example, new rules use this function to test the availability of WINS servers.
- Checksum Operations - The BPA engine now supports the calculation of MD5 checksums. While the current rules database does not utilize this feature, it can be enabled in the future without updating the binaries.
- Command-line parameters used with EXBPACMD are now case-insensitive.
- For automatic updates, the tool now uses IE configuration settings if the default proxy server is not available.
- Better handling of Date/Time formats.
- Export functionality no longer deletes the original output XML file.
- The language of the tool is no longer derived from the regional settings. Instead, the OS language is used.
- Clearer instructions for when the scheduler can be used.
- ExBPA v2.1 is available for U.S. English only. Other languages will be refreshed later on in the year.
- In-place upgrades from ExBPA v2.0 to v2.1 are supported.
- The build number for ExBPA v2.1 is 7599 (Displayed as 2.1.7599.0 in the ExBPA UI. Files on disk will be version 6.5.7599.0).
Please send any questions and feedback to exbpafb@microsoft.com. Thanks!
The Microsoft Exchange Operational Support Tools Team
List of new rules introduced in ExBPA v2.1:
TechNet Webcast: Accessing Exchange Server from Your Mobile Device (Level 300)
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - 11:30 AM-1:00 PM Pacific Time
Paul Limont, Program Manager, Microsoft
Does your organization have all the mobile access it could in the areas of security, flexibility, and affordability? This webcast will discuss and demonstrate how Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 provides secure and affordable remote and mobile access to e-mail and personal information management software across a range of mobile devices. Come discover how to leverage the mobile capabilities of Exchange Server 2003 and the new mobility features available in SP2.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032276821&Culture=en-US
Momentum Webcast: Fighting Spam the Microsoft Way (Level 100)
Thursday, July 21, 2005 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Microsoft Technical Experts, Microsoft Corporation
Sixty percent of all email hitting your network is spam. Last year alone businesses lost $22 billion due to dealing with unsolicited email. Left uncontrolled, spam severely impacts bandwidth on your network, storage space on your mail server, and support time of your information technology (IT) staff. This webcast discusses how Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 coupled with Microsoft Exchange Server can maximize the protection of your company's email while minimizing IT time spent maintaining your network. Join us to learn what you need to combat spam from one end of your network to the other.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032276938&Culture=en-US
TechNet Webcast: Implementing Messaging Security for Exchange Server Clients (Level 200)
Monday, July 25, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Kai Axford, Security Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
To ensure that messages can be read only by the intended recipients, it is as important to provide security for the clients of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 as it is to secure the server itself. Join this webcast to learn about solutions such as using Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension and Information Rights Management to protect e-mail content. We will also discuss remote procedure call over HTTP to help secure client connections to Exchange Server 2003 via the Internet. The presentation concludes with a discussion about how to control access to e-mail attachments and how to manage and secure Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032276836&Culture=en-US
Description of how Microsoft IT custom configures its SMTP servers to make its mail flow more securely and manageably.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=85dc356f-301b-4e61-b239-870047251997&displaylang=en
Paul Flaherty has produced a BlogCast on troubleshooting IMF, well worth checking out:
http://blog.flaphead.dns2go.com/archive/2005/06/17/2780.aspx
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