MS Exchange Interview Questions1. What must be done to an AD forest before Exchange can be deployed?

- Setup.exe /forestprep2. What Exchange process is responsible for communication with AD?

- DSACCESS3. What 3 types of domain controller does Exchange access?

- Normal Domain Controller, Global Catalog, Configuration Domain Controller4. What connector type would you use to connect to the Internet, and what are the two methods of sending mail over that

connector? SMTP Connector: Forward to smart host or use DNS to route to each address

5. How would you optimise Exchange 2003 memory usage on a Windows Server 2003 server with more than 1Gb of memory?

Add /3Gb switch to boot.ini6. Name the process names for the following:

System Attendant? MAD.EXE, Information Store STORE.EXE, SMTP/POP/IMAP/OWA INETINFO.EXE7. What is the maximum amount of databases that can be hosted on Exchange 2003 Enterprise?

- 20 databases. 4 SGs x 5 DBs.8. What are the standard port numbers for SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, RPC, LDAP and Global Catalog?

- 25 SMTP- 110 POP3- 143 IMAP4- 135 RPC- 389 LDAP - 636 LDAP (SSL), - 3268 Global Catalog - 465 SMTP/SSL,- 993 IMAP4/SSL, - 563 IMAP4/SSL, - 53 DNS ,- 80 HTTP ,- 88 Kerberos ,

- 102 X.400 ,- 110 POP3 ,

- 119 NNTP , - 137 - NetBIOS Session Service

- 139 - NetBIOS Name Service , - 379 LDAP (SRS) ,- 443 HTTP (SSL) ,- 445 - NetBIOS over TCP - 563 NNTP (SSL) , - 691 LSA ,- 993 IMAP4 (SSL) ,- 994 IRC (SSL) ,- 995 POP3 (SSL) ,

- 1503 T.120 ,- 1720 H.323 ,- 1731 Audio conferencing ,- 1863 - MSN IM

- 3268 GC ,- 3269 GC (SSL) ,- 6001 Rpc/HTTP Exchange Store ,- 6002 HTTP Exchange Directory Referral

service ,- 6004 Rpc/HTTP NSPI Exchange Directory

Proxy service/Global Catalog ,

- 6667 IRC/IRCX ,- 6891 - 6900 - MSN IM File transfer ,- 6901 - MSN IM Voice ,- 7801 - 7825 - MSN IM Voice[/b]

9. What are the prequisite for installation of Exchange ServerThe pre requsite areIIS, SMTP, WWW service ,NNTP, W3SVCNET FrameworkASP.NETThen run ForestprepThe run domainprep

10. Which protocol is used for Public Folder ? ANS: SMTP11. What is the use of NNTP with exchange ?

- ANS: This protocol is used the news group in exchange12. Disaster Recovery Plan?

Ans: Deals with the restoration of computer system with all attendent software and connections to full functionality under a variety of damaging or interfering external condtions.

13. About the new features in Exchange 2003:1.Updated Outlook Web Access.2.Updated VSAPI (Virus Scanning Application Programming Interface) but in Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise, there are Specific Features which :3.Eight-node Clustering using the Windows Clustering service in Windows Server

(Ent.&Datacenter)4.Multiple storage groups.5..X.400 connectors which supports both TCP/IP and X.25.

14. What would a rise in remote queue length generally indicate? - This means mail is not being sent to other servers. This can be explained by outages or performance issues

with the network or remote servers. 15. What would a rise in the Local Delivery queue generally mean?

This indicates a performance issue or outage on the local server. Reasons could be slowness in consulting AD, slowness in handing messages off to local delivery or SMTP delivery. It could also be databases being dismounted or a lack of disk space.

16. What are the disadvantages of circular logging?

In the event of a corrupt database, data can only be restored to the last backup. 17. What is the maximum storage capacity for Exchange standard version? What would you do if it reaches maximum

capacity?16GB.Once the store dismounts at the 16GB limit the only way to mount it again is to use the 17GB

registry setting. And even this is a temporary solution.if you apply Exchange 2003 SP2 to your Standard Edition server, the database size limit is initially increased to 18GB. Whilst you can go on to change this figure to a value up to 75GB, its important to note that 18GB is the default settingHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\{server name}\Private-{GUIDIt therefore follows that for registry settings that relate to making changes on a public store, youll need to work in the following registry key:HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\{server name}\Public-{GUID}Under the relevant database, create the following registry information:Value type: REG_DWORDValue name: Database Size Limit in GBSet the value data to be the maximum size in gigabytes that the database is allowed to grow to. For the Standard Edition of Exchange, you can enter numbers between 1 and 75. For the Enterprise Edition, you can enter numbers between 1 and 8000. Yes, thats right, between 1GB and 8000GB or 8TB. Therefore, even if you are running the Enterprise Edition of Exchange, you can still enforce overall database size limits of, say, 150GB if you so desire.

Exchange 2000 Server Question18. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. A hard disk on one of the Exchange 2000 Server computers

fails. The failed hard disk contained the Exchange 2000 System files. The hard disk that contained the transaction log files and exchange databases was not affected by the failure. You replace the failed hard disk. You need to bring the server online, but the only available does not include the system files.What should you do?

A. Reinstall Exchange 2000 Server by running setup/DomainPrep on the server.B. Reinstall Exchange 2000 Server by running setup/DisasterRecovery on the server.C. Perform a normal installation of Exchange 2000 Server on the server. Create a new database that uses the same

database names and paths as the original installation.D. Perform a normal installation of Exchange 2000 Server on the server. Create a storage group that uses the same

database names and paths as the original installation.19. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. You configure an Exchange 2000 Server computer as a recovery

server for single mailbox recovery. You restore the database files from your production exchange servers online backup to recovery server. You specify the correct names and paths of the databases, but you are not able to mount the databases.What should you do?

A. Run ISINTEG-patch and then mount the databases.B. Change the transaction log file path to match the transaction log file path of the original server.C. In system manager, select the This database can be overwritten by a restore check box, and then

mount the databases.D. Enable circular logging on the storage group, and then restart the information store service.

20. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. A power failure causes one of the Exchange 2000 Server computers shut down abruptly. You restore power to the exchange server, but the hard disk that contains the transaction log files was damaged. You replace the failed hard disk, but its contents are unrecoverable. When you restart the server, the mailbox store will not mount. You examine the header of the database, and find it to be in an inconsistent state. You back up the exchange database files to a safe location, and now you need to bring the mailbox store online with most current data possible.

Which two actions should you take before mounting the database? (Each correct answer presents part of the solution. Choose two)

A. Run ESEUTIL/R on the database.B. Run ESEUTIL/P on the database.C. Run ESEUTIL/G on the database.D. Run ISINTEG-patch in the MDBData folder.E. Run ISINTEG-fix on the database.

21. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. The only domain controller on your Windows 2000 network is named as server 1. The only Exchange 2000 Server computer on the network is named server 2. Server 1 fails, and you do not have a backup of the server. You reinstall the domain controller and create a new forest. You need to allow the users in this new forest to access the exchange mailboxes on server2.

What should you do?A. Run setup/DisasterRecovery on server 2, and then run the mailbox clean up agent on the mailboxes.B. Perform a normal reinstallation of Exchange 2000 Server on Server 2. Configure the new installation to use

your original database files, and then reconnect the mailboxes to the new user accounts.C. Join server 2 to the new domain created by server 1, and then run the mailbox cleanup agent on the

mailboxes.D. Run EXMERGE against the exchange databases, and save the output to a file. Run setup/DomainPrep on

server2, and then import the EXMERGE data files exchange.22. You are the administrator of an exchange organization that has the Exchange 2000 Server computers.Each server

supports 1,500 mailboxes. Some users are using Microsoft outlook 2000, and some are using outlook web access.

Recently, you enabled SSL for the default web site on all servers and now require all outlook web access users to connect by using secure HTTP. Users report that all the servers are much slower than they were before you enabled SSL. You must keep additional level of security provided by SSL, but you need to improve server responsiveness.What should you do?

A. Install an additional Exchange 2000 Server computer to support the secure HTTP users, and configure it as a front-end server.

B. Remove SSL and implement TLS on the SMTP and IMAP4 virtual servers.C. Install two additional Exchange 2000 Server computers, and move the outlook web access users to the new

server.D. Specify digest authentication on the default web site, and disable integrated Windows authentication.E. Enable Windows 2000 IPSec for the network adapter that supports SQL.

23. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. The public folders in your organization contain more than 10,000 documents. You want to make it easier and faster for users to find specific documents.What should you do?

A. Configure a public folder store policy, and add the public folder store to the policy.B. Configure a public folder store policy, and create a full-text index on the public folder store.C. Configure a public folder store policy, and set the replication for the public folder store policy to

always run.D. Create a new public folder tree, configure a public folder store policy in this tree, and then create a

fulltext index for the public folder store.

24. You are the exchange administrator for your company. You have a mail box store policy for mailbox storage limits in effect for your entire exchange organization. The policy is shown in the exhibit. You add a new exchange 2000 server computer. After the server runs for a few weeks, you notice that several mailboxes are considerably over the limits that are. You need to configure the server to enforce the limits that you set. What should you do?

A. Configure a new mailbox store policy for the new server.B. Configure a new server policy and add the new server to this policy.C. Set storage limits on the existing mailbox store on the new server.D. Add the default mailbox store on the new server to the mailbox store policy.

25. You are the exchange administrator of your company. Your network is configured as shown in the exhibit. Click the exhibit button. All of your employees connect to your exchange 2000 server computers by using the Microsoft outlook 2000 or outlook express while in office and outlook web access outside the office. You examine the exchange 2000 log files and notice that unknown users on the internet are using your exchange 2000 express server computers to relay SMTP messages to users outside of your company. You need to prevent unauthorized use of your SMTP server while still allowing all of your users to connect to your exchange servers whether the users are in the office or out of the office. In addition, users must still be able to exchange internet e-mail messages with anyone.What should you do?

A. Create a rule on the firewall to allow only the computers on the LAN to access IP addresses 192.169.1.0/24 by using port 25, port 80 and port 110.B. Create a rule on the firewall to allow only the computers on the perimeter network to access IP address

192.168.1.0/24 by using the port 25, port 80 and port 110.C. Configure the SMTP virtual servers to accept SMTP connections from only IP address

192.168.1.0/24 and 92.168.2.0/24.D. Configure the SMTP virtual servers to accept connections from anyone and to allow relaying for only IP addresses

192.168.1.0/24.

26. You are the Exchange Administrator for an international company. You have Exchange 2000 Server computers located in 15 countries worldwide. You create a routing group for each country and a routing group connector between each country and the routing group for your main office. The networks in three of these countries are configured with 56-Kbps connections to your WAN. The networks in the other 12 countries have faster connections. You select several public folders and configure them to replicate to the Exchange servers in each of these three countries. You need to configure the public fold replication to occur during non-business hours during those three countries. You also need to prevent the users in these three countries from accessing public folders that have not been replicated to the Exchange servers located in their country.

What should you do?A. Configure the replication interval for the selected public folders to always run. Configure the connection time

for the routing group connectors for each of the three countries and the main office to occur at midnight.B. Configure the replication interval for the selected public folders to run at midnight. Configure the routing

group connector for each of three countries to disallow public folder referrals.C. Configure the replication interval for the selected public folder to run at midnight. Configure the routing group

connector for the main office to disallow public folder referrals.D. Configure the connection time for the routing group connectors for each of the three countries and the main

office to occur at mid night. Set the routing group connector cost to 1.E. Configure the connection time for the routing group connectors for each of the three countries and the main

office to occur at mid night. Set the routing group connector cost to 100.

27. You are the network administrator for Contoso Ltd. The company hires a consultant named Amy Jones from Litware Inc. Amy requires access to your network. She prefers to receive all of her e-mail at her ajones@litware.com address. You want Amys name to appear in the exchange address book, but you want e-mail messages to be sent only at her litware.com address.What should you do?

A. Create a user account that has an exchange mailbox in active directory. Change the SMTP address on the e-mail address tab to the user property sheet to the ajones@litware.com .

B. Create an e-mail enabled contact object for Amy Jones and specify the SMTP addressajones@litware.com as the e-mail address in active directory.

C. C. Create a user account that does not have an exchange mailbox in active directory. Use exchange task wizard to assign an SMTP address for ajones@litware.com

D. D. Create a user account that does not have an exchange mailbox in active directory. Enter ajones@litware.com as the e-mail address on the General tab of the user property sheet.

28. You are the administrator of seven Exchange 2000 server computers. Each server supports 1,800 mailboxes. Each servers mailboxes are distributed among five mailbox stores that are located in two storage groups. All mailbox store settings are configured at the default values. Tape backups on all servers occur between 4 A.M and 7 A.M. Users on the night shift report that sending and operating messages often takes several seconds between 1 A.M and 2:30 A.M. Response times are acceptable at other times. You need to improve the response times between 1 A.M and 2:30 A.M. What should you do?

A. Configure full-text indexing to use a lower amount of system resources.B. Schedule the tape backups to back up each of the mailbox stores at different times across a wider period of

time.C. Configure the warning interval of each of the mailbox stores so that warnings run on a custom schedule.D. Configure the maintenance interval of each of the mailboxes stores so that maintenance is staggered across

a wider period of time.

29. You are the exchange administrator of Miller textiles. Eric, the manager of human resources wants potential job candidates to send their resumes to jobs@millertextiles.com. Eric wants to prevent employees in other departments from being able to view these messages. Eric creates a Microsoft outlook public folder named job inquires. You need to configure the job inquiries folder to accept e-mail messages from job candidates.Which two actions should you take? (each correct answer presents part of the solution. Choose two)

A. Enable anonymous access for the job inquiries folder.B. Change the name of the job inquiries folder in the address list to jobs@millertextiles.comC. Change the SMTP address of the job inquiries folder to jobs@millertextiles.comD. Make the job inquiries folder visible in the address list.E. Change the permissions role for the default user to contributor.

30. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. You recently implemented instant messaging. Some users report that they are unable to logon to the instant messaging server. You verify that you can log on to the server and communicate with other users on the network. You need to configure your network to allow all users to log on to the instant messaging server.What should you do?

A. Use system manager to change the permissions on the instant messaging protocol. Grant the Everyone group read permission.

B. Use system manager to change the permissions on the instant messaging protocol. Grant the user who are unable to log on the execute permission.

C. Use the Active Directory users and computers console to select the users who are unable to log on. Run Exchange task wizard and enable instant messaging.

D. Use the Active Directory users and computers console to select the users who are unable to log on. Change the protocol settings for these users.

31. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. Your Exchange 2000 Server computer has a single storage group that contains three mailbox stores and one public folder store. You perform nightly backups, altering between a normal backup of two of the mailbox stores on one night and a normal backup of the other mailbox store and public folder store the following night. You notice hat the transaction log files are not being purged, and they are now consuming nearly all the available disk space. You need to continue to perform alternating nightly backups of the mailbox stores and the public folder store, but you must make sure that the transaction log files are not taking up too much of hard disk space.What should you do?

A. Configure the storage group to disable circular logging.B. Install a new physical disk and move the transaction log files to the new disk.C. Perform a nightly incremental backup of the entire storage group in addition to the current

backups.D. Perform differential backups of the mailbox stores and the public folder store instead of normal

backups.

32. You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. You are configuring your Exchange 2000 Server computer to support a disaster recovery plan. The server has three hard disks, Disk0, disk1, and disk2. The system files are stored on

disk 1. Currently, disk1 and disk2 are not in use. You perform nightly online backups of the exchange databases.You must configure the server to minimize the loss of data if one of the hard disks fails. What should you do?

A. Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .edb and .stm files on disk 2. Enable circular logging on the exchange server.

B. Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .edb files on disk 2. Enable circular logging on the exchange server.

C. Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .edb and .stm files on disk 2. Disable circular logging on the exchange server.

D. Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .stm files on disk 2. Disable circular logging on the exchange server.

Microsoft Exchange Server interview questions

33. What is a Distribution List? In e-mail applications, a distribution list is a group of mail recipients that is addressed as a single recipient. Distribution lists are used to send e-mail to groups of people without having to enter each recipient's individual address. A distribution list is different from an e-mail list in that members cannot reply to the distribution list's name to send messages to everyone else in the group.

Distribution list is a term sometimes used for a function of email clients where lists of email addresses are used to email everyone on the list at once. This can be referred to as an electronic mailshot. It differs from a mailing list, electronic mailing list or the email option found in an Internet forum as it is usually for one way traffic and not for coordinating a discussion. In effect, only members of a distribution list can send mails to the list.

34. GAL, Routing Group, Stm files, Eseutil & ininteg - what are they used for?(.STM) Streaming store file. A file used by Microsoft Exchange (mail) server to store user emails. The file is

called a streaming file since data is added to it sequentially in its native format. The data itself inside the STM file is not encoded or encrypted in any way so if a store is dismounted the file can be viewed using a text editor.

ESEUTIL is a repair utility. It 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.

GAL : is Global Address List, it contains most if not all email addresses in your Exchange organization.

35. What is MIME & MAPI? MIME = Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions It defines non-ASCII message formats. It is a coding standard that defines the structure of E-Mails and other Internet messages. MIME is also used for declaration of content from other Internet protocols like HTTP, Desktop environments like KDE, Gnome or Mac OS X Aqua. The standard is defined in RFC 2045.With MIME it is possible to exchange information about the type of messages (the content type) between the sender and the recipient of the message. MIME also defines the art of coding (Content-Transfer-Encoding).These are different coding methods defined for the transportation of non ASCII characters in plain text documents and non text documents like Images, Voice and Video for transportation through text based delivery systems like e-mail or the Usenet.The non text elements will be encoded from the sender of the message and will be decoded by the message recipient. Coding of non ASCII characters is often based on quoted printable coding, binary data typically using Base64-coding.There is an extension of this Standard called S/MIME (Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) that allows the signing and encryption of messages. There are other e-mail encryption solutions like PGP/MIME (RFC 2015 and 3156).

MAPI = Messaging Application Programming Interface It's the programming interface for email. It is a Microsoft Windows program interface that enables you to send e-mail from within a Windows application and attach the document you are working on to the e-mail note. Applications that take advantage of MAPI include word processors, spreadsheets, and graphics applications. MAPI-compatible applications typically include a Send Mail or Send in the File pulldown menu of the application. Selecting one of these sends a request to a MAPI server

36. List the services of Exchange Server 2003? There are several services involved with Exchange Server, and stopping different services will accomplish different things. The services are interdependent, so when you stop or start various services you may see a message about having to stop dependent services. If you do stop dependent services, don't forget to restart them again when you restart the service that you began with.To shut down Exchange completely on a given machine, you need to stop all of the following services:

Microsoft Exchange Event (MSExchangeES)This service was used for launching event-based scripts in Exchange 5.5 when folder changes were detected. Exchange 2000 offered the ability to create Event Sinks directly, so this use of this service has decreased. This service is not started by default.

Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 (IMAP4Svc)

This service supplies IMAP4 protocol message server functionality. This service is disabled by default. To use IMAP4 you must enable this service, configure it to auto-start, and start the service.

Microsoft Exchange Information Store (MSExchangeIS)This service is used to access the Exchange mail and public folder stores. If this service is not running, users will not be able to use Exchange. This service is started by default.

Microsoft Exchange Management (MSExchangeMGMT)This service is responsible for various management functions available through WMI, such as message tracking. This service is started by default.

Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks (MSExchangeMTA)This service is used to transfer X.400 messages sent to and from foreign systems, including Exchange 5.5 Servers. This service was extremely important in Exchange 5.5, which used X.400 as the default message transfer protocol. Before stopping or disabling this service, review MS KB 810489. This service is started by default.

Microsoft Exchange POP3 (POP3Svc)This service supplies POP3 protocol message server functionality. This service is disabled by default. To use POP3 you must enable this service, configure it to auto-start, and start the service.

Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine (RESvc)This service is used for routing and topology information for routing SMTP based messages. This service is started by default.

Microsoft Exchange System Attendant (MSExchangeSA)This service handles various cleanup and monitoring functions. One of the most important functions of the System Attendant is the Recipient Update Service (RUS), which is responsible for mapping attributes in Active Directory to the Exchange subsystem and enforcing recipient policies. When you create a mailbox for a user, you simply set some attributes on a user object. The RUS takes that information and does all of the work in the background with Exchange to really make the mailbox. If you mailbox-enable or mail-enable objects and they don't seem to work, the RUS is one of the first places you will look for an issue. If you need to enable diagnostics for the RUS, the parameters are maintained in a separate service registry entry called MSExchangeAL. This isn't a real service; it is simply the supplied location to modify RUS functionality. This service is started by default.

Microsoft Exchange Site Replication Service (MSExchangeSRS)This service is used in Organizations that have Exchange 5.5 combined with Exchange 2000/2003. This service is not started by default.

Network News Transfer Protocol (NntpSvc)This service is responsible for supplying NNTP Protocol Server functionality. This service is started by default.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTPSVC)This service is responsible for supplying SMTP Protocol Server functionality. This service is started by default.

Core Exchange Server 2003 ServicesTopic Last Modified: 2005-05-23 The following figure illustrates the core components of Exchange Server 2003, together with their service dependencies. Core components are System Attendant, the Exchange Information Store service, the IIS Admin service, the SMTP service, and the Exchange installable file system (ExIFS). All of these services must be running on every Exchange Server 2003 server to guarantee a fully functioning messaging system.Core Windows services and their dependent core Exchange Server 2003 services

IIS Admin service and SMTP service are integrated with IIS, as discussed in the previous section. The SMTP service must run on every server running Exchange Server 2003 because all messages sent to or from local recipients must pass through the SMTP transport engine. If the SMTP service is stopped or unavailable, Exchange Server 2003 cannot deliver messages. For more information about the routing architecture of Exchange Server 2003, see Message Routing Architecture.The core components of Exchange Server 2003 have the following responsibilities.

Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service System Attendant is one of the most important services in Exchange Server 2003. This component has many responsibilities, including maintaining communication with Active Directory, generating offline address lists, performing message tracking, and so forth. The executable file is Mad.exe and is located in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin directory. There are several registry keys that System Attendant uses for its various internal components under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\, such MSExchangeSA, MSExchangeDSAccess, MSExchangeAL, MSExchangeFBPublish, MSExchangeMU, and MSExchangeADDXA. The following table lists the responsibilities of System Attendant. Internal System Attendant components and their responsibilities

Component Responsibility Comments

DSAccess Component

Locating domain controllers in the network and providing other Exchange services with Active Directory information

System Attendant must find domain controllers and global catalogs in the network, so that the Exchange services can access recipient and configuration information. To find domain controllers, System Attendant uses ADSI to do a server-less binding.To proxy directory access from other Exchange components, such as Exchange store and SMTP transport engine, to Active Directory, System Attendant includes a DSAccess component (DSAccess.dll). DSAccess also caches directory information to reduce the number of queries to Active Directory. For more information about roles of domain controllers and global catalogs, and DSAccess, see Exchange Server 2003 and Active Directory.

DSProxy Component

Proxying legacy MAPI clients to Active Directory

System Attendant's DSProxy component (Dsproxy.dll) refers Outlook 2000 and later versions to a global catalog server so that the MAPI client can communicate with Active Directory to get access to the global address list. DSProxy also relays directory communication for older MAPI clients that cannot be referred directly. For more information about DSProxy see Exchange Server 2003 and Active Directory.

Free/Busy Component

Maintaining free/busy information for Outlook Web Access users

System Attendant is involved when publishing free/busy information in Outlook Web Access. When a user creates an appointment, the Exchange store extracts the free/busy information from the user's calendar and sends the data in a message to the System Attendant mailbox. The free/busy component (Madfb.dll) processes these messages and publishes the free/busy information in the SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY system public folder. For more information about publishing free/busy information, see Exchange Information Store Service Architecture.

Mailbox Manager Component

Managing mailboxes The mailbox manager component enforces message retention policies and mailbox quotas that you can use to manage mailbox store sizes.

Metabase update service

Replicating settings from Active Directory to the IIS metabase

The Directory Service to metabase update service (Ds2mb.dll) is an internal component of System Attendant. The Metbase Update Service replicates protocol settings from Active Directory to the IIS metabase to apply Internet protocol settings that you configure in Exchange System Manager to the Internet protocol engines, such as the SMTP service. For more information about the metabase update service, see Exchange Server 2003 and Active Directory.

Offline Address Book Generator

Generating offline address books The offline address book generator (Oabgen.dll) creates address lists in the Exchange store on an offline address list server. Users can then connect to this server and download the offline address lists. Offline address lists provide access to address information when a user is working remotely and does not have a permanent connection to the server. Because offline address lists are stored in a hidden public folder, it is possible to replicate the offline address lists to multiple servers.

Recipient Update Service

Applying recipient policies and generating proxy addresses

The Recipient Update Service (Abv_dg.dll) is the System Attendant component that monitors all mail-enabled user objects and recipient policies, and applies recipient policies to mail-enabled user objects. For more information about the Recipient Update Service, see Exchange Server 2003 and Active Directory.

Server Monitor Component

Monitoring server resources System Attendant monitors server resources at periodic intervals and updates link state information (LSI) through Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). System Attendant also updates the routing table so that the routing engine can make informed routing decisions based on the current status of servers and connectors. For more information about link state information, see Message Routing Architecture.System Attendant is also responsible for maintaining the message tracking logs if message tracking has been enabled on a server.

System Attendant Component

Verifies computer account configuration

The computer account of an Exchange server must be a member of a global security group called Exchange Domain Servers to grant Exchange Server 2003 the required access permissions to Active Directory. System Attendant verifies, in the background, that the computer account belongs to this group.

Exchange Information Store service The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is another very important component in Exchange Server 2003, because it maintains the messaging databases that contain all server-based mailboxes and public folders. The executable file of the Exchange Information Store service is Store.exe, located in the \Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin directory. The corresponding registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS. The Exchange store uses Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) to maintain the messaging databases and supports a variety of clients through corresponding store extensions. The following figure illustrates how the various client types can access messaging data. Exchange store architecture and supported messaging clients

MAPI clients communicate directly with the Exchange Information Store service through MAPI RPCs. Internet clients, however, use protocol engines integrated with IIS, as explained earlier in this section. Internet clients and Web applications communicate with the Exchange store through IIS protocol engines. This communication takes place through a store driver, Epoxy.dll, and store extensions, such as ExSMTP.dll or ExIMAP.dll. The EPOXY layer is a fast inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism based on shared memory, which is used by Drviis.dll and store extensions to coordinate their processing. For example, when delivering an inbound message through SMTP, Drviis.dll uses the Exchange installable file system to create a message item in the Exchange store, and then communicates with ExSMTP.dll through EPOXY to instruct the Exchange store to further process the message (that is, to place the message into the recipient's mailbox). For more information about the interaction between Drviis.dll, Epoxy.dll, store extensions, Store.exe and ExIFS, see Exchange Information Store Service Architecture.

Exchange Installable File System The Exchange installable file system is a kernel-mode driver, implemented in ExIfs.sys, which IIS protocol engines and Web applications can use to read and write items from and to messaging databases. To gain access to the databases, the ExIFS file system driver must communicate with the Exchange store. This is accomplished through a store extension (ExWin32.Dll) and a user-mode wrapper (Ifsproxy.dll). The Exchange store, on the other hand, uses ESE to access .stm and .edb files, which are files that reside on a drive formatted with the NTFS file system. The following figure illustrates this architecture. The ExIFS architecture

As mentioned in Exchange Server 2003 Technical Overview, a mailbox store or public folder store is made up of a streaming database (.stm) and a MAPI database (.edb). The IIS components use ExIFS to work with streaming databases, while MAPI clients, such as Outlook, work with MAPI-based databases (.edb). A streaming database holds Internet messages in their native format, such as MIME, while an .edb database stores e-mail messages in MAPI format. The Exchange store must keep both the streaming databases and the corresponding MAPI-based databases synchronized. To accomplish this, the Exchange store must communicate with ExIFS, in addition to ESE. For example, when allocating free space in a database, ExIFS requests space from ESE. ESE must track which pages in the streaming database are reserved and committed. Thus, the Exchange Information Store service depends on ExIFS. The registry key for ExIFS is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EXIFS. For more information about ExIFS and the architecture of the Exchange store, see Exchange Information Store Service Architecture.

Note:

ExIFS is the only kernel-mode component in Exchange Server 2003.

37. How would you recover Exchange server when the log file is corrupted? To resolve this issue, you must remove the corrupted log file from your Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server computer. To remove the corrupted log file, follow these steps:

1. Perform an offline backup of the Exchange databases in the storage group that contains the corrupted log file.

Important When you perform an offline backup, the Exchange 2000 computer is unavailable to users whose mailboxes are stored in the storage group that you are backing up. The Exchange 2000 computer is unavailable to the users because you must dismount the databases in the storage group.

a. To dismount the databases in the storage group, follow these steps.

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.

2. Expand Servers, expand the server that you want, and then expand Storage Group.

Note If you have administrative groups defined, expand Administrative Groups, expand Administrative Group, expand Servers, expand the server that you want, and then expand Storage Group.

3. Right-click an information store, click Dismount Store, and then click Yes to continue.

4. Dismount the remaining stores that are listed under Storage Group.

b. Back up the storage group by using the Microsoft Windows 2000 version of Windows Backup. You can run Windows Backup on any computer in the forest that is running Exchange 2000. To back up the storage group, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

2. Click Backup Wizard, click Next, click Back up selected files, drives, or network data, and then click Next.

3. Expand Microsoft Exchange Server, expand ServerName, expand Microsoft Information Store, click to select the check box for the storage group that you want to back up, and then click Next.

4. In the Backup media or filename box, specify a location where you want your backup to be stored, click Next, and then click Finish to start the backup.

When the backup is finished, continue to step 2.

2. Use the Eseutil utility (Eseutil.exe) to determine whether the databases are in a consistent state or in an inconsistent state. A consistent state is the same as a clean shutdown state. An inconsistent state is the same as a dirty shutdown state. To determine whether the databases are in a consistent state or in an inconsistent state, follow these steps:

a. Make sure that the databases in the storage group are dismounted.

b. Change to the C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin folder, and then run the eseutil /mh command by using the following syntax: eseutil /mh "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata\Database.edb"Note This step assumes that you installed Exchange 2000 on drive C. This step also assumes that you are running Exchange 2000 in the Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin folder and that the .edb files are in the Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder. If you have performed an upgrade, the database files might be located in the C:\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder. If you have multiple storage groups, the database files might be located in a folder that is different from the Mdbdata folder.

c. In the output results, locate the output line that is labeled "State." If the database state is consistent, you will see "State: Clean Shutdown." If the database is inconsistent, you will see "State: Dirty Shutdown."

For additional information about where to find the Eseutil utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 170091 XADM: Location of the Eseutil utility

For additional information about Eseutil command line switches, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 317014 XADM: Exchange 2000 Server Eseutil command line switches

3. If the databases are consistent, move all the log files out of the folder where your database files are located, and then mount the stores. The folder where your database files are located is typically the Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder. As with any

situation where a log file has been corrupted, some data loss will occur.

4. If the databases are inconsistent, you can try to perform a soft recovery of the files. Important To perform a soft recovery, you must stop the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. When the Information Store service is stopped, all users who have their mailboxes stored on the server will not be able to send and receive mail.

To perform a soft recovery of the files, follow these steps:

a. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

b. Locate and then right-click the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, click Stop, and wait for the Information Store service to stop.

c. At the command prompt, change to the folder where the database and the log files are located. For example, change to the C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder.

d. Run the following command in the folder where the database and the log files are located: "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin\Eseutil" /r E00Note Replace E00 with the three-character log file base name.

For additional information about the soft recovery procedure, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 313184 HOW TO: Recover the information store on Exchange 2000 in a single site

5. If the soft recovery is unsuccessful, you can try to perform a recovery of the Exchange database by restoring from a backup. The databases in the storage group must remain dismounted if you try to restore from a backup.

Note If you enabled circular logging for the storage group that the inconsistent database is located in, you can only recover the data that was in the database when you performed the last working full backup. To determine if circular logging is enabled, right-click the storage group, click Properties, and then view the status of the Enable Circular Logging check box.

If you restore the databases from an online backup, only replay transaction logs that are older than the log file that is corrupted.

For additional information about how to restore Exchange from an online backup, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 232938 The "Last Backup Set" check box and hard recovery in Exchange

If you restore the databases from an offline backup, empty the database log folders and the transaction log folders. Only restore the .edb files and the .stm files.

For additional information about offline backup and restore procedures for Exchange, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 296788 Offline backup and restoration procedures for Exchange

6. If there are no backups available that you can use and if the database remains in an inconsistent state, you can try to repair your databases by using the eseutil /p command.

Note If you use the eseutil /p command, you may lose some Exchange 2000 data. The command is a hard command. A hard command is also known as a forcible-state recovery command. Microsoft recommends that you use this command only if the public information store or the private information store does not return to a consistent state after you perform the steps that are described earlier in this article.

For more information about the ramifications of using the eseutil /p command, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 259851 Ramifications of running the eseutil /p or edbutil /d /r command in Exchange

38. How can you recover a deleted mail box ?In Exchange, if you delete a mailbox, it is disconnected for a default period of 30 days (the mailbox retention period), and you can reconnect it at any point during that time. Deleting a mailbox does not mean that it is permanently deleted (or purged) from the information store database right away, only that it is flagged for deletion. At the end of the mailbox retention period, the mailbox is permanently deleted from the database. You can also permanently delete the mailbox by choosing to purge it at any time. This also means that if you mistakenly delete a mail-enabled user account, you can recreate that user object, and then reconnect that mailbox during the mailbox retention period.Configure the deleted mailbox retention period at the mailbox store object level.

To Delete a Mailbox in Exchange1. Right-click the user in Active Directory Users and Computers. 2. Click Exchange Tasks. 3. Click Next on the Welcome page of the Exchange Task Wizard. 4. Click Delete Mailbox. 5. Click Next, click Next, and then click Finish.

The mailbox is now flagged for deletion and will be permanently deleted at the end of the mailbox retention period unless you recover it.

To Reconnect (or Recover) a Deleted Mailbox1. In Exchange System Manager, locate the mailbox store that contains the disconnected mailbox. 2. Click the Mailboxes object under the mailbox store. 3. If the mailbox is not already marked as disconnected (the mailbox icon appears with a red X), right-click the Mailboxes object, and then click Cleanup Agent. 4. Right-click the disconnected mailbox, click Reconnect, and then select the appropriate user from the dialog box that appears. 5. Click OK. Note Only one user may be connected to a mailbox because all globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) are required to be unique across an entire forest. To Reconnect a Deleted Mailbox to a New User Object1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, create a new user object. When you create the new user object, click to clear the Create an Exchange Mailbox check box.You will connect this user account to an already existing mailbox. 2. Follow steps 1 through 4 in the preceding "To Reconnect (or Recover) a Deleted Mailbox" section.

To Configure the Mailbox Retention Period1. Right-click the mailbox store, and then click Properties. 2. On the Limits tab, change the Keep deleted mailboxes for (days) default setting of 30 to the number of days you want. 3. Click OK.39. what is the use of ESUtil.exe ? Repair the database. 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. You can use the Eseutil utility to defragment the information store and directory in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 and to defragment the information store in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. Eseutil examines the structure of the database tables and records (which can include reading, scanning, repairing, and defragmenting) the low level of the database (Ese.dll).

Eseutil is located in the Winnt\System32 folder in Exchange Server 5.5 and in the Exchsrvr/Bin folder in Exchange 2000 and in Exchange 2003. The utility can run on one database at a time from the command line.

40. What are the port Numbers for pop3, imap, smtp port, smtp over ssl, pop3 over ssl, imap over ssl ?41. Difference between Exchance 2003 and 2007?Exchange Server 2003Exchange Server 2003 may be run on the Windows 2000 Server if the fourth service pack has already been installed. It may also be run on 32 bit Windows Server 2003. There is a new disaster recovery feature that is even better than before. It allows the server to experience less downtime. The Exchange Server 2003 received some features form Microsoft Mobile Information server as well. These include Outlook Mobile Access as well as ActiveSync. Improved versions of anti-spam and anti-virus were also included. Management tools for mailboxes and messages have been improved and Instant Messaging and Exchange Conferencing Server are now separate products. There are two versions available of Exchange Server 2003. These include the Enterprise edition and the Standard edition. There are many other features that are available on Exchange Server 2003.Exchange Server 2007When Exchange Server 2003 was released there were no immediate plans as to what would happen to the product. A 2005 edition was dropped and it was not until the end of 2006 that the new version was released. Some of the new features included integration of voicemail, improved filtering, Web service support, and Outlook Web Access interface. The new edition was run on a 64 bit x 64 version of Windows Server. This increase the performance significantly. There are quite a few improvements to Exchange Server 2007. These include better calendaring, improved web access, unified messages, and better mobility. From a system protection standpoint there is more clustering, antivirus, anti spam, and compliance included. The IT experience is improved overall with a 64-bit performance. Deployment is better; routing is simplified as well as the command line shell and GUI.42. What is required for using RPC over Https with MS Outlook ?You can configure user accounts in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 to connect to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 over the Internet without the need to use virtual private network (VPN) connections. This feature connecting to an Exchange account by using Remote Procedure Call (RPC) over HTTP allows Outlook users to access their Exchange Server accounts from the Internet when they are traveling or are working outside their organization's firewall.There are several requirements for this feature. These include:

Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and the Q331320 hotfix (or a later service pack) installed on users' computers

Outlook 2003 Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 e-mail accounts Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (required for server components only)

SERVER REQUIREMENTSRPC over HTTP/S requires Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. RPC over HTTP/S also requires Windows Server 2003 in a Global Catalog role.CLIENT REQUIREMENTS

The client computer must be running Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later.If you're running SP1, you must install the following update package:Outlook 2003 Performs Slowly or Stops Responding When Connected to Exchange Server 2003 Through HTTP - 331320

If you have installed Windows XP SP2, you do NOT have to install the update package.

You can also run Windows Server 2003 as the client operating system. The client computer must be running Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.

RECOMMENDATIONS Here are some of Microsoft's (and my) recommendations when using Exchange with RPC over HTTP:

Use basic authentication over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) - You should enable and require the use of SSL on the RPC proxy server for all client-to-server communications.

Use an advanced firewall server on the perimeter network - A dedicated firewall server is recommended to help enhance the security of your Exchange computer. Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 is an example of a dedicated firewall server product.

Obtain a certificate from a third-party certification authority (CA) - When using the Basic Authentication you MUST use an SSL-based connection, and you will have to configure a Digital Certificate for your Default Website. Read Configure SSL on Your Website with IIS for more on this issue.A Digital Certificate needs to be obtained from a CA (Certification Authority), either a 3rd-party commercial CA such as Verisign, Thawte and others, or from an internal CA. Windows 2000/2003 has a built-in CA that can be installed and used, however, when issuing a Digital Certificate from your internal CA you MUST be 100% sure that the client computers that are going to connect to the server are properly configured to trust this CA. Most operating systems are pre-configured to trust known 3rd-party CAs such as Verisign, Thawte and others. However unless these computers are made members of the Active Directory domain where you've installed your CA, they will NOT automatically trust your internal CA, and thus your connection will fail! In these scenarios, when a user tries to connect by using RPC over HTTP/S, that user loses the connection to Exchange and is NOT notified. In such scenarios you must import the ROOT CA Digital Certificate into the client computers in order to make them trust your CA. When using 3rd-party trusted CAs, in most cases you won't be required to import anything to the client computers, however you will be required to pay a few hundred dollars for such a Digital Certificate.

Additionally, if you use your own certification authority, when you issue a certificate to your RPC proxy server, you must make sure that the Common Name field or the Issued to field on that certificate contains the same name as the URL of the RPC proxy server that is available on the Internet.

43. If you have deleted the user, after you recreated the same user. How you will give the access of previous mail box ?Reconnect the Deleted user s mailbox to the recreated user. Provided the recreated user doesnt have mailbox .

44. If NNTP service get stoped, what features of exchange will be effected ?

45. Which protocol is used for Public Folder ? NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol, both nntp and imap helps clients to access the public folder. but actually, Smtp send the mails across the public folder.

46. What is latest service pack Exchange 2003? SP247. What is latest service pack Exchange 2000? SP448. What is the name of Exchange Databases? priv1.edb49. How many databases in Standard Exchange version 150. How many databases in Enterprise Exchange version 2051. What is Storage Group?The Exchange store has several logical components that interact with each other. These components can reside on a single server, or they can be distributed across multiple servers. This topic provides details about the following primary components of the Exchange store:

Storage groups (including recovery storage groups)

Mailbox databases

Public folder databases

Storage groups

An Exchange storage group is a logical container for Exchange databases and their associated system and transaction log files.Storage groups are the basic unit for backing up and restoring data in Microsoft Exchange (although you can restore a single database). All databases in a storage group share a single backup schedule and a single set of transaction log files. Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition supports up to 50 storage groups. Exchange 2007 Standard Edition supports up to five storage groups.

52. What is mail store?MAIL STOREThe mail store is a directory or Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path where the POP3 service stores all e-mail until users retrieve it to their client computer.

The basic structure of the mail store, or mail root, is a directory on the local hard disk where all e-mail is stored.When a domain is created, the POP3 service creates a corresponding directory in the directory that has been designated for the mail store. For each user with a mailbox in that domain, POP3 creates a directory in the domain directory. E-mail that a user receives is stored as an individual file within the user's directory until the user retrieves it using a POP3 e-mail client.The following is an example of the path to an e-mail message in the mail store:C:\inetpub\mailroot\mailbox\example.com\P3_someone.mbx\P347865.eml

where mailroot corresponds to the mail store directory, example.com to the domain directory, P3_somone.mbx to the directory for a mailbox named someone and P347865.eml to a single saved e-mail message.The directory and file permissions for each directory in the mail store are identical. When you configure the mail store, the permissions are set so that only local or domain administrators and the local network service, which the POP3 service is configured to run under, are assigned permissions to the directories. No other user is assigned read/write permissions.The mail store's functionality depends on having adequate hard disk space available. To ensure the mail store's functionality, you should develop a disk-space requirement estimate based on the number of users on the server, the volume of e-mail that they will receive, and the average size of the e-mail they will receive.In addition, you can protect the server from situations where the mail store's disk usage might increase unexpectedly by implementing disk quotas. Disk quotas monitor and control disk space that is used on NTFS file system volumes. For more information, see Configuring disk quotas for the POP3 service.NotesBecause the mail store can potentially use large amounts of disk space, you should either set a disk quota limit on the volume of the mail store (to control its disk space usage) or set it to use a volume other than the one where the operating system is installed. This will prevent the possibility of the operating system running out of disk space if the mail store becomes too large. For more information, see Set the mail store. For more information on disk quotas, see Configuring disk quotas for the POP3 service.The mail store must be configured to use either a directory on the local hard disk or a UNC path; other storage options, such as mapped drives, are not supported. You cannot set the mail store to the root directory of the hard disk, for example C:\, or to a directory in which files are currently in use.If you restore the mail store from a backup or move it to a new location, you must reset the permissions on the mail store directory using the command-line procedure described in Set the mail store.If you transfer the mail store to a new directory, you must move the mail store directory to ensure the directory retains the correct ownership; copying the mail store will not work.Physical access to a server is a high security risk. To maintain a more secure environment, restrict physical access to the server where the mail store resides.

53. Explain Exchange transaction logs

Before changes are actually made to an Exchange database file, Exchange writes the changes to a transaction log file. After a change has been safely logged, it can then be written to the database file. One of the most important components of Exchange server is the transaction logs. Exchange server was designed to write all transactions to these log files and commit the changes to the databases when the system allows. Users can send and receive messages without touching the database thanks to this write-ahead method of logging.When a message is sent, the transaction is first recorded in the transaction logs. Until the transaction is committed to the Exchange database (EDB), the only existence of this data is in the system memory and the transaction logs. In the event of a crash, you lose the contents of the memory and all you are left with is the record in the transaction log. These transaction logs are crucial to the recovery of a failed Exchange server, whether it was a minor crash that required a reboot, or a more catastrophic failure requiring the deployment of your disaster recovery plans. The same goes for other transactions such as received messages, deleted items and messages moved to different folders. 54. What is default size for Transaction logs?

5 MB for 2003 and 1 MB for 2007

55. Why exchange is using transaction logs? Why not to write to data directly to the Exchange database?One of the most important components of Exchange server is the transaction logs. Exchange server was designed to write all transactions to these log files and commit the changes to the databases when the system allows. Users can send and receive messages without touching the database thanks to this write-ahead method of logging.When a message is sent, the transaction is first recorded in the transaction logs. Until the transaction is committed to the Exchange database (EDB), the only existence of this data is in the system memory and the transaction logs. In the event of a crash, you lose the contents of the memory and all you are left with is the record in the transaction log. These transaction logs are crucial to the recovery of a failed Exchange server, whether it was a minor crash that required a reboot, or a more catastrophic failure requiring the deployment of your disaster recovery plans. The same goes for other transactions such as received messages, deleted items and messages moved to different folders. For this reason, it is recommended to house the transaction files on a redundant storage system, like a RAID 1 array, so that in the event of a hardware failure, no data is lost. Losing a set of transaction logs will not prevent you from restoring from your backups, but you will lose all the messages and changes since the last full backup.

56. How exchange database gets defragmented?There are two types of Exchange database defragmentation: online and offline.

Online Defragmentation Online defragmentation is one of several database-related processes that occur during Exchange database maintenance. By default, on servers running Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003, Exchange Server database maintenance occurs daily between 01:00 (1:00 A.M.) and 05:00 (5:00 A.M.). Online defragmentation occurs while Exchange Server databases remain online. Therefore, your e-mail users have complete access to mailbox data during the online defragmentation process.

The online defragmentation process involves automatically detecting and deleting objects that are no longer being used. This process provides more database space without actually changing the file size of the databases that are being defragmented.

Note: To increase the efficiency of defragmentation and backup processes, schedule your maintenance processes and backup operations to run at different times.

Offline DefragmentationOffline defragmentation involves using the Exchange Server Database Utilities (Eseutil.exe). ESEUTIL is an Exchange Server utility that you can use to defragment, repair, and check the integrity of Exchange Server databases. It is available through the following sources:

If you are running Exchange 2000 Server, ESEUTIL is located in the E:\Support\Utils folder of your Exchange 2000 CD (where E:\ is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive). If you are running Exchange Server 2003, ESEUTIL is located in the F:\Program Files\exchsrvr\bin directory after running Exchange Server 2003 Setup (where F:\ is the drive letter of the drive to which you installed Exchange Server). You can only perform offline defragmentation when your Exchange Server databases are offline. Therefore, your e-mail users will not have access to mailbox data during the offline defragmentation processes.

During the offline defragmentation process, Eseutil.exe creates a new database, copies the old database records to the new one, and then discards unused pages, resulting in a new compact database file. To reduce the physical file size of the databases, you must perform an offline defragmentation in the following situations:After performing a database repair (using Eseutil /p) After moving a considerable amount of data from an Exchange Server database. When an Exchange Server database is much larger than it should be.Defragmenting an Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 databaseDefragmenting a database requires free disk space equal to 110 percent of the size of the database being processed. 1. In Exchange System Manager, right-click the information store that you want to defragment, and then click Dismount Store.2. At the command prompt, change to the Exchsrvr\Bin folder, and then type the eseutil /d command, a database switch, and any options that you want to use.

For example, the following command runs the standard defragmentation utility on a mailbox store database: C:\program files\exchsrvr\bin> eseutil /d c:\progra~1\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edbUse the following database switch to run Eseutil defragmentation on a specific database: eseutil /d [options]

57. What is white space, and how can it be reclaimed?White space is nothing but free space.

When the 16 GB database size limit is reached on the Standard version of Exchange and white space must be reclaimed in order to mount the database. If you are running Exchange Server 2003, then Service Pack 2 (SP2) should be installed to raise the limit to 75 GB.

Free Space ReclamationThe version store is the area of the database that manages version control. When a transaction is committed to the database, a cleanup process returns space that is freed by modify and delete transactions to the database. For each modify or delete operation, the existing version of the record is written to the version store so that the database maintains a copy of the old version until the new version is written to the database. After the transaction is committed to the database, any space that is freed from deleted records and long values is returned to the table or index that owns the space. Until the change is committed to the database, requests for the object continue to access the old version. If the transaction is rolled back, the version store record is used to undo the transaction.The version store has a size limit that is the lesser of the following: one-fourth of total random access memory (RAM) or 100 MB.Because most domain controllers have more than 400 MB of RAM, the most common version store size is the maximum size of 100 MB. If too many large changes or deletions occur simultaneously, it is possible for the version store to run out of processing space. In this event, cleanup of free space is suspended temporarily. On domain controllers running Windows 2000 Server, the most common cause of version store overload is large-scale bulk deletions.Bulk deletions and database growth in Windows 2000Delete operations are the most CPU-intensive operations that the version store processes. On domain controllers running Windows 2000 Server, bulk deletions, such as the deletion of an entire tree of objects at one time, can cause a temporary condition in which free space cannot be returned to the database in a timely fashion because the cleanup process cannot keep up with the deletions. Event ID 602 is logged in the Directory Services event log to indicate this condition.

During the time that pages are being skipped by the cleanup process, free space is not released to the database, and space is not reclaimed until the next scheduled online defragmentation occurs. In the meantime, processing requirements can cause the database to grow. In particular, when bulk deletions or other bulk changes coincide with database additions, significant growth can occur. In addition, space from the deletion of long values is not returned to the database by online defragmentation. As a result of these conditions, the directory database on domain controllers running Windows 2000 Server can actually increase in size following a bulk deletion.On domain controllers running Windows Server 2003, the effects of these conditions are greatly reduced by improvements in version store cleanup and online defragmentation. However, if event ID 602 is logged in the Directory Services event log, running online defragmentation manually can alleviate the problem. On domain controllers running Windows 2000 Server, the only way to prompt online defragmentation is to change the garbage collection interval to the minimum value of one hour to force garbage collection and online defragmentation to occur as soon as possible.Improved space processing in Windows Server 2003Two improvements in the Windows Server 2003 processing of free space eliminate the database growth problems that can result from large-scale bulk deletions:

The threshold at which the database begins skipping cleanup operations is increased from 5 percent to 90 percent.

Space is reclaimed from long-value deletions.

The threshold of maximum pages that can be processed by the version store is the limiting factor in whether the cleanup process can keep pace with deletions. The version store cleanup process can take place only as long as the version store has sufficient space. With a maximum version store size of 100 MB, only 5 MB (5 percent) is available in Windows 2000 Server, and this low threshold is responsible for early suspension of the cleanup process. The threshold of 90 MB (90 percent) in Windows Server 2003 eliminates this problem. For this reason, large-scale bulk deletions that can be problematic on domain controllers running Windows 2000 Server present no significant growth concerns on domain controllers running Windows Server 2003.In addition, online defragmentation on domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 returns the space that is freed by long values to the long-value table, which further optimizes the availability of space in the database.

58. What time online maintenance runs by default in Exchange?Exchange Server database maintenance occurs daily between 01:00 (1:00 A.M.) and 05:00 (5:00 A.M.).

59. What event log exchange logs after online defragmentation What is the maximum storage capacity for Exchange standard version? What would you do if it reaches maximum capacity?

For Exchange Server 5.5, an Event 179 from source ESE97 is logged for each database at the beginning of online defragmentation. An Event 180 signals completion of online defragmentation. An Event 183 indicates that online defragmentation did not complete, but has been suspended and will finish later. Online defragmentation may be suspended if the online maintenance period that is defined for the database expires before online defragmentation completes. In this case, online defragmentation will resume where it left off during the next online maintenance window.

In Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, event ID 700 signals the beginning of a full pass, and event ID 701 signals the completion of a full pass.

You may view or adjust the Information Store Maintenance schedule in the Exchange Server Administrator program for individual databases.

The free space that is reported by Event 1221 is a conservative estimate. If you perform offline defragmentation, you will recover at least the amount of space that is reported as free. All space in an Exchange database is owned either by the database root or by particular tables in the database. Event 1221 estimates free space by calculating the number of empty pages owned by the messages table, the attachments table, and the database root. Free pages that are owned by other tables in the database are not taken into account.

60. . Retention Period : The retention period specifies how long Exchange will keep items that users have deleted. Upon deleting an item, Exchange marks the item for complete removal based on the retention period. The default retention period is set to 30 days:

61. boot process in windows nt/xp/2000/2003A Windows Server 2003 Intel-based boot sequence requires a number of files. A list of these files, their appropriate locations and the stages of the boot process associated with each file are listed in Table 1.2. Note: Systemroot represents the path to your Windows Server 2003 installation folder, which by default is C:\Windows

Note: The string systemroot (typed as %systemroot%) represents the folder in the boot partition that contains the Windows Server 2003 system files.

The boot loader phase varies by platform. Since the earlier phases are not specific to the OS, the boot process is considered to start:

For x86 or x64: when the partition boot sector code is executed in real mode and loads NTLDR

For IA-64: when the IA64ldr.efi EFI program is executed (later referred as simply IA64ldr) From that point, the boot process continues as follows:An NTLDR file, located in the root folder of the boot disk, is composed of two parts. The first is the StartUp module and immediately followed by the OS loader (osloader.exe), both stored within that file. When NTLDR is loaded into memory and control is first passed to StartUp module, the CPU is operating in real mode. StartUp module's main task is to switch the processor into protected mode, which facilitates 32-bit memory access, thus allowing it to create the initial Interrupt descriptor table, Global Descriptor Table, page tables and enable paging. This provides the basic operating environment on which the operating system will build. StartUp module then loads and launches OS loader.NTLDR's OS loader includes basic functionality to access IDE-based disks formatted for NTFS or FAT file systems, or CDFS (ISO 9660), ETFS[clarify] or UDFS[clarify] in newer operating system versions. Disks are accessed through the system BIOS, through native ARC routines on ARC systems, or via network using TFTP protocol. It should be noted that all BIOS calls are done through virtual 8086 mode beyond this point, because the BIOS can not be accessed directly within protected mode. If the boot disk is a SCSI disk and the SCSI controller is not using real-mode INT 0x13, an additional file, Ntbootdd.sys is loaded to handle disk access in place of the default routines. This is a copy of the same SCSI miniport driver that is used when Windows is running.The boot loader then reads the contents of boot.ini to locate information on the system volume. If the boot.ini file is missing, the boot loader will attempt to locate information from the standard installation directory. For Windows NT machines, it will attempt to boot from C:\WINNT. For Windows XP and 2003 machines, it will boot from C:\WINDOWS.At this point, the screen is cleared, and in the Windows 2000 or later versions of NTLDR and IA64ldr which support system hibernation, the root directory default volume as defined in boot.ini is searched for a hibernation file, hiberfil.sys. If this file is found and an active memory set is found in it, the contents of the file (which will match the amount of physical memory in the machine) are loaded into memory, and control is transferred into the Windows kernel at a point from which hibernation can be resumed[1]. The file is then immediately marked as non-active, so that a crash or other malfunction cannot cause this (now-outdated) memory state to be re-loaded. If a state resume fails, the next time NTLDR runs it will ask the user whether to try resuming again or to discard the file and proceed with normal booting.If boot.ini contains more than one operating system entry, a boot menu is displayed to the user, allowing the user to choose which operating system is to be loaded. If a non NT-based operating system such as Windows 98 is selected (specified by an MS-DOS style of path, e.g. C:\), then NTLDR loads the associated "boot sector" file listed in boot.ini (by default, this is bootsect.dos if no file name is specified) and passes execution control to it. If an NT-based operating system is selected, NTLDR runs ntdetect.com, which gathers basic information about the computer's hardware as reported by the BIOS.At this point in the boot process, NTLDR clears the screen and displays a textual progress bar, (which is often not seen on XP or 2003 systems, due to their initialization speed); Windows 2000 also displays the text "Starting Windows..." underneath. If the user presses F8 during this phase, the advanced boot menu is displayed, containing various special boot modes including Safe mode, with the Last Known Good Configuration, with debugging enabled, and (in the case of Server editions) Directory Services Restore Mode.Once a boot mode has been selected (or if F8 was never pressed) booting continues.

TABLE 1.2: Files Used in the Windows Server 2003 Boot Process

File Location Boot Stage

NtldrBoot.iniBootsect.dosNtdetect.comNtbootdd.sysNtoskrnl.exeHal.dllSystemDevice drivers

System partition root (C:\ )System partition rootSystem partition rootSystem partition rootSystem partition rootsystemroot\System32

systemroot\System32systemroot\System32\Config

systemroot\System32\Drivers

Preboot and boot Boot Boot (optional) Boot Boot (optional Kernel load Kernel load Kernel initialization Kernel initialization

If an x64 version of Windows is being booted (Windows XP Professional x64 Edition or Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions), the CPU is now switched into Long mode, enabling 64-bit addressing.Next, the Windows kernel Ntoskrnl.exe and the Hardware Abstraction Layer hal.dll are read into memory. If either of these files fails to load, the message "Windows could not start because the following file was missing or corrupt" is displayed to the user, and the boot process comes to a halt.If multiple hardware configurations are defined in the registry, the user is prompted at this point to choose one.With the kernel in memory, boot-time device drivers are loaded (but not yet initialized). This information (along with information on all detected hardware and Windows Services) is stored in the HKLM\SYSTEM portion of the registry, in a set of registry keys collectively called a Control Set. Multiple control sets (typically two) are kept, in the event that the settings contained in the currently-used one prohibit the system from booting. HKLM\SYSTEM contains control sets labeled ControlSet001, ControlSet002, etc., as well as CurrentControlSet. During regular operation, Windows uses CurrentControlSet to read and write information. CurrentControlSet is a reference to one of the control sets stored in the registry. Windows picks the "real" control set being used based on the values set in the HKLM\SYSTEM\Select registry key:

Default will be NTLDR or IA64ldr's choice if nothing else overrides this.

If the value of the Failed key matches Default, then NTLDR or IA64ldr displays an error message, indicating that the last boot failed, and gives the user the option to try booting, anyway, or to use the "Last Known Good Configuration".

If the user has chosen Last Known Good Configuration from the boot menu, the control set indicated by the LastKnownGood key is used instead of Default.

When a control set is chosen, the Current key gets set accordingly. The Failed key is also set to the same as Current until the end of the boot process. LastKnownGood is also set to Current if the boot process completes successfully.For the purposes of booting, a driver is either a "Boot" driver that is loaded by NTLDR or IA64ldr prior to starting the kernel and started before system drivers by the kernel, a "System" driver, which is loaded and started by ntoskrnl.exe after the boot drivers or an "Automatic" driver which is loaded much later when the GUI already has been started. "Boot" drivers are almost exclusively drivers for hard-drive controllers and file systems (ATA, SCSI, file system filter manager, etc.); in other words, they are the absolute minimum that ntoskrnl.exe will need to get started with loading other drivers, and the rest of the operating system. "System" drivers cover a wider range of core functionality, including the display driver, CD-ROM support, and the TCP/IP stack.The appropriate file system driver for the partition type (NTFS, FAT, or FAT32) which the Windows installation resides on is also loaded.With this finished, control is then passed from NTLDR or IA64ldr to the kernel. At this time, Windows NT shows the famous "blue screen" displaying number of CPUs and the amount of memory installed, whilst Windows 2000, XP and 2003 switch into a graphical display mode to display the Windows logo.A. A. Firstly the files required for NT to boot are

Ntldr - This is a hidden, read-only system file that loads the operating system

Boot.ini - This is read-only system file, used to build the Boot Loader Operating System Selection menu on Intel x86-based computers

Bootsect.dos - This is a hidden file loaded by Ntldr if another operating system is selected

Ntdetect.com - This is a hidden, read-only system file used to examine the hardware available and to build a hardware list.

Ntbootdd.sys - This file is only used by systems that boot from a SCSI disk. The common Boot sequence files are

Ntoskrnl.exe - The Windows NT kernel

System - This file is a collection of system configuration settings

Device drivers - These are files that support various device drivers

Hal.dll - Hardware Abstraction Layer software The boot sequence is as follows

1. Power on self test (POST) routines are run 2. Master Boot Record is loaded into memory, and the program is run 3. The Boot Sector from Active Partition is Loaded into Memory 4. Ntldr is loaded and initialized from the boot sector

5. Change the processor from real mode to 32-bit flat memory mode 6. Ntldr starts the appropriate minifile system drivers. Minifile system drivers are built into Ntldr and can read FAT

or NTFS 7. Ntldr reads the Boot.ini file 8. Ntldr loads the operating system selected, on of two things happen

* If Windows NT is selected, Ntldr runs Ntdetect.com* For other operating system, Ntldr loads and runs Bootsect.dos and passes control to it. The Windows NT process ends here

9. Ntdetect.com scans the computer hardware and sends the list to Ntldr for inclusion in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE

10. Ntldr then loads Ntoskrnl.exe, Hal.dll and the system hive 11. Ntldr scans the System hive and loads the device drivers configured to start at boot time 12. Ntldr passes control to Ntoskrnl.exe, at which point the boot process ends and the load phases begin

I have a Windows NT 4.0 SP6a Server that takes 45 min to boot. It get to step 8. below, at seems to hang for the larger part of the time. Then, it will finish the boot process and work fine. It is just a pain if I ever have to reboot.

1. Power on self test (POST) routines are run 2. Master Boot Record is loaded into memory, and the program is run 3. The Boot Sector from Active Partition is Loaded into Memory 4. Ntldr is loaded and initialized from the boot sector 5. Change the processor from real mode to 32-bit flat memory mode 6. Ntldr starts the appropriate minifile system drivers. Minifile system drivers are built into Ntldr and can read FAT or NTFS7. Ntldr reads the Boot.ini file 8. Ntldr loads the operating system selected, on of two things happen* If Windows NT is selected, Ntldr runs Ntdetect.com* For other operating system, Ntldr loads and runs Bootsect.dos and passes control to it. The Windows NT process ends here 9. Ntdetect.com scans the computer hardware and sends the list to Ntldr for inclusion in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE 10. Ntldr then loads Ntoskrnl.exe, Hal.dll and the system hive 11. Ntldr scans the System hive and loads the device drivers configured to start at boot time 12. Ntldr passes control to Ntoskrnl.exe, at which point the boot process ends and the load phases begin

WINDOWS SERVER 2003 BOOT PROCESS: COMMON ERRORS & SOLUTIONS

The boot process starts when you turn on your computer and ends when you log on to Windows Server 2003. There can be various reasons for startup failures. Some can be easily corrected, while others might require you to reinstall Windows Server 2003. This article will help you understand and troubleshoot most of the errors commonly occurring during the Windows Server 2003 boot process.While diagnosing a server error, it is important to first determine at which stage the error occurred. A server error can occur when the server is booting, during its running time or even when it is shutting down.The Boot ProcessThe boot process will slightly differ depending on whether your server is using an x86-based processor or an Itanium-based processor. This article exclusively deals with x86-based boot Process If you are running Windows Server 2003 on an x86-based platform, the boot process consists of six major stages:

1. The pre-boot sequence 2. The boot sequence

3. Kernel load sequence 4. Kernel initialization sequence

5. Logon sequence 6. Plug and Play detection

Many files are used during these stages of the boot process. The following sections describe the steps in each boot process stage, the files used, and the errors that might occur.Stage 1: Pre-Boot SequenceA normal boot process begins with the pre-boot sequence, in which your computer starts up and prepares to boot the operating system.The computer will search for a boot device based on the boot order that was configured in the computers BIOS settings.

Steps in the Pre-Boot SequenceThe preboot sequence is not truly a part of windows booting process.The pre-boot sequence consists of the following steps:

1. When the computer is powered on, it runs a power-on self-test (POST) routine. The POST detects the processor you are using, how much memory is present, the hardware is recognized and what BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) your computer is using.

2. The BIOS points to the boot device and the Master Boot Record (MBR) is loaded. It is also sometimes called the master boot sector or even just the boot sector.

The MBR is located on the first sector of the hard disk. It contains the partition table and master boot code, which is executable code used to locate the active partition.

3. The MBR points to the Active partition. The active partition is used to specify the partition that should be used to boot the operating system. This is normally the C: drive. Once the MBR locates the active partition, the boot sector is loaded into memory and executed.

4. The Ntldr file is copied into memory and executed. The boot sector points to the Ntldr file, and this file executes. The Ntldr file is used to initialize and start the Windows Server 2003 boot process.

Possible Errors & SolutionsIf you see errors during the pre-boot sequence, they are probably not related to Windows Server 2003, since the operating system has not yet been loaded. The following table lists some common causes for errors and solutions .

Symptom Cause Solution

Corrupt MBR There are many viruses that affect MBR and corrupt it.

You can protect your system from this type of error by using a virus-scanning software. Most of the commonly used

virus-scanning programs can correct an infected MBR.

Improperly configured hardware

If the POST cannot recognize your hard drive, the pre-boot stage will fail. This error can occur even if the device was

working properly