Exchange Server 2003 – Daily Operations Checklist

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Use these checklists to record daily operations.

Checklist: Performing Physical Environmental Checks

Use this checklist to ensure that physical environment checks are completed.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Verify that environmental conditions are tracked and maintained.

 

Check temperature and humidity to ensure that environmental systems such as heating and air conditioning settings are within acceptable conditions, and that they function within the hardware manufacturer's specifications.

 

Verify that physical security measures such as locks, dongles, and access codes have not been breached and that they function correctly.

 

Ensure that your physical network and related hardware, such as routers, switches, hubs, physical cables, and connectors are operational.

 

 

Checklist: Check Backups

Complete this checklist to check backups.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Ensure that the recommended minimum backup strategy - a daily online backup - is completed.

 

Verify that the previous backup operation completed.

 

Analyze and respond to errors and warnings during the backup operation.

 

Follow the established procedure for tape rotation, labeling, and storage.

 

Verify that the transaction logs were successfully purged (if your backup type is purging logs).

 

Make sure that backups complete under service level agreements (SLA).

 

 

Checklist: Check CPU and Memory Use

Record the sampling time of each counter.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Examine % Processor Time performance counter.

 

Examine Available MBs performance counter.

 

Examine % Committed Bytes in Use performance counter.

 

Check against a performance baseline to determine the health of a server.

 

 
Counter Measured Value Time When Recorded

% Processor Time

 

 

Available MBs

 

 

% Committed Bytes in Use

 

 

 

 

 

Checklist: Check Disk Use

Follow the checklist and record the drive letter, designation, and available disk space.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Create a list of all drives and label them in three categories: drives with transaction logs, drives with queues, and other drives.

 

Check disks with transaction log files.

 

Check disks with SMTP queues.

 

Check other disks.

 

Use server monitors to check free disk space.

 

Check performance on disks.

 

 
Drive Letter Designation (drives with transaction logs, drives with queues, and other drives) Available Space MB Available % Free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checklist: Event Logs

Check event logs using the following checklist.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Filter application and system logs on the Exchange server to see all errors.

Note

This process can be time-consuming.

 

Filter application and system logs on the Exchange server to see all warnings.

 

Note repetitive warning and error logs.

 

Respond to discovered failures and problems.

 

 

Checklist: Check IIS Logs and Performance

Complete this checklist to check IIS logs and performance, as well as the status of services such as POP3 and IMAP. For more information about monitoring IIS logs and performance, see Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Internet Information Services (IIS).

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Examine event log and filter. IIS logs give you information about your changes.

Note

If you are a medium-size organization, examine your event logs weekly.

 

Examine System Monitor for IIS performance to examine the output of performance counters. Examine the following performance counters:

  • Web Service counters to monitor the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service).

  • Web Service Cache counters to monitor the WWW service cache.

  • FTP Service counters to monitor the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service.

  • Active Server Pages counters to monitor applications that run as Active Server Pages (ASPs).

 

 

Checklist: Exchange Database Health

Use this checklist for to verify health of your Exchange database.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Check the number of transaction logs generated since the last check. Is the number increasing at the “usual” rate?

 

Verify that databases are mounted.

 

Make sure that public folder replication is up-to-date.

 

If full-text indexing is enabled, verify that indexes are up-to-date.

 

With test mailbox, verify the logon of each database and the send/receive capabilities.

 

 

Checklist: MAPI Client Performance

Complete the checklist to verify MAPI client performance and server availability.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Examine System Monitor counters.

 

Examine Event Viewer logs.

 

Verify that a test account can log on to the Exchange server and has send/receive capabilities.

 

Verify your Perfmon RPC counters against a baseline - RPC average latency/RPC requests/RPC operations.

 

 

Checklist: Check Queue Viewer

Follow the checklist and record the size of each queue.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Check queues for each server in each administrative group using Exchange System Manager.

 

Record queue size.

 

 
Queue Type Queue Size

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checklist: Message Paths and Mail Flow

Use this checklist to examine the message paths and mail flow in your organization.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Send messages between internal servers using test accounts.

 

Check and verify that messages deliver successfully.

 

Send outgoing messages to non-local accounts.

 

Check and verify that outgoing messages deliver successfully. With the test account on the external host, verify that mail comes in.

 

Send messages across any connectors to Exchange 5.5 organizations, Lotus Notes, and Novell GroupWise recipients.

 

Verify successful message transfer across connectors and routes.

 

Run WinRoute weekly to ensure connectivity.

 

 

Checklist: Exchange Connectors to Non-Exchange Mail Platforms

Use the following checklist to monitor mail flow and directory synchronization.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

Check DirSync: Examine The container where Lotus Notes or GroupWise contacts are synchronizing, to make sure that the changes are coming across. Also, monitor the application event log for errors/warnings, as well as successful updates in both directions.

 

Check Lotus Notes connectors: For mail flow, check the Queue Viewer in Exchange System Manager (ESM). There are four queues for the Lotus Notes connector, two incoming and two outgoing. Examine the Application log for errors/warnings.

 

Check Novell GroupWise connectors: For mail flow, check the Queue Viewer in Exchange System Manager (ESM). There are four queues for the GroupWise connector, two incoming and two outgoing. Examine the Application log for errors/warnings.

 

Ensure that the connector services are started.

 

 

Checklist: Security Logs

To effectively correct known and discovered security issues, complete the following checklist.

Prepared by:

Date:

Completed Task

 

View the security event log on Event Viewer and match security changes to known, authorized configuration changes.

 

Investigate unauthorized security changes discovered in security event log.

 

Check security news for latest virus, worm, and vulnerabilities.

 

Update and fix discovered security problems and vulnerabilities.

 

Verify that SMTP does not relay anonymously - or lock down to specific servers that require functionality.

 

Verify that the Message Tracking Log does not have the Everyone group listed in the ACL permission -(you can also do this task weekly).

 

Verify that SSL is functioning for configured secure channels.

 

Update virus signatures daily.