Exchange Management Pack Quick Start

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The Microsoft® Exchange Management Pack helps you do more monitoring with fewer people by monitoring the following key scenarios:

  • Are all Exchange services running?

  • Are all databases mounted and do disks have sufficient free space?

  • Can Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003 clients connect and is performance good?

  • Is the mail flowing between servers?

  • Is Exchange performing efficiently and reliably?

  • Is Exchange configured correctly and is it secure? For example, is circular logging turned off and are regular backups being performed?

The Exchange Management Pack requires that you deploy the full retail version of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. When you use the full version, you can monitor all options on multiple servers and view reports, but you must purchase an Operations Management License (OML). The workgroup version of MOM 2005 does not require an OML, but can only monitor up to 10 servers and does not support reporting.

This topic covers, at a high level, the steps that you must perform to get the Exchange Management Pack up and running. It is not intended to provide details. For more information, see the other topics in this guide. To quickly get your servers configured correctly, you must follow these steps:

  • Read the Release Notes

  • Import the Exchange Management Pack

  • Configure your server to collect topology data

  • Install and Run the Configuration Wizard

MOM 2005 Release Notes

Note

The following information was provided in the original MOM 2005 release notes that were included on the MOM 2005 installation media. Make sure that you follow the guidance that is minimally recommended in these release notes.

It is recommended that users who upgrade from an earlier version of MOM use the Replace option instead of the Update option when importing the Management Pack. If the "Update" option is used, manually remove all Computer Groups associated with the following Exchange rule groups:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange 2000

  • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange 2003

  • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange Service Discovery

To manually remove computer groups

  1. Open the MOM 2005 Administrator Console.

  2. In the left pane, expand the Management Packs\Rule Groups\Microsoft Exchange Server node, right-click each rule group, and then click Properties.

  3. On the Computer Groups tab, click each computer group listed, and then click Remove. Repeat this step until all computer groups are removed.

The Exchange Diagram requires manual configuration. Follow these steps to configure Exchange Diagram.

To enable the Exchange Diagram

  1. To populate the Exchange Diagram, identify the Exchange server that will perform topology discovery. You can use any computer that is running Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 in the Active Directory® forest.

  2. In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, add this computer to the Included Computer list in the Microsoft Exchange Topology Discovery Computers computer group.

    1. In the left pane, click Computer Groups.

    2. In the right pane, double-click the Microsoft Exchange Topology Discovery Computers group.

    3. Click Included Computers and then click Add to add the designated Exchange server to this group.

  3. In the left pane, locate the Administration\Computers\All Computers node, right-click the computer that you added, click Properties, click the Security tab, and then clear the Use global settings and Prevent agent from proxying for other computers or network devices check boxes. If MOM and Exchange Server are installed on the same computer, your server will be designated as a Management Server. Therefore, the Security tab will not be available and you will not need to configure proxying settings.

When you upgrade from an earlier version of MOM with the Exchange Management Packs installed, some views will be orphaned.

To remove orphaned views

  • In the MOM Operators Console, select the top level of the orphaned views (Microsoft Exchange), right-click it, and then click Delete. This includes the Microsoft Exchange view folder, the top level Exchange 2000 view, and Exchange 2003 views.

Exchange reports do not show data collected in a specific timeframe until the DTS job has run. By default, the MOM DTS job is set to run at 01:00, and many Exchange scripts run in the 01:00 to 04:00 timeframe. Data collected in these scripts will not appear in Exchange reports until the DTS job has run again.

To see data collected after the DTS job runs

  • When you upgrade from a beta or release candidate version, the old ExchangeServer state class may temporarily persist in the Global: All State View even after you use the Replace option.

To locate Exchange state information

  • Look at the Microsoft Exchange Server state views for Exchange state information.

MOM will generate events when rules try to collect performance counters that are not loaded. This behavior occurs when certain Exchange services are not installed by default (for example, POP, IMAP).

To eliminate these events

  • In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, disable the Microsoft Operations Manager\Operations Manager 2005\Agents On All MOM Roles\(Event Rules)\Performance Provider - Performance counter does not exist rule.

The Agent Action account on Exchange servers must be configured to run as Local System.

To verify that the Agent Action account is configured to run as Local System

  1. Open the MOM Administrator Console.

  2. Locate Administration, Computers, Agent-managed Computers.

  3. Right-click the server in question, and then click Update Agent Settings.

  4. In the dialog box, under Which account do you want to use for the Agent Action Account?, click Local System.

When first installed, the Exchange Management Pack will not monitor agentless servers. To monitor an agentless server manually, add the server to the appropriate computer group from the following list:

  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Back-end

  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Front-end

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Back-end

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Front-end

Importing the Exchange Management Pack

After you have your MOM 2005 environment installed, you must import the Exchange Management Pack to start monitoring your Exchange 2003 servers.

To import the Management Pack

  1. Obtain the MicrosoftExchangeServer2003.akm file either by downloading it or from the MOM 2005 installation CD. Copy this file to the Microsoft Operations Manager consolidator server.

  2. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, and then click Administrator Console.

  3. In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, locate the Console Root, and then expand Microsoft Operations Manager.

  4. Right–click Management Packs, and then select Import/Export Management Pack. The Management Pack Import/Export Wizard opens.

  5. In the Management Pack Import/Export Wizard, on the Welcome page, click Next.

  6. On the Import or Export Management Packs page, verify that Import Management Packs and/or reports is selected, and then click Next.

  7. On the Select a Folder and Choose Import Type page, click Browse to locate the folder in which you have downloaded the MicrosoftExchangeServer2003.akm file. Under Type of Import, select Import Management Packs only, and then click Next.

  8. On the Select Management Packs page, verify that the MicrosoftExchangeServer2003.akm file is selected, click Next, and then click Finish. When the installation is finished, verify that the Description pane indicates that the installation was successful, and then click Close.

If you are upgrading from earlier versions of the Exchange Management Pack, you should use the Replace option when importing the management pack. If you must use the "update" option, you must manually remove all Computer Groups associated with the rule groups. This includes:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange 2000

  • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange 2003

  • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange Service Discovery

To remove the Computer Groups associated with rule groups

  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, and then click Administrator Console.

  2. In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, locate the Console Root and then expand Microsoft Operations Manager.

  3. In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, in the left pane, expand Management Packs\Rule Groups\Microsoft Exchange Server.

  4. In the left pane, right-click each rule group, click Properties, and then click the Computer Groups tab. You must remove the following Computer Groups:

    • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange 2000

    • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange 2003

    • Microsoft Exchange Server\Exchange Service Discovery

  5. Select each computer group, and then click Remove.

If you do not remove the Computer Groups associated with the rule groups, all rules will be deployed to your back-end servers. This causes front-end rules to be run on back-end servers, and causes front-end servers to be misrepresented as back-end servers on your topology diagram.

Additionally, if you have upgraded from a pre-released version of MOM 2005, you may have an out-of-date View structure that must be deleted.

To delete the Microsoft Exchange view folder

  1. Open the MOM 2005 Operator Console and, at the bottom of the left pane, click Public Views.

  2. In the upper-left area of the left pane, right-click Microsoft Exchange, and then click Delete. Do not delete Microsoft Exchange Server.

If you have upgraded from MOM 2000 SP1, you will have to manually remove the old MOM 2000 Exchange views.

To delete the top level Exchange 2000 view

  1. Open the MOM 2005 Operator Console and, at the bottom of the left pane, click Public Views.

  2. In the upper-left area of the left pane, right-click Exchange 2000, and then click Delete. Do not delete Microsoft Exchange Server.

To delete Exchange 2003 views

  1. Open the MOM 2005 Operator Console and, at the bottom of the left pane, click Public Views.

  2. In the upper-left area of the left pane, right-click Exchange 2003, and then click Delete. Do not delete Microsoft Exchange Server.

Note

If you accidentally delete a current view, you can retrieve the correct views by importing the Exchange Management Pack for MOM 2005 again.

Configuring the Server to Collect Topology Data

MOM 2005 includes a new feature that lets you easily view topology information about your Exchange organization. After you have imported the Exchange Management Pack, you can configure MOM to generate a diagram of your topology.

To obtain the diagram

  1. Identify the Exchange server that will run the MOM script to perform topology discovery. This is the server that will populate the Exchange Diagram. You can use any computer that is running Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 in the Active Directory forest.

  2. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, and then click Administrator Console.

  3. In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, in the left pane, expand Administration\Computers, and then click All Computers. In the right pane, right-click the computer that you identified as the topology discovery server, and then click Properties.

  4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Security tab.

  5. On the Security tab, clear the Prevent agent from proxying other computers or network devices check box, clear the Use global settings check box, and then click OK. This step enables the selected computer to populate the topology diagram with information discovered from all Exchange servers.

  6. In the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, locate the Console Root, expand Microsoft Operations Manager\Management Pack, and then click Computer Groups.

  7. In the right pane, right-click Microsoft Exchange Topology Discovery Computers, and then click Properties.

  8. In the Microsoft Exchange Topology Discovery Computer Properties dialog box, click the Included Computers tab,

  9. On the Included Computers tab, click Add, and then add the topology server you identified in step 1.

  10. Click OK to close any dialog boxes.

  11. To view the topology diagram, open the Operator Console: Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, and then click Operator Console.

  12. In the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 - Operator Console, in the left pane, click Diagram. Your topology diagram will be generated and then will display in the center pane after the topology data collection is complete. This could take several minutes.

  13. Select the folder named Console Root\Microsoft Operations Manager\Management Packs. Right-click the folder to display the shortcut menu, and select Commit Configuration Change.

At the next heartbeat (approximately one minute) the MOM server will send down the updated Exchange rules to the Exchange topology discovery server.

Installing and Running the Configuration Wizard

The Exchange Management Pack includes a Configuration Wizard to configure the rules and scripts that are used to monitor your environment to support common performance expectations for typical companies. In this section, you will install and run the Configuration Wizard.

Installing the Configuration Wizard

The Configuration Wizard can be installed and run from any computer that has Exchange System Manager installed. You must have .NET Framework 1.1 installed for the wizard to work. The Configuration Wizard is on the MOM 2005 installation CD in the \Tools folder. You can also download it from the Exchange 2003: Management Pack Configuration Wizard Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=35942).

To install the Configuration Wizard

  1. Copy Configapp.msi to any computer on the network that is running Exchange System Manager.

  2. Double-click the Configapp.msi file to install the Configuration Wizard.

Running the Configuration Wizard

If you have a version of the Exchange Management Pack installed on your network, read the "Upgrading from Exchange 2000 Management Pack" section later in this guide before you start the wizard.

You must meet the following requirements before running the wizard:

  • The user running the tool must have at least Exchange full administrator rights on the administrative group or organization that he or she wants to configure, in addition to local administrative rights to each Exchange server, because writing to the registry is required.

  • Each server to be configured must have Remote Registry Service running.

The wizard guides you through two options:

  • Default   This option enables message tracking, service monitoring, mailbox availability, front-end server availability, and mail flow options.

  • Custom   This option lets you specify which default options are enabled.

To run the Configuration Wizard

  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to the Exchange Management Pack, and then click the Exchange Management Pack Configuration Wizard.

  2. After you start the Configuration Wizard, you can select from the following configuration options:

    • Administrative group that contains the Exchange servers that you want to configure.

    • Each Exchange server that you want to configure.

    • The configuration type, either Default or Custom. The default option automatically enables message tracking and service monitoring, and it creates a test mailbox to monitor server availability. The custom option lets you select the features that you require and then manually configure them. Use the custom option to select specific services to monitor. By default, the following services are monitored:

    • Microsoft Exchange Information Store

    • Microsoft Exchange Management

    • Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks

    • Microsoft Exchange System Attendant

    • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

    • World Wide Web Publishing Service

    When you choose the custom option, you can configure mailbox availability monitoring to be per-store or per-server. Alternatively, you can also disable mailbox availability monitoring.

    Note

    If you decide to do per-server monitoring, you must disable the rule that runs the Exchange 2003 - Verify Test Mailboxes script because per-server monitoring creates only one test mailbox but the script checks to see whether there is a test mailbox on each database. If you do not disable the rule, you will receive errors that indicate that the test mailbox does not exist.

    In both the custom and default options, you can configure the sending and receiving servers for testing mail flow. You can also configure the Mailbox Access account.

  3. After the configuration options have been selected, the configuration summary is displayed so that you can verify the chosen settings. You have also the option to save the XML configuration file.