Job Aid - Operations Check Lists

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02/20/2014

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Updated : October 11, 2001

Microsoft® Exchange 2000 Server

This job aid is part of the Exchange 2000 Server Operations Guide.

This job aid will help you to identify which processes are essential for successful Microsoft® Exchange 2000 Server operations.

Microsoft® Exchange 2000 Server has multiple components that need to be monitored on a continual basis. It also relies on a network operating system and physical network services. For Exchange Server to operate reliably, you need to define operations procedures for each of these services and components. The following checklists will help you ensure that you do not unintentionally omit crucial parts of your operations procedures.

This job aid includes checklists for the following:

General Operations
Capacity and Availability Management
Change and Configuration Management
Enterprise Monitoring
Protection
Support

These checklists present you with a series of questions to consider. Although you may want to answer yes to every question, budget constraints may prevent you from doing so. The important thing is that you consider all the questions. The checklists also refer you to the area in the Operations Guide where you can find more information.

General Operations	Description	Chapter	Completed
Early involvement in Exchange 2000 Server planning and deployment	Will your operations team be ready to take over responsibility for infrastructure and processes when the time comes? Are you regularly and effectively communicating planning and deployment decisions to the operations team?	1
Feedback from operations	Do you have a mechanism for providing feedback from the operations team to the planning and deployment team?	1
SLA definitions	Is the operations team involved in defining service level agreements (SLAs)? Have the SLAs been tested for feasibility? Has a mechanism for monitoring against SLAs been defined?	1
Operations documentation	Have you agreed which operations documents should be produced? Have you established a mechanism for testing these documents for accuracy and feasibility?	1
Capacity and Availability Management	Description	Chapter	Completed
Hardware reliability	Are all system components on the Microsoft hardware compatibility list?	2
Air conditioning/sprinkler systems	Have you checked for overloaded circuits? Have you ensured that the new servers will not lead to overloading? Is the equipment clean and efficient? Do you monitor for failure of units? Have you designated on-call personnel for dealing with failure?	2
Secure access	Have you defined who can access data centers? Do your data centers have adequate physical security? Do you carry out security checks on staff who will be allowed access to the datacenters?	2
Power failure	Have you ensured that you have no exposed power switches? Do you have good UPSs in place? Do you have an alternate source of power? Have you designated on-call personnel for dealing with failure?	2
Single points of failure	Have you minimized all single points of failure?	2
Service Hours	Are your service hours defined? Are users notified well in advance of planned downtime? Are users reminded that planned downtime is about to occur?	2
Service availability	Do you define levels of availability on a service-by-service basis? Do you monitor the levels of availability of each service?	2
Capacity and availability	Do you size your Exchange servers so that they meet your SLAs on availability?	2
Minimizing recovery time	Do you have hardware available to do a restore? Do you have fast access to support resources? Do you have trained staff on call to deal with system failure?	2
Improving performance	Have you tuned Exchange to the needs of your environment?	2
Change and Configuration Management	Description	Chapter	Completed
Change control process	Do you have a workflow defined for dealing with all forms of change (from major to standard)? Do you have a separate workflow for dealing with urgent change?	3
Change and configuration management software	Do you have change management software in place? Do you have a configuration management database in place? Have you defined how the software should be used?	3
Configuration items	Have you defined which CIs should be recorded? Have you defined the relationship between the Cis?
Consistency	Have you trained your staff in change and configuration management procedures? Have you ensured that all users are following change and configuration management procedures?	3
Documentation	Does your change management process ensure that all change is documented fully?	3
Verification	Do you regularly check that your change management process is being followed? Do you regularly check your configuration management database for inconsistencies?	3
Enterprise Monitoring	Description	Chapter	Completed
Monitoring procedures	Have you determined how your data will be collected and archived? Do you have a centralized monitoring strategy? Do you have computers in place for performing monitoring?	4
What to monitor	Have you determined key objects and counters to monitor? Are you monitoring event logs? Are you monitoring Exchange services? Are you monitoring network availability? Are you monitoring availability at the client?	4
Baselines	Have you established a baseline for the Microsoft Windows® 2000 operating system and Exchange 2000 Server counters?	4
Thresholds	Have you defined thresholds for key objects and counters? Have you defined what should happen if these thresholds are exceeded?	4
Alerts	Do you have an effective alert mechanism in place? (one that does not rely on e-mail)	4
Staffing	Do you have staff on call to deal with alerts when they arise?	4
Protection	Description	Chapter	Completed
Mailbox Security	Do you monitor to see if rights on mailboxes change?	5
Key Management Servers	Have you considered deploying Key Management Server? If deployed, are Key Management Servers physically secure? Is the Key Management Server password physically secure?	5
Server security	Are your servers running Exchange and domain controllers physically secure? Are your Active Directory™ service group memberships secure? Do you monitor for changes to key Active Directory groups? Do you ensure that only key personnel can change Active Directory group memberships?	5
Firewall	Do you ensure high availability of your firewalls? Do you monitor to ensure that only the correct traffic is let through the firewall? Do you monitor against hacker intrusion? Do you have a defined procedure for dealing with hacker attacks? Do you have a mechanism for notifying those affected by hacker attack?	5
Virus protection	Do you check that all servers and clients always have the latest updates from the anti-virus software vendor? Have you defined which attachments should be blocked? Have you installed the security patch for Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client? Do you receive and act on security bulletins from Microsoft? Do you have a mechanism for excluding new viruses even if an update is unavailable? Have you defined how to deal with virus infection if it does occur? Do you have a procedure for notifying users of virus attack?	5
Security audit	Have you performed a full security audit?	5
Backup	Do you perform regular backups? Do you back up to disk as well as tape? Do you back up Active Directory system state regularly? Do you store your backup tapes in a secure offsite location? Do you change backup media regularly?	5
Recovery	Do you set mailbox and message retention times on all your servers? Do you have hot spare servers? Is your staff skilled in same server and alternate server recovery? Do you perform regular disaster recovery drills, covering multiple scenarios? Do you have staff on call at all times for potential server recovery? Do you have up-to-date contact details of all employees and vendors who may be required in a disaster recovery scenario? Do you have a plan to recover from a physical disaster, such as a fire or flood?	5
Support	Description	Chapter	Completed
Reducing Service desk calls	Do you have a Web site with help information for users? Do you have a mechanism for notifying users of problems? Do you tightly control which client software and hardware is supported? Do you keep users informed on the progress of their Service Desk requests?	6
Prioritizing problems	Do you prioritize problems based on the nature of the problem and the number of users affected?	6
Service desk support	Is your service desk staff trained in the use of Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000? Do you have a comprehensive internal knowledge base that is fully up to date? Do you use the Microsoft Knowledge Base? Do you check regularly for the latest Knowledge Base article updates on https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;EN-US;KBHOWTO&sd=GN&ln=EN-US?fr=0&SD=GN&LN=EN-US	6
Problem management	Do you have an escalation path for troubleshooting? Do you have diagrams available that define your environment? Do you have dependency charts for all the interrelated technologies? Do you have a support agreement for higher levels of support?	6
Getting help	Do you have up-to-date contact details for all employees and vendors who may be required in a troubleshooting scenario?

Job Aid - Operations Check Lists

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