1. What is Exchange Server?

Exchange Server is a Microsoft’s Messaging system which provides Industry leading Email, calendaring and
unified Messaging

2. Tell me a bit about the capabilities of Exchange Server.

1. Outlook Anywhere (OWA)

2. Mailbox can sync with Blackberry Device.
3. Calendar Sharing.
4. MAPI & POP3 Client support

3. What are the different Exchange 2003 versions?

 Exchange server 5.5

 Exchange Server 2000
 Exchange Server 2003
 Exchange Server 2007
 Exchange Server 2010

4. What are the differences between Exchange Sever 2003 Standard and Enterprise Editions?

Following are the difference between Exchange server 2003 Standard and Enterprise Edition.

Feature Standard Edition Enterprise Edition

Storage groups support 1 storage group 4 storage groups
Number of databases per 2 databases 5 databases
storage group
Individual database size 16 gigabytes (GB) Maximum 16 terabytes, limited only by
hardware
Exchange Clustering Not supported Supported
X.400 connector Not included Included

5. What are the main differences between Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000/2003?

 Exchange 2000 does not have its own directory or directory service; it uses Active Directory instead.
 Exchange 2000 uses native components of Windows 2000 (namely, IIS and its SMTP, NNTP,
W3SVC and other components, Kerberos and others) for many core functions.
 SMTP is now a full peer to RPC, and is it the default transport protocol between Exchange 2000
servers.
 Exchange 2000 supports Active/Active clustering and was recently certified for Windows 2000
Datacenter.
 Exchange 2000 scales much higher.
 It boasts conferencing services and instant messaging.

6. What are the minimum hardware requirements for Exchange Server 2003?

 Processor – Pentium 133 MHz

 Operating System – Windows 2000 SP3
 Memory – 256 MB
 Disk Space – 200 MB for system files and 500 MB where Exchange Server installation.
  File System – NTFS

7. What are the steps involved in Exchange Server installation?

1. Prerequisites Installation – ASP .Net, IIS, SMTP, NNTP and WWW services Installation
2. Forest Preparation
3. Domain Preparation
4. Exchange Server 2003 Installation

8. Why not install Exchange on the same machine as a DC?

The main reason behind not to install Exchange Server is, when we used to restart the Exchange server for
any reason it will take lot of time to shut down the Exchange Server services.

9. Which Services must be installed and running for Exchange Server installation?

Following are the services that should be installed before installing Exchange Server 2003

1. ASP .Net
2. Internet Information Service
3. SMTP
4. NNTP
5. WWW

10. What can you do and what will be the effect if ASP.NET service is not available while installing
Exchange Server 2003?

ASP .Net files are important for authentication, delegation and securing the web publication. Before installing
exchange Server 2003 ASP .Net should be installed

11. What are Exchange Server 2003 deployment tools?

The Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Tools are a compilation of old and new Microsoft Product Support
Services (PSS) support tools that you can use to prepare Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 and the Microsoft
Active Directory directory service infrastructure for the installation of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

 Installation and Upgrade Prerequisites

 Enabling Windows Services
 DCDiag Tool
 NetDiag Tool
 ForestPrep
 DomainPrep

12. What are the Windows versions supported by Exchange Server 2003?

1. Windows 2000 Service pack 3 ( Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter Edition)

2. Windows 2003 Service pack 1 ( Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter Edition)

13. In which domains domainprep must be run?

1. The Forest root Domain

2. All domain that will contain Exchange Server 2003
3. All Domain that will contain Exchange Mailbox enable objects.
14. What is ForestPrep?

Forest prep updates the schema and configuration partition in Active directory. Extend the schema to include
Exchange server 2003 specific classes and attributes

To run the Forest Prep, Administrator should have Schema and Enterprise Admin permission over the
Domain

15. What is DomainPrep?

Domain Prep prepares the Domain partion in Active Directory. Forest prep should be run only once in forest
where Domain Prep should be run in following Servers.

1. The Forest root Domain

2. All domain that will contain Exchange Server 2003
3. All Domain that will contain Exchange Mailbox enable objects

16. Which two groups are created by DomainPrep?

The domain prep switch creates the groups and permissions required by exchange Server 2003. Two security
groups created

1. Exchange Enterprise Servers – Domain Local group contains all Exchange Server in a forest
2. Exchange Domain Server – Global Group that contains all Exchange servers running in the Domain
that you have selected.

17. What DomainPrep does?

Domain Prep Updates the Domain partition and Creates a Two New Security Groups for Exchange Server
2003

1. Exchange Enterprise Servers

2. Exchange Domain Servers

18. Which of the servers does the system that will host the first Exchange Server 2003 server in a forest
need to be able to contact during installation?

19. How to run ForestPrep?

Go to the Command prompt and Type the following

D:\setup\i386\setup.exe /forestprep

Where D drive represents the CD drive.

Note: it will ask for the Administrator Account that has the required permission to run the Setup.

20. How to run DomainPrep?

Go to the Command prompt and Type the following

D:\setup\i386\setup.exe /domainprep – Where D drive represents the CD drive.

21. Which service pack is needed for Windows 2000 for installing Exchange Server 2003?

Windows 2000 service pack 3 in needed to install Exchange Server 2003

22. Which permissions are required to run ForestPrep?

Schema Administrator

Enterprise Administrator

Local Machine Administrator

23. Which permissions are required to run DomainPrep?

Domain Administrator and Local Machine Administrator

24. Which permissions are required to install Exchange server 2003 on the first server in a domain or
on other systems within the domain?

The administrator Account should have the following permission to install the Exchange Server 2003

 Schema Administrator
 Enterprise Administrator
 Domain Administrator
 Local Machine Administrator

25. What is reason behind the error messages services not available while installing Exchange Server 2003 on
a domain running at Windows Server 2003 functional level?

26. What is name of log file that Exchange Server 2003 setup creates during installation?

27. What is location of Exchange Server Setup Progress?

C:\Program Files\Exchangesvr

28. How unattended installation of Exchange Server 2003 works?

Unattended installation are useful for rapidly deploying subsequent Exchange Server 2003 installation into an
existing organization.

The process of creating the file is essentially the same as the process for a manual setup selecting the
component you want to install and the installation path, choosing whether to create a new organization or to
join existing one; agreeing the license and so on.. Instead of doing manual installation the Exchange
installation wizard writes the configuration file to .ini file. specifically for use with the /unattendfile setup
switch to start the installation.

29. When you can use the unattended installation of Exchange Server 2003?

1. Unattended Installation of Exchange Server 2003 is very useful when you are going to install Exchange
Server remotely.
2. It’s also useful when you are deploying number of New Exchange Server in Existing Organization. We can
save time deploying multiple servers by automating the Entire installation procedure

30. When you cannot use unattended installation of Exchange Server 2003?

An Active Directory Forest can support only a single Exchange Server 2003 organization, so an un
attended.ini file that is used to create an organization cannot be used for subsequent installation.

31. What is the command to create an answer file for unattended installation of Exchange Server 2003?

D:\setup\i386\setup.exe /createunattend c:\unattend.ini

Where D represents the CD ROM drive that holds the Exchange Server and C drive represent the created
unattended file for installation

32. What is the command to start the unattended installation of Exchange Server 2003?

D:\setup\i386\setup.exe /UnattendFile c:\unattend.ini

Where D represents the CD ROM drive that holds the Exchange Server and C drive represent the created
unattended file for installation

33. When you can specify the User account that will receive the Exchange Full Administrator
permission?

After installing the exchange Server 2003, we can able to specify the administrative permission for particular
user. We can delegate administrative permission by right click the Exchange organization and select delegate
Administration permission.

34. Which account must be use to perform first Exchange installation?

A new dedicated service account specifically for Exchange server installation has to be created in Active
Directory and the following permission are to be assigned the newly created user.

 Schema Administrator
 Enterprise Administrator
 Domain Administrator
 Local Machine Administrator

35. Can Exchange 2000 servers run on Windows Server 2003?

No, the only version of Exchange server that will run on Windows server 2003 is Exchange Server 2003, you
will need to upgrade your Exchange environment to Exchange Server 2003 prior to upgrading the Windows
Server Operating System to Windows server 2003

1. Which services are not supported and hence, need to be removed from an Exchange 2000 Server
before performing an upgrade to Exchange Server 2003?

Following are the Exchange Server 2000 functionality that isn’t supported by Exchange Server 2003

 Instance for Messaging Service

 Microsoft Chat Service
  Key management Service
 And connectors for Microsoft Mail and Lotus CC:Mail

Above Service has to uninstalled while upgrading from Exchange Server 2000 to Exchange Server 2003

2. While upgrading from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003 which servers must be upgraded first?
Front-end server or back end server?

You must upgrade the front end servers prior to upgrading the corresponding back end server while upgrading
from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003.

3. How to migrate from an old Exchange 2000 Server organization to a new Exchange Server 2003
organization?

Exchange Migration wizard is the process to Migrate Exchange 2000 organization to Exchange server 2003
organization. Similar to migrating Organization from Exchange 5.5

4. How to move users from Coexistence of Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003?

Active Directory Migration Tool and the Exchange Migration wizard will perform the complete moving of
users from Coexistence of Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003

5. How to migrate from an old Exchange Server 5.5 organization to a new Exchange Server 2003
organization?

There is no in place upgrade, first we have to update Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000 and from there we have
to migrate it to Server Exchange 2003. The existing users Source Domain has to be first migrated to the new
target domain in another Active Directory forest. After that you can begin the Exchange 5.5 to Exchange
server 2003. Exchange Migration wizard is the process to Migrate Exchange 5.5 organization to Exchange
server 2003 organization.

6. Which messaging systems does the Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard support?

 Ms Mail for PC Networks

 CC:Mail
 Microsoft Exchange 5.5
 Lotus Notes
 Novel GroupWise 4.x
 Novel GroupWise 5.x
 Internet Directory (LDAP via ADSI)
 Internet Mail (IMAP4)

7. How can Exchange Server 2003 share calendars and address lists with Lotus Notes R4/R5?

If you the the answer, please help to Me publish

8. What are the requirements of Lotus Notes Connector?

If you the the answer, please help to Me publish

9. How can Exchange Server 2003 share calendar/address lists with Novell GroupWise?
The connectors for Lotus notes and Novel GroupWise only synchronize mailbox and user account data. You
must use calendar connector in conjunction with the other connectors to synchronize calendar data.

10. What are the requirements for Novell Group Wise connector?

The following list is the configuration requirements needed on the Exchange Server side:

 Configure a working Novell GroupWise environment with API Gateway version 4.1 or later
 Configure a working Exchange Server 2003 connector server
 Make sure Exchange Server can resolve the name and access the Novell Netware server that is running
API Gateway
 Enable Exchange Server to Novell Netware server connectivity by using Gateway Services for
NetWare (GSNW) or Novell NetWare Client for Windows. NDS authentication is needed to access
NetWare Volumes (shares).
 Activate GroupWise address type on the Exchange Server 2003 recipient policy.

11. What are the tools to validate Exchange Server 5.5/Exchange Server 2003 coexistence?

 ADCConfigCheck – It checks that Exchange Server 5.5 directory config objects have been copied to
Active Directory. Writes outputs to Exdeploy.log
 ConfigDSInteg – checks objects in AD to ensure that no problems have arisen since the last
installation of ADC. Writes outputs to Exdeploy.log
 ReceipientDSInteg – checks all recipient objects in AD looking for problems. Recipient includes
users, groups, contacts or public folders
 PrivFoldCheck – uses exchange 5.5 directory service/Information store consistent adjuster to
ascertain the Information store and directory are in sync

12. What is DSScopeScan Tool Group?

DSScopeScan Tool Group used to find out information about the exchange server 5.5 organizations prior to
setting up connection between exchange server 5.5 and new Exchange server 2003. Tool should be run with
the account that has administrative permission.

13. Which tools are included in DSScopeScan Tool Group?

This includes four important tools

 DSconfigsum – reports the number of exchange server 5.5 sites and server per sites.
 DSObjectsum – reports the number of public folders. Distribution list and contact object
 Useraccount – exports the number of users in the exchange server 5.5 site and in the directory
 Vercheck – check if a server exists with exchange server 5.5 sp3.

14. Before upgrading from Exchange 2000 server to Exchange Server 2003 which service pack must be
applied to Exchange 2000 server?
Before upgrading from Exchange server 2000 to Exchange Server 2003 update the windows 2000 server with
SP3 or later. And also with Exchange 2003 server sp3 or later

15. How to upgrade from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange server 2003?

Exchange 5.5 cannot be upgraded in-place, you must first upgrade to Exchange 2000 server and then to
Exchange Server 2003. Or install Exchange Server 2003 on a different server and move the Exchange server
5.5 resources to the new server.

16. What are the steps involved creating coexistence between Exchange Server 5.5 and Exchange Server
2003?

Install the Basic prerequisites like SMTP, NNTP and WWW services

 Start the Exchange Deployment tools wizard, select co existence with mixed mode Exchange 2000 and
exchange server 5.5
 Select the option to install upgrade the first Exchange Server
 On the next deployment tools wizard, check all the steps are done and start the setup. On the setup
installation perform the following option
 Install Exchange server 5.5 administrator
 Select the option to create a new organization or existing one.
 Finish the setup

17. Does Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise connectors supported on Exchange Server 2003 in a
clustered configuration? What can be done?

If you the the answer, please help to Me publish

18. Which actions must be taken before the connection to the Lotus Notes/Domino server can be
established?

If you the the answer, please help to Me publish

19. Which services must be configured to automatically start to start a Lotus Notes Connector?

To start a connector, u must enable the specific services that the connector relies on.

 Microsoft Exchange connectivity controller

 Microsoft Exchange connector for lotus notes

20. Which services must be configured to automatically start to start a Novell GroupWise Connector?

first a server running Exchange 2003 as a Bridge head server

And the following services are to be set to automatically start

 Microsoft Exchange connectivity controller

 Microsoft Exchange connector for lotus notes

21. Which steps are involved in removing a connector to install it on another Exchange Server 2003
computer?

First you need to stop the connector services

 Remove the connector

 Use the Active directory user and computers console to delete the contacts that the connector has
imported in the directory
  You can reinstall lotus or Novel GroupWise connector

21. What is Active Directory Connector (ADC)?

ADC it’s a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service that allows for the replication of information from
Active directory and a Microsoft Exchange 5.5 directory

22. What is Connection Agreement?

It is used by Active directory connector to control replication between Active directory and Exchange 5.5
directory. Connection agreements can be used to replicate from exchange 5.5 to Active directory and vice
versa.

1. What types of permissions are configurable for Exchange?

 Exchange full admin – full control over the exchange organization including permission
 Exchange Admin – Manage everything within the organization except org permission.
 Exchange view only administrator – read only administrative access to Exchange organization

2. Which of the privileges does the Exchange Administrator role have?

This Role has the ability to administer all configuration details of the Exchange organization and ability to
modify permission

3. What are the modes of Exchange Server 2003?

There are two modes in Exchange server 2003

1. Mixed Mode – If Exchange 5.5 exists and in future gain to have Exchange 5.5

2. Native Mode – if only Exchange server 2003 running in your organization

4. What are the benefits of running Exchange Server 2003 in native, rather than mixed mode?

There are lot of benefits which includes,

1. Greater flexibility for defining routing groups and Administrative \groups

2. Ability to move mailboxes
3. Configure both routing and administrative groups independent of each other
4. We can create query base distribution group

5. When Exchange Server 2003 Mixed mode is used?

By default exchange server in Mixed mode, we can have mixed mode in situation where Exchange server 5.5
situated in our Exchange organization. Mixed modes are used to have backward compatibility with Exchange
server 5.5 and sites

6. When Exchange Server 2003 Native mode is used?

We can choose this option if No Exchange server 5.5 present in our Exchange organization and make sure that
all the exchange servers are Exchange server 2000 and Exchange server 2003. Native mode allows
administrative groups and Routing Groups to be configured independent of each other
7. Can you switch Exchange Organization from native mode to mixed mode?

yes we can change Exchange organization from Mixed mode to Native mode and changing the mode form
Mixed to Native is onetime, one way process and it cannot be reversed

8. How to switch Exchange Organization from mixed mode to native mode?

We can accomplish this by Exchange system Manager, by right clicking the Exchange organization name at
the top of the window and click properties. On the New window click the change Mode option. This changed
mode option will be unavailable if you are already in Native mode.

9. Which service needs to be restarted on all Exchange Server 2003 systems within the domain once you
have switched to native mode?

If you Know the answer, please help to Me publish

10. What is Clustering?

It’s a technique for providing hardware and software redundancy for an application like exchange server
2003, with clustering you can ensure there is no single point of failure with your server hardware that would
results in email services going offline. Clustering allows you to bring one node for maintenance by allowing
other nodes to continue functioning.

11. What is Network Load balancing?

It is a resource (server-aware) clustering technology. Primary purpose to load balance by distributing the
TCP/IP traffic among each server node in cluster. To client computers, the cluster is seen as a single resource
and is address by a single IP

12. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Network Load Balancing?

Advantages

 No special hardware required

 Cluster can use different operating system
 Clusters are to be member of domain or perimeter

Disadvantages

 NLB uses hear beat to communicate between cluster, if a server goes offline. It sent 5 heart beats and
if no response and if client if a client is requesting a request then it neglect the request
 Work only with TCP/IP. It will not consider network link protocol

13. What is Failover?

Its related to cluster servers, it refers to the ability to of a backup server to immediate begin servicing requests
if a primary server fails, without an interruption in servicing user request

14. When Failover occurs?

Failover occurs when a primary server fails to function, this failback automatically process the service request
to secondary servers which is already clustered.
15. What is Failback?

Fail back defines how failed over application services are moved back to original server node, once the node
is back online

16. How Failback occurs?

By default, cluster groups that failover to another node do not automatically failback. In Failback policy we
can configure the allow failback option to take place immediately or over a certain period

To make a failback occur, we have to create a failback policy to occur immediately or over a certain period

17. What are the different clustering options in Exchange 2003?

Exchange server 2003 supports two types of clustering option which is already supported by windows server
2003

1. Network Load balancing – server aware clustering technology , load balance by distributing the TCP/IP
traffic among each server node in cluster. To client computers, the cluster is seen as a single resource and is
address by a single IP

2. Cluster service – application or service aware clustering technology, provides continual application service
availability through failover and failback

18. Name the exchange server 2003 clustering configuring option

Single node server cluster – can be configured with or without external cluster storage device. For this
clusters without an external storage device, the local disk in configured as the clustered storage device

Single Quorum device server cluster – have two or more nodes and are configured so that every node is
shared to one or more shared devices. Cluster configuration is stored in single cluster storage device, known
as quorum device.

Majority node set server cluster – have two or more node and are may or may not be attached to one or
more cluster storage devices. Cluster configuration data is stored on multiple disks across the cluster

19. Which service pack is required for installing Exchange Server 2003 Clustering on Windows 2000
Server?

Windows 2000 server SP4 is needed

20. Why SP4 is needed for Windows 2000 server for Exchange Clustering?

If you Know the answer, please help to Me publish

21. How many nodes are supported with Exchange Server 2003 clusters?

Exchange Server 2003 supports Two Node active/active clusters and up to eight-node active/passive clusters
with at least one passive node

22. What are the hardware requirements for a cluster server configuration?
Network components
 1. Each server node the cluster has two static IP address ( public or private) with one net bios name
2. The cluster itself has a primary static IP and NETBIOS Name
3. Each exchange virtual servers have a static IP and NETBIOS Name

Disk Components

1. Quorum Disk resource – maintains configuration data.

For Example: For a 4 Node cluster

Server hardware

 Four 1 gigahertz (GHz), 1 megabyte (MB) or 2 MB L2 cache processors

 4 gigabytes (GB) of Error Correction Code (ECC) RAM
 Two 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or 1000 Mbps network interface cards
 RAID-1 array with two internal disks for the Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003
program files
 Two redundant 64-bit fiber Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) to connect to the Storage Area Network
Local area network hardware

 Two 100 Mbps or 1000 Mbps network switches (full duplex)

Storage Area Network hardware

 Redundant fiber switches

 106 disk spindles (Ultra Wide SCSI) with spindle speeds of 10,000 RPM or greater
 256 MB or more read/write cache memory
Storage groups and databases

 Three storage groups per Exchange Virtual Server

 Five databases per storage group

23. What is purpose of Exchange Server Clustering?

The purpose of Exchange Server Clustering is to prevent the Exchange server from going offline.

24. What is the version of Windows Server 2003 required for Exchange Server 2003 Clustering?

The cluster service requires windows server 2003 enterprise edition or windows server 2003 Datacenter
edition. Up to eight node clusters are supported

25. What is Heartbeat?

Heart beat is a special type of network packet that is sent out to each server node participating in a cluster to
determine the responsiveness of a node. Server nodes that do not respond to heart beat packets for a
configurable period of time are marked a inactive

26. What are the different numbers of nodes with different type of operating system for Exchange
Server 2003?

Windows server 2003 standard edition supports 4 nodes

Windows server 2003 enterprise edition or windows server 2003 Datacenter edition supports up to eight node
clusters

27. What are the different cluster models?

Two types of cluster models are there

1. Active/Active – limited to two nodes and both the nodes are active at the same time, limited to 1900
concurrent client connection at a time
2. Active/Passive – supports more than two nodes and highly reliable. Recommended by Microsoft.

28. Which are the Cluster operations modes?

N-Node failover server pairs – applications are configured to failover only between two specified server
pairs

N+I Hot-Standby Server – commonly referred to as active/passive mode, on two node cluster, one node
process the client request and the second node monitors the first node. where N – Active node, I – Passive
Node

Fail over Ring – Active/Active – all servers are active and process the client request, when one node fails the
cluster, failover the cluster to another active node. Administrator has to define the failover

Random Failover – similar to failover ring, if a node fails the failover is randomly changed to active node.
The Administrative burden of having a define failover is removed

29. What is teaming?

Teaming is the process included in clustering service, where multiple adapters are joined through software to
function as a single unit, with a single MAC address and single IP address

30. Which settings must be configured for failover policies?

We can configure the number the times the node to failover (Threshold) during the period, which is defined in
hours

31. Which settings must be configured for failback policies?

By default, cluster groups that failover to another node do not automatically failback. In Failback policy we
can configure the allow failback option to take place immediately or over a certain period

1. What are Address lists?

A list used to organize the Global Address list into small, more manageable grouping. Address list in
Microsoft Exchange server 2003 are formed through administrator-defined Light weight Directory Access
Protocol queries

2. What is Global Address List (GAL)?

Global Address List is the Primary Address list that contains all Exchange objects in the entire organization
and mail-enabled objects in the Microsoft Exchange server organization
3. Where from the GAL retrieved?

Global address list are formed through LDAP queries that filters the Mailbox enabled and mail enabled
objects from the Active Directory. The GAL retrieved from the Global catalog servers.

4. How default GAL is created?

When we are installing exchange server 2003, the default address list are created by sending LDAP queries to
Active directory users and groups and filters the users that are mailbox enabled and mail enabled.

What is Custom Address list?

Custom address list are the address list that we are creating by providing LDAP queries that filter and display
the Address list with respect to users or departments

5. What is Default Address list?

Default Address list are similar to Global Address List, but in a distilled manner.

The default address lists are automatically created when Exchange Server is installed and there is no
administration required.

6. What are the Default Address lists?

There are five Default Address lists. Following are the default address lists

 All contacts
 All groups
 All users
 Public folders
 Default Global Address List

7. What is Offline Address List?

Offline Address list are not unique, that is they are not different address list than the regular online address
list. Offline Address list are used to make address list available to the users who are all not connected to
network.

By default, Global address list is made to be default Offline Address List

8. What is the use of hiding a mailbox?

Hiding a mailbox is to prevent the E-mail address to appear in Global address List. If you are creating a
mailbox to receive updates form antivirus and you don’t want to show the Email address in GAL or
preventing internal users to send any mail to that particular mailbox from GAL

9. Where all the Exchange Address lists created and stored?

Exchange Address lists are created and stored in Active Directory container

10. What needs to be done so that the users on a mailbox store to be able to use an offline address list?

We have to assign a offline address list to a mailbox store on the properties of the Mailbox store
11. How to associate an offline address list to their mailbox store?

Right click a mailbox store, go to properties, browse next to offline address list, select the offline address list
that u want to assign to the mailbox store. Click ok to apply the offline address list to mailbox store

12. How many GAL can appear in user’s Outlook Address book?

Only one GAL appears in users outlook address Book

13. How to view the address list preview?

Right click an address list from the address list container, go the properties of the address list and select
preview

14. How to create additional Global Address List?

Start Exchange system manger, expand the recipient container, right click the all global address list and point
to new global address list

15. How to create Custom Address list?

 Start Exchange system manger,

 Expand the recipient container, right click all Address list, point to new and then click Address list
 For the custom Address list type a name, click filter rules and then click advance tab
 From the field menu point to users and then department
 On the condition field, select is exactly from the menu
 Give the custom name, click add
 Click ok and click finish

16. What is the difference between additional Global Address List and Custom Address List?

Global Address list contains the full address list for the Exchange organization and the Custom address list are
the address list that are created respect to that of our requirement

17. How to create a new offline address list?

 Right click the Address list from the recipient container, point to new and then click offline address
list
 Type a name for the new offline Address list and then click browse to select a server to host the offline
Address list
 After clicking next remove the default Global Address list form the list and if u want to add a
particular address list add it to the list
 Click next and click finish

18. How to hide a User address from address list?

Go to active directory user and computers,

Go to the properties of the user that you want to hide from Address list. Navigate to Exchange Advanced Tab

Select the option to hide from Address list

19. How to hide Address list from users

Go to the properties of the Address list, point to security tab and select advanced button to open the advanced
setting

Browse the users or group and set deny permission to open the Address list

20. Which service is responsible for keeping the Exchange address lists up to date?

Recipient Update service is responsible for keeping the exchange Address list up to date

21. What is Recipient Update Service?

Recipient update service updates the email address and distribution list membership and replicates this
information on a schedule to other Microsoft Exchange Servers in the Domain

22. Besides keeping the Exchange address lists up to date, what other desirable function does the
Recipient Update Service perform in the Exchange organization?

It also updates the distribution list membership to other Exchange Servers inside the domain

23. What are the basic steps to troubleshoot RUS?

The first step in troubleshooting the Recipient Update Service, like most other services is to check the Event
Log, we are looking for the events that originated from the MSExchangeAL service.

The next step in troubleshooting the Recipient Update Service is to use ADSI Edit to check a mailbox that
should appear in the Global Address List. We need to check and see if the “showInAddressBook” attribute is
populated

If the “showInAddressBook” attribute is not populated, the Recipient Update Service may not yet have run, in
most cases manually forcing the Recipient Update Service to run will resolve the problems.

24. How to access the RUS?

1. Start System Manager

2. On the Start menu, point to Programs,

3. point to Microsoft Exchange, then click System Manager.

4. In the console tree, double-click Recipients.

5. In the console tree, right-click Recipient Update Services,

25. What is the default preconfigured schedule for RUS?

Always Run schedule is the preconfigured option for RUS

26. Which two different instances are created of the Recipient Update Service?
The following are the two instances created in Recipient Update service

Recipient Update Service (Enterprise Configuration)

Recipient Update Service (Active Directory Domain)

27. What is Recipient Update Service (Enterprise Configuration)?

The Enterprise recipient update service is responsible for updating Email address of the recipients objects
located in configuration partition of the domain controller

28. What is Recipient Update Service (Active Directory Domain)?

The Domain Recipient Update Service is responsible for updating recipient objects located in the Active
directory

29. What are the group types?

Two types of groups are the

 Security Group
 Distribution Group

30. What is Distribution Group?

A type of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory group that is used to define e-mail distribution
lists. Distribution Group has no security context and cannot be used to grant permission to resources, but they
are useful for grouping users that share a common purpose, such as all employees at a branch location

31. How Distribution groups differ from Security groups?

Distribution Group has no security context and cannot be used to grant permission to resources. But security
groups can be used to assign permission on resources.

32. What is Security Group?

Security groups are the Microsoft windows Server 2003 Active Directory Group, with this group; we can
assign permission on a resource.

33. Can Security groups be used to distribute messages?

Security Groups can be mail enabled and also used as a Distribution group to distribute messages

34. What is Query-based distribution group?

This group enables you to use a LDAP query to specify membership in a distribution group dynamically. This
result is that membership is automatically determined by attributes of a user account, such as department,
reducing the amount of administration required to manage distribution list

35. What are the types of Group Scopes?

Following are the types of group scopes
  Domain Local
 Global Group
 Universal

1. Why Exchange data should be backed up?

In today’s business environment, email is possibly the most used method of communication, and private and
public stores contain large volume of valuable information. In order to have safety and stability on this
valuable information we have to take back up the exchange data.

2. What are the types of Exchange Backup?

 Full (Normal)
 Daily Backup
 Copy Backup
 Incremental backup

3. What is Normal backup?

Full backup copies both the database and transactional log files. At the completion of full backup,
transactional logs that are committed to the database are deleted from the server. Perform everyday

4. What is Copy backup?

Copy backup same as the full Backup, except no file marling is performed. Copy backups are used to archived
data that can be stored offsite

5. What is Incremental backup?

Incremental backup performs backup on all selected data which are modifired after last backup. It removes the
archive bit, informs that backup has done on this

6. What is Differential backup?

Differential Backup backups all the selected data created or modified after the last backup. It does not remove
the archive bit. So when you performing differential back up on the next day, if will back up the whole thing
from the last backup

7. What is Daily backup?

Backup all the selected data, which are created or modified on daily basis.

8. What is Online Backup?

When performing Exchange Server 2003 online backup, all services, including the exchange store, continue to
run normally throughout the backup process. This allows continuing to access their mailboxes during backup
process, whether the backup process is incremental, differential or full backup.

9. Which files are backed up with Online backup?

Following are the files that are copied during the online backup, the .edb, .stm and log files that comprise the
exchange stored. After the online backup done it will check for corruption at the file system level.
10. After performing an online backup which tool you should use to determine whether the Exchange
store is corrupt?

Event viewer is the tool to use to determine whether the exchange store is corrupt. If you see a page read
error, there may be problem with the Database.

11. How to find out the most recent backup time?

Go to the properties of the Database in which you want to know the most recent backup time. On the
properties window it will show the recent backup time

12. What is Offline Backup?

Offline back up is not a recommended solution. To perform a offline backup you must dismount the mailbox
and public folder stores and then backup the database and transactional logs manually. However you may to
perform offline back if online backup fails

13. After performing an offline backup of your Exchange Server, which utility must you use to check
for corruption?

We can use backup logs

14. How to perform an online backup of a storage group?

1. Opening the Backup utility, on the backup and restore wizard click next
2. Select backup all files and settings and click next
3. On what to backup page, browse the Microsoft Exchange server and choose the Storage Group that
you want to backup
4. On the Backup type, destination and name click browse and enter the required information
5. On the completing backup page, click finish

15. What is the advantage of performing an online backup?

1. No need to stop database services

2. Users can access their mailbox during backup process
3. The database corruption is checked during the offline backup
4. The change of data loss is very less

16. How to backup the Exchange Store?

1. Opening the Backup utility, on the backup and restore wizard click next
2. Select backup all files and settings and click next
3. On what to backup page, browse the Microsoft Exchange server and choose the Storage Group that
you want to backup
4. Navigate the particular Mailbox store from the Storage Group and click next
5. On the Backup type, destination and name click browse and enter the required information
6. On the completing backup page, click finish

17. What are the components of system state data?

System state holds the Active directory data, Microsoft certificate cervices, site replication services etc
18. Can you perform differential or incremental backups on the databases with circular logging
enabled?

We have to take full backup if circular logging is enabled. Because circular logging periodically deletes the
transactional logs

19. What are the methods for Exchange restoration?

Exchange 2003 has some nice features to prevent damage from a disaster or to recover Mailbox items and
mailboxes. Some of these features are:

 Deleted item Recovery in Outlook

 Mailbox Recovery through Mailbox Recovery Storage Group
 Mailbox Recovery through Keep Deleted Mailbox for XX days
 Mailbox Recovery Center

20. What are the methods of restoring an offline backup of exchange Database?

There are two methods to restore an offline backup of Exchange databases: a point-in-time restoration and a
roll-forward restoration.

The point-in-time method is used when a database is restored but no log files are replayed into the database.
All the data created after the backup is lost. This method is used to restore from an offline backup when
circular logging is enabled on the Exchange server. As circular logging reuses the log files, not all files
required to update the database are available. To perform restoration by using the point-in-time method, an
administrator must ensure that the databases to be restored are dismounted and consistent

21. What is recovery storage group?

You can restore Mailbox stores and individual mailboxes to a recovery storage group and then merge them
with the contents of the original stores are mailboxes. You cannot restore a public folder to a recovery storage
group

22. What is Mailbox Recovery Center

The Mailbox Recovery Center is the weapon of choice when you accidentally delete a lot of Mailboxes.

You simply add the Mailbox store in which you have deleted the mailboxes to the Mailbox Recovery Center
and after the process has finished, you can see the deleted Mailboxes.

Mailbox Recovery Center

23. Can you restore Public folder store using recovery storage group?

Public folders cannot be restored with the use of a recovery storage group

24. How to restore a mailbox store?

We can restore a Mailbox store in 3 methods

Restoring Mailbox store by using Exchange System Manager

Make sure Mailbox deletion settings are already done.

Expand the Mailbox store go to the Mailboxes and run cleanup agent.

Right click the mailbox u want to recover and click reconnect

Restoring Mailbox store by recovery storage Group

The recovery storage group is a specialized storage group in Exchange 2003. After you restore a mailbox
store to the recovery storage group, use the Exmerge.exe tool to move the recovered mailbox data from the
recovery storage group to the regular storage group.

Restoring Mailbox store from backup to a recovery server

To recover a mailbox from backup, you must have a recovery server that has sufficient storage capacity to
install Exchange Server 2003 and to restore the private information store database. This server can be on the
same physical network as your production Exchange Server 2003 computer.

25. How to create a recovery storage group and add the database to restore?

Use the context menu of the server object to setup the recover storage group

Specify the transactional log and system path location

Add the database to be recovered to the recovery storage group by using the context menu of the recovery
storage group

26. How to restore individual mailboxes and messages?

Recovering individual mailboxes

Individual mailbox can be restored with the help of mail box retention period enabled on the mailbox store.
By default mailbox retention period is set to 30 days. And if a mailbox is deleted and if restoration is
requested within 30 days retention period then you can recover and reconnect that mailbox without restoring
the entire mailbox store

If the retention period has expired you have to restore by creating a recover server. You need to perform the
following tasks

Install recovery server in different active directory forest from the forest where original server is located

Install exchange server on a recovery server by using the same organization name

Recover the database to an administrative group in which legacy exchange Dn value matches the original
server

Name the restore storage group and the restore logical database so that their name match the original storage
group and logical database names

Create a .pst file and move all data that you need to recover in to the .pst file

Open the .pst file on the original server and move the data back to appropriate location
Recovering messages

Exchange server 2003 performs backup and restore in page level rather than in mailbox level, so you cannot
easily restore individual messages in a mailbox from a backup.

You can allow users to retrieve messages from the delete items folder in outlook or OWA, to do so you have
to set the keep deleted items for certain days in individual user account setting from the Active directory users
and computers

Alternative you can create new mailbox policy using exchange system Manager. To recover deleted mails.
User has to point to the deleted items folder and use the recover deleted items option from the tools menu in
outlook or in OWA

This chapter discuss the interview questions and answers on Public Folders

1. What is Public Folder?

Public folder is a collaboration feature of Microsoft Exchange Server that creates a repository of information
that is accessible to any user who has been granted permission to the folder. A public folder can contain mail
items calendar item, task items or custom forms

2. What is Default Public Folder Tree?

The default public folder tree is automatically created by the setup program when you install the first
exchange server 2003 and create your organization. It is listed as public folders in Exchange system Manager
as public folder and it is displayed as all public folders in outlook

3. How the Default Public Folder Tree is listed in Exchange System Manager and Outlook?

Default Public Folder is listed as public folders in Exchange system Manager as public folder and it is
displayed as all public folders in outlook

4. What protocols can clients use to access the default public folder tree in Exchange Server 2003?

Client can use MAPI clients or NNTP or HTTP protocols to access the default public folder tree

5. What is General-purpose public folder tree?

General-Purpose public folder trees are additional public folders that you can create. Similar to default public
folder tree, the general purpose public folder tree is replicated to each exchange server running Exchange
2000 or later that contains public folder store that associated with that tree.

6. What is the use of general purpose public folder store?

The general purpose of public folder tree is to store custom application

Another purpose of general public folder tree is to make the public folder available to users outside the
exchange organization

7. What protocols can clients use to access the General-purpose public folder tree in Exchange Server
2003?
This did not support MAPI clients. So it is not accessible to outlook users. Access only by NNTP or HTTP
protocols

8. What are the steps involved in configuring Public Folder replication?

In order to setup replication for the additional public folder,

First you have to create a public store on the destination server that holds the replica.

When you configure the public store, you associate the public folder store with public folder tree.

Even though you associate the public folder store to existing public folder tree, this by itself it won’t enable
replication.

Once you have public store on the destination server, you can configure public folder to replicate to other
server

9. How does Public folder replication occur?

Exchange server 2003 uses multi master replication model, which means that all replicas of the public folder
are equal and contain the same content. A replica copied from one server to another will be a separate instance
of public folder and its content, because of this there is no master replica, which means modifications to one
replica will be replicated to other replicas equally.

Exchange Information Store service is the primary mechanism used for public folder replication; it is not the
only mechanism at work. Active Directory uses a replication method of its own to keep domain controllers
synchronized with each other. This replication occurs at the Windows operating system level and is
completely independent of Exchange Server.

10. Can Public folder be accessed using a uniform resource locator (URL)?

Yes we can access public folder via URL, example http://servername/virtualdirectory

11. What are the Exchange Public folder permission types?

Following are the Exchange server public folder permissions

Client permission – enables you to control the permission of users who are accessing the public folder

Directory rights – enables you to control which user can manipulate a mail enabled public folder object that
is stored in AD

Administrative rights – enables you to assign administrative permission to administrator to run

administrative utilities

12. Which services control the Public folder replication process?

Exchange Information Store service is the primary mechanism used for public folder replication Recipient
update service controls the recipient replication process

Note: Although the Exchange Information Store service is the primary mechanism used for public folder
replication, it is not the only mechanism at work. Active Directory uses a replication method of its own to
keep domain controllers synchronized with each other. This replication occurs at the Windows operating
system level and is completely independent of Exchange Server. Active Directory replication occurs even if
Exchange Server is not installed on the forest

13. Which processes are involved in Public Folder Replication?

Exchange Information Store service is the primary mechanism used for public folder replication; it is not the
only mechanism at work. Active Directory uses a replication method of its own to keep domain controllers
synchronized with each other. This replication occurs at the Windows operating system level and is
completely independent of Exchange Server. Active Directory replication occurs even if Exchange Server is
not installed on the forest

14. How to create the General Purpose Public folder tree?

You can have as many General Purpose Public Folder tree as necessary though you must associate the public
folder tree with the public folder store in order to use it

First you have to create a public folder tree using exchange system manger

Second you have to create a public folder store

Third you have to associate the store with the public folder tree.

15. How to create a full-text indexing on a public folder?

Expand the First administrative Group, navigate through server, first

16. What is the use of public store policy?

Storage limits and public folder replication settings can be configured through public store policy, through
and individual public store, or through individual public folders

17. What is public folder referral?

When a user connects to a public folder store and the store does not contain the copy of the contentment the
user is requesting exchange server 2003 automatically redirects the user to the server where the original
content resides. This is known as Public folder referral. Usually the public folder referrals with takes place
within the routing groups

1. What is Front-end Server?

A Front-End server is a Microsoft Exchange server 2003 configuration where servers are used for
authentication and fault tolerance.
2. What is Back-end Server?

A Back-End server is a Microsoft Exchange server 2003 configuration where servers are used to hold the
users data. There is no special configuration to designate a server as a Backend server.

3. What are the advantages of Front End and Backend architecture?

1. Unified Name Space can have single name space for multiple exchange servers
2. Reduced over head for SSL
3. Firewall – place the Back-end behind the firewall and allow only traffic from frontend

4. How to increase security of the communications between your front- and back-end Exchange
servers?

We can increase the security of communication between your frontend and Back-end Exchange Server by
placing the Backend behind the firewall and allow only traffic from Front End

5. Which services must be disabled to increase the security of front-end servers?

Recipient Update services, offline address lists, the mailbox management service, and the free busy services
are not supported on front end server

6. Which server can be used in place of a front-end server?

ISA server can be used in place of a Front End Server

7. Which is the best clustering Technology for frontend and backend server?

Front-end best work with Network load balancing and Backend best works with the cluster services

8. How to configure Exchange Server 2003 to run as a front end server?

In the Exchange server, remove the Recipient update service and default offline Address list. On the server
container right click the server which you want to designate as a Front end server and go to properties and
designate the server by selecting this is a front end server. Click ok and finish

9. Does Exchange Server 2003 front-end server support Exchange 2000 back-end server?

Yes, Exchange Server 2003 front-end server support Exchange 2000 back-end server

10. Does Exchange 2000 front-end server support an Exchange Server 2003 back-end server?

Exchange 2000 Server can be used only as a back-end server in a front-end and back-end configuration.
However, Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server can be used as a front-end server or a back-end server in a front-
end and back-end configuration

11. What all ports are required by front-end server to communicate with back-end servers?

 443 for HTTPS

 993 for SSL-enabled IMAP
 995 for SSL-enabled POP
 25 for SMTP (including TLS)
12. What are the steps involved in troubleshooting front-end and back-end servers?

1. Make sure that all the appropriate services are started on the front-end and back-end servers. This includes
the relevant Exchange services in addition to the World Wide Web Publishing service and SMTP service,

2. If you have a perimeter network, make sure that the appropriate ports are opened

3. Ensure that the front-end server can successfully connect to the global catalog servers and DNS server.

4. If you cannot connect to the back-end server from the front-end server using the hostname with any
protocol, try to use the IP address. If this works, verify that you can connect to the DNS server the front-end
server is using. Also verify that the name to IP mapping is correct in DNS.

5. If the front-end server is configured with the list of domain controllers and global catalog servers in the
registry, verify that the front-end can reach each of those servers exactly as specified in the registry entry.

6. Make sure that the combination of IP address and host header is unique for each virtual server.

7. If you have a load balancing solution for the front-end servers, make sure that the shared IP can be reached
from client computers.

8. Administration: If you want to use Exchange System Manager, ensure that the System Attendant service is
running. Also recall that you cannot use the Internet Services Manager after deleting the stores on the front-
end server.

9. If users complain that the state of read and unread messages in public folders fluctuates, consider the
following:

 Was a back-end public folder server added or removed?

 Is authentication enabled on the front-end?
 Are any back-ends that host the folder down?

 13. Which port is used by front-end server to communicate with back-end server?

All communication between the Front-end and Back-end server are TCP port 80, regardless of the port used
for communication between the client computer and the front end server

14. What needs to be created on Exchange front-end server for SMTP access to the Exchange
organization?

SMTP must be available on the front-end server to allow POP and IMAP clients to submit e-mail messages.
You can install SMTP on the front-end server or set up a separate SMTP server. To install SMTP on the front-
end server, configure SMTP for internal and external domains

Mail for Internal Domains

For the front-end server to accept mail that is inbound from the Internet, the front-end server needs to know
the domains for which it should accept mail. Adding recipient policies for each of your domains tells all
servers in the Exchange organization to accept mail for those domains. Additionally, you must enable
anonymous access for other SMTP servers on the Internet to successfully route mail to your organization (this
is the default setting).
Mail for External Domains

In the default configuration, any SMTP mail that is submitted to your server and addressed to external
domains is denied. This occurs because relaying is turned off for all anonymous access (however,
authenticated users can still send e-mail to any external domain). Users who try to anonymously submit e-mail
to external domains receive an error, such as “550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for suzan@adatum.com.” The clients
must be configured to use SMTP authentication.

15. What are the important Services that should run on Frontend server?

It depends on the services that we want the frontend server to function

 WWW
 POP3
 Exchange system attend
 Exchange Information store
 IMAP4

 16. What is Smart Host?

A Smart host is a common term for a server that accepts outbound mail and passes it on to a recipient

Smart host are used to connect Exchange Server to an external messaging system. Typical use of a smart host
involves relaying outbound SMTP email to a Non-Exchange SMTP host in perimeter networks, or to ISP or
hosted service that may offer functionality like mail relaying and spam and virus scanning

 17. What are the considerations for deploying front end and backend server?

 Do not cluster Frontend servers

 One front-end server is reasonable for every four back-end servers. However, this number is provided
only as a suggested ratio and starting point
 Load balancing is suitable for front end servers
 Encrypt the communication between Frontend and Backend by IPSec

1. What are the tools to monitor Exchange Server 2003?

Following are the Tools to Monitor Exchange Server 2003

 Event Viewer – Exchange Specific events are logged in application logs

 Performance Monitor – view real-time Exchange server statistics
 Exchange System Manager – enable Protocol logging for virtual server instance
 Message Tracking center – view the message flow
 Monitoring and status tool – monitor servers and connectors
 Message queue viewer – view messages waiting to be delivered
 MBSA – analyze security settings

2. What is the tool to diagnose queue problems?

Queue viewer is the Tool to diagnose queue problems. The queue viewer shows the protocol, queue state, and
the number of messages in the queue.
3. Where is Queue viewer located?

Queue viewer located at the Server container, following figure shows the diagram

4. What are the types of logs provided in the Event Viewer?

 Application Log – events logged by applications or programs

 System Log – events logged by the Windows operating system components
 Security log – security events such as valid and invalid logon attempts
 Directory Service log – Server directory service logs events
 File replication service log – logs replication of files
 DNS Server service log – events related to the Domain Name System (DNS) Server service

5. What are the types of Events?

 Error - significant problem, such as loss of data or loss of functionality

 Warning – not necessarily significant, but may indicate a possible future problem
 Information – event that describes the successful operation of an application, driver, or service
 Success Audit – audited security access attempt that succeeds
 Failure Audit – audited security access attempt that fails

6. What are the types of events for Security log?

The Security log can record security events such as valid and invalid logon attempts as well as events related
to resource use, such as creating, opening, or deleting files. An administrator can specify what events are
recorded in the Security log.

7. Where are Exchange Monitors located?

Following figure shows the location of Exchange Monitor

8. Which additional items can be added for monitoring in Exchange Monitors?

We can configure Notifications and also we can see the status of the exchange servers that are running by
using the Monitoring and status tool

9. Where is Exchange Notification located?

Exchange Notifications are located at Monitoring and Status tool on the Tools container in Exchange System
Manager
10. What are the types of notifications?

Two types of Notification we can configure, they are

 E-Mail Notification
 Script Notification

11. What is Exchange Diagnostics logging?

Enable diagnostic logging for a server in Exchange System Manager to send Exchange event information to
the Event Viewer.

 Enable diagnostic logging to log events related to authentication, connections, and client actions.
 When troubleshooting, activate the category specific to the problem at a medium or maximum level.
 Use Event Viewer to view the logged information.

Disable logging when not needed to improve performance and reduce the amount of information sent to the
Event Viewer

12. How to configure the Exchange Diagnostics logging?

1. Open Exchange System Manager.

2. Locate the Exchange server that you want to configure.
3. Right click the Exchange server and select Properties from the shortcut menu.
4. Click the Diagnostics Logging tab.
5. In the Services area of the tab, click service.
6. Select the appropriate entry in the Category area of the tab.

13. What are the four levels of logging available in Exchange Diagnostics Logging?

 None - only critical events and error events are recorded.

 Minimum - one entry is logged for each key task performed by the service.
 Medium- for each action needed to execute a task, entries are logged.
  Maximum – entries are logged for each line of code. The Maximum logging level should be enabled
only when you need comprehensive debugging information. This is due to the impact this logging
level has on server performance.

14. Where is System Monitor located?

System Monitor: The System Monitor utility is the main tool for monitoring system performance. System
Monitor can track various processes on your Windows system in real time. The utility uses a graphical display
that you can use to view current, or log data. You can determine resource usage by monitoring trends. System
Monitor can be displayed in a graph, histogram, or report format. System Monitor uses objects, counters and
instances to monitor the system.

Located in Performance Monitor on Administrative Tools container

15. What are the Useful Memory Counters to Monitor in System Monitor?

 Pages/sec
 Page faults/sec
 Page inputs/sec
 Page outputs/sec
 Write copies/sec

16. What are the Useful Processor Counters to Monitor in System Monitor?

 Process total
 Process Interrupt
 %Idle Time
 % user Time

17. What are Performance logs and alerts?

Performance Logs and Alerts: By using the Performance Logs And Alerts tool included in the Performance
console, you can track the performance of the server by creating counter logs, trace logs, and defining alerts.

· Counter Logs: Counter logs collect data on the selected counters once a predefined interval has passed. A
few features of counter logs are listed below:

 Collect performance data on the activities of system services.

 Collect performance data on hardware usage.
 Manually log data.

· Trace Logs: Trace logs differ to counter logs in that trace logs monitors data constantly and then records
performance data when a specific event occurs. The collected data is written to a trace log file.

· Alerts: You can configure alerts to be generated when a predefined counter reaches, exceeds or falls beneath
a defined threshold or value. When you configure alerts, you can specify that the following actions occur
when an alert condition is met:

18. What is the use of Nslookup?

NSLookup is to Query a DNS domain name server to lookup and find IP address information of computers in
the internet, like MX record details
19. What is the command to locate a SMTP server for a particular domain or to determine if the MX
records have been configured properly in DNS

To verify this use the below commands

NSLOOKUP

Set q =MX

20. How to identify if the problem is with smart host or exchange server?

Smart host are used to relay the mails outside of your exchange organization, if any problem in sending mails
outside and we can send mails within the organization then there is problem with smart host.

21. What could be the problem if incoming mail queue is becoming unmanageably large?

A large number of SMTP queues may indicate that there is either a denial of service attack, a lot of spam that
is leaving the server, or an Internet connection that may be down.

22. What are the counters to diagnose whether a global catalog server is the cause of a lengthening
incoming mail queue?

MSExchangeDSAccess Processes is the counters to diagnose whether a global catalog server is the cause of
a lengthening incoming mail queue

23. What is command to run dcdiag from another member server to check domain controller
diagnosis?

 Dcdiag /test:DNS /s:TargetDCName /v /f:LogFileName

24. Which tests are performed by dcdiag?

DNS: Checks the health of Domain Name System (DNS) settings for the enterprise.

CheckSecurityError: Locates security errors or errors that might be related to security problems, and
performs initial diagnosis of the problems.

25. What is ISinteg ?

Isinteg is a command-line tool that analyzes and makes some repairs to the Exchange databases. Use Isinteg
for problems similar to the following:

 Users are continuously connecting to their mailboxes and keep getting disconnected.
 Users report corruption within their mailboxes.

Users report error messages that are associated with the database not being able to be mounted.

26. What is ESutil ?

Eseutil is more powerful than Isinteg for repairing problems in the database. When using Eseutil:

· Dismount the stores you want to analyze. The Information Store must still be running.
· Common options with Eseutil include:

 /d to perform an offline defragmentation.

 /r to perform a database recovery.
 /g to check database integrity.
 /p to repair a database.

27. What is the use of Ping?

You can use the Ping command to perform several useful Internet network diagnostic tests, such as the
following

Access - You can use Ping to see if you can reach another computer

Distance & Time – You can use the Ping command to determine how long it takes to bounce a packet off of
another site, which tells you it’s Internet distance in network terms

Domain IP Address – You can use the Ping command to probe either a domain name or an IP address. If you
ping a domain name, it helpfully displays the corresponding IP address in the response.

28. What is the use of Tracert?

Trace route command determine how packets are travel between your computer and the destination. Trace
provides a quick response

29. What is the use of Pathping?

Path PING it’s same as that of trace route which determine how packets travel between your computer and the
destination. Path ping provides a more detailed and reliable analysis of network performance.

30. What is the use of Telnet?

Telnet is a program to let you login to another computer on the Internet in order to use typed commands

31. Which tests are performed by netdiag?

Gathers static network information and tests the network driver, protocol driver, send/receive capability, and
well-known target accessibility.

Can be used by network administrators in conjunction with the Scheduler Service, to generate reports at
regularly scheduled intervals

32. Which switch is used with netdiag to display only errors and warnings?

To run the tool, you must

 Open a command prompt, change to the folder containing the extracted files and run the tool from
there.
 All these diagnostic tools run from a command prompt,
 you can’t just double-click them.

Netdiag /q – show the quiet output (error and warnings only)

33. How to install the Network Monitor tool?

To install the Windows version of Network Monitor,

1. Open the Control Panel and select the Add / Remove Programs option. Next, click the Add / Remove
Windows Components button to launch the Windows Components wizard.
2. Scroll through the list of components until you locate the Management and Monitoring Tools option.
3. Select the Management and Monitoring Tools option and click the Details button.
4. Select the Network Monitor Tools option and click Next.
5. Windows will now begin the installation process.
6. You may be prompted to insert your Windows installation CD.
7. Click Finish to complete the installation process.

34. What is the use of Network Monitor?

It allows you to monitor any machine on your network and to determine which users are consuming the most
bandwidth. You can also use the SMS version of Network Monitor to determine which protocols are using the
most bandwidth on the network, locate network routers, and resolve device names into MAC addresses.

Ability to capture, edit, and retransmit a packet. This functionality is used by hackers when performing a
replay attack.

35. What is DcDiag?

DCDiag command-line tool analyzes the state of domain controllers in a forest or enterprise and reports any
problems to assist in troubleshooting

36. What is NetDiag?

This is a command-line diagnostic tool helps to isolate networking and connectivity problems by performing a
series of tests to determine the state of your network client. These tests and the key network status information
they expose give network administrators and support personnel a more direct means of identifying and
isolating network problems. Moreover, because this tool does not require parameters or switches to be
specified, support personnel and network administrators can focus on analyzing the output rather than on
training users how to use the tool.

1. Name some Exchange Server 2003 clients

 Outlook 2000/2003
 Outlook Web Access.
 Outlook Mobile Access.
 RPC over Http/Https.

2. What is Outlook Web Access (OWA)?

Outlook Web Access 2003 (known as OWA 2003) allows you to gain access to your messages, calendars,
contacts, tasks and public folders from any computer with internet access. OWA 2003 has many added
features which allow for improved performance, better security and a fresh new look.

3. How to access OWA?

Open your browser and type in the following address:

https://DomainName/exchange

In Exchange Server 2007 – https:\\domainname\owa

4. How OWA works?

1. The client issues a HTTP request using browser using URL.

2. The DNS resolves the request and forward to the IIS server.
3. The HTTP request flows across the network to the IIS server.
4. Exchange registers itself with IIS as a valid application, so when a request is received byHTTP client
IIS redirect the request to application. Davex.dll is an ISAPI extension thatincludes the functions
necessary to communicate with the Store. Exchange also registersDavex.dll with IIS as the component
to handle all incoming requests for the Exchange application.
5. Davex.dll checks the request and contacts the Store through the epoxy inter process communication
channel. Communication goes to the HTTP epoxy stub. Eproxy does notuse RPC.
6. The HTTP epoxy stub communicates with Store using exoledb.dll to get the necessary information
from the Store.
7. After getting information from Store the reverse path is followed and client gets itsmailbox on
browser.

5. What are the limitations of OWA?

 We can’t access offline address list

 A lot of attachments have to be saved to the local drive first, in order to be able to open them.
 Adding recipients when sending an E-mail is a pain.
 You cannot work offline.

6. What is RPC over HTTP?

The RPC over HTTP protocol allows your full Outlook 2003 MAPI clients to connect to Exchange 2003
Servers using HTTP/HTTPS. This solves the problem remote Outlook 2003 users have when located behind
restrictive firewalls.

By using RPC over HTTP, users no longer have to use a virtual private network (VPN) connection to connect
to Exchange mailboxes. Users who are running Outlook 2003 on client computers can connect to an Exchange
server in a corporate environment from the Internet. The Windows RPC over HTTP feature enables an RPC
client such as Outlook 2003 to establish connections across the Internet by tunneling the RPC traffic over
HTTP.

7. What are the requirements to use RPC over HTTP?

Server Requirement

RPC 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 Requirement

The client computer must be running Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later.

The client computer must be running Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.

8. What is the procedure to configure RPC over HTTP?

Verify that your server computer and your client computer meet the requirements to use RPC over HTTP/S.

 Configure Exchange to use RPC over HTTP/S.

 Configure the RPC virtual directory in Internet Information Services.
 Configure the RPC proxy server to use specific ports.
 Configure your client computers to use RPC over HTTP/S

9. Why you must create an additional Outlook profile for RPC over HTTP connections?

For users to use RPC over HTTP from their client computer, they must create an outlook profile that uses the
required RPC over HTTP settings. These settings enable SSL communication with Basic Authentication,
which is required when using RPC over HTTP

10. How to prepare an Exchange Server 2003 computer to support RPC over HTTP?

Configure Exchange to use RPC over HTTPS.

Configure the RPC virtual directory in Internet Information Services.

Configure the RPC proxy server to use specific ports.

11. What is Exchange recipient?

In Exchange, the term recipient refers to an Active Directory object that is mailbox-enabled or mail-enabled.
Mailbox-enabled recipients can send, receive, and store messages. Mail-enabled recipients can only receive
messages.

12. What are the types of Exchange recipient objects?

1. Mailbox-enabled recipients
2. Mail-enabled
3. Contacts
4. Resource mailbox

13. What is a mailbox-enabled object?

Users can log on to networks and access domain resources. Users can be added to groups and appear in the
global address list (GAL).

Mailbox-enabled users can send and receive messages and store messages on their Exchange server.

14. What is mail-enabled object?

Mail-enabled users can receive messages at an external e-mail address only. They cannot send or store
messages on Exchange.

15. What is Encryption?

Encryption refers to algorithmic schemes that encode plain text into non-readable form or cyphertext,
providing privacy. The receiver of the encrypted text uses a “key” to decrypt the message, returning it to its
original plain text form. The key is the trigger mechanism to the algorithm.

16. What is the purpose of Digital Signatures?

Digital signatures are used to digitally sign the messages and encrypt them. Digital signatures provide
authentication, non repudiation and data integrity. Encryption keeps message contents confidential

17. How to verify that S/MIME is supported by mailbox store so that users are able to store encrypted
or digitally signed messages?

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Click Administrative Groups,
3. Click Administrative Group,
4. Click Servers, click servername,
5. Click Storage Group,
6. Right click either the Mailbox Store or the Public Folder Store, and then click Properties.
7. On the properties page, verify that the Clients support S/MIME signatures check box is selected.

18. What is the use of Key Recovery Agent?

We need to enable a Key Recovery Agent. A Key Recovery Agent is a highly trusted person which is
responsible for recovering lost or damaged archived certificates for users.

We must issue a Key Recovery Agent certificate for this user. To do this:

1. Start the Windows 2003 CA console

2. Issue a new template named Key Recovery Agent
3. Request this certificate for the user who becomes the Key Recovery Agent
4. Manually Issue the Key Recovery Agent Certificate at the CA

19. How to configure Outlook to enable Digital Signatures and Encryption?

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Office Outlook
2003.

Click Tools, and then click Options.

Click on the Security tab and click Settings.

Outlook populates the Change Security Settings dialog box with default information. Click OK to accept the
defaults.

20. What are the components of PKI?

Certification Authorities – Provide services that authenticate the identity of individuals, computers, and
other entities in a network. This encompasses both root certification authorities and subordinate authorities.

Certificate Directory – Saves certificate requests and issued and revoked certificates and certificate requests.

Key Recovery Server – Saves encrypted private keys in the certificate database for recovery after loss.
21. Name a few 3rd party CAs ?

1. VeriSign
2. GeoTrust
3. Global Sign
4. Digicert
5. Digi-sign

This Chapter holds the Exchange Server 2003 Inerview Questions and Answers which are not covered in the
Previous 11 Posts

Leave your comments, If you cant find answers for your Questions

1. What are the Exchange Server clients?

 Microsoft outlook
 Outlook web access
 Outlook Mobile Access
 RPC over HTTP
 POP3
 IMAP4

2. What is a Forest and Domain functional level?

Domain functionality enables features that will affect the entire domain and that domain only. Four domain
functional levels are available: Windows 2000 mixed (default), Windows 2000 native, Windows Server 2003
interim, and Windows Server 2003. By default, domains operate at the Windows 2000 mixed functional level

Forest functionality enables features across all the domains within your forest. Three forest functional levels
are available: Windows 2000 (default), Windows Server 2003 interim, and Windows Server 2003. By default,
forests operate at the Windows 2000 functional level. You can raise the forest functional level to Windows
Server 2003.

3. What is cache mode in Outlook 2003?

When an Outlook account is configured to use Cached Exchange Mode, Outlook works from a local copy of a
user’s Exchange mailbox stored in an Offline Folder file (OST file) on the user’s computer, along with the
Offline Address Book (OAB). The cached mailbox and OAB are updated periodically from the Exchange
server.

When a user starts Outlook for the first time with Cached Exchange Mode configured, Outlook creates a local
copy of the user’s mailbox by creating an OST file (unless one already exists), synchronizing the OST with
the user’s mailbox on the Exchange server, and creating an OAB. (If a user is already configured for offline
use with an OST and an OAB, Outlook can typically download just the new information from the server, not
the whole mailbox and OAB.)

4. What is IP address?

An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical identification and logical address that is assigned to devices
participating in a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes.

Two IP versions are currently in use, they are

IP version 4 – 32 bit addressing

IP version 6 – 128 bit addressing

5. What is MX record?

An MX record or Mail exchanger record is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS)
specifying how Internet e-mail should be routed using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Each MX
record contains a preference and a host name, so that the collection of MX records for a given domain name
point to the servers that should receive e-mail for that domain, and their priority relative to each other.

6. What is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)?

SMTP is a short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and it is used to transfer e-mail messages between
computers. It is a text based protocol and in this, message text is specified along with the recipients of the
message. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a ‘push’ protocol and it cannot be used to ‘pull’ the messages from
the server.

7. What is Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP)?

NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) is the predominant protocol used by computer clients and servers
for managing the notes posted on Usenet newsgroups. NNTP replaced the original Usenet protocol, UNIX-to-
UNIX Copy Protocol (UUCP) some time ago. NNTP servers manage the global network of collected Usenet
newsgroups and include the server at your Internet access provider. An NNTP client is included as part of a
Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, or other Web browser or you may use a separate client program called a
newsreader.

NNTP utilizes TCP port 119; NNTP with SSL utilizes TCP port 563.

8. What is Workgroup?

In workgroup, all the computers are peers; no computer has control over another computer

Each computer has a set of user accounts. To use any computer in the workgroup, you must have an account
on that computer

All computers must be on the same local network or subnet

9. What is five nines availability?

99.999 availability – not sure on this

10. Which utility can you use to verify that port 25 is open on a remote SMTP server?

Telnet is the utility to verify the port 25

11. What are important Ports for firewall configuration?

 SMTP – 25
 DNS – 53
 HTTP – 80
 Kerberos – 88
  NNTP – 119

12. What is MBSA?

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.1 is an easy to use tool that helps small and medium
businesses determine their security state in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers
specific remediation guidance. Improve your security management process by using MBSA to detect common
administrative vulnerabilities and missing security updates on your computer systems.

13. To run MBSA your account must be a member of which group?

User account should me member of the administrator group on the targeted host

14. What is DMZ?

In computer networks, a DMZ (demilitarized zone) is a computer host or small network inserted as a “neutral
zone” between a company’s private network and the outside public network. It prevents outside users from
getting direct access to a server that has company data. (The term comes from the geographic buffer zone that
was set up between North Korea and South Korea following the UN “police action” in the early 1950s.) A
DMZ is an optional and more secure approach to a firewall and effectively acts as a proxy server as well.

15. What is ESEUTIL?

Eseutil is more powerful than Isinteg for repairing problems in the database. When using Eseutil:

· Dismount the stores you want to analyze. The Information Store must still be running.

· Common options with Eseutil include:

 /d to perform an offline defragmentation.

 /r to perform a database recovery.
 /g to check database integrity.
 /p to repair a database.

16. What size is each page of data in the database?

The pages are 4KB in size (for Exchange 2003) and include not only data but also a checksum and pointers to
other page

AD uses a page size of 8 kb

17. What type of memory optimization changes could you do for Exchange 2003?

The server is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Enterprise Edition or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, has 1 GB or more of physical
memory, to perform memory optimization we have to set the /3GB switch to the Boot.ini

18. Which parameters needs to added in boot.ini file if Your Exchange Server 2003 computer has more
than 1 GB of RAM installed?

Add /3Gb switch to boot.ini

19. What is open relay?

An open relay (sometimes called an insecure relay or a third-party relay) is an SMTP e-mail server that
allows third-party relay of e-mail messages. By processing mail that is neither for nor from a local user, an
open relay makes it possible for an unscrupulous sender to route large volumes of spam. In effect, the owner
of the server — who is typically unaware of the problem — donates network and computer resources to the
sender’s purpose. In addition to the financial costs incurred when a spammer hijacks a server, an organization
may also suffer system crashes, equipment damage, and loss of business.

20. What is Active Directory Schema?

The Microsoft Active Directory schema contains formal definitions of every object class that can be created in
an Active Directory forest. The schema also contains formal definitions of every attribute that can exist in an
Active Directory object. This section provides the reference for each schema object and provides a brief
explanation of the attributes, classes, and other objects that comprise the Active Directory schema.

21. What is X 400 Connector?

X.400 connectors   Although you can use X.400 connectors to connect routing groups, X.400 connectors are
designed to connect servers running Exchange with other X.400 systems or to servers running Exchange
Server 5.5 outside an Exchange organization. A server running Exchange Server 2003 can then send messages
over this connector using the X.400 protocol.

22. What is a storage group?

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.

23. What are the advantages of implementing multiple Exchange databases (mailbox store & public
folder store)?

 You can place each database on a different physical disk, which will likely improve performance.
 You can set database-level quota policies, so that by grouping users into different databases, you can
assign different policies (e.g., mailbox quotas) to particular user groups.
 By separating users into multiple databases, you minimize the scope of any database corruption.
 In the event of a database restore, you must restore the data in only one database, which enables faster
recoverability.
 By dividing user accounts over multiple databases, you can prioritize the database-restoration order in
the event of a total disaster. For example, if all managers are in one database, you could restore that
database first. (Of course, when you put all managers in one database, if a database becomes corrupt,
it’s bound to be that one!)
 Multiple databases let you keep database size to a manageable level (typically less than 40GB
24. What is Volume Shadow Copy service?

The Volume Shadow Copy Service provides the backup infrastructure for the Microsoft Windows XP and
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems, as well as a mechanism for creating consistent point-in-
time copies of data known as shadow copies.

The Volume Shadow Copy Service has native support for creating consistent shadow copies across multiple
volumes, regardless of the snapshot technology or application

25. How to enable Volume Shadow Copy service?

1. Open Windows Explorer or the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Disk Management snap-in,
then right-click the drive.
2. Select Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Shadow Copies tab.
4. Under “Select a volume,” select the volume for which you want to enable Shadow Copies.
5. Click Settings to configure VSS. (If you don’t configure the default settings, Windows 2003 will use a
default configuration that creates a Shadow Copy on the selected drive at 07:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
every weekday).
6. In the displayed dialog box, configure the settings to tell Windows 2003 where you want VSS to store
the Shadow Copies (you can specify only the drive–you can’t specify a folder) and the maximum
amount of space to use for the Shadow Copies (at least 100MB), then click Schedule.
7. From the drop-down list in the Schedule dialog box, select a time to make a scheduled Shadow Copy.
After you select a time, you can use the options in the dialog box to specify when VSS runs (i.e., the
date and time). You can also click New to create a new schedule. For example, you might want to
schedule the system to make a Volume Copy on Saturday at 7:00 a.m. and on Sunday at 7:00 a.m.
Click OK after you finishes selecting the scheduling options.
8. Click OK to exit the main Settings dialog box.

26. What is the Size of Exchange log file?

5 MB for 2003 and 1 MB for 2007

27. For how many days deleted mailboxes are not permanently purged by default?

By default Exchange Server 2003 set to 30 days

Mail items deletion retention period is set to 7 days for Exchange server 2003 and 14 days for Exchange
Server 2007

28. What is use of Full-text indexing?

Mailboxes are repositories for messages, documents, calendar items, and task lists for all the users in your
organization. Exchange Server 2003 has the capacity to index the full text of all messages in any mailbox
store. If you configure full-text indexing, users can quickly search for any word or phrase that occurs in the
body of any item in their own mailbox.

29. What is Incremental Population?

An incremental population event causes only new and modified items to be indexed

30. What is Full Population?

A full population event causes all items in the public folder store to be indexed or reindexed, regardless of
their current state of modification.

31. Which are the Exchange virtual servers?

Windows Exchange Servers use the word ‘Virtual’ in many contexts.  To begin with, one physical machine
can act as a server for several Virtual SMTP domains, for example ourcomp.com and mergecomp.net. 
Moreover, in addition to SMTP, one Exchange Server can also control Virtual servers for IMAP4, NNTP and
POP3.  From another point of view, you could interpret these Exchange Virtual servers as aliases for physical
folders in Microsoft’s IIS.

In a completely different context, the term Virtual Server is used in clustering. The Outlook clients connect
not to the individual Exchange 2003 nodes, but to a Virtual server with a virtual IP address.

32. Which virtual servers are operational by default?

In a default Exchange organization, only the HTTP and SMTP virtual servers are operational. You can opt to
enable the POP3, NNTP, and IMAP4 virtual servers as needed

33. Which messaging protocols are supported by Exchange Server 2003?

 HTTP
 IMAP4
 NNTP
 POP3
 SMTP

34. How to create a new Virtual server?

In Exchange System Manager, expand the First Administrative Group, expand the Servers node, and then
expand the Exchange server where you want to create a new HTTP virtual directory.

Expand the Protocols node, right-click the SMTP protocol, select New and then click SMTP Virtual Server.

In the Properties dialog box for the new SMTP virtual server, configure the settings for your new Exchange
virtual directory.

35. How to limit the inbound connections to Virtual servers?

A virtual server can accept an unlimited number of inbound connections and is limited only by the resources
of the computer where the virtual server is running. To prevent a computer from becoming overloaded, you
can limit the number of connections that can be made to the virtual server at the same time. By default,
Microsoft® Exchange does not limit the number of incoming connections.

1. Log on to the Exchange server where the virtual server is running using the Exchange administrator
account that has local Administrator permissions and Exchange Full Administrator permissions.

2. In Exchange System Manager, expand Protocols, right-click the protocol for which you want to change
connection limits, and then click Properties.

3. On the General tab, set the appropriate connection limits.

36. How to configure the SMTP Relay settings?

SMTP relay setting can be configure by navigating through Exchange System

Manager>Servers>protocols>SMTP Virtual Server, go to the properties and select the relay option to
configure which server is to relay the mails for the Exchange Organization

37. How to configure External DNS servers for external name resolution in Exchange Server 2003?

When you configure external DNS servers, you specify a different DNS server than the server that is
configured in the TCP/IP properties of the computer running Exchange Server. This DNS server is used by
SMTP to resolve external DNS names and deliver mail.

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

2. In the console tree, expand Servers, expand <Server Name>, expand Protocols, and then expand SMTP.

3. Right-click <Your Outgoing SMTP Virtual Server>, and then click Properties.

4. Click the Delivery tab, and then click Advanced. The Advanced Delivery dialog box appears.

5. In Advanced Delivery, click Configure. The Configure dialog box appears.

6. In Configure, click Add, type the IP address of the external DNS server that you want to use, and then
click OK.

7. In Configure, under External DNS, verify that the IP address is correct, and then click OK twice to apply
the settings.

Configure your DNS server to include forwarders to external (Internet) DNS servers. This setting allows your
DNS server to receive a query for external names, forward the query to the remote server, and deliver the
response to the requestor. To configure this setting, open the DNS console, right-click your DNS server, click
Properties, click the Forwarders tab, and then configure forwarders to external DNS servers.

38. How to configure auditing in Exchange?

Auditing lets you track what’s happening with Exchange Server. You can use auditing to collect information
related to information logons and logoffs, permission use, and much more. Any time an action that you’ve
configured for auditing occurs, this action is written to the system’s security log. You can then access the
security log from Event Viewer. You enable auditing in the domain through Group Policy.

To enable Exchange auditing, follow these steps:

1. Start the Group Policy Management Console by clicking Start, All Programs, Administrative Tools, Group
Policy Management. You can now navigate through the forest and domains in the organization to view
individual Group Policy Objects.

2. To specifically audit users’ actions on Exchange Server, you should consider creating an organizational unit
(OU) for Exchange servers and then define auditing policy for a Group Policy Object applied to the OU. After
you’ve created the OU or if you have an existing OU for Exchange servers, right-click the related policy
object, and then select Edit to open the policy object for editing in Group Policy Management Editor.
3. Access the Audit Policy node by working your way down through the console tree. Expand Computer
Configuration, Policies, Windows Settings, Security Settings, and Local Policies. Then select Audit Policy.

4. You should now see the following auditing options:

 Audit Account Logon Events Tracks user account authentication during logon. Account logon events
are generated on the authenticating computer when a user is authenticated.
 Audit Account Management Tracks account management by means of Active Directory Users And
Computers. Events are generated any time user, computer, or group accounts are created, modified, or
deleted.
 Audit Directory Service Access Tracks access to Active Directory. Events are generated any time
users or computers access the directory.
 Audit Logon Events Tracks local logon events for a server or workstation.
 Audit Object Access Tracks system resource usage for mailboxes, information stores, and other types
of objects.
 Audit Policy Change Tracks changes to user rights, auditing, and trust relationships.
 Audit Privilege Use Tracks the use of user rights and privileges, such as the right to create mailboxes.
 Audit Process Tracking Tracks system processes and the resources they use.
 Audit System Events Tracks system startup, shutdown, and restart, as well as actions that affect
system security or the security log.

5. To configure an auditing policy, double-click or right-click its entry, and then select Security. This opens a
Properties dialog box for the policy.

6. Select the Define These Policy Settings check box, and then select the Success check box, the Failure check
box, or both. Success logs successful events, such as successful logon attempts. Failure logs failed events,
such as failed logon attempts. 7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to enable other auditing policies. The policy changes
won’t be applied until the next time you start the Exchange server.

39. What is the purpose of Logging in Microsoft Exchange?

Microsoft® Exchange Server transaction logging is a robust disaster recovery mechanism that is designed to
reliably restore an Exchange database to a consistent state after any sudden stop of the database. The logging
mechanism is also used when restoring online backups.

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.

40. How to enable Logging?

Protocol Logging

If you want to troubleshoot mail system protocol issues then you should enable and configure protocol
logging. Protocol logging provides information on the message commands that a user sends to an Exchange
Server 2003 server

1. · Open Exchange System Manager.

2. · Expand the Administrative Groups node, the administrative group, the Servers node, Server Name,
Protocols.
3. · Expand the SMTP folder.
4. · Right-click Default SMTP Virtual Server and then select Properties.
5. · The Default SMTP Virtual Server Properties dialog box opens.
 6. · Select the Enable logging checkbox on the General tab.
7. · Choose either of the following logging format options available in the Active Log Format drop-down
list:

 Microsoft IIS Log File Format

 NCSA Common Log File Format
 ODBC Logging
 W3C Extended Log File Format

· Click Properties.

· The Logging Properties dialog box opens.

· In the New Log Schedule area of the General tab, choose either of the following options:

 Hourly
 Daily
 Weekly
 Monthly
 Unlimited File Size
 When File Size Reaches, and set the size setting.

· In the Log File Directory box of the General tab, set the log file location.

· If you have selected the W3C Extended Log File Format option, then you can click the Advanced tab to
configure the items which should be tracked.

· Click OK in the Logging Properties dialog box.

· Click OK in the Default SMTP Virtual Server Properties dialog box.

41. What are the log file formats are available with Logging?

You can configure the logging format that should be used for logging the information

 ASCII-based format
 Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) format

The different ASCII format options which you can choose between are:

 Microsoft IIS log file format

 NCSA log file format
 W3C Extended log file format

For the ODBC format, you have to configure which ODBC database to use, and then configure the database
to receive protocol logging information. You can use Access or SQL Server to create an ODBC database.

42. What is the location of log files for Logging?

By default logs are stored in C:\WINNT\System32\LogFiles directory

43. How to enable Logging on HTTP virtual server?

1. Open the IIS Manager console.

2. Expand the Web Sites node.
3. Right-click Default Web Site and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.
4. Click the Web Site tab.
5. Check the Enable Logging checkbox.
6. Select the log file format from the Active Log Format drop-down list. The default format specified is
W3C Extended Log File Format.
7. Click Properties.
8. The Logging Properties dialog box opens.
9. On the General tab, set the following:

 Specify when information should be saved to the log file.

 Specify the log file size.
 Specify the log file location.
 Click the Advanced tab if you have selected the W3C Extended Log File Format. This is where you
can configure Extended Logging Options.
 Click OK in the Logging Properties dialog box.
 Click OK in the Default Web Site Properties dialog box.

44. What is OWA?

OWA is to access the mail via browser from outside the corporate network. The Outlook Web Access (OWA)
client is now nearly indistinguishable from the full Outlook client. The one major component missing is
offline capability, but nearly every other Outlook functionality is part of OWA.

45. What is Exchange Active sync?

ActiveSync provides for synchronized access to email from a handheld device, such as a Pocket PC or other
Windows Mobile device. It allows for real-time send and receives functionality to and from the handheld,
through the use of push technology.

46. What is Outlook Anywhere?

Outlook Anywhere (previously known as RPC over HTTP) is a method by which a full Outlook client can
dynamically send and receive messages directly from an Exchange server over an HTTP or Hypertext
Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) web connection. This allows for virtual private network (VPN)–free
access to Exchange data, over a secured HTTPS connection.

47. What is POP3?

The Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) is a legacy protocol that is supported in Exchange 2007. POP3 enables
simple retrieval of mail data via applications that use the POP3 protocol. Mail messages, however, cannot be
sent with POP3 and must use the SMTP engine in Exchange. By default, POP3 is not turned on and must be
explicitly activated.

48. What is IMAP4?

Legacy Interactive Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) access to Exchange is also available, which can enable an
Exchange server to be accessed via IMAP applications, such as some UNIX mail clients. As with the POP3
protocol, IMAP support must be explicitly turned on.
49. What is an IPSec policy?

An IPSec policy is nothing more than a set of rules that govern when and how Windows 2000 uses the IPSec
protocol. The IPSec policy interacts directly with the IPSec driver. The policy tells Windows such things as
which data to secure and which security method to use.

50. What are the preconfigured IPSec policies Windows Server 2003 comes with?

 Client (Respond Only) Policy

 Secure server policy (Require Security) policy
 Server (request security) policy

51. Explain the preconfigured IPSec policies?

The first policy on the list is the Client (Respond Only) policy. This policy is designed to be run on client
machines that don’t normally need to worry about security. The policy is designed in such a way that the
client will never initiate secure communications on its own. However, if a server requests that the client go
into secure communications mode, the client will respond appropriately.

The next policy on the list is the Secure Server (Require Security) policy. This policy is only appropriate for
servers that require all communications to be secure. Once this policy has been applied, the server will either
send or accept insecure communications. Any client wanting to communicate with the server must use at least
the minimum level of security described by the policy.

The final policy on the list is the Server (Request Security) policy. Contrary to the name, this policy can be
used on both client and server PCs. This policy will use IPSec security for all outbound security. However,
this policy will accept insecure inbound communications. If a client requests a secure session, the policy will
allow the client to establish one.

52. What are the options for giving remote user access to Exchange?

1. Outlook web Access

2. POP3
3. IMAP4
4. Outlook Mobile Access
5. RPC over HTTP

53. What are the Exchange Server 2003 core services?

1. Exchange System Attendant

2. IIS admin Service
3. SMTP service
4. Exchange Information Store
5. Exchange Installable File System

54. What other services are associated with Exchange Server 2003?

Following are the important Exchange Services

1. MS Exchange Event – Monitors folders and files of Exchange 5.5

2. MS Exchange IMAP4 – provides IMAP4 services
3. MS Exchange Information Store – Manage Exchange Information store
 4. MS Exchange Management – Exchange management using WMI
5. MS Exchange MTA Stack – provides X.400 service to connect Exchange 5.5
6. MS Exchange POP3 – provides POP3 Service
7. MS Exchange Routing Engine – provide topology and Routing Engine
8. MS Site Replication Service – Exchange 2003 co exist with Exchange 5.5
9. Exchange system Attendant – Provides monitoring, maintenance and AD lookup service

55. What is the default mailbox size in Exchange Server 2003?

For Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition value between 1 and 75 (the default is 18 GB).

For Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition value between 1 and 8000 (the default is 8000 GB). Click
OK.

56. What is the maximum database size with Exchange Server 2003 standard edition?

16 GB if Exchange Server 2003 sp 1 is installed

75GB if it is upgraded to Server pack 2

57. What is ISINTEG, and where we have to use this?

Isinteg is a command-line tool that analyzes and makes some repairs to the Exchange databases. Use Isinteg
for problems similar to the following:

 Users are continuously connecting to their mailboxes and keep getting disconnected.
 Users report corruption within their mailboxes.

Users report error messages that are associated with the database not being able to be mounted

58. What is the use of ESEUTIL?

Users report corruption within their mailboxes.

Users report error messages that are associated with the database not being able to be mounted

Eseutil is more powerful than Isinteg for repairing problems in the database


o Perform an offline defragmentation.
o Perform a database recovery.
o Check database integrity.
o Repair a database.

59. Where is Eseutil located?

Located in windows 2003 support tools

60. What are the different Eseutil modes and switches associated with them?

1.
1. /d to perform an offline defragmentation.
 2. /r to perform a database recovery.
3. /g to check database integrity.
4. /p to repair a database.

61. How much free disk space is needed for defragmenting a database with ESEUTIL?

Because defragmentation copies the files to a temporary file and then copies the compressed file back to the
original file, the process needs a great deal of disk space to do this. To run defragmentation, you need about
110% of your file size available on your disk.

62. What is the command to run the Eseutil defragmentation on a specific database?

In Exchange System Manager, right-click the information store that you want to defragment, and then click
Dismount Store.

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.

Use the following database switch to run Eseutil defragmentation on a specific database:

eseutil /d <database_name> [options]

63. What need to be done before performing the defragmentation with Eseutil?

It is recommended that you always perform a backup of your data before running Eseutil

64. How to run Eseutil on a computer without Exchange Server?

Create a new folder on the computer that does not have Exchange Server 2003 installed.

Copy the Eseutil.exe, Ese.dll, Jcb.dll, Exosal.dll, and Exchmem.dll files from the Exchange Server 2003
computer’s Drive:\Exchsrvr\Bin folder to the new folder that you created.

At a command prompt, change directory to the new folder.

Run the eseutil command from this folder against any databases that were copied from the Exchange Server
2003 computer.

65. Explain the Message flow in Exchange server 2003.

Message flow in Exchange 2003 is as follows:

1. An SMTP host connects to the SMTP transport engine on port 25, or an Outlook client places a
message for sending in the database, or an inbound message is received from the MTA.
2. Regardless of the origin, the message is transferred to the advanced queuing engine. If the message
comes from a remote SMTP host, the SMTP protocol engine transfers the message to the advanced
queuing engine, whereas if the message comes from a MAPI client, such as Outlook, or from MTA,
the store driver transfers it to the advanced queuing engine.
3. The advanced queuing engine then uses the categorizer to process received messages. The categorizer
tries to resolve the originator, resolve recipients, and enforce message restrictions. Received messages
are placed in one of two queues: a local queue with messages for recipients residing on the server, and
an outbound pre-routing queue.
 4. From the local queue, the message transfers to the store driver, which is part of the Microsoft
Exchange Information Store service, and is placed in the destination mailbox.
5. To transfer messages from the pre-routing queue, the advanced queuing engine uses the routing engine
to determine where the SMTP service should send the message. The routing module passes the
message to the queue manager that finally places the message in a link queue to be sent through the
SMTP service. The name of the link queue corresponds to the name of the destination domain. From
the outbound queue, messages are sent to the next routing hop by the SMTP service.

66. What is WINROUTE?

WinRoute is an additional tool that shows the link state table for Exchange. Use WinRoute to query a server
and view its table, routing groups, connectors, master, address spaces, and member servers

67. What is address rewrite in Exchange Server?

Exchange Address Rewrite is the process of rewriting E-mail addresses for all outgoing messages in a special
SMTP Virtual servers. Exchange Address Rewrote is especially used in merger or acquisition scenarios where
two Exchange Organizations are to be merged into one but, until these two organization are completely
merged, every organization uses its own SMTP Namespace while for all outgoing SMTP Messages the new or
unique SMTP address space is used.

68.   What is S/MIME?

Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME) protects the integrity and confidentiality of e-mail
messages. S/MIME protects the message itself, while other forms of protection, such as SSL, protect the
transmission channel. S/MIME requires the use of certificates issued through a public key infrastructure (PKI)

69. Where S/MIME supportable?

S/MIME is supported by Outlook, Outlook Web Access, or POP3 or IMAP4 clients. Use the following
process to use S/MIME for secure e-mail.

1. Obtain a certificate for each user.

2. Enable S/MIME in the e-mail client application.

Share and obtain public keys with other users. Users who will send you encrypted e-mail must have your
public key. You must have the public key for all users to whom you will send encrypted or digitally signed e-
mails

70. 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

71. What is DS2MB?

Directory Service\Metabase Synchronization process (DS2MB process), In short the DS2MB process
overwrites new configuration information in the local metabase (the metabase is kind of a registry for IIS)
with configuration information that was last set in Active Directory by using the Exchange System Manager
snap-in.

DS2MB is short for Directory Service to Metabase and the purpose of this process is to transfer configuration
information from Active Directory to the IIS Metabase. The configuration is stored in the IIS Metabase
instead of the registry mainly for performance and scalability reasons. The DS2MB process is a one-way write
from Active Directory to the IIS Metabase, which means that the Metabase never writes back to Active
Directory.

72. 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).

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 pulls down menu of the application. Selecting one of these sends a request to a
MAPI server

73. What are virtual servers? When would you use more than one?

An SMTP virtual server is an instance of the SMTP service running on an Exchange server. It is bound to a
particular IP address (or group of IP addresses) and port, usually the well-known TCP port 25.

Windows Exchange Servers use the word ‘Virtual’ in many contexts.  To begin with, one physical machine
can act as a server for several Virtual SMTP domains, for example ourcomp.com and mergecomp.net. 
Moreover, in addition to SMTP, one Exchange Server can also control Virtual servers for IMAP4, NNTP and
POP3.  From another point of view, you could interpret these Exchange Virtual servers as aliases for physical
folders in Microsoft’s IIS.

In a completely different context, the term Virtual Server is used in clustering. The Outlook clients connect
not to the individual Exchange 2003 nodes, but to a Virtual server with a virtual IP address.

74. What is a Smart Host? Where would you configure it?

Smart hosts are used to connect Exchange Server to an external (to the organization) messaging system.
Typical use of a smart host involves relaying outbound SMTP email to a non-Exchange SMTP host in
perimeter networks; or to an ISP or hosted service provider that may offer functionality like mail relaying and
spam and virus scanning

A smart host is a common term for a server that accepts outbound mail and passes it on to the recipient.

A smart host is a type of mail relay server which allows an SMTP server to route e-mail to an intermediate
mail server rather than directly to the recipient’s server. Often this smart host requires authentication from the
sender to verify that the sender has privileges to have mail forwarded through the smart host. This is an
important distinction from an open relay that will forward mail from the sender without authentication.
Common authentication techniques inc Set Up Private Outbound DNS route mail to Outbound Services by
setting up an external DNS server.

Select the start Menu – > Programs -> Microsoft Exchange -> System Manager

Expand the Top Level Servers – > your mail server -> Protocols -> SMTP

Right click the default SMTP server and select properties

75. Explain Exchange transaction logs?

5 MB for 2003 and 1 MB for 2007

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

76. Explain Exchange transaction logs?

5 MB for 2003 and 1 MB for 2007

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

77. Which services are disabled in Exchange Server 2003 by default?

  NNTP service
 Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service
 Microsoft Exchange POP3

78. Which services are needed to enable Exchange Server 2003 to perform message routing functions?

 Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine

 SMTP service
 IIS Admin Service

79. Which services are needed to maintain interoperability with previous versions of Exchange?

 Microsoft Exchange Event Service

 Exchange MTA Stacks
 Microsoft Exchange Site Replication Service

80. What are the services required to run exchange server 2003 Front End Server?

1. Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine; needed to enable Exchange to route messages.

2. IIS Admin Service; needed to enable Exchange routing functionality. The IIS Admin Service is
dependent on the Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine.
3. IPSec services; these services are needed if you want to configure an IPSec filter on OWA servers.
IPSec services provide security between clients and servers on TCP/IP networks.
4. World Wide Web Publishing Service; needed if you want clients to be able to access OWA or Outlook
Mobile Access front-end servers

81. What is dumpster?

Dumpster is a storage location for the deleted items from mailbox database or Public folder Database. We can
set the dumpster setting by keeping the retention period of Mailbox deletion settings to certain number of days

By default it is 18 MB in size and can keep record of deleted items for 7 days.