Exchange Server 2010 Interview Questions – Mailbox Server Role

1. Explain the Mailbox Server in Exchange 2010 and its function?

The Mailbox Server role is the heart of your Exchange Server 2010 environment. This is where the Mailbox Database and Public Folder Database are installed.

In previous versions of Exchange Server, Outlook MAPI connections are connected directly to the Mailbox Server Role, but with Exchange Server 2010 this is no longer the case, the MAPI endpoint is moved to client access server role to reduce the load on mailbox server role

The Mailbox Server Role does not route any messages, it only stores messages in mailboxes. For routing messages, the Hub Transport Server role is needed. This latter role is responsible for routing all messages, even between mailboxes that are on the same server, and even between mailboxes that are in the same mailbox database.

2. What are the core changes related to Mailbox Server role in Exchange 2010?

• MAPI end point where the exchange clients connect the mailbox server role to access the emails has been moved to client access server role


• Ability to move a mailbox while the end user is still accessing it


• Additional parameters added to allow users to create and manage their own distribution groups in Outlook Web App and Exchange 2010


• Ability to send mail to recipients from the Exchange Management Console


• In Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2007, Autodiscover automatically loads any mailbox for which a user has been granted full access permission (SP1). Users can’t control or disable this behavior.


• Ability for users to share information, such as calendar free/busy information and contacts with users who reside in a different organization - federated sharing


• Deprecated storage groups, which means storage group concepts are removed


• Mailbox databases no longer connected to the server object


• Improvements in Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) for high availability, performance, and database mobility

 3. What happened to LCR, CCR, SCC and SCR in Exchange Server 2010?

Exchange 2010 includes many changes to its core architecture. Exchange 2010 uses an enhanced version of the same continuous replication technology introduced in Exchange 2007. Exchange 2010 combines the key availability and resilience features of CCR and SCR into single high availability solution which handles both onsite data replication and offsite data replication called Database Availabilty Group.  LCR its been completely removed and the CCR and SCR concpets are incorporated into a single term DAG

Mailbox servers can be defined as part of a database availability group (DAG) to provide automatic recovery at the individual mailbox database level instead of at the server level. Each mailbox database can have up to 16 copies.

4. Inform some new features related with Mailbox Server in Exchange 2010?

Below are few new features related to mailbox server role in exchange server 2010.

MAPI connections to Mailbox Database is completely removed and the MAPI connection comes through Client Access Server, but Public Folder access directly comes to Mailbox Database

New concept of High Availability concept called Database Availability Group

Mailbox Database can be replicated up to 16 copies in different Server with in a DAG

Database Availability Group Member Server can hold other server roles

5. Can you explain the changes related to mailbox server in Exchange 2010 SP1?

Some of the changes introduced in exchange server 2010 sp1 related to mailbox server roles are

You can now have a user's primary mailbox and archive mailbox on separate databases.

In Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2007, Autodiscover automatically maps to any mailbox for which a user has full access permissions.

Importing and exporting mailbox data has been improved so that you can import or export .pst files in an asynchronous process using the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service.

When a mailbox move is completed, the mailbox on the source database is not deleted .

Exchange 2010 SP1 now soft-deletes the mailbox on the source database, so you can recover the mailbox in the event of a Mailbox server failover or data loss.

A new cmdlet has been added that you can use to modify the mailbox folder permissions. The Set-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet updates folder-level permissions for all folders within a user's mailbox.

 6. How the address book gets generated? What is the role of mailbox Server in address book generation?

It’s the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service running on the mailbox server role that first produces the OAB data. The specific mailbox server that produces the initial data depends on which server has been configured to generate the OAB. It is possible to navigate to the \Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ExchangeOAB folder to view the actual OAB files. Before the OAB data is written to the files found in the Exchange OAB sub-folders, it is actually constructed in the %TEMP% folder first.

The OAB files generated on the mailbox server, still need to be distributed to the client machines, Since the client machines do not connect to the mailbox server to download the OAB when considering web-based distribution, clearly another process is involved which is performed by the Client Access Server role.

7. What is a move request and how it work? What are services involved in moved request?

The whole approach to moving mailboxes in Exchange 2010 revolves around the feature known as move requests. A move request is created by the Exchange administrator using either the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell.

Moving mailboxes within the same forest is referred to as a local move request.

Moving mailboxes across forests are referred to as remote move requests.

Move requests are processed by two services:

Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication Service: When you use the move request cmdlets to move mailboxes, MRS processes the move process. As stated earlier, MRS resides on an Exchange 2010 Client Access server and is the service that moves mailboxes from the source database to the target database. In Exchange 2007, the mailbox move is performed by the Move-Mailbox cmdlet. By using a service as the agent of the move, mailboxes can be moved while simultaneously remaining accessible to users. During the move, you can view, cancel, and manage the move request from any Exchange 2010 server in the organization.

MRS constantly checks for all move requests in its own Active Directory site. In addition, there's a sharing mechanism between all instances of MRS so that no two servers will attempt to perform the same move request.

All MRS instances in an Active Directory site work together so that database and Client Access server throttling is handled across all instances of MRS. MRS throttling is controlled by a configuration file.

Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication Proxy Service: In addition to MRS, the MRSProxy service is installed on every Exchange 2010 Client Access server. MRSProxy helps to facilitate cross-forest move requests and runs on the remote forest's Exchange 2010 Client Access server. However, MRSProxy is disabled by default. You need to turn on the MRSProxy service on the remote forest.

8. What is a DAG and Explain DAG in simple?

A DAG is the base component of the high availability and site resilience framework built into Exchange 2010. The database availability group (DAG) is a set of up to 16 Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox servers that provide automatic database-level recovery from a database, server, or network failure. Mailbox servers in a DAG monitor each other for failures. When a Mailbox server is added to a DAG, it works with the other servers in the DAG to provide automatic, database-level recovery from database, server, and network failures.

9. Explain how the DAG works?

A DAG is designed to use the built-in continuous replication feature to replicate mailbox databases among servers in the DAG.

How Database replication Work: It exactly works the same way as CCR and SCR Concept in Exchange Server 2007, where we will seed the database and then the log shipping process will take into effect to update the database of passive server storage group from the active server storage group by replicating the log file via Microsoft Exchange Replication Service

How the Failover occurs for DAG: It exactly works the same way as CCR and SCR Concept in Exchange Server 2007, same working process has been carried out here in the DAG Concept. Where we will have majority node configured. Example – two or more Exchange Server configured as DAG and all of them will have their own information about the availability and active partner status apart from this we will have one more server which can be exchange server or any member server in which we will create one folder called as FSW (File Share Witness) and then we will set the appropriate permission.

How Active and Passive node role are decided in Exchange Server 2010: As you know that Exchange Server 2010 is no more the part of the cluster resource model where we need to setup the cluster resource for exchange. Instead of that Exchange Server 2010 has its own mechanism which will configure the cluster base HA by associating the exchange database with Windows Failover Clustering. This new component is called as Active Manager. The Active Manager replaces the cluster resource model and fail-over management feature which was there in previous versions of Exchange Server. Active Manager will run on all member servers which are part of DAG.

10.  What are Primary Active Manager and Standby Active Manager?

DAG consists of two types of manager:

Primary Active Manager (PAM) – This active manager will decide which server is going to hold the primary active database and will keep the track of rest of the passive server database. It will also hold the specific exchange related clustered quorum information.

Standby Active Manager (SAM)  – It will keep a track of server or database failure, if detected it will update the PAM so that PAM will decide who is going to own the primary database role.

11. Explain the Log file shipping Process in DAG?

Replication of the log shipping and seeding still uses the same technology which is called “Continuous Replication” however it runs at the database level. Exchange 2010 uses TCP/IP for copying of log files and seeding. The DAG uses 64327 ports for replication by default, but you can change the port.

The basic arrangement for log shipping is simple: A transaction log file is generated on a source server and is pushed to the servers that contain database copies in Exchange 2010. It is the Microsoft Exchange Replication Service that is responsible for transferring data.

12. What is Incremental Reseeding?

In Exchange Server 2007 whenever the existing log files of active node is out of sync from the passive node we need to delete the database on the passive node and then we need to start the replication process from the scratch which will increase the network bandwidth consumption and till the data gets completely replicated we are under risk. Now with the incremental reseeding function what going to happen is whenever the log files are out of sync the database will be compared with the active node and only the missing changes will be written on the passive node of the database.

Log File encryption and Compression- This is the new settings which are enabled by default in Exchange Server 2010 HA and the default setting is set for inter-subnet. So the data replication between the servers is compressed and encrypted

13. What are the advantages over the legacy High Availability Solution?

Cost -One of the major key benefit is cost involvement has been reduced. If we want to have HA in Exchange 2007 we need to have atleast 4 servers where we need to have two servers dedicated only to MBX server role, with exchange server 2010 you don’t require any dedicate servers. Administrator can configure DAG on any server which can also have the CAS & HUB Server deployed on it.

Easy Deployment - We don’t require having Windows Cluster setup, we just need to install failover cluster component in the OS, while configuring DAG, it will automatically create a cluster group where cluster task is being eliminated

Incremental Deployment – We can go for HA whenever we require it. Let say we are having simple exchange setup, later we decided to have HA, all we have to do is bring another and configure DAG between the existing one and new one.

No more requirement of moving the entire server databases to another node in the case of single database issue. One of the major improvement what we have in Exchange server 2010 is database has been moved from Server Level to Organization Level which means if we have single database issue – only the single database will be taken over by the another node instead of entire database.

Backup less solution – If we are going with Exchange Server 2010 HA then we are going to have copy of the same database on multiple servers which will reduce the burden of backing the database on daily basis but for this it is recommend to have atleast 3 copy of the same database.

14. How the Calendar repair assistant component works in Exchange 2010?

The interesting aspect about CRA is that, most of the time it runs without any administrator intervention. This simplifies collaboration within an organization. In Exchange 2010, the Calendar Repair Assistant was developed to work on the mailbox server side. CRA runs within the Exchange Mailbox Assistant service and detects and fixes any discrepancies using a special algorithm for comparing the organizer's and the attendee's items respectively. Most importantly, CRA runs in silent mode on the user's outlook calendar, meaning that the user will only be notified about adjustments in his/her calendar items. CRA is configured to run by default on every mailbox but can also be disabled for specific user accounts.

CRA can be configured to run on a specific time schedule. When CRA runs, it compares the organizer's calendar item to the attendee's calendar item by running consistency checks. If any of the organizer's/attendee's check operations fails due to inconsistencies, a fix is performed on the respective calendar item. Corrections are merged so as not to override item properties or data. An E-mail describing what was fixed is then placed in the attendee's deleted items folder.

 15. Explain Exchange Search? What is difference between Exchange Search and Store Search?

Exchange Search is different from full-text indexing available in Exchange Server 2003. Improvements were made to performance, content indexing, and search. New items are indexed almost immediately after they're created or delivered to the mailbox, providing users with a fast, stable, and more reliable way of searching mailbox data. In Exchange 2010 and Exchange Server 2007, content indexing is enabled by default on all mailbox databases, and there's no initial setup or configuration required.

16. What is Single Item Recovery? What are the changes in Dumpster 2.0?

Exchange Search allows you to quickly search text in messages through the use of pre-built indexes. Exchange Store Search, however, is based on a sequential scan of all the messages in the search scope instead of using the pre-built indexes The following list describes some of the other differences between Exchange Search and Exchange store search:

Exchange Search is faster than Exchange store search

Exchange Search is based on words, phrases, and sentences. Exchange store search is based on a stream of bytes. This means that Exchange Search will ignore punctuation and spaces, and is also not case sensitive, whereas Exchange store search will find only an exact match of all characters.

Exchange Search searches within attachments types that are supported by the installed filters. Exchange store search does not search within attachments.

Exchange Search uses its full-text index to locate records. Exchange store search performs a serial scan of the entire folder.

Exchange Search is not case sensitive. Exchange store search is case sensitive.

Exchange Search can be used only for text searches. Exchange store search supports the full set of MAPI restrictions, which includes non-text property types such as date and time.

17. Explain the 3 folders in Dumpster 2.0 in Exchange 2010?

Deletions, Versions and Purges are the 3 folders in Dumpster 2.0

Deletions - This subfolder contains all items deleted from the Deleted Items folder. (In Outlook, you can soft delete an item by pressing Shift+Delete.) This subfolder is exposed to users through the Recover Deleted Items feature in Outlook and Outlook Web App.

Versions - If either litigation hold or single item recovery is enabled, this subfolder contains the original and modified copies of the deleted items. This folder isn't visible to end users.

Purges - If either litigation hold or single item recovery is enabled, this subfolder contains all items that are hard deleted. This folder isn't visible to end users.

18. What is the use of email address policy and how long it will take the newly created email address to appear in GAL and OAB?

For a recipient (which include users, resources, contacts, and groups) to send or receive e-mail messages, the recipient must have an e-mail address. E-mail address policies generate the primary and secondary e-mail addresses for your recipients so they can receive and send e-mail. By default, Exchange contains an e-mail address policy for every mail-enabled user.

The default policy specifies the recipient's alias as the local part of the e-mail address and uses the default accepted domain. The local part of an e-mail address is the name that appears before the at sign (@). However, you can change how your recipients' e-mail addresses will display. For example, you can specify that your recipients' e-mail addresses display as firstname.lastname@contoso.com. Furthermore, if you want to specify additional e-mail addresses for all recipients or just a subset, you can modify the default policy or create additional policies.

By default, Exchange OAB generation server will generate OAB update files everyday at 5:00 AM and Outlook clients update the OAB file every 24 hours (if it is running time after last OAB downloading).

19. What happen to import and export-mailbox commands?

Importing and Exporting Mailbox Data in Previous Versions of Exchange i.e Exchange Server 2007 and the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Exchange 2010 use the Import-Mailbox and Export-Mailbox cmdlets to import and export .pst files. That is now replaced by Import and Export Requests

What are the limitations in using export-mailbox or import-mailbox cmdlets:

You must install Outlook on an Exchange server dedicated to importing and exporting mailbox data. As a result, you must purchase both an Exchange and an Outlook license solely for this purpose.

The .pst file must reside on the server dedicated to importing and exporting mailbox data.

The import or export operation is performed by the related cmdlet, and content in the .pst file moves through the dedicated server. Therefore, you can't shut down the session until the import or export is complete.

20. What is advantage of Import and Export request command?

The following are advantages to using import and export requests in Exchange 2010 SP1:

A .pst provider is included in Exchange 2010 SP1 that can read and write .pst files.

Import and export requests are asynchronous. The process is performed by MRS, which takes advantage of the queuing and throttling frameworks.

The .pst files can be imported directly to a user's personal archive.

Multiple .pst files can be imported or exported at the same time.

Import and export cmdlets can be run against any Exchange 2010 SP1 server in your organization.

The .pst files can reside on any shared network drive accessible by your Exchange servers.

 21. Explain the OAB generation in Simple?

Offline Address book allows user to download the address book offline into the local machine. It helps to query the address book when you are not connected to the network. It’s a complete copy of the global Address book.

Let’s understand how the OAB is generated, synchronized and available for distribution for the outlook users.

One Mailbox Server in the Organization is identified as OAB Generation Server. This is first mailbox server in the organization or any mailbox server assigned with the OAB generation role during the later stage.

OABGen service running on the mailbox server helps to generate, creates and updates OAB files. OABGen service is part of the System Attendant Service. All OAB Generated file by default will be located at path “\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ExchangeOAB”.

OABGen communicates with the active directory and generates the address book for mailbox, contact and other exchange resources in the Exchange organization.

OAB files in the mailbox server are compressed file with the extension .LZX format.

There are two ways for Distribution in Exchange 2010. They are through web based distributions and through public folder distribution.

Web based distribution is only supported with outlook 2007 clients and higher.

OAB distribution through public folder is supported by any version outlook.

OAB files are generated in Exchange 2010 Mailbox servers and outlook do not connect directory to the mailbox servers. The solution approach is to use Client Access Server role with web based distribution.

On the Client Access Role server, a virtual directory called OAB runs with in the default web site. This virtual helps in distributing the OAB

Microsoft Exchange File Distribution Servers polls the OABGen Server and copies the OAB data from the mailbox servers to CAS server.  Once this is complete OAB data is copied then, only if there is any update that data is synchronized with CAS server. The synchronization or pol frequency is 8 hrs by default and you can change it if required using PowerShell cmdlets.

22.  What happened to public folders in Exchange Server 2010?

In Exchange Server 2010, public folders are an optional feature. If all client computers in your organization are running Microsoft Outlook 2010 or Office Outlook 2007, there are no dependencies on Public Folders. For features such as free and busy information and offline address book (OAB) downloads. Instead of using public folders for OAB downloads free/ busy information  in Exchange 2010 are serviced by the Auto discover service, the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, and the Microsoft Exchange File Distribution service.

23. What is a disabled mailbox and soft deleted mailbox? How the soft deleted mailbox retain in mailbox server?

A disconnected mailbox is a mailbox object in the Exchange store that isn't associated with an Active Directory user account. Disconnected mailboxes remain in the Exchange database for the duration specified in the deleted mailbox retention settings for the mailbox database. By default, disconnected mailboxes are retained for 30 days. During this retention period, a mailbox can be recovered by connecting it to a new or existing Active Directory user account.

There are two types of disconnected mailboxes:

Soft-deleted mailboxes   when mailboxes are moved from a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) database to any other database, Exchange doesn't fully delete the mailbox from the source database upon completion of the move. Instead, the mailbox in the source mailbox database is switched to a soft-deleted state. With soft-deleted mailboxes, you can use the MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet set to access mailbox data during a mailbox restore operation. Soft-deleted mailboxes are retained in the source database until either the deleted mailbox retention period expires or until the Remove-StoreMailbox cmdlet is used to purge the mailbox.

Disabled mailboxes   When a mailbox is disconnected or removed using the Disable-Mailbox or Remove-Mailbox cmdlet, Exchange retains the deleted mailbox, and the mailbox is switched to a disabled state. With disabled mailboxes, you can recover mailbox data without having to restore the entire mailbox database. Disabled mailboxes are retained in the mailbox database until the deleted mailbox retention period expires or until the mailbox is permanently deleted. For more information

24.  You have connected a disconnected mailbox, but the problem is archive mailbox does not appear after connecting the mailbox? How you will restore the archive mailbox of a disconnected user?

If we want to connect a disconnected personal archive to the current owner of the mailbox with the personal archive, we just need to use the Archive parameter:

Connect-Mailbox –Identity <MailboxID> -Database <DatabaseID> -Archive

Because we are connecting a disconnected personal archive, use the DisplayName with the “Online Archive -“ prefix.

25. What are the requirements to configure a Database Availability Group?

General Requirement

Member must be in same AD domain

Not supported for mailbox role on AD Server i.e DC

Software requirement

Require WFC (failover clustering) but there is no prerequisite setup before deploying DAG

All the member of a DAG should run the same version OS

OS should be running with Windows 2008 EE or Windows 2008 EE R2

 26. Explain Dial Tone portability and Database portability in Exchange Server 2010?

Dial Tone portability - In the case of a complete server failure, an empty dial tone mailbox database can be created on a new server, enabling users to send and receive e-mail while recovery is underway

Database portability- Database portability is a feature that enables a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 mailbox database to be moved to or mounted on any other Mailbox server in the same organization. By using database portability, reliability is improved by removing several error-prone, manual steps from the recovery processes. In addition, database portability reduces the overall recovery times for various failure scenarios.

Note: Database portability is for Exchange 2010 mailbox databases only. Public folder databases are not portable

27. A database has been corrupted in a 2 node DAG, you have to bring the database up and running, how you will achieve it?

If we are talking about logical corruption then yes it will replicate but this will not make the database go offline it gets solved with Mailbox Repair Request.

Command: New-MailRepairRequest

More serious corruption is caused by faulty hardware and is often causing bits on disk being changed. These are not replicated since replication has already taken place. Database can still be running or may cause a failover when this happens. Reseed from a good copy to replace the bad copy is the solution here.

28. Newly created users are not visible in outlook, what you will do?

Method 1: Run Outlook in Online mode

Method 2: Use GAL instead of OAB-select "All Contacts" in the Drop-down list in Address Book in Outlook.

Method3: Force the OAB update

Right click the OAB file in EMC and then select "Update"; wait for about 15-30 minutes

Restart "File Distribution Service" in CAS server role, wait for another 15-30 minutes

In Outlook clients, click "Send/Receive" and then select "Download address book"

29. What are the services related to mailbox server role and inform its function?

Below are the services available and running on Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox Server

Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology- MSExchangeADTopology

Provides Active Directory topology information to Exchange services. If this service is stopped, most Exchange services are unable to start. This service has no dependencies

Microsoft Exchange Information Store- MSExchangeIS

Manages the Exchange Information Store, This includes mailbox databases and public folder databases. If this service is stopped, mailbox databases and public folder databases on this computer are unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start. This service is dependent on the RPC, Server, Windows Event Log, and Workstation services.

Microsoft Exchange Mail Submission Service- MSExchangeMailSubmission

Submits messages from the Mailbox server to Exchange 2010 Hub Transport servers, This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Assistants - MSExchangeMailboxAssistants

Performs background processing of mailboxes in the Exchange store. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange Replication Service -MSExchangeRepl

Provides replication functionality for mailbox databases on Mailbox servers in a database availability group (DAG). This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange Replication Service – MSExchangeRepl (Optional)

Provides replication functionality for mailbox databases on Mailbox servers in a database availability group (DAG). This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange RPC Client Access– MSExchangeRPC (Optional)

Manages client RPC connections for Exchange. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer – MSExchangeSearch(Optional)

Drives indexing of mailbox content, which improves the performance of content search. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology and Microsoft Search (Exchange Server) services.

Microsoft Exchange Server Extension for Windows Server Backup - WSBExchange(Optional)

Enables Windows Server Backup users to back up and recover application data for Microsoft Exchange. This service has no dependencies.

Microsoft Exchange Service Host – MSExchangeServiceHost

Provides a host for several Exchange services. On internal server roles, this service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange System Attendant- MSExchangeSA

Forwards directory lookups to a global catalog server for legacy Outlook clients, generates e-mail addresses and OABs, updates free/busy information for legacy clients, and maintains permissions and group memberships for the server. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start. This service is dependent on the RPC, Server, Windows Event Log, and Workstation services.

Microsoft Exchange Throttling- MSExchangeThrottling

Limits the rate of user operations. This service is dependent upon the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.

Microsoft Exchange Transport Log Search – MSExchangeTransportLogSearch(Optional)

Provides remote search capability for Microsoft Exchange Transport log files.

Microsoft Search (Exchange Server)- msftesql-Exchange

This is a Microsoft Exchange-customized version of Microsoft Search. This service is dependent on the RPC service.

Exchange Server 2010 Installation and Configuration Interview Questions

1. What is an Exchange Server 2010?

Exchange Server 2010 is the latest version of Microsoft email and calendaring software with the option like Unified Communication, Secured email transfer, anywhere access, highly available and an option to federated the company information with partners

2. What are the server roles available in Exchange Server 2010?

As like exchange server 2007, we have the same 5 server roles in Exchange Server 2010. They are Mailbox, Client Access, Hub Transport, Unified Messaging and Edge Transport Server roles.

3. Inform the prerequisites in common to install a Exchange server 2010?

Active Directory Prerequisites:

• Domain Controller and Global Catalog Server - Installed with Windows Server 2003 Sp2 or Later


• Domain and Forest Functional Level - Windows Server 2003 or later

Software Prerequisites:

• Windows Server 2008 Sp2 or later


• Dot Net Framework 3.5 SP1 with family Update


• Windows Remote Management 2.0 and Windows Power shell 2.0


• Microsoft filter Pack


• NetTCPPortsharing serviceto be started and


• The Roles and the features required to install exchange can be installed by run this shell command - ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-Typical.xml –Restart

4. What are requirement to install Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools?

Exchange Management Tools Can only be installed in Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7 64 bit Machine and we need .Net framework 3.5 SP1 and IIS installed.

5. What are the permissions needed to install Exchange server 2010?

To install Exchange Server 2010 on an existing exchange environment, we need Schema admin, domain admin and enterprise admin. If it is a new installation, we have to install the role ADDS first and then install exchange 2010

6. What are the perquisites to install Mailbox Server Role in Exchange 2010?

After installing the Client Access Server and the Hub Transport Server, we have to install Mailbox Server Role and the Prerequisites to install Mailbox Server roles are

• Dot Net Framework 3.5 SP1 with family Update


• Windows Remote Management 2.0 and Windows Power shell 2.0


• Microsoft filter Pack


• NetTCPPortsharing to be started and


• The Roles and the features required to install exchange can be installed by run this shell command - ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-MBX.xml –Restart

7. What are the perquisites to install Client Access Server Role in Exchange 2010?

Client Access Server needs to be installed in the first place and the prerequisites to install client Access Server are

• Dot Net Framework 3.5 SP1 with family Update


• Windows Remote Management 2.0 and Windows Power shell 2.0


• Microsoft filter Pack


• NetTCPPortsharing to be started and


• The Roles and the features required to install exchange can be installed by run this shell command - ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-CAS.xml –Restart

8. What are the perquisites to install Hub Transport Server Role in Exchange 2010?

After client Access Server role installation, Hub transport Server role can be installed with the below prerequisites

• Dot Net Framework 3.5 SP1 with family Update


• Windows Remote Management 2.0 and Windows Power shell 2.0


• Microsoft filter Pack


• NetTCPPortsharing to be started and


• The Roles and the features required to install exchange can be installed by run this shell command - ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-HUB.xml –Restart

9. What are the perquisites to install Unified Messaging Server Role in Exchange 2010?

Unified Messaging Server roles it is an optional server role, after installing MB, CAS and HUB we can have this server role by having the prerequisites in place

• Dot Net Framework 3.5 SP1 with family Update


• Windows Remote Management 2.0 and Windows Power shell 2.0


• Microsoft filter Pack


• NetTCPPortsharing to be started and


• The Roles and the features required to install exchange can be installed by run this shell command - ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-UM.xml –Restart

10. What are the perquisites to install Edge Transport Server Role in Exchange 2010?

Edge Transport Server roles it’s an optional server role and if you are planning to have this server role, we have to install the below prerequisites and the computer should not be joined with Domain and ADLDS role needs to be installed

• Dot Net Framework 3.5 SP1 with family Update


• Windows Remote Management 2.0 and Windows Power shell 2.0


• Microsoft filter Pack


• NetTCPPortsharing to be started and


• The Roles and the features required to install exchange can be installed by run this shell command - ServerManagerCmd -ip Exchange-Edge.xml –Restart

11. If it possible to perform an in place upgrade to Exchange Server 2010 from legacy version?

In place upgrade to Exchange server 2010 from Exchange server 2003 or Exchange server 2007 is not possible, either we have to perform a transition or migration.

12. Inform the exchange server 2010 server roles installation order?

Exchange Server 2010 has to be installed in this order

• Client Access Server


• Hub Transport Server


• Mailbox Server Role


• Unified Messaging Server - Optional - we can install edge server role if there is a requirement


• Edge Transport Server - Optional - we can install edge server role if there is a requirement

13. You are having a single exchange server 2003 environment, your task is to implement exchange server 2010. Give an Idea on the implementation?

If we are having exchange server 2003 and we planned to have exchange server 2010 in place…

• Domain and Forest functional Level Needs to Upgraded to Windows Server 2003


• Domain Controller and Global Catalog Server needs to be update with Windows Server 2003 Sp2


• Exchange 2003 function should not be mixed mode, it has to be native mode


• We need a 64 bit server to install Exchange Server 2010 with the prerequisites installed


• First install Client Access Server and configure the OWA, OAB and Outlook Anywhere virtual directories


• Install Hub Transport Server and there is no need to create any routing group connector from Exchange Server 2003 Bridge Head to Exchange Server 2010. Also, there is no modifying any changes on SendReceive Connector.


• Install Mailbox Server role and perform mailbox move and Public folders replication. Set a OAB generation server and the distribution methods


• Lot of task are to be performed, above point are just an rough idea, kindly follow the below article - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff805040.aspx

14. You are having a single exchange server 2007 environment with all the server roles installed, your task is to implement exchange server 2010. Give an Idea on the implementation?

It’s the same process as mentioned for the above question. Kindly follow the below mentioned article to perform a move from Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange Server 2010 implementation - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff805041.aspx

15. What are the active directory requirements to implement exchange server 2010?

Below are the active directory requirements to implement Exchange Server 2010

Active Directory Prerequisites

• Domain Controller and Global Catalog Server - Windows Server 2003 Sp2


• Domain and Forest Functional Level - Windows Server 2003

16. What happened to public folders in Exchange server 2010?

Public folders are still announced as de emphasis state, which mean, we can have a public folder database, if any outlook 2003 client are used,  to have the free busy functionality and the OAB distribution, we need the Public folder database in Exchange Server 2010

17. Inform the post installation steps in configuring Hub Transport Server if the Hub Transport Server is going to send external emails?

After installing Hub Transport server there were few post installation tasks that are the be followed, they are

Configuring Send Connector – By default external emails won’t go out, because of there is no send connector created while installing Hub Transport Server. We have a created a new send connector with * as Address Space

Configuring Receive Connector – By default external emails will not come inside, because of the restriction set initially when Hub Transport Server is installed. Set anonymous authentication of the default receive connector to receive external emails

Configuring Anti Spam Agents – Unlike Edge Transport Server, Anti spam agents are not installed by default. We have to manually install anti spam agents

Configure Accepted domain and email address policy – We can create the necessary email address space as accepted domain and set an email address policy to use that new accepted domain email address as the primary email address for all the users.

18. How you will install Edge Transport Server?

To install Edge Transport Server, we need to follow few things

• The Edge Transport Server should not be member of your domain and it has to be in DMZ


• ADLDS role needs to be installed


• Prerequisites like .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 needs to be installed and Net TCP port sharing must be started


• Install the Edge Transport Server by choosing custom installation


• Create and Edge Subscription from Edge Transport Server an Import that to Hub Transport inside domain.

19. Explain the services installed with respective server roles?

Following are the services installed in Exchange Server 2010

Mailbox Server related Services - IISAdmin, MSExchangeADTopology, MSExchangeIS, MSExchangeMailboxAssistants, MSExchangeMailSubmission, MSExchangeRepl, MSExchangeRPC, MSExchangeSA, MSExchangeSearch, MSExchangeServiceHost, MSExchangeThrottling, MSExchangeTransportLogSearch, W3Svc, WinRM

Client Access Server related Services - IISAdmin, MSExchangeAB, MSExchangeADTopology, MSExchangeFBA, MSExchangeFDS, MSExchangeMailboxReplication, MSExchangeProtectedServiceHost, MSExchangeRPC, MSExchangeServiceHost, W3Svc, WinRM

Hub Transport Server related Services - IISAdmin, MSExchangeADTopology, MSExchangeEdgeSync, MSExchangeServiceHost, MSExchangeTransport,MSExchangeTransportLogSearch, W3Svc, WinRM

20. What are the exchange server admin tools available in Exchange Management Tools?

Below are the tools available in Exchange Management console under tools option

Configuration Management Tools

• Best Practices Analyzer


• Details Templates Editor


• Public Folder Management Console


• Remote connectivity Analyzer


• Role Based Access Control user editor

Mail flow Tools

• Mail flow troubleshooter


• Message Tracking


• Queue viewer


• Routing Log viewer


• Tracking log explorer

Performance Tools

• Performance Monitor


• Performance Troubleshooter

Unified Messaging Tools

• Call Statistics


• User call logs

21. How you will patch a client Access Array Server?

Let’s take, if we are having 2 servers in a CAS array, we can patch the CAS array members by following the below method

• Issue a stop or drain stop to a first server of a client access array


• Set the default state to be in Stopped State


• Disable forefront protection


• Disable monitoring


• Update the server, once update is completed and back to normal, enable forefront option, enable monitoring and set the default state to be state


• Follow the same for the second server

22. How you will patch or install updates on the DAG member servers?

Follow the below steps perform windows or exchange patching on DAG servers

• On a DAG, make sure which node is holding the active copy of the mailbox database


• Perform a move of Active mailbox Database from the active node to passive node


• Verify all the databases are mounted on Passive Node


• Make sure no backups are in progress


• Stop all the mailbox server related services


• Disable monitoring


• Update the active node (now it is passive) and reboot the server


• Move all the active copy from passive copy (its active now) to active server


• Verify all the database are mounted successfully on Active node


• Enable monitoring


• Perform update on passive server

23. Exchange server 2010 is installed with the Mailbox, Client Access, Hub Transport and Unified Messaging Server roles, Management find that Unified Messaging Server role is not needed, since it is a small environment. How you will remove Hub Transport Server?

We can easily uninstallremove a server role by Program and features console. Only option to addremove a server role it’s from Programs and Feature – Exchange Server 2010 – click change to addremove a server role

24. How to configure Database Availability Group?

Make sure all the prerequisites to configure are installed correct on the member server and install mailbox server role is installed and the DAG can be easily configured using below 3 steps

• Create the Database Availability Group


• Add members to the DAG


• Add copies of databases

Note: Though we have an option to configure DAG on Exchange 2010 standard edition, if the first member server on a DAG is a standard edition, then only the standard edition server exchange 2010 servers can be added on a DAG. Same version of members servers can only be added as member servers in DAG.

25.          How to configure Client Access Server Array?

To configure Client Access Server array, make sure the following 5 steps are followed

• You must configure internal DNS entry for the name of the CAS array. This name must be unique for the internal network.


• You must configure Network Load Balancing. In this case i use Windows Network Load Balancing technology.


• Create the new Client Access Array.


• Configure a mailbox database to use CAS Array  ( RPC client Access Server property on Mailbox Database)


• Verify the Auto discover services is working with CAS Array

26. How to install Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1?

• Prepare the Active Directory Schema with Exchange Server 2010 SP1 installation media


• Addition Patches are required to install Exchange Server 2010 SP1, get the details from MS site and install all the perquisites before installation of Exchange 2010 SP1


• Install the SP1 using this order -> Edge Transport Server -> Client Access Server -> Hub Transport Server -> Mailbox Server and then the Unified Message Server role


• If you are having DAG, Active the Passive copy on the second server and set the auto activation on the first server in block block, then upgrade with SP1. Move back the mailbox database to first server and update the second servers. change the auto activation as before.


• If Client Access Server Array is  used, remove the first node from NLB update it with SP1 and add it back to NLB. remove the second node from NLB -> Update it with SP1 and add it back to NLB

Kindly leave your feedback, if any questions are left related to installation...

Exchange Server 2010 Edge Transport Server Interview Questions

What is an Edge Transport Server in Exchange Server 2010?

Edge Transport role in Exchange Server 2010 is the mail routing server that typically sits at the perimeter of the topology and routes mail in to and out of the Exchange organization

What are the changes are improvements in Edge Transport Server when compared with Exchange 2007?

What are the prerequisites to install an Edge Transport Server?

• Edge has to be installed Perimeter Network without joining the server to Domain Server


• ADLDS role to be intalled


• Other prerequisites like framework 3.5 sp1 and Windows Powershell 2.0 to be installed

How high availability can be achieved for Edge Transport Server?

To Achieve High Availability for Edge Transport Server, we can install more than one Edge Transport server in the perimeter network. Deploying more than one Edge Transport server provides redundancy and failover capabilities for inbound message flow. We can load-balance SMTP traffic to Exchange organization between Edge Transport servers by defining more than one mail exchange (MX) resource record with the same priority in the Domain Name System (DNS) database for your mail domain. We can achieve consistency in configuration between multiple Edge Transport servers by using cloned configuration scripts.

What’s new when compared with Hub Transport server?

When comparing with Hub Transport Server, Edge Server is different with the below details

• Edge Server is deployed at the perimeter to provided more security to Exchange Organization


• Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus components are installed by default, were we have to configure manually in Hub Transport Server


• Address rewriting option is only available in Edge Transport Server


• Edge Transport rules can be created to control the mail flow that are sent to or received from internet

When you will go for address rewriting and how it works?

Address rewriting option in Edge Transport Server roles is to present a consistent appearance to external recipients of messages from your Exchange 2010 organization. We have to configure the Address Rewriting agent on the Edge Transport server role to enable the modification of the SMTP addresses on inbound and outbound messages.

Address rewriting is especially useful when a newly merged organization that has several domains wants to present a consistent appearance of e-mail addresses to external recipients.

What is a backup pressure? What will happen when back pressure occurs? What is the event id?

Back pressure is a system resource monitoring feature of the Microsoft Exchange Transport service that exists on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport and Edge Transport servers. Exchange Transport check for system resource like available hard disk space and memory, are under pressure, and take action in an attempt to prevent service unavailability.

When backpressure is applied on a Transport Server, it will act based on these 3 resource utilization

Normal - The resource isn't overused. The server accepts new connections and messages

Medium - The resource is slightly overused. Back pressure is applied to the server in a limited manner. Mail from senders in the authoritative domain can flow.

High - The resource is severely overused. Full back pressure is applied. All message flow stops, and the server rejects all new incoming MAIL FROM commands

15005, 15006, 15007 are the event ids related to back pressure

What is an Edge Subscription? When it will occur?

How recipient lookup happening with Edge Server and the Active Directory?

Edge Transport server role is a Standalone Server and doesn't have access to Active Directory. All configuration and recipient information is stored in Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS). To perform recipient lookup tasks, the Edge Transport server requires data that resides in Active Directory. This data is synchronized to the Edge Transport server using EdgeSync.

What is EdgeSync?

EdgeSync is a collection of processes that are run on a computer that has the Hub Transport server role installed to establish one-way replication of recipient and configuration information from Active Directory to the AD LDS instance on an Edge Transport server.

What information is shared while Edge Sync occurs?

EdgeSync service copies only the information that's required for the Edge Transport server to perform anti-spam configuration tasks and the information about the connector configuration that's required to enable end-to-end mail flow. The Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync service performs scheduled updates so that the information in AD LDS remains current.

Explain Pickup and Replay directories in Edge Transport server?

What is a send connector and receive connector in Edge Transport Server?

Explain the Transport Logs and Transport Database in Exchange server 2010?

Exchange 2010 Hub or Edge Transport server has a database for transport feature, below two databases are available in Edge Transport Server

Message queue database - A queue is a temporary holding location for messages waiting to enter the next stage of processing. Each queue represents a logical set of messages that a transport server processes in a specific order

IP filter database - The IP filter database stores the IP Allow lists and IP Block lists that are part of connection filtering

Transport log function will function same as the transaction log file mechanism in Mailbox Database

What is a shadow redundancy?

Shadow redundancy is a new feature in Exchange 2010 to provide redundancy for messages for the entire time they're in transit and this technique is similar to the transport dumpster. With shadow redundancy, the deletion of a message from the transport databases is delayed until the transport server verifies that all of the next hops for that message have completed delivery. If any of the next hops fail before reporting back successful delivery, the message is resubmitted for delivery to that next hop

What are the ports to be opened at the firewall to HUB and Edge to communicate while edge synchronization?

What are the post installation tasks after completing Edge Transport Server installation?

What is pipeline tracing? When you will go for pipe line tracing?

What is an accepted domain and remote domain?

What are the queues available in Edge Transport server?

What you will do, if no one able to send emails to external domain? While there is no problem in sending and receiving email?

User mentioned that they are not able to send email to particular domain? How you will troubleshoot it?

You are assigned with the task to configure mail flow between Edge and Hub Transport Server? What are steps you will follow?

You are asked to customize a DSN Message, how you will perform the customization?

Can you explain the connectors that are available in Exchange server 2010?

What is a foreign connector in Exchange server 2010?

How you will install Anti Spam Agents in Edge Transport Server? What are the Anti Spam agents available?

How to configure an edge transport server using a cloned configuration?

Explain how the mail flow occurs externally, if Edge Transport Server present in the Exchange organization?

It appears like the Transport Database is corrupted and you have to perform the correction, what you will do?

You install and edge transport server and create an send connector to send emails externally, there is no problem in sending emails externally, but you are not receiving external emails, what needs to be done?

Is that edge transport server really needed? What can be done if you don’t have an edge transport server

Exchange Server 2010 Client Access Server Interview Questions

1.What is a Client Access Server in Exchange Server 2010?

Client Access server role in exchange server 2010 help all the exchange clients to access their mailbox. Exchange server clients like outlook, OWA, IMAP, POP3, Exchange Active Sync, ECP, Entourage clients will connect to client access server first and the request will be passed to respective mailbox server or mailbox database.

Addition features like auto discover and availability services are handled by client access server role.

2. What are the major changes in CAS in Exchange 2010, when compared with Exchange 2007?

When compared with client access server role in exchange server 2007, exchange server 2010 CAS server function as a MAPI end point for all the exchange clients by replacing the MAPI end point from mailbox server role to client access server role.

New high availability model for client access server introduced in exchange server 2010 named client access server array.

Exchange Control Panel is a new feature supported by client access server role, which will allow users having permission to manage certain tasks from client machine itself.

3. Name the new features introduced in Exchange 2010 CAS server?

Below are some the new feature introduced in client access server role on exchange server 2010.

RPC Client Access component that serves client request is now part of CAS server

• Client Access Server array high availability option for client access server


• Outlook web app feature like conversation view, search folders in OWA and owa mailbox policies etc


• Cross-site POP3 and IMAP4 client connectivity is supported by default in Exchange 2010

4. Explain client access Proxying and the supported clients?

Client Access server can act as a proxy for other Client Access servers within the organization by having single internet facing client access server. This is useful when multiple Client Access servers are present in different Active Directory sites in an organization and at least one of those sites isn't exposed to the Internet. Proxying will be supported by OWA, ECP and exchange active sync clients

5. Explain what are client access redirection and the supported clients?

Redirection is useful when a user connects to a Client Access server that isn't in their local Active Directory site or if a mailbox has moved between Active Directory sites. It's also useful if the user should be using a better URL, for example, one that's closer to the Active Directory site their mailbox resides in. Redirection will be supported by POP3 and IMAP4 clients.

6. What are the supportable clients available in exchange server 2010?

Exchange Server 2010 client access server supports, Outlook MAPI connection, OWA, ECP, IMAP4, POP3, Exchange Active Sync, entourage clients and EWS

7. Explain Exchange Active Sync in Exchange Server 2010?

Exchange ActiveSync enables mobile phone users to access their e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks and to continue to be able to access this information while they're working offline. The protocol, based on HTTP and XML, lets mobile phones access an organization's information on a server that's running Microsoft Exchange. Direct Push is the technology used in synchronizing emails to mobile devices

Feature like support for HTML messages, PIN reset, auto discover over air are the additional components inactive sync on exchange server 2010.

8. What you know about POP3 and IMAP client with exchange 2010?

POP3 is a client access method which uses outlook as the application to access the email from exchange server. If profile is configured using pop3, then allowing certain of emails to leave in server and rest of the emails will get download to the local machine. Email downloaded cannot be accessed anywhere from OWA etc

IMAP is also client access method to access emails, where the IMAP won’t download the emails locally. Exact sync of the emails and the folder structure in exchange server will be in sync when profile is configured in outlook IMAP4 configuration.

9. How outlook anywhere works in Exchange Server 2010?

Outlook Anywhere feature, formerly known as RPC over HTTP allow the exchange clients that use Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, or Outlook 2003 connect to their Exchange servers from outside the corporate network or over the Internet using the RPC over HTTP Windows networking component.

The Windows RPC over HTTP Proxy component, which Outlook Anywhere clients use to connect, wraps remote procedure calls (RPCs) with an HTTP layer. This allows traffic to traverse network firewalls without requiring RPC ports to be opened. By default outlook anywhere is not enabled and it has to be manually enabled.

10. What are the new features in outlook web app?

Lot of new features are there in outlook web app and few are mentioned here

Outlook Web App Mailbox Policies, Conversion view, Chat, Attach message to messages and Standard version of OWA for all the web browsers.

OWA in exchange server 2010 is by default securely published using self signed certificate.

11. What is the function of availability service in exchange server 2010?

Exchange Server 2010 Availability service makes free/busy information available to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or 2010 and Outlook Web App clients. The Availability service improves information workers' calendaring and meeting scheduling experience by providing secure, consistent, and up-to-date free/busy information. By default, this service is installed with Exchange 2010

Outlook 2007 or 2010 and Outlook Web App use the Availability service to perform the following tasks:

• Retrieve current free/busy information for Exchange 2010 mailboxe


• Retrieve current free/busy information from other Exchange 2010 organization


• Retrieve published free/busy information from public folders for mailboxes on servers that have versions of Exchange earlier than Exchange 2010


• View attendee working hours


• Show meeting time suggestions

12. What are the services used by Client Access Server and inform their function?

Service related to client access server are IIS Admin, MSExchange Address Book Service, MSExchange AD topology, MSExchangeFDS, MSExchange Mailbox Replication, Protected Service host, exchange rpc, service host, W3svc, Winrm

13. Explain the auto discover functionality in exchange 2010?

Autodiscover is a new service in exchange server 2010 where it will automatically configure user profile settings for clients running Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010. Autodiscover uses a user's e-mail address and password to provide profile settings to Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 clients and supported mobile phones. If the Outlook client is joined to a domain, the user's domain account is used.

14. How the autodiscover service works in exchange server 2010?

When a Client Access server role installed on a computer, a default virtual directory named Autodiscover is created under the default Web site in Internet Information Services (IIS). This virtual directory handles Autodiscover service requests from Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 clients and supported mobile phone

Additionally, a new Active Directory object named the service connection point (SCP) is created on the server where you install the Client Access server role. The SCP object contains the authoritative list of Autodiscover service URLs for the forest.

When the client connects to Active Directory, the client looks for the SCP object created during Setup. In deployments that include multiple Client Access servers, an Autodiscover SCP object is created for each Client Access server. The SCP object contains the ServiceBindingInfo attribute with the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Client Access server in the form https://CAS01/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, where CAS01 is the FQDN for the Client Access server. Using the user credentials, the Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 client authenticates to Active Directory and searches for the Autodiscover SCP objects. After the client obtains and enumerates the instances of the Autodiscover service, the client connects to the first Client Access server in the enumerated list and obtains the profile information in the form of XML data that's needed to connect to the user's mailbox and available Exchange features

15. How Address book service helps the exchange 2010?

In earlier version of version of exchange, Exchange provided a referral service that told clients such as Outlook where they could find a server running the NSPI service. This referral usually pointed Outlook to a global catalog server. This has been redesigned in exchange server 2010, where the address book service in client access server will refer the request to global catalog server.

16. What is RPC client Access and inform its function?

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, the Client Access server role was introduced to handle incoming client connections to Exchange mailboxes. Although the majority of types of client connections were made to the Client Access server, Microsoft Office Outlook still connected directly to the Mailbox server when it was running internally with the MAPI protocol.

A new service was introduced with Exchange Server 2010 to allow these MAPI connections to be handled by the Client Access server. The RPC Client Access service provides data access through a single, common path of the Client Access server, with the exception of public folder requests, which are still made directly to the Mailbox server

17. Explain Client Access Array in short?

Client Access Array is a new feature in exchange server 2010, where it serves as a single contact point for all client connections within that Active Directory site. A Client Access server array can include one or many Client Access servers within a active directory site

18. What are steps to configure a CAS Array?

Steps involved in configuring the client access server array

• Create a Client Access array - New-ClientAccessArray -Name “Name” -Site “AD site Name” -fqdn “Name of the cas array (outlook.domainname.com). Once the cas array is created, create the address in DNS and associate it with the virtual IP address used for the Client Access array.


• Configure load balancing - Load balancing is recommended for high availability, failover, and for spreading the traffic load over multiple servers to help performance


• Configure RPC encryption settings


• Configure your Mailbox databases

19. Explain the virtual directories in CAS 2010 and what is the function of all those directories?

20. Users are not able to access OWA externally. How you will troubleshoot this?

If users are able to access OWA internally and externally not accessible then below troubleshooting steps can be followed

 Check whether OWA external url is mentioned on the properties OWA virtual directory in exchange management console

Check whether OWA is externally published

21. Unable to see the free busy information. Inform what you will do, if it is a single user issue and if it s for multi user issue?

If it is a single user issue - We can run the clean free busy switch, if still an issue, we can run the test email auto configuration to check whether the availability service url is properly resolving in outlook, if still an issue reconfigure the outlook profile

If it is a multi user issue - We can check the availability service is running on client access server or not, if it running and still an issue we can check whether IIS service is crashed etc. Check for event logs related to iis related issue, if everything is normal, we can go for restart of availability and IIS server in client access server

22. One user complaints that he is not able to set OOF in his outlook. He is getting error message like exchange server is unavailable. How you will troubleshoot?

We can check the below things

• Check whether the outlook profile is showing the oof url while doing test email auto configuration


• Check whether ssl certificate is still valid


• Check whether he can send oof from owa


• Reconfigure outlook profile etc

23. You are checking the client Access redirection functionality and it is not working. What you will do?

24. Can you inform a feature that is available in Outlook, which is not available in OWA?

25. Outlook 2003 clients are unable to connect to exchange 2010 mailbox. What will be the issue and how you will troubleshoot?

By default in RTM version of exchange server 2010, rpc client access encryption is enabled on mailbox database, when outlook 2003 user tries to connect exchange 2010 mailbox he will get an error. To avoid this encryption needs to be disabled on the mailbox database level.

26. You are not able to open a exchange server 2010 mailbox in outlook 2007 but you are able to access using OWA. It’s a new setup with 3 servers with CAS, mailbox and hub installed separately. How you will solve it?

May be the newly create user information may take some time to replicate across all the sites

We can check for whether MAPI mailbox feature is enabled on the mailbox properties

If hide from address is option is enable is checked, outlook profile cannot be configured, we can check that also.

27. What are the URLs provided to auto discover clients?

Below are the urls referenced to outlook clients when outlook profile is configured using auto discover

• Availability Service Url: https://servername.domainname.com/ews/exchange.asmx


• OOF Url: https://servername.domainname.com/ews/exchange.asmx


• OAB URL: Public Folder


• Unified Message Service Url: https://servername.domainname.com/unifiedMessaging/service.asmx


• Exchange Control Panel Url: https://servername.domainname.com/ecp

28. Newly created user account is not updating in GAL after one day. What are the troubleshooting steps you will follow?

If a user account is created newly it will take some time (6 hours to 24 hours) to replicate or update the new information in address book, if it is still unable to get the new information in address

I will check the event logs for any issue in online maintenance, if no issues then we can check the email address on the active directory general tab and the primary emails address on the mailbox properties are same. If it is not same new user account won’t appear.

29. Users on a particular database is facing problem in getting the OAB updated. What will be issue?

For the first attempt, I will check the issue in OWA; if user can see the address book properly then I will try to manually download the address book in outlook. If still an issue, Each and every mailbox database will be pointed to offline address book, need to check whether correct offline address is pointed. If it is pointed and still an issue, need to check whether public folder database is mounted.

30. Is it possible to add another site CAS server as a member of a CAS Array? Why not and when you can add other site member as a member of CAS Array?

When a Client Access server array is defined in an Active Directory site, it serves as a single contact point for all client connections within that Active Directory site. A Client Access server array can include one or many Client Access servers inside the active directory site. After a Client Access server array is defined within an Active Directory site, all Client Access servers within that Active Directory site are automatically part of the Client Access server array.

CAS array is bounded within an active directory site, and if we have two AD sites, we can create two CAS array one on each site.

31. User able set OOO in OWA but not in outlook. How you will help the user?

32. What are the things you will backup in Client Access Server?

As like mailbox server role, we need to keep a copy of client access server role configuration as a backup. Information like Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase data that a Client Access server uses to store Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access Virtual Directory configuration data, OWA url details, authentication settings can be taken as a note or MS released a script to take the CAS server configuration as backup.

33. Few of Outlook users are prompting for password again and again. What you will do?

Outlook password prompt issues can occurs, one miss configured exchange server environment

We change the auto discover configuration

We can the DNS configuration or the Domain controller and global catalog server assigned for the mailbox server role

We can check the permission assigned in IIS

We can check whether the local client computer is correctly configured with DNS settings

34. You are able to access OWA intermittently. If you refresh the OWA page, sometimes it will show the content, sometime it won’t. What will be issue?

It may be because of intermittent network connectivity issue. Need to check the internet connectivity or is the issue with IIS connectivity in client access server etc

35. How you will find a CAS server used by a user. We have 5 CAS servers; you have to inform a CAS server used by a user?

By default all the mailbox database will have a RPC Client Access Sever property on each mailbox database, it will be pointed to the client access server which is installed at first in exchange environment. We can find the mailbox database user and get the details from shell command

If we use the outlook test auto email configuration option, it will show the client access server which is used to configure the outlook profile in auto discover method

36. While accessing outlook, he is prompted with the certificate warning. How you will fix it?

By design, exchange server 2007 and 2010 will be assigned with the self signed certificate, where the outlook 2007 client ignore the certificate check and the outlook profile will be configured using autodisover. This is not the same with outlook 2010, it will check for cert and throw and error with certificate warning

We can install the certificate from owa to the trusted root container or we can install a valid SAN certificate for  all the services that are used by autodiscover in exchange server 2010.

37. Client Access Server has been crashed where a single CAS server is in place for the whole exchange environment. What will happen now?

All the exchange server clients connecting the exchange server mailbox will be disconnected. In exchange server 2010 including the MAPI connection, all the client connection go via client access server and if it goes down, all the client connection will be dropped.

Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport Server Interview Questions

[notice]Please wait for answers which are all not answered here. If you want me to add any questions or answers, kindly leave your comments[/notice]

What is Hub Transport Server in Exchange Server 2010?

Hub Transport is the mail routing server that routes mail within the Exchange organization. Without having the Hub Transport Server the mail routing functionality won’t work in exchange server 2010. It handles all mail flow inside the organization, applies transport rules, applies journaling policies, and delivers messages to a recipient's mailbox. Messages that are sent to the Internet are relayed by the Hub Transport server to the Edge Transport server role that's deployed in the perimeter network.

What are the changes or new features in Hub Transport Server when compared with exchange server 2007?

Below are the new features available in exchange server 2010 related to Hub Transport server role

MailTips - MailTips provide extra information that's displayed to senders while they're composing e-mail messages.

Shadow redundancy - Messages that are submitted to an Exchange 2010 Hub Transport server are stored in the transport database until the next hop reports successful delivery of the message. If the next hop doesn't report successful delivery and it fails, the message is resubmitted for delivery.

Moderated transport - Exchange 2010 provides an approval workflow for sending messages to recipients. When you configure a recipient for moderation, all messages sent to that recipient must go through an approval process

End-to-end message tracking   Exchange 2010 transport provides users with the ability to track messages from submission to the final destination

Incremental EdgeSync - In Exchange 2010, the EdgeSync process has been changed to keep track of synchronized information and only synchronize the changes since the last replication cycle. This significantly reduces network traffic and greatly improves synchronization efficiency.

And other features like Transport Rule command improvements New and Set Transport Rule, The handling of distribution group expansion has improved in Exchange 2010. First, the amount of memory that's used for caching distribution group membership has been capped by a configurable limit and Message throttling improvements.

How the mail flow occurs in Hub Transport Server 2010?

Messages are submitted to the Hub Transport server in three ways: through SMTP submission, from the Pickup directory, or when a user inside the organization sends a message, which is picked up from the user's Outbox by the store driver. The store driver is a software component of the Hub Transport server that delivers inbound messages to Exchange stores, the databases that contain public folder and mailbox stores

When messages are submitted to the Hub Transport server, they're processed by the categorizer. The categorizer is a component of Exchange transport that processes all inbound messages and determines what to do with the messages based on information about the intended recipients. In Exchange 2010, the Hub Transport server uses the categorizer to expand distribution lists and to identify alternative recipients and forwarding addresses. After the categorizer retrieves full information about the recipients, it uses that information to apply policies, route the messages, and perform content conversion. Messages are then delivered locally by the store driver to a recipient's mailbox, or they're delivered remotely by using SMTP to send messages to another transport server. Messages that are sent by users in your organization are picked up from the sender's Outbox by the store driver and are put in the Submission queue on a server that runs the Hub Transport server role.

What are the queues available in Hub Transport Server 2010?

There are 5 mail queues available in Hub Transport Server; they are Submission queue, Mailbox delivery queue, remote delivery queue, Poison message queue, unreachable queue.

Explain Send Connector in Exchange Server 2010?

Send Connector represents a logical gateway through which outbound messages are sent. Exchange 2010 transport servers require Send connectors to deliver messages to the next hop on the way to their destination. A Send connector controls outbound connections from the sending server to the receiving server or destination e-mail system.

Send connectors that are created on Hub Transport servers are stored in Active Directory and are available to all Hub Transport servers in the organization. If a Send connector is configured to send messages to an external domain, any Hub Transport server in the organization will route a message for that domain to a source server for that connector to be relayed to the destination domain

Explain Receive Connector in Exchange Server 2010?

Receive connectors represent a logical gateway through which all inbound messages are received. It is require Receive connectors to receive messages from the Internet, from e-mail clients, and from other e-mail servers. By default, the Receive connectors that are required for internal mail flow are automatically created when the Hub Transport server role is installed.

By default two receive connectors will be created automatically with the name shown below, they are

Client Servername - This Receive connector accepts SMTP connections from all non-MAPI clients, such as POP and IMAP.

Default Servername - This Receive connector accepts connections from other Hub Transport servers and any Edge Transport servers you have.

Explain the dumpster changes in exchange server 2010?

Exchange Server 2007 introduced the transport dumpster feature for the Hub Transport server role. An Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server maintains a queue of messages delivered recently to recipients whose mailboxes are on a clustered mailbox server. When a failover is experienced, the clustered mailbox server automatically requests every Hub Transport server in the Active Directory site to resubmit mail from the transport dumpster queue. This prevents mail from being lost during the time taken for the cluster to fail over

Exchange Server 2010 introduces the shadow redundancy feature to provide redundancy for messages for the entire time they're in transit. The solution involves a technique similar to the transport dumpster. With shadow redundancy, the deletion of a message from the transport databases is delayed until the transport server verifies that all of the next hops for that message have completed delivery. If any of the next hops fail before reporting back successful delivery, the message is resubmitted for delivery to that next hop

Unable to send email to external domain, what are things you will check?

By default, when exchange server 2010 is installed with the default server roles, internal mail flow occurs and the external won’t. There is no send connector created to sending emails to external domain. Need to check the following

• Send connector to send emails to external domain needs to be created


• Exchange Server queues to be viewed to check whether the emails are stored in queue


• Check the smart host which is configured to relay the emails to external domain


• Any change on the ISP or the MX record configuration to b e checked

Unable to send email to one particular domain, what will be the issue? And how you will troubleshoot this issue?

If you are unable to send emails to particular domain, need to the following

Is the send connecter configured with * as the address space to send emails to external domain, if it is there then there is no need to create a separate connector for particular domain

Need to check the check the SMTP codes on the NDR received, based on the NDR we can troubleshoot further

What happened to routing group connector in Exchange Server 2010? Do we need Routing Group connector in Co existence environment with legacy version of exchange server?

Routing group and Routing group connector concepts are replaced with Active Directory site based email routing in exchange server 2010. If we are having a coexistence with legacy version of exchange server, automatically an routing group connector will be created to establish a mail flow between exchange 2010 and legacy version of exchange server

How to achieve High Availability of Hub Transport Server?

Deploying more than one Hub Transport server per site provides redundancy. When you install more than one Hub Transport server in an Active Directory site, the connections are distributed.

What needs to be back up in Hub Transport Server?  How to recover a Hub Server failure?

• Send connector configuration and the details are to be recorded\noted


• Receive connector configuration and the details are to be recorded\noted


• Need to have a detail record on the accepted domain and relay domain configured

If the server gets crashed,

• We can rebuild a server with the same computer name and IP address configuration,


• Apply the same service pack and patches as like before


• Recover the server using recover switch, this needs to performed at the command line installation

Explain a back pressure? When it will occur and what will happen? How to solve this?

Back pressure is a system resource monitoring feature of Microsoft Exchange Transport service that exists on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport and Edge Transport servers. Exchange transport can detect when vital resources, such as available hard disk space and memory, are under pressure, and take action in an attempt to prevent service unavailability.

When back pressure occurred and the level is

Normal - Server accepts new connections and messages

Medium - Mail from senders in the authoritative domain can flow and the other message will be queued

High - Full back pressure is applied. All message flow stops, and the server rejects all new incoming MAIL FROM commands.

To solve this issue, we need to make sure the disk space on the queues and queue database disk are having enough disk space and the hub transport server is having enough memory.

What is an Accepted Domain? What is the use of it?

An accepted domain is any SMTP namespace for which a Microsoft Exchange organization sends or receives e-mail. Accepted domains include those domains for which the Exchange organization is authoritative and responsible to receive emails for those accepted domains.

If we look at the use of accepted domain, if company have additional domain names and they cannot setup exchange server for each and every domain names, they can create accepted domain and point the MX record to their exchange domain. Also by creating a new email address policy they can easily change the email address for all users in exchange organization.

What is the use of remote domain?

Remote Domains can be configured to change the settings for message transfer between the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 organization and domains outside your Active Directory forest. When you create a remote domain entry, you control the types of messages that are sent to that domain. You can also apply message format policies and acceptable character sets for messages that are sent from users in your organization to the remote domain.

Explain Relay Domain?

Relay domain will allow the exchange server to receive a email for other exchange domain and it will be forwarded to the relay domain

Two types of relay domain are available internal relay domain and external relay domain.

What is the use of Pick up and Replay directory? How to secure messages in those directories?

How shadow redundancy helps in mail flow?

Shadow redundancy provides the following benefits:

• It eliminates the reliance on the state of any specific Hub Transport or Edge Transport server. As long as redundant message paths exist in your routing topology, any transport server becomes disposable.


• If a transport server fails, you can remove it from production without emptying its queues or losing messages.


• If you want to upgrade a Hub Transport or Edge Transport server, you can bring that server offline at any time without the risk of losing messages.


• It eliminates the need for storage hardware redundancy for transport servers.


• It consumes less bandwidth than creating duplicate copies of messages on multiple servers. The only additional network traffic generated with shadow redundancy is the exchange of discard status between transport servers. Discard status is the information each transport server maintains. It indicates when a message is ready to be discarded from the transport database.


• It provides resilience and simplifies recovery from a transport server failure

What will happen if the queue database gets corrupt? How you will recover that?

Why the queue database extension mention as .que file?

What is priority queuing in exchange server 2010?

How you will configure the mail flow between edge and hub transport server?

Requirement is to configure the external mail flow happen only through a particular site, how you will achieve this?

Queues are filling on Submission queue, what are the things you will check? All the stores are mounted and the exchange server related services are running normal here.

How to force the mail from queue, we don’t have option like exchange server 2003 queue viewer?

How the mails the secured in exchange server? What kind of secure communication will occur between server to server mail flow and server to client mail flow?

Single Mailbox is creating bulk number of email which leads to bulk number of log file creation, how you will find the mailbox and how you will fix the issue?