Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 8

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

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 7

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

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 6

1. What are the types of Exchange policies?

There are two types of Exchange policies:

1. Recipient policies


2. System policies

2. What is System Policy?

A system policy is a collection of configuration settings that you apply to one or more servers, mailbox stores, or public folder stores. For example, to enable storage limits for your mailbox stores, you can define a single policy and apply them to all mailbox stores in your administrative group.

3. What are the types of System Policies?

System policies are policies that control the configuration settings for Exchange server and information store objects. System policies reside in the System Policies container. You can create and apply three types of system policies:

1. Mailbox store policies


2. Public store policies


3. Server policies

4. What is Mailbox Store Policy?

Mail box store policies allow you to configure settings across mailbox stores. Like storage limits etc

5. What is Public folder store policy?

Public folder store policies allow you to configure settings across public folder stores. Like setting storage limits on public folder store or individual public folder

6. What is Server policy?

Server policies allow you to enable message tracking options on servers.

7. What is Recipient Policy?

Recipient policy is the quick and effective way of defining different email address for users in your organization

8. What are the types of Recipient Policies?

There are two types of Recipient policies, Mailbox Management policy and Email Address policy

9. What are the ways to apply mailbox storage limits?

We can create a Mailbox storage limits settings by

1. Setting storage limits on individual mailbox stores


2. Setting storage limits by using mailbox store policies

10. Does the mailbox store policy override any mailbox storage limits that have been directly configured on the mailbox stores?

Yes, the mailbox store policies override any mailbox storage limits that have been directly configured on the mailbox stores

11. Can we manually configure mailbox store limits directly on an individual mailbox if mailbox store policy is applied?

No we can’t do this. If we apply the mailbox store policy, the controls for individual user’s storage limits will be disabled like this figure



12. What is Email Addresses Policy?

Email Address Policy is to change the Email Address for a particular user or a group or the whole exchange organization.

This policy will be used when two companies are merging and they want to have different E-mail ID for some reasons

13. How to create the System Policy container?

First we have to enable the Display administrative group from the properties of Exchange organization

Point to the Administrative Group, right click and select new to create a New System policy container



14. How to create the Mailbox Store Policy, Public Folder Store Policy or Server Policy?

Create a system policy container on the Administrative group

Point to the system policy container, from here we can create a New Mailbox store policy, public folder policy or server policy



15. Which mailbox store properties can be controlled using mailbox store policy?

We can control the below properties

• Default offline Address list


• Default public folder


• Enable or disable SMIME setting


• Storage limits


• Deletion settings


• Database maintenance setting

16. Which public folder store properties can be controlled using public folder store policy?



We can also have control on

• Enable or disable SMIME setting


• Storage limits


• Deletion settings


• Database maintenance setting

17. Which server properties can be controlled using server policy?



We can control subject logging and message tracking in server policy properties window

18. How to access the Recipient Policies?

On the Exchange System Manager, point to the recipient container and from there point to Recipient policies



19. Which options are available with Mailbox Manager Settings (Policy)?

Following figure shows the available options for Mailbox Manager setting policy



20. How to remove the system policy from an object?

After the mailbox store policy is applied to the mailbox stores, you can no longer use the property pages of the object to modify the settings controlled by the policy. To change the settings on the object, you must either modify the policy or remove the policy.

To remove the mailbox store policy from a mailbox store:

1. Use Exchange System Manager and navigate to the system policy object in the system policy container.


2. In the properties of the system policy object, right-click the object that you want to remove from the system policy.


3. Select “Remove from policy”

Removing a system policy from an object doesn’t remove the applied settings to the object. To override a mailbox store policy, you can override policy settings manually on each mailbox or move the users to a different mailbox store that has the other settings applied to it.

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 5

This chapter includes interview questions and Answers on Exchange Backup and Restore

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

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 4

This part of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 technical interview questions contains interview questions on Exchange 2003 address lists, Recipient Update Service and groups.

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. StartSystem 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

36. Inform a basic troubleshooting related to Recipient Update Service?

The Recipient Update Service (RUS) is the component of Exchange that is responsible for generating mail proxy addresses for all mail-enabled objects in an Exchange organization.

To create a Recipient Policy, we have to follow the below steps

Create a new recipient policy and assign it a higher precedence rather than editing the default policy
Keep the number of recipient policies to a minimum
Rebuild the RUS with caution

Note: RUS will run only on Backend Server

Issues related to RUS are caused because of lack of knowledge and without knowing the effect of RUS applying a policy etc.

To troubleshoot the RUS, we can increase the Diagnosting Logging for MSExchangeAL and set the logging level to maximum on Address List Synchronization will more details. To confirm RUS is running, look of event logs 9006 and 9008, you see 9006 and not 9008 then you are performing the task on front end server

To troubleshoot further issues, following the event id will direct to you find the cause of issues related RUS

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 3

This chapter contains the Interview Question and answers on Exchange Server 2003 permissions, Modes of Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 Clustering.

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

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 2

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.

Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions and Answers - 1

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 storage group	2 databases	5 databases
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:setupi386setup.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:setupi386setup.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 FilesExchangesvr

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:setupi386setup.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:setupi386setup.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

Exchange Server 2007 Interview Questions and Answers- 9

This part of Exchange Server 2007 includes the interview Questions and Answers on Exchange Server 2007 High Availability options  introduced in Exchange Server 2007.

If you want know more on Exchange Server 2007 Interview question and Answers, please follow the Questions and Answers posted by me..

Please, Leave your comments on this….

1. What is high availability in Exchange Server 2007?

The basic premise of the Exchange 2007 high availability architecture is to introduce redundancy into the deployment. A failure is recovered using the remaining computing resources to support the Exchange services. As the failures are repaired, computing resources are again available to Exchange and its clients. In this context, the computing resources may be computers or storage for mailbox or other Exchange data.

2. What are the uses of high availability features available in Exchange Server 2007?

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 includes built-in features that can provide quick recovery, high availability, and site resiliency for Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox servers.

3. What are the high availability features available in Exchange Server 2007 for Mailbox server role?

1. Local continuous replication


2. Cluster Continues Replication


3. Standby Continuous Replication


4. Single Copy Cluster

4. What is LCR?

LCR is a single-server solution that uses built-in asynchronous log shipping technology to create and maintain a copy of a storage group on a second set of disks that are connected to the same server as the production storage group. LCR provides log shipping, log replay, and a quick manual switch to a secondary copy of the data.

5. What do you know about LCR?

1. Provides data redundancy without service redundancy·


2. Partition data for performance and recovery·


3. Ensure sufficient disk space,


4. CPU and memory resources should be considered

6. What is SCR?

SCR is a new feature introduced in Exchange 2007 SP1. As its name implies, SCR is designed for scenarios that use or enable the use of standby recovery servers. SCR extends the existing continuous replication features and enables new data availability scenarios for Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers. SCR uses the same log shipping and replay technology used by LCR and CCR to provide added deployment options and configurations. SCR can be used to replicate data from stand-alone Mailbox servers and clustered mailbox servers.

7. What is the function of source server in SCR?

The starting point for SCR is called the source, which is any storage group on any of the following:

• A stand-alone Mailbox server


• A clustered mailbox server in a single copy cluster (SCC)


• A clustered mailbox server in a CCR environment

As with LCR and CCR, SCR-enabled storage groups cannot contain more than one database. You cannot enable SCR for a storage group that contains more than one database, and you cannot add a second or subsequent database to an SCR-enabled storage group

SCR Source Server holds the active copy of Mailbox database

8. What is the function of Target Server in SCR?

The endpoint for SCR is called the target, and the target can be either of the following:

• A stand-alone Mailbox server that does not have LCR enabled for any storage group


• A passive node in a failover cluster where the Mailbox role is installed, but no clustered mailbox server has been installed in the cluster

An SCR target computer must have the Mailbox server role installed, even if it does not host production mailboxes. The Mailbox server role is required because it includes the Microsoft Exchange Replication Service and other components necessary for SCR functionality

The Target Server holds the passive copy of Mailbox database

1. What are the conditions to have target Server?

The Target server may be,

A stand-alone Mailbox server that does not have LCR enabled for any storage group

A passive node in a failover cluster where the Mailbox role is installed, but no clustered mailbox server has been installed in the cluster

10. Explain the functionality of SCR?

SCR is designed for scenarios that use or enable the use of standby recovery servers. SCR extends the existing continuous replication features found in the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Exchange Server 2007 and enables new data availability scenarios for Mailbox servers running SP1. SCR uses the same log shipping and replay technology used by local continuous replication (LCR) and cluster continuous replication (CCR) to provide added deployment options and configurations

11. What is CCR?

CCR is a clustered solution that uses built-in asynchronous log shipping technology to create and maintain a storage group copy on a second server. CCR is designed to be either a one or two datacenter solution, providing both high availability and site resilience.

12. What is Witness File Share?

It is a new type of Majority Node Set (MNS) quorum in Windows Server 2003. In Exchange Server 2007, cluster continuous replication (CCR) uses the MNS quorum with file share witness instead of the traditional voter node.

This feature lets you use a file share that is external to the cluster as an additional vote to determine the status of the cluster in a two-node MNS quorum cluster deployment.

The file share witness uses a file share on a computer outside the cluster to act as a witness to the activities of the two nodes that are the cluster. The witness is used by the two nodes to track which node is in control of the cluster. The note board is only required when the two nodes cannot communicate with each other

13. What are the advantages of CCR over LCR?

• Has no single point of failure.


• Has no special hardware requirements


• Has no shared storage requirements


• Can be deployed in one or two datacenter configurations


• Can reduce full backup frequency, reduce total backed up data volume, and shorten the service level agreement (SLA) for recovery time from first failure.

14. What is SCC?

SCC is a clustered solution that uses a single copy of a storage group on storage that is shared between the nodes in the cluster. SCC is very similar to clustering in previous versions of Exchange Server, with some significant changes and improvements

15. Explain the high availability options for client Access Server Role?

You can use Network Load Balancing or a third-party hardware-based network load-balancing device for Client Access server high availability. For more information about Network Load Balancing

16. Explain the high availability options for Hub Transport Server Role?

You can deploy multiple Hub Transport servers for internal transport high availability. Resiliency has been designed into the Hub Transport, as well as the Mail Submission Service on Mailbox servers, for deployment of multiple Hub Transport servers. In Exchange 2007 SP1, you can also use NLB for the client connectors on Hub Transport servers.

17. Explain the high availability options for Edge Transport Server Role?

You can deploy multiple Edge Transport servers and use multiple DNS Mail Exchanger (MX) records to load balance activity across those servers

18. Explain the high availability options for Unified Messaging Server Role?

Unified Messaging deployments can be made more resilient by deploying multiple Unified Messaging servers where two or more are in a single dial plan. The VoIP gateways supported by Unified Messaging can be configured to route calls to Unified Messaging servers in a round-robin fashion. In addition these gateways can retrieve the list of servers for a dial plan from DNS. In either case, the VOIP gateways will present a call to a Unified Messaging server and if the call is not accepted, the call will be presented to another server, providing redundancy at the time the call is established.

19. What the requirements to configure SCR?

SCR allows an Exchange Admin to replicate a copy of Storage Group to a number of remote servers. Microsoft recommends a max of 4 target machines.

An SCR Source can be an LCR, CCR, SCC, or Stand alone mailbox server but requires only 1 Database per Storage Group which is already a requirement for LCR and CCR.

The target can be on the same subnet or in a remote datacenter unlike CCR which currently requires both nodes be on the same subnet

1. The paths must be the same for both machines
– If source server is c:Server1Data and C:Server1Logs then these paths must be available on the target server.

2. There is a hard coded 50 log lag between the Source and Target
– by default there is a 24 hour replay time which is configurable.

3. There can be only 1 database per storage group

4. The target server must have Exchange mailbox role installed, if this is a cluster it will be install as a passive node.

5. The target server must be in the same Active Directory domain

1. What are the requirements to configure LCR?

LCR does not have any special storage requirements. Any type of storage that is supported by Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 can be used with LCR, including direct attached storage, serially attached SCSI, and Internet SCSI (iSCSI)

21. What the requirements to configure CCR?

To setup a CCR-based cluster, the following are required

Software Requirements

• Windows 2003 Active Directory forest with at least one domain controller raised to windows 2003 forest functional level


• Two windows 2003 server R2 Enterprise Edition or windows server 2003 sp1 standard or enterprise edition


• One windows file share witness, which is recommended to be an exchange 2007 Hub transport Server in the existing Exchange organization; note the CCR-based cluster don’t use a shared quorum as traditional clusters do


• A cluster Service account in the Active directory forest

Hardware requirements

• Two NIC installed in each node, one for the public and one for the private cluster network


• Extra sets of disks or a DAS, SAN or Serial SCSI solution to hold the database and transactional log files

Other Requirements

• Only one database per storage group


• You cannot create public folder database in a CCR environment if you already have one


• Microsoft recommends the no more 30 storage groups and databases on clustered mailbox server


• The cluster on which Exchange Server 2007 is installed cannot contain Exchange Server 2000/2003 or any version of MS SQL server. Running Exchange Server 2007 in a cluster with any of these other application is simply not supported

22. What the requirements to configure SCC?

Windows 2003 Active Directory forest with at least one domain controller raised to windows 2003 forest functional level

Two windows 2003 server R2 Enterprise Edition or windows server 2003 sp1 standard or enterprise edition

At least one existing HT server, which is recommended to be an exchange 2007 Hub transport Server in the existing Exchange organization

Two machine with two NICS to create a Public and private network

23. Compare SCR with LCR and CCR?

SCR supports multiple replication targets per storage group. LCR and CCR support only one replication target per storage group (the passive copy).

SCR includes a built-in delay for replay activity, and it enables an administrator to specify an additional delay. This is useful in a variety of scenarios. For example, in the event of logical corruption of an active database, the built-in and additional administrator-configured delay could be used to prevent logical corruption of an SCR target database. LCR and CCR have no such delays.

SCR is completely managed using the Exchange Management Shell. The Exchange Management Console can be used to manage many aspects of LCR and CCR, but it cannot be used to enable or manage any aspects of SCR

You cannot back up an SCR target copy. LCR and CCR support backups from both the active and passive copy. SCR supports backups of the SCR source only

24. What is Replaylagtime and TruncationLagTime?

Replaylagtime - Time that the Microsoft Exchange Replication Service should wait before replaying logs. Default is 24 hours and max time is 7 days.

TruncationLagTime - Amount of time Microsoft Exchange Replication Service waits before truncating log files that have been copied to the target

25. What is seeding?

Seeding is the process whereby a database is added to a storage group copy, this can be a blank database or a copy of the database the storage group uses as the production database. When you enable the LCR on a storage group using the EMC, seeding normally takes place automatically.

26. Will seeding happens automatically? Then why should we care about it?

Seeding normally takes place automatically, in some situations manual seeding is required.

• After you have performed an offline defragmentation of the production database belonging to the storage group for which you have enabled LCR


• When exchange detects corrupted log, which the Microsoft Exchange Replication Service cannot replay into the database copy


• After a page scrubbing of a database on the active node in a CCR setup occurs, and you want to propagate these seeding

27. Explain the LCR operation?

The database type Exchange uses is Extensible Storage Engine (ESE). ESE employs transactional log files, which means that every time a modification is made, a transactional log file is generated (instead of the change being committed directly to database). This process is to make exchange always able to recover the lost data, which is in memory by using log files.

Each log file that is generated because of a modification in the database belonging to the active copy of the Storage is replicated from the source log folder to the target log folder associated with the passive copy of the storage group. This is not the entire truth, because each log file is first copied to an inspector log folder located beneath the target folder, where it is inspected to make sure it is correct. If it is not correct it will be re copied. Finally the file is copied to the target log folder and from there replayed into the database belonging to the passive copy of the Storage Group

A new Exchange Server 2007 service called the Microsoft Exchange Replication Service will be installed on any Exchange Server 2007 servers with the mailbox server role installed. These are responsible for replicating the log files to the target log folder

28. What is suspending in LCR? And how to achieve it?

Suspending LCR means that all log file shipping as well as log file replaying is halted.

Suspending LCR is a straight forward process, it is done by selected the respective Storage group in the EMC, and then clicking the Suspend Local Continuous replication in the Action pane.

29. What is log file shipping and log file replaying?

Log File Shipping

Log shipping allows you to automatically send transaction log backups from a primary database on a primary server instance to one or more secondary databases on separate secondary server instances. The transaction log backups are applied to each of the secondary databases individually. An optional third server instance, known as the monitor server, records the history and status of backup and restores operations and, optionally, raises alerts if these operations fail to occur as scheduled.

Log shipping consists of three operations:

1. Back up the transaction log at the primary server instance.

2. Copy the transaction log file to the secondary server instance.

3. Restore the log backup on the secondary server instance.

Log file replay

The transactional logs are generated on the active node are replicated to the information store on the passive node using log file shipping. These replicated log files are then posted into the databases on the passive node using the log file replay technology, this means that should the active node or a database on this node fails or for some other reason go offline, an automatic failover to the passive node will occur. Hence the passive node becomes the active node, the replication of log file will happen from the new active node to passive node.

30. Explain the CCR operation?

With CCR, the transactional logs are generated on the active node are replicated to the information store on the passive node using log file shipping. These replicated log files are then posted into the databases on the passive node using the log file replay technology, this means that should the active node or a database on this node fails or for some other reason go offline, an automatic failover to the passive node will occur. Hence the passive node becomes the active node, the replication of log file will happen from the new active node to passive node.

31. Explain the SCC operation?

SCC is more or less identical to the traditional active/passive clusters we know from the previous version of Exchange. This means that a SCC-based cluster only provides service failover and still has a single point of failure when it comes to databases, unless a shared storage solution that provides redundancy in other means is used in the environment. An SCC cluster using fault tolerant SAN is much more expensive than a CCR solution

An SCC is basically a clustered mailbox server that consists of two or more servers that share the same storage for database and log files. The shared storage subsystem is basically a SAN

32. What is the advantage of CCR over SCC?

Deploying CCR instead of SCC has several advantages,

• you no longer have a single point of failure regarding database


• Unlike SCC, CCR doesn’t require a shared storage subsystem such as SAN, because the nodes in a CCR don’t share the same disk


• You have the option of spanning the CCR between two locations

33. How many databases can I have in each storage group when I’m using either LCR or CCR?

You can only have one database in each storage group when using either LCR or CCR. In addition, you cannot have more than one Public Folder database in the organization if you want to replicate a public folder database using CCR technology

34. Explain LCR, CCR and SCR in short?

LCR requires that database replicas are stored locally; CCR lets you store database replicas on a different server that must exist in the same subnet as the primary database server. With this, you can have only one replica.

SCR allows your primary mailbox server (source) to replicate its database to multiple standby servers (targets). These target servers can exist on your LAN, but that isn't necessary. The subnet limitation doesn't apply to SCR.

35. What is a Standby Cluster?

A standby cluster is a Windows cluster that matches a production Exchange cluster in terms of hardware and software configuration, including Windows and Exchange versions and any updates or hot fixes that have been applied. In addition, a standby cluster has the Exchange program files installed but has not yet been configured with any Exchange Virtual Servers (EVS). Lastly, a standby cluster can only be used when all Exchange Virtual Servers on the production cluster are offline.

36. Will the standby cluster works with Exchange Server 2007?

The answer is no, but then it's really not that useful anymore, since Exchange 2007 gives us the ability to recover an Exchange 2007 cluster using the new Exsetup/RecoverCMS switch (which is similar to the /DisasterRecovery switch we know from previous versions of Exchange).