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.
