Author: Steve Man

Mailbox Auditing in Exchange 2010

Scenario: You want to audit the activity in a mailbox. Auditing includes information on who does what in a mailbox.

Enable Auditing for a mailbox: Set-Mailbox -identity “Mailbox Name” -AuditEnabled $true
Search Audit Logs for a mailbox: Search-MailboxAuditLog -Identity “Mailbox Name” -showdetails
Disable Auditing for a mailbox: Set-Mailbox -identity “Mailbox Name” -AuditEnabled $false
By default, the audit logs are retained for 90 days and then purged. This can be controlled by the -AuditLogAgeLimit parameter. The logs are stored in the mailbox under the Audits Subfolder under the Recoverable Items Folder. The Recoverable Items Folder is a hidden folder.

Conditions for Log Truncation in Exchange

These are the conditions in which Exchange’s Replication service will truncate the committed log files in Exchange:

Exchange 2010 & 2013
  • The log file must have been successfully backed up, or circular logging must be enabled.
  • The log file must be below the checkpoint (the minimum log file required for recovery) for the database.
  • All other lagged copies must have inspected the log file.
  • All other copies (not lagged copies) must have replayed the log file.
Exchange 2013
Exchange 2013 uses quite a big checkpoint depth (100MB), it’s usual to find a hundred or more transaction logs even when circular logging is enabled and the database is essentially quiescent. It’s far removed from the five or six transaction logs that a standalone database enabled for circular logging might use.

Entering Exchange Product Key in Exchange Powershell

Task: Enter in the Exchange Product Key in Exchange Powershell by using the command below.

Set-ExchangeServer servername –ProductKey aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa
Even though you can see the new edition on Exchange, the new edition/product key will not be fully activated until the Information Store service is restarted. The new editions functionality will not be there until the service restart. Restart it from Exchange Powershell Below.

Creating Exchange Databases and creating Database Copies in Exchange Powershell

Task: To create Exchange DB’s and DB Copies, follow the following powershell commands below. Note everything with this highlight will need your adjusting.

Create the DB:
New-MailboxDatabase dbname -Server servername -LogFolderPath C:dbfolderLogs -EDBFilePath C:dbfolderDBdbname.edb 
Mount the DB:
Mount-Database dbname 
Add the DB Copies to other DAG members:
Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy dbname -MailboxServer PassiveServerName -ActivationPreference 2 
Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy dbname -MailboxServer PassiveServerName -ActivationPreference 3 
Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy dbname -MailboxServer PassiveServerName -ActivationPreference 4 

Warning for Restarting Information Store Service after Exchange 2013 DB Creation

Scenario: A mailbox database or mailbox database replica was created on a server and you receive the following warning:

WARNING: Please restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service on serverservername after adding new mailbox databases. Alternatively, you can restart the server
Reason: The information store service in Exchange 2013 decides how much memory it will allocate for each database during the information store service startup. Therefore if you add databases after this is service is started, the information store does not have a predetermined amount of memory to manage the database.
Note: The database is still functional even if you do not restart the service, but restarting the serice is still recommended.
Note: In earlier versions of Exchange, the information store service tried utilizing as much memory as it could at the information store service startup.

Mailbox is Disabled after Reconnecting mailbox from disconnected state.

Scenario: After you reconnect a disconnected mailbox, you may receive the following error in Outlook Web App, ​ ‘Your mailbox has been disabled.’ You may also have trouble connecting to her mailbox in powershell or EMC saying the mailbox is not avaiable.
Solution: Run the following command in Exchange Powershell.
clean-mailboxdatabase <Database Name>

Outlook Web App Functionality Disabled

Scenario: When a user is in Outlook Web App (OWA), they may be experiencing one of the following issues:
  • Conversations are not being expanded.
  • Composing new or replying to messages is not possible due to the body or other parts of the message being disabled or greyed out.
Resolution: There was a DivX Plug Web Player HTML5 add-on in Internet Explorer that I had to disable. To disable this add-on, click on Tools–>Manage add-ons.
Troubleshooting Note: There may be other add-ons causing this issue as well where you might have to perform process of elimination with disabling/re-enabling add-on’s.

Outlook Web App Functionality Disabled

Scenario:  When a user is in Outlook Web App (OWA), they may be experiencing one of the following issues:
  • Conversations are not being expanded.
  • Composing new or replying to messages is not possible due to the body or other parts of the message being disabled or greyed out.
Resolution: There was a DivX Plug Web Player HTML5 add-on in Internet Explorer that I had to disable.  To disable this add-on, click on Tools–>Manage add-ons. 
Troubleshooting Note: There may be other add-ons causing this issue as well where you might have to perform process of elimination with disabling/re-enabling add-on’s.

View the Global Address List on ios device

​Task: View the Global Address List on your iPad/iPhone.
PreReq: Contacts need to be enabled on the Exchange account on your iPad/iPhone.
 
Steps: 

1. Tap Contacts.
2. Tap Groups.
3. Tap your Exchange account name (e.g. Exchange) in the Directories section.
4. Enter a name and tap Search. (Your search criteria must be over 4 characters)
5. Tap the user account you are searching for.
6. The user’s information will appear.

 
From here you can call, email, or gather contact information for the users you search.