Microsoft 1 Problem Reporting

Microsoft Exchange 2000 Operations Guide — Version 1.092

number of protocols supported. For example, you may choose to only support OWA as the

means of access outside the firewall.

Not all of these problems are necessarily client issues. End users will be directly affected by

problems at the server level. The main difference is that client issues generally affect small

numbers of users, whereas server issues normally affect larger numbers of users.

Whatever the end-user support issue is, an effective support team will ensure the following:

◆Problems can be reported easily

◆End users are notified quickly that their problem is being investigated and are kept

informed of the status of their problem

◆Problems are resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible

The result of all this should be to ensure that service is restored as soon as possible in

accordance with the SLA.

Problem Reporting

Problems will typically be reported in one of two ways: as a result of your extensive

monitoring (see Chapter 5), you may receive alerts that warn you of a problem; or a user

may report a problem.

The sooner you can receive an accurate report of a problem from a user, the earlier you

can begin to solve that problem before it becomes an issue for the organization at large.

You may want to consider using Exchange itself as the basis for your Service Desk applica-

tion. You could create a custom form for Service Desk requests, which would be routed to

a public folder. The Service Desk staff would examine these requests as they came in and

either reroute them or deal with them. As the requests are being dealt with, further infor-

mation could be added to the form. Then, when the request is resolved, this information

could be routed to a second public folder and could form the basis of your internal knowl-

edge base.

Note: There is risk to using Exchange Server as the basis for your helpdesk application, as a

widespread Exchange outage will affect your ability to resolve problems.

Of course, you must not use the e-mail system as your only means of receiving user notifica-

tion of e-mail problems! Ensure that there is a telephone support line which can be used as

an alternative method of reporting problems. If you have a support-related web site, consider

adding a problem reporting page.

Contents

Main ii Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Capacity and Availability Management 11 Change and Configuration Management 37 Chapter 4 Enterprise Monitoring 53 Chapter 5 Protection 71 Chapter 6 Glossary 97 Support 89 Page Page Page Introduction Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) Page How to Use This Guide Efficiency, Continuity, and Security Figure 1.2 Efficiency Continuity Security Chapter Outlines Planning and Deployment Service Level Agreements Features Performance Recovery Support Related Topics Page Capacity and Availability Management Capacity Management Page Page Availability Management Service Hours Service Availability Minimizing System Failures Decreasing Single Points of Failure Increasing the Reliability of Exchange 2000 Minimizing System Recovery Time Performance Tuning Making Changes to the Registry No Performance Optimizer Optimizable Features Tuning Considerations Upgrading from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000 Tuning the Message Transfer Agent (MTA) Tuning SMTP Transport Mailroot Directory Location SMTP File Handles Page Store and ESE Tuning Online Store Maintenance Online Backups Choosing the Correct Maintenance Strategy Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) Heaps Store-Database Cache Size Page Log Buffers Tuning Active Directory Integration Page Tuning Outlook Web Access (OWA) Page Hardware Upgrades Page Change and Configuration Management Prerequisites Change Management Defining Change Type Step 1 Request for Change Is Submitted to Change Manager Step 2 Change Manager Assesses the RFC Step 3 Change Is Passed to IT Executive Committee for Approval Step 4 Change Is Passed to the Change Advisory Board for Scheduling Step 5 Change Is Passed to the Change Owner Step 6 Change Process Evaluation Minor and Standard Changes Scripting Minor and Standard Changes Security Software Control and Distribution Documentation Configuration Management Tools for Configuration Management Configuration Management and Change Management Configuration Items Page Page Page Defining Configuration Items Configuration Management and Exchange Maintaining the Configuration Management Database Change Management Ownership Security Backup Exchange System Policies Administering System Policies Page Enterprise Monitoring Prerequisites Performance Monitoring System Monitor Exchange 2000 Objects and Counters to Monitor Service or Resource Performance Object Information Store Counters SMTP Server MSExchangeMTA and MSExchangeMTAConnections MSExchangeIM Virtual Servers MSExchangeAL Windows 2000 Objects and Counters to Monitor Table 4.2 Subjects and Associated Objects and Counters Subsystem Object Counter Exchange Comments Subsystem Object Counter Exchange Comments Centralized Monitoring Event Monitoring Event Viewer Log Files Centralized Event Monitoring Availability Monitoring Monitoring and Status Tool Adding Services to the Default Configuration Monitoring Resources Notifications Status Disabling Server Monitoring Centralized Availability Monitoring Client Monitoring Page Page Protection Chapter Start Point Chapter End Point Protection Against Hacking Firewall Operations Maintaining Firewall Availability Ensuring That Only the Correct Traffic Passes Through the Firewall Monitoring Against Hacker Intrusion Dealing With Security Breaches Anti-Virus Measures Staying Current Dealing With Virus Infection Blocking Attachments at the Client Page Disaster Recovery Procedures Backing Up Page Offline Backup Disk Imaging Restoring Recovering Individual Messages Recovering Lost Mailboxes Recovering Exchange Stores and Storage Groups Full Exchange Server Recovery Recovering Exchange After Active Directory Failure Alternate Server Recovery Recovery Testing Page Page Support Providing Support for End Users Reducing End User Support Costs Page Problem Reporting Dealing with User Problems Notifying Users Exchange Problem Management Page Page Glossary