Microsoft 1 Providing Support for End Users

Microsoft Exchange 2000 Operations Guide — Version 1.090

Providing Support for End Users

It is likely that almost everyone in your organization will be an e-mail user. All of those

users may require support at some point in time. In most environments, it is critical to

maintain service as much as possible to all users. A single user without e-mail may cost the

organization large amounts of money and present the organization in a bad light to any

outsiders who want to e-mail that user.

Your Exchange 2000 Server environment may be one of the most complicated and diverse

of your IT infrastructure. You may have a wide range of different clients, including the

following:

◆MAPI clients (Exchange Client, Outlook 97 , Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, and Outlook

2002)

◆POP3/IMAP4 clients (Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, Eudora,

and so on)

◆HTTP clients (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, and so on) for

Outlook Web Access (OWA)

◆Instant messaging client

◆Conferencing server clients (Net Meeting and others)

End users may have a number of different uses for a client. Internet Explorer can be used

for OWA or alongside Net Meeting for video conferencing. Outlook XP can be used as a

MAPI client, but also as a POP3, IMAP4, or HTTP client. In many cases it will be used

with custom forms, or have extra third-party functionality built into it (for example, the

ability to read faxes or listen to voicemail). Not only that, but your client base may be

inside or outside a firewall, on the road on laptops, accessing Exchange via dial-up lines or

via the Internet. The number of combinations is enormous.

Ironically, the very complexity of the client base is actually of benefit when trying to

maintain service to users. For example, users having problems with their Outlook client

should still be able to send and receive mail from their computer using Internet Explorer

and OWA as their client. This allows you to maintain service to the users while investigat-

ing their problem.

Reducing End User Support Costs

The following are some reasons users could require support:

◆User error

◆Client software problems

◆Client hardware problems

◆Client connectivity problems (for example, to a server running Exchange or domain

controller)

◆Server software problems (servers running Exchange or domain controllers)

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