The Exchange Server Troubleshooter - 28 Apr 2000

How can I obtain a list of mailboxes that are members of a certain distribution list (DL)?

You can obtain a list of mailboxes in a DL in at least two ways. One way is to use the ondl.exe utility, which is part of the Microsoft BackOffice Resource Kit (BORK). Ondl is a single-purpose tool that takes the name of a DL and prints out its membership. The other method is to use Nick Brown's VBScript code ([email protected])to obtain the list; unlike ondl.exe, you can customize Nick's scripts, if you want to. You can retrieve the scripts from http://www.robichaux.net/writing/man-exchange.html—look on the Goodies & Links page.

When I delete a message from a public folder, where does it go and—more important—how can I retrieve it?

How you retrieve a deleted message depends on whether you've turned on deleted-item retention for the public Information Store (IS). You enable deleted-item retention on a public IS by selecting the public IS in Microsoft Exchange Administrator, opening its Properties sheet, and changing Deleted item retention time (days) to whatever nonzero value you want to use.

Until you turn on deleted-item retention, you can't recover items you delete from a public folder after you delete them. When you've enabled the feature, you can recover deleted items from that point forward. However, deleted-item retention works differently for public folders than it does for mailboxes. Instead of the items going to the mailbox's Deleted Items folder (as mailbox items usually do), Exchange marks items deleted from the public IS as deleted and hidden.

To recover an item, you still right-click its parent folder to access the Recover Deleted Items command, but you must have Editor permissions (or equivalent) on the folder. In addition, you must turn on item recovery for the public IS of the server that hosts the public folder replica you're using and not just on one of the replica servers.

What happens to items in a mailbox's Deleted Items folder when you move that mailbox to another server?

Research by Exchange mailing list (http://www.swynk.com/sysapps/
exchange.asp) reader John Matteson shows that moving a mailbox with Exchange Administrator's Tools, Move Mailbox command flushes the mailbox's Deleted Items folder so that you can no longer recover deleted messages.

How can I tell whether a mailbox or public folder rule will execute on the client or on the server?

This question is difficult to answer because you can use many different rule conditions and special cases further complicate the matter. In addition, several new Outlook 2000 features muddy the waters even more. To find out whether a particular rule is client- or server-based, check Sue Mosher's list at http://www.slipstick.com/rules/serverbased.htm.

What tools are available that can automatically produce a document describing my Exchange Server configuration?

I know of two such tools. The first one is a free download from Microsoft's Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/55/downloads/exmap.htm) that uses ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to read an Exchange organization's directory ADO and turn it into a Visio 5.0 diagram showing sites, servers, and connectors. That's all it does, but it's free and it includes source code, so you can customize it to meet your needs.

A second tool is Documentor from ecora.com (https://www.ecora.com). Documentor generates automatic documentation of your Exchange or Windows NT architecture and topology. This tool is a terrific way to get an overview of that group of servers you just inherited, for example. In addition, the ecora.com Web site offers a free service that can document your network remotely. For example, the company issues a report that contains a significant amount of detail that is useful if you're trying to understand, preserve, or replicate your server configuration. (The ecora.com service stores data about your network on the company's Web server; you can also buy a product that attaches to your network locally and doesn't send any data back to ecora.com.)

How can I find out which version of a specific Exchange component (e.g., mta.exe, store.exe) is on a machine?

You can identify component versions in two ways. You can use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder that contains the file (probably exchsrvrbin), then right-click the file in and look at the Version tab of its Properties page. The version displays in the form 5.5.1960.3. The alternative is to use the filever.exe tool included on the Exchange Server 5.5 CD-ROM. The Filever tool accepts a path name and file specification (e.g., filever c:exchsrvrbinimc*.dll), and it displays version information for each file it finds that matches that path and file specification.

We use Outlook Web Access (OWA) in our European offices. Users continually complain that some folder names (e.g., Contacts, Tasks) always appear in English instead of the properly localized language. How can I localize their folder names?

This behavior is the fault of the Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) DLL, which OWA uses to create the correct set of folders when a user logs on to a mailbox for the first time. Let's say you create a new mailbox for Johann, a new employee in your Bonn office. If Johann logs on to that mailbox for the first time with Outlook, all folders will have properly localized names (presumably in German, in this case). If Johann uses OWA to log on to the mailbox for the first time, OWA will localize only the primary folders (Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items); the others will all be in English.

The Microsoft article "XWEB:OWA Creates English Special Folders (Contacts, Calendar...) During First Logon" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q230/2/73.asp) explains how to fix this condition. You need Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later. You must copy the updated CDO DLL to your OWA servers and make a small Registry change (which the article explains) to signify which language you want CDO to use when creating those special folders.

I'm running Exchange Server 5.5 SP3 on a Windows 2000 (Win2K) server. Can I use the Encrypting File System (EFS) to encrypt my Exchange databases?

My first instinct was to say "no," but after a little digging in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, I found the article "XGEN: Using Windows 2000 Encrypted File System to Encrypt Mdbdata Folder and Contents" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ articles/q233/4/00.asp). The article not only says you can use the EFS but tells you how. The key is to use the Exchange service account to log on, then change the folder properties for the mdbdata directory to mark it as encrypted. However, I'm not sure what this approach accomplishes. EFS usually encrypts and decrypts data on demand; in the case of the IS databases, however, EFS decrypts the entire IS when you start the IS service. This behavior has two undesirable side effects: It greatly increases the startup time for the IS, and it means that only encryption protects your data when you stop the IS.

After I changed the disk configuration on a server recently, I ran the Performance Optimizer. It erased a number of Registry parameter changes I made during the last round of performance tuning. What happened?

The Performance Optimizer erases Registry parameter changes by design. The Performance Optimizer evaluates your server's configuration and uses that information in combination with your answers about the work you want the server to do. To optimize your server's performance, the optimizer adjusts more than 65 Registry settings, wiping out your changes in the process. If you have good documentation of your changes, you can easily reapply them.

How can I obtain the complete Global Address List (GAL) and display it on a Web page?

A simple way to accomplish this operation is to export the entire GAL to a text file; write some Perl, Windows Script Host (WSH), or VBScript code to format the GAL; and then display the result as a Web page. That way would be easy, but it wouldn't be as much fun as another way. The other way is to use a small chunk of CDO code to do the trick. One example is found in the Microsoft article "HOWTO: Render the Global Address List with CDO" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ articles/q192/4/36.asp). You can also find examples at the CDOLive Web site (http://www.cdolive.com/code.htm); the Exchange Phone List Web script (http://www.cdolive.com/phonelist.htm) is particularly useful.

I found the Esefile utility on my Exchange Server 5.5 SP3 CD-ROM, but I'm afraid to use it. What does it do?

Being cautious about running unknown tools on your Exchange servers is a good thing. Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) used to be the only source for Esefile, but now the utility is available on the Exchange Server CD-ROM. Esefile is a benign tool that performs three tasks:

The Microsoft article "XADM: Esefile Support Utility for Exchange Server" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q248/4/06.asp) provides details about how Esefile works and how to use it safely.