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Top 9 Exchange Troubleshooting Utilities for Exchange Administrator

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This article describes Top 9 Exchange troubleshooting utilities that every Exchange Administrator should know. Most of the utilities are available free of cost. List of tools that I am going to explain in this article are:

 

  • Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer
  • Microsoft Exchange PST Capture
  • Paul Cunningham’s Script - Test-ExchangeServerHealth
  • Exchange Environment Report Tool by Steve Goodman
  • ExFolders
  • SMTP logging
  • Exchange Health Monitor developed by ManageEngine
  • Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress
  • Exchange Thumbnail Photo Manager


Let's discuss all the tools mentioned above in detail:

 Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer

Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer (ExRCA) is a web based tool developed by Microsoft for the purpose of troubleshooting the connectivity related issues. Administrator can easily locate root cause of the connectivity problem by running the Remote Connectivity Analyzer. After the completion of test the tool suggests some tips with which you can easily troubleshoot the issue. To Run test open the Microsoft’s site (https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/) and follow the steps mentioned by them.


Microsoft Exchange PST Capture

New version of Microsoft Exchange PST Capture tool is getting popular because of its salient features. Nobody knows where all the PST files reside on the network. This tool helps administrator to search PST files on client’s computers across the network. Once it gets all the PST files, it integrates them to a central location. Then all these PST files are imported to primary mailboxes or in-place archives of On-premises Exchange environment or Office 365. PST Capture Console is to be installed to search PST files on systems with PST Capture Agent. This new version supports for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 & allows access to remote Exchange environment using RPC over HTTP (Outlook Anywhere). http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36789

 

Paul Cunningham’s Script - Test-ExchangeServerHealth

Paul Cunningham is a MVP for Microsoft Exchange Server and has created a useful script to test the Exchange Server for errors and other problems. The Script generates the output in HTML format which can be scheduled to you automatically. The Script can be only used with Exchange Server 2010. You can also customize the script regarding the specific issue. The script is freely available at the Paul Cunningham’s blog. For further details check his blog: http://exchangeserverpro.com/powershell-script-health-check-report-exchange-2010/


Exchange Environment Report Tool by Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman is another MVP for Exchange and has created a useful PowerShell script. By using the script Exchange administrator can easily analyze Exchange Environment. This script generates output in HTML file. The aim of the script is to generate a report containing the complete overview of the Exchange Environment and DAGs. For further details check: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Generate-Exchange-2388e7c9


ExFolders Tool developed by Microsoft

ExFolders is one of the very useful tool developed by Microsoft. This tool was previously called as PFDAVAdmin. The tool is mostly used for the better management of Exchange Public Folders. It provides an option to set permissions for the users and also help out to fetch missing or deleted data from Public Folder. For further details check: http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Exchange-2010-SP1-ExFolders-e6bfd405


SMTP Logging

SMTP Logging is basically a troubleshooter for problems in sending or receiving email messages. Whenever someone encounter these types of problems, they should enable SMTP logging. SMTP Logging lets Exchange to print the transaction in a log when email is processed without error. One can check and open the log file. Status code showing 250 means its right. For more information: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997624.aspx


Exchange Health Monitor developed by ManageEngine

Microsoft provides a tool ManageEngine Free Exchange Health Monitor that monitors the performance of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003. This tool helps an administrator to monitor various parameters like to view Server details like CPU, Disk, and Memory utilization of the host server. Monitor various transport queue like active/retry mailbox, Check mailbox details like message sent per second, active user per second, View RPC details like RPC request, RPC failed, View POP/IMAP current connection, Monitor Client access server details like OWA per Average response/search time. There are a ton of free scripts and built-in scripts that can be set to scheduled tasks for monitoring DAG, database and mailbox health that can then be emailed to you daily. To know more: http://www.manageengine.com/products/exchange-health-monitor/free-exchange-health-monitor-index.html


Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress

Jetstress is used to be sure that the input and output component of Exchange System are capable enough to take real load and are ready for the production use. You have the option to set user's profile & account which your deployment represents & thereafter jetstress will stimulate both the log files & database so that you make sure that you will have the perfect horsepower & the headgroom for growing up. To know more: http://www.stevieg.org/2011/06/exchange-environment-report/


Exchange Thumbnail Photo Manager

In Exchange 2010 there is a feature to import the thumbnail photos into Active Directory. The imported photos can be displayed in Emails of Outlook. Import-RecipientDataProperty command of PowerShell is used for the management of thumbnail photos. For Further Details Check: http://www.mikepfeiffer.net/2010/05/manage-exchange-2010-thumbnail-photos-with-a-powershell-based-gui/

 
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Comments (3)

Commented:
Usermon, Perfmorn, SCOM, ExBPA, ESEUtil, MFCMapi,  Log Parser.

Commented:
Thanks for useful article
This is really useful information, thanks for sharing it.

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