Tuesday, November 25, 2008

System Mailbox in exchange server 2003:

This article gives you the functionality of the built in system mailbox that present in the mailbox store. Every private information store in Exchange Server 2003, has 3 system mailbox by default.

The following are the three different system mailboxes are:

•SystemMailbox{GUID}
•System Attendant Mailbox
•SMTP Mailbox

System Mailbox {GUID}:

•Contains two parts to each System mailbox – the mailbox itself with its content in the corresponding information store and an associated directory object located in MESO (Microsoft Exchange System Object) folder in AD.
•GUID is related to the objectGUID i.e., to the system mailbox. The objectGUID of the mailbox store with which the system mailbox is associated.
•Whenever we mount the store, it checks for the availability of the systemmailbox{GUID}. If not it looks in the MESO directory for the same.
•Each MDB has its own GUID associated with a particular instance of SystemMailbox{guid}.
•Faulty functioning SystemMailbox{guid} then, there’s a very good chance EXOLEDB event sinks will not function.
•It will occupy some reasonable amt of space for storing the schema definitions.

System Attendant Mailbox:

•Each Exchange 200x server has one (and hopefully only one) System Attendant mailbox
•The System Attendant Mailbox contains the folder SpecialPrivateFolderForFreeBusyStorage, for Free/Busy information for Microsoft Outlook and CDO Applications (Collaboration Data Objects) which will be temporarily stored in MSExchangeFBPublish.
•The System Attendant Mailbox will also be used to send and receive Exchange monitoring messages for the Link Monitoring Service. You can find this function in the Exchange System Manager under Tools – Monitoring and Status.
•System Attendant mailbox is also required to be available during mailbox moves. For instance, if you have the mailbox store containing the System Attendant mailbox dismounted during a mailbox move, the move will fail.
•There are two parts to make up the complete System Attendant mailbox: a directory object and a mailbox object.
•Faulty system attendant mailbox, results in OWA-generated Free/Busy information not getting updated and also mailbox moves fail.

SMTP Mailbox

•The SMTP mailbox will be generated when the private information store is created and mounted.
•SMTP (servername-{guid}) mailbox is used by the mail transport of Exchange 200x as a temporary holding place for various messages as they pass through the system. In other words, every private mailbox store contains an SMTP mailbox to store temporary messages.
•For eg, The folders MTS-IN and MTS-OUT are used by Exchange Deployment Kit (EDK) connectors to transfer messages between the MTA (Microsoft Exchange Transport Agent) and the Exchange Server information store (store.exe). They are also used for X400 connectors, Exchange site connectors, and fax connectors.
•Faulty SMTP mailbox, results in failure in delivery into the store

Logging into system mailbox:

Logging into the system mailbox is not recommended, but still we can open the mailbox using the MFCMAPI.

Please revert if you have any questions.

Thanks

Logu

logu_microsoft@hotmail.com
91-9841499143

Microsoft Exchange System Attendant:

This article explains the characteristic features of the Microsoft exchange system attendant services. The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service is primarily a collection of subcomponents that work together to proxy Active Directory requests and to regulate internal Exchange Server functions.

1.It is exchange related services. It is critical for exchange server’s performance and many exchange related services will not work.
2.You cannot mount the database unless the exchange system attendant service is running.
3.It facilitates AD communications to enforce the retention policies and mailbox quotas.
4.Main executable file is the MAD.EXE, located in Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin folder and most of the subcomponents exist as .DLL files.

The following are the components of the System Attendant services.

DSACCESS Component:

1.DSACCESS.dll is used to prevent exchange server from flooding your exchange server with excessive requests.
2. In detail, When exchange server component such as exchange store or SMTP Transport engine needs to get the receipient information from AD, the query is routed through the DSACCESS component. Generally it acts as a proxy for these AD request. The recent request are stored in the cache to avoid the repetitive queries.

DSProxy Component:

1.DSProxy.dll acts as a proxy for AD queries coming from outlook clients.
2.In detail, when client running outlook 2000 or later, refers the GC for processing the AD query (such as a request to retrieve the GAL) in direct. Whereas the client older the outlook client 2000, will acts as a true proxy for communicating the GC, so DSProxy performs he operation on behalf of the client.
3.DSACCESS performs differently, DSACCESS proxies AD request coming from the other exchange component.

RUS – Recipeint Update Service:

1.Abv_dg.DLL is the core file for the RUS.
2.It is used for applying recipient policies to mail-enabled user objects.

Mailbox Manager Component:

The Mailbox Manager's job is to enforce policies that help to control the size of an information store, including mailbox quotas and message retention policies.

Server Monitor Component:

1.It is primarily used to keep exchange server’s link state information up to date.
2.The link state information is used to calculate the optimal path to various destinations within the exchange organization. Metrics like costs, availability and hop counts are taken into account.
3.It is responsible for monitoring server resources using WMI Windows Management Instrumentation.
4.It is also responsible for managing message tracking logs (if the message tracking is enabled).

Offline Address Book Generator:

1.The idea behind OAB generator (OABgen.dll) is for mobile users to access the address book, even is the users are offline.
2.So the offline users rely on the OAB instead of GAL.
3.The OABgen.dll file is stored in an Exchange public folder subfolder called Offline Address Book. This folder contains two subfolder: OAB Version2 and OAB Version 3a.

Free/busy Component:

1.The free/busy (madfb.dll) component is responsible for publishing the free busy information.
2.In detail, free busy information of other attendee is required for scheduling meeting. So the source user needs the free busy data of the target attendee’s calendar. Since user don’t generally have access to other user’s mailbox. Like OAB, the free/busy(madfb.dll) component is stored in a subfolder of the system public folder named SCHEDULE + FREE BUSY.
3.When a user creates an appointment or meeting, the exchange store sends the corresponding free/busy information to the exchange system attendant mailbox. The madfb.dll extracts the free busy data from the message and publishes it in the SCHEDULE + FREE BUSY folder.

Metabase Update Service:

1.Metabase Update Service (ds2mb.dll) is closely related to the IIS.
2.IIS metabase is the core file for IIS. Given that, exchange is dependent on IIS, exchange is also dependent on the IIS metabase.
3.IIS metabase exists in the form of an XML file named Metabase.xml, also stores as binary file called Metabase.bin (located in System root\system32\inetsrv) and the corresponding schema file called MBSchema.xml.
4.Some Exchange configuration information related to SMTP Virtual servers, the HTTP configuration of OWA and few others are stored in AD, but are needed by IIS. This is where the Metabase Update Service comes into play. This service replicates protocol related exchange server configuration information from the AD to the IIS metabase.

Hope the above is informative. Please ping me if you have any questions.

Thanks

Logu

logu_microsft@hotmail.com
91-9841499143

Finding the mailboxes homed in particular mailbox store:

This article explains the different type of methods to find the mailbox homed in particular mailbox store. In simple words, the methods used for querying the mailbox based on the mailbox store information.
When you try to delete a mailbox store from a server that is running Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003, you may receive the following error message:
“One or more users currently use this mailbox store. These users must be moved to a different mailbox store or be mail disabled before deleting this store.
ID no: c1034a7f
Exchange System Manager”.

In that, we need to find the mailboxes that are homed in that particular mailbox store. The following are the different types of method to find that respective mailboxes.

Method 1: Use the LDP tool (Ldp.exe) to browse for mailboxes that are on a mailbox store

You can use the LDP tool to find all the accounts that have mailboxes on a particular mailbox store. This tool is included with the Microsoft Windows 2000 Support Tools package.

To use the LDP tool to find all the accounts that have mailboxes on a particular mailbox store, follow these steps:
1.Start Ldp.exe.
2.Click Connection, and then click Connect.
3.Enter the name of a domain controller, and then click OK.We recommend that you enter a domain controller in the root domain of the forest.
4.Click Connection, and then click Bind.
5.Enter the user name, the password, and the domain name of an administrative account, and then click OK.
6.On the View menu, click Search.
7.Click to select the "DC=domainname,DC=local" by Base DN check box.
8.Click the Filter box, and then type the following text:
msExchHomeServerName=Exchange virtual server name
9.Click Subtree, and then click Run.
10.Identify the users who have mailboxes on this store. Then, use the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in to move the mailboxes to a different store or to delete the mailboxes.


Method 2: Use the LDP tool to search for mailboxes that are on a mailbox store

1.Start Ldp.exe.
2.Click Connection, and then click Connect.
3.Enter the name of a domain controller, and then click OK.
4.Click Connection, and then click Bind.
5.Enter the user name, the password, and the domain name of an administrative account, and then click OK.
6.On the View menu, click Tree.
7.Make sure that the Base DN box is blank, and then click OK.If the Base DN box is not blank, clear its contents, and then click OK.
8.Right-click the container that you want to search, such as the CN=Users container, and then click OK.
9.Click the Filter box, and then type the following:
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(msExchHomeServerName=/o=ORGANIZATION NAME/ou=ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP NAME/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=SERVER-NAME-TO-REMOVE))
10.Click Subtree, and then click Run.
11.When you have identified which users have mailboxes on this store, you can use Active Directory Users and Computers either to move the mailboxes to a different store or to delete the user's mailbox.

Method 3: Use Active Directory Users and Computers to browse for mailboxes that are on a mailbox store

1.Start Active Directory Users and Computers on a computer that has Exchange System Manager installed on it.
2.In Active Directory Users and Computers, click View, click to select the Advanced Features check box, and then click OK.
3.Click View, and then click Choose Columns.
4.In the Modify Columns box, click Exchange Mailbox Store in the Hidden Columns list, click Add, and then click OK to add the Exchange Mailbox Store to the Displayed Columns list.An Exchange Mailbox Store column appears in Active Directory Users and Computers that shows the mailbox store that a user has a mailbox on.
5.When you have identified which users have mailboxes on this store, you can use Active Directory Users and Computers either to move the mailboxes to a different store or to delete the user's mailbox.

Method 4: Use Active Directory Users and Computers to search for mailboxes that are on a mailbox store

1.Start Active Directory Users and Computers.
2.Right-click the domain that you want, and then click Find.
3.Click the Advanced tab, click Field, point to User, and then click Exchange Home Server.
4.In the Condition list, click Ends with, type the name of your Exchange computer, and then click Find Now.
5.If you are prompted to add the current criteria to your search, click Yes.
6.When you have identified which users have mailboxes on this store, you can use Active Directory Users and Computers either to move the mailboxes to a different store or to delete the user's mailbox.
The mailbox search results appear in the lower pane.

Method 5: Use the LDIFDE tool (Ldifde.exe) to create an export file that contains the mailboxes that are on a mailbox store

1.At a command prompt, type an LDIFDE command that is similar to the following. Then press ENTER.
ldifde -d "DC=ROOT,DC=COM" -f c:\output.txt -r "(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(msExchHomeServerName=/o=ORGANIZATION NAME/ou=ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP NAME/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=SERVER-NAME-TO-REMOVE))"
2.Quit the command prompt.
3.Start Notepad or some other text editor, and then load the Output.txt file that you created in step 1 to view the mailboxes that are on the mailbox store.
4.When you have identified which users have mailboxes on this store, you can use Active Directory Users and Computers either to move the mailboxes to a different store or to delete the user's mailbox.

Thanks

Logu

logu_microsoft@hotmail.com
91-9841499143