250 Hello - Exchange 2013

0

Unable to Run Exchange Setup–Pending Reboot From a Previous Installation

Posted on 3rd May 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

When installing Exchange updates, I place the server into maintenance mode and restart it prior to installing the actual Exchange update. This is due to have being burned many times by other teams or third party tools that conveniently "overlooked" the fact that their setup required the machine to restart. It also provides an opportunity for issues caused by those third party tools to surface be… Read the rest “Unable to Run Exchange Setup–Pending Reboot From a Previous Installation”

0

Exchange Managed Availability State Unknown

Posted on 30th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

The below is one of the cases where the "Zen of Exchange Management" is what fixes the issue. I've been know to say that sometimes you just need to wait for Exchange to do what it needs to do. To pass the time, feel free to adopt a meditation pose and emit calm and peaceful humming noises. This is Zen.

Exchange Managed Availability Reports Status: Unknown

After remediating multiple other i… Read the rest “Exchange Managed Availability State Unknown”

0

Exchange .NET Framework Upgrade – The Unsupported Kangaroo In The Room

Posted on 27th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

It is critical Exchange installations are properly maintained in all regards. In order to stay current with Exchange Cumulative Updates (CUs), it is necessary to read the release notes for a given CU to determine if an update is required for the .NET Framework. Staying current on updates is required to receive full support from Microsoft. Exchange Hybrid supports N and N-1 for on-premises CUs, … Read the rest “Exchange .NET Framework Upgrade – The Unsupported Kangaroo In The Room”

13

Should I Overwrite The Default Exchange SMTP Certificate?

Posted on 26th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Exchange Prompt To Overwrite Default SMTP Certificate

When adding a TLS certificate on an Exchange server, the inevitable prompt will appear to enquire if you wish to overwrite the default SMTP certificate binding. While the UI in the current versions of Exchange is slightly different, it was basically the same prompt in Exchange 2010 & Exchange 2007.

While the prompt language was the same in Exchange 2007 and newer versions, the way that transpo… Read the rest “Should I Overwrite The Default Exchange SMTP Certificate?”

0

Can You Fix This? Exchange 2013 Setup – Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra Isn’t Installed

Posted on 14th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

There was a request to fix the issue below when installing Exchange 2013 CU23. When running setup the error received was "Installing Exchange Error - Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra isn't installed".

If you look closely at the image below, you might be able to state the answer in advance…

Alternative Reality

As a side note. If you are installing Exchange 2016 onto Windows Server 2016 and receive this error, … Read the rest “Can You Fix This? Exchange 2013 Setup – Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra Isn’t Installed”

1

April 2021 Exchange Security Updates

Posted on 13th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Today is patch Tuesday for April 2021 and there are critical Exchange server security updates in the release. You can review all of the affected products on the MSRC blog or on the Security Update Guide (SUG).

Updates have been released for supported versions of Exchange 2013, 2016 and 2019. Details can be found in KB 5001779.

Update 5-5-2021. Two articles with known issues relating to this securit… Read the rest “April 2021 Exchange Security Updates”

0

Exchange & TCP/IP Port Range

Posted on 12th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

The below is an interesting result after installing Exchange. The act of installing Exchange will change how TCP/IP operates on the server with respect to ephemeral connections.

This may manifest itself in a few ways.

For example:

Security or Network are "surprised" with different network behaviour on an Exchange server when reviewing captures
Network team sets a very restrictive firewall ACL which is

… Read the rest

2

Exchange Setup Fails – Error 3221685616

Posted on 9th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

The saying goes that nothing monitors AD better than Exchange. While the symptom is an Exchange issue, the underlying root cause is typically something else. Though as an added "feature" Exchange can also monitor additional elements of your infrastructure and indicate they are also unhealthy...

This is one of those such cases, where an Exchange CU was not installing. In the screenshot below, yo… Read the rest “Exchange Setup Fails – Error 3221685616”

0

Quick Tip – Query Block Mode

Posted on 8th April 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Exchange 2010 SP1 introduced the concept of block mode or granular replication. This minimised the time taken for transactions on the active node to be replicated to passive nodes. Since the feature is enabled by default and is self-managing, there is a good chance that you are benefiting from it without being fully aware of it.

If you d… Read the rest “Quick Tip – Query Block Mode”

0

Install March 2021 Security Update–Exchange 2013 Net Framework 4.7.2

Posted on 9th March 2021 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

You will have seen the multiple posts and communications around the Hafnium Exchange security issue. One of the most disconcerting issues has been the number of Exchange installs that have not been patched in several years. Once the storm has abated, I'll put down some thoughts and talk through some of the most problematic issues, but for now let's focus on the task in hand. Security updates ar… Read the rest “Install March 2021 Security Update–Exchange 2013 Net Framework 4.7.2”