Exchange 2019

The question "Does Exchange setup automatically run /PrepareSchema?" was something that came up many times in the recent Hafnium remediation activities.  This was due to many customers not updating Exchange for multiple years, and being extremely behind on updates.  In order to get Exchange updated, it was necessary to perform multiple steps in the upgrade process.  Sometimes the /PrepareSchema ta… Read the rest “Does Exchange Setup Automatically Run PrepareSchema?”

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”

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”

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”