While performing maintenance to Exchange 2010 DAG server you should first remove the DAG member from DAG group.Other wise you may have unwanted DB failovers and many other unexpected issue that may affect company mail services availability

Shutting Down DAG Members

The Exchange 2010 high availability solution is integrated with the Windows shutdown process. If an administrator or application initiates a shutdown of a Windows server in a DAG that has a mounted database that’s replicated to one or more DAG members, the system attempts to activate another copy of the mounted database prior to allowing the shutdown process to complete.

However, this new behavior doesn’t guarantee that all of the databases on the server being shut down will experience a lossless activation. As a result, it’s a best practice to perform a server switchover prior to shutting down a server that’s a member of a DAG.

The correct way to perform any maintenance is to run first  StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script that is located under “C:Program FilesMicrosoftExchange ServerV14scripts”
This script moves all the active databases to next preferred DAG server and prevents active databases from moving to that server during the maintenance.
In addition the script ensures that all critical DAG support functionality that may be on this server has been moved to next proffered server

To run the script open EMC
Type:
cd $exscripts
StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 -server YourServername

The script performs the following tasks on the background:

• Runs the Suspend-MailboxDatabaseCopy cmdlet for each database copy hosted on the DAG member.
• Pauses the node in the cluster, which prevents the node from being and becoming the PAM.
• Sets the value of the DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy parameter on the DAG member to blocked
• Moves all active databases currently hosted on the DAG member to other DAG members.
• If the DAG member currently owns the default cluster group, the script moves the default cluster group (and therefore the PAM role) to another DAG member.

If any of the preceding tasks fails, all operations, except for successful database moves, are undone.

After the maintenance is complete and the DAG member is ready to return to serve clients you need to run the following script:

cd $exscripts
StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 -server YourServername

The script performs the following tasks on the background:

• Runs the Resume-MailboxDatabaseCopy cmdlet for each database copy hosted on the DAG member.
• Resumes the node in the cluster, which enables full cluster functionality for the DAG member.
• Sets the value of the DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy parameter on the DAG member to Unrestricted

I highly recommend using  Start/StopDagServerMaintenanceInstalling maintainance scripts before any action that requiers server Reboot/ShutDown or Update Rollups instalation.

Most of the material has been taken from Managing Database Availability Groups MS article

Some times we need to use PS script to send email, script can be used in Task Scheduler or any other program

BatchFile to run script: Create *.bat file

C:WindowsSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0powershell.exe -PSConsoleFile "C:Program FilesMicrosoftExchange Serverbinexshell.psc1" -noexit -command ". C:scriptslocationscriptname.ps1"

PS Script to send mail: Create  .ps1 file

$filename = “c:filelocationHtmlFIleyouwant torecieve.html”
$smtpServer = “SMTP Servername”

$msg = new-object Net.Mail.MailMessage
$att = new-object Net.Mail.Attachment($filename)
$smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)

$msg.From = “sendername@domainanme”
$msg.To.Add(“recipient_address@domainanme”)
$msg.Subject = “Subject”
$msg.Body = “Body ”
$msg.Attachments.Add($att)
$smtp.Send($msg)

Full list of Microsoft  Outlook 2003 command line switches and parameters

/a – Creates an item with the specified file as an attachment.

Example: “C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice11Outlook.exe” /a “C:My Documentslabels.doc”

/altvba otmfilename – Opens the VBA program specified in otmfilename, rather than %appdata%MicrosoftOutlookVbaProject.OTM.

/c messageclass – Creates a new item of the specified message class (Outlook forms or any other valid MAPI form).

Examples:

• * /c ipm.activity creates a Journal entry
• * /c ipm.appointment creates an appointment
• * /c ipm.contact creates a contact
• * /c ipm.note creates an e-mail message
• * /c ipm.stickynote creates a note
• * /c ipm.task creates a task

/checkclient – Prompts for the default manager of e-mail, news, and contacts.

/cleanclientrules – Starts Outlook and deletes client-based rules.

/cleandmrecords – Deletes the logging records saved when a manager or a delegate declines a meeting.

/cleanfinders – Removes Search Folders from the Microsoft Exchange server store.

/cleanfreebusy – Clears and regenerates free/busy information. This switch can only be used when you are able to connect to your Microsoft Exchange server.

/cleanprofile – Removes invalid profile keys and recreates default registry keys where applicable.

/cleanpst -Launches Outlook with a clean Personal Folders file (.pst) (Personal Folders file (.pst): Data file that stores your messages and other items on your computer. You can assign a .pst file to be the default delivery location for e-mail messages. You can use a .pst to organize and back up items for safekeeping.).

/cleanreminders – Clears and regenerates reminders.

/cleanrules – Starts Outlook and deletes client- and server-based rules.

/cleanschedplus – Deletes all Schedule+ data (free/busy, permissions, and .cal file) from the server and enables the free/busy information from the Outlook Calendar to be used and viewed by all Schedule+ 1.0 users.

/cleanserverrules – Starts Outlook and deletes server-based rules.

/cleansniff – Deletes duplicate reminder messages.

/cleansubscriptions – Deletes the subscription messages and properties for subscription features.

/cleanviews – Restores default views. All custom views you created are lost.

/designer – Starts Outlook without figuring out if Outlook should be the default client in the first run.

/embedding – Opens the specified message file (.msg) as an OLE embedding. Also used without command-line parameters for standard OLE co-create.

/f msgfilename – Opens the specified message file (.msg) or Microsoft Office saved search (.oss).

/firstrun – Starts Outlook as if it were run for the first time.

/hol holfilename – Opens the specified .hol file.

/ical icsfilename – Opens the specified .ics file.

/importprf prffilename – Launches Outlook and opens/imports the defined MAPI profile (*.prf). If Outlook is already open, queues the profile to be imported on the next clean launch.

/l olkfilename – Opens the specified .olk file.

/launchtraininghelp assetid – Opens a Help window with the Help topic specified in assetid.

/m emailname – Provides a way for the user to add an e-mail name to the item. Only works in conjunction with the /c command-line parameter.

Example:Outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m emailname

/nocustomize – Starts Outlook without loading outcmd.dat (customized toolbars) and *.fav file.

/noextensions – Starts Outlook with extensions turned off, but listed in the Add-In Manager.

/nopollmail – Starts Outlook without checking mail at startup.

/nopreview – Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off.

/p msgfilename – Prints the specified message (.msg). Does not work with HTML.

/profile profilename – Loads the specified profile. If your profile name contains a space, enclose the profile name in quotation marks (“).

/profiles – Opens the Choose Profile dialog box regardless of the Options setting on the Tools menu.

/recycle – Starts Outlook using an existing Outlook window, if one exists. Used in combination with /explorer or /folder.

/resetfoldernames – Resets default folder names (such as Inbox or Sent Items) to default names in the current Office user interface language.
For example, if you first connect to your mailbox Outlook using a Russian user interface, the Russian default folder names cannot be renamed. To change the default folder names to another language such as Japanese or English, you can use this switch to reset the default folder names after changing the user interface language or installing a different language version of Outlook.

/resetfolders – Restores missing folders for the default delivery location.

/resetnavpane – Clears and regenerates the Navigation Pane for the current profile.

/rpcdiag – Opens Outlook and displays the remote procedure call (RPC) connection status dialog.

/s filename – Loads the specified shortcuts file (.fav).

/safe – Starts Outlook without extensions, Reading Pane, or toolbar customization.

/safe:1 – Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off.

/safe:2 -Starts Outlook without checking mail at startup.

/safe:3 – Starts Outlook with extensions turned off, but listed in the Add-In Manager.

/safe:4 – Starts Outlook without loading Outcmd.dat (customized toolbars) and *.fav file.

/select foldername – Starts Outlook and opens the specified folder in a new window. For example, to open Outlook and display the default calendar use: “c:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice11Outlook.exe” /select outlook:calendar

/sniff – Starts Outlook and forces a detection of new meeting requests in the Inbox, and then adds them to the calendar.

/t oftfilename – Opens the specified .oft file.

/v vcffilename – Opens the specified .vcf file.

/vcal vcsfilename – Opens the specified .vcs file.

/x xnkfilename – Opens the specified .xnk file.

As you probably know Microsoft releases set of DST patches for their systems every year at December .
To avoid DST calendar issues  make sure to install/deploy the following updates to entire organization.

• Microsoft Windows Server and Windows XP/Vista Clients : KB 955839
• Microsoft Exchange Server and outlook 2000/2003/2007 Clients:KB 941018 make sure to read MS DST Blog

The country that was skipped in MS  Day Light Saving update are Argentina/Brazil and Chile.

• Daylight saving time begins: October 19th, 2008
• Daylight saving period ends: March 15th, 2009

Since the new dates published by the federal are different from what was defined in the initial years, Windows-based computers am able to not correctly interpret the time such a is related to the transition to daylight saving time.

General recommendations

• There is no hotfix to be had at this time to update MS Operating Systems with the 2008-2009 DST dates for Argentina.
• Please note that if you adjust the machine’s clock manually, you may have adverse effects on your environment.
• Before applying the changes on Windows Operating Systems to reflect the change in Daylight Saving Time in Argentina, be aware of possible issues that am able to affect Microsoft Office Outlook and Exchange Server.
• Contact Microsoft Support prior to any modification if you are unsure about the steps to emulate in condition to be prepared for the Daylight Saving Time change in Argentina.

Impacts for Outlook clients and Exchange

• For the year 2008-2009, customers paying for the ‘(GMT -3:00) Buenos Aires’ minute zone have a delta period at the start on of the DST as follows:
  Delta-Argentina-BuenosAires
  From Sunday, October 19th, 2008 to Saturday, December 28th, 2008.
• And for customers using the ‘(GMT -3:00) Georgetown’ time zone have a delta range that comprehends the whole DST period:
  Delta-Argentina-GeorgeTown
  From Sunday, October 19th, 2008 to Saturday, December 28th, 2008

As result appointments may be off 1 hour. This may happen for both recurring and single-instance appointments.
The appointments created in the wake of the DST dates have been updated on the operating system will have the correct time.

Read More about Argentina 2008-2009 DST at MS Blog

Read More about Brazil 2008-2009 DST at MS Blog

Read More about Chile 2008-2009 DST at MS Blog

Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS). AD CS role services install on a number
of operating systems, including Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and
Windows 2000 Server. Naturally the fullest implementation of AD CS is only possible
on Windows Server 2008. You can deploy AD CS as a single standalone certification
authority (CA), or you can deploy multiple servers and configure them as root, policy, and
certificate issuing authorities. You also have a variety of Online Responder configuration
possibilities.
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This is the role in the Windows Server
2008 operating system that stores information about users, computers, and other
resources on a network. AD DS is also used for directory-enabled applications such as
Microsoft Exchange Server. AD also stores all information required for Group Policy.
Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS). AD FS employs technology that
allows users over the life of a single online session to securely share digital identity
and entitlement rights, or ‘‘claims,’’ across security and enterprise boundaries. This
role—introduced and supported on all operating systems since Microsoft Windows
Server 2003 R2— provides Web Single Sign-On (SSO) services to allow a user to access
multiple, related Web applications.
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS). This service is ideal if you
are required to support directory-enabled applications. AD LDS is a Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP) compliant directory service.
Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS). This service augments
an organization’s security strategy by protecting information through persistent usage
policies. The key to the service is that the right management policies are bound to the
information no matter where it resides or to where it is moved. AD RMS is used to lock
down documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, and so on from being infiltrated or ending up in
the wrong hands. AD RMS, for example, prevents e-mails from being accidentally forwarded
to the wrong people.
The Application Server role. This role supports the deployment and operation of custom
business applications that are built with Microsoft .NET Framework. The Application
Server role lets you choose services for applications that require COM+, Message Queuing,
Web services, and Distributed Coordinated Transactions.
DHCP and DNS. These two roles install these two critical network service services
required for every network. They support Active Directory integration and support IPv6.
Fax Server role. The fax server lets you set up a service to send and receive faxes over
your network. The role creates a fax server and installs the Fax Service Manager and the
Fax service on the server.

File Server role. This role lets you set up all the bits, bells, and whistles that come with a
Windows file server. This role also lets you install Share and Storage Management, the Distributed
File System (DFS), the File Server Resource Manager application for managing file
servers, Services for Network File System (NFS), Windows File Services, which include
stuff like the File Replication Service (FRS), and so on.
Network Policy and Access Services. This provides the following network connectivity
solutions: Network Access Protection (NAP), the client health policy creation, enforcement,
and remediation technology; secure wireless and wired access (802.1X), wireless
access points, remote access solutions, virtual private network (VPN) services, Radius, and
more.
Print Management role. The print services provide a single interface that you use to
manage multiple printers and print servers on your network.
Terminal Services role. This service provides technologies that enable users to access
Windows-based programs that are installed on a terminal server. Users can execute applications
remotely (they still run on the remote server) or they can access the full Windows
desktop on the target server.
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI). UDDI Services provide
capabilities for sharing information about Web services. UDDI is used on the intranet,
between entities participating on an extranet, or on the Internet.
Web Server role. This role provides IIS 7.0, the Web server, ASP.NET, and the Windows
Communication Foundation (WCF).

Windows Deployment Services. These services are used for deployment of new computers
in medium to large organizations.

Users Not Receiving Messages to Handheld After Mailbox Move

BlackBerry server maps user mailboxes by using a process called worker treads. Blackberry version [4.0.4.5], is capable of mapping worker treads back to a user mailboxes when a mailbox gets moved to a different store by scanning the GAL for changes in the Server DN.BES users may not receive messages to their handheld device after a mailbox move .

After mailbox move the BES server should pick up the new mailbox location and start sending again within 15min.

The only thing you have to watch is moving the BES service account mailbox, Also be sure the BES service account has the appropriate permissions on the new Exchange server Information Store before you start moving user mailboxes, full send as/receive as. I would suggest moving the user mailboxes and then the service account

To move user mailboxes:

Move them as you normally would, use the Exchange mailbox move wizard.

RIM suggests you run the mailbox cleanup utility on the BES server after mailbox move

Restart BES Services:

* Mailbox move within the same server are not updated by BES and messages are not received by BB devices until BES services are restarted. This is because BES scans user’s mailboxes for changes in the Server DN. Since mailboxes are moved within the same server, BES is unaware of the mailbox move.

Using Cleanup Utility:

* Run C:Program FilesResearch In MotionBlackberry Enterprise ServerUtilityhandheldcleanup -u

Move BB Service Account:

* Log in to Blackberry Enterprise Server as the blackberry system account
* Stop all Blackberry Enterprise Server services
* Move the blackberry system mailbox to Exchange 2003
* On the blackberry Server: Go to Start-> Programs-> Blackberry Enterprise
* Server-> Edit the MAPI Profile for the Blackberry Server
* Type “new Exchange server name” in the Microsoft Exchange Server field
* Type “blackberry service account name” in the Mailbox field
* Run Handheld Cleanup utility on BES Server “C:Program FilesResearch In MotionBlackberry Enterprise ServerUtilityhandheldcleanup -m”
* Start Blackberry Enterprise Server service

It happens after SP 2 Installation.
Users started to receive meetings directly to their calendars without accepting .
I used Microsoft ExBPA in order to see if there is any problem and discovered that The site-wide public folder database for administrative group ‘Group Name’ has been deleted. .
And followed MS Instruction on how to recreate folder back.

1. Open an Active Directory editor, such as ADSI Edit.
2. Locate the public folder information store you want to designate as the Site Folder Server, by expanding the     following nodes in the Configuration container:CN=Configuration,DC=<DomainName>,DC=com, CN=Services, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=<OrganizationName>, CN=Administrative Groups, CN=<AdministrativeGroupName> CN=Servers, CN=<ServerName>, CN=InformationStore, CN=<StorageGroupName>
3. Locate the public folder information store you want to designate as the Site Folder Server, by expanding the     following nodes in the Configuration container:
4. In the right pane, right-click CN=<PublicFolderStoreName>, and then click Properties.
5. In the Attributes field, scroll down and select the distinguishedName attribute.
6. Click Edit, and then copy the entire attribute to the Clipboard.Expand the Configuration container, and then expand CN=Configuration,CN=<DomainName>,CN=com, CN=Services, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=<OrganizationName>, CN=Administrative Groups
7. Right-click the administrative group you want to modify, and then click Properties.
8. In the Attributes field, scroll down and select the siteFolderServer attribute.
9. Click Edit, and then paste the value for the distinguishedName attribute into the Value field.
10. Double-check the contents of the Value field to ensure the paste was performed correctly, and then click OK to save the change.
11. Click OK to close the Administrative Group properties.
12. Exit the Active Directory editor and restart the Microsoft Exchange Server Information Store service on all Exchange Server computers in the site for the change to take effect.

The full article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996485.aspx

Additional resources:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943721

On errors:

Mapi session “/o=COMPANY/ou=Europe/cn=Recipients/cn=User1? exceeded the maximum of 32 objects of type “session”.

Task “Microsoft Exchange Server” reported error (0×80040115): “The
connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable. Outlook must be
online or connected to complete this action.”

Task ‘Microsoft Exchange Server’ reported error (0×8004011d): ‘The server is
not available. Contact your administrator if this condition persists.’

Don’t waste your time on profile recreation … It doesn’t help!!!

Things to check .

1.      Ping to exchange server by short name and FQDN

a. If no ping check connectivity and name resolution.

b. Consider adding exchange name/ip to hosts file

2.      Go to file and check if “Work Offline” is not checked

a. If it is uncheck it.

3.      If you have check point client try to

a. Disable security policy

b. Stop Vpn client

c. Remove checkpoint secure remote “v” on local area connection properties ( do it only for testing – remember if you remove the “v” user will be not able to dial VPN.

4.      Run Outlook.exe with rpcdiag switch “outlook.exe /rpcdiag” see where is hanging

5.      On exchange system manger open user related mailbox store in logons section check if user exceeded maximum of 32 connections to the store.

a. If do : To solve this problem for this user, download the sysinternals tool called TCPView and run it on your Exchange server. You will see a whole bunch of connections. Work out the IP address of user, and then using TCP view terminate all sessions to that IP address.

b. Other option is to mount / unmount store – not recommended

6.      In order to Increase default 32 MAPI connections limit do the following things

a. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.

Locate and then click the following registry sub key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesMSExchangeISParametersSystem

If the Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User entry does not exist, do the following:

On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

Type Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User as the entry name, and then press ENTER.

Right-click the Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User entry, and then click Modify

Click decimal, type the value that you want to set in the Value data box, and then click OK.

Exit Registry Editor.

Click Start, click Run, type services.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.

Click the MSExchange Information Store service, and then click Restart Service.

Didn’t solve the problem ? Read Related Microsoft solutions

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842022

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830836

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840835

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821188

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821188

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=898060