Exchange Installation

Exchange is the email server from Microsoft.

Archive Strategies

Unlike GroupWise it does not have message level retention abilities. So to make sure our customers are able to make proper archives there are some additional steps that need to be taken. For example, a message can come to a user, the user can read it, move it to the trash, and delete the trash.

Has it been removed from disk yet? No, it has not. It is moved to the Recoverable Items area of the database, where it resides for 14 days by default before being deleted. A user can undelete the message from Recoverable Items. However, they can also purge their Recoverable Items, which would remove them from the disk. A hold will prevent this until the hold expires.

Microsoft recommends setting up a Journaling Mailbox if all messages are to be saved. There is a very large downside with this technique. If the Journaling Mailbox becomes too large, ~100GB though it may be smaller, Exchange becomes unable to serve the messages so Retain can archive and delete them. This may work in small systems or in limited circumstances, but for the most part it is not the recommended technique for Retain.

Exchange also has In-Place and Litigation Holds. These holds keep items from being removed from the Recoverable Items folder.

• Exchange Archiving with In-Place Hold http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2406
• Exchange Journaling Mailbox Recommendations http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2300

Required Exchange Server Roles

Exchange is one point in a cluster of servers for a functioning Microsoft network. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39102

There are only a few functions that are critical for our purposes:

• DNS (Domain Name Server)
• AD DS (Active Directory Directory Services)
• CAS (Client Access Server)
• Exchange Mailbox Server

In the lab these functions might all be on one server, in a large organization they would be spread across multiple servers.

DNS

The DNS server resolves the domain name and IP addresses within the network and all these functions need to point to the same one to work correctly.

If there are multiple DNS then they need to be configured with the correct information. http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2233

One of the more common failure modes is that not all the servers are pointed to the same DNS.

AD DS

Active Directory Directory Services is how organizations organize domains, sites, computers, users and more. This is where the user Retain uses for access is created and resides. AD is where rights are assigned and maintained.

Retain logs into AD using SCP, EWS, autodiscover or LDAP.

One of the more common failures is that the Retain user's account has expired. How to check the status of the Exchange Impersonation User http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2362

CAS

The Client Access Servers http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298114%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

They are the front door of the network. They authenticate and route users to the correct database. When the Retain user logs into it is into the CAS, using Basic Authentication which needs to be enabled in IIS on the CAS server(s).

One of the most common failure modes is that Basic Authentication is not set up on the CAS for both EWS and autodiscover.

Exchange Mailbox Server

This is the server where the mailbox database we are accessing resides. As long as the Global Catalog User aka Retain Impersonation User has Application Impersonation rights to the directory it should be able to get to the data.

The main issue is setting policies for best performance:

• Retain and Exchange Server 2010 Throttling Policies http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2021
• Large Attachments and/or Messages Cannot Be Archived http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2089

Exchange for the Lab Environment

Installing Windows Server 2012 R2

Installing Exchange 2013 for Retain

Retain install

Preparing Exchange for Retain Getting prerequisites in place.

Retain Exchange Install Full install from scratch good for FastTrack.

Retain Outlook Plugins

Retain Outlook Web Access 2013 Plugin these instructions actually work.

Retain Outlook 2013 Plugin Retain 3.4 and Outlook 2013 client.

Troubleshooting

Some basic KBs:

• How to Create a SOAP Trace for Exchange Jobs http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2321
• Location of Exchange Logs http://support.gwava.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=2257

Exchange Troubleshooting internal and migration stuff

Troubleshooting Exchange mostly with LDAP stuff

LDAP Basics