Module 11: Monitoring and troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange

Server 2019
Lab: Monitoring and troubleshooting Exchange Server 2019
Scenario
You are the messaging administrator at A. Datum Corporation. You need to configure basic
monitoring by using the Performance Monitor. You also need to troubleshoot the mailbox
database and Client Access service issues.
Objectives
After completing this lab, you will be able to:
 Monitor Exchange Server.
 Troubleshoot database availability.
 Troubleshoot Client Access services.

Lab Setup
For this lab, you will use the available virtual machine environment. Before you begin the
lab, complete the following steps:
1. On the host computer, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click
Hyper-V Manager.
2. In Microsoft Hyper-V Manager, click EXC19-LON-DC1, and then in the Actions pane,
click Start.
3. In the Actions pane, click Connect. Wait until the virtual machine starts.
4. Sign in by using the following credentials:
o User name: Adatum\Administrator
o Password: [Link]
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for the EXC19-LON-EX1 virtual machine.

Exercise 1: Monitoring Exchange Server

Exercise Scenario
You are the messaging administrator at A. Datum. You need to configure basic monitoring
by using the Performance Monitor. Before you implement Operations Manager to monitor
your Exchange Server 2019 servers, you must create a Data Collector Set to monitor key
performance components that are running on your Mailbox server.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Create a new Data Collector Set that is named Exchange Monitoring
2. Create a new performance-counter Data Collector Set for monitoring basic Exchange
Server performance
3. Create a new performance-counter Data Collector Set for monitoring the performance of a
Mailbox server role
4. Verify that the Data Collector Set works properly

u Task 1: Create a new Data Collector Set that is named Exchange Monitoring
1. On LON-EX1, click the Server Manager tile.
2. In the Server Manager window, click the Tools menu, and then click Performance
Monitor.
3. In the Performance Monitor window, in the navigation pane, expand Data Collector
Sets, and then click User Defined.
4. Click the Action menu, click New, and then click Data Collector Set.
5. In the Create new Data Collector Set Wizard, in the Name text box, type Exchange
Monitoring, select Create manually (Advanced), and then click Next.
6. Select Performance counter, and then click Finish.
u Task 2: Create a new performance-counter Data Collector Set for monitoring basic
Exchange Server performance
Add the performance counters in the following table to monitor basic Exchange Server
performance on LON-EX1. Configure the sample interval to run every minute:
Object Counter

Processor % Processor Time

% User Time
% Privileged Time

MSExchange LDAP Read Time

ADAccess LDAP Search Time
Domain Controllers LDAP Searches timed out per
minute
Long running LDAP
operations/Min

Memory Available Mbytes

Page Reads/sec
Pages Input/sec
Pages/sec
Pages Output/sec
Pool Paged Bytes
Transition Pages
Repurposed/sec

System Processor Queue Length

1. In the Performance Monitor, in the navigation pane, expand Data Collector Sets,
expand User Defined, click Exchange Monitoring, in the Action menu, click New, and
then click Data Collector.
2. In the Create New Data Collector Wizard, in the Name text box, type Base Exchange
Monitoring, select Performance counter data collector, click Next, and then click
Add.
3. In the Available counters object list, expand Processor, and then click % Processor
Time. Press and hold the Ctrl key, click % User Time, click % Privileged Time, release
the Ctrl key and then click Add.
4. In the Available counters object list, expand Memory, and then click Available
Mbytes. Press and hold the Ctrl key, click the following items, release the Ctrl key, and
then click Add:
o Page Reads/sec
o Pages Input/sec
o Pages/sec
o Pages Output/sec
o Pool Paged Bytes
o Transition Pages Repurposed/sec
5. In the Available counters object list, expand MSExchange ADAccess Domain
Controllers, and then click LDAP Read Time. Press and hold the Ctrl key, click the
following items, and then click Add:
o LDAP Search Time
o LDAP Searches Timed Out per Minute
o Long Running LDAP Operations/min
6. In the Available counters object list, expand System, click Processor Queue
Length, click Add, and then click OK.
7. In the Create New Data Collector wizard, in the Sample interval text box, type 1,
in the Units drop-down list, select Minutes, and then click Finish to create the data
collector.
u Task 3: Create a new performance-counter Data Collector Set for monitoring the
performance of a Mailbox server role
1. In the Performance Monitor, in the navigation pane, click Exchange Monitoring, click
the Action menu, click New, and then click Data Collector.
2. In the Create New Data Collector Wizard, in the Name text box, type Mailbox Role
Monitoring, select Performance counter data collector, click Next, and then click
Add.
3. In the Available counters object list, expand LogicalDisk, and then click [Link]
sec/Read. Press and hold the Ctrl key, click the following items, and then click Add:
o [Link] sec/Transfer
o [Link] sec/Write
4. In the Available counters object list, expand MSExchangeIS Store, and then click
RPC Average Latency. Press and hold the Ctrl key, click the following items, and then
click Add:
o RPC Operations/sec
o RPC Requests
o Messages Delivered/sec
5. Click OK.
6. In the Create New Data Collector Wizard, in the Sample interval text box, type 1,
and in the Units drop-down list, select Minutes, and then click Finish to create the
Data Collector Set.

u Task 4: Verify that the Data Collector Set works properly

1. In the Performance Monitor, in the navigation pane, click Exchange Monitoring, click
the Action menu, and then click Start.
2. Wait at least five minutes, and then in the Action menu, click Stop.
3. In the navigation pane, expand Reports, expand User Defined, expand Exchange
Monitoring, click LON-EX1_DateTime-Number, and then review the report.
4. Close the Performance Monitor.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have created a Data Collector Set for
monitoring LON-EX1. This set should use the recommended performance counters.

Exercise 2: Troubleshooting database availability

Exercise Scenario
You are the messaging administrator for A. Datum. After recovering from a hardware failure,
your monitoring software reports that one of the mailbox databases is not mounted. You
must troubleshoot and repair the database problem.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Identify the problem’s scope
2. Review the event logs
3. List the probable causes of the problem, and rank possible solutions if multiple options
exist
4. Review the database configuration
5. Reconfigure and mount the database

u Task 1: Identify the problem’s scope

Before you begin this exercise, complete the following steps:
1. On LON-EX1, open the Exchange Management Shell. At the prompt, type C:\labfiles\
Mod11\Lab11-Exercise02-Prep.ps1, and then press Enter. This script will create a new
Database (MailboxDB100) and simulate database failure.
2. On LON-EX1, click Start, and then click Internet Explorer.
 3. In the Internet Explorer window, type [Link] and then press
Enter.
4. On the Exchange Admin Center web page, in the Username text box, type Adatum\
Administrator. In the Password text box, type [Link], and then click Sign In.
5. In the Time zone list, click (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) and click Save.
6. On the Exchange admin center, on the feature pane, click servers, and then click the
databases tab.
7. In the list view, click the MailboxDB100 database, and then in the details pane, verify that
it is Dismounted.
8. On the toolbar, click More, and then click Mount.
9. In the warning window, click yes.
10. Another warning window appears, which displays a message that at least one database file
is missing. In the warning window, click cancel.

u Task 2: Review the event logs

1. On LON-EX1, click Server Manager.
2. In the Server Manager window, on the Tools menu, click Event Viewer.
3. In the Event Viewer, in the navigation pane, expand Windows Logs, click Application,
and then in the Content pane, review the recent events.
4. Click the recent events that have a source from one of the MSExchange services, and then
review the details of the error in the lower half of the Content pane.
5. In the navigation pane, click System, and then in the Content pane, review recent events.
Notice that notable events are present.
6. Close the Event Viewer.

u Task 3: List the probable causes of the problem, and rank possible solutions if multiple
options exist
· List the problems and possible solutions:
Problem Possible solution
Disk errors are preventing access to the Replace disks and restore from backup.
database.
Database path is incorrect because of Change the configuration of your storage or
storage changes. database.

u Task 4: Review the database configuration

1. On LON-EX1, in the Exchange admin center, in the list view, verify that MailboxDB100
database is selected, and then on the toolbar, click the Edit button.
2. Take note of the database path.
3. Click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar, and then in the navigation pane, expand
Computer, expand Local Disk (C:), expand Program Files, expand Microsoft, expand
Exchange Server, expand V15, expand Mailbox, and then verify that the folder
MailboxDB100-newpath does not exist. This is the specified location for
[Link].
4. In the navigation pane, double-click the MailboxDB100 folder, and then locate the
[Link] database file. This is the actual location of the database and
transaction log files. The configuration is pointing to the wrong path.
5. Close the File Explorer window.

u Task 5: Reconfigure and mount the database

1. On LON-EX1, switch to the Exchange Management Shell, type the follow cmdlet, and
then press Enter:
Move-DatabasePath MailboxDB100 –LogFolderPath “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\
Mailbox\MailboxDB100” –EdbFilePath “C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Mailbox\
MailboxDB100\[Link]” –ConfigurationOnly –force
2. Type Y, and then press Enter.
3. In the Exchange Management Shell, type the following cmdlet, and then press Enter:
 Mount-Database MailboxDB100
4. In the Exchange admin center, on the features pane, click servers, and then click the
databases tab.
5. In the list view, click the MailboxDB100 database, and then in the details pane, verify
that it is Mounted.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have used a troubleshooting technique to
identify and fix a Mailbox server problem.

Exercise 3: Troubleshooting Client Access servers

Exercise Scenario
You are the messaging administrator for A. Datum. Users report that they cannot sign in to
Outlook on the web. You need to determine what is causing the problem and correct the
issue.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

1. Use the test cmdlets to verify server health
2. Check the Outlook on the web configuration
3. Verify that you resolved the problem
4. Prepare for the next module

u Task 1: Use the test cmdlets to verify server health

Before you begin this exercise, complete the following steps:
1. On LON-EX1, in the Exchange Management Shell, at the prompt, type C:\labfiles\Mod11\
Lab11-Exercise03-Prep.ps1, and then press Enter.(This script change the owa
Authentication to false value to simulate error)
Note: If you receive warning messages after running the script, you can safely ignore them
and continue to the next step.
2. In the Exchange Management Shell, type the following Test cmdlet, and then press
Enter
Test-ServiceHealth
4. Verify that the output does not return any errors.
5. Close the Exchange Management Shell.

u Task 2: Check the Outlook on the web configuration

1. On LON-EX1, close Internet Explorer, and then click Start.
2. On the Start screen, open Internet Explorer.
3. In the Internet Explorer window, type [Link] and then press
Enter.
4. On the Outlook on the web page, in the Username text box, type Adatum\
Administrator, in the Password text box, type [Link], and then click the Sign In
button.
5. Verify that you cannot sign in to the Exchange admin center.
6. In the Exchange Management Shell, type following cmdlet, and then press Enter:
Get-OwaVirtualDirectory –Identity “lon-ex1\owa (Default Web Site)" | ft name, *authentication
7. Verify that all authentication methods are set to False.
8. In the Exchange Management Shell, type following cmdlet, and then press Enter:
Set-OwaVirtualDirectory –Identity “lon-ex1\owa (Default Web Site)" –FormsAuthentication $true
9. In the Exchange Management Shell, type following command, and then press Enter:
iisreset
10. In the Internet Explorer window, type [Link] and then press
Enter.
11. In the Username text box, type Adatum\Administrator, and in the password text box,
type [Link], and then click the sign in button.
12. Verify that now you can sign in to the Exchange admin center. If you receive a navigation
error in Internet Explorer, close and reopen Internet Explorer, and then repeat the process
from step 10.
Note: If you receive an error indicating that the service did not start, start the World Wide
Web Publishing Service in the Services management console by running the following
command in the Exchange Management Shell:
Start-Service W3SVC
It will start world wide web publishing service

u Task 3: Verify that you resolved the problem

1. Open Internet Explorer, and connect to [Link]
2. Sign in to Outlook on the web as Adatum\Administrator with the password [Link].
3. Confirm that Administrator can now access Outlook on the web, and then close Internet
Explorer.

u Task 4: Prepare for the next module

When you are finished with the lab, revert all virtual machines to their initial state:
1. On the host computer, start Hyper-V Manager.
2. In the Virtual Machines list, right-click EXC19-LON-EX1, and then click Revert.
3. In the Revert Virtual Machine dialog box, click Revert.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for EXC19-LON-DC1.

Results: After completing this exercise, you should have used a troubleshooting technique to
identify and fix a Client Access service problem.