100 Updated MS Exchange Server 2003 Interview Questions Part – 1
Q – 1 How do I verify OMA is functioning?
Ans- You can verify Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) is functioning from a desktop machine running IE 6.0 Assuming that SERVER1 is running Exchange 2003:
1. From a desktop PC running IE6.0, navigate to http://server1/oma
2. Enter the logon credentials for an existing mailbox which resides on server1
3. Click the OK hyperlink when you receive the warning about your device being unsupported
4. Welcome to OMA!
Q – 2 I have an Exchange 2003 server on a member server that I promoted to a DC, what happened to my OMA, it no longer works?
Ans- Amongst other problems, the ASP.NET account changes which causes OMA to cease functioning.
Q – 3 I have just upgraded and I can not use OMA, why?
Ans- The setting to enable/disable OMA Browse is actually set during ForestPrep. Exchange 2003 ForestPrep will no longer enable OMA Browse by default. Exchange 2003 ForestPrep/Reinstall will keep it enabled if it was already enabled.
This means that OMA Browse WON’T be enabled when running ForestPrep to upgrade from Exchange 2000. You can find OMA Browse settings in ESM, under Global Settings -> Mobile Services -> Properties
Note: ActiveSync and AUTD remain unchanged.
Q – 4 Which devices are supported by Microsoft to be used with OMA?
Ans- Device support for Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) Browse is dictated by the Device Update package installed on the Exchange 2003 server. When you run Exchange 2003 Setup today, the DU2 package is silently installed as part of the installation.
Approximately, every 6 months, new Device Update packages are released. This will add support for more devices to your Exchange server.
The current Device Update package is DU4. The full list of devices and which DU package they are included in is available here.
Q – 5 What is the OMA?
Ans- Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange Server ActiveSync features, formerly found in Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2002, are now built-in with all Exchange Server 2003 Standard installations.
Complementing the Outlook 2003 and Outlook Web Access mobile improvements, Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange Server ActiveSync help enable secure corporate e-mail on a range of mobile devices including browser-based mobile phones, Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC, and Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone devices.
Adding this functionality to the core Exchange Server 2003 product reduces the need to deploy additional mobile server products in the corporate environment, thus lowering the total cost of ownership.
Q – 6 Can I deploy OMA in a mixed environment?
Ans- In a mixed Exchange environment, you must use Exchange 2003 for both the front-end and back-end servers to gain access to mailboxes through Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) and Exchange ActiveSync. For mailboxes on Exchange 5.5 and 2000, you need to deploy Microsoft Mobile Information Server.
Q – 7 What are the new OWA Hot Keys?
Ans-
* Ctrl+N: New Mail (or Post, if in public folders)
* Ctrl+R: Reply to currently selected mail in view
* Ctrl+Shift+R: Reply all to currently selected mail in view
* Ctrl+Shift+F: Forward currently selected mail
* Ctrl+U: Mark currently selected message(s) as unread
* Ctrl+Q: Mark currently selected message(s) as read .
Q – 8 How do I disable potions of the OWA interface?
Ans- Exchange 2000 SP2 introduced the concept of OWA segmentation. This is where you can selectively enable/disable certain features in the web client. Exchange 2003 extends the segmentation options found in Exchange 2000.
You can either set global (per server) segmentation via a registry parameter, or set the msExchMailboxFolderSet attribute on user objects. A bit mask determines the functionality available to the user.
Q – 9 How do I activate session timeouts for OWA users?
Ans- Outlook Web Access user credentials are now stored in a cookie. When the user logs out of Outlook Web Access, the cookie is cleared and is no longer valid for authentication. Additionally, by default the cookie is set to expire automatically after 20 minutes of user inactivity. See Logon Modifications for OWA Users for the instructions.
Q – 10 How do I stop users from going to a bookmarked /LOGON.ASP page after conversion to 2003 OWA?
Ans- After converting from Exchange 5.5 OWA to 2000 OWA, all the users had book marked the URL of mail.company.com/exchange/logon.asp, since in 5.5 OWA it automatically would pull the user from the root URL into a logon page (since it used ASP) but now the user only sees the same base URL of mail.company.com/exchange.
So once the users used the book mark or in some cases the “autocomplete” feature in IE they would be pulled to a dead address.
Go into the front-end server that is hosting your OWA.
* Start up IIS admin and locate the /Exchange virtual directory
* Right click on the /Exchange directory and using the “wizard” create a new virtual directory called logon.asp. When it prompts where the content is located just put something like c:inetpubwwwroot
* Once the virtual root has been created, right click it, select properties then select the tab labeled “Virtual Directory”
* Select the “A redirection to a URL” and then in the “Redirect to” URL enter /exchange/
What happens is when the user hits the virtual root of /exchange/logon.asp it pulls the user back to only /exchange*
Q – 11 How do I make OWA work properly with Extended Characters?
Ans- Beginning in Exchange 2000, messages with extended characters are encoded with UTF-8, by default. For more information see KB273615 and KB281745
Q – 12 How do I disable OWA for a single user in Exchange 2000/2003?
Ans- In Active Directory Users and Computers (Advanced Features view) open the properties for the user object and choose Exchange Advanced | Protocol Settings | HTTP | Settings | and uncheck the ‘Enable for mailbox’ check box.
Q – 13 How can I get a list of connection agreements in Exchange 2003 ADC?
Ans- Run the ExchDump utility with the /CA switch.
Q – 14 Can I use the Windows 2003 Active Directory connector with Exchange 2003?
Ans- No, you need to install the Exchange 2003 ADC.
Q – 15 What are the new ADC Tools?
Ans- The Active Directory Connector management console now contains an ADC Tools option.
ADC Tools is a collection of wizards and tools that help you set up connection agreements by scanning your current Active Directory and Exchange 5.5 Directory and organization, and automatically creating the recommended connection agreements. The following wizards are included in the ADC Tools:
Resource Mailbox Wizard This wizard identifies Active Directory accounts that match more than one Exchange 5.5 mailbox.
Using this wizard, you can match the appropriate primary mailbox to the Active Directory account and stamp other mailboxes with the NTDSNoMatch attribute, which designates the mailboxes as resource mailboxes. You can either make these changes online or export a commaseparated value (.csv) file that you can update and import into the Exchange 5.5 directory.
Connection Agreement Wizard This wizard recommends connection agreements based on your Exchange 5.5 directory and Active Directory configuration. You can review the list of recommended connection agreements and select those you want the wizard to create.
The Exchange Server Deployment Tools lead you through the process of installing Active Directory Connector and running ADC Tools.
Q – 16 Why am I getting the 9582s and what is VM Fragmentation?
Ans- VM fragmentation is when the virtual memory becomes fragmented and can prevent stores form mounting. The 9582 event is the event that warns about this condition. For more information refer to “The Extensible Storage Engine Database Engine Contributes to Virtual Memory Fragmentation (324118)”
Q – 17 Are there any other differences between Win2k and Win2k3 clustering?
Ans- Win2k3 Enterprise and Datacenter both support 8-node clusters. MSCS (Microsoft Clustering Services) is now available for high availability. NLB Manager allows the administrator to configure the NLB service in a central location thus avoiding mistakes from repetitive actions.
For more information see the “Technical Overview of Clustering in Windows Server 2003″ and “Windows Server 2003 Server Cluster Architecture” documents.
Q – 18 How many cluster nodes are supported by each version of Exchange?
Ans- Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003, Standard Edition will run up to a 4-node cluster. Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003 Enterprise will run an 8-node cluster with at least one passive node.
Q – 19 Do I still have to cycle the services on fail back like in 2000 Active/Passive mode?
Ans- The Exchange services are automatically shutdown on failover so when fail back happens the services are automatically brought back online for a clean address space.
Q – 20 What happened to Active/Active Clustering?
Ans- Active/Active clustering is only supported with a 2-node cluster limited to 1900 concurrent connections.
Q – 21 Which cluster configuration is preferred?
Ans- Microsoft recommends Active/Passive clustering because it:
* Scales better
* sizes the same way as a stand alone Exchange server
* can have up to 8 nodes in the cluster
* always fails over to a fresh node
Q – 22 If there is still an M: drive mapped, why does the free space number look funny?
Ans- The free space number shown on the M: drive is based on the main install drive for Exchange. It is not related to the drive space on the drives where the stores actually exist.
Q – 23 Will an in place upgrade from Exchange 2000 remove the M: drive?
Ans- Yes, In both the clean install and upgrade from Exchange 2000 scenarios, Exchange 2003 does not present EXIFS as drive letter M:
Q – 24 Is there an easier way to move mailboxes grouped by mailbox.store?
Ans- Yes, you can now move mailboxes through ESM grouped by mailbox store.
Q – 25 How do I move the log files?
Ans- The new ESM allows the administrator to move the log files through the GUI.
Q – 26 Why does the size of the EDB file not change when I move users out of that store?
Ans- The .edb file will only decrease in size once a database defrag is performed.
Q – 27 What is the STM file?
Ans- the .stm file is part of the information store database that contains the native internet formatted items. It is used to improve the performance of the database.
Q – 28 How do you restrict Distribution Lists?
Ans- Submissions can be restricted to a limited number of security principles though the standard Windows Discretionary Access Control List (DACL). This feature prevents non-trusted senders, such as unauthorized Internet users, from sending mail to an internal only distribution list.
An example of this would be an “All Employees” distribution list which should not be available to anyone outside the company (by spoofing or otherwise). Note Restricted distribution lists will only work on the bridgehead servers or SMTP gateway servers running Exchange 2003.
Q – 29 How do I strip the attachment from an NDR?
Ans- You can do this through a registry entry. But there are two drawbacks. Once this is done, the details that are necessary to display the notification in the preview pane are stripped, and the originator of the message cannot use the Send Again option.
Q – 30 How do I limit the maximum amount of messages the SMTP queue can hold?
Ans- You have to use the MaxMessageObjects registry key.
Q – 31 How do I filter incoming mail by subject or attachment?
Ans- Exchange 2003 does not have any built-in function to accomplish that. Either look for a third party tool or develop your own Windows SMTP Transport Event Sink.
Q – 32 How do I activate the real time safe block list?
Ans- Enabling connection filter involves two steps:
1. Create the recipient filter using the Connection Filtering tab on the Message Delivery Properties under Global Settings.
2. Apply the filter at the SMTP virtual server level.
Q – 33 What do the various queue names mean?
Ans- DNS messages pending submission – Contains delivery status notifications (DSN), also known as non-delivery reports that are ready to be delivered by Exchange. The Delete All Messages (no NDR) and Delete All Messages (NDR) functions are unavailable for this queue.
Messages queued for deferred delivery – Contains the messages marked by the client for deferred delivery or messages simply awaiting delivery at a different time.
Failed message retry – Contains messages that have been marked as retry due to a delivery failure. This queue also does not have the NDR functions mention in the DNS messages pending submission queue.
Q – 34 How do I move SMTP queues and badmail directories?
Ans- Exchange 2003 allows you to change the location of queue directories for SMTP virtual servers and X.400.
The Directions are in the document entitled “Exchange Titanium Getting Started Guide”
Q – 35 Can I view the queues on a per server basis?
Ans- Yes, in the new Queue Viewer in the Exchange 2003 System Manager.
Q – 36 How do I add a disclaimer to outgoing SMTP messages in Visual Basic/Visual Basic Script?
Ans- You can do it, however, see there are limitations. It reliably works only on a border server, which can be either a Windows 2000 or 2003 SMTP Server with or without Exchange 2000/2003 installed. For more information, see KB317327 and KB317680
Q – 37 What additional queues have been exposed?
Ans- All the system queues like the failed message retry queue, DNS messages pending submission, and messages queued for deferred delivery are now exposed to enhance trouble shooting.
Q – 38 How many Global Catalog servers should I deploy?
Ans- There is no hard and fast rule in this regard. Some potential guidelines include:
1. At least 1 per routing group
2. One for every 4 Exchange servers in a routing group
3. One (or more) for each physical location
Q – 39 How do I remove the ADC after moving all of my users to an Exchange 2003 server?
Ans- First, you need to use the Exchange 5.5 Admin program to delete the directory replication connectors (Org | Site | Configuration | Connections). Once you have deleted the connections, you need to be logged on with an account with Schema Admin privileges to delete the ADC connector.
Q – 40 Can I use Exchange 5.5s OWA to access a mailbox on an Exchange 2003 server?
Ans- Yes. But you will not get the look and feel or the added features from the 2003 servers.
Q – 41 Can I use Exchange 2003s OWA to access a mailbox on an Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000 server?
Ans- Yes and No. Exchange 2003 can access a 2000 back-end server however, it will remain the same as Exchange 2000 OWA. As for Exchange 5.5, the enhanced OWA is built directly into the store technology and only a mailbox residing on an Exchange 2003 server can be accessed using the enhanced OWA interface. Nice try, though.
Q – 42 How do I disable the “Automatically update e-mail addresses based on recipient policy” on all users or contacts?
Ans- ‘ Default setting for “msExchPoliciesExcluded” is empty
‘ Once disabling the automatic e-mail address update it is:
‘ “{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}”
‘ Default setting for “msExchPoliciesIncluded” is:
‘ “{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}” plus a unique GUID for each applied Recipient Policy separated by a comma
‘ And after turning off the automatic update “msExchPoliciesIncluded” is only:
‘ “{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}”
Q – 43 How do I limit which Outlook client versions can access my server?
Ans- You need to create the Disable MAPI Clients registry value to disable MAPI client access.
Q – 44 Why do the storage quota settings not take effect immediately?
Ans- This problem has been fixed in AN Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Post-Service Pack 3 MDB patch.
Q – 45 How do I restrict users from Creating Top-Level Folders?
Ans- For Exchange 2000 public folders, you can follow the instructions in this article KB256131. But with Exchange 2000, however, any time a new server is added to the organization, these permissions will be reset.
In Exchange 2003 these permission are restricted by default so to install Exchange 2003, you will automatically restrict them.
“Allow create top-level public folder access control entry for everyone” permissions and “allow anonymous logon from the organization container” permissions are removed during the installation of Exchange 2003.*****
Q – 46 How do I Enable the Security Tab for the Organization Object?
Ans- This tab is not enabled by default. For instructions on how to enable it see KB264733
Q – 47 How do I find an SMTP mail address in Active Directory if Active Directory Users and Computers tells me it is in use when I try to create a new user
Ans- Either open Outlook to create a new message with that SMTP address and hit “CTRL+K” to resolve it, or use a Windows Scripting Host script to find it. For the latter, see http://www.cdolive.net/download/adusermanagement.zip (look for FindUserWithADSI.wsf and FindUserWithCDO.wsf)
Q – 48 Resource / Conference room scheduling
Ans- Outlook 2003 offers basic resource booking functionality through Direct Booking. For more information refer to “Direct Booking of Resource Without a Delegate Account”
There are 3rd party products such as Exchange Resource Manager and AutoAccept Sink for Exchange that will automatically accept/decline meeting requests for conference rooms and other resources.
Q – 49 How can you tell the exact version of Exchange you are running?
Ans- Here is a list of build numbers for Exchange 2000/2003:
Exchange 2000:
* 4417.5 = Exchange 2000 RTM
* 4712.7 = Exchange 2000 SP1
* 5762.4 = Exchange 2000 SP2
* 6249.4 = Exchange 2000 SP3
* 6396.1 = Exchange 2000 Post-SP3 Super Roll-up
* 63xx/64xx = Exchange 2000 Post-SP3 Hotfixes
Exchange 2003:
* 6728.12 = Exchange 2003 Beta 1
* 6803.8 = Exchange 2003 Beta 2
* 6851.10 = Exchange 2003 Release Candidate 0
* 6895.5 = Exchange 2003 Release Candidate 1 (Candidate)
Q – 50 How do I add a disclaimer to outgoing SMTP messages in Visual Basic/Visual Basic Script?
Ans- You can do it, however, see there are limitations. It reliably works only on a border server, which can be either a Windows 2000 or 2003 SMTP Server with or without Exchange 2000/2003 installed.
Q – 51 Is there any way to append a text message to all out bound email for Exchange 2003?
Ans- On a single Exchange server deployment, there is no 100% reliable way to accomplish this with an SMTP Transport Event Sink; even though KB273233 suggests that creating a second SMTP Virtual Server works.
However, at startup the Exchange Information Store binds to the SMTP Virtual Server that starts first and you can not rely on the routing of the mail from SMTP VS 1 to SMTP VS 2 as the KB273233 proposes. Also note that under special circumstances the database can become corrupted if you use an SMTP Transport Event Sink to manipulate outgoing (MAPI) message contents.
This is currently under investigation by Microsoft and a QFE to prevent the store corruption is under development. ****
There are 3rd party products that will do this too.
Q – 52 How do I make Exchange automatically send a welcome message to all newly created users?
Ans- There is nothing in the product that will do this. You can create a WELCOME.MSG that you deploy with Outlook, but that only applies the first time Outlook is opened after creating a new profile. Otherwise, you could script mailbox creation and send a message at the end of the script.
Q – 53 How do I control the format of the addresses before the @ sign in a recipient policy?
Ans- You can use the following variables: %g Given Name, %s Surname, %i initials in the recipient policy.
Examples:
User: Tommy Lee Jones
Domain: company.com
%g.%[email protected] = [email protected]
%1g%[email protected] = [email protected]
%g%[email protected] = [email protected]
Less commonly used variables include, %m (alias) and %d (display name).
Q – 54 How do I get the Exchange Advanced Tab in Active Directory Users and Computers?
Ans- Open Active Directory Users and Computers. Click on the View menu item at the top of the application. Select “Advanced Features” on the menu list. When you open a property page for an Active Directory object that has a mailbox associated with it, you will now see the “Exchange Advanced” tab at the top.
Q – 55 Why when I try to add an additional mailbox store do I receive the following error? This storage group already contains the maximum number of stores allowed. ID no: c1034a7a
Ans- You are running the standard version of Exchange 2003 which is limited to a single 16GB private information store.
Q – 56 How can I archive messages sent or received by my users?
Ans- 1. Messages can be archived on a per store basis by enabling the option on the general properties tab of the Mailbox Store in the Exchange System Manager.
2. Use an event sink (either write your own or use the simple one provided by Microsoft and described in “Archive Sink Readme.txt”
3. Use a 3rd party message archival tool.
Q – 57 In my native E2K3 organization is there any requirement for RPC connectivity between servers?
Ans- In order to move users between servers, RPC connectivity is required.
Q – 58 Is Single Instance Storage maintained when moving users between servers | storage groups | databases?
Ans- Yes…
Q – 59 I have created more than one address list. Which list will users see for their GAL?
Ans- The following criteria are used when determining what a client will see for the Global Address List.
* Which Address List do you have permissions to see?
* Which Address List contains your mailbox object as an entry?
If your mailbox appears as an object in more than one address list:
* Which of the remaining Address Lists contains more entries?
Q – 60 How do I restrict a user or domain from sending mail to my users?
Ans- First, add the address or domain you wish to filter to the Filtering Tab of the Message Delivery Global Settings. Next, you need to apply the filter to the SMTP virtual server you wish to filter. (Administrative Group | Server | Protocols | SMTP | | Properties | Advanced