Queue Viewer
The Exchange Queue Viewer is a
Microsoft Management Console snap-in that is added to the Toolbox when
an Exchange Server 2007 Hub Transport or Edge Transport server role is
installed.
The Queue
Viewer is a graphical interface that enables administrators to view
information about mail queues and mail items on a transport server. In
addition, administrators can perform management actions on these items.
Often used for
troubleshooting mail flow and identifying spam messages, the viewer can
also be used by administrators to easily perform intrusive actions
against the queuing databases, such as suspending or resuming a queue or
removing messages.
Using the Queue
Viewer requires certain administrative permissions. To use Queue Viewer
on a computer that has the Edge Transport server role, you must use an
account that is a member of the local Administrators group on that
computer. To use Queue Viewer on a computer that has the Hub Transport
server role, the account you use must also be a domain account that is a
member of the Server Management role.
By default, the Queue
Viewer connects to the queuing database on the server on which the
application is run. Administrators can use the tool to connect to any
Hub Transport server in the organization and, by opening multiple
instances of the utility and tiling the windows, administrators can
easily monitor queues on several servers simultaneously.
To connect to a remote Hub Transport server, perform the following steps:
1. | Open the Exchange Management Console.
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2. | In the Console Tree, click Toolbox.
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3. | In the results pane, click Queue Viewer.
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4. | In the action pane, click Connect to server.
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5. | In the Connect to server window, click Browse to view a list of the available Hub Transport servers.
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6. | In
the Select Exchange Server window, select a Hub Transport server. To
search for a Hub Transport server to connect to, use one of the
following procedures:
- Enter the exact server name or the first few letters of
the server name in the Search: field, and then click Find Now. Select a
server from the results pane.
- Select
the View menu, and then click Enable Column Filtering. In the Name
column or Version column, click the filter icon, and then select the
filter operator. Type the filter criteria in the Enter text here field.
Press ENTER. Select a server from the results pane. If you want, you can
select the check box stating Set as Default Server to ensure that the
Queue Viewer focuses on this server whenever the application is
launched.
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7. | Click OK to close the Select Exchange Server window.
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8. | In the Connect to server window, click Connect.
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By viewing the Message
Count in each of the queues, administrators can determine if mail is
flowing through the queues. Using the F5 key or the Refresh button in
the action pane refreshes the view.
Routing Log Viewer
As with the
preceding Queue Viewer, the Routing Log Viewer is available in the
toolbox of servers that have the Hub Transport or Edge Transport server
role installed.
In previous versions
of Exchange Server, administrators could connect to the Exchange Routing
Engine service on port 691 using the WinRoute tool. However, as there
is no Routing Engine in Exchange Server 2010, the Routing Log Viewer
enables administrators to open a routing log file that contains
information about how the routing topology appears to the server.
Administrators can also open a second lot to determine what changes have
occurred within the routing topology between the two time periods.
Tracking Log Explorer
The Message
Tracking utility discussed earlier is, as stated, a simplified tool for
confirming delivery of messages utilizing the ECP interface. However,
with its simplicity comes a lack of detail that administrators
occasionally need when tracking messages. The Tracking Log Explorer is
the utility formerly known as the Message Tracking utility in Exchange
Server 2007.
This utility enables
administrators to search for messages and determine the actual path they
took through the Exchange Server environment. This is accomplished by
searching through the records of SMTP transport activity of all messages
entering or leaving an Exchange Hub Transport, Edge Transport, or
mailbox server.
By default, message
tracking is enabled on all Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 Hub
Transport, Edge Transport, and Mailbox servers. To confirm or modify the
status of the message tracking log, administrators can use the
following commands from the Exchange Management Shell:
To view the status of all transport servers in the organization:
and look under the MessageTrackingLogEnabled column.
To view the status of a particular transport server:
Get-TransportServer "ServerName"
where "ServerName" is the name of the server.
To view the status of a particular mailbox server:
Get-MailboxServer "ServerName" |fl
and confirm "MessageTrackingLogEnabled" = "True"
To disable the message tracking log on a particular server:
Set-TransportServer "ServerName" –MessageTrackingLogEnabled $false
or
Set-MailboxServer "ServerName" –MessageTrackingLogEnabled $false
To enable the message tracking log on a particular server:
Set-TransportServer "ServerName" –MessageTrackingLogEnabled $true
or
Set-MailboxServer "ServerName" –MessageTrackingLogEnabled $true
The message tracking
utility is intended primarily for mail flow analyses, reporting, and (of
course) determining the status of a message that has been reported as
undelivered.
Administrators can search for messages based on any combination of the following fields:
Recipients
Sender
Server
EventID
MessageID
InternalMessageID
Subject
Reference
In addition, the
administrator can specify a Start and End date and time to search for
the message. In organizations with large message stores, it can be
extremely beneficial to narrow the scope of the search as much as
possible because sorting through all messages in the environment to look
for a particular one can take a significant amount of time.
At the bottom of the pane, the Exchange Management Shell command that will be utilized for the search displays.
Double-click the Tracking Log Explorer icon to launch the tool. A wizard walks you through the steps for tracking messages.
Exchange Server Performance Monitor
One of the most
powerful, yet often overlooked, utilities available is the Exchange
Server Performance Monitor, labeled simply as Performance Monitor
in the toolbox. This tool is essentially the same as the Windows
Performance Monitor, but it has a series of predefined counters that are
related specifically to Exchange Server, including message traffic sent
or received per second, Average Disk Queue Length, and several counters
to monitor remote procedure calls (RPC) traffic. Of course, the old
favorites are still there, including memory, processor, hard drive, and
network utilization.
This utility is
somewhat less intuitive than others in the toolbox because there is no
built-in wizard to assist with its configuration, but a great deal of
information can be gathered about your Exchange Server environment.
Virtually every
measurable aspect of an Exchange server can be monitored using this
tool. The data collected can be presented in a variety of forms,
including reports, real-time charts, or logs. Using the Exchange Server
Performance Monitor, administrators can take baseline readings on server
and network performance and compare them over time to spot trends and
plan accordingly, but it is most commonly used to view parameters while
troubleshooting performance problems.
Double-click the
Performance Monitor icon to launch the tool. It automatically starts
displaying a live graph of the key performance indicators for the
machine on which the tool is launched. More information on the usage of
the tool can be found by clicking the Help icon within the utility and
from the Microsoft website.
Performance Troubleshooter
With an interface
that looks similar to the Exchange Mail Flow Troubleshooter and the
ExBPA, the Performance Troubleshooter is designed to help administrators
identify and locate performance issues that have a negative impact on
their Exchange Server environment.
Like the Mail
Flow Troubleshooter, administrators begin by selecting the symptoms
they are experiencing. Based on these systems, the utility identifies
potential bottlenecks in the messaging system and outlines a
troubleshooting path for the administrators to follow.
Double-click the Performance
Troubleshooter icon to launch the utility, bringing up a wizard that
walks you through the steps necessary to perform an analysis and view
the results.
