Download microsoft exchange server best practices analyzer tool

Presentation on theme: "Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool Paul Bowden Program Manager Exchange Server Development Microsoft Corporation."— Presentation transcript: 1 Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool Paul Bowden Program Manager Exchange Server Development Microsoft Corporation 2 What is it? The Exchange Sever Best Practices Analyzer 'encodes' the top product support issues into a tool which can be run against a live deployment. –Step by step documentation tells you how to resolve each problem The tool can be run as part of a proactive 'health check' which can expose availability or scalability problems. Additionally, the tool can be run as part of a reactive troubleshooting step for problem diagnosis and identification. –The tool will report issues currently causing problems within the topology, and discrepancies which may cause future outages. The tool can be used to actively document the design and configuration of the Exchange topology. This data can be used to track the history of a deployment, or provide a ‘quick-start' to administrators and product support staff who need to analyze the history and configuration of an unfamiliar deployment. 3 Why we developed it Administrators are finding it difficult to keep up with the documentation that we produce –Urgency –Relevance Customers find it difficult to keep track of whether they are conforming to all the best practices Exchange has many options and finding root cause for a problem can be a long process –~60% of Exchange problems are mis-configurations We have many tools for collecting information, but not many provide auto-analysis 4 Design Principles Concentrate on Performance, Scalability and Availability of Exchange Servers –ExBPA does not check security configuration Make it easy to run –No complex configuration settings –Auto-detect everything –Allow multiple credentials to be entered –No server-side components to install –No impact on Exchange performance, even at peak periods Don’t leave me hanging –Every Error | Warning | NonDefault rule has a specific article which tells you more about the problem and how we detected it Keep it up-to-date –Provide best practice updates every month –Make the tool auto-download the updates Work in all environments –From single server SBS implementations through to the largest enterprise –Make the tool work seamlessly in both open and closed networks 5 Similar Tools MBSA – Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer SQLBPA – Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer The ExBPA engine has now been mandated as part of the WSS 2006 Common Engineering Criteria –BPAs for other Microsoft products are forthcoming 6 Architecture One tool runs against all versions of Exchange –No support for pure Exchange 5.5 topologies You generally install the tool on a Windows XP workstation, and it remotely collects the data –Don’t need to install any components on the

Applies ToWindows Small Business Server 2011 Standard Introduction Windows Server Solutions Best Practices Analyzer is available for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard.Windows Server Solutions Best Practices Analyzer 1.0 (Windows Server Solutions BPA) is a diagnostic tool that is built on the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer (MBCA) technology. Windows Server Solutions BPA scans a computer that is running one of the following operating systems and then compares the existing server settings to a predefined set of recommended best practices: Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials Windows Multipoint Server 2011 Standard Windows Multipoint Server 2011 Premium Windows Server Solutions BPA performs the following tasks: Collects information about a server Determines whether the server settings comply with a set of best practices that we recommend Provides a report of the scan results that identifies differences between the server settings and the recommended best practices Identifies conditions that may cause problems with the server Recommends solutions to potential problems Update information Prerequisites To apply this update, you must be running Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard. Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer (MBCA) 2.0 is required for Windows Server Solutions BPA. If you do not have MBCA 2.0 installed, this update will install MBCA 2.0 automatically.For more information about MBCA 2.0, go to the following Microsoft website: General information about MBCA 2.0 Registry information To use the update in this package, you do not have to make any changes to the registry. Restart requirement You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this update. Update replacement information This update does not replace a previously released update. You can start a BPA scan by logging on to a local server or by logging on to the server from a remote computer. A schedule task will be created to run all the BPA rules during the middle of the night and to present the results on the admin console.For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates Need more help? Want more options? Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

The Best Practice Analyzer is designed to review your server for any known issues that the Microsoft Support Team are aware of and to show you how to resolve those issues. This FAQ shows you how to install and run the BPA for the first time.The information in this FAQ pertains to Small Business Server 2011 Standard, Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials.1. Download the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0 first from Microsoft here2. Install it onto your server directly. No reboot is needed.3. Download the Windows Server Solutions Best Practices Analyzer 1.0 from Microsoft here4. Install it onto your server directly – again no reboot is needed. During the installation make sure you leave the options below enabled5. Once the installation is complete, run it from the icon on the desktop. Pause for a few moments and look for the Update icon below.6. Click on the icon to download and install the update install the update7. Once you’ve installed the update, you will need to restart the BPA in order for it to run.8. Select the option to scan your computer9.Review the report10. Select one of the options to expand the warning and it will show you what you need to do to resolve that issue.All in all – it’s a very simple tool to run and will help you quickly evaluate common issues on these servers.UPDATE: 24th Feb 2012 – it’s come to light that there may be an issue with the BPA with the that causes Client Alert notifications. See this post for more information -->