Performance and Threshold Counters for Exchange Server 2010 - CAS Load Based

Good morning!!
Here the most important performance counters and their thresholds is critical to establishing a performance baseline and monitoring plan to proactively monitor your Exchange 2010 environment and troubleshoot and resolve issues when they arise

back to  Performance and Threshold Counters for Exchange Server 2010 - All in One

Client Access Server Counters for Determining Load

MSExchange ActiveSync\Requests/sec	Not applicable
Shows the number of HTTP requests that are received from the client via ASP.NET per second.
Determines the current Exchange ActiveSync request rate.
MSExchange ActiveSync\Ping Commands Pending	Not applicable
Shows the number of ping commands that are currently pending in the queue.
Determines current ping commands pending in the queue.
MSExchange ActiveSync\Requests/sec	Not applicable
Shows the number of HTTP requests that are received from the client via ASP.NET per second.
Stats Only to determine current user load.
MSExchange ActiveSync\Sync Commands/sec	Not applicable
Shows the number of Sync commands that are processed per second. Clients use this command to synchronize items within a folder.
Stats Only to determine current user load.
MSExchange Availability Service\Availability Requests (sec)	Not applicable
Shows the number of requests serviced per second. The request can be only for free/busy or include suggestions. One request may contain multiple mailboxes.
Determines the rate at which Availability service requests are occurring.
MSExchange OWA\Current Unique Users	Not applicable
Shows the number of unique users currently logged on to Outlook Web Access. This value monitors the number of unique active user sessions, so that users are only removed from this counter after they log off or their session times out.
Determines current user load.
MSExchange OWA\Requests/sec	Not applicable
Shows the number of requests handled by Outlook Web Access per second.
Determines current user load.
MSExchangeAutodiscover\Requests/sec	Not applicable
Shows the number of Autodiscover service requests that have been processed each second.
Determines current user load.
MSExchangeWS\Requests/sec	Not applicable
Shows the number of requests processed each second.
Determines current user load.
Web Service(_Total)\Current Connections	Not applicable
Shows the current number of connections established with the Web service.
Determines current user load.
WebService(_Total)\Connection Attempts/sec	Not applicable
Shows the rate that connections to the Web service are being attempted.
Determines current user load.
Web Service(_Total)\ISAPI Extension Requests/sec	Not applicable
Shows the rate that Internet Server API (ISAPI) extension requests are received by the Web service.
Outlook Anywhere clients make use of this ISAPI extension for RPC over HTTP requests on servers running the Windows Server 2003 operating system. For Windows Server 2008 counters, see "RPC/HTTP Proxy Counters (Windows Server 2008 Only)" later in this topic.
Determines current user load.
Web Service(_Total)\Other Request Methods/sec	Not applicable
Shows the rate HTTP requests are made that do not use the OPTIONS, GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, TRACE, MOVE, COPY, MKCOL, PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, SEARCH, LOCK or UNLOCK methods.
Determines current user load.

Microsoft Exchange Control Panel

MSExchange Control Panel\ASP.Net Request Failures/sec
ASP.Net Request Failures/sec is the number of failures per second detected by ASP.Net in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Explicit Sign-On Inbound Proxy Requests/sec
Explicit Sign-On Inbound Proxy Requests/sec is the number of Explicit Sign-On requests received from a primary Client Access server per second.
MSExchange Control Panel\Explicit Sign-On Inbound Proxy Sessions/sec
Explicit Sign-On Inbound Proxy Sessions/sec is the number of Explicit Sign-On Inbound Proxy sessions that are loaded per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Explicit Sign-On Outbound Proxy Requests/sec
Explicit Sign-On Outbound Proxy Requests/sec is the number of Explicit Sign-On requests sent to a secondary Client Access server per second.
MSExchange Control Panel\Explicit Sign-On Outbound Session Requests/sec
Explicit Sign-On Outbound Proxy Sessions/sec is the number of Explicit Sign-On Outbound Proxy sessions that are loaded per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Explicit Sign-On Standard RBAC Requests/sec
Explicit Sign-On Standard RBAC Requests/sec is the number of requests received per second  by an Explicit Sign-On Standard RBAC session.
MSExchange Control Panel\Explicit Sign-On Standard RBAC Sessions/sec
Explicit Sign-On Standard RBAC Sessions/sec is the number of Explicit Sign-On Standard RBAC sessions that are loaded per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Inbound Proxy Requests/sec
Inbound Proxy Requests/sec is the number of requests received from a primary Client Access server per second.
MSExchange Control Panel\Inbound Proxy Sessions/sec
Inbound Proxy Sessions/sec is the number of Inbound Proxy sessions that are loaded per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Outbound Proxy Requests - Average Response Time	Under 6000ms
Outbound Proxy Requests - Average Response Time is the average time (in milliseconds) that requests sent to a secondary Client Access server took to complete during the sampling period.
MSExchange Control Panel\Outbound Proxy Requests/sec
Outbound Proxy Requests/sec is the number of requests sent to a secondary Client Access server per second.
MSExchange Control Panel\Outbound Proxy Sessions/sec
Outbound Proxy Sessions/sec is the number of Outbound Proxy sessions that are loaded per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\PowerShell Runspaces - Activations/sec
PowerShell Runspaces - Activations/sec is the number of Windows PowerShell runspaces that are activated per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\PowerShell Runspaces - Average Active Time
PowerShell Runspaces - Average Active Time is the average time (in seconds)  that a Windows PowerShell runspace stays active while executing cmdlets in the Exchange Control Panel during the sampling period.
MSExchange Control Panel\PowerShell Runspaces/sec
PowerShell Runspaces/sec is the number of Windows PowerShell runspaces that are created per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\RBAC Sessions/sec
RBAC Sessions/sec is the number of RBAC sessions that are loaded per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Requests - Activations/sec
Requests - Activations/sec is the number of requests that are activated per second in the Exchange Control Panel.
MSExchange Control Panel\Requests - Average Response Time	Under 6000ms
Requests - Average Response Time is the average time (in milliseconds) the Exchange Control Panel took to respond to a request during the sampling period.

Avalability Service Counters

MSExchange Availability Service\Availability Requests (sec)	Not applicable
Shows the number of requests serviced per second. The request can be only for free/busy or include suggestions. One request may contain multiple mailboxes.
Determines the rate at which Availability service requests are occurring.

RPC Client Access Counters

MSExchange RpcClientAccess\Active User Count
Active User Count is the number of unique users that have shown some activity in the last 2 minutes.
MSExchange RpcClientAccess\Connection Count
Connection Count is the total number of client connections maintained.
MSExchange RpcClientAccess\RPC Operations/sec
RPC Operations/sec is the rate at which RPC operations occur, per second.
MSExchange RpcClientAccess\User Count
User Count is the number of users that are connected to the service.

Microsoft Exchange Address Book Service

MSExchangeAB\NSPI Connections Current
NSPI Connections Current is the number of NSPI clients that are currently connected to the server.
MSExchangeAB\NSPI Connections/sec
NSPI Connections/sec is the number of NSPI client connections that are established to the server each second.
MSExchangeAB\NSPI RPC Requests/sec
NSPI RPC Requests/sec is the rate at which NSPI requests occur each second.
MSExchangeAB\Referral RPC Requests/sec
Referral RPC Requests/sec is the rate at which referral requests occur each second.

RPC/HTTP Proxy Counters (Windows Server 2008 Only)

RPC/HTTP Proxy\Current Number of Incoming RPC over HTTP Connections	Not applicable
Shows the current number of front-end HTTP connections.
Determines current user load.
RPC/HTTP Proxy\Current Number of Unique Users	Not applicable
Shows the number of unique users currently connected to a back-end server via RPC/HTTP.
Determines current user load.
RPC/HTTP Proxy\RPC/HTTP Requests per Second	Not applicable
Shows the rate of RPC/HTTP requests sent to the back-end servers.
Determines current Outlook Anywhere load.

-Dario

Exchange Architecture Poster

Hi everyone,
I know...this is not new, but just in case...
Exchange 2010 Architecture Poster http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9729251 and Exchange 2007 Architecture Poster http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/confirmation.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fdcdf6e5-de47-4b58-8086-282101bcdde9

Enjoy!

-Dario

Enabling POP3 and IMAP protocol settings via ADSI (VBScript)

When you install Exchange and create all your mailboxes by default every mailbox will have POP3,IMAP and HTTP protocols enabled. Good practice is if you don't want people to use these protocols is just disable the protocols on the server which makes the user account settings redundant. But this is not always possible and sometimes you need to leave POP3 and IMAP access enabled for some applications or clients. So to stop people using POP3 and IMAP it can be a good idea to disable that protocol on their Active Directory user account

Set objOU = GetObject(ldap://CN=user1,OU=UserH,DC=company,DC=net/)
objOU.PutEx 2, "protocolSettings",ARRAY("HTTP§1§1§§§§§§","OWA§0","MAPI§0§§§§§§§","POP3§1§1§4§ISO-8859-1§0§§§","IMAP4§1§1§4§ISO-8859-1§0§1§0§
0")

objOU.setinfo

-Dario

Exchange 2010 On-Premises or On-Line? What is the Microsoft Exchange Team vision?

Hey!
I want to share this interesting note to Microsoft's vice president:

Over the past several weeks, I've had the opportunity to present interviews with members of the Microsoft Exchange Server team, talking about topics such as the Personal Archives feature of Exchange Server 2010, improvements to unified messaging (UM) and Exchange Online, and the importance of the Exchange ActiveSync protocol. To round out this series, I spoke with Microsoft corporate vice president Rajesh Jha about what the future holds for Exchange Server. Of course, much of this conversation focused on the role Exchange plays in Office 365 and the cloud, but Rajesh also had a lot to say about the importance of listening and responding to the requirements of customers and embracing changes in technology as a way to move the Exchange team forward.

see the full article http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/exchange-server-2010/Exchange-2010-Architecture-Microsoft-s-Rajesh-Jha-Talks-About-the-Future-of-Exchange.aspx

-Dario

SQL database instead an ESE engine in Exchange 2010 ???

Not for now...but this have been implemented successfully by the Exchange Team:

As most of you know, Exchange servers utilize the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) database. As you have told us loud and clear, Exchange rocks from a performance, scalability, and availability standpoint on ESE and we've worked hard to make it so.

However, for some time (it has been a topic of discussion since the development days of Exchange 2003) there have been questions and rumors around replacing the ESE database with SQL Server.
Did the team consider using SQL Server for the next version of Exchange? - Absolutely!
Did it work and perform well? - Yes! Some very smart engineers did amazing work, and we had mailboxes up and running using a SQL Server database.
Did we ultimately decide to replace the ESE database with SQL Server for the next version of Exchange Server - No.

Why not! you ask - It was ultimately determined that the best way to ensure we could drive compelling innovation into Exchange for 2010 and beyond was to remain committed to ESE. Enhancements made to the ESE database for Exchange 2010 have yielded significant performance benefits, High Availability benefits and provided customers with further opportunities to lower their storage costs. As we march forward on a path of developing Exchange for both on-premises deployments and cloud services, there are a number of areas that you are looking to us to make further improvements and new feature investments in the product. After much debate about both
See the full article : http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2009/07/16/3407812.aspx

Interesting ha....

-Dario

NEWS!!!! -- Critical vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player

CRITICAL!!!
A critical vulnerability exists in Adobe Flash Player 10.2.152.33 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris operating systems (Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.18 and earlier for Chrome users), Adobe Flash Player 10.1.106.16 and earlier versions for Android, and the authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.1) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

This vulnerability (CVE-2011-0609) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Excel (.xls) file delivered as an email attachment.

Adobe is not currently aware of attacks targeting Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Adobe Reader X Protected Mode mitigations would prevent an exploit of this kind from executing.

see the full article http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=10741

-Dario

NEWS!!!!! ---Exchange 2010 SP1 Rollup 3 and BlackBerrys sending duplicate messages

If you have BES and Exchange 2010 SP1 RU2 hold on...do not install the RU3!!!!!!
From the EHLO blog :
We have received notification of an issue impacting some customers which have RIM BlackBerry devices connecting to an Exchange 2010 SP1 RU3 environment. At this stage we are actively working with RIM to identify the exact scenarios in which customers are reporting this issue in order to narrow down the root cause of the problem and identify a suitable resolution for it.
As a precautionary measure we have deactivated the download page for Exchange 2010 SP1 RU3 until we can identify the appropriate next steps.
If you are a customer seeing duplicate messages being delivered when an email is sent from a BlackBerry device and you have RU3 installed within your Exchange 2010 environment, our recommendation is to contact Microsoft Support for assistance in troubleshooting the issue you’re experiencing.
The full article http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/03/14/exchange-2010-sp1-rollup-3-and-blackberrys-sending-duplicate-messages.aspx

I 'll keep you posted..

-Dario

Error message when an Exchange Server 2007 user or an Exchange Server 2010 user tries to log on to OWA

In the mixed mode between Exchange 2003/Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2007, after move an user to the new server or when create a new one from the ADUC, the below error could show up when the user try to access by OWA

A problem occurred while trying to use your mailbox. Please contact technical support for your organization.
or

An unexpected error occurred and your request couldn't be handled.

In Show datails:

Request

Url: https://<user's<user's owa link>:443/owa/lang.owa

User host address: <user’s ip address>

Exception

Exception type: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.StoragePermanentException

Exception message: There was a problem accessing Active Directory.

Call stack

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ExchangePrincipal.Save() 

Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.DispatchLanguagePostLocally(OwaContext owaContext, OwaIdentity logonIdentity, CultureInfo culture, String timeZoneKeyName, Boolean isOptimized) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.DispatchLanguagePostRequest(OwaContext owaContext) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.PrepareRequestWithoutSession(O

waContext owaContext, UserContextCookie userContextCookie) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.InternalDispatchRequest(OwaContext owaContext) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestDispatcher.DispatchRequest(OwaContext owaContext) 

System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() 

System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

Inner Exception

Exception type: 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.InvalidADObjectOperationException

Exception message: Property Languages cannot be set on this object because it requires the object to have version 0.1 (8.0.535.0) or later. Current version of the object is 0.0 (6.5.6500.0). 

Call stack

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.PropertyBag.set_Item(PropertyDefinition key, Object value) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADObject.set_Item(PropertyDefinition propertyDefinition, Object value) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADObject.StampCachedCaculatedProperties(Boolean retireCachedValue) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADObject.ValidateWrite(List`1 errors) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.Recipient.ADRecipient.ValidateWrite(List`1 errors) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.Recipient.ADUser.ValidateWrite(List`1 errors) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADSession.Save(ADObject instanceToSave, IEnumerable`1 properties) 

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ExchangePrincipal.Save()

This problem can occur when the msExchVersion attribute is not configured correctly on the user object in Active Directory.
Note The msExchVersion attribute may not be configured correctly if you create the user's mailbox by using Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in instead of using the Exchange Management Console.

In order to verify this problem, you can check the msExchVersion attribute by using the Exchange Management Shell. Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell prompt:

Get-Mailbox <User_Name>| format-list ExchangeVersion

Note Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 both use the msExchVersion attribute to determine the version of Exchange Server that user objects are associated with. If the version value is less than 0.1, Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2010 considers the user object as Read-only.

To resolve this problem, an Exchange administrator should run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell prompt:

 Set-Mailbox <User_Name> -ApplyMandatoryProperties

Notes

• To fix the problem on an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox, an Exchange administrator should run the Set-Mailbox command in the Exchange Management Shell 2007.
• To fix the problem on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox, an Exchange administrator should run the command in the Exchange Management Shell 2010.

-Dario

Update for Daylight Saving Time for Chile now available!!!! Se acaba de liberar el parche para todas las versiones de Windows

Dear Friends,
A hotfix is available to update the Daylight Saving Time for Chile for Windows Operating Systems.

Chile has announced an extension to its DST end date for 2011. This hotfix updates the DST end date for the “(UTC-04:00) Santiago” time zone.
More specifically, this hotfix sets DST as follows:

· Sets DST end date for Chile at first Saturday of April, 2011 at 23:59:59.999

Time zone key name	Display name	DST start	DST end
Pacific SA Standard Time	(UTC-04:00) Santiago	2nd Saturday of October at 23:59:59.999	1st Saturday of April, 2011 at 23:59:59.999

You can request the update by visiting KB 2519231 or directly here, once you are in the hotfix request site make sure to select the option "Show hotfixes for all platforms and languages" to view the complete list of languages and operating systems.

See the full article http://blogs.technet.com/b/latam/archive/2011/03/11/update-for-daylight-saving-time-for-chile-now-available.aspx

Saludos

-Dario

NEWS!!!!!! -- Android users hit by trojan hidden inside fake Google security tool

The security reputation of the Google Android platform has been rocked once again, this time with reports that a fake Google security tool containing a trojan has been circulated.

Ironically, the legitimate version of the utility – Android Market Security Tool – was pushed by Google earlier this month in response to the infections of the DroidDream malware.
As previously reported by Infosecurity, these infections stemmed from the download of infected versions of previously legitimate apps from the Android Market, the online store maintained by Google for smartphone users.
Hackers have subverted the patch/security tool by infecting it with the Android.Bgserv trojan, Infosecurity understands.
According to Mario Ballano, a Symantec security researcher, the fake Google security tool appears to have originated from a Chinese third-party apps website.
The trojan, he reports, seems to be able to send SMS messages if instructed by a command-and-control server located at hxxp://www.youlubg.com:81/Coop/request3.php.
"Analysis of the application is still ongoing, however, what is shocking is that the threat's code seems to be based on a project hosted on Google Code.

See the ful article
http://www.infosecurity-us.com/view/16578/android-users-hit-by-trojan-hidden-inside-fake-google-security-tool/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter


-Dario