Detail from Bojan on his thoughts heading into the MCM:

http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/careerfactor/b/bojan/archive/2011/03/18/bojan-s-story-starts.aspx

Video featuring a number of instructors for the programme (& a view of the classroom – where you’ll live for three weeks J):

http://vimeo.com/21215132

A section of the transport content delivered by Brian Reid:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/themasterblog/archive/2010/12/28/mcm-exchange-video-preview.aspx

Rob

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#script to give full control NTFS permissions on a directory to the domain user with the same name of that directory

#script settings

$domain = “robsdesk”

$root = “c:data”

#don’t edit below here
$folders = Get-ChildItem $root

ForEach ($folder in $folders)

{

$username = $domain+“”+$folder

$permissions = Get-Acl $folder

$userpermissions = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($username,“FullControl”, “ContainerInherit, ObjectInherit”, “None”, “Allow”)
$permissions.AddAccessRule($userpermissions)

Set-Acl $folder $permissions

Write-Host“Set permissions on $folder for $username”

}

The two lines to edit are the $domain and $root lines, the $domain line should be your domain name, this is used to construct the ‘domainnameuser’ text used in the script. The $root variable is the root folder containing the folders to have permissions applied.

It’s quick and dirty – only used for a one off & there’s no error checking so be careful before you use it!

Rob

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I was recently on a call with some Exchange peers & we were fortunate enough to have a guest appearance from Tod Edwards from the Windows Server team at Microsoft. He attended to provide some background & recommendations to making the above technologies work successfully with Windows Server and why they should be enabled where possible. As this information is in the public domain & helps improve everyone’s experience I have reproduced it here.

Background

RSS – Receive Side Scaling, this allows a server to spread network interrupt traffic over more than 1 CPU, significant benefits have been seen with this on 1Gb+ network interfaces

TCP Chimney – Allows the offloading of TCP/IP processing to the network card, both Intel and Broadcom have NICs in the market which support this, the benefits with this feature are less pronounced at 1Gb connections but significant at 10Gb connections (think iSCSI storage connections)

Chimney is incompatible with some features in Windows (firewall, etc.), & if they are enabled Chimney will not offload any connection. In W2008 R2, the Windows Firewall is compatible with Chimney, which was a change from previous OS.

TCP Chimney Offload is not the same thing as Checksum Offload, Large Send Offload, etc. Those offloads have been around for since W2003 & are generally problem free.

RSS & Chimney both require the above basic checksum offloads to function, so disabling any of them (in NIC properties) will automatically keep RSS and Chimney from being used.

Compatibility issues

As alluded to above, these technologies work really well with 2008r2 out of the box, on older operating systems (2003) you’re probably already familiar with needing to disable these to resolve issues, here are recommendations as to how things should be configured for the various Microsoft Server OSs in the market at this time:

W2003 SP2: RSS, Chimney & NetDMA are known to be problematic. Customers should disable these manually or use KB:948496. If you really need the features, install SNP roll-up (KB:912222) for W2003 and re-enable features.

W2008 RTM: RSS is on by default but Chimney is off. RSS had some issues that customers hit after installing W2008, most were resolved in SP2, & remaining were solved in KB:979614 (which brings RSS/Chimney to W2008 R2 level).

W2008 R2: RSS is on by default & Chimney is in ‘Automatic’ mode, which means the TCP connection being offloaded has to be 10Gb speed, less than 20ms latency between the 2 end points, & transmitted at least 130k. See page 6-7 of ‘W2008 R2 Networking Deployment Guide: Deploying High-Speed Networking Features‘

Win2008 R2 SP1 does not contain any fixes related to Chimney, and only has 1 fix for RSS that fixes a bug where RSS only uses 1 CPU when you have over 32 processors, KB:977977

If you’re seeing issues on modern operating systems which are resolved by disabling the above features ensure you’re systems are using the most recent NIC drivers, filters (teaming, AV, firewall etc..) & BIOS – whilst the market has matured there are still issues resolved with updated vendor drivers. It is important to work through these issues & use the functionality, in the Exchange world customers have achieved higher throughputs & got more value out of their hardware by getting these features turned back on.

Rob

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This is obviously not a supported / documented / recommended thing to do!  (be very careful & take a copy of the file before you change it)  In my situation I was rapidly coming to the conclusion re-building the array from scratch was going to be required, so I had an ever decreasing amount to loose by making the edit.

Rob

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• It doesn’t scale well
• It isn’t service aware (if the NLB service is running on the target server it will get its share of client requests regardless of if Exchange is actually able to service them)
• You cannot combine it with Failover clustering (which is required for a DAG node) & multi role solutions (Hub, CAS & Mailbox) are very effective with Exchange 2010
• Potential switch issues

So as Steve Goodman has reported Ross Smith IV spoke about this in his TechEd Europe session a few weeks ago his recommendation is to use a proper HLB solution, I’ve had good results with the Kemp series of HLB’s, I’ve used both the virtual appliances and the physical hardware appliances.  These are very cost effective & meet the requirements for load balancing & making Exchange 2010 CAS highly available.  Henrik Walther has written a good article on using the Kemp appliances with Exchange 2010, well worth a read.

Rob

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Rob

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With the change to remote PowerShell with PowerShell 2 you have to do things a little differently than previously (where you could simply use import-module to load the exchange management ps commandlets), to do this for Exchange 2010 I did the following:

• Create a scheduled task with no schedule and the following action:
• Action: Start a program
• Program / script: powershell.exe
• Add arguments: -command ". ‘c:Program FilesMicrosoftExchange ServerV14binRemoteExchange.ps1′; Connect-ExchangeServer -auto; c:pathtoscriptscript.ps1"
• On the general tab change the security options to look like this (the user account needs to have the required level of privilege granted by Exchange to do what ever it is your script has asked):
• 
• The ‘Run with highest privileges option’ was key for me, with that un-ticked the powershell process would start but nothing would actually happen, this is akin to pressing yes when prompted by the UAC dialog when you launch Exchange PowerShell.

You can then either setup a schedule if required or run the script on demand.

Rob

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Under Exchange 2010 RTM the export import process required Outlook 2010 x64 to be installed on the mailbox server where the export was taking place, there were several issues with this, firstly when Exchange 2010 launched Outlook 2010 was a beta product & more to the point you probably didn’t want Outlook installed on your mailbox servers.  Another key issue was that the reliability of the process was pretty poor – sometimes it would just work, other times it would refuse altogether (leaving the admin with the option of having an Exchange server which was also a DC, which resolved the issue) or as happened to me recently it would work for a while and then stop.  Another key issue is the need to run the export interactively, I generally got around this with a scheduled task.  Clearly this isn’t a robust scalable option.

So Exchange SP1 came along and the process has changed radically, some key changes:

• No requirement for Outlook to be installed on the server
• A changed set of criteria parameters allowing more flexibility to be applied to what is exported
• The process is no longer dependant on the PowerShell session used to start it, once submitted the process will run in the background, under the ‘Exchange Trusted Subsystem’ privilege – the location for your import / export must grant this group read / write access

The last option is the one which pleases me most (well shortly followed by the first), much like a mailbox move in 2010 you use the new-mailbox(export/import)request commandlet to request that exchange perform a mailbox export, once the request is submitted you are free to log off the server & walk away, your import / export will continue in the background.  You can view the status of mailbox imports and exports with the Get-mailbox(import/export)request commandlet. 

More detail on these commandlets is published on technet:

Managing mailbox imports and exports: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee633479.aspx

New-MailboxExportRequest: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff459227.aspx

New-MailboxImportRequest: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff459261.aspx

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I was fortunate enough to be offered the chance to attend the MCM programme a year or so ago following a discussion internally within Risual on how our consulting team can both further their skill sets and ultimately deliver superior services to our customers.  At that time Exchange 2007 was the current Exchange server product, with Exchange 2010  coming later that year, with that in mind I decided to defer the process until 2010 had launched.  Fast forward to April of this year and I began the application process, this consists of a number of stages, some of them more clear cut than others – there are some pre-requisite MCITP exams you need to have passed, you also need to submit your CV and some project documentation that you have produced, the aim here is to establish if applicants have the right level and type of experience to succeed on the programme.

Once you’ve been accepted into the programme (it took around a month start to finish for my application with contact back and forth), you need to pay the fee ($15,000 in the case of Exchange) and choose your rotation date.  As I had selected a rotation in September (it took about 6 months of pre-planning to find a rotation date which didn’t clash with customer or personal commitments) all went quiet at that point, this is your cue to step up on the reading & lab work (step up, not start – if you don’t already proactively stay immersed with Exchange whenever possible MCM probably isn’t for you).  With respect to pre-reading I focussed on the CHM & the big Exchange blogs (EHLO, Tim McMichael etc), I also picked up the excellent Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Best Practices book (I’d almost go so far as to say that this book should be on the the official pre-reading list, there’s very little it doesn’t cover in sufficient depth) however actually doing it is what’s going to give you the skills you need – be that lab or customer work – I spent a lot of time trying the new functionality with Exchange 2010 – CAS Arrays, DAG etc…. 

As your rotation draws nearer you will start to be in contact with the team more and more, they will help with things like accommodation and provide you with joining instructions for the first day.  I opted to stay in a corporate apartment with two other people on the course, for me this was an excellent move for many reasons, staying with people who are all going through the same process means you can talk over the days content when you finish class for the day, pick each other up when things don’t go so well & have some company for the three weeks that you’ll be there – as someone who stays in hotels often this is a big one.

The course is three weeks in length based in Microsoft’s Redmond campus, starting on a Monday morning, finishing on a Saturday after the qualification lab (more on that later), home for me is the UK & I’ve been to the west coast of the US before for holidays, Jetlag is something I struggle with & with this in mind I opted to fly out on the Wednesday of the previous week to get shot of the jet lag, this also gave me a few days to get some more reading in, I stayed in Seattle and when not frantically revising got some sightseeing in.  This was a good move – it took me until Saturday to get into a normal sleeping pattern & feeling human again. 

On the Sunday I met up with Nic and Joel whom I was sharing an apartment with & we headed to Redmond, the anticipation from all of us was immense – nothing quite like a combination of excitement and fear to spark a good conversation! 

Day one started at 7:30am with breakfast followed by a gentle introduction session from David the Exchange MCM PM, our group of 17 consisted of mostly Microsoft employees with 6 external partners like myself. 

Each section was taught by one or more subject matter experts – some internal Microsoft people from the product group, PSS or DSEs, some external people who simply know the product so well they are an ideal person to deliver the content.  The content was delivered principally using PowerPoint with regular whiteboard, demonstrations and lab exercises.

Following the introduction until Wednesday lunchtime was Transport in more depth than you can imagine, day one finished at 10:30pm, this set the pace for the rest of the week – the latter half of the week was given over to CAS & as with Transport the pace was unrelenting and the depth huge.  We were generally in the classroom 12-14 hours each day, with regular short breaks to grab a drink, David also kept us well stocked with Cliff bars, never had them before but they seemed to keep you going when you’re flagging!

Evenings were generally given over to dinner on the run & revising the days material, the first weekend the whole class got together to revise the transport and CAS material ready for the first of three tests, scheduled for 8am on Monday morning – don’t have any illusions of long dinners, drinking all night or sightseeing at the weekends, you don’t have time & you wont be able to get Exchange & the tests off your mind anyway! 

So Monday of week two came around, everyone on time and looking like they hadn’t slept, not just me then…  the test was delivered by the Prometric engine that is familiar to anyone who has taken an MCP exam, that is where the similarity ends however, every question is hard – they are designed to test your understanding of the material often using complex scenarios.  You get your results instantly, wait until the two hours is up and then dive straight into week two, which is all around mailboxes and storage, ranging from the disk architecture your mailbox databases are stored on, through to how Exchange databases are logically structured then finally the mailbox role itself.  Every night we would try and revisit the days content, pulling out what we felt might get tested, sometimes we were right, often we were not!  That weekend was much like the previous, two days of solid revision preparing for Monday’s test.

The week two test was in the same format as the previous one, again once the two hours was up we started on the week three material, which started with UM, then into HA, sizing / capacity planning finishing off with slightly less technical material around operational methods (ITIL etc..).  Friday of the final week was given over to revision, with the final exam being sat that afternoon. 

After the exam the entire group got together and begun preparation for the qualification lab, this is a six hour lab session where you will be given a series of tasks, all of them very simple in themselves, of course nothing will work and you will need to go on a rapid troubleshooting spree.  The lab is open book, you may use the internet, notes etc… the only thing not permitted is connecting to another lab / exchange environment, with this in mind the group spent a few hours getting all the tricks they’d picked up over the years and places to look & we got them written down – this was hugely valuable, both as a revision exercise for the Saturday but also in the lab I had commands at my fingertips to perform common tasks – a timesaver.

So Saturday came around, this was the final piece of the puzzle, we started at 8:30am, ran till lunchtime, stopped for 30 minutes then went back and finished the six hours.  I actually enjoyed the lab (strange as it sounds), it reflects the work I do most of, because of this I found it easier than the written exams.  Unlike the exams you don’t get an instant pass / fail, however you will be told the approximate pass mark and you will therefore have a reasonable idea of how you did, I came out of the lab feeling good about it – I’d completed all apart from one task and felt I’d done enough to pass it.

With the lab out of the way, we went out, had a big steak & a few drinks before retiring for the night (I feel somewhat sorry for our waiting staff, there was a lot of pent up emotion after the last three weeks coming out!), I flew out on the Sunday evening so after packing played a tourist in Seattle for the day & headed for home, some of my fellow candidates went back to work on the Monday, it took me a few days to get back into normal life – MCM is like a bubble, my parents ended up calling my girlfriend asking if I was alive as I’d all but fallen off the face of the planet, even fitting in a call home (factoring in the time difference if you’re coming from outside of the US) is very difficult.

So how did I do?  I passed two out of the three exams and passed the qualification lab.  This left me with a retake, these are be completed at home – if you are in this situation (most people will come home needing to do some form of retake) you book a time with your PM and they will get you up to speed on the process.  I re-took that exam today and am delighted to say I passed it.

So is it worth the money, the time away from work & the effort?  Absolutely – I was extremely fortunate to be in a rotation with such fantastic candidates, as a group we were constantly challenging the material which drove the discussions deeper and really helped my understanding of the content, that group of peers doesn’t stop when you finish the course and pass your exams, infact it gets better – once qualified you’re added as a member of the ‘Ranger DL’ containing all certified Masters / Rangers, what better group of people could you want to ask questions or test theory’s, there are a host of other benefits (which I’m still finding out about ).

Another key point which has stuck in my head is the need to be not only proficient in all of the Exchange roles (this includes Edge and UM!) but also in the surrounding and supporting technologies, AD is obviously a big one – know how to check replication, be fast with ADSI edit / LDP, also be proficient with ISA / TMG, I’m fortunate in that I use ISA / TMG a lot in customer engagements – why wouldn’t you, it’s an excellent way to expose Exchange to the outside world, it is also used heavily in the MCM training – if you’re not competent with it, you’ll struggle with some parts of the training and end up focussing on ISA rather than learning about Exchange.  Studying for and taking the ISA 2006 (I don’t believe there is a TMG MCITP as yet) exam would be a good way to get a good level of competence.

Wow, that was a long one!  Normal service will be resumed shortly!!

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