Software-update: Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool 2.6

Een van de meest voorkomende e-mailservers is het Nederlandse bedrijfsleven is toch wel Microsoft Exchange. Om een Exchange server optimaal in te stellen heeft Microsoft een verzameling van de zogenaamde Best Practices in het leven geroepen. Deze zijn overal na te lezen en worden ook in trainingen gebruikt. Om het voor de beheerders een stapje makkelijker te maken hebben ze ook een handig programma ontwikkeld om een Exchange server te analyseren, door te kijken naar de huidige instellingen en de prestaties. Aan de hand van deze uitkomsten worden tips gegeven om de eventuele knelpunten op te lossen en de algemene prestaties te verbeteren. De ontwikkelaars hebben Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool 2.6 uitgebracht met de volgende opmerking:

Hi folks,

A few hours ago we released ExBPA v2.6 (U.S. English) and ExPTA v1.1 (U.S. English) to the microsoft.com download center. We're very excited about the new features and improvements made in each tool. The final build numbers are as follows:

ExBPA
• Application version: 2.6.7812.0
• Configuration version: 2.11.3.0
ExPTA
• Application version: 1.1.7812.0
• Configuration version: 1.3.2.0

It's going to take a few hours for all download servers to see the changes, so if you don't see the new versions, try again in a few hours. We'll let the new versions settle for a few days, then at the weekend, we'll flip the bit which will cause all older versions to prompt for upgrade.

Here are the major differences and improvements that we have made since ExBPA v2.5:

• Tabbed reporting interface instead of a drop-down control. Viewing reports is now much more intuitive with this cool reporting structure.
• Scan types are presented through radio buttons, so the different scan types available are much more obvious.
• Group by "Issue" option when viewing list reports. For example, if you find that multiple servers are showing the same Error, you can now easily display a list of all servers affected rather than having to manually go through the entire list of items.
• An ExBPA shell extension which allows you to right-click on an XML in Explorer (or apps like WinZip) and "View with Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer".
• ExBPA now works through proxy servers that require authentication.
• New 'Permission Structure Check' scan type. This iterates through both the domain naming context and Exchange section of the configuration naming context and will notify you if inheritance has been blocked at any level. In addition, ExBPA will also check for inheritance blocks in the configuration naming context during a regular 'Health Check'.
• Better reporting of cluster resources and groups. In the detailed view, you will now see a great hierarchical display of:
  • Cluster resource groups with current owner
  • Cluster resources and properties
  • Dependent resources
  • Antecedent resources
  • Possible owners
  We have also implemented dependency checks. For example, if the System attendant is not dependent on every physical disk resource in the same resource group, a warning will be displayed.
• Very latest rule set, including all the updates made to v2.5, which include the IIS metabase / transport event sink checks. In addition, we have introduced some new rules including:
  • If you look in the "Information Items" report, the very first info rule details the version of ExBPA that was used to capture and analyze the data.
  • A new object processor that uses DsGetSiteName to ascertain the AD site membership of the Exchange server and all DC/GCs in the DSAccess topology.
  • Certificate checking. For every SMTP domain defined, we attempt to obtain the SSL cert. If we find it, we'll check that the principal matches the host name and if the cert is close to expiry (or has already expired).
  • For connectivity errors, ExBPA now displays the underlying exception (e.g. Access Denied) in the Error rule itself. You no longer need to manually go through the Run Time log to see the actual error string.
• All XML files are digitally signed to improve security and prevent tampering/spoofing. On startup, ExBPA will check that a valid signature (and Microsoft certificate) is on each XML. If the XML has been modified, a popup error will be seen and ExBPA will refuse to run.

I want to thank everyone on this newsgroup for making these tools such a success! I also want to thank the dev team here for all their tireless work.. Jon Avner, Jack Bennetto, Kevin Chase, Nicole Allen, Weiguo Zhang, Haruya Shida and Soumya Singhi.

If you have feedback or comments, feel free to use the newsgroup, or send directly to [e-mail]

--
Paul Bowden
Program Manager
Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/analyzers

Versienummer	2.6
Besturingssystemen	Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003
Website	Microsoft
Download	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=dbab201f-4bee-4943-ac22-e2ddbd258df3&DisplayLang=en
Bestandsgrootte	5,43MB
Licentietype	Freeware

Reacties (8)

[metalant]

Deze tool is erg handig, met name als je wilt nakijken hoe iemand anders de Exchange server heeft ingericht. Bij een Exchange cluster worden ook de registry settings van de verschillende nodes met elkaar vergeleken op afwijkingen.

[CmdrKeen]

Jammer dat je er het dotnetframework 1.1 voor nodig hebt. Ik installeer liever niets dat niet per sé nodig is op mijn mailserver.

Op zich is dat al redelijk good housekeeping, niets overbodigs installeren. De tool zou zichzelf dus als non-best-practice moeten zien

@reacties hieronder:
Ik gebruik wel OWA maar geen OMA en mijn server draait op Windows 2000 Server, niet Windows 2003. Standaard heb ik dus niet het Framework 1.1.

[Anoniem: 157690]

.NET framework zit standaard al bij exchange 2003 dus dat heb je al. Bovendien kun je exbpa gewoon op een client machine installeren en van daar uit de scan starten.

[Jimbolino]

als je outlook mobile access gebruikt (onderdeel van exchange) heb je ook .net framework nodig

[Daemonicus]

OWA=Outlook Web access. En tevens ook IIS maar die wordt standaard al geinstalleerd.

[MortalPiso]

Jimbolino heeft het over OMA, Outlook Mobile Access. Dat is dus niet hetzelfde als OWA (Outlook Web Access).

OMA is meer geschikt om via je mobiele telefoon je mail, contactpersonen, agenda en consorten te bekijken, aanpassen en versturen.

[TheRookie]

De link wijst alleen naar de BPA, terwijl de titel impliceert dat je de BPA en PTA gecombineerd download ?

[ReLexEd]

BPA:http://download.microsoft...be-d0a8ef1ccd07/ExBPA.msi
PTA staat onder de volgende urrel:http://download.microsoft...fc-31156bb9c632/ExPTA.MSI