IBM Tivoli IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager for Microsoft Exchange Agent KB Notes and HOW TOs Page 1 of 61 Status: Draft
CONTENTS 1 Overview... 3 1.1 Introduction... 3 1.2 Version History... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3 Terms and abbreviations... 4 1.4 User Guides... 4 2 Assumptions and prerequisite... 5 3 HOW TOs... 6 3.1 How to configure the agent startup?... 6 3.2 How to go about agent configuration?... 8 3.3 How to configure agent in a cluster environment?... 11 3.4 How to add script as resource to SCC (Fail over)cluster environment with more than two nodes?... 12 3.5 How to add Exchange agent Service as resource to cluster environment (CCR or SCC with two nodes)?... 17 3.6 How to create a MAPI profile?... 24 3.7 How to enable Out of office auto-reply for a user account?... 27 3.8 How to create outlook profile?... 29 3.9 How to enable Inbox Rule auto-reply for a user account?... 36 3.10 How to verify mailbox reachability?... 49 3.11 How to enable / reload perfmon counters?... 50 3.12 How to enable maximum trace logs?... 52 3.13 How to bundle logs for L3 team?... 53 4 Problems, Symptoms, Solutions... 54 4.1 MFC MAPI not able to create a MAPI profile... 54 4.2 MAPI profile not configured correctly... 54 4.3 Reachability results not shown on the TEP... 54 4.4 Reachability results are not as expected... 56 4.5 Data for perfmon attribute groups not displayed on the TEP... 57 4.6 Mailbox details not displayed on the TEP... 57 4.7 Storage group details not displayed on TEP... 57 4.8 Exchange agent (64 bit) fails to start... 58 4.9 No data shown on TEP... 58 4.10 RAS file size increases... 60 5 Cluster Support Matrix... 61 Page 2 of 61 Status: Draft
1 Overview 1.1 Introduction This document lists and provides solutions to common problems faced by customers of IBM Tivoli MS Exchange Monitoring Agent during setting up the product in their Exchange environments. The intended audience of the document is Level 2 personnel for IBM Tivoli MS Exchange Monitoring Agent and the customers of the product. Various sections of the document refer to a user account / user name to be used. We recommend creating a user with all the access and permissions for the agent to work as expected. Refer the initial part of section 2.1 to know the permissions required.
Terms and abbreviations Term / Abbreviation IBM ITM MS L3 MAPI PDF OWA TEP Description International Business Machines IBM Tivoli Monitoring Microsoft Level three support Messaging API Adobe Postscript Data Format Outlook Web Access Tivoli Enterprise Portal 1.2 User Guides User Guide 6.1.1 User Guide 6.2.0 User guide 6.1.1.pdf User guide 6.2.0.pdf
2 Assumptions and prerequisite 1. To get all the data on the portal the agent must be installed on the Exchange Server having Mailbox, Client, Hub Transport roles installed. 2. For proper functioning of the agent user provided in agent configuration panel should have following rights. - Local Administrator - Exchange Recipient Administrators (Exchange 2007) - Recipient Management (Exchange 2010) - View-Only Organization Management (Exchange 2010) 3. For proper functioning of the agent, agent service must be configured to run under the above said user. 4. All the mandatory parameter should be provided in the agent configuration panel as per prerequisites, mentioned in the user guide. 5. In order to monitor the Mailbox details, Public folder details, Exchange server should have mailbox role.
3 HOW TOs 3.1 How to configure the agent startup? Required for the agent to start, the initial part of the configuration of the agent should be the startup. The startup user should be a member of all the groups Michael Scofield is a member of as in the image below.
Follow the steps mentioned below to configure the agent startup. Step 1) Launch the IBM Tivoli Monitoring application Step 2) Right click the agent service / agent name and click Change Startup Step 3) Select the options as in the image below and provide the username and the password of the user configured with all the rights and privileges to various groups. Once done, click OK.
3.2 How to go about agent configuration? Configuration for the Exchange Agent is the key for its flawless working. In this section we look at the various attributes available for configuration. The following image is a typical configuration window displayed when the agent is being configured with sample values for all the attributes.
Sr. Configuration Description / Configuration value No. Attribute 1 Exchange Server Name The name of the exchange server or the mailbox server in case the agent is being configured in a clustered environment. 2 Exchange Domain The name of the domain where the agent is being configured. 3 Exchange User Name User name of a domain user. 4 Exchange User Password Password of the domain user used in the field above. 5 Exchange MAPI Profile Name Name of the MAPI profile created on the machine where the agent is being configured. 6 Enable Reachability Select Yes if you want to verify the reachability of the address specified in the field below. 7 Reachability Email Address An email address from the same domain to test the reachability. For example if the domain is foxriver.com then Lincoln@foxriver.com would be the reachability address 8 Exchange Reachability Interval The number of seconds the Monitoring Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server must wait between sending e-mails. 9 Exchange Reachability Threshold The number of seconds the Monitoring Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server waits for a response to a reachability e-mail. When the threshold expires the e-mail address is considered unreachable.
10 Enable Mailbox Details This enables or disables the collection of mailbox detail metrics. Where the following is true: No = Disabled Yes = Enabled 11 Exchange Mailbox Detail Runtime The time of day to begin gathering mailbox metrics on the system being monitored. The format is HH:MM:SS, where the following measures apply: HH = Hour MM = Minute SS = Second The hours are on a 24-hour clock standard. 12 Exchange Mailbox Detail Interval The number of seconds between mailbox detail information metric collections. Every 24 hours is specified 86400 seconds. 13 Exchange Agent Interval The number of seconds that the agent will wake up to check the health of the service and refresh Perfmon performance metrics. Detailed description about the configuration of the agent is mentioned on page 17 of the User Guide for MS Exchange Monitoring Agent 6.2.0
3.3 How to configure agent in a cluster environment? The IBM Tivoli Monitoring agent for Microsoft Exchange needs a different type of configuration to work correctly in a cluster environment. The first of these set of changes to the configuration include a change in the configuration parameter Exchange Server Name. The parameter needs to the set to the name of the mailbox server instead of the machine name. The embedded PDF document mentions more of the changes to be made to the configuration. ITM 6.1 Clustered Agents.pdf The agent configuration (agent version 6.2.0 and later releases) has a third tab named Cluster Properties where values for the cluster name, the history directory and the hostname have to be specified for the agent to work correctly in a cluster environment. For details refer to the page number 21 of the Exchange Agent User Guide version 6.2.0 and later releases Example: The cluster name is FOX_CLUSTER1, the history directory is c:\histdir, and the subsystem id i.e. the host name is the name of the machine is FOX_MACHINE1 as in the image below. Please refer to page 20 of the Exchange Agent User Guide version 6.1.1 for details about setting up the 6.1.1 agent in a cluster environment.
3.4 How to add script as resource to SCC (Fail over)cluster environment with more than two nodes? 1. Open Cluster Administration Console. Start -> Admin Tools -> Cluster Admin 2. Select a Resource Group 3. In right hand pane, on right click select option New -> Resource, as shown below:
4. Name the Resource. 5. Select Resource type as Generic Script. 6. Click Next 7. Do not provide any owner for this resource. Click Next 8. Script is not dependent on any other Resource.
9. Click Next
10. Provide the path of the script. This would be path on shared drive of this Exchange Server. 11. Click Finish
12. After successful creation of resource, bring it online. This will execute the script. Script will configure and start agent on current active node on the Exchange Server.
3.5 How to add Exchange agent Service as resource to cluster environment (CCR or SCC with two nodes)? 1. Open Cluster Administration Console. Start -> Admin Tools -> Cluster Admin 2. Select a Resource Group 3. In right hand pane, on right click select option New -> Resource, as shown below:
4. Enter name as KEXCMA_Primary1 and select the resouce type as Generic Service. 5. Click Next
6. Service is not dependent on any other Resource. 7. Click Next
8. Enter the Service name as KEXCMA_Primary. 9. Click Next.
10. Click Finish.
11. Pop-up window will appear as shown below. 12. Bring the agent service resource online.
3.6 How to create a MAPI profile? The exchange agent requires a MAPI profile to be created on the machine where it runs to access the private message stores(s) i.e. the mailbox databases. Creation of a MAPI profile is mandatory, without which the agent will not return any data for reachability and private message store (IS Private). Note: In order to create a MAPI profile, MS Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects (MAPI CDO) need to be installed on the machine. To create a MAPI profile for an MS Exchange 2003 Server machine the tool profman is needed while for an MS Exchange 2007 Server the tool MFCMAPI is needed. Download MFCMAPI from the following link, http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=55fdffd7-1878-4637-9808- 1E21ABB3AE37&displaylang=en Follow the steps mentioned below to create a MAPI profile. Step 1) Launch MFC MAPI and select the Profile menu, then click on Show Profiles. This should display the existing MAPI profiles on the machine if any. Step 2) Click the Actions menu item and click Create Profile
Step 3) Specify a name for the profile Step 4) Right click the newly created profile and click Add Service Step 5) Type in MSEMS and click OK
Step 6) Type in the name of the mailbox server, the user name of the user account to be used and click the Check name button If the specified user s mailbox exists on the server name specified, the entries would be underlined as in the image below.
3.7 How to enable Out of office auto-reply for a user account? For the mail reachability feature of the agent to work and return data about the reachability of the address specified, the out of office reply needs to be enabled for the user account whose email id has been specified. For example, if the email address mscofield@foxriver.com has been specified then the Out of office reply for the user account Michael Scofield (the owner of the e- mail address) has to be enabled. Follow the steps mentioned below to enable the feature. Step 1) Login into the mailbox of the user account for which the out of office auto-reply needs to be enabled using OWA. Step 2) Click on the Options link in the top right hand corner of the page displayed as in the image below Step 3) Click on the Out of Office Assistance link in the left hand side of the page displayed as in the image below
Step 4) Set the appropriate options to configure the Out of office auto-reply feature as in the image below
3.8 How to create outlook profile? Perform the following steps for each Microsoft Exchange Server that you wish to monitor for user mailbox availability. Step 1.) Open Start -> Control Panel -> Mail Step 2.) Dialog Mail Setup Outlook will appear.
Step 3.) Click Show Profiles.
Step 4.) Click Add. Step 5.) Provide the Profile Name. Step 6.) Click OK. Step 7.) Check Manually configure server settings or additional server types.
Step 8.) Click Next, following dialog will appear. Step 9.) Select Microsoft Exchange.
Step 10.) Click Next, following dialog will appear. Step 11.) Type the name of the Microsoft Exchange Server in the Microsoft Exchange Server field.
Step 12.) Type the name of the user you created, in the Mailbox field. Step 13.) Click Check Name. If Exchange Server name and User name is resolved, following dialog will appear.
Step 14.) Click Next. Step 15.) Click Finish
3.9 How to enable Inbox Rule auto-reply for a user account? Perform the following steps for each Microsoft Exchange Server that you wish to monitor for user mailbox availability. Step 1.) Start Microsoft Outlook for the user you wish to monitor. Select Tools > Rules and Alerts.
Step 2.) Following dialog will appear that will help creating new rule.
Step 3.) Click New Rule, following dialog will appear.
Step 4.)Select messages when they arrive under section Start from blank rule. Step 5.) Click Next
Step 6.) Check the following options: - Where my name is in the To: box - With specific words in the subject or body
Step 7.).Under Step 2 in the dialog, click Specific words, following dialog will appear Step 8.)Type the following in the Specify words or phrases to search for in the subject or body field: AVAILABILITY CHECK Step 9.) Click Add. Step 10.) Click OK.
Step 11.) Click Next.
Step 12.) Check Have the server reply using a specific message.
Step 13.) Under Step 2 in the dialog, click Specific message, new mail window will appear.
Step 14.)In the new mail window, type the following text in the subject field: CHECK RECEIVED: MAILBOX AVAILABLE
Step 15.) Save the email and close the new mail window. Rules Wizard will appear as shown below. Step 16.) Click Next.
Step 17.) When you are asked about exceptions, do not specify any restrictions. Step 18.) Click Next.
Step 19.) Name the rule. Make sure that Turn on this rule is checked. Step 20.) Click Finish and then OK.
3.10 How to verify mailbox reachability? The agent programmatically sends an email to the address specified in the reachability address field in the configuration window. The reachability is considered to be successful when the agent receives a response from the address. The response can be an Out of office auto-reply sent from the address (Check section 2.3 for instructions to enable Out of office auto-reply). To verify reachability manually, enable the Out of office auto-reply feature for the user and send an email to the address using another user s email id. A response from the user s account indicates reachability. Once the reachability has been verified and in case the agent still doesn t show the reachability contact L3 with a set of agent logs (Check section 2.8).
3.11 How to enable / reload perfmon counters? The agent collects most of the data from perfmon objects provided by Microsoft. In certain cases, the agent doesn t display data on the TEP for certain counters. The reason behind this could be the counters haven t been loaded / enabled on the machine where the agent is running. Enabling / reloading the concerned counters could solve the problem of data not being displayed on the TEP. Follow the steps mentioned below to enable the perfmon counters. Step 1) Launch Exchange Management Shell on the machine where the agent is running. Step 2) Type in the command lodctr <counter INI file name> on the command prompt For example, the command in the following window will load the Database Counters on the machine Step 3) Launch perfmon by typing perfmon (without the quotes) in the Run Program window
Step 4) Verify if the data for the newly enabled counters is being displayed in perfmon as in the image below. 1.3
3.12 How to enable maximum trace logs? The Exchange Agent generates a set of logs while it runs. It logs some steps in its execution. These logs are helpful to trace the working of the Exchange agent in case of a failure or if the agent is not working as expected. The logging has certain levels to it and for the maximum coverage the logging has to be set to the maximum. Follow the steps mentioned below to enable the perfmon counters. Step 1) Launch the IBM Tivoli Monitoring application Step 2) Right click the agent name and click Advanced and then Edit Trace Parms Step 3) Select / set the options as in the image below and click OK
3.13 How to bundle logs for L3 team? The logs generated by the agent are trace marks about the working of the agent. These logs contain vital information about the steps the agent executed. The logs generated by the agent are located at the path C:\IBM\ITM\TMAITM6\logs (in case the agent is installed on another drive, the path would start with that drive letter). ZIP the logs folder entirely to be sent to the L3 team. 1.4
4 Problems, Symptoms, Solutions 4.1 MFC MAPI not able to create a MAPI profile Symptom(s): - MFC MAPI throws an error while a MAPI profile is being created. Possible Reason(s): - Exchange MAPI CDO is not installed on the machine. - A MAPI profile with the same name already exists on the machine or has been recently deleted. Solution(s): - Install / Re-install Exchange MAPI CDO on the machine and try again. Refer to: The Note section in How to create a MAPI profile? 4.2 MAPI profile not configured correctly Symptom(s): - MAPI related errors in the kexcma or kexsendemail log files like Failed to initialize MAPI or Logon failed. Possible Reason(s): - The MAPI profile on the machine has been corrupted. - The startup user is not the same as the one using which the MAPI profile was created. Solution(s): - Create a fresh new MAPI profile to resolve the mentioned error. - Change the agent Startup user to the one using whom the MAPI profile was created. Refer to: How to create a MAPI profile? and How to configure the agent startup? 4.3 Reachability results not shown on the TEP 1. Symptom(s): - Errors in the kexsendemail log file like Message Store Not Available. - A log file named Mailbox Reachability Results is not generated.
Possible Reason(s): - The mailbox database containing the mailbox of the user the agent is configured with is dismounted. Solution(s): - Mount the mailbox database of the user. Refer to: How to verify mailbox reachability? 2. Symptom(s): - Errors in the kexcma log file like Request failed. The remote server returned an error :(403) Forbidden. - A log file named Mailbox_Reachabilit.log is not generated. Possible Reason(s): - Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) settings are enabled on the Exchange Web Services virtual directory. Solution(s): - Disable SSL settings on the Exchange Web Services virtual directory by using the following steps: 1. Click Start > Administrative Tools > IIS Manager. The Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager opens. 2. In the Connections pane, expand server name > Sites > Default Web Site. 3. In the Default Web Site Home pane, double-click the SSL Settings icon. 4. In the SSL Settings pane, clear the Require SSL check box. 5. Under Client certificates, click Ignore. 6. In the Actions pane, click Apply to disable the SSL settings. Refer to: How to verify mailbox reachability?
3. Symptom(s): - Errors in the kexcma log file like kexews: The Autodiscover service could not be located.. - A log file named Mailbox_Reachability.log is not generated. Note: - Applies to - Exchange Server 2010, Exchange agent 64 bit, v623 onwards - Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Agent 32 bit, v6202 onwards - Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Agent 64 bit, v623 onwards Solution(s): - Check the IIS log to see what is the exact error code returned (like 401.1 or 401.2, refer the link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318380); - Check the user account you are using to run the cmdlet (To run the Test- OutlookWebServices cmdlet, the account must be delegated the Exchange Server Administrator role and member of local Administrators group on the target server.). - For required settings on virtual directory /Ews in Exchange Server, refer the following link http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2008/02/01/3404755.aspx Refer to: How to verify mailbox reachability? 4.4 Reachability results are not as expected Symptoms: Reachability results on the Tivoli Enterprise Portal show the email address as not reachable. Possible Reason(s): - The email address provided in the configuration panel is incorrect. - The email address provided in the configuration panel is from another domain. - The mailbox database containing the mailbox of the email address specified is dismounted. - The auto-reply feature for the specified email addresses is not enabled. Solution(s): - Verify the email address provided is correct (check for typos). - Provide an email address from the same domain as the agent is configured for. - Mount the mailbox database of the user whose address has been specified in the reachability field in the configuration panel. - Enable the auto-reply feature for the specified email addresses. Refer to: How to verify mailbox reachability? and How to enable Out of office auto-reply for a user account?
4.5 Data for perfmon attribute groups not displayed on the TEP Symptom(s): - Perfmon attribute group(s) return zero rows on the TEP. - Log statement like "AddData") Passing row 0 to InsertRow() missing after statement such as "AddData") Entry in the kexcma log(s). Possible Reason(s): - The related perfmon counters are disabled on the machine. Solution(s): - Enable the appropriate perfmon counters on the agent machine. Refer to: How to enable / reload perfmon counters? 4.6 Mailbox details not displayed on the TEP Symptom(s): - A file named Mailbox_Details doesn t exist in the logs folder on the agent machine. - A file named mbxstorestate2007.log doesn t exist in the logs folder on the agent machine. - The statement "Environment variables are not set. Missing user id, password or exchange profile" is present in the kexcma log file on the agent machine. Possible Reason(s): - The user id, password or the MAPI profile name has been incorrectly specified or hasn t been specified at all. - The script mbxstorestate2007.ps1 did not execute as expected. - The agent startup user is not the same as the one using which the MAPI profile was created. - The configured user doesn t have enough rights to access the private message store. Solution(s): - Specify correct user id, password and MAPI profile name in the agent configuration. - Make sure the anti-virus software isn t blocking the script from being executed. - Use the same user in the agent startup as the one using which the MAPI profile was created. - Provide required rights / permissions to the configured user. Refer to: How to create a MAPI profile?, How to configure the agent startup? and How to go about agent configuration? 4.7 Storage group details not displayed on TEP Symptom(s): - A file named mbxstorestate2007.log doesn t exist in the logs folder on the agent machine. Possible Reason(s): - The script mbxstorestate2007.ps1 did not execute as expected. - The configured user doesn t have enough rights to access the storage group details. Solution(s):
- Make sure the anti-virus software isn t blocking the script from being executed. - Provide required rights / permissions to the configured user. Refer to: How to configure the agent startup? and How to go about agent configuration? 4.8 Exchange agent (64 bit) fails to start Symptom(s): - The server_ex_kexcma_timestamp.log reflects the following: 4EDE5EF0.00F5-2118:kntctagt.cpp,853,"CtMain") CtMain: Kounter instance creation FAILED (4EDE5EF0.00F6-2118:kntctagt.cpp,854,"CtMain") CtMain: CoCreateInstance returns 80040154 [01cddfa8] (4EDE5EF0.00F7-2118:kntctagt.cpp,855,"CtMain") CtMain: EXITING (4EDE5EF0.00F8-132C:kntctagt.cpp,2769,"main") Main: TERMINATION Possible Reason(s): - During agent installation, the kexctrd.dll was not registered properly. Solution(s): - Register the kexctrd.dll by performing the following: 1. Open Command Prompt 2. Change current directory to <CANDLE_HOME>\TMAITM6_x64 3. Run the regsvr32 kexctrd.dll command. 4. Click OK on message box, "DllRegisterServer in kexctrd.dll succeeded. 5. Start the agent. 4.9 No data shown on TEP Symptom(s): - Exchange agent is configured on Exchange server 2010 and cluster parameters are provided in the cluster properties( 3 rd Tab) of agent configuration panel then no data gets displayed on the portal Possible Reason(s): - In case of Exchange Server 2010, no parameters should be provided in the 3 rd Tab of agent configuration panel. Solution(s): - Stop the agent service. - Delete the following registry keys [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Candle\KEX\Ver610\<HostName>\Environment\ CTIRA_HOSTNAME].
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Candle\KEX\Ver610\<HostName>\Environment\ CTIRA_SUBSYSTEM_ID]. - Create new value CTIRA_HOSTNAME of type "Expandable String" under key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Candle\KEX\Ver610\<HostName>\Environment]. - Set the value as "%computername%". - Reconfigure the agent. - During reconfiguration provide Exchange Server hostname (without domain) in "Exchange Server Name" (Tab 1). - Remove values provided for "Cluster Server Name", "Exchange History Directory", "Exchange Subsystem ID" on the third tab of the agent configuration panel. - Start the agent.
4.10 RAS file size increases Symptom(s): - Files named kexsendmail.ras or kexcma.ras increase in size at location C:\Windows\System32. Possible Reason(s): - The related executable for the file kexsendemail.ras (kexsendemail.exe) or kexcma.ras (kexcma.exe) crashes repeatedly. Solution(s): - Make sure the agent is configured properly to stop the executable(s) from crashing. Refer to: How to go about agent configuration?
5 Cluster Support Matrix Cluster Type Agent Version 611 620 620 FP1 LCR X * X CCR X X SCR X * X SCC X X X * IBM doesn t officially support the cluster types, but the agent works under normal conditions.