The Sharpeware Blog

Category SPACEWatch Exchange Setup
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Over on the main web site you'll see that we've launched SPACEWatch for Exchange - extending the SPACEWatch Storage Suite into Exchange email storage management.

We had excellent feedback from the early adopters during the beta programme and questions are already coming in from new users.  The most common question is "why don't I see any data".  I thought I'd post an answer to this question here in case you've also come across this issue.

SPACEWatch for Exchange depends on Microsoft's MAPI technology to access Exchange.  This is not installed in Windows by default - so you need a Microsoft application that includes it, or you need to install a Microsoft MAPI client. Here are the options:

• Microsoft Outlook 98 or later;
• Microsoft Exchange Admin Console;
• Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client.

Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client is the most "lightweight" option, and is a new installation that Microsoft brought out specifically to support MAPI-enabled applications.  To quote Microsoft:

"Starting with Exchange 2007, neither the Messaging API (MAPI) client libraries nor CDO 1.2.1 are provided as a part of the base product installation. As a result, there is functionality missing that many applications depend on. Microsoft Exchange MAPI and CDO 1.2.1 provide access to these APIs, which, in turn, provide access to the contents of MAPI stores."

You can download the Exchange Server MAPI Client from here.

If you have Outlook installed you don't need to have it running or configure it in any special way.  SPACEWatch just needs access to some of the program libraries that get installed with it (Outlook also uses MAPI to access Exchange servers).

Posted by Andrew Sharpe At 06:33:23 AM Location Peebles, Scotland | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Category SPACEWatch Exchange Setup
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SPACEWatch for Exchange has been released long enough now to review the typical support calls we've been getting.  Not unsurprisingly the most common question is "why don't I see any mailbox data".  We try to detect most common issues within SPACEWatch itself, but its not always possible to automatically diagnose every user configuration.  Here are some tips to help get things working... if you still have problems contact us on support@sharpeware.com and we can work with you to investigate further.

No Exchange servers listed

If you don't get any servers listed in the "Add Storage" browser then you are probably not logged in to the domain and hence don't have access to Active Directory.  Note that if servers are listed you can choose to manage just file attachments (the default) or get data about messages as well.  See "Advanced options".

No mailboxes listed during scan

If you go to collect data and you don't see any mailboxes listed this is probably because the account you're running SPACEWatch under doesn't have read access to the Global Address List on your Exchange servers.

When you run SPACEWatch for Exchange for the first time you will be prompted for the account to use.  If you want to change this you need to edit the swatch.ini file in My Documents\SPACEWatch.  Find the entry for "GAL Acccount" and confirm that this is a genuine Exchange user.

The other common possibility might be that you don't have an extended MAPI (Windows Messaging) client installed.  This doesn't come by default with Windows so you need to have one of the following installed on the same systems as SPACEWatch:

• Microsoft Outlook 98 or later
• Microsoft Exchange Admin Console
• Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client

The Exchange Server MAPI Client is available for free download from the Microsoft web site. Read more.

No mailbox data

If you get Public Folder data, but no mailbox data, this is probably because the account you are running SPACEWatch under does not have access to the mailboxes you're scanning.  The way you grant access depends on the version of Exchange Server you are using - but you probably don't have it by default, even if you are an Administrator (this is a "feature" of Exchange).

Below I describe how to grant access on Exchange 200, 2003 or 2007.  Of course you need appropriate Exchange Admin rights to do this in the first place.

Exchange 2000 and 2003

1. Start Exchange System Manager.

2. Drill down to your server object within the appropriate Administrative Group. Expand the server object and find the required mailbox store within the appropriate Storage Group. Right-click it and choose Properties.



3. In the Properties window go to the Security tab.
4. Click Add, click the user or group who you want to have access to the mailboxes, and then click OK.
5. Be sure that the user or group is selected in the Name box.
6. In the Permissions list, click Allow next to Full Control, and then click OK.

Note: Make sure there is no Deny checkbox selected next to the Send As and Receive As permissions.



7. Click Ok all the way out.

Granting rights to mailboxes located on a specific server

Use the following procedure to grant access to Exchange 2000 or an Exchange 2003 mailboxes found on a specific server:

Note: You must have the appropriate Exchange administrative permissions to do so.

1. Start Exchange System Manager.
2. Drill down to your server object within the appropriate Administrative Group. Right-click it and choose Properties.



3. In the Properties window go to the Security tab.
4. Click Add, click the user or group who you want to have access to the mailboxes, and then click OK.
5. Be sure that the user or group is selected in the Name box.
6. In the Permissions list, click Allow next to Full Control, and then click OK.

Note: Make sure there is no Deny checkbox selected next to the Send As and Receive As permissions.



7. Click Ok all the way out.

Note: It might take some time before the changes you've made will take effect. The amount of time needed is influenced by the number of domain controllers, Global Catalogs and site replication schedules and intervals. On one domain with one site containing multiple domain controllers it might take up to 15 minutes before you can begin using these new permissions. On single servers that are also DCs you can speed up the process by restarting the Information Store service.

Exchange 2007

In Exchange 2007 Microsoft have done away with enhanced a range of admin features within the management client by moving them to the scripting interface instead.

In the Exchange Management Shell, use the following command to allow access to all mailboxes on a given mailbox store (where "serviceaccount" is the user you run SPACEWatch under):
 
Add-ADPermission –identity "mailbox database" –user "serviceaccount" –ExtendedRights Receive-As

Use the following command to allow access to an individual mailbox:

Add-MailboxPermission –identity "user" –user "serviceaccount" –AccessRights FullAccess

 Thanks to http://www.petri.co.il for some of the above data - this is an excellent site that abounds with informative Exchange-related articles.

Posted by Andrew Sharpe At 06:33:23 AM Location Peebles, Scotland | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Category SPACEWatch Exchange
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Microsoft recently released Exchange 2010, their latest email server.  Its never been easier to deploy a highly available, highly scalable, Exchange email infrastructure.

This also means that its never been easier for users to fill up their mailboxes with unused, unwanted and duplicated file attachments too.  This is where SPACEWatch for Exchange 6 comes in.  Just like the rest of the SPACEWatch Storage Suite range, SPACEWatch for Exchange lets you search, analyse - as well as clean up and archive - all types of unstructured storage.  The good news is, it will also do this for those many thousands of files that will be stored in Exchange 2010 mailboxes.

And if you're still using Public Folders, you can keep going with those on Exchange 2010 - and SPACEWatch for Exchange will help you manage those as well.

And it doesn't stop there!  You also get great PST file analysis - including the ability to search, analyse and archive the contents of PST files themselves.

The first benefit that Microsoft describe for Exchange 2010 is easy deployment.  SPACEWatch for Exchange support this ethos.  You don't need to install any software on your Exchange servers - or make any configuration changes.

Posted by Scott McTaggart At 06:33:23 AM Location Peebles, Scotland | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)