Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Routing Log Viewer

As with the preceding Queue Viewer, the Routing Log Viewer is available in the toolbox of servers that have the Hub Transport or Edge Transport server role installed.

In previous versions of Exchange Server, administrators could connect to the Exchange Routing Engine service on port 691 using the WinRoute tool. However, as there is no Routing Engine in Exchange Server 2010, the Routing Log Viewer enables administrators to open a routing log file that contains information about how the routing topology appears to the server. Administrators can also open a second lot to determine what changes have occurred within the routing topology between the two time periods.

Tracking Log Explorer

The Message Tracking utility discussed earlier is, as stated, a simplified tool for confirming delivery of messages utilizing the ECP interface. However, with its simplicity comes a lack of detail that administrators occasionally need when tracking messages. The Tracking Log Explorer is the utility formerly known as the Message Tracking utility in Exchange Server 2007.

This utility enables administrators to search for messages and determine the actual path they took through the Exchange Server environment. This is accomplished by searching through the records of SMTP transport activity of all messages entering or leaving an Exchange Hub Transport, Edge Transport, or mailbox server.

By default, message tracking is enabled on all Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 Hub Transport, Edge Transport, and Mailbox servers. To confirm or modify the status of the message tracking log, administrators can use the following commands from the Exchange Management Shell:

To view the status of all transport servers in the organization:

Get-TransportServer

and look under the MessageTrackingLogEnabled column. To view the status of a particular transport server:

Get-TransportServer "ServerName"

where "ServerName" is the name of the server. To view the status of a particular mailbox server:

Get-MailboxServer "ServerName" |fl

and confirm "MessageTrackingLogEnabled" = "True"

To disable the message tracking log on a particular server:

Set-TransportServer "ServerName" -MessageTrackingLogEnabled $false
or
Set-MailboxServer "ServerName" -MessageTrackingLogEnabled $false

To enable the message tracking log on a particular server:

Set-TransportServer "ServerName" -MessageTrackingLogEnabled $true
or
Set-MailboxServer "ServerName" -MessageTrackingLogEnabled $true

The message tracking utility is intended primarily for mail flow analyses, reporting, and (of course) determining the status of a message that has been reported as undelivered. Administrators can search for messages based on any combination of the following fields:

• Recipients
• Sender
• Server
• EventID
• MessageID
• InternalMessageID
• Subject
• Reference

In addition, the administrator can specify a Start and End date and time to search for the message. In organizations with large message stores, it can be extremely beneficial to narrow the scope of the search as much as possible because sorting through all messages in the environment to look for a particular one can take a significant amount of time.

At the bottom of the pane, the Exchange Management Shell command that will be utilized for the search displays.

Double-click the Tracking Log Explorer icon to launch the tool. A wizard walks you through the steps for tracking messages.

Exchange Server Performance Monitor

One of the most powerful, yet often overlooked, utilities available is the Exchange Server Performance Monitor, labeled simply as Performance Monitor in the toolbox. This tool is essentially the same as the Windows Performance Monitor, but it has a series of predefined counters that are related specifically to Exchange Server, including message traffic sent or received per second, Average Disk Queue Length, and several counters to monitor remote procedure calls (RPC) traffic. Of course, the old favorites are still there, including memory, processor, hard drive, and network utilization.

This utility is somewhat less intuitive than others in the toolbox because there is no builtin wizard to assist with its configuration, but a great deal of information can be gathered about your Exchange Server environment.

Virtually every measurable aspect of an Exchange server can be monitored using this tool. The data collected can be presented in a variety of forms, including reports, real-time charts, or logs. Using the Exchange Server Performance Monitor, administrators can take baseline readings on server and network performance and compare them over time to spot trends and plan accordingly, but it is most commonly used to view parameters while troubleshooting performance problems.

Double-click the Performance Monitor icon to launch the tool. It automatically starts displaying a live graph of the key performance indicators for the machine on which the tool is launched. More information on the usage of the tool can be found by clicking the Help icon within the utility and from the Microsoft website.

Performance Troubleshooter

With an interface that looks similar to the Exchange Mail Flow Troubleshooter and the ExBPA, the Performance Troubleshooter is designed to help administrators identify and locate performance issues that have a negative impact on their Exchange Server environment.

Like the Mail Flow Troubleshooter, administrators begin by selecting the symptoms they are experiencing. Based on these systems, the utility identifies potential bottlenecks in the messaging system and outlines a troubleshooting path for the administrators to follow. Double-click the Performance Troubleshooter icon to launch the utility, bringing up a wizard that walks you through the steps necessary to perform an analysis and view the results.