Guy Recommends
Beat spammers with anti-spam software for Exchange
Server – GFI MailEssentials.
Download FREE
trial
Introduction to System Policies in Exchange Server 2003
Every where that you look in Windows 2003, you see a Microsoft policy in action. For example, Group Policies
to lock down the users' desktop, RAS Policies to control dial-in users, IPSec
Policies to manage your network encryption. In the case of Exchange 2003, it has its own System
Policies which control common settings for multiple servers. Configure once, then apply
many times, sums up the philosophy behind Exchange's System Policies.
Topics for System Policies in Exchange 2003
Remember that all these Exchange 2003 System Policies could be set on the individual server,
mailbox store or public folder objects. However, the more servers that you have, the greater the benefits of central
configuration. Incidentally, just creating Exchange System policies makes me a better administrator. The policy menus encourage me to check all the settings and then apply consistent values to all Exchange
servers.
One quirk of Exchange 2003 administration, is that applying your settings is policy-centric. What I mean is that you activate the policy by right clicking
the policy itself, then attach the server to the policy. Surprisingly, when you try
the other way around, go to the server or mailbox store and try to add the
policy, no can do. This is a shock at first, since Microsoft usually
give you three ways of configuring any object. In Exchange 2003 there is just one
method, the policy-centric way.
These Exchange 2003 policies are stored in special folder
underneath the Administrative Groups folder. The hardest part of
configuring these policies is getting started and finding, or creating the initial
System Policy Container. As soon as you complete this one-off task then you can start designing your policies.
Key instructions to configure System Policies
1) Right click the Exchange Organization (CPNou in the Diagram), properties, check the box for display Administrative Groups.
2) Right click First Administrative Group, new, System Policy Container
3) Once you have the System Policies container (see diagram), right click and select: New policy. Decide on which type of policy; Mailbox store, Server or Public Folder. Even if I am going to
configure just one type of
setting, I like to make sure that my policy has all possible tabs, so I check all the available boxes.
4) When you have finished choosing your settings, right click the System Policy and assign to the Server, Mailstore or Public folder. Later, if you examine say the Mailstore , but the corresponding tab is
greyed out, this means your Mailstore is under the control of a System Policy. For example, you cannot set any Limits at the Mailstore tab, if a Limit System Policy has been assigned to that Mailstore.
 Guy Recommends:
The SolarWinds Exchange Monitor
Here is a
free tool to monitor your Exchange Server. Download and
install the utility, then inspect your mail queues, monitor the Exchange
server's memory, confirm there is enough disk space and check the CPU
utilization. This is the real deal - there is no catch. SolarWinds
provides this fully-functioning product for free, as part of their commitment to
supporting the network management community.
Free Download of SolarWinds Exchange Monitor
Mailbox Store
- Limits (Tab) Deletion settings for messages: Keep Deleted items and Mailboxes How long should you keep emails on the server?
- Limits (Tab) Also size of mailboxes, e.g. 20 MB, set limits for Warning, and Prohibit Send and Receive.
- General (Tab) Offline Address List, S/MIME.
- Database (Tab) Archive All messages - 'Grasp the nettle', keep a journal of all messages, but make sure you choose a very safe account.
Server Settings
- Enable Subject Logging.
- Message Tracking (My favourite).
- Remove Log Files.
Public Folder Store
- Replication settings, frequency, message size.
- Run Maintenance Schedule.
- Indexing, speeds up advanced search in Outlook.
Overriding Mailbox Limits.
Take the situation where one or more users needs more generous limits than you configured for the mailbox store. If you go to Active Directory Users and Computers, it is possible to override these
System Policy limits. The method is to right click the user, properties, Exchange General Tab, Limits button.
Another solution would be to create an additional mailbox store with larger limits and employ the move mailbox technique to migrate just the user's mailbox to a store with more liberal limits.
Summary
- Exchange 2003 System Policies
Time spent planning Exchange System Policies will repay with interest.
Note that there are 3 types of System Policies, Server, Mailbox and Public Folder. Creating these policies will not only
mean that you can configure new Exchange 2003 servers quickly, but also that you will
have one central store for all the settings. Remember that Exchange System Policies are 'Policy-Centric', the technique is to click on the policy and assign to the Server or Mailbox.
 Troubleshooting Group Policies is tricky. As an MCT trainer, I can thoroughly recommend TrainSignal because they
provide practical hands on training. In particular, I like the way TrainSignal cover all learning methods, instructor lead, video and of course text material. You can either take one module, for example Group Policy or go for
a combination of modules.
See more about Group Policy training here
See Also
|
