Microsoft's ExBPA gets better and better. Furthermore, this
Exchange Best Practice Analyzer is free.
The purpose of the ExBPA Tool is to scrutinize your Exchange 2007 server
with the thoroughness of a top consultant. Moreover, the ExBPA's
reports are unbiased and easy to read.
What you get are details of how your configuration compares with
Microsoft's recommended best practices.
Topics for the Microsoft Exchange Best Practice Analyzer
Exchange 2007 has a built-in version of ExBPA which uses .Net 2.0.
However, it's better to run ExBPA from a workstation such as XP or Windows 7.
For this purpose you can
download a free copy of ExBPA from Microsoft's site and install it on a
workstation. Watch out! The downloadable ExBPA.msi requires .Net
Framework 1.1. It is likely that the next version of ExBPA will work
with .Net 2.0.
As of August 2008, the latest version is ExBPA 2.8. This is the
first version that you can install on Vista. However, in addition to
installing .Net 1.1, you need to turn
on Vista's IIS features:
Click the Start orb, type 'Programs and Features' in the Search box,
and select 'Programs and Features'.
Under Tasks, click 'Turn Windows features on or off'.
Expand Internet Information Services, and then expand World Wide Web
Services.
Click to select the Common Http Features check box, and then click
OK.
Installing could not be easier, just double click on the ExBPA.msi file.
Once the install completes, and ExBPA launches, connect to the Active Directory responsible for
your Exchange Organization. Naturally, ExBPA uses the credentials of
the account under which you logged on.
The next step is to start a new Best Practices scan, but before setting the scan to run, you need to select:
1. A name for the scan.
2. Specify the scope (of your Exchange Organization).
3. Select the type of scan, e.g. Health, Baseline, or Readiness.
4. Check the network speed.
Output
The ExBPA displays six categories of information. Of most interest
are the Best Practice and the Errors. I also like to skim the output
for any warnings and non-default settings.
Recommended Scans
The ExBPA makes a very good and comprehensive Health Check. If you
remember to run a baseline check early in your Exchange 2007 career, it will
pay back handsomely later when you run future scans.
Talking of planning ahead, it's always worth running the Exchange Server
2007 Readiness Check (see opposite).
Vital readiness checks that ExBPA performs:
Verifying that the Schema Master is Windows 2003 SP1 (or later).
Identifying any Active Directory domains which are not in native
mode.
Checking that the Exchange organization is in native mode.
Identifying any Active Directory sites that do not have a Global
Catalog server.
Guy
Recommends You Try SolarWinds Patch Manager (SPM)
With SPM you can push out patches,
which companies such as Mozilla Firefox or Adobe Acrobat provide. The point
is that because WSUS does not do this for non-Microsoft software
updates, you need a good add-on to take care of this task. With
the Patch Manager you can even create your own packages to apply to your
servers or clients.
The key to ExBPA is XML configuration files. In these XML files are WMI instructions for the very tests to be run on your Exchange server.
At the heart of the Best Practice
Analysis is a list of rules which establish whether results
pass or fails Microsoft's tests. ExBPA even checks automatically to
see if there are any XML updates on the Microsoft web site. The ExBPA engine has a most descriptive name - the
dispatcher. What the dispatcher does is send WMI collectors to gather the information. The ExBPA engine then analyzes the data against the configuration files, and generates the results
on screen.
One feature to lookout for is the ExBPA scheduler.
This means that you can plan baseline scans to run at a time to suit you.
Naturally, you would direct the output
report to a file, since nobody is likely to be looking at the screen if the tests are run in the middle of the night.
Problems with ExBPA and .Net
If EXBPA says that it needs .Net Framework 1.1, then you could install this version
in addition to .Net 2.0 (or 3.0)
Error Message: 'Common Language Runtime Debugging Services'.
Work-around, uninstall ExBPA and .Net 1.1. Then reinstall! .Net 1.1
first, ExBPA.
Microsoft make plenty of money from Exchange, and these tools are their
way of giving something back for free. The Exchange Management Console has a rich selection of built-in tools,
for example, the Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant (ExTRA).
There is also the Exchange Performance Troubleshooter, which not only
suggests the most likely cause any bottleneck, but also creates a check-list
to cure the performance problem. Lastly, there are two more
assistants, the Exchange Database Recovery Management, and the Exchange
Database Troubleshooter.
Guy Recommends: A Free Trial of the Network Performance Monitor
(NPM)
SolarWinds'
Orion performance monitor
will help you discover what's happening on your network. This
utility will also guide you through troubleshooting; the dashboard will
indicate whether the root cause is a broken link, faulty equipment or
resource overload.
Perhaps the NPM's best feature is the way it suggests solutions to network
problems. Its
second best feature is the ability to monitor the health of individual VMware
virtual machines. If you are interested in troubleshooting, and creating network maps, then I recommend that you take advantage of SolarWinds' offer.
Best by name, best by nature, the ExBPA is a wonderful free Microsoft
utility. One particularly good option is to run the Exchange 2007
Readiness test. The ExBPA is a real 'techie' tool, which not only
makes your server more healthy and secure, but also makes it fun learning
about how Exchange 2007 works.
If you like this page then please share it with your friends
Here is a
free tool to monitor your Exchange Server.
Download the utility, then inspect your mail queues, monitor Exchange server's
memory, confirm there is enough disk space and check the CPU utilization.
