Introduction to Exchange 2010 Server - ExPBA (Best Practice Analyzer)
It's wonderful, it's free, you simply must try the ExBPA. The name says it all: Exchange Server Best Practice
Analyzer and you get it free from Microsoft.
Not only is the ExBPA a serious tool, which scans Exchange for weaknesses, but it's also a fun tool, which prompts you to learn as you improve your servers performance.
Topics
for Exchange 2010 - ExBPA (Best Practice Analyzer)
In Exchange Server 2010, the Best Practices Analyzer is installed
during Exchange Setup (as it was in Exchange 2007. Once
installed you can run the ExBPA from the Exchange Management Console
Toolbox.
However, it's better to run ExBPA from a workstation such as
Windows 7.
For this purpose you can
download a free copy of ExBPA
from Microsoft's site and install it on a workstation.
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Installing could not be easier, just double click 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
choose:
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. The most
interesting 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 carries out a very good and comprehensive Health Check. If
possible run a baseline check early in your Exchange 2010 career, it will
pay back handsomely later when you run future scans.
Talking of planning ahead, it's always worth running the Exchange Server
Readiness Check (see screensot).
Vital readiness ExBPA checks:
Verifying that the Schema Master is at least Windows 2003 SP1.
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.
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One of the hallmarks of a
great utility like ExBPA, is that you don't need to consult an instruction manual
before you start. All you need to do is launch ExBPA, click on 'Connect to Active Directory',
and you are ready to scan. BPA progresses through its tests, and makes a comprehensive
comparison between your system and Microsoft's best practices.
A wild guess says that it will take 15
minutes to scan your Exchange organization. Another guess says ExBPA will generate
2 MB worth of data. When you are only troubleshooting one particular Exchange server, you may wish to speed up the scan,
by limiting the test to just that problem server.
Health Check The health check will warn you about
any weaknesses on your Exchange server. Perhaps BPA's greatest strength is to alert you to those problems, which although not serious in themselves, will collectively slow down your server.
Once ExBPA identifies an 'Issue', it gives you details, not only about the problem, but even better, on the solutions. Unless you have tried ExBPA, it's hard for me to put over just how many tests
it can do, and therefore how much time ExBPA will save you in analyzing an Exchange Server's performance. In a word
its - awesome.
Connectivity Check It's so handy to have all the troubleshooting tools in one place, you can oscillate between health checks and connectivity tests. The Best Practice Analyzer really does make it easy to pin down that obscure email problems.
When the ExBPA finds a problem, it suggests answers in the form of links to the Exchange
2010 Server / TechNet knowledge base.
One persistent grumble with Microsoft utilities in general is that there is no reporting feature; I hear the most complaints about ADUC*. Well, let us hope that BPA's reporting features are a sign
of the future. Fingers crossed that all interfaces will soon have a selection of options, such as Summary, Details and my favourite - the Issues List. Incidentally, there is BPA for SQL so the concept is spreading.
Another must have report is the Items of Interest,
what you get here is a central list of all those
statistics that can take an age to find, for example Exchange 2010 database locations and disk size.
Although I mention them last, baseline reports should be one of the first scans to run on a
production server. Once you have a baseline its easy to detect trends and play 'what if' games.
ExBPA feeds on XML configuration files. In these XML files are WMI instructions for the very tests to be run on your Exchange server. The key to the Best Practice
Analysis is the list of rules which establish whether results
pass Microsoft's tests. Amazingly, ExBPA is intelligent enough to check automatically if there 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 advantage of the 2010 version of ExBPA is a scheduler; this means that you can plan your scans and they run automatically at a time to suit you. In this instance, you would want the output
report sent to a file, since nobody is likely to be looking at the screen when the tests are run in the middle of the night.
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There are also two bonus tools in the free download, and all 3 have been approved by Microsoft:
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Best by name, best by nature, the Best Practice Analyzer is a must have Microsoft utility. ExBPA will detect configuration and routing weaknesses in your Exchange 2010 server and recommend solutions.
ExBPA is free from Microsoft and it's a joy to combine business
with pleasure as you scan your server for weaknesses. BPA is a real 'techie' tool, which not only makes your server more reliable and secure, but also gives you fun learning about how Exchange works.
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.
