I recently took over running the Exchange server for my company. I have had experience running Exchange 5.5 but this is 2000 and things are a little different from what I am used to. What can you suggest about keeping things running smoothly? – Via the Internet
I recently took over running the Exchange server for my company. I have had experience running Exchange 5.5 but this is 2000 and things are a little different from what I am used to. What can you suggest about keeping things running smoothly?
– Via the Internet
Look at your local bookstore and see what books they have on Exchange 2000. Although Exchange 2003 is out now, you should still be able to find books on its 2000 counterpart. I would start by documenting the current configuration of the server as soon as you are comfortable with moving around Exchange Administrator and the other utilities you use as a part of keeping an Exchange server running.
Once you know how the server has been set up, make sure that the server as a whole is getting backed up. Then ensure that the information store(s) and individual mailboxes are getting backed up by the appropriate back-up agent for whatever back-up solution your company is running. Since Exchange 2000 and later depend on the SMTP Service that is part of IIS, it would be a good idea to periodically go into the Internet Service Manager application and do a metabase backup so if you have a metabase-related problem, you at least have a fighting chance to restore to a hopefully recent copy without having to restore from tape or reinstall IIS.
If you haven’t already started keeping a log of change management for the server, now would be an excellent time to do so. While this won’t prevent all problems, it will give you a good frame of reference to use if you have to call Microsoft support for assistance with a problem. You will find that you will periodically have to apply either Windows- or Exchange-related patches. If you have any doubt on how good your backups are, it is always a good idea to do a quick manual backup of at least the information stores, and potentially the mailboxes, in case there is a problem that appears during the applying of patches. This will make the process of patching take a little longer but should help shorten the time to get things up and running when you have a problem.
Keep a regular watch on the Microsoft Web site for specific Exchange-related tools. You will find tools such as Exchange Best Practices that will help you keep Exchange running according to the practices and methods found by Microsoft support to help minimize problems. Also think about subscribing to some of the Exchange-related newsgroups where you can get a heads up on avoiding potential problems and making things run smoothly for your users.
