Category Archives: Outlook 2010

Exchange, Exchange 2007, Exchange 2010, Microsoft, Office, Outlook 2010, Outlook Web Access, OWA, SBS 2011, Small Business Server 2011, Windows, Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 – RTM and SP1 may not respond to a request for a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) TXT Record Correctly if it exceeds 512 bytes

In this scenario if the Sender Policy Framework TXT record exceeds 512 bytes in size then you may find your server anti-spam fails to correctly identify e-mail as either legitimate mail or SPAM, this can result in the two extremes of SPAM mail being delivered to users or legitimate e-mail being rejected as SPAM.

Microsoft do offer a hotfix for DNS Server to prevent this issue KB 2495375 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2495375

Fujitsu, HP, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft, ML110 G5, ML350 G5, ML350 G6, Office, Outlook 2010, Primergy, ProLiant, Uncategorized, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Remote Desktop Sessions Pause Or Exhibit Unresponsiveness – Lag Whilst Typing And Session Will Not Accept Mouse Inputs

Remote Desktop Services can be extremely useful, allowing users to access a terminal server or their company desktop computer from another location.  One very common complaint with RDP sessions is screen refresh delays and a delay when typing or trying to click on items using the mouse cursor.  It will appear to most that the session has become unresponsive for a period of 5-20 seconds, after this delay the session will return to normal for a period of several minutes before once again becoming unresponsive.  You may find that this issue becomes more apparent as more users connect to the specific terminal server in question and if all these users utilise several applications (i.e. Outlook, Word and Excel) together.

Causes for poor user experience when connected via RDP are varied but one of the most common is resource exhaustion or contention.  This in turn causes a delay in processing that appears as a pause or unresponsiveness.

Check that your computer or terminal server has sufficient Memory to cope with the current load.

The next thing to verify by using performance monitor is that the PhysicalDisk\% Idle Time is consistently high, that’s correct this should be 90-100% when the server is not very busy.

It is worth running performance monitor using the PhysicalDisk\% Idle Time counter whilst you are seeing the slowdowns, this will help identify if your hard disk or controller are causing contention and in turn the pausing or unresponsiveness.

If you do find that the “%Idle Time” keeps going very low then it’s time to consider some of the options below to help resolve the issue

  • Install a second drive or mirror set, move the Windows Page File to this second disk/array to reduce the load on the drive/array holding your operating system
  • Install additional memory into the computer or server, this will reduce paging to disk and will generally improve overall system performance
  • Migrate to or upgrade your existing RAID controller to a unit that had a Battery Backed Cache (Fast) or Flash Backed Cache (Newer – Faster) to significantly improve performance and alleviate the system
  • Migrate to faster hard disk drives, 7200, 10,000 or 15,000 RPM drives are amongst the fastest.  The SATA interface is slower than the SAS interface but is cheaper.  Try to invest in the fastest drives that you can to future proof the system and avoid future performance issues if you have to scale for more users.
  • Ensure that you have at least 20-25% free disk space on all partitions/drives
  • Defragment all drives on a regular basis to optimise read and write operations
  • A cheap solution for improving disk performance may be to turn on the Hard Disk Cache using “Device Manager” or in the event that you are using a RAID controller without a battery backed Cache module you will need to open the RAID Array Management Software and then enable Disk Cache within the management software as this feature will not be available within “Device Manager” in this instance.  Please note that this does have some risks and should be used with caution, you may loose data in the event of a sudden/unexpected loss of power to the system.  Consider using this option with a UPS and redundant power supplies to reduce the risk of power loss to the system.  As always ensure you have a reliable backup that is carried out at regular intervals.

Example – HP RAID Array Configuration Utility:

Example – Windows Device Manager:

Exchange, Exchange 2007, Exchange 2010, Microsoft, Office, Outlook 2010, Powershell, SBS 2008, SBS 2011, Small Business Server 2008, Small Business Server 2011, Windows, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Powershell Script to Determine Active User Count for Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007

A script that I came up with to determine the user load that is being placed on a particular Exchange server so that you can plot the days of the week and times of the day that are busiest. This Powershell Script can be used with GFI Max Remote Management or SpiceWorks to easily identify busy Exchange servers.

$GETMSEXCHISAUC = Get-Counter ‘\MSExchangeIS\Active User Count’
$MSEXCHISAUC = $GETMSEXCHISAUC.CounterSamples |Select-Object CookedValue
Write-Host You have $MSEXCHISAUC.CookedValue Active Exchange User Connection\s to the Exchange Server

Feel free to edit the text part of the output (Last line), this could be simplified if required.

ActiveSync, Android, Android, Android, Apple, Exchange, Exchange 2010, Google, HTC, IOS5, iPhone, Microsoft, Office, Outlook 2010, Outlook Web Access, OWA, Samsung, SBS 2011, Small Business Server 2011

[RESOLVED] – Microsoft Exchange 2010 – Appointments exceeding 24 hours changed to multiple day All Day Event on Mobile Phones/Devices

Microsoft Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1 ActiveSync does seem to have issues with Appointments exceeding 24 hours that are not all day events (i.e. Friday to Sunday).  I have personally seen this issue with the iPhone 4 and 3GS, both were upgraded to IOS5 which did not resolve the issue.  The latest update “Microsoft Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1 – Hotfix Rollup 6” also does not seem to resolve this problem.

You might wish to test if you have the issue with your ActiveSync enabled Smart Phone or Device, you should be able to replicate the issue by asking a collegue to send you a meeting invite that starts on Friday at 4pm and then finishes on Sunday at 2pm, Once you accept the invite you will find that it has been changed to several all day events (Fri, Sat and Sun) rather than an appointment between the specified time period.

After a long wait it appears that this issue is resolved in Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2010 – Service Pack 2, you can obtain the Rollup using the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28809 – Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (KB2645995)

You can see the overall list of fixes/changes in Rollup 1 here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2645995

The Fix we are most interested in is “A meeting item displays incorrectly as multiple all-day events when you synchronize a mobile device on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox”

This was original raised in: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2549255

You will need to ensure that you have updated your Microsoft Exchange 2010 Server to Service Pack 2 before you can install the Rollup so remember to factor extra time in for this.

You can obtain Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 – Service Pack 2 from here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28190

Microsoft do seem to be aware of the issue and mention it in this Knowledgebase article

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2563324 Current issues with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Third Party Devices

Issue 1.6 – Appointment exceeding 24 hours changed to multiple day All Day Event
When an appointment item’s duration exceeds 24 hours, but is not marked as an All Day Event, Exchange ActiveSync changes the item on the device to become a multi-day All Day Event. The next time that the device synchronizes with the mailbox, the change is propagated from the item on the device to the item on the Exchange Server 2010 mailbox.

Solution
Microsoft is investigating this issue. This problem can occur when using any ActiveSync device synchronizing with Exchange Server 2010.

As you can see Microsoft do not currently have a solution to the problem and may well need to contact Apple and/or Google to produce a fix for both the iPhone and Android based handsets.

I would recommend contacting Microsoft Product Support and your mobile phone manufacturer if this issue is affecting you.  The more users that log the issue the higher priority it will be given and the quicker we can expect to see a fix emerge.