Exchange Server extends the Active Directory schema during the PrepareSchema step during setup. The steps PrepareAD, PrepareDomain, or PrepareAlLDomains create Active Directory containers and objects that are crucially important for a stable operation of Exchange Server.
There are different Active Directory objects that are used to determine, if Active Directory has a proper Exchange Server configuration up and running.
At Active Directory forest level the following attributes are used to determine the Exchange Server release:
At Active Directory domain level the following attribute is used to determine the Exchange Server release:
Exchange
Forest (rangeUpper)
Forest (objectVersion)
Domain (objectVersion)
2000 RTM
4397
N/A
4406
2000 SP3
2003 RTM
6870
6903
6936
2003 SP2
2007 RTM
10637
10666
10628
2007 SP1
11116
11221
2007 SP2
14622
11222
2007 SP3
14625
2010 RTM
12640
12639
2010 SP1
14726
13214
13040
2010 SP2
14732
14247
2010 SP3
14734
14322
2013 RTM
15137
15449
13236
2013 CU1
15254
15614
2013 CU2
15281
15688
2013 CU3
15283
15763
2013 SP1
15292
15844
2013 CU5
15300
15870
2013 CU6
15303
15965
2013 CU7-CU9*
15312
2013 CU10-CU20*
16130
2016 Preview
15317
16041
2016 RTM
16210
2016 CU1
15323
16211
2016 CU2
15325
16212
2016 CU3
15326
2016 CU4-CU5*
16213
2016 CU6
15330
2016 CU7-CU9*
15332
Enjoy Exchange Server!
This script reads the Exchange schema version from the Active Directory schema partition.
The Exchange organization name is fetched from Active Directory automatically. The script fetches at forest level:
The script fetches at domain level:
Code Samples
# Fetch all version information in the Active Directory forest .\Get-ExchangeServerVersionInfo.ps1
Sample Output:
PS D:\Scripts> .\Get-ExchangeServerVersionInfo.ps1 Exchange Server Schema and Object Information for forest [VARUNA.ROOT] Exchange Organization Name : VARUNA-GROUP Active Directory Schema rangeUpper: 15332 Working on VARUNA.ROOT MESO Container objectVersion : 13236 Exchange Configuration msExchProductId : 15.01.1466.003 Exchange Configuration objectVersion : 16213 Working on VARUNAGROUP.DE MESO Container objectVersion : 13236
You might have the requirement to authenticate mobile devices and authorize user access to on-premises Exchange Server mailboxes using a multi-vendor strategy. This blog post focuses on the configuration of a Kemp LoadMaster located in an internal network segment. The Kemp LoadMaster ESP functionality is used to allow ActiveSync connections for members of a dedicated security group only.
This results in the following authentication and authorization endpoints:
The following diagram shows a simplified overview for mobile devices connecting to an on-premises Exchange Server. The perimeter and internal network segments are omitted for simplification reasons.
The following screenshots illustrate a working setup for a virtual service load balancing mobile device connections from MobileIron Sentry to Exchange Server. It's assumed that you've already configured the following:
The SSL Traffic is offloaded and re-encrypted as we need to authenticate the user with ESP. Ensure to select a Cipher Set that does not provide any weak or unsecure cipher suites. In this example I've selected the predefined set BestPractices.
Enable ESP to activate the ESP configuration section. The settings are as follows:
In the Real Servers section you add all member servers of your Exchange Server DAG. Ensure to use the HTTPS protocol the health checks and ensure to query the /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync/healthcheck.htm document.
Using this configuration you've added your Kemp LoadMaster as an additional authentication endpoint to secure mobile device access to Exchange Server mailboxes.
Enjoy!
When migrating to new version of Exchange Servers you must move your internal SMTP relay endpoints. This can be a challeging tasks as application owners mostly ignore your requests for such changes.
You can use the information provided in the receive connector log files to identify remote clients (MTAs / MTUs) connecting to the legacy infrastructure. The assumption is that protocol logging is enabled. You can easily active protocol logging across all receive connector fo a single server using the following EMS PowerShell one-liner:
Get-ReceiveConnector -Server EX01 | Set-ReceiveConnector -ProtocolLoggingLevel Verbose
The scripts searches the log files for the connection's EHLO response which containes the remote name or remote IP-address of the system connecting to the receive connector.
You can either search
For more information read the readme.md file at Github.
You need to adjust the log file path to suit your IT infrastructure. A next releas will contain a more automatic solution.
# Search legacy Exchange servers SMTP receive log files for the last 4 days and save search results in a single CSV file .\Get-RemoteSmtpServers.ps1 -Servers SRV01,SRV02 -LegacyExchange -AddDays -4 -ToCsv
The latest downloadable build of Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 9 disclosed an information that was previously shown accidently to the public by Greg T. during his breakout session BRK3249 - Modern Authentication for Exchange Server On-Premises at Microsoft Ignite 2017.
As part of the global harmonization of the product name space of the well established Outlook brand the next release of Exchange Server will be named Outlook Server 2019.
This name change was mentioned originally on this slide:
Give it a thought and you'll realize that this change makes absolute sense as different product names for the same software function distract customers and users.
Another reason for renaming Exchange Server is a new functionality for integrating personal mailbox files (PST). It was and still is a tedious task for administrators to get hold of all those PST files in use by end users. Instead of implementing a complex and data protection safe process to import PST files to the primary users mailbox the new Outlook Server 2019 offers synchronized PST folders. A functionality we've waited for for years.
Two new functions are introduced as part the new modern Outlook Server 2019
How does it work?
The following diagram illustrates the new functionality in a simple Outlook Server 2019 setup:
The following screenshot illustrates the new PSTSync folder and some sample PST file for a user with SAMAccountName JohnDoe
It's good the see that there is a future for a email server product like Exchange Server and that after so many years of cloud only an on-premises only feature got added.
Enjoy the day and Happy Easter!