Introduction
SolarWinds Exchange Monitor uses Windows Management Instrumentation(WMI) to monitor Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 and 2003, providing IT administrators with real time status of Microsoft Exchange Server services, mail queue sizes, and host server health indicators.
Requirements
| Need | Item |
|---|
| Operating System | Select a 32-bit or 64-bit edition of one of the following operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Windows Server 2008
|
| .NET Framework | Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 |
| Hard Drive space | 10MB |
| Microsoft Exchange Server | Exchange Server 2000
Exchange Server 2003 |
| Exchange Server Credentials | Administrator-level access to the Microsoft Exchange Server |
| WMI capability | To monitor an Exchange Server hosted on Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you must enable DCOM on that server, grant WMI permissions to your Exchange Server credential, and then allow WMI traffic through Windows Firewall.
For more information, refer to Configuring WMI on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. |
| Ports | Open the following ports to and from the Exchange Server:
135/tcp
445/tcp |
Known Issues
- On Windows Vista, you must run the Solarwinds Exchange Monitor as an Administrator.
To run as an administrator:
Right-click the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor program icon, and then click Run as Administrator.
- The CPU utilization is temporarily shown as a negative value after you switch servers.
- The CPU utilization is not updated if the Exchange Server is shut down.
Installing and Running SolarWinds Exchange Monitor
SolarWinds Exchange Monitor uses an installer to let you customize how the Exchange Monitor is installed on your computer.
To install SolarWinds Exchange Monitor:
- Locate and run
SolarWinds-Exchange-Monitor-v1.0.exe.
- Complete the installation wizard.
To run SolarWinds Exchange Monitor:
- Start Launch Exchange Monitor in the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor folder.
To start SolarWinds Exchange Monitor when Window starts:
- Right-click the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor icon
in the Taskbar Notification Area, and then click Start When Windows Starts in the shortcut menu.
Configuring SolarWinds Exchange Monitor
To use the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor, you must complete the following procedures:
- Set the Microsoft Exchange server details.
- Set warning thresholds for Microsoft Exchange services.
- Select Microsoft Exchange services to monitor.
Setting Microsoft Exchange Server Details
Complete the following procedure to set the details of your Microsoft Exchange Server.
To set the details of the Microsoft Exchange Server:
- Right-click the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor icon in the Taskbar Notification Area, and then click Edit Configuration Settings in the shortcut menu.
- or -
Click 
on the Exchange Monitor window to open the Settings dialog box.
- Type the correct settings for your Exchange Server configuration.
- Click OK.
The following settings determine how the Exchange Monitor connects to your Microsoft Exchange Server:
- Exchange Server
- Type the IP address or host name of the Microsoft Exchange Server.
- Use Current Windows Credential
- Click this option to authenticate to the Microsoft Exchange Server with the Active Directory credentials of the current Windows user. If the current Windows account is not an Administrator of the Microsoft Exchange Server, the Exchange Monitor cannot display information about the Exchange Server.
- Prompt for Credential
- Click this option to be prompted for a Microsoft Exchange Server credential each time the Exchange Monitor program starts.
- Test
- Click Test to test whether the credential you provided can authenticate with the Exchange Server.
Setting Exchange Server Counter Thresholds
The following settings determine the warning conditions for the Microsoft Exchange Server queue sizes and the available server resources:
- Mailbox Send Queue Size
- Sets the warning thresholds for the mailbox store's send queue. Microsoft recommends the send queue size never exceed 500 messages.
- Mailbox Receive Queue Size
- Sets the warning thresholds for the mailbox store's receive queue. Microsoft recommends the receive queue size never exceed 500 messages.
- Public Folder Send Queue Size
- Sets the warning thresholds for the public folder's send queue. Microsoft recommends that in a server with no mail-enabled public folders, the send queue size never exceed 10 messages. Otherwise, it should never exceed 500 messages.
- Public Folder Receive Queue Size
- Sets the warning thresholds for the public folder's queue. Microsoft recommends the receive queue size never exceed 500 messages.
- SMTP Local Queue Length
- Sets the warning thresholds for the SMTP queue for local delivery. Microsoft recommends the queue length not exceed 1000 messages. The queue size should remain steady with a small variance near its average.
- SMTP Remote Queue Length
- Sets the warning thresholds for the SMTP queue for remote delivery. Microsoft recommends the queue length not exceed 1000 messages. The queue size should remain steady with a small variance near its average.
- SMTP Categorizer Queue Length
- Sets the warning thresholds for the SMTP queue for Directory Services attribute searches. Microsoft recommends the queue size not exceed 10 messages.
- SMTP Local Retry Queue Length
- Sets the warning thresholds for the SMTP retry queue for local delivery. Microsoft recommends the queue size not exceed 1000 messages.
- SMTP Remote Retry Queue Length
- Sets the warning thresholds for the SMTP retry queue for remote delivery. Microsoft recommends the queue size not exceed 1000 messages.
- CPU Utilization % Free
- Sets the warning thresholds for the server CPU load.
- Virtual Memory % Free
- Sets the warning thresholds for the virtual memory used by the server.
- Drivespace % Free
- Sets the warning thresholds for the disk space remaining on the server.
Selecting Microsoft Exchange Services to Monitor
Click Monitored Services to select which of the following Microsoft Exchange Server-related services you want to monitor:
- Microsoft Exchange Event
- The
msexchangees service monitors changes to folders and triggers events based on those changes.
- Microsoft Exchange IMAP4
- The
imap4svc service accepts IMAP4 client communications.
- Microsoft Exchange Information Store
- The
msexchangeis service contains the mailbox store and public folder store data.
- Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks
- The
msexchangemta service routes messages to non-Exchange messaging systems.
- Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine
- The
resvc service determines the optimal path for delivering messages.
- Exchange System Attendant
- The
msexchangesa service responsible for many functions including Active Directory communications, retention policies, and mailbox quotas.
- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
- The
smtpsvc service transfers email between servers.
- Microsoft Exchange POP3
- The
pop3svc service accepts POP3 client communications.
- Microsoft Exchange Management
- The
msexchangemgmt service runs WMI providers for Directory Service Access (DsAccess) and Message Tracking.
- Exchange Site Replication Service
- The
msexchangesrs service allows directory integration with Exchange Server 5.5 sites.
- World Wide Web Publishing Service
- The
w3svc service manages the HTTP protocol and performance counters.
Using SolarWinds Exchange Monitor
SolarWinds Exchange Monitor polls the Exchange Server for status every 30 seconds. The monitored items are grouped into three categories:
- Exchange Services
- Mail Queue Length
- CPU Utilization
Within each category, monitored items are sorted by condition.
| Condition | Icon |
|---|
| Available |  |
| Critical |  |
| Unknown |  |
| Warning |  |
Changing the Window Appearance
You can change the appearance of the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor window.
To make the window always appear on top of other windows:
- Right-click in the Taskbar Notification Area, and then click Always on Top in the shortcut menu.
To make the window translucent:
- Right-click the SolarWinds Exchange Monitor icon in the Taskbar Notification Area, and then click Edit Configuration Settings in the shortcut menu.
- or -
Click on the Exchange Monitor window to open the Settings dialog box.
- Type a new value (20 - 100) in the Window Opacity % field where 20% opacity is very translucent and 100% opacity is completely opaque.
- Click OK.
Configuring WMI on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
This program uses WMI and its underlying DCOM technology to monitor resources on the target server, but Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 disable DCOM and WMI by default. To use this program to its full potential, you must follow these steps to enable DCOM and WMI on these operating systems.
To enable DCOM permissions for your Exchange Monitor credential:
- Log on to the computer you want to monitor with an administrator account.
- Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Component Services. You need to switch to the Classic View of the Control Panel to use this navigation path. You can also launch this console by double-clicking
comexp.msc in the /windows/system32 directory.
- Expand Component Services > Computers.
- Right-click My Computer, and then select Properties.
- Select the COM Security tab, and then click Edit Limits in the Access Permissions grouping.
- Ensure the user account you want to use to collect WMI statistics has Local Access and Remote Access, and then click OK.
- Click Edit Default, and then ensure the user account you want to use to collect WMI statistics has Local Access and Remote Access.
- Click OK.
- Click Edit Limits in the Launch and Activation Permissions grouping.
- Ensure the user account you want to use to collect WMI statistics has Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation, and Remote Activation, and then click OK.
- Click Edit Default, and then ensure the user account you want to use to collect WMI statistics Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation, and Remote Activation.
- Click OK.
Enabling Account Privileges in WMI
The credential you want to use for monitoring Exchange Server must have security access to the namespace and subnamespaces of the monitored target computer. To enable these privileges, complete the following procedure.
To enable namespace and subnamespaces privileges:
- Log on to the computer you want to monitor with an administrator account.
- Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services and Applications. You need to switch to the Classic View of the Control Panel to use this navigation path.
- Click WMI Control.
- Right-click WMI Control, and then click Properties from the shortcut menu.
- Click the Security tab, expand the Root group, and then click CIMV2.
- Click Security and then select the user account used to access this computer and ensure you grant the following permissions:
- Enable Account
- Remote Enable
- Click Advanced, and then select the user account used to access this computer.
- Click Edit, select
This namespace and subnamespaces in the Apply to field, and then click OK.
- Click OK on the Advanced Security Settings for CIMV2 window.
- Click OK on the Security for Root\CIMV2 window.
- Click Services in the left navigation pane of Computer Management.
- Select
Windows Management Instrumentation in the Services result pane, and then click Restart.
Allowing WMI through the Windows Firewall
You must allow WMI traffic through the firewall of the monitored application server. The following procedure walks you through allowing WMI through the Windows Firewall.
To allow WMI traffic through the Windows Firewall:
- Log on to the computer you want to monitor with an administrator account.
- Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Security Center. You need to switch to the Classic View of the Control Panel to use this navigation path.
- Click Windows Firewall in the left navigation pane.
- Click Allow a program through Windows Firewall in the left navigation pane.
- Check Windows Management Instumentation (WMI), and then click OK.
Legal
Copyright 1995-2008 SolarWinds, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means without the written consent of SolarWinds. All right, title and interest in and to the software and documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its licensors. SolarWinds Orion™, SolarWinds Exchange Monitor™, and SolarWinds Toolset™ are trademarks of SolarWinds. SolarWinds® and the SolarWinds logo are registered trademarks of SolarWinds. Microsoft Exchange Server, Windows Server, Windows Vista, and Windows XP are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks contained in this document and in the Software are the property of their respective owners.
SOLARWINDS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION FURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS, ITS SUPPLIERS OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF SOLARWINDS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
