EMC NMM231 Exchange 2010 DAG backup fails when node has no mounted exchange databases

Networker Module for Microsoft Applications 2.3.1 (2.3.0.build81) is really doing well backing up Microsoft Exchange 2010 DAG configurations.
But a few weeks ago we ran into some strange issue.

Suddenly the Networker group backup was unsuccessful as you can see in the screenshot below, failing with the messages:
“NMM Backup failed to complete successfully” and “nsrsnap_vss_save createInstanceBackup() failed”

After some investigation, we noticed that the other node was doing fine.
And then we saw that all Exchange 2010 databases were mounted on 1 node, the other node without mounted/active databases was having problem.

I posted this on the EMC community and an EMC support engineer commented that this was normal behaviour: “NMM design is if there is not respective backup type mailbox database found while running DAG backup, then we will fail backup.”
So if you have a cluster and for some reason, can’t think of one, but for some reason all databases are mounted on only 1 of the nodes, then NMM will run into problems when trying to backup the “passive” node.

You will have 2 options:
1. Mount a database on the other node
2. disable the Networker Client Resource for the passive exchange node and change for the active exchange node, the networker parameter “NSR_EXCH2010_BACKUP=active -> NSR_EXCH2010_BACKUP=all”.

To me… the above is a dirty-workaround… I would really encourage EMC² to add an extra check into NMM that will not produce this failure, but warn the user in stead.

Microsoft Exchange/Outlook Web Access on “Mail for Android”

2 months have past now using HTC Incredible S.
At first the HTC Incredible S was running Android 2.2 (Froyo).
During the first few days, I was struggling to integrate my corporate email in the “Mail for Android app. But I failed during configuration.. due to some server security setting regarding SSL on MS Exchange 2003.

In the meantime HTC posted the upgrade to Android 2.3.3/HTC Sense 2.1, alias Gingerbread.
And now…. they seem to have solved the problem with HTC Mail connecting to Exchange…

And it’s working like a charm.
The only thing I regret is the fact that you need to add some security thing at the locking screen. So now everytime my smartphone was locked, I need to unlock it with a PIN-code.

Anyway… Way to go Android !

Exchange 2010 backup with EMC Networker nsr_exchange2010

The nsr_exchange2010.exe is a small executable from EMC² that allows for Exchange 2010 backups & recoveries.

But the problem is that it uses VSS.

When the backup is interupted due to some issue (could be group abort or just OS/Exchange problem like a failed consistency check), the Exchange VSS writer will remain the status “State: [5] Waiting for completion” because the vss snap cleanups cannot finish.
A restart of the backup will fail with the message “backup-in-progress”.

Command to check the vss writer: vssadmin list writers

We can reset the VSS Exchange writer by restarting the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service or by killing the Store.exe proces.
The Exchange VSS Writer will switch to the status: “State: [1] Stable” and you will be able to restart the backup.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – send mails going to drafts

Problem: When sending mails in Exchange 2007 (OWA / outlook), mails are redirected to the draft folder.
Cause: Back pressure issue / Resource issue / Diskspace issue

Info/Workaround:
1. see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201658.aspx
2. in Exchange 2007 without sp1 : it needs to be have 4 GB at least a free space.
if you install sp1 : it just require 500 mb
3. In reference to previous post titled “Exchange Server 2007 Transport: 452 4.3.1 Insufficient system resources”, the Back Pressure feature, that detects resource pressure on Exchange Server 2007 transport servers and stops accepting new message submission if low on resources, can be turned off. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the EdgeTransport.exe.config file from \Exchange Server\bin directory using notepad
2. Add the following key+value pair:
3. Save file
4. Restart Microsoft Exchange Transport Service (MSExchangeTransport)

4. See
http://exchangepedia.com/blog/2007/03/exchange-server-2007-transport-452-431.html