The basic Lotus Notes Email management tips!

For a business organization, Email is the best way of communication. With increasing business needs and the emergence of technology, it becomes necessary for a user to learn better email management and handling techniques. The larger is the organization, more is the efforts and time required for email management and organization. IBM’s Lotus Notes is one of the most common client-server collaboration application used nowadays.

I am writing this article keeping in mind the requirements of email management for Lotus Notes users. For better and efficient functioning of any mail client, regular and judicial mail management is required. If the email management is not proper, then it causes loss of the manpower as well as money.  And later on, poor email management may lead the user to data corruption and data loss situations.

So what kind of mail management is exactly required in Lotus Notes or any other email client! It includes from basic email operations (that includes composing, sending, receiving mail, etc.) to the mailbox size management, archiving and using other mail management tools and other advanced capabilities.

The factors that are needed to be kept in mind are: time management, email management, priority management, Information management, Email protocol. To manage all these perspectives, a user must learn better tactics for efficiently using the Lotus Notes tools, email management and organization, resolving interruptions that can occur while using the tool, proper work organization and scheduling

How to manage your Lotus Notes mailbox:

Mailbox size is a very important factor that must be taken into consideration. The lesser is the mailbox size and number of mails; the better is the mail management.

You can move some of your mails from the Inbox to a new folder that will decrease your mailbox size. And hence provides a better email management.

To create a new folder, follow the given steps:

•    Go to Menu> Create > Folder.
•    Clicking the Folder option will open a ‘create folder ‘dialog box
•    Write down your desired name in the ‘folder name’ field. After that, ‘Select a location for the new folder’. Click OK.
•    Open your mailbox. From the top menu bar, choose ‘Folder’ then choose ‘Move to Folder’ option. It will open a dialogue box which shows the list of folders from which you can choose the folder where the Inbox mails are to be moved.

You can also use ‘Drag and Drop’ method to move mail from one folder to another folder.

How to check the size of your mailbox:

Go to the top menu. Choose “Actions” > Add-on Features> Show Mailbox Info. It will open a dialogue box that shows the mailbox related Information such as: mailbox size, free available space, used space, mailbox quota, number of documents in mailbox etc. The preferred mailbox size is 200 MB (or 500 MB maximum).

Follow the given steps to check the mail file size:

•    Go to File> Applications> Properties (If using Lotus Notes 8, for other versions go to File> Database> Properties)
•    Click the "i" tab
•    Now check disk space, this would let you know the amount of all data that is in your Lotus Notes.

Now if you find an unwanted growth in the mailbox size, next step should be to reduce its size.

From the left side, ‘Select Views’ > ‘All Documents’. This will let you see your all mailbox documents.

•    Sort all your mailbox items by size by clicking on the ‘Size’ option.
•    If you find that the content of a mail is of no use to you, then you can save the associated attachment if required and after that delete that mail.
•    To save the attached, simply double click it, a dialog box will open that provides you the option to view, open, edit, save and delete the attachment. Click Save, this will open a ‘Save attachment’ dialog box. Choose your desired file name and location where the attachment is to be saved. Finally click ‘Save’.
•    If you want to save the mail documents after saving the attachment, then this can be done. After saving the attachment, double click it and choose ‘Delete’. You will be given two options to save the document. The option ‘Save and Close’ let you save the document as it is. By choosing another option, i.e. ‘Save and File’, you can save the document at your desired location.

Note:
While replying a mail, it’s better if you choose to respond without the attachment. If you need to send attachments back and forth to each other repeatedly, then it’s  better to use some Lotus Notes Collaboration Tools(such as: TeamRooms, Discussion Groups) to post the attachments.

Server archiving:

The above discussed is a basic and primitive way for managing the Notes mailbox size. Another approach that you can use for Email size management is ‘Server archiving’. By using server archiving you can store your older mails that can be accessed via archive mailbox.  Archive mailbox provides a way for storing mails separately from the main mailbox size thus reduces its size.

Benefits of server archiving:

•    For reducing Lotus Notes main mailbox size
•    As a mean of backup: Mailbox server archiving is done on the server so it can be used as a mean of backup. If some mailbox item gets deleted accidentally, then it can be restored from the backup.
•    Better access facility: The mailbox archive on server can be easily accessed by the user from any location at any time, it only requires Lotus Notes client set up or Domino Web Access (iNotes).

How to archive Lotus Notes mails:

It provides you the ability to archive all mailbox items or only the selected ones. Before proceeding further first check your mailbox archive settings.

For checking the mailbox archive settings:

•    From the main menu, go to Actions>Archive>settings.
•    Open the Criteria tab and select the checkbox "Default for last modified"
•    Click OK to enable the selected criteria.

How to archive Lotus Notes?

To manually archive selected folder/folders, follow the given steps:
•    Start the Notes mail application.
•    Choose the folder that is to be archived.
•    Go to Actions> Archive> Archive Now and  Click Yes
This will create an archive for the selected folder according to your predetermined mailbox archive settings.
You can also schedule the archiving process at your desired time by following the given steps:
•    Go to Actions> Archive> Settings.
•    Open the Schedule tab. Check the checkbox "Schedule archiving"
•    Select the desired  day and time for performing automatic scheduled archiving and Click Ok

To open your archived mailbox in a Lotus Notes Client:

Go to Tools > Archive> not accessed in X days. (X= 30, 60 or 90 days). This will open your archived mailbox as follows:

To open your archived mailbox in Domino Web Access:

Simply click on ‘Archives’ from the top menu, the archived mailboxes will get opened.

Along with these simple email management techniques that are described above, Lotus Notes provide many capabilities for better email organization, handling & management. The advanced Lotus notes mail management tools include: Power Drafts/ Templates Email Power Draft, Meeting Power Draft, Work Power Draft, mail Auto route & delivery options, Senders Colors and Recipient Icons and Message recall etc.

In my upcoming article, I am going to discuss these advanced Lotus notes mail management tools and capabilities.

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5 Worst Practices To Avoid For Improving Microsoft Exchange Server’s Performance

With Microsoft Exchange Server at the center of much of the world's commercial interactions infrastructure at present, attaining best messaging system performance -- whether authentic or apparent has turned out to be an essential part of every Exchange manager’s job. No matter what the reason is, if "email is slow," your help desk phones will start ringing, and in case if email is down, your prospect at the corporation may be restricted.

By taking a different approach towards MS Exchange Server's performance, I have come up with 5 worst practices which should be avoided in order to make Exchange servers perform at their best.

Worst Practice #1: Block the RAM available to Exchange Server

It appears like each day we notice an e-mail from someone inquiring why store.exe is consuming a big part of Exchange Server's memory. This is regularly accompanied by queries on how to choke store.exe to bind its memory utilization.

No matter by what manner you accomplish it, throttling RAM for Exchange is an awful thing. Exchange has been designed to use as much memory as it can find its "hands" on. You should allow it.

This means that you should not install MS Exchange on the same server as SQL Server, for example, while this will consequence in severe memory disputation issues, and can considerably ruin the performance. Likewise, co-locating Exchange on a global catalog server or a domain controller is not suggested.

Worst Practice #2: Schedule backups and system maintenance during peak usage

One of the areas that businesses often pay no attention is the overlap among resource-intensive procedures affecting Exchange server. We have frequently seen organizations allow their every night backups spill out over into the "morning rush" of employees arriving at work and logging on to their systems to check e-mail, and then doubt why "e-mail is slow."

You require to clearly recognize how long your nightly backups are running on all of your Exchange servers. We suggest keeping track of backup windows for all your servers in whatsoever method you choose (i.e., Visio, Word, Excel, etc.), and then also tracking when your nightly Exchange server repairs is running.

You should also document time of "peak usage."

You can then evaluate your records and adjust your Exchange backups and system maintenance break consequently, so they can equalize from one another and from your phase of peak usage -- favorably throughout the times of "low usage."

  

Worst Practice #3: Treat "high accessibility" as a future project

High accessibility should be the state of mind of your company, and something that all Exchange administrator should endeavor for, as compared to particular company needs.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• What measures and practices can be executed to accomplish steady accessibility that meets or surpasses your end users' requirements and management's prospects?
• Where are opportunities for performance improvement?
• What are practical accessibility targets for your corporation?
• What can you do to endeavor in the direction of determining performance and accessibility?
• What are key performance indicators (KPIs) of achievement against these targets?

 If you're facing Exchange performance issues, ignoring IOPS (read from disk + write to disk operations) is one of the worst things you can do. The days of being concerned with CPU or memory bottlenecks are mostly gone for Exchange server administrators. Now, disk throughput is the No. 1 factor you need to think about.

Worst Practice #4: Leave "IOPS" for the consultant

If you are not aware with IOPS ("IO/Sec" or "I/OS per second"), you actually require to do some reading on disk latency and how this influence disk throughput in relation to your Exchange servers. This applies to any Exchange manager, but turns out to be an actual distress if you are:

Engaged in buying, provisioning or constructing a newfangled Exchange server.

 

In an atmosphere where MS Outlook 2000/2003 end users often find "RPC Cancel Requests." (They are those irritating pop-ups that state somewhat like "Outlook is retrieving data from the Microsoft Exchange Server <servername>. You can revoke the request or minimize this notification to the Windows task bar until MS Outlook shuts the notification automatically.")

Worst Practice #5: Using the same configuration for all Exchange Server roles

In case you didn't (puff) go after the recommendation we gave in Worst Practice #4, we will be a bit more precise. You must optimize Exchange disk arrangement based on server responsibility.

For example, if you are trying to optimize a mailbox server and you wish to put your database transaction log files (not to be puzzled with message tracking log files) on a different set of spindles (i.e., preferably a RAID1 set), your binaries on a different set of spindles (i.e., RAID1), your page file on a different disk (no RAID), and lastly your databases on a different set of spindles (i.e., preferably a RAID0+1 set).

If you are optimizing a high volume SMTP gateway, you need to ensure the mail root directory (<drive>: \Program Files\Exchsrvr \Mailroot) is spread transversely as many spindles as possible (i.e., RAID0+1 favored).

If you keep on performing the above practices which are not recommended, then these worst practices might corrupt or damage your exchange database files. Then in that case, what will you do? You need to then make use of any recovery software which can repair your corrupt or damaged files.  These tools provide advanced scanning algorithms that can assist you in repairing and recovering from severe corruption situations and one such reliable and proficient tool available in the market is "Stellar Phoenix Exchange Server Recovery" which is a one of the most widely-used software by small to large corporations to repair and recover their exchange database files.

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Read This: If facing problems while running Exchange services

Exchange server stores all its user mailbox data in EDB database.  Any kind of corruption to the EDB database can lead the Exchange user into trouble. He will face several problems while accessing his mailbox data, several error messages will be prompted on the screen. The database corruption hinders the daily Email operations and work flow, as well as other exchange services fail to run properly or refuses even to start.

If you are facing troubles while starting the Exchange services then, the first step you must do is restoring the data from the recent backup. But if you don’t have any recent backup then you require repairing your corrupt Exchange database.

How to resolve the problems occurring while running Exchange services?

If you are facing problems while running Exchange services then the most probable reason is Exchange corruption.

• First Exit all running Exchange services
• Delete and restore the corrupt database

The corruption can occur in any of the three files dir.edb, priv.edb and pub.edb.

Corruption in the dir.edb: Severe damage to the dir.edb file will make you lose the information such as: mailbox names, connectors, and other servers within the site.

Corruption in the priv.edb file: If the corruption occurs in the priv.edb file then the user is going to lose all the user mailbox data (emails and other mail items) that was in private information store.

Corruption in the pub.edb file: The pub.edb file stores the information related to public folder. If corruption occurs in the pub.edb file, this information becomes in accessible.

If you have replicate copies of your public folders on other servers (within the same site or within the organization) then you must rehome the public folders to a functional server. Otherwise the replicated copies will be lost after rebuilding the corrupt server. You can later on replicate these folders back to the original server

Location of Exchange EDB files:

The information store files (priv.edb and pub.edb) are located in the MDB directory. Directory service database (Dir.edb file) is located in the DSADATA folder.

Location of dir.edb:  \EXCHSRVR\DSADATA.
Location of priv.edb and pub.edb: \EXCHSRVR\MDB directory

Once you have identified the corrupt file, delete and replace it from backup.

Follow the given steps to replace a corrupt database:

• Initiate the System Attendant service. Delete and Replace the corrupt dir.edb file.  After that, delete all the directory service log files.
• After replacing the dir.edb file with a good copy the next step is to start the directory service
• Open the Exchange Administrator. Here all the information within the dir.edb file (connectors, mailboxes) will be displayed. If you are using the dir.edb file from the Exchange CD instead of the original dir.edb file, then no such information is shown there.
• To fill up the directory information you can import the information from the CSV files
• Initiate the Exchange information store and other related services.

If it isn’t starting then the information store files priv.edb or pub.edb file are corrupt and need to be replaced.

• First delete all the information store log files and then replace the corrupt priv.edb or pub.edb file.
• Go to \EXCHSRVR\BIN directory
• Execute the command: isinteg -patch.
• If you replaced the pub.edb file, rehome the replicated public folders after pub.edb file replacement.
• If you have replaced the directory service database and don’t have a CSV file for rebuilding the database then you need to regenerate the directory service.

How to regenerate your directory services?

Before you regenerate the directory service, I must mention that the technique I am about to describe is dangerous.

Some pre-requisites before you regenerate your directory services:

• First bring your all Exchange servers online.
• Check that all Exchange servers in the organization are functional.
• Also ensure that the connectors between them are functional and the servers are able to commune and collaborate with each other. 

In case of absence of collaboration between all servers, after regenerate your directory services, the damaged servers takes possession of all their public folders and after rebuilding the directory you cannot return the public folders to their original server.

DS/IS consistency check:

To know information about the damaged database server, you need to apply the DS/IS consistency check technique. This will let you know the details about the corruption in information store and the directory service databases. This information proves to be helpful while you are rebuilding the Exchange database.

Follow the given steps to perform DS/IS consistency check:

• Start Exchange Administrator
• Go to Organization|Site|Servers|Server and choose the damaged server
• Open the server's properties sheet by choosing File|Properties
• Go to the Advanced tab > Consistency Adjuster button.
• Now, you can adjust the database's consistency in the windows that got opened.
• Set the desired options. Choose the option “Synchronize with The Directory”. For some mailboxes there will be no option for selecting ‘Directory Entry’, for those mailboxes you need to create New Directory Entries
• Click OK. A warning message will prompt then. Click OK to begin the consistency check

Note:  After DS/IS consistency check the user will be able to restore the directory service database, the mailboxes, site connectors or directory replication connectors are restored. But some of the information cannot be restored such as: information about the individual mailboxes, information such as the primary Windows NT account associated with the mailbox, and other mailbox user attributes. So, you must have a CSV file containing all this useful data. So that later on you can fill the fields.

Follow the given steps to create directory service database:

CSV file: A CSV file a vital role while rebuilding the Exchange directory structure. You can save the necessary fields (the basic account information, the extended attributes) in CSV file that can be later on imported and thus, eliminates the need of manually filling the information.

You will just require the header.csv file to create another csv file. The header.csv stores the schema of the dir.edb database.

Follow the given steps to create the csv file:

• Make a copy of the header file (header.csv). Make another copy of the header.csv to a file called phone.csv.
• Go to Exchange Administrator > Tools|Directory Export.
• This will open the Directory Export dialog box. From there check the checkboxes corresponding to Mailbox, Custom Recipients, Distribution Lists, and Include Hidden Objects.
• Open the Home Server drop-down list and select your server name from the given list.
• Click ‘Export File’ and select the location A:\phone.csv.
• Click Export. This will begin the export process and a CSV file will be created.
• You should create a CSV file for storing the directory structure. So that after rebuilding you can restore the information from the CSV file.

Generally, two CSV files are required, a basic CSV file for storing the basic account information and another full-featured CSV file to store the extended attributes. You can create another CSV file by following the same steps given below. In this case choose A:\data.csv for the Export File.

Follow the given steps to restore the directory service using CSV files:

• Go to Exchange Administrator > Tools|Directory Import. This will open the ‘Directory Import dialog box’.
• Select the Exchange Server name and the Import File location (A:\data.csv).
• Click Import.
• All the information stored within data.csv will be imported to the directory service database.
• Now import all the data from the phone.csv file

You can have to face error messages if some of the information in CSV file is trying to overwrite the information already present in the directory services database. In such case check the error message to get the column name that is causing the issue. Delete that column from phone.csv file and then re try importing the phone.csv file data. 

Once you are done with the import process, you can use the directory services as before.

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12 Simple Steps To Migrate From MS Exchange 2010 To Exchange 2013 Successfully

Migrating from MS Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 is seldom a simple course of action, but you can make the migration less throbbing with the help of the 12-step plan which I'm  going to discuss below. In this article, I will cover mail flow, digital certificates inclusion, training and everything else that will come up throughout your company’s Exchange Server 2013 migration.

1. Give Training to Your Employees

Even if Exchange Server 2013 has been extensively considered as one of the less important Exchange Server launches, there are some key architectural disparity among Exchange Server 2013 and Exchange Server 2010. Your IT employees need to get the appropriate training prior to thinking about starting a migration process. Likewise, it is a decent thought to give users with some modernized training if they are habitual to Outlook Web App(OWA).

2. Check the System Requirements

System requirements of MS Exchange Server 2013 are alike to those of Exchange Server 2010. Even so, evaluating the system requirements is a significant part of the employment planning procedure so you don't run into problems afterward.

3. Back up Everything

Before installing Exchange Server 2013, you need to take a full system backup of your current Active Directory and Exchange Servers. Installing Exchange Server 2013 includes making updates to Active Directory, so you will require a method to roll back the directory if in case something were to go erroneous.

4. Installing Exchange Server 2013

The next step in the migration procedure is to install Exchange Server 2013. You will have to set up your Active Directory and download the newest updates before initiating the installation. In fact, the unique RTM roll out of Exchange Server 2013 was not even compatible with Exchange Server 2010. It was only possible to unite Exchange 2013 servers with an Exchange Server 2010 employment once Cumulative Update 1 was rolled out.

5. Authenticate the Installation

Once the installation of Exchange Server 2013 gets over, you need to confirm that the installation was done successfully. To make sure that there were no serious inaccuracies, you can initiate by reviewing the setup logs and looking at the Application log in the Event Viewer. You can also make use of the Get-ExchangeServer cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell to ensure the new Exchange Server has been acknowledged.

6. Enter Your Product Key

When you have confirmed the new server's functionality, enter your product key. This is an easy step, but it is so easy that it you can forget this easily.

7. Add Digital Certificates to the Client Access Server

The next step you have to perform in your migration process is to insert the digital certificates in the Client Access Server. Exchange Server 2013 comes with a self-signed certificate that can be utilized for SSL encryption, but the self-signed certificate does not prove to be suitable for creation use. You must provide your Client Access Server with a certificate produced by a highly regarded and trustworthy certificate authorization company.

8. Configure the Offline Address Book

You will be required to  make an Offline Address Book on an Exchange Server 2013 and then configure Exchange to use the recently formed address book as the default. Or else, when you eliminate the legacy Exchange Servers, the Offline Address Book will depart.

9. Reroute Internet Mail Flow

At this point in the course, it is typically secure to redirect Internet mail flow. The objective is to redirect inbound mails to an Exchange 2013 Client Access Server instead of the presently used Exchange 2010 Client Access Server.

10. Move the User Mailboxes

If you are carrying out a full Exchange Server 2013 migration, the objective is to finally eradicate the legacy Exchange servers. You will be required to shift mailboxes off Exchange Server 2010 mailbox servers and on to the new Exchange Server 2013 mailbox servers. This can be achieved by making use of the New-MoveRequest cmdlet.

11. Transfer Public Folders

If your Exchange Server employment makes use of public folders, now it is the time to shift them. MS Exchange 2013 doesn't accumulate public folders in the same manner legacy versions of Exchange did. Exchange 2013 pile up public folders in a mailbox database inside a unique mailbox type called a public folder mailbox.

12. Install the Management Tools

The final step in the Exchange 2013 migration practice is to install essential management tools (if required). This can comprise of third-party monitoring tools, spam control tools and management tools. But you should keep in mind that anti-malware software must be installed prior in the course, if possible before the server controls any live data.

If the migration process is not carried out successfully due to some hardware or software issues, then this can lead to the corruption of exchange database files and if that happens, it is required to make use of any proficient third party Exchange Server Recovery tool, which can easily repair and recover all of the corrupt or damaged exchange database files.

Final Words

Even though the above 12 step procedure can assist you with the fundamentals of an Exchange Server 2013 migration, there may be some other steps as well, which depends on how your present Exchange Server employment is configured.

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How to perform Lotus Notes Recovery for corrupt unlogged databases?

Domino server saves all its user database and information in NSF file format. Like other files, these files can also get corrupted due to several reasons such as: system shutdown, virus attack, hardware failure, manual interruptions etc.

We must take proper care so that the database can be prevented from corruption or data loss situations. Taking regular backups is a good practice to save user from critical data loss situations.

Here I would like to introduce the term “Transaction logging”. Transaction logging is a good way to recover your Notes database in case of server or power failure. You will require a backup tool along with transaction logs in order to recover data in case of disk failure.

The Domino server log file:

First time you start the Domino server, The Domino server log file is created. You can easily view and search for the file. It is named as LOG.NSF file. You can yourself make modifications in the file size and customize it for saving some additional information in it.

LOG.NSF file:It stores information about the Notes users and databases.  It also contains the list of corrupted documents and views along with detailed information such as the document number and database name. If the domino couldn’t rebuild the damaged or corrupted views, the related information is also stored in the transaction log.

There are minor chances that a user has to face the data corruption issues if he is using Transaction logging.

For unlogged databases, there are more chances of occurrence of database corruption related issues. If the Notes database gets corrupt then the user require to try some Lotus Notes Recovery mechanisms.

Most common Lotus Notes Recovery methods are (applied for unlogged databases):

• Use Fixup command    
• Use Updall command
• Use Compact command
• Rebuild the database views
• Create database replica

In this article, I am going to give a brief introduction to the inbuilt Lotus Notes repair utilities (Fixup, Updall and Compact). 

Let’s go ahead.

The inbuilt Lotus Notes repair utilities (Fixup, Updall and Compact):

In case of view and document corruption Fixup command is used to fix the corruption. First run Updall command for resolving the views and full-text indexes corruption, after that try Fixup. If Updall and Fixup fail in solving the issue, then try ‘Compact with the -c option’. If the inbuilt Notes recovery utilities (Fixup, Updall & Compact) fail to fix the Notes database corruption, then, there is no option left for the user other than purchasing some third party Lotus Notes Recovery software.

Use Fixup command: 

When the Notes database is improperly or unexpectedly closed then, fixup automatically scan the databases and fix the inconsistencies whenever you restart the server

Fixup scans all the database to fix the partially committed operations (the server might be terminated due to server failure, power failure or hardware failure, etc.), if the database consistency check process by Fixup is going on a database or it is still pending and meanwhile user tries to access that database Then a message is prompted that says "This database cannot be opened because a consistency check of it is in progress."

At system startup, multiple Fixup tasks (double of the number of processors available on the server) run to fix the database issues. You can change the Fixup task settings by making some modifications in the NOTES.INI file.

You can customize the Fixup to run it manually for checking the database corruption and fixing them.

To run Fixup manually, follow any of the given ways: 

• Go to the Files tab > Fixup tool,  then Run Fixup – This method is suitable if the Fixup command is to be run on one or a few databases.  .
• Go to Task > Start tool, then Run Fixup -- This method is suitable if the Fixup command is to be run on all databases
• Use command-line options or the server console to run Fixup(if the Domino Administrator client isn’t available)
• Customize the Program document to run  Fixup  at a scheduled time
• Run Fixup on a Win32 platform if it couldn’t be run on the server console due to any reason.  In such case, you need to run the command with "n" prefix (nfixup)

Note: The first two ways of using Fixup eliminate the need of using command-line options. If you are using the first way (Go to Files tab > Fixup tool, then Run Fixup) then, you can't use the Domino Administrator while the Fixup task is going on. But while using the second method you can use the Domino Administrator along with the Fixup task continuing side by side.

Use Updall command:  

You can run the Updall task on a server to fix the database and view corruption issues.

Given below are the Ways to run Updall command:
•Open Domino Administrator then Go to Task> Start tool -- Use this method if you don't want to use command-line options.
•If the Domino Administrator isn’t available on the server then, you can use the ‘Load Updall’ console command to run the Updall directly at the server console eliminating the need of command-line options.
•Customize the Program document to run  Updall at a scheduled time
•Run Updall on a Win32 platform if it couldn’t be run on the server console due to any reason.  In such case, you need to run the command with "n" prefix( n Updall)

Use Compact command:

Given below are the Ways to run Compact command:
• Go to Task - Start tool run Compact
• Open Domino Administrator. Go to the  Files tab and then, Run Fixup tool
• Use a console command to run Compact
• Run Compact at scheduled times by using a Program document.

If the inbuilt Notes repair tools fail, you can rebuild the Notes database views and create a database replica to deal with the Notes views and database corruption issues. If all of the above Lotus Notes Recovery methods fail to recover your corrupt/inaccessible database, then opt for some powerful third party Lotus Notes recovery software.

I hope the article is helpful for those who are dealing with Notes corruption issues.

Read my Forthcoming posts, to know more about the inbuilt Lotus notes recovery utilities, available command line options and the ways to rebuild the Notes database views & create a database replica.

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Repair a Corrupt MS Outlook 2010 Deployment in Easy Steps

Though Microsoft Outlook 2010 is usually dependable, it can crash due to unidentified errors. When that occurs, you may discover finding the problem and repairing your Outlook deployment unexpectedly complicated. But it doesn’t have to be.

Reinstall Outlook 2010

This might seem clear, but the first thing you should attempt is reinstalling MS Outlook 2010. To reinstall Outlook 2010, open the Control Panel and click Programs -> Uninstall a Program (please note that this method is for Windows 7 only, your options may be dissimilar for other OS). Search and then click the MS Office 2010 option and then click the 'Change' button.

When the installation wizard comes out, opt for the "Add or Remove Features" option and then click Continue. Next, select the "Not Available" option for Microsoft Outlook and click Continue. This eliminates the risk of uninstalling the other Microsoft Office modules.

After you have eliminated Outlook, replicate the steps listed above, apart from this time set "Outlook to Run From My Computer"; this will reinstall Outlook on your system.

What if reinstalling Outlook 2010 doesn’t work?

As you might assume, the uninstall/reinstall technique doesn’t resolve each and every Outlook problem. I’ve observed quite a lot of occasions where the issue still subsists after reinstalling Outlook. Luckily, there are other methods available at your disposal:

    Repair the Outlook user profile

When you discover that you have received an Outlook issue, it is not necessary that MS Outlook is damaged, but in fact it can be the user’s profile. Windows 7 contains an alternative to repair it.

Open the Control Panel and click User Accounts -> Mail (or Mail 32-bit) -> E-Mail Accounts. When the E-mail Accounts screen becomes visible, choose the Outlook account, you are having problem with, then the Repair icon . Then Click Next and follow the prompt; Windows will try to restore the account configuration.

    Rebuild the Outlook user’s profile

If you discover that you can't restore the Outlook user's email account profile, you are required to manually remove and remake the user’s mail profile.

Though, prior to removing the mail profile of the user, you need to assure to take back up of any .pst files. Now, open the Windows Control Panel and click User Accounts -> Mail (or Mail 32-Bit) -> Show Profiles. When the dialog box prompts, choose the user profile and click the Remove button (Figure 3).

After you have removed the profile from the machine, open Outlook. Upon opening, Outlook should automatically detect the user’s Exchange mailbox and create a new profile. In a couple of odd cases, I ran into situations where Outlook could not create a new profile. Fortunately, I was able to manually create a working profile by going to the dialog box and clicking the Add button. I don’t normally advise this, but it’s worth trying if you’re stuck.

    Try starting Outlook 2010 in safe mode

If the steps explained so far don’t fix your issue, then attempt to launch MS Outlook in safe mode and then open a command prompt window and enter the following commands:

C:

Cd\

Cd program files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14

Outlook.exe /safe

Note: The path listed in the second step might differ depending on whether you are using the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Microsoft Office.

After opening Outlook in safe mode, take the time to conclude whether or not the trouble still subsist. If the problem has vanished, the problem is nearly surely due to an add-in.

Then Restart Outlook in normal mode and click File -> Options -> Add-Ins. Use the Add-Ins screen to sight that add-ins that are presently in use. Halt any third-party add-ins and re-enable them one at a time, all the while testing Outlook among each step to find out which add-in is causing the difficulty.

With anticipation at this point, you have cut off the reason for the issue. If not, there is one more thing you can check. Open the Windows Event Viewer and navigate to Windows Logs -> Application. Outlook logs all events in the Application log. The Microsoft Office Alerts logs are a new prospective resource of information which are positioned under the Applications and Services Logs.

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How to Optimize the MySQL Performance in Zarafa?

Zarafa is Groupware application that provides email storage and collaboration on server side. Zarafa has its own mail clients WebAccess and Webapp. The Zarafa server communicates with the client side by using SOAP technology. With the help of client side plug-in, it can be integrated with Outlook email client too which makes it a popular alternative for Exchange. The connection between Outlook and Zarafa server are established in a secured way by using TLS/SSL or an HTTPS proxy.

Zarafa application stores all its data in a MySQL database which is the most widely used relational database management system. Ibdata files are MySQL database that stores the metadata of InnoDB tables, change buffer, doublewrite buffer and undo logs.  The .frm files (it’s not a part of MyISAM engine, it’s a part of server itself) stores the definitions of the database tables and related information. Once the .From file data gets corrupt then the Zarafa server data turns inaccessible.

Tuning Database Performance in Zarafa:

While you are setting up the Zarafa server, you must set the cache settings for better performance. If a request has been made for an item that is available in the cache, then simply the request can be fulfilled easily instead of making calls to other processes. If the item isn’t cached, then each time when a request is made the disk resources are consumed and calls to other processes have been made which in turn degrades the Zarafa server configuration. If you are managing the RAM efficiently for caching purpose, then, you can tune your database performance and the overall server system performance.

Zarafa cache configuration(.cfg) file:

For the Zarafa server, you must allocate around 80% of the RAM to be used for cache.  For handling more server loads the cache sizes must be set as high as possible and affordable. Each time you restart the Zarafa server the caches are purged. The entire related configuration files data is cleared and the cache will take some time to build up the data and grow again. Meanwhile the server performance will be lowered. If you reload the server instead of restarting, then the configuration files are re-read and the performance will be higher.

You can set and modify the cache settings in /etc/zarafa/server.cfg file. The values for cell cache (cache_cell_size), Object cache (cache_object_size), and indexed object cache (cache_indexedobject_size) should be set accordingly so that the swapping on server can be reduced and memory can be efficiently utilized for caching.

Cell cache: More the value of your cell cache better is the server performance. All the table view data is cached in the cell cache. If maximum of the table view cells will be cached, lesser will be the need to traverse through the folders and querying databases. You can set up to 50% of your RAM for Cell cache.
 

Object cache: Object cache stores the database objects and their respective folders in the database hierarchy. The default value for cache_object_size is 5 MB.
 

You can use the below equation for calculating Object cache:
cache_object_size = <Concurrent users> * <max items in a folder> * 24

To get the complete cache statistics and other server statistics you can use the following USR1 signal: zarafa-stats --system

Indexed object cache: Unique id's of the individual database objects is stored within the Indexed object cache
You must set the values as given below so that the RAM can be efficiently used. For an efficient caching in Zarafa, 25 % percent of the RAM should be reserved for cell cache. The Object cache requires around 16-64MB and indexed object caches requires 16-128 MB of RAM.

How to Optimize the MySQL configuration? 

You can tune your MySQL database configuration for a new installation of Zarafa server or for existing one.
Optimize the MySQL configuration before installation:

You must optimize the MySQL configuration before installation. You can set the related values in the MySQL configuration file. The file is stored with a .cnf extension at the location: /etc/my.cnf or /etc/mysql/my.cnf

innodb_buffer_pool stores the cache data and database table indexes. innodb_log_file stores the transaction log data. innodb_log_buffer is required to write to the log files on disk and carry on the transactions. innodb_file_per_table lets you reallocate and reclaim the disk space when you are using one database file(ibdata1 file). It will create two files per table (frm and ibd).

You can accordingly configure the values of the innodb_buffer_pool,  innodb_log_file_size, innodb_log_buffer_size, innodb_file_per_table keeping in mind that the system doesn’t run out of memory, and efficient caching and disk swapping must be balanced.

Following are the approximate values for the above fields:

• innodb_buffer_pool size: Around 50% of the machine physical memory size.
• innodb_log_file_size:  25% of the innodb_buffer_pool_size
• innodb_log_buffer_size: 32Mb
• innodb_file_per_table: This value should be set accordingly so that the files per table (frm and ibd) can be handled and the disk space can be pre allocated if required.

Optimize the MySQL configuration for an existing Zarafa environment:

To do so, follow the given steps: 

• Firstly, you must take a full backup of your Zarafa database
• Exit  all the  ongoing  Zarafa server processes
• Ensure that all the MySQL database  transaction logs have been cleared 
• Stop the MySQL server and shut it down. After that check that the MySQL database logs ensure a clean server shutdown. 
• Go to the configuration file located at /etc/my.cnf  and setup the innodb settings 
• Change the location of the old ib_logfiles by moving them from the mysql datadir to /tmp 
• Start MySQL and activate the new database settings.
• You can change the innodb_log_file_size by customizing the values in configuration files. After making the modifications ensure  that the changes have been implemented or not
• MySQL logs stores and lists all the errors along with details. See the logs for finding and resolving the errors that might have occurred during the process.
• Now start the Zarafa server and other processes. 

For performance tuning of Zarafa database, you need to configure the cache data sizes values to achieve maximum performance. To achieve maximum performance in spite of setting the cache parameters, you need to take care of other Hardware considerations as well.

First factor is the RAM - higher is the RAM,  higher will be the speed, hence better is the performance. 

If the server load is high, then using a multi server setup is the best idea as the load is split over different servers that causes increased performance. 

If you are using a multi-processor system, then it will increase the CPU performance, but the performance of the Zarafa server will be slightly decreased due to context switching and hyper threading. So, turning off hyper threading is a good option to reduce the Input Output usage and thus improving server performance in turn. You can use a hardware RAID controller for improving the server performance.

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How To Extract Important Data From Corrupt or Damaged BKF Files Easily

Data backup refers to replicating and archiving the data (including files like excel ,word, PPT, images, etc.) which can be used to bring back the original data in case of any failure. As data saved on a hard drive is never safe, it is good to have a backup copy of every necessary file saved in a protected place.

With the technical developments in the field of storage media, the storage devices are getting cheaper and condensed in size. In order to get rid of the data failure circumstances, the Windows users have the choice to backup the precious data using the integral utility, which generates the backup of the data in the form of BKF files.

You could get the following error codes when you attempt to back up files or folders by using Windows Backup and Restore:

   

0×80070001 (Invalid Function)

This problem takes place when you attempt to back up a particular library or when you admit the default settings in Windows Backup and Restore. You get "Invalid Function" error message when you try to back up files or folders by making use of Windows Backup and Restore.

   

0×81000037

This problem takes place when Windows Backup get failed while trying to read from the shade copy on one of the volumes being backed up. This problem arises when you attempt to back up a particular library or when you allow the default settings in Windows Backup and Restore.

Cause

These problems take place for the reason that the libraries or folders that you are trying to back up or restore comprise a reparse point. Reparse points look like UNIX symbolic links or Windows shortcuts. A reparse point may be utilized to point out a file that is momentarily transferred on a different drive. For example, a reparse point would let a folder such as C:\DVD to point to Drive E, the actual DVD drive. Such problems also occur due to virus attack, backup file media corruption, sudden system shutdown, improper management of system etc.

You might be staying composed after backing up all your valuable Exchange Server data; though, what about its safekeeping? Operating systems like Windows provide built-in data backup utility to archive your valuable data and this archive is saved with .bkf extension. How will you reinstate the mailbox data you backed up from MS Exchange Server if your BKF file gets damaged or corrupt? One of the most stumbled upon concerns with a backup (*.bkf) file is corruption. In such an agonizing condition, you may remove this exchange backup file from your system after corruption.

Undesirable circumstances of data loss are usually evaded by the users by following the practice of preserving a Backup of their vital database.  The Backup is produced by making use of the NTBackup tool, which is accessible as an integral utility in Windows OS itself. This utility saves the backup file with.BKF extension which can be accessed at any time to restore the data.

But due to different aspects, there is a prospect that the caused corruption might harm the BKF file's data also. Some of such causes are corruption of a hard drive, power failure, Trojan upshot, sudden system shutdown, malfunctioning of Windows backup software, system software failure, backup disruption, etc.

Moreover, other than these identified reasons of corruption in data saved on your system, there might be a number of unidentified reasons too. Although keeping a backup copy of your email data is a clever resolution, make sure you store the backup file at a protected location to shun corruption. In case this backup (*.bkf) file gets corrupt, it is always suggested to go for exchange BKF recovery.

Now, assume that at any occasion, you by some means lose your data and consequently try to recover data from Backup. But to your shock, you discover that the backup is no more available. What is the next step that should be taken in such a worrying circumstance? The idea that comes to mind is - will there be any technique to recover the lost data? Well, the answer to this is yes. There is a method which will assist you recover all the data subjects of your BKF file and that is by using a third party utility of BKF file repair. Corruption issues with backup (.BKF) files cannot be resolved manually, so you need to make use of a professional third party tool. In such situations,  Stellar Phoenix BKF Recovery Software is the most suitable tool and it is much proficient in repairing corrupt backup files on Windows system.

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8 Must-Have Skills For Every MS Exchange Administrator

In this article, we are going to take a closer look at some of the sophisticated topics which every Exchange administrator should be aware of to assist them in taking their Exchange Server expertise to the next level. We will also take a look at some of the simple steps which administrators can take to enhance their existing and new knowledge.

Advanced Exchange skills and topics you need to know

Having these eight skills, which majority of the administrators struggle with, can make you more precious and will readily grow among different versions of MS Exchange Server and MS Office.

1. Learn more about Exchange PowerShell.

Gaining a real understanding of Exchange PowerShell is a major step. For the MCSE, you will be required to study the basics, such as how to discover and set mailbox information. But you require to be clever to perform much more than that. Study how to automate an environment to simplify provisioning and practically shun downtime. A great place to get the knowledge about the same is to start reading a book or an ebook. There are many books available in the market and ebooks over the Internet which provides a thorough understanding about the Exchange Powershell.

2. Troubleshoot difficult problems with Exchange.

It is no clandestine that the MCSM lab test includes troubleshooting a complex problem in an Exchange environment, which supports how significant these Exchange skills are. If you are learning with a coworker, team up and think of doubtful methods to break a lab atmosphere, break each other's atmosphere and allow the other work out how to repair it. Become recognizable with a performance threshold for Exchange server so when you inspect an atmosphere using Perfmon, you will be acquainted with whether a high value means the whole thing is normal or you have a trouble.

3. Get a full knowledge of every Exchange module with some suggested reading.

During the MCSE, you might have got a high understanding of all areas you were examined on. Matching with what you will perceive in your job, you will certainly comprehend some parts in depth more than others. Cover-to-cover reading of both volumes of Exchange 2013 Inside Out and using those practices in your lab surroundings will be a huge assistance.

4. Study about hybrid deployments.

Many corporations don't plan to shift to the cloud anytime soon, but a reasonable number do. This number will definitely rise in the next coming years. Hybrid deployments will turn out to be more common, so understanding how to employ precondition modules such as Windows Azure Directory Sync and Active Directory Federation Services are very important skills, along with configuring and handling a hybrid deployment. When studying about hybrid deployments in fact, you will have to comprehend how to carry out a hybrid configuration, how the MRS Proxy, Federation for Free/Busy and Calendar Sharing works, how mail flow works and how Exchange objects are characterized and supervised within hybrid surroundings.

5. Integrate third-party products.

You can't forecast every third-party product you will require to incorporate with Exchange, but a lot of products incorporate in a parallel mode. If you have not taken the possibility to become recognizable with load balancers, you should. Practice each multi-server Exchange deployment makes use of one, and you can download virtual load balancers or use an IIS Address Request Routing to get understanding with this interior technology. You can also think learning about cloud-based spam filtering alternatives and at least one mobile device management alternative since many deployments will make use of them.

6. Incorporate Lync, SharePoint, and Office Web Apps.

These products now incorporate profoundly to each other, whether it is for site mailboxes in SharePoint or joined messaging, instant messaging and archiving incorporation with Lync or Office Web Apps incorporated into all three products. Recently launched technologies like OAuth revolutionize the technique Exchange usually incorporates with these applications, so in addition to understanding how to put the pieces collectively, comprehend why it works and how to troubleshoot incorporation.

7. Learn about upgrading and coexistence.

The dissimilarity among a flourishing upgrade and a failed upgrade lies in the hands of the consultant or admin executing it. It is simple to walk into an upgrade with no understanding the workings, but this is where your lab surroundings will do you beheaded. If you plan on spending the next few years upgrading Exchange environments, devoting the time to construct an absolute coexistence lab with a variety of customers will compensate bonuses.

8. Get back to the basics.

Our concluding topic is appropriate to every email environment, but a lot of Exchange administrators sidestep it. If you have had to troubleshoot an email bounce-back and had a Unix admin say that your system isn't compliant with Requests For Comment (RFCs), you actually should pay attention. If you haven’t controlled any other email system separately from Exchange, reading this will be an eye opener. RFC articles describe Internet standards for numerous protocols and are the key to ensuring interoperability among systems. Reading RFCs -- such as RFC2821, RFC3030, RFC1870, and RFC3207 -- will instruct you how SMTP-based email works. You will be amazed at what you don't know.

We have looked at where you require to begin if you desire to take your Exchange skills to the next level, but how do you authenticate that knowledge - This is up to you.

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The most efficient way for GroupWise to Exchange migration!

I am writing this article, keeping in mind the need of those users who are planning to migrate from GroupWise to Exchange.

Each email platform possesses its own feature set, benefits and pitfalls. Whenever a user plans to perform email migration, there can be various reasons behind that such as: user’s personal preferences, change in technology, and change in business needs, cost factor, organization structure change or some other business related needs.

Migrating from one platform to another is really very difficult if the organization size is large. Migrating thousands of mailboxes from one email platform to another is a very time consuming and chaotic task that consumes a lot of efforts and funds.

Before planning to migrate from GroupWise to Exchange, Once have a look at the article:http://recover-email.blogspot.in/2013/01/pros-and-cons-of-groupwise-to.html 

Want to migrate from GroupWise to Exchange?

If you are planning to migrate from GroupWise to Exchange then you can have to face several challenges.

Migrating from GroupWise to Exchange is going to turn too costly for you. The migration cost includes hardware cost, setup & administration cost and further trainings and maintenance costs are also involved.

The most important cost factors and challenges while GroupWise to Exchange migration are admin costs (Exchange licensing fees and challenges), Hardware costs, increased admin efforts labor and time.

Exchange licensing fees and challenges: 

• CAL license for Exchange server
• CAL license for Windows server
• Other add-ons such as: antivirus, team collaboration, backup etc. 
• Exchange resources and equipments cost 
• Migration tool license for each user to migrate his mailbox data from GroupWise to Exchange
• End user license cost and other costs for purchasing new licenses or re-licensing the older ones

Hardware costs:
Exchange server, Storage resource, Increased data archival & retention requirement, 64-bit hardware (32 bit needs to be replaced).

Increased admin efforts labor and time:
Windows server installation, Exchange and active directory setup and configuration, change in network topology, reconfiguring or re-licensing the add-ons and other applications to make them compatible with Exchange.

Other contributing factors that lead to increased admin efforts are:
•    Pre-migration planning and scheduling
•    Purchase Migration tool
•    Test after deployment, archive the old mailbox data
•    Post migration training, maintenance and assistance.

Technical training to the administrator, helpdesk, and the staff for working with Exchange is also required. In beginning it can cause lost productivity as the user is un-familiar with the new technology. He needs to learn a lot for having good working hands with the new interface.

The major drawback of migrating from one platform to another platform is the commotion in workflow and productivity. Obviously the increased learning cost and time disrupts the user productivity and work efficiency.  Also you will require external help and assistance while performing the migration process.  The whole migration process, setting up the infrastructure and system maintenance, all these together require expert assistance and consultation. So, some organizations prefer to upgrade their existing systems instead of opting migration from one platform to a new one.

How to migrate from GroupWise to Exchange?

We can’t neglect the benefits and features of Exchange. However it depends on the personal choices and business s needs which email platform will be suitable for the user. Each email platform has its own significance, pros and cons. Migration from one Email platform to another totally depends on the user Needs and concerns.

Using Exchange has its own benefits such as flexible integration and collaboration, easy management, new functionalities.

Take care of the following things before migrating from GroupWise to Exchange:

1. Prepare a pre-migration assessment report: It should contain an estimated hypothesis for how and how much of the data will be migrated. What will be the prerequisites, the achievable thresholds and deadlines? You must track your time to time migration process.

2. Stipulate the Exchange mailbox data: How will you migrate from the GroupWise objects to Exchange? You need to create an Active directory for the Exchange mailboxes. Then choose to create the GroupWise directory objects via a mechanism that can make them compatible to Exchange Active Directory objects.

3. GroupWise to Exchange integration:  While migrating the GroupWise objects to Exchange, you must take care that the GroupWise Address Book and Exchange Global Address List are properly synchronized. Both must contain the same entries for users, distribution groups, and resources. You also need to ensure that the message size and format is intact before and after migration. Mail routing between GroupWise to Exchange can be done by SMTP routing technique. To achieve mail flow between GroupWise to Exchange you can either use Exchange 2003 Connector for Novell GroupWise or SMTP forward domain.

4. Perform a preliminary trail migration: it is just like a sample migration and will make you aware of the issues and challenges that you can have to face while performing full migration. It let you Identify the risks and their management techniques involved throughout the migration process. It will help you prepare a migration baseline by determining the speed of a pre-known fixed amount of data migrated in a controlled environment on a single migration server. Thus you can conclude the estimated time span you will require to accomplish the full migration process. You can also estimate the required disk space along with the data transfer throughput.

5. Perform data migration: The final step is to perform the data migration by using some efficient GroupWise to Exchange migration software. Once it is done you must track the amount of data successfully migrated, skipped or migrated with errors. Also check the migration activity logs to track the errors and the warnings during the whole migration progression. 

One of the most important steps in performing GroupWise to Exchange migration is choosing an efficient “GroupWise to Exchange migration software “.  Obviously you will not like to buy such software that is not worthy. Your money and your valuable data both matters a lot, no loss can be tolerable.

So before purchasing a GroupWise to Exchange migration software:

•   Thoroughly go through the website’s product page
•   Read out the software’s features carefully (of course, it must contain all that you want)
•   Check out the system specifications
•   Have a look at the user help manuals
•   Check out the software providers help & support page. Does it provide proper technical assistance if required.
•   Is there money back guarantee or refund policy?
•   Run the trail version. If happy with the output, then only go for the full version purchase.

Hopefully, it would prove helpful in performing a successful GroupWise to Exchange migration. 

Your comments and feedback are welcome.

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