Author: Chris Bradford

Exchange 2010: Troubleshooting Public Folder Referrals

I had an issue today where a user from another Mailbox server/domain (same forest/Exchange Org) was unable to access public folders on a different Exchange server.

It turned out that the users home Public Folder Database had been configured to allow refferals to only a single server. To identify this I used the following Exchange Shell Command:

{code lang:css title:”Exchange Shell Command” lines:false hidden:false}

$pfdb = Get-PublicFolderDatabase -IncludePreExchange2010

$pfdb | select-object servername,name,UseCustomReferralServerList,CustomReferralServerList | ft

{/code}

To resolve the issue the Exchage Admin needed to add the destination Public Folder Database Servers to the CustomReferralServerList.

Exchange 2010 : OABGen Issues – PublicFolderDatabase

I came across an issue recently with an Exchange 2010 migration (same Organisation/Forest) where the OAB was not updating. On further investigation I identified that the following events were being logged on the mailbox database servers which were the home mailbox database servers for the affected users:

Log Name:      Application

Source:        MSExchangeSA

Description:

OABGen encountered error 80040111 while cleaning the offline address list public folders under /o=ORGNAME/cn=addrlists/cn=oabs/cn=OABNAME.  Please make sure the public folder database is mounted and replicas exist of the offline address list folders.  No offline address lists have been generated.  Please check the event log for more information.

– \OABNAME   

Using the command Get-OfflineAddressBook | select-object name,PublicFolderDatabase it was possible to identify that the PublicFolderDatabase that the OAB was set to publish to was incorrect.

Unforunately there is not an Esxchange Shell command to change this, you must use ADSIedit. Using ADSIedit browse to the following location, changing the items in bold to match your environment:

“CN=OABName,CN=Offline Address Lists,CN=Address Lists Container,CN=ORGNAME,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=DOMAIN,DC=LOCAL”

Right-click this object and select properties. We’re interested in the siteFolderServer attribute – you’ll probably find this is incorrectly set if you’re getting the error above.

Next use the Exchange Shell to get the DN of a Public Folder Database in the same site; get-publicfolderdatabase | select-object DistinguishedName | fl

Copy the DN of the Public Folder Database into the siteServerName attribute of the failed OAB.

Update: 29/09/2011 – You should also confirm the replication scope of the OAB Public Folder mentioned in the error.  

You then have to restart the Exchange information Store service on the affected servers – of course this will interrupt mailbox database connectivity so if you have a DAG then I would suggest you perform failovers to minimise impact – if not then this may be an out of hours change!

Once completed run the Exchange Shell command from above to confirm that the PublicFolderDatabase setting is correct; Get-OfflineAddressBook | select-object name,PublicFolderDatabase

You can also perform an update of the OAB (update-offlineaddressbook “name“) and then download it in a cached mode client to confirm functionality.

Exchange 2010 : View Transport Server Queue

Use the following Exchange Shell command to view the current queue o all transport servers:

get-transportserver | get-queue

This can be limited to a subset of servers using the query below. This method of changing the scope of the command relies on you servers having a similar name, in this case all servers start “UK” :

get-transportserver “UK*” | get-queue

Exchange 2010 : View Mailbox Database Size

Use the following Exchnage Shell command to view the size of ALL Mailbox Databases within your Exchange Organisation.

Get-MailboxDatabase -Status | select ServerName,Name,DatabaseSize

You can limit this to particular Databases using the command below, this will return sizing information on Mailbox Databases which have a name starting with “UK” – this could be modified to FR for example if all of your Mailbox Databases in France started with “FR” :

Get-MailboxDatabase “UK*”  -Status | select ServerName,Name,DatabaseSize