Configure and Test Exchange 2013

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to part 3 of the Microsoft Exchange How-To.

So far we've installed a few CAS Servers as well as a few Mailbox Servers. We created a DAG as well as a CAS Array.
In this portion I am assuming that the steps of Installing Exchange 2013 and Configuring Exchange 2013 have been completed successfully and all works as it should.

Here are the steps we will cover here:

• Configuring AutoDiscovery
• Creating an Archive Mailbox Database
• Testing the HA/Redundancy

Before we get started, a quick point regarding the Certificates. You can leave the built-in self signed certificates if you'd like. however if you have your own CA and would like to assign your own, Make sure that it's a SAN type certificate which includes the Client Access FQDN and the Autodiscover FQDN. It's your choice really if how you'd like to proceed. If you do have questions about specifics, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Now, on with the show!

Configuring the AutoDiscover

To modify the AutoDiscovery information in Exchange 2013, it can only be done through powershell. Before typing the script to modify the URI. Once you verify that your certificate is properly set, Create also an A record in your DNS (both Private and Public DNS) and do the following:

• Load Exchange Powershell Console.
• Before applying the new URLs, view your current settings:
  Get-ClientAccessServer -id *
• Once you know this command displays the servers, enter the following command:
  Get-ClientAccessServer -id * |Set-ClientAccessServer -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml
• If all worked perfectly, the output you should see with you run again the first command should be:
  AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri : https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

Creating a Mailbox. 

The databases are set now we need to create the mailboxes. By default you should have a mailbox for the administrator account. Now this is how you create another one.

• Navigate to Recipients >  Mailboxes.
• Click on the "+" icon and select "New User Mailbox".
• If you user already exists in your Active Directory, select the "Browse" button and choose the User.
• If user doesn't exist, Select the "New User" button and fill out the information required. Click "Save".

And voila! a mailbox.

Configuring Mailbox Archiving

In order to be able to do server side Archiving of mailboxes, Exchange 2013 offers you the ability to create "In-Place Archiving". This means that we need to create a new database, create a copy for redundancy and enable mailboxes to archive to the new database within your infrastructure. The other solution could be to archive using Office 365.

• In EAC, navigate to Server > Database.
• Create new Database by clicking on the "+" icon.
• Name the new Database.
• Click "Browse", Select Mailbox Server where to store it. Click "OK".
  (The database file path and log file path should automatically be populated)
• Ensure the checkbox "Mount this database" is selected. Click "Save".
• On the MX server restart "Microsoft Exchange Information Store" Service.
• Create Database copy on new Database.
• Select the newly created database, click on the "…" Icon and select "Add Database Copy".
• Click on "Browse" and select a Mailbox Server. Click "OK".
• Click "Save".
• Navigate to Recipients >  Mailboxes.
• Select a user/Mailbox.
• On the Right Pane select "Enable" on the "In-Place Archive". Pop-up window will appear.
• Click "Browse" and select the archiving database and click "OK".
• In Mailbox Type you will see for the users selected "User (Archive)".
• Log into your OWA account.
• You’ll see a new tab called "In-Place Archiving - %Username%" at the bottom of the left pane

Now we have all the pieces in place. our Database infrastructure is pretty complete. Redundancy on the Mailbox level as well as the Front-End (CAS) level. We created mailboxes and We implemented an archiving database and set the autoDiscover for the internal traffic. All that is left is to create the connectors. After all sending email is what's it's all about. right?  You will notice in the EAC that the receive connectors are already created by default and they work perfectly well. We will create 2 types of connectors. Internal and External. Here we go:

Creating an External Send Connector:

• Navigate to Mail flow >  Send Connectors.
• Click on the "+" icon.
• Enter a name of the Connector.
• Select "External".
• Ensure that the option "MX record associated with recipient domain" is selected, Click "Next".
• In the "Full Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)", enter "*" and click "Save" (You want to be able to send to any domain).
• Click on the "+" and add all MX servers listed and click "OK". Click "Finish".

Crfeating an Internal Send Connector

• If clicked elsewhere, navigate to Mail flow >  Send Connectors.
• Click on the "+" icon.
• Enter a name of the Connector.
• Select "Internal".
• Since the option of selecting the MX record is disabled, you need to add a Smart Host. Once you go back in, you'll be able to choose the MX record if you'd like. (Not sure why it's like that)
• Click on the "+", type the FQDN of the CAS and click "Save".
• Select the Authentication method desired. (I selected "Exchange Server Authentication").
• In the "Full Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)", enter your domain name and click "Save". (You want this connector to send to one domain name unless you have multiple internal domains across a forest).
• Click on the "+" and add all MX servers listed and click "OK". Click "Finish".

You now have 2 functional Send connectors. at any point if you'd like, log into your OWA and try sending an email. You'll see that if these steps are followed properly, it should work.

Now all of the aspects needed to have a redundant, fully functional Exchange environment are in place. If you'd like, here are some basic tests that can be done to test your environment. To test redundancy on DAG, please do the following:

• Navigate to Servers > Database.
• Select a database from the list.
• On the right side pane, you should see a "suspend | Activate | Remove" option. Select "Activate".
• Once complete, take a look at the Center pane in the "Active on Server" column. The database is now running on the secondary machine.
• Log out of OWA (if you have sessions running).
• Log in again to OWA and access your mailbox. The mailbox should be accessible and email traffic should still be OK.

For a more complete test, you can run this procedure on all databases within your exchange organization. You can also disable the network card on one of the mailbox servers and the DAG should automatically transfer functionality to the other node.

To Test redundancy on CAS, Please do the following:

• Ensure you have all web sessions (OWA, ECP) closed/logged out.
• Open Microsoft "Network Load Balancing" software and log into the CAS configuration.
• Right click on a host within the NLB et put its state as "stopped".
• Launch the CAS URL into a browser and enter your ECP and OWA URL.
• Log into your session.

If you can see your mailbox in OWA and can see the configurations on your ECP, redundancy is working. Feel free to test this procedure on all other CAS dedicated machines to ensure the other servers take the traffic.

Wasn't that easy? Congratulations! you have installed Microsoft Exchange 2013!

Of course, there are many other aspects of Exchange, However as mentioned earlier, this is a intended to provide you with a very solid understanding and configuration that you can build upon and evolve your Exchange knowledge.

On the final part, I will cover OWAS and if I finish in time, how to configure and test Microsoft Edge Server Role 2013.

Thank you for taking the time to read it and as usual, I hope you found this article useful or at the very least  interesting.

Daniel Moscovici