SuperTekBoy

Ran into a strange issue recently where all the default address lists were missing in Exchange. Running a Get-AddressList in the Exchange Management Shell returned zero results. The address lists were also absent in the Exchange Admin Center as well.

When we attempted to recreate the missing address lists using the same name (for example, “All Users”) we received an error that the address list already existed.

 C:\> New-AddressList "All Users" -Included Recipients MailboxUsers
Active Directory operation failed on dc1.skaro.local. The object 'CN=All Users,CN=All Address Lists,CN=Address Lists Container,CN=SKARO,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=skaro,DC=local' already exists.
+CategoryInfo : Not specified (0:Int32) [New-AddressList], ADObjectAlreadyExistsException

If we attempted to modify this address list (or remove it) it reported it could not be found.

 C:\> Set-AddressList "All Users" -Included Recipients MailboxUsers
The operation couldn't be performed because object 'All Users' couldn't be found on 'dc1.skaro.local'.

Similarly, if we tried to create a brand new address list that we knew never existed in the environment previously this also failed.

 C:\> New-AddressList "Brand New List" -Included Recipients MailboxUsers
The operation couldn't be performed because object 'CN=Brand New List,CN=All Address Lists,CN=Address Lists Container,CN=SKARO,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=skaro,DC=local' couldn't be found on 'dc1.skaro.local'.

These address lists were also missing when we used ADSI Edit to examine the Address Lists Container.

[Read more…] about Missing Address Lists in Exchange

I recently ran into an issue where the Microsoft Exchange FrontEnd Transport service refused to stay started. As a result, no external mail was being delivered to the Exchange server.

From the Services app, I could start the service, but it would stop within a couple of seconds.

When reviewing the Application logs in the Event Viewer I ran into a few separate errors with a source of MSExchangeFrontEndTransport. The first error was merely a symptom of a broken Front End Transport and not the root cause. We ignored this one and moved on.

Inbound direct trust authentication failed for certificate %1. The source IP address of the server that tried to authenticate to Microsoft Exchange is [%2]. Make sure EdgeSync is running properly.

The second error gave us the clue we needed. This error indicated something else was already listening to port 25.

The address is already in use. Binding: 0.0.0.0:25.

[Read more…] about MSExchangeFrontEndTransport – The address is already in use

When installing an Exchange update you may run into the error; Service: MSExchangeHM failed to stop.

[ERROR] The following error was generated when "$error.Clear(); 
& $RoleBinPath\ServiceControl.ps1 -Operation:DisableServices -Roles
($RoleRoles.Replace('Role','').Split(',')) -SetupScriptsDirectory:$RoleBinPath;
& $RoleBinPath\ServiceControl.ps1 -Operation:Stop -Roles:
($RoleRoles.Replace('Role','').Split(',')) -IsDatacenter:([bool]$RoleIsDatacenter)" was run:
"Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.ServiceStopFailureException: 
 Service 'MSExchangeHM' failed to stop due to error:'Cannot stop MSExchangeHM service on computer '.'.'. 
---> System.InvalidOperationException:  Cannot stop MSExchangeHM service on computer  '.'. 
---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception:  The service has not been started   
    --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
    at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Stop()

The MSExchangeHM service is part of the Managed Availability feature in Exchange. Managed Availability performs monitoring and self-healing to ensure Exchange stays up and running. This is a service you want to ensure stays running during normal operation, but in this particular scenario, we need to terminate the service so our cumulative update can complete.

[Read more…] about Error ‘MSExchangeHM failed to stop’ when installing Exchange updates