Exchange Server 2016 installation error | Error code 1603

After I already wrote about the defective ISO here, I encountered another error. The Exchange Server 2016 installation keeps failing with the error "Installation product \exchangeserver.msi faild. Fatal error during installation. Error code is 1603." aborted. During my search, I came across several solutions, but none of them led to the goal. Read more

Exchange Server Dashboards with ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) Part 2

As already announced, I would like to realize dashboards for Exchange Server with Elasticsearch, more precisely, the Elastic Stack (ELK). This part is about the installation of the Elastic Stack on a Debian 9.8 VM. Introduction I have described the installation and configuration in this article so that the environment can be recreated if you are interested. When I ... Read more

Exchange Server Dashboards with ELK (ElasticSearch, Logstash, Kibana) Part 1

Unfortunately, Exchange Server does not offer a build-in option to clearly display the status of the environment or certain performance parameters on a dashboard. Even many monitoring tools quickly reach their limits when it comes to clearly displaying the number of emails received or sent, for example. In this series of articles, I would therefore like to take a look at ELK, or the Elastic Stack ... Read more

Manage Exchange out-of-office notifications centrally

Most users manage the absence notifications themselves via Outlook. Before a planned absence, such as vacation, the user enters the desired message and, if necessary, specifies a deputy. In addition, the helpdesk or a user's line manager should usually also be able to enter an absence notification for users; this is usually useful for an unplanned absence, ... Read more

Tip: Free S/MIME certificate (New!)

In my last article about a free S/MIME certificate for signing and encrypting emails, I made a stupid mistake. In the last article, I recommended the CA DGNCert, which offers free S/MIME certificates, but the CA itself is not stored as a "Trusted Root Certification Authority" in Windows. So as long as the root certificate is not manually ... Read more

Windows updates from February 2019 important for Exchange Server

The updates for Windows Server which were released on February 19, 2019 after the regular patchday are also important for Exchange Server running on Windows Server 2016. Specifically, it is about a problem that has existed since September 2018: KB4457127 causes problems on DCs in connection with Exchange KB4457127 causes problems after installation ... Read more

Review: NoSpamProxy (AntiSpam)

Here is another short review. I am often asked which anti-spam / email security product I would recommend and what my experience with it has been. There are countless solutions on the market and almost the entire spectrum is covered: special hardware appliances, VMs, Windows or Linux, software that runs directly on the Exchange ... Read more

Exchange Server Dashboards: Grafana, InfluxDB, PowerShell, PRTG and Telegraf

Jan Kappen has written a great HowTo on the subject of Grafana, InfluxDB and PowerShell. Jan describes the installation, configuration and use of Grafana and InfluxDB on his blog: Grafana, InfluxDB and Windows PowerShell - Part 1 Grafana, InfluxDB and Windows PowerShell - Part 2 Grafana, InfluxDB and Windows PowerShell - Part 3 Grafana, InfluxDB and Windows ... Read more

Exchange Server: New updates (February 2019)

New updates have just been released for all supported Exchange Server versions, which also fix the critical vulnerability from CVE-2018-8581. The updates should therefore be installed as soon as possible, as an exploit for this vulnerability has existed for some time. Click here to download the updates for Exchange 2010, 2013 and 2016: Cumulative Update 12 ... Read more