Re: Erroneous 'E-mails sent' entries in Server Usage Report

I realise that you'll smack my hand for being a foolish, naughty boy, but
I've deleted the uninstall folders on all but one of the servers. The only
one I haven't, is based in Greece and I'm in the UK - so uninstalling and
praying that nothing goes belly up is not on the cards! The only other
option is to flatten my own server and re-install.
However, at present, I'm trying to see if deleting the recipient policy and
users, then re-adding both fixes anything - will keep you posted!

Thanks for trying to help - it really is appreciated, Les!!!!

"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" <les.connor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:CEC37CDB-8515-404D-96CD-AF8B23997F1D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't have an SP2 box, but have lots of R2 and they all work fine. How
about uninstallng SP2 on one, and see if that's got any effect?

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]


"David" <abc@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e9dA1eDjHHA.3472@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Les! Sorry for the delay in responding - more serious customer
problems took precedence

As far as I can recall, this problem was not present on my own server
before I wiped sbs2k3Sp1 and installed sbs2k3R2+Sp2. One of the
sbs2k3Sp1 boxes did previously report outgoing messages correctly in the
Usage Report. The rest are new installs, either replaced sbs2k servers
or totally new to sbs2k3R2+Sp2.

I gave up modifying the default recipient policy years ago and now create
my own policy on each server before creating users. I've checked the
servers and each has variations of the following:

My Policy:
I set a filter on the policy to select *only* those "Users with
Exchange mailboxes". There are typically numerous External Contacts,
etc., in each site's GAL, so I set this filter to avoid post policy
editing.
The following aliases are defined:
%1g%s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (fbloggs@...)
%1g%s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (fbloggs@...) <- default E-mail
address
%g%s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (fredbloggs@...)
%g.%s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (fred.bloggs@...)
@internal.local (<logon-name>@...)
-plus- the X400 entry of course

Would you (anyone) know how SBS tracks the Outgoing External E-mails for
these Usage Reports. I'm assuming that it is SBS-Monitoring that does
the tracking and logging, but is it an Exchange Event that triggers or
are outgoing messages monitored. Is there also anyway that I can
examine/detect at which point this is failing.

"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" <les.connor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9D9E3116-7E97-463A-A6BB-B0D7D6BCC09A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I've not seen this behaviour once, never mind 6 times ;-).

Do you modify the default recipient policy, or create a seperate one for
the custom address? I always leave the default alone, and create a
seperate one with a higher priority. The fact that Administrator (if not
renamed) shows external email makes one suspect recipient policy, as
this account has only the one name. You haven't removed any of the
default email addresses from the accounts, have you?

You might try another single label user account as a test and see if
that shows anything outgoing.

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]


"David" <abc@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eM$CeD4hHHA.4872@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks, Les,

The messages are being delivered successfully by Exchange - there is no
external mail server involved. I can track messages in ESM tracking up
to the point of delivery to the far end (recipient's) server. Exchange
is also set to deliver mail direct to the recipient by DNS lookup
(*not* via the ISP's smart host).

The problem applies to ALL six of the servers that I control, including
my own. Which means it is probably something that I habitually do
wrong! In each case, the Administrator is the typically the only user
account that has non-zero values listed in the report. It is very
occasionally that a normal user will have a non-zero "External
recipient" value in a report.

The servers involved are SBS-2k3-Premium-R2 with SP2, apart from one
that is SBS2k3-Premium with SP1. The R2 boxes were all fresh installs
at R2 level; the previous SBS2k or SBS2k3 installs being wiped and
there was no migrations or upgrades involved. User/Computer accounts
were created afresh. Client PC are all XP-Pro using Outlook 2003 in
cached-mode, apart form one user in one office using Outlook 2007.

I wonder if this may have something to do with Recipient Policies. I
normally apply a policy defining the users' various E-mail aliases
using variables, e.g. "%1g.%s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx", etc.

Whilst I can live with this, it gives the customers absolutely no
confidence in the rest of these reports when it contains such glaring
errors.

David

"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" <les.connor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9753109B-B1AF-44E9-AF39-9752C124CD6F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Use message tracking in ESM to see if messages are being delivered by
exchange. You woudln't have the users outlook configured to use an
external mail server, by chance?

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]


"David" <abc@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u2euU8zhHHA.2368@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Robert,
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, you have misunderstood the
problem. The Report *is* sent correctly - no problem there at all.
The problem is that some information *contained_in_the_report* is
totally wrong!
Specifically; the information "E-mail sent to external recipients"
lists *zero* messages being sent by all users other than
Administrator. In reality hundreds of external messages were actually
sent. E.g.:

E-mail Sent

User Name Total E-mail Sent Internal Recipients Size (MB)
External Recipients
Administrator 30 31 1.1 29
David Johnson 26 26 0.3 0
Brian Clews 11 14 4.0 0
Russell Matthews 9 9 0.0 0
Main Store 2 2 0.0 0
Sheila Clark 1 1 0.0 0
Company Total 79 83 5.5 29




"Robert Li [MSFT]" <v-robeli@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:kKkCm$uhHHA.3744@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi David,

Thanks for posting in our newsgroup.

From your description, I know that external recipients cannot
receive
"Extended Server Usage Report". If I am off-base, please don't
hesitate to
let me know.

First, the report cannot be sent to external recipients but no
messages are
logged. The problem may be more complex and time-consuming. Thanks
for your
understanding.

Please take the following step to narrow down this issue:

Step 1: Change another external recipient to get mail, will the same
issue
occur?

1. Open Server Management.
2. Click Monitoring and Reporting.
3. Click Set Up Monitoring Reports and Alerts.
4. Select Modify existing settings and click Next.
5. Select Receive a daily performance report in e-mail, View the
usage
report in Server Managent, Receive a usage report in e-mail every
other
week and click Next.
6. Input the e-mail address to receive report.

Note: Please input two address here, for example test@xxxxxxxxxxx
and
Administrator@xxxxxxxxxxxx)

7. Follow the other steps and click Finish.

Please check if the test@xxxxxxxxxxx and Administrator@xxxxxxxxxxxx
can get
report.

Step 2: Please check the Message Tracking Center.

1. Open Exchange Server Management.
2. Expand Domain(Exchange)->Tools->Message Tracking Center.
3. Input Administrator in Sender box and click Find Now.
4. Check if the Message History below to see if the e-mail for
external
recipients is sent out.

Step 3: Check the Exchange Queue.

1. Open Exchange Server Management.
2. Expand Domain(Exchange)->Servers->SBSSERVER->Queue.
3. Check if the e-mail is in the Queue.

If the problem still persists, please help me collect the following
information for further research:

1.Message Tracking log

To enable Message Tracking:

Open ESM, on the General tab in the server's Properties dialog box,
select
the Enable message tracking check box. After the issue is
reproduced,
please wait about 15 minutes and then go to the message tracking
folder and
collect the message tracking log for us.

By default, the message tracking logs locate under the
folder:C:\Program
Files\Exchsrvr\servername.log.

2. MPS Report

1) Visit
http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/b/1/bb139fcb-4aac-4fe5-a579-30b0bd9
15706/MPSRPT_Exchange.EXE to download the file.
2) Run the MPSRPT_Exchange.EXE on the server box.
3) Wait for 10~15 minutes.
4) Open Windows explorer, navigate to
%SYSTEMROOT%\MPSReports\Exchange\cab\
5) Send the .cab file directly to me

Please send the information to v-robeli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with subject:
38892443-Erroneous 'E-mails sent' entries in Server Usage Report.

I am looking forward to hear from you.

If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to let me
know.

Best regards,

Robert Li(MSFT)

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--------------------
<Reply-To: "David" <<none>>
<From: "David" <abc@xxxxxxxxx>
<Subject: Erroneous 'E-mails sent' entries in Server Usage Report
<Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:13:55 +0100
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<
<Looking through the bi-weekly "Extended Server Usage Report" from
each of
<the SBS-2k3 servers that I look after, most of them list "zero"
E-mails
<having being sent to external recipients in that 14-day period. In
<practice, I know from the logs (and mailbox examination), that many
hundreds
<of external messages were actually sent out. Even those users that
are
not
<zero, only have the odd one or two messages listed.
<
<Do others have this same problem?
<
<I've looked on Microsoft's knowledgebase, and in various SBS
orientated
<blogs, and have found references to "too many" messages being
logged, but
<nothing referring to zero messages being logged.
<
<Since all the SBS-2k3 (and R2) boxes that I've set up have this
problem,
I'm
<quite prepared to admit it may be something that I've either done
or
haven't
<done that's caused this - but any ideas what it could be?
<
<All pointers welcome!
<
<David
<
<
<












.

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