Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Using NSLookup to find mx records

If you need to find mx record for a domain you can use the NSlookup tool within Windows. This is often used when you are having problems sending emails across to a certain server. You can lookup their mail servers and see if you can ping them. The best test is to be able to telnet them on port 25.

I can show you that in a short tutorial. In my example below I am trying to get the mx records for the domain microsoft.com


Quick NSlookup commands

If you are wondering how to use the NSLookup tool it is quite handy.

The tool is used from the command prompt and can be used to determine the name of your DNS server. Often used by us I.T support Engineers/professionals/guys whatever you want to call us to troubleshoot DNS problems. So to use NSlookup simply go to a command prompt and type:

nslookup

this should give you the IP address of all the DNS servers that you are using on your computer to resolve IP address from domain names, see below

C:\Documents and Settings\rajk>nslookup
*** Can't find server name for address 10.10.1.3: Non-existent domain
*** Default servers are not available
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 10.10.1.3

>

At the next prompt type ? (this will give you all the commands that you can use), see the list below

> ?
Commands: (identifiers are shown in uppercase, [] means optional)
NAME - print info about the host/domain NAME using default server
NAME1 NAME2 - as above, but use NAME2 as server
help or ? - print info on common commands
set OPTION - set an option
all - print options, current server and host
[no]debug - print debugging information
[no]d2 - print exhaustive debugging information
[no]defname - append domain name to each query
[no]recurse - ask for recursive answer to query
[no]search - use domain search list
[no]vc - always use a virtual circuit
domain=NAME - set default domain name to NAME
srchlist=N1[/N2/.../N6] - set domain to N1 and search list to N1,N2, etc.
root=NAME - set root server to NAME
retry=X - set number of retries to X
timeout=X - set initial time-out interval to X seconds
type=X - set query type (ex. A,ANY,CNAME,MX,NS,PTR,SOA,SRV)
querytype=X - same as type
class=X - set query class (ex. IN (Internet), ANY)
[no]msxfr - use MS fast zone transfer
ixfrver=X - current version to use in IXFR transfer request
server NAME - set default server to NAME, using current default server
lserver NAME - set default server to NAME, using initial server
finger [USER] - finger the optional NAME at the current default host
root - set current default server to the root
ls [opt] DOMAIN [> FILE] - list addresses in DOMAIN (optional: output to FILE)
-a - list canonical names and aliases
-d - list all records
-t TYPE - list records of the given type (e.g. A,CNAME,MX,NS,PTR etc.)
view FILE - sort an 'ls' output file and view it with pg
exit - exit the program

>

To see how you can get mx records for a domain please see my posting called Using NSLookup to find mx records






If for some reason you

Friday, July 13, 2007

Error when moving mailbox

Problem:

When moving a mailbox from Legacy E2k Server to E2k7 server, you receive an error message:
Summary: 1 item(s). 0 succeeded, 1 failed.
Elapsed time: 00:00:00


Error:
Domain Controller 'OLDDCNAME' Operating System version is 5.0 (2195) Service Pack 4. The minimum version required is 5.2 (3790) Service Pack 1.

Solution:

Just to give you a little background I have a Windows 2000 DC with Exchange 2000 installed on it, and a Windows 2003 R2 running SP2. So what I had to do to fix the problem was to Remove the checkbox for Global Catalog for Windows 2000 DC from Active Directory Sites and Services and then restart the Windows 2000 DC.

After that the Mailbox Move did not give me the above error message

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Problem:

While installing or Uninstalling Microsoft Exchange 2007 from the command line using Setup.com and various applicable switches you receive the following error message:
"An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Unexpect
ed error [0x116DCE11] while executing command '$error.Clear(); uninstall-Exsetda
taAtom -AtomName SMTP -DomainController $RoleDomainController'.
Unexpected error [0x116DCE11] while executing command '$error.Clear(); unin
stall-ExsetdataAtom -AtomName SMTP -DomainController $RoleDomainController'.

Exchange Server Encountered and Error

Solution:

Background

I was installing the hub transport, client access, mailbox and management tools using the setup.com

setup.com /mode:install /r:h,c,m,t /t:"d:\program files\Microsoft Exchange Server"

So when Uninstalling i received the error message. I was using the following command

setup.com /mode:uninstall

Changing the above command slightly by including the roles that I wanted to uninstall I was able to complete the command successfully

setup.com /mode:uninstall /r:h,c,m,t

An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Access t

Problem: When doing an Unattended setup for Microsoft Exchange 2007 using the setup.com command and switches you receive the following error message:

An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Access t
o the path 'X:\Setup\ServerRoles\Common\64' is denied.I had same problems as some of you indicated, where X is the drive letter for your DVD ROM drive.

I was installing Exchange 2007 from Production Copy DVD of Exchange 2007 Standard. Here is the strategy that I took after receiving the errors on multiple occassions.

Background:

We have 1 Win2K SP4 DC and 1 Win2k3 R2 DC, so installing Exchange 2007 from GUI is a NONO, atleast according to all the readings that I have done. So the only option is to install from command line using the Unattended setup (Setup.com) with various different switches. You can not use Setup.exe with switches.

When I was receiving the error message of:
"An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Access to the path 'X:\Setup\ServerRoles\Common\64' is denied.", I was installing all the roles at one time using the following command line:

setup.com /mode:install /r:h,c,m,t /t:"d:\program files\Microsoft\Exchange S
erver" /DomainController:DCNAME /EnableLegacyOutlook /LegacyRoutingServer:
LegacyExchangeName /EnableErrorReporting

and I would receive the error message.

I then tried to install all the roles seperately using the following command lines one at a time and every thing was successful.

Solution:

PS: Please replace DCNAME with the name of your Win2k3 SP1 DC and LegacyExchangeName with your E2k or E2k3 Exchange Server.

1. Client Access

setup.com /mode:Install /r:c /t:"d:\program files\microsoft\exchange server"
/domaincontroller:
DCNAME

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup

Preparing Exchange Setup

The following server roles will be installed
Management Tools
Client Access Role

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

Client Access Role Checks ......................... COMPLETED

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

Copying Exchange files ......................... COMPLETED
Client Access server role ......................... COMPLETED

2. Hub Transport Role

setup.com /mode:Install /r:h /domaincontroller:
DCNAME /LegacyRoutingServe
r:
LegacyExchangeName

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup

Preparing Exchange Setup

The following server roles will be installed
Hub Transport Role

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

Hub Transport Role Checks ......................... COMPLETED

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

Copying Exchange files ......................... COMPLETED
Hub Transport Server Role ......................... COMPLETED

3. setup.com /mode:Install /r:m /domaincontroller:
DCNAME /EnableLegacyOutloo
k

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup

Preparing Exchange Setup

The following server roles will be installed
Mailbox Role

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

Mailbox Role Checks ......................... COMPLETED
If Outlook Web Access is in use, you should replicate the free/busy folder on t
his server to every other free/busy server in the organization. This step should
be performed once Setup completes.

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

Copying Exchange files ......................... COMPLETED
Mailbox Server Role ......................... COMPLETED

The Microsoft Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.

Hope this helps someone out.