CU – Webbanshee

Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779

WebBanshee — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 05:46:46 +0000

Microsoft released another security update in April for Exchange 2019 CU9 and Exchange 2016 CU20. Here are our experiences on installing Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779. We also installed Exchange 2016 CU20 with KB5001779 on our Exchange 2016 servers.

If you run a mixed environment consisting of Exchange 2019 and Exchange 2016 servers you may want to check the schema requirements before. You can find information on that in my post from March:

Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19.

First, I want to mention installing the CUs went well and smoothly. Updating from Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19 required less time than upgrading from Exchange 2019 CU5 and Exchange 2016 CU16 to the mentioned CUs. Also installing security update KB5001779 took only about 30-40 minutes.

These were the good things. What are the backlashes?

KB5001779 can break processes initiated by CMDlets you run from a 3rd party or self-developed application against Exchange.

To be more specific quoting Microsoft:

After application of the Exchange Server April security update CMDlets executed against the Exchange Management Console using an invoked runspace might fail with the following error message:
The syntax is not supported by this runspace. This can occur if the runspace is in no-language mode.
This behavior is expected; please change any code using .AddScript() to use .AddCommand() for continued compatibility.

This Microsoft article was quite helpful in terms of what to expect:

April 2021 Exchange Server Security Updates

Tasks before installing Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779 and Exchange 2016 CU19 KB5001779:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

As we experienced it still only the web.config file in the OWA directory takes over parameters and keys you have modified before. To be safe I recommend backup every web.config file you have ever touched/modified. So you can easily reapply the changes you have made.
Disable Check for publisher’s certificate revocation in IE.
Make sure you have enough free space on the install drive.
Take a look at the supportability matrix if you need to upgrade your .NET version.
Check Auth methods on service directories like Powershell, OWA, and ECP and note the output.
Switch mailbox databases and put the server in maintenance mode.

Order of install:

Install the regular Windows patches ( if necessary )
Install Exchange 2019 CU9 or Exchange 2016 CU20
Install the April security update KB5001779 from an elevated Command Prompt

Sources:

Exchange 2016 CU20:

- Download Exchange 2016 CU20 here.
- Download Exchange 2016 April security update KB5001779 here.

Exchange 2019 CU9:

Experiences after installing Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779 and Exchange 2016 CU20 KB5001779:

Cumulative Updates CU9 and CU20:

We had mailtips disabled. Mailtips were enabled afterward.
The web.config files in the following directories have been overwritten. Changes needed to be reapplied.

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\sync
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\sync

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\exchweb\ews

Anyway, I always check the OWA web.config as well:

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa
Virtual directories for additional OWA and ECP we have in place needed to be recreated.
Problems with KB5001779:

As mentioned the security update breaks CMDlets you run from an external application against Exchange. For example provisioning mailboxes. Although we have read the Microsoft statements and have tested it we ran into this issue.

Since building a new release for our front-end application took a little bit more time than a change window grants I uninstalled KB5001779 on that Exchange server that the application uses for provisioning. Our development team has released a Hot-Fix since.

Here is how to get rid of KB5001779:

Since our Exchange 2019 servers are Core Servers I could not do it via GUI – Installed Updates. It would have been possible to do it via our management server and the Windows Admin Center. In the end, the local way was more sympathetic to me and I have uninstalled the patch via the uninstall string in the registry. You can find the string here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Micorsoft\Windows\CurrrentVersion\Uninstall\Patch

Copy the value of the uninstall string and paste it into an elevated command prompt, press enter and follow the uninstall wizard. The process took about 30-40 minutes. If the ISO of the Exchange CU isn’t mounted anymore then you will be asked to insert the Exchange Server source disk. Browse to the required file and continue. Restart the server after the patch has been uninstalled.

In case you need information on other CUs take a look into the CU Archives

… or find a general description here: CU Install Exchange

Stay safe!

The post Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779 appeared first on Webbanshee.

Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19

WebBanshee — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 08:12:09 +0000

Hello fellow Exchange Admins! I know I am late on this. This post is for the records to have all CUs we installed covered. Anyway, we started to install Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19 on the 4th of march straight after the Microsoft out of band session regarding Hafnium.

Altogether our environment consists of Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019 servers. Therefore we needed to apply the highest schema prior to installing Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19 in this mixed environment.

Accordingly, we ran /prepareschema,/preparead,/preparedomain from an Exchange 2019 server. That was the first server in our environment we upgraded.

In order to determine your current schema version use the commands below:

Forest Range Upper:
Get-ADObject “CN=ms-Exch-Schema-Version-Pt,$((Get-ADRootDSE).schemaNamingContext)” -Property Rangeupper

Forest Object Version:
Get-ADObject (dir “AD:\CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,$((Get-ADRootDSE).configurationNamingContext)”).DistinguishedName -Property objectVersion

Domain Object Version:
Get-ADObject “CN=Microsoft Exchange System Objects,$((Get-ADRootDSE).defaultNamingContext)” -Property objectVersion

After you have determined your current schema versions check the minimum schema version required to install Exchange 2019 CU8 or Exchange 2016 CU19 from this handy list on eightwone.com.

Tasks before installing Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

As we experienced it still only the web.config file in the OWA directory takes over parameters and keys you have modified before. To be safe I recommend backup every web.config file you have ever touched/modified. So you can easily reapply the changes you have made.
Disable Check for publisher’s certificate revocation in IE.
Make sure you have enough free space on the install drive.
Take a look at the supportability matrix if you need to upgrade your .NET version.
Check Auth methods on service directories like Powershell, OWA, and ECP and note the output.
Switch mailbox databases and put the server in maintenance mode.

Order of install:

Install the regular Windows patches ( if necessary )
Install Exchange 2019 CU8 or Exchange 2016 CU19
Install the Hafnium patch KB5000871 from an elevated Command Prompt

Sources:

Exchange 2016 CU19:

Download Exchange 2016 CU19 here.
Download Exchange 2016 Hafnium patch KB5000871 here.

Exchange 2019 CU8:

Download Exchange 2019 CU8 here. [Can only be downloaded via volume license center.]
Download Exchange 2019 Hafnium patch KB5000871 here..

Experiences after Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19 has been installed:

We had mailtips disabled. Mailtips were enabled afterward.
The web.config files in the following directories have been overwritten. Changes needed to be reapplied.

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\sync
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\sync

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\exchweb\ews

Anyway, I always check the OWA web.config as well:

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa
Virtual directories for additional OWA and ECP we have in place needed to be recreated.

Problems with Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19:

As mentioned above we started to upgrade our Exchange 2019 servers first. After the first server was upgraded customers reported that delegated users lost their access rights on shared mailboxes. This was a minor issue since only a few customers were affected and could be solved by reapplying those access rights.

Another issue that started after we had the CU in place was time-outs from a 3rd party archiving software. Nothing fatally critical but from time to time some mailboxes could not be archived because the process ran into a time out. On the next run, those mailboxes were archived but new ones ran into a time-out.

However, in the event log of the patched servers, we could find the event IDs Microsoft mentions in this article. Microsoft states that upgrading to Exchange 2019 CU9 will solve the problem.
As soon as we upgrade to Exchange 2019 CU9 I will update this post.

In case you need information on other CUs take a look into the CU Archives

… or find a general description here: CU Install Exchange

Stay safe!

The post Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19 appeared first on Webbanshee.

CU16 Exchange 2016 – a smooth CU

WebBanshee — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 13:23:36 +0000

We just upgraded to CU16 Exchange 2016. There were no real issues and all went well. This upgrade came with notably fewer issues than CU14 for Exchange Server 2016.

You can view the list of issues this update fixes here:
List of addressed issues

And download the update from Microsoft here:
Link to official download page

Tasks before installing CU16 Exchange 2016:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

As we experienced it still only the web.config file in the OWA directory takes over parameters and keys you have modified before. To be safe I recommend backup every web.config file you have ever touched/modified. So you can easily reapply the changes you have made.
Disable Check for publisher’s certificate revocation in IE.
Make sure you have enough free space on the install drive.
I noticed from 2010 and 2013 times a recommendation for at least 10GB of free space.
Check Auth methods on service directories like Powershell, OWA, and ECP and note the output. Verify it after the CU has been installed against these notes.
Switch mailbox databases and put the server in maintenance mode.

Order of install:

Install the regular Windows patches ( if necessary )
Install CU16 Exchange 2016

The CU installation itself took between 3 and 4 hours on the servers in our environment. On some servers, the install found a pending restart state despite a restart before the install. After a reboot, the install continued from that point.

Experiences after CU16 Exchange 2016 has been installed:

We had mailtips disabled. Mailtips were enabled afterward.
The web.config files in the following directories have been overwritten. Changes needed to be reapplied.

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\sync
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\sync

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\exchweb\ews

Anyway, I always check the OWA web.config as well:

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa
Virtual directories for additional OWA and ECP we have in place needed to be recreated.

If you come with .NET 4.7.2 and want to upgrade from CU12 to CU14 this could be helpful:

Install CU 14 Exchange 2016

The post CU16 Exchange 2016 – a smooth CU appeared first on Webbanshee.

Remove Old OWA Versions to free up Disk Space

WebBanshee — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 11:43:23 +0000

If you are running an Exchange Server for a couple of years you will soon or later notice that the free disk space on the Exchange install disk shrinks after every CU install. At this point, you can take in consideration to remove old OWA versions to free up disk space.

The size of these folders located under the path below can take be up to 2GB for each version:

/ExchangeInstallPath/V15/ClientAccess/OWA/prem

The question is:

Is it safe to remove old owa versions?

Unfortunately, I never found a satisfying answer to this question from Microsoft. On technet forums you can find answers like You can do it but it is not recommended.

This it is not a statement that makes you remove old OWA versions with peace of mind.
So I gave it a try in our test environment.

As you can see in the picture below there are some OWA version folders in the /Owa directory. The last modified date matches the date we have installed CU12 on this server. These folders belong to the current OWA version at that time. ( before we installed CU14).

In the /Owa/prem folder on the right side, you see the real OWA version folders with about 1GB in size which is eating up your disk space. After every CU install a new OWA version folder is added and the older versions are kept.

The directories compared:

When you need to upgrade a couple of servers one after another a server that already has been updated to the newest CU still needs the OWA version files from the last CU. If the mailbox which is being accessed through OWA resides on a server still running the old CU then an already upgraded server which serves OWA needs to be able to speak the old language as well.

According to this, I have moved all old OWA versions from /Owa/prem that did not have a match in /Owa and were older than 2 years to another drive. It gained me about 6GB free space.

After no problems occurred in our test environment I have used the same procedure in our production environment ( 18 servers ). There were no problems reported as well while having different CUs in place and no problems after all servers have been upgraded.

Stay healthy!

Need to change the input language on Server Core?

Change input language via PowerShell

The post Remove Old OWA Versions to free up Disk Space appeared first on Webbanshee.

CU14 Exchange 2016 and KB4536987

WebBanshee — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 09:22:28 +0000

We are currently upgrading our Exchange 2016 servers to CU14 Exchange 2016 and started to install CU14 on servers that host only relayed copies.

CU14 Exchange 2016 is a bridge CU. It is compatible with .NET 4.7.2 and compatible with .NET 4.8 as well. You can upgrade from .Net 4.7.2 to .Net 4.8 after you have CU14 Exchange 2016 in place.

CU14 ( and CU15 ) both come with a vulnerability for which Microsoft released a patch in February.
The patch is classified important and should be installed after CU14 has been installed.

You can read more about the mentioned vulnerability and download the patch from Microsoft here.

Tasks before installing CU14 Exchange 2016:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

As we experienced it still only the web.config file in the OWA directory takes over parameters and keys you have modified before. To be safe I recommend backup every web.config file you have ever touched/modified. So you can easily reapply the changes you have made.
Disable Check for publisher’s certificate revocation in IE.
Make sure you have enough free space on the install drive.
I noticed from 2010 and 2013 times a recommendation for at least 10GB of free space.
Take a look at the supportability matrix if you plan to upgrade to .NET 4.8
Check Auth methods on service directories like Powershell, OWA, and ECP and note the output.
Switch mailbox databases and put the server in maintenance mode.

Order of install:

Install the regular Windows patches ( if necessary )
Install CU14 Exchange 2016
Install patch KB4536987 for Exchange Server 2016 CU14 from an elevated Command Prompt

The CU installation itself took between 2 and 3 hours on the servers in our environment.

Experiences after CU14 Exchange 2016 has been installed:

We had mailtips disabled. Mailtips were enabled afterward.
To go for sure we checked the Authentication methods on the Virtual Directories again and validated them against the output we made before. All fine.
The web.config files in the following directories have been overwritten. Changes needed to be reapplied.

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\sync
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\sync

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\exchweb\ews

Anyway, I always check the OWA web.config as well:

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa
Virtual directories for additional OWA and ECP needed to be recreated.

Experiences vulnerability patch KB4536987:

After the install and restart it happened on some servers that the content index state on relayed copies was and stayed in status failed.

The following command displayed the cause:

Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server Servername | fl Identity, ContentIndexErrorMessage

Output:

ContentIndexErrorMessage:
The Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller Service is not running on server Servername

After restarting the Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller Service the ContentIndexState went back to AutoSuspend.

It took about 45 – 60 minutes to install the patch.

Update
The following subreddit gave me a hint. Thx! No problems appeared on servers where the patch has been installed through an elevated Command Prompt.

Anyone installed KB4536987 yet? from exchangeserver

Start the patch from an elevated Command Prompt.

Update
After installing KB4536987 on the last of our servers one of the mailbox database copies switched to failed and suspended and could not be resumed. A reseed failed with:

Error: The Microsoft Exchange Replication service encountered an unexpected error in log replay for database ‘DBName\ServerName’. Error MapiExceptionDatabaseError: LogReplayRequest rpc failed.

The cause was once again the Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller Service. We installed KB4536987 through an elevated command prompt. The service was in a running state after the patch has been installed. So we restarted the service. After that, we were able to reseed the copy.

Good Luck!

A general description how to install a Cumulative Update on Exchange 2016 can be found here:

Install CU Exchange 2016

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CU12 Exchange 2016 and .NET 4.7.2

WebBanshee — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 07:55:59 +0000

We are nearly done with installing CU12 Exchange 2016 on our Exchange servers. We had CU8 in place before. This CU requires the C++ redistributable 2013 package to be installed.

One of the main issues CU12 Exchange 2016 addresses:

Exchange Web Services Push Notifications can be used to gain unauthorized access

Another fix which can be very useful regarding disk space addresses this one :

Disable the irrelevant Query logs that are created in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016

A whole list of fixes can be found here.

Further CU12 acts as a bridge for us to update our .NET version from 4.7.1 to 4.7.2 which is required to upgrade to Exchange 2019 later on.

Check the supportability matrix from Microsoft below and verify your .Net version. When you have CU7 or lower and .NET 4.6.2 in place you will need an additional round to upgrade to .NET 4.7.1 with CU8 or higher.

Notes:
In our test environment running CU11, we installed .NET 4.7.2 first and wanted to install CU12 Exchange 2016 afterward. This broke the server! Sometimes it happened that open processes were blocking the install. Options:

Restart the server

Stop all matching monad.exe ( find with PID ) processes.

Stop the IMAP and POP service while in maintenance mode.

Order of install: Win Patches, CU12 Exchange 2016, .NET 4.7.2

Update
CU12 Exchange 2016 can break additional configurations you have defined in the EWS web.config file. For example we have added the key add key=”UseDisabledAccount” value=”1″ to the OWA and to the EWS web.config.

This key helps with the correct handling of low-level calendar permissions as AvailabilityOnly and LimitedDetails on security groups when working with resource forests ( linked mailboxes ).

After CU12 has been installed this key was not present in the EWS web.config anymore. It turned out when a customer reported that users who want to access a resource calendar are not able to open it in Outlook and OWA.

Make a backup of your relevant web.config files and verify the current web.configs after the install.

You can find a description of how to install a CU here: CU Install Exchange 2016

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Content Index State Healthy And Upgrading

WebBanshee — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 20:48:08 +0000

After upgrading to Exchange 2016 CU8 we noticed a Content Index State Healthy And Upgrading status on the mailbox database copies.
We did not really know if this would have an impact on the mailbox database redundancy , I mean if a fail-over is still possible even if the mailbox database copy Content Index State Healthy And Upgrading remains.

Upgrading to Version CU7 or higher comes with a mailbox database schema-update. After the update has been installed you will notice that Healthy And Upgrading is displayed under ContentIndexState.
Seeing this the first time I was not sure if I still can mount databases on upgraded copies where the Content Index State Healthy And Upgrading is displayed.

We opened an informational call by Microsoft and learned that this is caused because the mailbox databases receive a schema-update with CU7 or higher ( when upgrading from a Version CU6 or lower ).
It is still possible though to mount back mailbox databases to these copies. Depending on the size of the mailboxdatabase it can take up to several days until the ContentIndexState switches to healthy.

You can query the progress of the schema-update with these one-liners :

Shows how many mailboxes are left to crawl :

Get-mailboxdatabase -server ServerName | Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | ?{$_.status -eq “Healthy”}| ft name,ContentIndexBacklog,ContentIndexMailboxesToCrawl -AutoSize

Shows possible errors to each mailbox database on the given server :

Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server ServerName | fl Identity, ContentIndexErrorMessage

With these small CMDlets you are at least able to query and follow the status of the schema-update on the affected mailbox databases.

After we have switched back the active copies to the mailbox databases where Content Index State Healthy And Upgrading was displayed there were no complications or performance issues.
Without the new status HealthyAndUpgrading under ContentIndexState nobody would even have noticed the schema-upgrade on the mailbox databases.

I hope this helps and gives confidence to continue as usual with your tasks related to the CU install.

Have a nice day
Enjoy the sun

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CU install Exchange 2016 – Are you prepared ?

WebBanshee — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 09:15:07 +0000

Following you will find a common description how to perform a CU install on Exchange 2016. I did not want to write it for a specific CU since every CU has its own tribulations.

A good advice after a new CU release is to wait some weeks with the CU install until possible difficulties get named and documented. Usually after some weeks have passed I start to gather information on the CU to be installed.

Tasks before CU install Exchange 2016:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

To be safe I recommend backup every web.config file you have ever touched/modified. So you can easily reapply the changes you have made.

These are most likely the web.config files in the following directories:

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\sync
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\sync

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\exchweb\ews

The web.config file in the OWA directory is the only one that seems to take over customizations. I do check it anyway to go for sure:

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa

Disable Check for publisher’s certificate revocation in IE.

Make sure you have enough free space on the install drive.
I noticed from 2010 and 2013 times a recommendation for at least 10GB of free space.

Take a look at the supportability matrix

Check your .NET version and verify it against the CU you want to install in the supportability matrix.
You can find your current installed .NET version value under the key Release here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full

A list value = .NET version and a description can be found here

Check Auth methods on service directories like Powershell, OWA, and ECP and note the output.

Let’s assume you want to perform the CU Install in an environment where all Exchange Servers are members of a DAG and have min. one database copy. As always install it in a test environment first.

Ok, good to go.

Switch the active mailbox databases on the server you want to install the CU

Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase DatabaseName -ActivateOnServer TargetServerName

Set the server where you install the CU in maintenance mode :

Set-ServerComponentState ServerNameToInstallCU -Component hubtransport -State Draining -Requester maintenance
Restart-Service MSExchangeTransport
Restart-Service MSExchangeFrontEndTransport
Redirect-Message -Server ServerNameToInstallCU -Target AnotherExchangeServerWithinTheDAG

Set-MailboxServer ServerNameToInstallCU -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Blocked
Suspend-ClusterNode ServerNameToInstallCU
Set-ServerComponentState ServerNameToInstallCU -Component ServerWideOffline -State Inactive -Requester Maintenance

CU Install Exchange 2016 :

Open an elevated command prompt and navigate to the drive you have mounted the iso. ( or to the folder where you have copied the CU installation files ). Start the install with the commands below. ( When a step is finished trigger the next one ) . PrepareSchema, prepareAD, and prepareDomain just need to be triggered when you upgrade the first Exchange Server in your environment!

Important ! > When you have navigated in an elevated command prompt to the CU Install files make sure to type in the path again before the \setup.exe . For example when your .iso is mounted on drive E: it should look like :

It seems the system refers by default to the setup.exe of the CU you have installed before.
Without giving the explicit path to the current setup.exe it can happen that the first line of the installer’s output will greet you with the name of the CU you have installed before.

Setup.exe /prepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms ( only on the 1st server you upgrade )
Setup.exe /prepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms ( only on the 1st server you upgrade )
Setup.exe /prepareDomain /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms ( only on the 1st server you upgrade )
Setup.exe /mode:upgrade /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

After the CU Install has finished restart the server.

I usually verify under programs and features that the CU install was successful.

Resume the server you have installed the CU from maintenance mode :

Set-ServerComponentState ServerNameCUInstalled -Component ServerWideOffline -State Active -Requester Maintenance
Resume-ClusterNode ServerNameCUInstalled
Set-ServerComponentState ServerNameCUInstalled -Component HubTransport -State Active -Requester Maintenance
Restart-Service MSExchangeTransport
Restart-Service MSExchangeFrontEndTransport
Set-MailboxServer ServerNameCUInstalled -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy Unrestricted

Mount the mailbox database copies back to the server where you just have installed the CU.
This can be done by just waiting for the server to activate/mount the mailbox database copies back automatically. That happens when -DatabaseCopyAutoActivationPolicy has been set to Unrestricted as we have done it in the step before.

Or if you want to keep the control mount the mailbox database copies back manually :

Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase DatabaseName -ActivateOnServer ServerNameCUInstalled

Login via Outlook and OWA to a Mailbox which resides on a mailbox database on this server to test if all works fine.

Things worth to check after a CU install

Check your web.config files mentioned before and reapply your changes from the backups you made before

Take a look at the authentication methods of your service directories and validate them against the output you noted before the CU install.

If you had mailtips disabled before, check them. In our case they got enabled again

The post CU install Exchange 2016 – Are you prepared ? appeared first on Webbanshee.

CU – Webbanshee

Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779

Tasks before installing Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779 and Exchange 2016 CU19 KB5001779:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

Order of install:

Sources:

Exchange 2016 CU20:

Exchange 2019 CU9:

Experiences after installing Exchange 2019 CU9 with KB5001779 and Exchange 2016 CU20 KB5001779:

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

Problems with KB5001779:

Here is how to get rid of KB5001779:

Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19

Tasks before installing Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

Order of install:

Sources:

Exchange 2016 CU19:

Exchange 2019 CU8:

Experiences after Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19 has been installed:

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

Problems with Exchange 2019 CU8 and Exchange 2016 CU19:

CU16 Exchange 2016 – a smooth CU

Tasks before installing CU16 Exchange 2016:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

Order of install:

Experiences after CU16 Exchange 2016 has been installed:

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

Remove Old OWA Versions to free up Disk Space

Is it safe to remove old owa versions?

CU14 Exchange 2016 and KB4536987

Tasks before installing CU14 Exchange 2016:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

Order of install:

Experiences after CU14 Exchange 2016 has been installed:

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

Experiences vulnerability patch KB4536987:

CU12 Exchange 2016 and .NET 4.7.2

Content Index State Healthy And Upgrading

CU install Exchange 2016 – Are you prepared ?

Tasks before CU install Exchange 2016:

Backup your web.config files where you have modified parameters or have added new keys.

Active Sync – [ We have an increased attachment size ] :

ECP – [ We have additional keys in place. ] :

OWA – [ We have additional keys in place ] :

Switch the active mailbox databases on the server you want to install the CU

Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase DatabaseName -ActivateOnServer TargetServerName

Set the server where you install the CU in maintenance mode :

CU Install Exchange 2016 :

Resume the server you have installed the CU from maintenance mode :

Things worth to check after a CU install