ISSUE: How to troubleshoot MS Exchange mail level backup issue?
1. Product Version:
OBM: All
OS: Windows
2. Problem Description:
How to troubleshoot MS Exchange mail level backup issue (e.g. error during backup set creation or error
during backup)?
3. Cause:
Outlined below are some guidelines on how to troubleshoot MS Exchange mail level backup issue:
MS Exchange 2003 Server
For issue when creating a MS Exchange mail level backup set (e.g. MAPI error while creating backup set):
1. Check on the security setting of the corresponding administrative group.

Click Start, point to All Programs, Microsoft Exchange and then click Server Manager

Browse to the Mailbox Store within the corresponding Administrative Group

Right click on Mailbox Store (MAIL) and select the Security tab
Figure 1.0 - Exchange System Manager

Check if corresponding operating system user have sufficient permission (e.g. full control)
2. Check if the system account used to create the mail level backup set is an Enterprise Administrator
(MS Exchange 2003) and a Domain Administrator:

Click Start, point to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory
Users and Computers

Browse to the OU containing the corresponding user

Right click on the user, and select Properties

Select the Member Of tab to check on the membership setting
Figure 2.0 - Active Directory Users and Computers
3. Ensure that the "MS Exchange Information Store" service is restarted after a permission change:
Figure 3.0 - Windows Services
Note:
After a permission change, you may have to log off and log back on. Microsoft also recommends
that you stop and restart all Exchange services. If you have multiple domain controllers in the forest,
you may also have to wait for directory replication to complete.
4. Check if the system account is mailbox-enabled, and its email address is not hidden from the Global
Address List:

Click Start, point to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory
Users and Computers

Browse to the OU containing the corresponding user

Right click on the user, and select Properties

Select the Exchange Advanced tab to check on the advanced setting
Figure 4.0 - Active Directory Users and Computers
Note:
A mailbox-enabled user is a Windows Active Directory user that has one or more Exchange Server
mailboxes associated with it (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275636/en-us).
5. Check if all MS Exchange related services have been started. Pay close attention to the "MS
Exchange Information Store" and "MS Exchange System Attendant" services
Figure 5.0 - Windows Services
6. Check if the MAPI profile is correctly configured:

Download the MFCMAPI 32-bit executable (MfcMapi.exe)

Open the MAPI editor

Select Profile, and then Show Profiles:
Figure 6.0 - MAPI Editor

Right click on the Online Backup Manager profile

Select Open Profile:
Figure 7.0 - MAPI Editor

Right click on the Microsoft Exchange Server entry and then select Configure Service:
Figure 8.0 - MAPI Editor

Edit the hosts file, enter the corresponding Exchange server IP address and hostname
within the hosts file found in the following directory:
C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (Updated)
Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
...
127.0.0.1
localhost
192.168.5.101
Exchange2K3


Enter the local IP address of the MS Exchange server in the Microsoft Exchange server
text box, and username in the Mailbox text box, press Check Name for validation, and
Apply afterward:
Figure 9.0 - MAPI Editor

Restart the OBM client software afterward
7. Check if there is any Java crash error by running OBM in debug mode:

For cases where OBM crashes on dll file that relates to Windows, further research must
be performed on the corresponding dll file

For cases where OBM crashes while opening a particular mailbox persistently, further
research must be performed on the mail items stored under the particluar mailbox.
8. Perform a version comparison on the dll files on the client against our own machine. If possible, we
may give our file to the client for testing purposes
Note:
For full instruction on how to setup a MS Exchange mail level backup set, please refer to the OBM User’s
Guide for details.
MS Exchange 2007 / 2010 Server
Cannot create MS Exchange mail level backup set (e.g. MAPI error while creating backup set):
9. Check if the system account running OBM has been granted full mailbox access. If not, please do
so by following the instructions as follows:

Click Start, point to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or 2010, and then click Exchange
Management Shell

Enter the following command:
For MS Exchange 2007 Example:
Get-MailboxServer | Add-ADPermission -User "%windows_account%" -AccessRights
GenericAll -ExtendedRights ms-exch-store-admin,receive-as,send-as -InheritanceType All
For MS Exchange 2010 Example:
Get-Mailbox | Add-MailboxPermission -User "%windows_user%" -AccessRights FullAccess
Note:
Where %windows_account% is the actual username of the system account that runs OBM.
(e.g. administrator):

Restart the "MS Exchange Information Store" service afterward
10. Check if the system account used to create the mail level backup set is an Exchange Organization
Administrator and a Domain Administrator:

Click Start, point to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory
Users and Computers

Browse to the OU containing the corresponding user

Right click on the user, and select Properties

Select the Member Of tab to check on the membership setting
Figure 10.0 - Active Directory Users and Computers
11. Check if the system account is mailbox-enabled, and its email address is not hidden from the Global
Address List:

Click Start, point to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or 2010, and then click Exchange
Management Console

Expand Recipient Configuration, and then Mailbox

Right click on the user, and select Properties

Select the General tab to check on the setting
Figure 11.0 - Exchange Management Console
Note:
A mailbox-enabled user is a Windows Active Directory user that has one or more Exchange Server
mailboxes associated with it (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275636/en-us).
12. Ensure that the "MS Exchange Information Store" service is restarted after a permission change:
Figure 12.0 - Windows Services
Note:
After a permission change, you may have to log off and log back on. Microsoft also recommends
that you stop and restart all Exchange services. If you have multiple domain controllers in the forest,
you may also have to wait for directory replication to complete.
13. Check if the Public Folder Database is available and mounted in the Exchange Management
Console:

Click Start, point to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or 2010, and then click Exchange
Management Console
Figure 12.0 - Exchange Management Console
If the Public Folder Database does not exist, please create an empty Public Folder
Database.
Notes:
Instead of modifying the MAPI profile properties suggested in the following article, we
recommend creating an empty Public Folder Store. It will then allow OBM to connect to the
MS Exchange 2007 server via MAPI:
http://blogs.msdn.com/stephen_griffin/archive/2007/03/19/mapi-and-exchange-2007.aspx
14. Check on the version of 'Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects
1.2.1' in use

Check on the installation date of the MapiCdo
Figure 13.0 - Programs and Features

Check on the version of all dll files found in - C:\Program Files (x86)\ExchangeMapi
Figure 14.0 - Windows Explorer
The version of all dll files must be the same.
If an older version is in use, please re-installing the newest version of MapiCdo (e.g.
Windows 2008 Server is only supported in the later release of the MapiCdo). MapiCdo can
be downloaded at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e17e7f31-079a-43a9-bff20a110307611e
15. Check if all MS Exchange related services have been started. Pay close attention to the "MS
Exchange Information Store" and "MS Exchange System Attendant" services
Figure 15.0 - Windows Services
16. Check if the MAPI profile is correctly configured:

Download the MFCMAPI 32-bit executable (MfcMapi.exe)

Open the MAPI editor

Select Profile, and then Show Profiles:
Figure 16.0 - MAPI Editor

Right click on the Online Backup Manager profile

Select Open Profile:
Figure 17.0 - MAPI Editor

Right click on the Microsoft Exchange Server entry and then select Configure Service:
Figure 18.0 - MAPI Editor

Edit the hosts file, enter the corresponding Exchange server IP address and hostname
within the hosts file found in the following directory:
C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (Updated)
Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
...
127.0.0.1
localhost
192.168.5.101
Exchange2K3


Enter the local IP address of the MS Exchange server in the Microsoft Exchange server
text box, and username in the Mailbox text box, press Check Name for validation, and
Apply afterward:
Figure 9.0 - MAPI Editor

Restart the OBM client software afterward
17. Check if there is an Outlook or BlackBerry MAPI profile existing on the affected server (e.g. using
the MAPI editor as shown above)
In some cases, the Outlook or BlackBerry MAPI profile may have an effect on the backup
operation if they are generated before the OBM MAPI profile.
For these cases, remove the Outlook or BlackBerry MAPI profiles temporarily, and re-create the
OBM MAPI profile by logging to the OBM backup client application, and re-creating a new mail level
backup set.
18. Verify if there is any Java crash error by running OBM in debug mode:

For cases where OBM crashes on dll file that relates to Windows, further research must
be performed on the corresponding dll file

For cases where OBM crashes while opening a particular mailbox persistently, further
research must be performed on the mail items stored under the particluar mailbox.
19. Perform a version comparison on the dll files on the client against our own machine. If possible, we
may give our file to the client for testing purposes
Note:
For full instruction on how to setup a MS Exchange mail level backup set, please refer to the OBM User’s
Guide for details.
Common Issues
The following are some common issues of MS Exchange mail level backup:
o
Invalid XML Ensure that the OBS server application is in the latest stable version. For OBS in older version,
please upgrade to the latest release.
o
For persistent problem on the latest version of OBS, kindly refer to the following instructions for
further troubleshooting:
1. Generate the backup set file list to an output file:




Open the batch file "ListBackupSetFile.bat" located in ${Install-Home}\bin using a
text editor
Modify the value of "BACKUP_SET" to the name of the problematic backup set
Execute the batch file
When the process is completed, a "dump.xml" file would be created in the ${InstallHome}\bin directory
2. In the client logs, identify where the "LastXMLDir=" error was flagged, for example:
Example:
MAIL-SRV\Mailbox
Store\%2fO%3dWMI%2fOU%3dFIRST+ADMINISTRATIVE+GROUP%2fCN%3dRECIPIEN
TS%2fCN%3dKARENL\Inbox\000-All mail thru 03-03-2008
3. In the client logs, identify where the "LastXMLFile=" error was flagged, for example:
Example:
AAAAAHrtIJ_8lGdOrAR5WaQQooQHAKasVeVMMxBOgXN9tPEVirsAAAFsvf8AAKasVeV
MMxBOgXN9tPEVirsAAAFtGYsAAA==.msg
4. Open the dump.xml file generated from Step 1, search for the long sting .msg file name
found from Step 3. Using the example above:
Example:
"N="AAAAAHrtIJ_8lGdOrAR5WaQQooQHAKasVeVMMxBOgXN9tPEVirsAAAFsvf8AAKas
VeVMMxBOgXN9tPEVirsAAAFtGYsAAA==.msg""
5. Identify the email subject of the problematic email by identifying the 'MSUB=' attribute that
follows '.msg', for example:
Example:
MSUB="RE: Email/Subject using TaM"
6. In some cases, there may be multiple entries of the same .msg file within the dump.xml,
identify all related "MSUB=" attributes for these caes
7. Identify the problematic email on the OBS management console:




Select [Manager user] > [Username of the affected user] > [File Explorer]
Select the problematic mail level backup, and the 'Show all files' option
Browse to the directory found from Step 2
Search for all the email subjects found from Step 5
8. With the email identify from Step 7, the next email listed in the file explorer will usually
contain an invalid characters
9. Remove all problematic email(s) with invalid characters on the OBS management console
o
The system cannot find the file specified For the system cannot find the file specified issue:
Backup Logs
No. Type
1
Info
*
Info
*
...
*
Error
Timestamp
YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm
YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm
...
YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm
Backup Logs
Start [ Windows platforms (Support), OBM 5.2.4.0 ]
Start running pre-commands
...
[Error][New Mail] Mail="\Entry-ID\nessage.msg" Error="Temporary-Directory\Bac
(The system cannot find the file specified)"
o
0. Check if there is any anti-virus application installed on the affected server
If there is, please disable the anti-virus application to resolve the issue.
In some cases where an email message may contain virus, as the email is spooled to the
temporary location for backup. The anti-virus application will deleted the virus email
before its upload, causing the error of file not found to be prompted.
1. This is also a known issue with OBM version Pre-5.2.5.0, when performing a MS Exchange
mail level backup for mails residing at the ROOT directory of the Exchange tree.
In other words, backing up a mail that is not located in any of the user folders, the error
would be flagged. To resolve the issue, please upgrade the OBM software to the latest
patch release.
Resolution:
N/A
Also See:
N/A
Other Info:
N/A