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In this article we will be discussing about installing and configuring PST capture agent in Exchange 2013 environment.

Since everyone will be familiar with the enhanced features which are available from the version 2.0 I’m not going to list down the improvements. For those who would need to know the enhancements you can refer this TechNet blog http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/02/22/time-to-go-pst-hunting-with-the-new-pst-capture-2-0.aspx

Installation in Exchange 2013 is the same procedure as we do it  for Exchange 2010. But only PST Capture version 2.0 supports Exchange 2013 and not the earlier version.

Now let’s go ahead with the prerequisites of installing this tool.

1. Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
2. A Central Service account for managing the PST captures central service.
3. Outlook 2010 to be installed on a PC where we have PST capture console and we are performing the export and import.

Download the setup from the below location.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36789

We could see there will be 2 files which will be available in the setup.

PSTCapture.msi – This is the main installation file which should be installed on a PC where we require the PST capture console. All the PST capture in the organization and import happens through central service running in this PC.

PSTCaptureAgent.msi – It should be installed on the machines (client pc’s) where we need to scan for the PST files. This particular service running after the installation on the client pc’s will be sending the requested PST files to the PST capture console when requested for an import.

Note: If we do not install this agent on the client machines then we won’t be able to detect the PST files on those particular machines.

Installation is pretty simple and just navigate through the setup one by one.

Now specify the host name of the Central service computer you wish to select and click next. Also you can see the default port assigned for this function which can also be altered within the specified values.

Once the installation is completed on the PC you can see the PST capture icon as below in that PC.

When you open the wizard it has the following options.

The PST search happens in 4 steps.

1^st step

Select the computers that we need to perform the PST search.

Note: If we do not install the PST capture agent on the client machines then we won’t be able to detect the PST files on those particular machines.

2^nd Step

We have locations to search and locations to ignore as well as shown below.

3^rd step

We have an option to run the schedule manually as well as to run on a scheduled date.

4^th step

Finally we get the summary. Just click on finish.

Finally we get the below screen while PST search is running.

Once the search is completed it displays the below results with the list of PST files scanned.

Now we need to select the scanned PST files and then create a new Import list.

Cloud Import list – For Importing PST files to an online account.

OnPrem Import List – For Importing PST files to an on premise Exchange account.

Now select the destination mailbox to which it needs to be imported.

You can see the import status in percent and once the import is complete you would be able to see the emails in the imported mailbox.

Note: Outlook 2010 64 bit version is required on the host computer where we are performing this action through PST capture console. If Outlook is not installed then Import will be failure.

This tool is really useful in effectively managing the end users PST files during migration as well as in transition to BPOS/O365 from an on premise  setup.

I just found  this amazing  exchange  database recovery software developed by SysTools and  I would like to share the functionality of this tool.

SysTools is a company  delivers innovative software applications to enhance the lives of millions of IT Admins and computer users around the globe.

About Exchange recovery software (SysTools)

By using this software the email contents of single user ,multiple users can be extracted from a corrupted  exchange database (edb,stm) file.

The emails can be extracted  in the form of PST’s (even split pst’s), message format, eml format and also emails from damaged edb files can be directly imported into an active Exchange mailbox.

Even though if we maintain a proper exchange  backup in a healthy environment there is a lean possibility in scenarios where the Exchange admin would be  totally running out of options if the backup is not healthy,and the edb files are no longer recoverable.This software can be used in those kind of scenarios.

Also this tool can also be used in   recovering the emails from a (older  edb file/older backup ) in scenarios where their  exchange environment is  no longer existing or they have transitioned to new version of exchange.

Below is the installation and functionality of this tool

This tool can be run on environments which has Exchange 2003,2007,2010 & 2013.

Prerequisites

We just need to have .net 2.0 installed on the member server where we are going to install this tool. However even though if we do not install .net 2.0 manually  this tool automatically detects ,downloads and installs during the installation.

IMP:  We need to have Outlook 2007/2010 installed on the PC  where we are installing this tool.

And of course we need to have the  edb files from which we need to extract the PST

Below is the installation procedure

1) Download the setup from the below link.

http://www.systoolsgroup.com/exchange-recovery.html

2) Open the setup and click install

3) Installation is pretty simple and just navigate through the setup  one by one.

4) There is an option to create desktop icon and quick launch as well.

Once the installation is completed launch systools Exchange Recovery software.You might get  the below error if there is any of the following prerequisites missing.As I mentioned earlier  we need to have an Outlook profile configured on the PC where we are installing this tool.

Also we need to have outlook component which needs to be registered. When you click on details you have an option to register the outlook component and you will get the below message once done.

Now let’s explore the functionality of this tool.

Launch Systools.

It opens a window and asks for the associated edb file which needs to be opened.

Open the EDB file from associated location.

Once the file is selected  we get the below screen if the scan of edb is successful.

Now we get below option after we click on ok.

It displays all the mailboxes with sub-folders,calendars,contacts which are present in the edb file.

Also we have an option to view all the emails on the right hand  preview side.

You can click on the export option and it displays the below limitation for demo version.

Click on ok and then it  displays the below screen with the following options.

Option 1 :  Exports the emails into PST. There is an option for split pst’s as well.

Option 2 :  Exports emails in the MSG format. We can export  individual emails as well.

Option 3 : Exports emails in the EML format.

Option 4 : Directly exports email to an active Exchange mailbox.

Note : The user account running systools should be having full access to the mailbox where we are going to export the emails if we are choosing option 4.

Choose the required method of export and once the export is completed we get the below screen.

As a final result we also get a report generated.

When we open the report we get the list of mailboxes exported nothing much information.

Though this report gives info about the list of mailboxes exported it could be better if there is few more additional information like number of mailbox items imported successfully and number of failed items as well.

This tool is available in 2 versions as demo as well as full version. The demo version is restricted to 25 items per folder in a mailbox. The full version does  not have any restrictions in exporting the emails as well as in the size of edb files.

Overall this tool will be  really useful  for scenarios where we do not have an option to  recover an edb file due to required log files missing, in-case of backup failure  and finally in recovering emails from a database for a environment which is no longer existing.

Managing the Exchange Servers in  storage capacity is little bit difficult for administrators when the server gets older and older and  when new users keeps adding in the list.

Even if there is any  daily monitoring report for mail flow, databases, disk space monitoring and everything still it’s difficult for administrators to monitor the end users having lot of old emails still in their inbox,sent items,subfolders which occupies lot of space.

It could be better if there is any kind of statistics report that can pull out the number mailbox items, oldest messages for all user so that we can ask the users to move old items to their PST archives.

There are lot of scripts which are available in the internet which  can be run on the mailbox server,DB’s to pull out these information.

I just found this excellent Tool developed  by author  Srinath Sadda and its available in the TechNet gallery for download.

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Exchange-Server-Mailbox-7dd53529

The interesting part about this tool is that it doesn’t need power shell or EMS.Its a GUI based tool which can be run manually whenever required.

Note: This  tool can be run for a single mailbox, particular database as well as for  all mailboxes in a server.

 I just tested in my lab and its working fine and below are the results.

Downloaded the tool from the TechNet gallery (source file link above ) and installed.

Once the installation is completed open the tool and you will get the below screen.

Now we need to specify the DC,Exchange server and DB’s .If we select retrieve it fetches  the above information automatically. Select the oldest and newest items accordingly and click on perform mailbox search.

Finally once the report is completed you can click on the report viewer.

Below is the final report status.

We have option to send this report through  email as well.

Apart from this we have multiple options like searching for mailbox globally that are hidden from GAL, Number of Disabled mailboxes ,Mailbox Type few more options.

This tool is very useful in terms of monitoring the Mailbox statistics for individual users as well as all users.