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Getting Started with Exchange On-Demand Assessment

The Exchange Server On-Demand assessment diagnoses potential issues related to configuration, performance, and operations related to your Exchange organization. The service supports Exchange organizations running Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, or Exchange Server 2019.

The recommendations cover areas such as change control, monitoring, disaster recovery, service level agreements, configuration items, and the proper function of the major components of the Exchange environment.

This assessment is designed to provide you with specific actionable guidance grouped in Focus Areas to mitigate risks to your Exchange Servers and your organization.

The Exchange Server assessment focuses on several key pillars, including:

  • Exchange Server Configuration
  • Exchange High Availability
  • Exchange Performance
  • Exchange Databases
  • Exchange Transport Configuration
  • Exchange Client Access Configuration
  • Exchange Directory Service Access
  • Exchange Security
  • Anti-Phishing and Anti-Malware
  • Operational Excellence

Running the Exchange Server Assessment

Prerequisites

To take full advantage of the On-Demand Assessments available through Services Hub, you must:

  1. Have an active Azure Subscription linked to Services Hub and the Exchange Server Assessment added. For more information, see Getting Started with On-Demand Assessments or watch the how to link video.

  2. A domain account with the following rights:

    • Exchange View Only Administrator permissions to the Exchange organization
    • Administrative access to every Exchange Server in the organization
    • Public Folder Administrator permissions to the Exchange organization

    Note

    Not required where the domain account is a Domain Administrator or an Exchange Full Administrator.

  3. Review the Pre-Requisites document for the Exchange Server assessment. This document explains the detailed technical documentation of the Exchange Server Assessment and the server preparation needed to run the assessment. It also documents the different types of data collected by the assessment.

Note

You'll only be able to successfully set up the assessment once you've linked your Azure Subscription to Services Hub and added the Exchange Server Assessment from Health and then Assessments in Services Hub.

Set up the Exchange Server Assessment

Note

You'll only be able to successfully set up the assessment once you've linked your Azure Subscription to Services Hub and added the Exchange Server Assessment from Health and then Assessments in Services Hub.

  1. On the data collection machine, create the following folder: C:\LogAnalytics\ExchangeServer (or any other folder you want besides C:\ODA, which is reserved by the system).

  2. Open regular PowerShell (not ISE) in Administrator mode and run the following cmdlet:

       Add-ExchangeAssessmentTask – WorkingDirectory <Directory> #e.g. C:\LogAnalytics\ExchangeServer

    Note

    <Directory> is the path to an existing directory used to store the files created while collecting and analyzing the data from the environment. <Workspace Id> – provide ID for the Log Analytics workspace that will be used to store the uploaded data

  3. Data collection is triggered by the scheduled task named ExchangeAssessment within an hour of running the previous script and then every seven days thereafter. The task can be modified to run on a different date or time or even be forced to run immediately from the Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Operations Management Suite -> AOI*** -> Assessments -> ExchangeAssessment.

  4. During collection and analysis, data is temporarily stored under the Working Directory folder that was configured during setup.

  5. After a few hours, your assessment results will be available on your Log Analytics and Services Hub Dashboard. Go to see the results by going into Services Hub, Health, Assessments, and then selecting "View all recommendations" against the active assessment.

  6. If you wish to get a Microsoft Accredited Engineer to go over the issues about your Exchange Organization with you, contact your Microsoft Representative and ask them about the Remote or Onsite CSA Led Delivery.

Agreement Remote Engineer Onsite Engineer
Premier Exchange Remote Datasheet Exchange Onsite Datasheet
Unified Exchange Remote Datasheet Exchange Onsite Datasheet