How to troubleshoot MS Exchange mail level backup issue?

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)
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
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.
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).
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

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)

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 AhsayOBM client software afterward

Check if there is any Java crash error by running AhsayOBM in debug mode:
- For cases where AhsayOBM crashes on dll file that relates to Windows, further research must be performed on the corresponding dll file
- For cases where AhsayOBM crashes while opening a particular mailbox persistently, further research must be performed on the mail items stored under the particluar mailbox.
Note:
For detailed instructions on how to run AhsayOBM in debug mode, please refer to Article #2687
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

MS Exchange 2007 / 2010 Server
Cannot create MS Exchange mail level backup set (e.g. MAPI error while creating backup set):

Check if the system account running AhsayOBM 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 AhsayOBM. (e.g. administrator):
- Restart the “MS Exchange Information Store” service afterward
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
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).
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.
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 AhsayOBM 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
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-bff2-0a110307611e
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