Periodic downtime for mission-critical messaging and collaboration applications
has a huge impact on business the second it happens. Everything from customer proposals
and critical reports to the ability of the user population to execute their basic
job functions is affected. The cost of this type of downtime is immense, and it
immediately pushes valuable IT assets into a tactical stance. MCC's Exchange Health
Check engagement collects data and statistics on the most important and critical
aspects of the messaging environment: Operations, Performance, Infrastructure, Security
and Routing. The goal of this health check is to proactively diagnose and analyze
the data collected and potentially avoid any problems from surfacing in the future.
The tools used are passive and only collect information about Exchange and Active
Directory. They are read-only and do not make any changes to any servers.
The Exchange Health Check is designed for senior and top-level IT staff responsible
for the daily support and maintenance of the Exchange environment. MCC will provide
operations, configuration and architectural recommendations aimed at improving the
operational efficiency of your Exchange environment including:
- Review of existing configuration to identify issues prior to affecting production
- Compare environment and deployment to Microsoft Best Practices
- Identify performance issues and eliminate bottlenecks
- Understand issues prior to large scale migration or upgrade
Specific areas covered include:
- Server Security
We assess the security of your Exchange server(s) for service packs, virus scanning,
access control, storage limits and services and make recommendations on vulnerabilities
of web-based email, visibility of a user’s mailbox and group mail repositories.
- Network Services Design
We examine core network services as related to Exchange, such as Active Directory
and DNS, for optimum configuration and make recommended best practices.
- Hardware Design/Performance
We evaluate your current hardware for CPU statistics, memory, cache and disk performance,
mail throughput and delivery times, plans to upgrade or change of platform and standards.
- Database Health
We assess all databases for consistency and corruption and make recommendations
on disk maintenance and automated solutions.
- Backup/Recovery Status
We examine your current server backup status and make recommendations for backup
and restore strategies and processes, methods, automated recovery, media security
and other best practices.
- Messaging Optimization
We assess the design and performance of your messaging system, and make recommendations
for routing groups and connectors.
- External/Remote Access Design
We examine the design of your implementation for external and remote access functionality,
accessibility and security.
- Storage Management & Retrieval
Assessment on how current email capacity will handle increased email volumes.
- Systems Management
Architecture and email topology – does the email system meet the demands of the
business?
MCC’s Exchange Health Check reveals causes, not just symptoms, enabling you to take
a proactive approach to reducing problems. This includes helping to optimize productivity
and uncovering potential efficiency issues before they affect users and drive up
support costs. Addressing any hidden vulnerabilities in your Exchange infrastructure
and operational processes can result in improved uptime and lower support costs.
Contact our Exchange Server experts to schedule your Exchange Health Check.
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