Error when a backup happens Exchange DAG Sensor 'Content Index State'

Hello there,

For "Content Index State" the sensor uses a lookup called "prtg.standardlookups.exchangedag.contentindexstate.ovl" which expects one of the following values and acts accordingly to them:

<Lookups> <singleInt state="Ok" value="0"> Healthy </singleInt> <singleInt state="Warning" value="1"> Crawling </singleInt> <singleInt state="Error" value="2"> Error </singleInt> </Lookups>

It would be possible to replace the lookup with an adjusted one that does not turn the sensor into error at all when index state is being reported as "error", but I'm not sure that's really what you want.

The easiest approach would be trying a higher scanning interval, hoping the sensor does not scan then while the backup is being performed.

Another approach would be creating a schedule for the sensor that pauses it when the backup is being performed. though this makes only sense when the backup is performed around the same time in order to define the schedule accordingly.

Kind regards,

Erhard

Scheduling would work - but your scheduling is not that granular. My backups happen every hour on the hour and are done within 5 minutes. But your scheduling turns off for the full hour. I will increase the scanning interval to 4 minutes and see if this fixes the issue.

You can configure schedules that granular by enabling Use list of period definitions in the schedule's settings. You need to be aware though that when doing so, the schedule is not following your PRTG user's timezone setting but the PRTG sever's local system time then.

Hi,

we are experiencing the same issue with Exchange 2016.

After some troubleshooting we have seen that MSExchangeFastSearch Stops and Starts indexing about once every hour and I feel that it might be that issue that you are seeing and not Database freeze.

Could you confirm if you see Event ID 1008 (The indexing has stopped successfully for mailbox database X) followed by 1007 (The indexing has started successfully for mailbox database X). If you look in c:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Logging\Search\ and Search_DATE-1.log you can see the status go to Failed and then back to Healthy. It takes about 30s for us (barely any active mailboxes as we have not started migrating) and if PRTG monitors during that period we get alarms.

I have not looked at older logs so I am not sure if it started with CU10 or was present before. Unfortunately I have no 2013 or 2016 installation to compare with.

I have an open case with Microsoft at the moment to see if we can get some clarity.

Best regards, Mikael Norman

Hi Mikael,

That is an interesting find, please post an update here in case you find out anything else or get more details from MS about it, we would appreciate it.

Kind regards,

Erhard

Hi Erhard,

the technician is more focused on the Content Index and the health but as it is healthy as soon as the Indexing has started once again there really is no problem with the Index.

I do not know exactly where to log a case regarding getting an explanation of the behavior of Exchange in this case and the impact it has on our monitoring. Any one else have a good contact with Microsoft? I can provide logs and more if needed.

Best regards, Mikael

Hi Mikael,

Apologies for the late reply. I was waiting for feedback from the developers. They also have no other recommendation besides using schedules to pause the sensor during that period. In the end, when the target reports this status back, the sensor will interpret it as such as reported by the device, so there's not much we can do on our end, I'm afraid.

Kind regards,

Erhard

Hello, we got the same error very often on one of our 4 replicated Exchange servers.

Date: 19.03.2019 08:14:02

Device: XXXMEX01 Sensor: Exchange Database DAG: XXX_DB034 (Exchange Database DAG (PowerShell))

Some messages come at the same time when our backup is running, but some not. And it´s just the one server, no message by the other 3.

I changed the Scanning Interval for this server up to 5 minutes and set sensor to warning for 2 Intervals.

Is there really nothing I can do?

Hello Ysuran,

Currently there's nothing else we could recommend, I'm afraid.

Kind regards,

Erhard