When adding Exchange Powershell Sensors, I get the following error message:

The Sensor was able to connect to the Device using Remote-PowerShell but couldn't retrieve access to Remote Exchange Management Shell. Ensure that remote management is enabled on the Exchange Server and the user has sufficient rights. See https://kb.paessler.com/knowledgebase/en/topic/54353 for details. Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'Identity'. Cannot convert value "\FQDN" to type "Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.DatabaseCopyIdParameter". Error: "'\FWDN' is not a valid value for the identity. Parameter name: Identity"

I can connect to ExchDB like at https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/60793-unknown-error-exchange-database-powershell. My user is member of "view-only organization Management" Group.

Rather strange is the backslash in front of the FQDN, but other sensors without powershell are working and uses the defined correct FQDN.

Any thoughts? Thank you in advance.

Did you enter domain, username and password within the windows credential section of the device?

Our message is:

The Sensor was able to connect to the Device using Remote-PowerShell but couldn't retrieve access to Remote Exchange Management Shell. Ensure that remote management is enabled on the Exchange Server and the user has sufficient rights. See https://kb.paessler.com/knowledgebase/en/topic/54353 for details. The term 'Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

What is going on?

Hi there,

Did you actually check if Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus works on the Exchange host?
Is the device address the FQDN of your exchange server?

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Error while trying to add Exchange Database (PowerShell) Sensor:

Could not create the sensor Exchange Database (PowerShell) on device exchange.domain.com (exchange.domain.com).

The Sensor can not connect to the Device using Remote-PowerShell. Ensure that remote management is enabled on the Exchange Server and the user-name and password is correct. See https://kb.paessler.com/knowledgebase/en/topic/54353 for details. Processing data from remote server exchange.domain.com failed with the following error message:
[...]
The user "domain.com/Service/admininistrator" isn't assigned to any management roles. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
Please check the following resources:

Can you say anything about my Error? Need i add my account to Management Group of Exchange? What exactly access rights i need to add?

Thank you!

Hi Vasily,

The configured user needs to be in the administrative management role to be able to see other values than just his own mailbox. You can check the membership via this CMDlet. Please do also read this article from Microsoft for the required rights to remotely access Exchange servers using remote PowerShell.

Kind regards,
Felix Saure, Tech Support Team

Hello guys,

I know it has been quiet silent around this topic in the last years. Today I updated our Exchange Server with KB5001779. Since then we get (2) "Could Not Retrieve Access to Remote Exchange Management Shell" The user of the sensor needs elevated rights on the Exchange system. It is not sufficient to have administrator rights! The easiest way to achieve this is to add the user to the 'View Only Organisation Management' group. For details, see the Microsoft article Connect to Exchange servers using remote PowerShell.

The strange ting is - it worked perfectly before the update. Also I did set the ExecutionPolicy to RemoteSigned once again and added the user to the View Only Organisation Management' group.

It didn't change anything. Maybe some else experienced this problem?

Thanks! Daniel

Hey,

Unfortunately, several customers have reported exactly this behavior after the Exchange update. In software development, it is unfortunately sometimes the case that one manufacturer (in this case Microsoft) changes something and others then have to follow suit.

We have to analyze the problem and I hope that my colleagues from development can offer a hotfix soon. This also means, that unfortunately, I can't offer you a quick solution at the moment and ask for your patience.

Best,
Sven Roggenhofer [Paessler Technical Support]

I am experiencing the same issue as you Daniel. This sensor worked fine for many years until last night's Windows Updates (Tuesday April 13, 2021). I double-checked the rights and the rights are fine.

"The sensor was able to connect to the device using Remote PowerShell but could not retrieve access to Remote Exchange Management Shell. Ensure that remote management is enabled on the Exchange Server and the user has sufficient rights. See https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/54353 for details. The syntax is not supported by this runspace. This can occur if the runspace is in no-language mode."

I suspect that PRTG will have to issue an update to resolve this.

Hi there We experience the same behavior after installing Exchange KB5001779. Lets wait. Cheers, Thomas

Same here, setting PS Policy and add user to 'View Only Organisation Management' group do not help.

I wanted to add my report to the pile. My database and queue sensors have died ever since the update.

the same here...

Some others have the same problem: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/released-april-2021-exchange-server-security-updates/bc-p/2272535

Same problem here after Exchange Security Update on four systems. Problem is on database and Mail Queue sensors.

Add me to the list

Same issue here since latest April 2021 Exchange Cumulative Updates - and based on the exploits against Exchange recently, I patch as early as possible!

Same here, multiple Exchange sites no longer working.

Same here, Exchange 2016 CU 19 + KB5001779

+1

Add me to the list

Running into the same problem. Please keep me also up-to-date! Thank

Hey all,

The problem is already known as mentioned above and the colleagues in development are working on the problem with high priority. As soon as we have a solution for this, we will of course announce it on our release notes.

Best,
Sven Roggenhofer [Paessler Technical Support]

Same here, please update me once this is resolved.

Same here since the KB5001779 is installed on our Exchange 2016 CU19

Same here, please update me once this is resolved.

Same here - Exchange Mail Queue and DB sensors all down since KB5001779 installed (Exchange 2019 CU 9)

Same problem here with Exchange 2013 CU23 and the latest security update. Could it be that you need to run a "import-pssession" now to be able to use the required commandlets? See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/import-pssession?view=powershell-7.1

Same here, please update me once this is resolved.

Same here since the KB5001779 is installed on our Exchange 2016 CU19

Same here after installing the April 2021 update to our Exchange 2013 servers.

Same with Exchange 2013 after Security Update For Exchange Server 2013 CU23 (KB5001779), 4/‎13/‎2021

Same here, please update me once this is resolved.

+1 Exchange 2013 CU23 + KB5001779

same for me after cu23 for exchange 2013

Same here, after Windows patching KB5001779.

+1 - after Exchange 2016 CU20 KB5001779

Same Issue

+1 - also after Exchange 2016 CU20 KB5001779

+1 - also after Exchange 2016 CU19 KB5001779 / multple systems

+1 - several customer Exchange versions (E2016 CU19 / E2013 CU23) affected after installing KB5001779

+1 - after Exchange 2016 CU20 KB5001779

Hey all,

We plan to release a fix for the Exchange issue related to KB5001779 with the upcoming stable PRTG version 21.2.67 - most probably within this week.

Please keep an eye on our release notes.

Best,
Sven Roggenhofer [Paessler Technical Support]

+1 after the update KB5001779

+1

On https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/released-april-2021-exchange-server-security-updates/ba-p/2254617 is written :

Known Issues

After application of the Exchange Server April security update CMDlets executed against the Exchange Management Console using an invoked runspace might fail with the following error message: The syntax is not supported by this runspace. This can occur if the runspace is in no-language mode. This behavior is expected; please change any code using .AddScript() to use .AddCommand() for continued compatibility.

Today's update solved the issue for me. However we have a new problem now. The CPU load on the PRTG server is > 70% now.

Hello Jan,

Thank you for your feedback.

Regarding the issue with the CPU load, I invite you to open a support ticket by sending a support bundle, under Setup > Contact Support. So, we can have a look at the server logs.

Regards.

The issue with Powershell sensors after KB5001779 has been fixed by todays update. I can also confirm though, that unexpectedly high CPU utilization has been a side effect.

After the PRTG Core Update to 21.2.67.1562 the Exchange Scripts running again. We have PRTG on an physical machine, can't see higher cpu usage.

Thanks for sharing this.

We will have a closer look into cases where the CPU usage increased after the update. Stay tuned.

Best,
Sven Roggenhofer [Paessler Technical Support]

Yes, the update did fix it. We also don't experience the high CPU issue on our physical machine.

Important information about the issues caused by KB5001779:

PRTG 21.2.67 includes a fix for the issues caused by KB5001779. We recommend that you install PRTG 21.2.67 to resolve the issues with Exchange (PowerShell) sensors. For more information, see Release notes for Version 21.2.67.1562.

Exchange Powershell probleme resolved. High CPU problem here as well after update to 21.2.67.1562. With version 21.1.66.1664 CPU load 13% With version 21.2.67.1562 CPU load 51%

Is it possible that the update "only" triggered a Cache Re-Calculation that now has to be processed? You can see this in a small pop-up in the lower right corner of the web GUI (if it's running).

If this is the case, the CPU load should go down again as soon as the re-calculation is done.

Best,
Sven Roggenhofer [Paessler Technical Support]

4 hours later the CPU load is going back to normal. Never waited so long in the past.

Thank you for your feedback.

The cache re-calculation can take more or less time depending on many factors including the server resources as well as the number of sensors (taking into account the polling interval and historical data retention periods).

I'm glad to hear that everything works normally again.

Regards.

Hello ... the new "fix" for Exchange is only available in PRTG 21.2.67 which is the "preview" PRTG channel. And from PRTG it's not recommended to use this channel in "live environments".

--- *snip* --- We strongly recommend that you not use those versions in live environments you depend on. --- *snip* ---

Could you please tell me when this fix will be implemented in the "stable" one?

Thanks and regards

Hi,

The version 21.2.67 has been released in the Stable channel on April 21st, as indicated in our release notes: https://www.paessler.com/prtg/history/stable.

Therefore, I invite you to check for new update with the button Check for latest update and download, under Setup > Auto-Update.

You also have the possibility to download the latest installer via this URL: https://downloads.paessler.com/prtg/prtg.zip

Regards.

Hello, How to fix this issue without upgrade PRTG version?

Hey MAA,

We are currently still working on a hotfix for customers without active maintenance. Unfortunately we do not have an ETA for this yet.

Best,
Sven Roggenhofer [Paessler Technical Support]

The link to download ExchangeSensorPS is broken: http://download3.paessler.com/support/ExchangeSensorPS_21.x.67.zip

Please let me know if there is another link

We're sorry for the inconvenience, we replaced the broken link in the article above.

Cheers,
Sven

>>We are currently still working on a hotfix for customers without active maintenance. Unfortunately we do not have an ETA for this yet.

you still cannot give a timeframe for fixing the problem?

Hello there,

I'm afraid we won't fix this for older versions.

Kind regards

Felix Wiesneth - Team Tech Support

Iam having the same Problem. Iam using the newest version oft PRTG. I has stoppt working since some Days. Is there a Windows or Exchange Update (wich comes from Windows Updates) that is making these problems??!

Hi there,

we are not aware of a new issue with the latest Updates from Windows and/or Exchange yet. If you can verify that the issue is related to an update, please let us know and contact us via [email protected] with more insights. Thank you in advance.

Kind regards

Felix Wiesneth - Team Technical Support