Troubleshooting Tip: How to enable Exchange 2007 Provider debug trace?

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What Exchange 2007 cmdlets are being executed when I submit a mailbox creation request or a create public folder request or create contact request to the MPS engine? Those who has been working with HMC before know that most of the time, there will be a series of cmdlets being called. So, the next question would be, what arguments are being submitted together with the cmdlet to Exchange servers?

I get asked about this all the time. So, here is how you can enable the Exchange 2007 Provider debug trace so that you can review the event log and find out what cmdlets are being executed and what are the arguments being submitted to the server.

Follow the following steps to enable the Exchange 2007 Provider trace.

  1. Open up C:\Program Files\Microsoft Hosting\Provisioning\Exchange2007Provider.dll.config
  2. Find a key that resembles the following,
    • <add key="LogLevel" value ="1">
  3. Change it to,
    • <add key="LogLevel" value ="5">
  4. Restart the provisioning engine.

Submit your request again, the trace will be logged in the Application event log. You should see a series of events that look like the following,

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Exchange 2007 Provider
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Date: 12/1/2008
Time: 4:41:17 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MPS01
Description:
Procedure='PSCommand.LogCmdletAndParams'
Cmdlet='Set-Mailbox'
Parameters:
Identity='CN=johnc@AlpineSkiHouse.com,OU=AlpineSkiHouse,OU=ConsolidatedMessenger,OU=Hosting,DC=fabrikam,DC=Com'
DomainController='AD01.fabrikam.com'
Alias ='johnc'
EmailAddresses='SMTP:johnc@alpineskihouse.com'
WindowsEmailAddress='johnc@alpineskihouse.com'
EmailAddressPolicyEnabled='False'
HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled='True'
IssueWarningQuota='9000'
MaxReceiveSize='10000'
MaxSendSize='10000'
OfflineAddressBook='CN=AlpineSkiHouse OAL,CN=Offline Address Lists,CN=Address Lists Container,CN=FABRIKAM,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=fabrikam,DC=com'
ProhibitSendQuota='10000'
ProhibitSendReceiveQuota='20000'
RecipientLimits='unlimited'

Please ensure you reverse the changes after that, if not your event log will be flooeded. 

This is applicable to HMC 4.x only.