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MessageStats 7.8.1 - Report Pack for Outlook Web Access (OWA) User Guide

Specifying an Alternate Location for IIS Log Files

In some situations, you may have custom-configured the location of the IIS log files on your Exchange IIS servers. You can use the IIS Log Folders property tab to indicate any alternate locations for the IIS log files.

To configure additional locations for the IIS log files
1
Expand the Exchange Organizations node, expand the Exchange organization you want, and select Servers.
2
Right-click the OWA Exchange server and select Properties.
3
Select the IIS Log Folders tab.
4
Click Add to add an IIS Log Folder.
5
Select an IIS Server Instance and enter or browse to the path where the log files are located.
6
Click Apply, then click OK.
To edit an IIS log file location
1
Select an existing IIS log file path and click Edit.
2
Enter or browse to the new path where the IIS log files for the server are located.
3
Click OK.

Gathering Information from IIS Log Files

Gathering Information from IIS Log Files

MessageStats gathers information for reports through gathering tasks. Tasks specify which information is gathered and how often the gathering is repeated. To gather the data required for the MessageStats Report Pack for OWA, you must create an IIS Log Files/ OWA gathering task.

To populate the MessageStats Database with historical data, you should schedule a daily recurring IIS Log File gathering task. It is recommended that an IIS Log Files gathering task be run every 24 hours. You can schedule the gathering task to run any time you want. You may want to run the task at off-peak times.

If the Exchange IIS Log Files Are Not Scheduled Daily

Most Exchange servers are set to use the default W3C Extended Log File Format daily schedule for IIS log files. However, if you set the IIS log schedule to be weekly, monthly, or unlimited file size, you may notice that the IIS Log Files gathering task collects more data than the date range you specified.

For example, if you select a gathering date range to be a subset of the date range you set for your IIS log file schedule, the report pack gathers OWA statistics from the entire IIS log file, writes the data to the database, and reports on it.

If the MessageStats Report Pack for Exchange ActiveSync is also Installed

The MessageStats Report Pack for Exchange ActiveSync (previously Windows Mobile) also uses the information that is gathered by the IIS Log Files gathering task. If you have scheduled the Exchange ActiveSync Default Gathering task (which includes the IIS Log Files task) to run regularly, you do not need to schedule the IIS Log Files gathering task to run separately for the OWA report pack.

MessageStats Task Dependencies

The tasks that gather Outlook Web Access data have dependencies on data that is gathered by core MessageStats gatherings. To correctly populate the OWA reports, these core gathering tasks must be run in the following order:

1
Exchange Mailbox
2
Mailbox Account Properties

There is also one OWA report pack gathering tasks that must be run after the core tasks complete successfully:

3
IIS Log Files/ OWA

If you run a core MessageStats Default Gathering task on a regular schedule, the Default Gathering task includes the Exchange Mailbox and Mailbox Account Properties gathering tasks in the correct order.

Creating the IIS Log Files Gathering Task

To populate the OWA reports, you must create and run an IIS Log Files gathering task. You can create an IIS Log File gathering task at the Exchange organization level or at the Exchange server level.

The IIS Log Files gathering collects IIS log files from the Client Access Servers (CAS) for Exchange 2010 and 2013, and from the Exchange Mailbox server for Exchange 2016 and 2019.

If you have only the OWA report pack installed, it is recommended that you create a region that contains these servers and run the task against the region.

If Both OWA and Exchange ActiveSync Report Packs are Installed

The MessageStats Report Pack for Exchange ActiveSync also uses the information that is gathered by the IIS Log Files gathering task. If you have scheduled the Exchange ActiveSync Default Gathering task, which includes the IIS Log Files task, to run regularly, you do not need to schedule the IIS Log Files gathering task to run separately for the OWA report pack.

For Exchange 2013, if you have both the Exchange ActiveSync and the OWA report packs installed, you must collect from both Exchange CAS and Mailbox servers to ensure the ActiveSync data is complete. For Exchange 2016 or 2019, you must collect from the Exchange Mailbox server.

Prerequisites

Before you create an IIS Log Files gathering task, ensure that the MessageStats Default Gathering task for the organization has completed successfully.

If you have not already done so, assign the OWA server role to the appropriate OWA servers in the MessageStats console. For more information, see Assigning the OWA Server Role .

If your OWA Exchange server is protected by firewall software from the internal network that includes the MessageStats server, you may need to open certain ports on your firewall and modify the RPC configuration on your Exchange server to grant MessageStats access to the server. See Appendix B: Configuring RPC Through a Firewall .

To create an IIS Log Files gathering task
1
Expand the Exchange Organizations node and select the Exchange organization you want.
2
Right-click and select Create Task.
3
Enter a name for the task (for example, OWA Daily Task), select IIS Log Files/ OWA as the task template, and click Next.
4
Select Most Recent as the date range to indicate the last number of days from which to gather the IIS log files and click Next.
In some situations, you can choose the Custom option if you want to select a specific date range to indicate the time frame from which to gather log files
5
Review or change the default task execution server and click Next.
6
Clear the Use Default Configuration check box, specify a schedule for the gathering task and click Next.
MessageStats provides two types of schedules: schedules that run once (at specific times such as December 31 or Now), and schedules that repeat for a defined period (such as daily, weekly, or monthly).
7
Verify the logging level for the task log files and click Next.
8
Specify the account under which the gathering task is to run, and click Next.
You can accept the default account that is displayed for Task Credentials or clear the Use Default Configuration check box to enter a different account.
9
Click Finish to save the gathering task.
To change the properties of an existing task
1
Browse the tasks in the Tasks Summary View.
2
Right-click the task you want to configure and select Properties.
3
Step through the wizard to change the settings.
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