Microsoft Exchange Monitoring

Last updated - 25 March, 2026

Overview

The Microsoft Exchange package consists of a set of LogicModules that provides comprehensive out-of-the-box monitoring for the Microsoft Exchange mail and calendaring server.

Note: LogicMonitor also offers monitoring for online Exchange via its Microsoft Office 365 integration package. See Microsoft Office 365 Monitoring for more information.

Compatibility

As of the v.125 release of the LogicMonitor platform (September 2019), the Microsoft Exchange package is compatible with versions 2007 through 2019.

For the majority of DataSources that make up this package, there are two versions of each DataSource: one version that is compatible with Exchange versions 2007, 2010, and 2013; and one version that is compatible with Exchange versions 2016 and 2019. These versions are necessary to account for deprecations and other changes that Microsoft made to its performance counters in Exchange 2016.

The DataSource names in this package are appended with Exchange version information to delineate which set of versions a particular DataSource applies to:

• 2007+ – DataSource names appended with “2007+” apply to Exchange versions 2007, 2010 and 2013 (e.g. Microsoft_Exchange_Replication_2007+)
• 2016+ – DataSource names appended with “2016+” apply to Exchange versions 2016 and 2019 (e.g. Microsoft_Exchange_Replication_2016+)

Note: There are two DataSources that require no compatibility versioning: “WinExchange Processes” and “WinExchangeServices”.

Considerations: Migration from WinExchange* DataSources

In September of 2019, LogicMonitor released a new set of Microsoft Exchange DataSources. If you are currently monitoring Microsoft Exchange using the legacy WinExchange* DataSources, you will not experience any data loss upon importing the newer DataSources in this package. This is because DataSource names have been changed to eliminate module overwriting.

However, you will collect duplicate data and receive duplicate alerts for as long as both sets of DataSources are active. For this reason, we recommend that you disable the legacy WinExchange* DataSources. When a DataSource is disabled, it stops querying the host and generating alerts, but maintains all historical data. At some point in time, you may want to delete the legacy DataSources altogether, but consider this move carefully as all historical data will be lost upon deletion. For more information on disabling DataSources, see Disabling Monitoring for a DataSource or Instance.

Important: There are two legacy WinExchange DataSources that have been allowed to remain with the new set of DataSources (i.e. they have not been replaced): “WinExchange Processes” and “WinExchangeServices”. These should NOT be disabled. Both are universal across all Exchange versions and will continue working seamlessly.

Setup Requirements

The DataSources in this package rely on WMI or Perfmon to collect data from your Microsoft Exchange system:

• WMI – Used by DataSources compatible with Exchange versions 2016 and 2019
• Perfmon – Used by DataSources compatible with versions 2007, 2010 and 2013

Ensure that the appropriate access method (WMI or Perfmon) is enabled on the host.

Troubleshooting

Use the following steps to troubleshoot issues with Microsoft Exchange monitoring:

To verify WMI or Perfmon configuration, do the following:

1. For Exchange 2016 and later, ensure WMI is properly configured on the host.
2. For Exchange 2013 and earlier, ensure Perfmon access is configured.
3. For more information, see Troubleshooting Perfmon Access and Troubleshooting WMI.

To verify Exchange categorization, do the following:

1. Ensure the system.categories property includes the appropriate Exchange version tag (for example, MicrosoftExchange2016 or MicrosoftExchange2019).
2. Confirm the addCategory_MicrosoftExchange PropertySource (Groovy/WMI) is running. By default, it detects Exchange hosts and sets the following properties:
   • system.categories
   • auto.microsoft.exchange.version
   • auto.microsoft.exchange.build_number
3. If WMI is unavailable (auto.wmi.operational == "false") or WinRM is preferred, set microsoft.exchange.use_winrm to true on the resource or resource group. This enables addCategory_MicrosoftExchange_PowerShell and disables the default Groovy/WMI method. A Windows-based Collector is required.
4. To override this setting for a specific resource, set microsoft.exchange.use_winrm to "false" on that resource.

To validate PropertySource execution, do the following:

1. Open the active addCategory PropertySource.
2. Run Test AppliesTo and Test Script to check for errors.

FAQs

Q: Why did LogicMonitor perform such an extensive overhaul of the now-legacy Microsoft Exchange (i.e. WinExchange*) DataSources?

A: The original Microsoft Exchange DataSources were developed and released many years ago. Maturity in the Exchange product (and LogicMonitor platform) have since given us many compelling reasons to restructure our Microsoft Exchange package. These reasons include:

• Less reliance on AppliesTo scripting. Legacy DataSources rely heavily on the AppliesTo function of “isWindows()”. While once sufficient, the broadness of this function now creates incompatibility issues.
• Better version compatibility. Beginning with Exchange 2016, Microsoft made deprecations and other changes to its performance counters. New DataSources were needed to account for these changes so that accurate data collection is maintained.
• Improved Performance. The new DataSources take advantage of WMI for data collection for Exchange 2016 and 2019. This brings a big performance improvement over Perfmon queries, which were blanketly used previously and could result in high CPU usage, long execution times, and even timeouts. Additionally, all DataSources now leverage BatchScript which greatly improves execution time and resource usage.
• Future Proofing. The new DataSources are more modularized and version aware. This provides more control over compatibility and eliminates the need for backward compatibility across all Exchange versions (current and future).

LogicModules in Microsoft Exchange Package

LogicMonitor’s package for Microsoft Exchange consists of the following LogicModules. For full coverage, import the following LogicModules into your platform:

Display Name	Type	Description
addCategory_MicrosoftExchange	PropertySource	Default Exchange detection. Identifies if a Windows host is running Exchange and sets system.categories, auto.microsoft.exchange.version, and auto.microsoft.exchange.build_number using Groovy WMI. Unapplies when the property microsoft.exchange.use_winrm is set to true.
addCategory_MicrosoftExchange_PowerShell	PropertySource	Opt-in alternative for Windows-based Collectors. Fast Exchange detection through WinRM/PSRemoting registry reads. Only applies when WMI is unavailable or explicitly enabled via the property microsoft.exchange.use_winrm is set to true. Setting this property also unapplies the default Groovy/WMI module.
WinExchange Processes	DataSource	Monitors resource usage metrics of Exchange processes.
WinExchangeServices	DataSource	Monitors the various Exchange services running on the host.
Microsoft_Exchange_ActiveDirectoryDomainControllers_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors performance metrics across Exchange Active Directory Access Domain Controllers.
Microsoft_Exchange_CalendarAttendant_2007+	DataSource	Monitors calendar attendant performance metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_ClientAccessServer_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors Exchange Client Access Server (CAS) role stats.
Microsoft_Exchange_EdgeTransportDatabases_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors individual Exchange Transport Database metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_EdgeTransportDatabaseInstances_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors Exchange Transport Database instance metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_MailboxDatabaseInstances_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors individual Exchange mailbox database instance performance metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_MailboxDatabases_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors individual Exchange Mailbox Database metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_MailboxOverview_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors the Exchange mailbox overall performance metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_Replication_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors Exchange replication metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_RPCClientAccess_2016+	DataSource	Monitors Exchange remote procedure call (RPC) metrics.
Microsoft_Exchange_TransportQueueOverview_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors aggregate transport queue metrics across all priorities.
Microsoft_Exchange_UnifiedMessaging_2007+ / 2016+	DataSource	Monitors the performance metrics for Exchange Unified Messaging.
Windows Exchange Events	EventSource	Monitors Exchange-related Windows Event Log entries.

When setting static datapoint thresholds on the various metrics tracked by this integration package, LogicMonitor follows the technology owner’s best practice KPI recommendations.