Besides managing messages and queues, Queue Viewer is also very
useful for troubleshooting message flow issues in your Exchange
organization. Administrators should take the following steps when
examining and maintaining queues:
Schedule regular times to view the queue and message states,
and any other information that pertains to virtual server and
connector queues. Examining this information can be done
proactively (no problem instigates this examination) or reactively
(message delivery issues require troubleshooting).
Examine queue and message states to determine if messages
appear to be flowing properly. If not, Queue Viewer can help you
pinpoint where the problem is and if it can be fixed.
Perform actions on queues and messages to resolve any current
message flow issues. These actions involve either managing queues
or managing the messages within those queues.
Remember also to correct any root problems in your messaging
system before examining queues. Examples include a stopped SMTP
virtual server (or SMTP service), or a domain
controller that has gone down.
To troubleshoot the underlying problems of the delivery of a
message, you can use the Message Tracking
Center to track the exact path of a message. Message tracking
uses each message's unique message ID. To get a message ID,
double-click the message in Queue Viewer to open the message
Properties dialog box.
The following topics cover each aspect of this messaging
management utility: