Some sites in a Microsoft Exchange Server environment have the KM server component installed. Although the service is set to automatic, it is necessary to verify the service has started. For security purposes, the KM server requires that the password diskette be inserted in the disk drive for KM server to start properly.
Stopping Microsoft Exchange Server Services
Before a server is rebooted, it is recommended that you stop Microsoft Exchange Server services before rebooting. This will help ensure a clean stop of Microsoft Exchange Server databases.
If the system is in a controllable state, manually stop each of the services before shutting down and restarting the server. Stopping the services individually greatly improves the chances of the server restarting successfully. This also makes it easier to determine where a problem originated if a service cannot be controlled. You can quickly stop services by creating a command file, for example, stopExchange.cmd, that contains the necessary NET STOP service name commands to completely stop all Microsoft Exchange Server services. For example, to stop the four core Microsoft Exchange Server services, use the following lines in a .cmd or .bat file (not case-sensitive).
Net stop MSExchangeMTA
Net stop MSExchangeIS
Net stop MSExchangeDS
Net stop MSExchangeSABe patient when stopping services. If a service has been running for a long time, it may take a long time to stop. This is especially true of the information store and directory, which need to flush transactions to the database and close threads when the services are stopped. For example, a directory on a new server may take 10 to 15 minutes to stop.
Use Performance Monitor to verify that the service being stopped is still attempting to stop. If the process time for the service drops and stays at zero, it is very likely the service is in an uncontrollable state.