Windows Live Essential 2011

Today I was surfing of the internet and came across Windows Live Essential 2011. It was found to be very interesting, hence installed it.

Now It has installed couple different application which I would need to day to life. That is Live messenger with new look which is I assume based on Lynch technology. Also you now integrate different social sites and can view update at one location.

Also This other best feature using which today I am writing this blog, this sounds interesting. It been long time I have not wrote on my blog, so writing it today.

Let me write something about exchange which I learned couple of days back but used it today.

Database portability feature is introduced into Exchange 2007 and we used to use following command to change the pointer for mailbox database.

Move-Mailbox –identity mbx1 –Targetdatabase CMS1\SG1\MB1 –Configurationonly

However this command will not work in Exchange 2010, incase you want to change the database pointer for user mailbox for some reason. You can achieve the same task by running command command, which does the same task.

Set-Mailbox –identity MBX1 –Database MB1

In what scenario use would need this command.

1) Your Exchange mailbox server is crashed and you have database files on disk which you can access. You want to mount that database on other mailbox server in organization so that users can start working on it.

2) You want to move the mailboxes to another data center without moving the mailboxes.In this case, you can copy the database file from exchange one data center to another and run the above command.

….Cheers. Happy Blogging 

Part 2: Different ways to recovery E-mails from backup when mailbox on Exchange 2000, Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007

Sunday, August 15, 2010

1:10 PM

Scenario:

You want to recover E-mails of user whose mailbox is deleted or deleted and created with same name or different name. So here is the deal as you have deleted the mailbox and created it is going to create a mailbox with different GUID. Hence the Mailbox GUID of restored mailbox and mailbox in the production is not going to match.

Resolution:

Restore mailbox store in Recovery Storage Group where user resides from backup. Now you can't merge the mailbox with production one as there Mailbox GUID doesn't match.

1. You have to make this RSG act as normal storage group so that you can connect the disconnected mailbox to different AD account. How to do that ?
   

   
   

   1. Start ADSI Edit.
      
   2. Locate the mailbox store in the Recovery Storage group. To do so, expand Configuration Container [ YourServerName . YourDomainName . YourTopLevelDomain ] , expand CN=Configuration,DC= YourDomainName ,DC= YourTopLevelDomain , expand CN=Services , expand CN=Microsoft Exchange , expand CN= YourOrganizationName , expand CN=Administrative Groups , expand CN= Your Administrative Group , where Your Administrative Group is the administrative group that contains the storage group that you want to modify), expand CN=Servers , expand CN= YourServerName , expand CN=InformationStore , and then click CN= Recovery Storage Group .
      
   3. In the right pane, right-click the database object, and then click Properties .
      
   4. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both .
      
   5. In the Select a property to view list, click MSExchRestore and clear value from TRUE.
      
   6. Also right click on Recovery storage group and then click Properties .
      
   7. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both .
      
   8. In the Select a property to view list, click MSExchRestore and clear value from TRUE.
      

These above steps will make the database in RSG act as normal store. Then mount the store in RSG and run cleanup agent. You could see all the mailboxes in the disconnected state and you can connect the mailbox to any other AD account in the organization and then use exmerge to get the data into PST and then import it to production user using EXMERGE tool

Part 1: Different ways to recovery E-mails from backup when mailbox on Exchange 2000, Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007

Scenario 1:

When you want to restore a mailbox or emails for user mailbox whose mailbox is moved to different database or server since the backup set which was taken.

Resolution:

Method 1:

Consider you have restored the database into Recovery Storage Group and then tried merging to it failed with some error as Mailbox was move to different store or server since backup set was taken.

1. Move mailbox back to original store.
   

   If you don't remember the store location where this mailbox at time of the backup. You can follow below simple steps to find the store.
   

   1. Start ADSI Edit.
      
   2. Locate the RSG's Mailbox store. To do so, expand Configuration Container [ YourServerName . YourDomainName . YourTopLevelDomain ] , expand CN=Configuration,DC= YourDomainName ,DC= YourTopLevelDomain , expand CN=Services , expand CN=Microsoft Exchange , expand CN= YourOrganizationName , expand CN=Administrative Groups , expand CN= Your Administrative Group , where Your Administrative Group is the administrative group that contains the storage group), expand CN=Servers , expand CN= YourServerName , expand CN=InformationStore , and then click CN= Recovery Storage Group .
      
   3. In the right pane, right-click the Recovery Storage Group database object, and then click Properties .
      
   4. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both .
      
   5. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchOrigMDB.
      

The value of msExchOrigMDB is nothing but the store where mailbox was reside at the time of the backup. So you move the mailbox on this store again to perform the merge task or follow method 2:

Method 2:

If you don't want to move the mailbox to original store then you could follow this steps. Modify the msExchOrigMDB attribute on the Recovery Storage Group database to point to the mailbox store that you moved the mailbox to. Modify the msExchOrigMDB attribute on the Recovery Storage Group database to point to the mailbox store that you moved the mailbox to.

1. Start ADSI Edit.
   
2. Locate the mailbox store that you moved the mailbox to. To do so, expand Configuration Container [ YourServerName . YourDomainName . YourTopLevelDomain ] , expand CN=Configuration,DC= YourDomainName ,DC= YourTopLevelDomain , expand CN=Services , expand CN=Microsoft Exchange , expand CN= YourOrganizationName , expand CN=Administrative Groups , expand CN= Your Administrative Group , where Your Administrative Group is the administrative group that contains the storage group that you want to modify), expand CN=Servers , expand CN= YourServerName , expand CN=InformationStore , and then click CN= YourStorageGroup .
   
3. In the right pane, right-click the database object, and then click Properties .
   
4. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both .
   
5. In the Select a property to view list, click distinguishedName .
   
6. Right-click the value that is in the Value(s) box, and then click Copy .
   
7. Click Cancel .
   
8. Locate and then click the Recovery Storage Group database object in the CN=Configuration,DC= YourDomainName ,DC= YourTopLevelDomain container.
   
9. In the right pane, right-click the Recovery Storage Group database object, and then click Properties .
   
10. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both .
    
11. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchOrigMDB.
    
12. Click Clear .
    
13. Right-click an empty area of the Edit Attributes box, and then click Paste .
    
14. Click Set , and then click OK.
    
15. Quit ADSI Edit.
    

How to add SMTP address to exisiting E-mail address policy using Exchange 2007 Management Shell

You may face difficulties if not used to of Management shell for exchange and you are more confortable with Management console.
If you want to add additional smtp address in exisiting smtp policy and addition address formation is not present in default format in EAP. e.g. Alias+somecharacter@domain.com.

You can following to achive your goal.
Set-EmailAddressPolicy -Identity "Name of policy" -EnabledEmailAddressTemplates 'SMTP:%s.%m@domain.com','smtp:%m+test@domain.com'

Here make sure you are including all the addresses in your existing EAP. Set-EmailAddressPolicy will replace the existing e-mail addresses as well. Also here capital SMTP defines the primary SMTP address for the EAP and rest are secondary address. Make sure you putting X400 address as well is it existing there in list of EAP.

For X400 you can add one more string.
X400:c=US;a=adminstrativegroup;o=organ

Do you wonna change client permissions for all the public folders in one shot to ?

You have to download petfdavadmin tool on the workstation and run it using exchange admin account and get connected to public folders.

For example: You want to change the permissions all the users, whoever has owner permissions and want to change the permissions author, editor or want to change owner to not create new sub-folders.

Export the permissions using PFDAVADMI tools for the folders for which you want to change the permission and then open the txt or csv file and replace the word “All” with “create delete Deleteown write writeown contact o visible read”.

After you do the changes import the same txt or CSV file for same public folder and this will take care of the client permissions whichever you want to change.


Issue with old version of PFDAVADMIN.
If you are getting following error while performing import task for the public folder permissions.

Error
user : Failed to process the following import line:
SETACL \Test ETS\ExchAdmin Create Delete DeleteOwn Write WriteOwn Contact o Visible Read ETS\SKotta Create Delete DeleteOwn Write WriteOwn Contact o Visible Read NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON Create \Everyone Author NO
Exception: Folder not found. Could not convert path: \Test

Here is the issue which we will see in PFDAVADMIN v2.3
When pfdavadmin tool exports the client permissions is doesn’t include the pull path on the public folder hence it fails while importing. E.g. in above error the path of the public folder is “\test” but it should show “public folders\test”

Resolution

Use PFDAVADMIN v2.8.and it will take care the public folder path in client permissions export and import task.

Tools to manage Exchange 2003 & Exchange 2007.

PFDAVADMIN Tool
This is very useful in performing bluk task either public folders or on all the mailboxes on particular exchange server.Public Folder Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV)

For Example - If you want to change the public folder client permissions on all the public folder's on exchange server. You can use this in a smart way to get the work done. we can fix DCAL's using FPDAVADMIN.

Download - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=635BE792-D8AD-49E3-ADA4-E2422C0AB424&displaylang=en

Key features:
1. Propagate public folder Access Control Entry (ACE) additions, removals and modifications without overwriting the existing Access Control List (ACL).
2. Rectify damaged Discretionary Access Control Lists (DACL).
3. Import or export permissions against either mailboxes or public folders.
4. Import or export public folder replica lists.
5. Set Calendar folder permissions in bulk.

MFCMAPI
This is good tool to troubleshoot single mailbox related issues.The MFCMAPI UI is designed to follow the MAPI hierarchy. Each window represents some sort of MAPI table, such as a message store table, or the hierarchy table or a folder's contents table. For Extended MAPI developers, the intention was to make it easy to play around with the API and learn what you can or can't do. This UI also makes it easy for you to find the folder or item you want to work with. To work with a folder or its properties, select that folder in the hierarchy. To work with an item in a folder, double-click the folder to open that folder in its own window to see its items, then double-click the desired item. Properties will display both hexadecimal values and their text equivalents. You can edit, delete, or copy and paste individual properties and items. When you're finished working with a profile, choose Session, Logoff, and you'll be ready to start over with a new profile.

Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=55FDFFD7-1878-4637-9808-1E21ABB3AE37&displaylang=en


EXMON

It is one of best tool I like to work on when trouble shooting database size growing issues or tranasaction logs growing rapidly issue. we can nail down the issue to single user who might be causing problem and growing database size.

Use the Microsoft Exchange Server User Monitor to gather real-time data to better understand current client usage patterns, and to plan for future work. Administrators can view several items, including IP addresses used by clients, versions and modes of Microsoft Office Outlook, and resources such as CPU usage, server-side processor latency, and total latency for network and processing. Works with Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2010.

Download
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9A49C22E-E0C7-4B7C-ACEF-729D48AF7BC9&displaylang=en