Exchange 2010 CAS management tasks

LiveJournal Tags: Exchange 2010 CAS management tasks

We will be looking at some of the common management tasks performed on newly created Exchange 2010 Client Access Server Role.
I will try to put together methods used via Exchange Management Console (EMC) and Exchange Management Shell (EMS).

Services required for a CAS to run properly are as follows:
W3SVC – World wide web publishing service.
MSExchangeADTopology – Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service.
POP3Svc – Microsoft Exchange POP3.
IMAP4Svc – Microsoft Exchange IMAP4.
IISAdmin – Internet Information Services Admin service.
MSExchangeServiceHost – Microsoft Exchange Service host.
MSExchangeFDS – Microsoft Exchange File Distribution Service.

1. Lets open the EMC and drill down to Server Configuration/Client Access and select the server in mid-top pane, which will display the related tabs in mid-bottom pane.
   By selection the “Outlook web App” tab we will see our OWA virtual directory which is also present in IIS. To manage OWA virtual directory we do not use IIS, its managed using EMC, right from the place we are at present as we can see in the image below.
    
   Lets check the properties of OWA (Default Web Site) virtual directory (Image below).
   
   The 2 important things to not in the General tab is “Internal Url” and “External Url”
   Internal URL, is used to access OWA from within the network, which not really a common practice as far as I have seen, but lets imagine a site location where there is no Internet connectivity and users want to use OWA besides their Outlook client, they will have to use the Internal URL to reach the CAS.
   External URL, should be populated if the CAS is internet facing as it will be accessed over the internet. In case the CAS is not internet facing it should be left blank.
   
   

Exchange 2010 Export-Mailbox – How to

Today we will take a look at Export-Mailbox cmdlet and how we can make use of it at the simplest level.

Requirements:
Of course there are few important requirements with respect to group membership for the account we will be using.
Lets setup things systematically, don’t you think creating a dedicated group will be a good idea? which ever user needs to perform Export Mailbox task can be added to a group and that’s it.
We will create a group named “Mailbox Import Export Group”, its going to be a Universal Security group.
Lets have a user account too, named as “MBIE”, add this user to “Mailbox Import Export Group”
Also to run Export-Mailbox cmdlet the user should be a member of “Organization Management”, “Server Management” in Exchange Organization and “Local Administrators” on target servers.

Preparation:

For this we will add our created group to "Organization Management” and “Server Management” group through ADUC/Domain.com/Microsoft Exchange Security Groups.
As Organization Management is a member of “Local Administrators” group on all Exchange Servers we don’t need to add any custom security GPO.

Next, we will give our group “mailbox import export group” Mailbox Import Export management role permission so that we can run Export-Mailbox cmdlet.
For this we will be using New-ManagementRoleAssignment cmdlet.
New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role “Mailbox Import Export” –SecurityGroup “msexchange\Mailbox Import Export Group”

Next, lets give user MBIE FullAccess permission on all mailbox in exchange organization, we can even give FullAccess permission on specific mailboxes and all mailboxes on a specific mailbox server, but for simplicity we will use all mailboxes as I have one Mailbox server in my lab.
Get-Mailbox –Server Exchange1 –ResultSize Unlimited | Add-MailboxPermission –User MBIE –AccessRights FullAccess –InheritanceType All

Procedure:
Let us not dive into exporting mailbox.
We will be removing a specific message from all exchange mailboxes which has “Tender” keyword in subject.
I have 2 users configured, Wasim.Shaikh and Urooj.Shaikh.
An email is sent from Wasim to Urooj with a subject Tender.


On Exchange server as I am logged in as Administrator, lets Run Exchange management shell with MBIE credentials. Why?
Coz we assigned Mailbox Import Export Role, so only this account will be able to run the cmdlet and not the administrator.


Ok, so once the powershell window is open we will run
Get-Mailbox –Server Exchange1 –ResultSize Unlimited | Export-Mailbox –SubjectKeywords Tender –IncludeFolders “\Inbox” -DeleteContect

In result you will get loads of matter, but thing to make note is “StandardMessagesDeleted” which shows value of 1.
We can know that 1 message was deleted from this users inbox, the users name will be displayed above if you scroll.

If you check the outlook, The message that had Tender in subject has been deleted.

I will continue this article with much more details.

Configure Time Source on windows 2008 R2

After successful installation of AD DS role on windows 2008 R2, the very 1st thing you will notice in BPA tool is time synchronization.

Run following command in cmd to set the time source to time.windows.com

w32tm /config /computer:win2008DC1.msexchange.in /manualpeerlist:time.windows.com /syncfromflags:manual /update

vSphere Client Error parsing the server "clients.xml"

This error mostly occurs after updating windows OS. I faced this error on windows XP Pro SP3.

.Net Framework gets new updates and the vSphere client stops working. VMWare has this issue addressed on http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1022611

But they have not mentioned which updates should be removed if you cant update the vsphere client to "update 1" or "update 2".

This is the error that you get.

Remove the KB9980773 and KB976765 updates from control panel.

Now try connecting to vCenter server, if it fails, try restarting your system.

HP DV2750ee ISO and Drivers

Hello Friends,

Now its possible to downgrade HP Pavilion laptops to XP.

Use the custom made XP CDROM along with drivers uploaded on following link.

I am uploading a text file on both hotfile.com and rapidshare.com for protection.

http://hotfile.com/dl/14008433/25b4049/HP.DV.2000.series.download.links.txt.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/287918439/HP.DV.2000.series.download.links.txt

Links within text file are inter changeable.

Hope this will solve you downgrade problem.

Thanks.

Bypass windows 2008 activation

Hello Friends,

If you are looking to use evaluation version of Windows 2008 for a little longer period of time, this is the best way to bypass activation.
You can create a template of virtual machine and keep using it as long as you want.

Prepare your virtual machine, complete the installation.

1. goto services and search for "Software Licensing" right click on it and under properties dialog box select "disabled"
2. Restart your machine.
3. browse to "c:\windows\system32\" and search for "SLLUA", "SLUI" and "SLUINotify.dll" files.

Lets start with SLLUA file.
4. Go to properties of SLLUA file and click on "Security" tab
5. Under security click "Advanced" button
6. Under "Advanced Security Settings" go to "Owner" tab.
7. Click "Edit" and select "Administrator" from "change owner to" selection area, and click "Apply", click "OK" when dialog box appears, again "OK" and finally last time "OK"
8. Security tab is still open... right?? under "Group or User names" click "Edit" and add "Administrator" account, give it full permissions by selecting "Full Control" then click "Apply" and select "Yes" for dialog box
9. Click "OK" twice to finish and close properties window.
10. Delete SLLUA file.

Follow the same steps for SLUI and SLUINotify.dll files

Go to "Services" MMC and start "Software Licensing" service
Restart your machine.

Thats all!!..

You can test by changing date of your system to any date.. even a year later will work..
Above all.. you can also update your windows 2008 online..

To demonstrate, I have uploaded a video on rapidshare.
http://rapidshare.com/files/218419961/win2008ActivationBypass.wmv
(direct download)

Post if you find this helpfull.

This article does not represent hack of windows.. this is only for using windows 2008 in test enviornment.