E2K13 Archives - MARKSWINKELS.NL

Message tracking in Microsoft Exchange 2013….the easy way!

In Microsoft Exchange 2010 there was a very easy and powerfull tool, message tracking viewer. With this graphical tool you could track any message within your Exchange organization.

With Exchange 2013, the message tracking is not graphical anymore. So it’s not that easy to track some messages. The new way to go is Windows PowerShell! With the following example, you can easy create a overview of all the messages in your Exchange environment.

Get-MessageTrackingLog -ResultSize Unlimited -Start “Jul 15 2015″ | Out-GridView -Title “Exchange SMTP tracking log”

You can create a search filter based on, for example: EventID, Sender, Recipients or Subject.

How to: View configured mailbox quota’s in Exchange 2010/2013 using Out-GridView

When you’ve configured mailbox quota’s within your Exchange 2010/2013 environment, you’ve to check the configuration sometimes. Using Microsoft PowerShell, you can watch the current configuration within a few second, so this is extremely powerfull!! But, when you have to query for some specific user or result, it’s not that easy.

There’s a very usefull command within PowerShell that I’m using almost for all my scripts….Out-GridView. When using the parameter Out-GridView, the results are not showing within the PowerShell screen, but in a separate window! Within this window, you can very easy add some search criteria….for example: specific user, quota or an overview per database.

One requirement is that the Windows Feature “Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE)” is installed on the Exchange servers or mangement server from where you’re running the commands.

1.) Open the Exchange Management Shell (EMS)
2.) For an overview of the current mailbox quota, use the following command.
Get-Mailbox -Identity mswinkels | ft Name, IssueWarningQuota, ProhibitSendQuota, ProhibitSendReceiveQuota
3.) The results of this command is shown within the PowerShell window
4.) Now we’re running the same command, but replace “ft” (format-table) with “select” and add the parameter “Out-GridView”
Get-Mailbox -Identity mswinkels | Select Name, IssueWarningQuota, ProhibitSendQuota, ProhibitSendReceiveQuota | Out-GridView
5.) Now the results are in a separate window! Extreme usefull when you’ve have to search for a specific result or results.

How to: View all mailbox databases in a Exchange 2010 and 2013 coexistence environment with PowerShell

When you setup coexistence with Microsoft Exchange 2010 and 2013, you can manager you mailbox databases in different ways. Though the Exchange Management Console (EMC), Exchange Control Panel (ECP) or with Exchange Management Shell (EMS). Today I had to configure a new Microsoft Exchange 2013 environment in a existing Exchange 2010 environment, so this is a coexistence infrastructure.

When I had installed the new Exchange 2013 servers, and I had started the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) from the new Exchange 2013 server, I saw only the new Exchange 2013 database. But wait a minute, I had also a copple of mailbox databases configured on my existing Exchange 2010 environment. In the Exchange Control Panel (ECP), all the databases are visseble, but why not in the Exchange Management Shell?

The solution is pretty easy. Within Exchange 2013 there’s a new parameter that you can use with the Get-MailboxDatabase command. So the new parameter is -IncludePreExchange2013. The whole command should be: Get-Mailboxdatabase -IncludePreExchange2013.

How to: Install Exchange 2013 fully unattended

When you’ve to install a new Microsoft Exchange 2013 environment, you can start collecting all the necessary things, just lik pre-requisites etc…but there is a script available in the Microsoft TechNet Gallery. This script does the trick for you fully unattended. You just have to give in some names and paths. The script downloads all the pre-requisites, installs all the necessary Windows roles and features and installs Exchange 2013 the way you like 🙂

The script can be found here.

All you have to download is the Microsoft Exchange 2013 ISO and create some destination folders, that’s it!! You can also choose to install a multi role Exchange 2013 environment or maybe a multi server Exchange 2013 environment where you’ve multiple mailbox (MBX) and client access (CAS) servers. In my lab environment I’ve installed one multi role server in just a few clicks!! Below the commands I’ve used.

#######################################################################
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

mkdir E:\Install\E2K13_ISO
mkdir E:\Databases\MDT01
mkdir E:\Logs\MDB01
mkdir E:\Install\Prereq

$Cred=Get-Credential
E:\Install\Install-Exchange2013.ps1 -Organization DemoLab -InstallMultirole -MDBDBPath E:\Databases\MDB01 -MDBLogPath E:\Logs\MDB01 -MDBName MDB01 -InstallPath E:\Install\Prereq -AutoPilot -Credentials $Cred -SourcePath E:\Install\E2K13_ISO -IncludeFixes -InstallFilterPack -Verbose
#######################################################################

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 Architecture Poster

Microsoft has released the Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 Architecture Poster. This poster gives you an overview of all the components, load-balancing and possibilities of Exchange Server 2013. Nice to print on the wall in your studyroom 😉

You can download the Architecture poster here.

Released: Exchange Server 2013 RTM Cumulative Update 1

Yesterday, the Microsoft Exchange Team has released Cumulative Update 1 for Exchange 2013 RTM. CU1 is the minimum version of Exchange 2013 required for on-premises coexistence with supported legacy Exchange Server versions. The final build number for CU1 is 15.0.620.29.

This is the Exchange 2013 product level required for co-existence with previous versions of Exchange, being Exchange Server 2010 SP3 or Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Rollup 10.

The Exchange Team provided a description of the major changes in CU1. You will find the announcement here;
Here are some of the major changes in CU1:

Includes Address Book Policy Routing Agent (info);
Allows group memberships to be managed by groups (again, as it was possible in Exchange 2007 but not in Exchange 2010);
Access to Public Folders you have added as favorites via your favorites menu either in Outlook or Outlook Web App (still no regular Public Folder tree access though);
EAC has been enhanced and now includes Unified Messaging management and migration options;
Many probes, monitors, and responders have been updated and improved over the RTM release;
Get-HealthReport cmdlet has been streamlined and its performance has been optimized;
Supports the Exchange Server 2013 Management Pack for SCOM 2007 R2 and SCOM 2012 (due at a later date);
High Availability changes

You can download Cumulative Update 1 for Exchange 2013 here.

Be aware, this update requires some preparation first. So be carefull and read the release notes before hitting the install button 😉

How to: Install Microsoft Exchcange 2013 on Windows Server 2012

A copple of weeks ago Microsoft has released the preview version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. I’ve downloaded the new preview immediately after it reaches the newspage. So let’s power on my testlab and install some virtual machines. There’re several supported scenarios, but in my testlab I’ve installed one domain controller running Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 and one server that’s running Windwos Server 2012, on this server I will install Microsoft Exchange 2013. More information can be found here. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558(v=exchg.150)

For the people who still runs Exchange 2003, there is no support for any co-excistency. The minimum version of Exchange in an co-excistency environment should be Exchange 2007, so time to upgrade for you guys!

The first step is to make the server member of your Active Directory. Then the preperation can begin.

1.) First of all install the following prerequisites:
* Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs
* Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office Filter Pack 2010 (KB2460041) 64-bit Edition
* Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 (Preview) Runtime
* Uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 11 Beta Redistributable (x64) – 11.0.50531
2.) Reboot the server and start the Exchange setup
3.) The roles and features necessary for Exchange 2013 will be installed automatically
4.) Select the Exchange Server roles. If you have a closer look, you see that the Hub Transport Role is gone, yes thats right!! Now the Client Access Server role is responsable for mailflow in your Exchange 2013 environment.
5.) You can choose to install Malware Protection.
6.) Choose the location for installation Exchange 2013
7.) When your CAS server will be internet facing, fill in the URL
8.) The last step to start the real installation, Exchange is going to perform a Readiness Check to see if all the requirements are verified.
9.) Now the installation can begin! Just wait and see what happens after step 1 till 15 😉
10.) Finally the installation is done and let’s start the Exchange Toolbox

You can download Exchange 2013 preview here.

Support information can be found on:
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/aa996719(EXCHG.150).aspx