Sys Admin Tales » Exchange 2010

Exchange 2010 SP1

Tom Thrush — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:33:50 +0000

Get it while it’s hot: Exchange 2010 SP1.

Here’s the list of what’s new and shiny.

Script Samples

Tom Thrush — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:44:10 +0000

There are times when I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for just the right syntax for a command or even the correct command to get the job done. Here are four I put to use in the last few months…

Change Printer Spooler Service Recovery options to Restart
sc failure spooler reset= 60 actions= restart/600/restart/600/restart/600

Backing up an MSDE Database
osql -E -Q “BACKUP DATABASE mdss TO DISK= ‘C:\BB_DB_Backup\mdss.bak’”

Copy Database and then Appending with Date
copy t:\plandata.mdb C:\PlanDataBackup /Y

For /F “Tokens=1-8 Delims=.:/ ” %%a In (‘Echo %Date%’) Do (Set All=%%d-%%b-%%c)
@For %%a in (“plandata.mdb”) do rename %%a “%%~na-%All%.mdb”

Deleting Old OWA Logs
forfiles -p “C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC1″ -c “cmd /c echo del \”@FILE\” & del \”@FILE\”" -d -21

How Big are those Mailboxes

Tom Thrush — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:34:00 +0000

One thing I truly miss about Exchange 2003 is the list of mailbox sizes that were easily accessible in the GUI. But things must move on and the display in the Exchange Management Console for both 2007 and 2010 lack the ability to populate and view this information.

Exchange Management Shell to the rescue! If you enter just the basic Get-MailboxStatistics command it will be sorely lacking (and the sizes will be in KB). The command below will get Exchange to cough up a full list and friendlier MB display suitable for analyzing in Excel.

Open Exchange Management Shell and run the following:
Get-MailboxStatistics | Sort-Object TotalItemSize -Descending | ft DisplayName,@{label=”TotalItemSize(MB)”;expression={$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToMB()}},ItemCount

Free PowerShell Editor

Tom Thrush — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:43:59 +0000

Yesterday I began to really dive into a new user script (which uses Exchange Management Shell) to bring it up to date and include more fields and features. As the script complexity grew, Notepad was no longer cutting the mustard.

I thought I’d be using Notepad++ or TextPad, both fine in their own right, but instead found PowerGUI. This PowerShell editor which finds syntax errors, includes definitions and much more; all for the low, low price of free. This seems to be a community supported by Quest Software who has a bunch of fine (not so free) tools for SysAdmins.

I’m now able to work on, and run, the script off network (read: at home). It’s a helluva deal for the price, try PowerGUI for your next PowerShell outing.

Exchange 2010 is Now Available

Tom Thrush — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:51:56 +0000

Good thing we had that free eBook to learn Exchange 2010, because the announcement on the official Microsoft Exchange Team Blog says it is out the door and available worldwide.

You can grab the 120 day trial here. And this time there is no 32-bit version, as with the Exchange 2007 trial.

And if you are a TechNet or MSDN subscriber, the full (non-expiring) version is available for download as well.

Free Exchange 2010 eBook

Tom Thrush — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:22:50 +0000

I nabbed this news item from Bink.nu, a very worthy site for the latest in Microsoft news.

You can head on over to Red Gate Software’s site for a free eBook on Exchange 2010. I guess I should start reading, it’ll be here sooner than later.

Not sure how long this will last, so get’em while they’re hot.