Exchange 2010 SP1

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

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

Paychex Preview Upgrade to Mapped Drive

This was actually too simple, but unless you speak with support, how is one to know?

I was recently tasked with upgrading a server installation of Paychex Preview software, which according to documentation cannot be done on the host server, it has to be upgraded from one of the workstations via mapped drive. It seemed simple enough, until the point of the install "wizard" where it prompts for installation directory. It listed C:\RAPID, and had a dropdown menu so I could choose one of the mapped drives; but instead of listing mapped drives it only offered the local C:\ drive. No problem, the instructions on the screen said reboot if it doesn't list your mapped drive. Wait a few minutes for the reboot... and no good, just C:\RAPID again; time to call support.

After starting a WebEx session, so the tech could see what I was saying was true, we copied the RAPID directory from the mapped drive to C:\, then ran the Paychex Preview software upgrade on C:\RAPID. When the upgrade was complete, it was just a copy and replace over the RAPID directory on the mapped drive and the deed was done. Oh yeah, don't forget to run WS_Setup.exe from each workstation to create appropriate shortcuts to the mapped drive.

Google Website Backup

Google offers a lot of things, and I mean a lot, but this isn't really one of them. And yet, in a fashion they do.

A good friend of mine recently lost a rather good blog post due to a server issue (it was on a Linux box, so I'm not sure how that could ever happen ;^) and there wasn't a backup.

In a moment of brilliance (or just a misfiring synapse) I suggested he do a Google search for his lost post and see if they had a cached version of it. And low and behold, they did, crisis averted. If I could come up with great ideas like this more often, having a job would be unnecessary :)

Eee PC 2.00 GB (767 MB usable)

Today there was a curious case where someone's Windows 7 Eee PC had 2 GB of RAM, which the operating system was aware of, but only listed as 767 MB available for use.

It turns out that if the Boot Booster is enabled in the BIOS, it limits the amount of usable RAM. To fix this, press F2 during boot-up, go to the Boot menu, use the arrow keys to highlight Boot Booster and press Enter to change it to Disabled. Next press F10 to save, then reboot and you are done.

Note: You may still only have 1.75 GB usable, but that can be blamed on the leeching onboard video.

Script Samples

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

What's in my backpack?

Every time I'm heading out the door, I throw a heavy backpack over my shoulder and drop it into my car with a thud.

What's in this bag I lug around to each client? Of course there's my HP tc4400 Tablet PC and battery charger, but there's a whole lot more, in no particular order:

• Small TechNet binder (Contents will be another post).


• An assortment of small screwdrivers for laptops and PCs alike


• Cables: 7' Ethernet, Cisco serial, USB to PS2 converter, USB to serial, iPhone charger


• 160 external hard drive, USB (for moving files and dumping images)


• Leatherman


• A small handful of unlabeled customer access badges and keys


• Three USB thumbdrives (1GB, 2GB (BitLockered) and 32GB)


• Small metal business card holder


• Sharpie and blue pen


• Tape measure

How Big are those Mailboxes

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