Just can't get enough of IT

Description

This script fetches emails from a given monitoring mailbox by searching email messages for a given subject string. In this case email messages sent by the ENow Management Suite (http://enowsoftware.com/). Status messages are parsed to extract Disk Performance alert data for further processing in Power BI.

The mailbox is queried using Exchange Web Services (EWS). The EWS endpoint is identified by AutoDiscover.

The script exports the following columns for further processing:

• SERVER = Name of Exchange server reporting issue
• DATE = Date of issue occurance (Short Date)
• TIME = Time of issue occurance (Long Time)
• IO = READ or WRITE
• THRESHOLD = WARNING or CRITICAL
• VALUE = reported value

You can easily adjust the script to fit your requirements. Search for other message subjects and parse for other content in the message body.

Requirements

• Windows Server 2012 R2+ 
• Exchange Server 2013+
• Exchange Web Services Library

Examples

Code Samples

# Run script using default parameters
.\Get-EmailContent.ps1

Example output

"COMPUTER";"DATE";"TIME";"IO";"THRESHOLD";"VALUE"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"READ";"Critical";"109,90"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"WRITE";"Warning";"23,61"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"READ";"Critical";"80,13"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"WRITE";"Warning";"21,58"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"READ";"Warning";"33,01"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"READ";"Critical";"53,04"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"READ";"Warning";"24,24"
"EXLABP08";"19.05.2017";"11:15:38";"READ";"Warning";"40,01"

Power BI report examples

This example shows that P04 and P08 have exceeded the critical and warning state disk performance thresholds more often than the other servers.

The next example shows the same date in a different report.

Version History

• 1.0, Initial community release

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Parse-MailContent
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Parse-email-message-bfdef982
• Download EWS Managed API 2.2, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42951
• Download Power BI Desktop, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45331

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When you delete a public folder using a legacy Outlook client, you can easily restore the deleted folder and it's content using the Recover Deleted Items function. 

Due to a fancy trick implemented in Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016 the recovered folder will not be recovered using it's full name.

This phenomenon has been verified with Exchange On-Premises and Exchange Online on the server side and Outlook 2013/2016 and Outlook 365 ProPlus.

The following example uses public folders in Exchange Online and Outlook 365 ProPlus.

Example

In this example I will delete and recover a public folder named My Public Folder.

After deletion of My Public Folder and it's content, I need to select the original parent folder and click the Recover Deleted Items button in the button bar.

The Recover Deleted Items dialogue opens and we select the deleted item for recovery. The dialogue displays the original name of the deleted folder.

After recovering the deleted folder the folder is recovered with the first character only.

That's an annoying result in regards to customer self-care when users restore deleted items on their own behalf.

But wait, there is a solution available.

Solution

The solution requires today's primary administrative tool available: PowerShell.

Step 1

Get an overview of public folders currently located in the public folder dumpster

Get-PublicFolder –Identity “\NON_IPM_SUBTREE” –Recurse 

Name             Parent Path
----             -----------
NON_IPM_SUBTREE
[...]
My Public Folder \NON_IPM_SUBTREE\DUMPSTER_ROOT\DUMPSTER_EXTEND\RESERVED_1\RESERVED_1\65722859-3...
Sub Folder 1     \NON_IPM_SUBTREE\DUMPSTER_ROOT\DUMPSTER_EXTEND\RESERVED_1\RESERVED_1\65722859-3...
Sub Folder 2     \NON_IPM_SUBTREE\DUMPSTER_ROOT\DUMPSTER_EXTEND\RESERVED_1\RESERVED_1\65722859-3...
[...]

Step 2

Export the list of public folders currently located in the public folder dumpster and find the identity of the deleted public folder you want to recover

Get-PublicFolder –Identity “\NON_IPM_SUBTREE” –Recurse  | fl | Out-File D:\TMP\publicfolderdumpster.txt

publicfolderdumpster.txt excerpt:

RunspaceId                     : 6ce9588e-829b-4592-aedc-85f9a2e2c963
Identity                       : \NON_IPM_SUBTREE\DUMPSTER_ROOT\DUMPSTER_EXTEND\RESERVED_1\RESERVED_1\65722859-366a-4e0
                                 9-81fe-ea576ec7a6f7\My Public Folder
Name                           : My Public Folder
MailEnabled                    : False
MailRecipientGuid              : 
ParentPath                     : \NON_IPM_SUBTREE\DUMPSTER_ROOT\DUMPSTER_EXTEND\RESERVED_1\RESERVED_1\65722859-366a-4e0
                                 9-81fe-ea576ec7a6f7

Step 3

Recover the deleted public folder to the correct parent target folder

Set-PublicFolder –Identity "\NON_IPM_SUBTREE\DUMPSTER_ROOT\DUMPSTER_EXTEND\RESERVED_1\RESERVED_1\65722859-366a-4e09-81fe-ea576ec7a6f7\My Public Folder" –Path “\TestFolders” –Verbose

As a result the public folder is recovered with it's original name.

Notes

There are some other things to consider when recovering deleted modern public folders.

Public folders originally located in the hierarchy root are always recovered to the public folder mailbox holding the primary hierarchy. 

Public folders originally located in the hierarchy root will replace the permissions of child public folders when restored. 

More on these default restore behaviours can be read here.

Links

• Recovering public folder information in Exchange 2013

Nevertheless, enjoy modern public folders.

Problem

You can block an user from logging on to Office 365 by setting the BlockCredential attribute to $true.

Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName myuser@mcsmemail.de -BlockCredential $true

But the MSOL user attribute is reverted to $false, when ADD Connect synchonization cycle runs.

This happens, because the local Active Directory attribute accountEnabled is used to controll the BlockCredential attribute in Azure AD.

Solution

If your IT operation requires the ability to have enabled users in your local Active Directory infrastructure and you need to prevent logon to cloud services you need to prevent the accountEnabled attribute from being synchronized to Azure AD. This might not necessarily be a general requirement during normal operations, but might be useful while doing a Proof-of-Concept.

Just exclude the attribute from the Azure Active Directory connector in the Synchronization Service Manager.

The following script disables all users excluding

• Users following a specific naming pattern
• Users listed in a string array

# Userfilter
$UserExceptions = ("Sync_SYNC01_add98768492f@mcsmemail.onmicrosoft.com","SPO-SRV-ACCOUNT@mcsmemail.de","SynchedAdmin@mcsmemail.de")

# Fetch synchronized users 
$DomainAccounts = Get-MsolUser -EnabledFilter EnabledOnly -MaxResults 5000 | Where-Object -Property LastDirSyncTime -ne $null

# Select synchronized users not following the pattern ADM*@mcsmemail.de (admin accounts in this case)
$DomainAccountsWithoutAdmins =  $DomainAccounts | Where-Object -Property UserPrincipalName -notlike "ADM*@mcsmemail.de"

# Exclude accounts listed in $UserExceptions
$DomainAccountsWithoutAdminsFiltered = $DomainAccountsWithoutAdmins | Where-Object -Property UserPrincipalName -NotIn $UserExceptions
 

# Now block cloud logon for all filtered users
ForEach ($User2Block in $DomainAccountsWithoutAdminsFiltered) {
  Write-Host ('Disabling User: {0}.UserPrincipalName)' -f $User2Block)
  Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName $User2Block.UserPrincipalName -BlockCredential $true
}

Enjoy Office 365.

The PowerShell module GlobalFunctions got updated to Version 2.0. This module is used by some of my PowerShell scripts which utilize centralized logging. 

The new release contains the first functions required for some upcoming scripts for managing on-boarding process for joiners and the off-boarding process for leavers for companies utilizing Office 365.

Changes

• File encoding switch from UTF8 to Unicode
• New functions
  • Format-SpecialCharactersUpperCase
  • New-RandomPassword

Notes

The New-RandomPassword functions is based on Simon Wahlin's script published here: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Generate-a-random-and-5c879ed5

Links

• Original blog post: https://www.granikos.eu/en/justcantgetenough/PostId/210/globalfunctions-shared-powershell-library
• Easiest install via PowerShell Gallery: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/GlobalFunctions
• Report issues at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/GlobalFunctions

Description

This script has been developed for a custom project with the following requirements:

• User photos are provided in rectangular format by the HR department and stored in a dedicated folder
• User photos should be resized automatically to a square format to be suitable for
  • Active Directory thumbnailPhoto attribute (96x96 pixel)
  • Exchange user photo (648x648 pixel)
  • Intrant address book (150x150 pixel)
• Processed photos should be moved to a processed folder
• User logon names are used as user photo file names

The script utilizes a self developed C# command line tool, which has been published as open source at Github. The ResizeImage Wiki explains the usage of the command line tool. The application's configuration controls the target size and an optional pixel based offset.

Maybe the script will be useful in your project as well.

Requirements

• ResizeImage.exe command line tool
• GlobalFunctions PowerShell module as desribed here
• Exchange Server 2013+ Management Shell (EMS) for storing user photos in on-premises mailboxes
• Exchange Online Management Shell for storing user photos in cloud mailboxes
• Write access to thumbnailPhoto attribute in Active Directory

Examples

The code samples utilize the following folder structure:

• D:\UserPhotos
  • SOURCE
    Contains all .JPG user photos with file names matching the user logon names
  • AD
    Target folder for tumbnailPicture photos (96 x 96 px)
    • ResizeImage.exe
    • ResizeImage.exe.config (local configuration for Active Directory photos)
  • EXCHANGE
    Target folder for Exchange mailbox user photos (646 x 648 px)
    • ResizeImage.exe
    • ResizeImage.exe.config (local configuration for Exchange mailbox photos)
  • INTRANET
    Target folder for Intranet address book user photos (150 x 150 px)
    • ResizeImage.exe
    • ResizeImage.exe.config (local configuration for Intranet photos)

Code Samples

# EXAMPLE
# Resize photos stored in the default PictureSource folder for Exchange On-Premises (648x648) and write images to user mailboxes
.\Set-UserPictures.ps1 -ExchangeOnPrem   

# EXAMPLE
# Resize photos stored on a SRV01 share for Exchange Online and save resized photos on a SRV02 share
.\Set-UserPictures.ps1 -ExchangeOnline -PictureSource '\\SRV01\HRShare\Photos' -TargetPathExchange '\\SRV02\ExScripts\Photos'

 # EXAMPLE
 # Resize photos stored in the default PictureSource folder for Active Directory (96x96) and write images to user thumbnailPhoto attribute
 .\Set-UserPictures.ps1 -ActiveDirectory

# EXAMPLE
# Resize photos stored in the default PictureSource folder for Intranet (150x150)
.\Set-UserPictures.ps1 -Intranet

Version History

• 1.0, Initial community release
• 1.1, Exchange Online support added
• 1.2, Log strings updated when updating Exchange photos

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Set-UserPictures
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Bulk-resize-and-adding-of-1e74d85e
• ResizeImage tool source code and binary available at Github
  • Visual Studio solution: https://github.com/Granikos/ResizeImage
  • Current release: https://github.com/Granikos/ResizeImage/releases

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• Twitter @stensitzki
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