Just can't get enough of IT

The PowerShell script New-RoomMailbox has been updated and release v1.2 has been published to GitHub and TechNet Gallery.

The script now creates a third mail-enabled security group to limit the set of users which are allowed to book the resource. The group itself is created (prepared) only, but not assigned to the room resource.

Additionally, the default language (locale) is configured. This prohibits the "Set locale" - dialogue when accessing the room mailbox using Outlook on the Web. 

Read more here: https://www.granikos.eu/en/justcantgetenough/PostId/337/create-a-new-room-mailbox-with-security-groups

Enjoy Exchange.

Description

The Category List Manager is a C# Visual Studio Solution that allows you to connect to a source mailbox which is either hosted on an on-premises Exchange Server or in Exchange Online using Exchange Web Services (EWS).

You can use AutoDiscover or a static Url to connect to the Exchange Server or Office 365. By default the solution uses the credentials of the user executing the program. These credentials are referred to as default credentials. You can use the Settings form to set dedicated credentials of an user with appropriate access rights to the mailbox(es).

The program helps you to

• Export the master category list from a mailbox to a Xml file
• Import a master category list Xml file to into a mailbox
• Copy a master category list from a source mailbox to a target mailbox

The supported target mailbox types are:

• User Mailbox
• Shared Mailbox
• Microsoft Teams Mailbox

The GUI comes with an easy-to-use UI. The execuable works a command line tool as well and can be used for automation purposes.

Use CategoryManager.exe -help to get the most recent command line help information.

Example Screenshot

Presentation

Watch the presentation held at the Exchange User Group Berlin Meetup on May 31st 2018.

Version History

• 1.0, Initial community release

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/MailboxCategoryListManager
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Manage-Category-List-for-3a9103f9

Additional Credits

Additional credits go to Henning Krause

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Exchange Server extends the Active Directory schema during the PrepareSchema step during setup. The steps PrepareAD, PrepareDomain, or PrepareAlLDomains create Active Directory containers and objects that are crucially important for a stable operation of Exchange Server.

There are different Active Directory objects that are used to determine, if Active Directory has a proper Exchange Server configuration up and running.

Forest level

At Active Directory forest level the following attributes are used to determine the Exchange Server release:

• rangeUpper attribute of the ms-Exch-Schema-Version-Pt schema object 
• msExchProductId attribute of the Exchange organization object in the configuration partition
• objectVersion attribute of the Exchange organization object in the configuration partition
• objectVersion of the Microsoft Exchange System Objects (MESO) container 

Domain level

At Active Directory domain level the following attribute is used to determine the Exchange Server release:

• objectVersion of the Microsoft Exchange System Objects (MESO) container 

Schema versions

Links

• Script to gather Exchange schema information across all domains in an Active Directory forest

Enjoy Exchange Server!

Description

This script reads the Exchange schema version from the Active Directory schema partition.

The Exchange organization name is fetched from Active Directory automatically.
  
The script fetches at forest level:

• objectVersion of MESO Container
• rangeUpper of ms-Exch-Schema-Version-Pt 
• msExchProductId of Exchange Organization container
• objectVersion of Exchange Organization container

The script fetches at domain level:

• objectVersion of MESO Container

Examples

Code Samples

# Fetch all version information in the Active Directory forest
.\Get-ExchangeServerVersionInfo.ps1

Sample Output:

PS D:\Scripts> .\Get-ExchangeServerVersionInfo.ps1

Exchange Server Schema and Object Information for forest [VARUNA.ROOT]
Exchange Organization Name        : VARUNA-GROUP
Active Directory Schema rangeUpper: 15332

Working on VARUNA.ROOT
MESO Container objectVersion           : 13236
Exchange Configuration msExchProductId : 15.01.1466.003
Exchange Configuration objectVersion   : 16213

Working on VARUNAGROUP.DE
MESO Container objectVersion           : 13236

Version History

• 1.0, Initial community release

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Get-ExchangeServerVersionInfo
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Get-Exchange-Schema-73d3e629

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Enjoy Exchange Server!

You might have the requirement to authenticate mobile devices and authorize user access to on-premises Exchange Server mailboxes using a multi-vendor strategy. This blog post focuses on the configuration of a Kemp LoadMaster located in an internal network segment. The Kemp LoadMaster ESP functionality is used to allow ActiveSync connections for members of a dedicated security group only.

This results in the following authentication and authorization endpoints:

• MobileIron access policies
• Kemp LoadMaster ESP security group membership validation
• Exchange Server ActiveSync client access allowance 
• Exchange Server mobile device policy

Overview

The following diagram shows a simplified overview for mobile devices connecting to an on-premises Exchange Server. The perimeter and internal network segments are omitted for simplification reasons.

1. A MobileIron managed device connects to MobileIron Sentry which validates access with MobileIron policies
2. If a MobileIron policy allows access the device connects to Kemp LoadMaster ESP
3. Kemp LoadMaster ESP configuration validates the security group membership of the authenticating user
4. If the user is a member of the security group, the device connects to Exchange Server
5. Exchange Server authenticates the user and checks, if the ActiveSync protocol is enabled and the device complies with Exchange Server MDM configuration

Kemp LoadMaster Virtual Service

The following screenshots illustrate a working setup for a virtual service load balancing mobile device connections from MobileIron Sentry to Exchange Server. It's assumed that you've already configured the following:

• SSO Domain settings for connecting to a domain controller to authenticate users

SSL Properties

The SSL Traffic is offloaded and re-encrypted as we need to authenticate the user with ESP. Ensure to select a Cipher Set that does not provide any weak or unsecure cipher suites. In this example I've selected the predefined set BestPractices.

ESP Options

Enable ESP to activate the ESP configuration section. The settings are as follows:

• Client Authentication Mode: Basic Authentication
  Be aware that this setting requires that MobileIron users are provisioned using DOMAIN\SamAccountName notation and not the UPN Name
• SSO Domain: An existing SSO Domain configuration for user authentication
• Allowed Virtual Hosts: The FQDN matching the Load Master virtual service IP address accessed by MobileIron Sentry to connect to Exchange Server
• Allowed Virtual Directories: Can be limited to /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync otherwise leave the default /*
• Permitted Groups: The name of the Active Directory security group containing the allowed users
• Server Authentication Mode: Basic Authentication

Real Servers

In the Real Servers section you add all member servers of your Exchange Server DAG. Ensure to use the HTTPS protocol the health checks and ensure to query the /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync/healthcheck.htm document.

Using this configuration you've added your Kemp LoadMaster as an additional authentication endpoint to secure mobile device access to Exchange Server mailboxes.

Enjoy!