Just a quick PowerShell one-liner on how to find all configured room lists in your Exchange organization:
Set-ADServerSettings -ViewEntireForest $true Get-DistributionGroup -ResultSize Unlimited | Where {$_.RecipientTypeDetails -eq "RoomList"} | Format-Table DisplayName,Identity,PrimarySmtpAddress –AutoSize
Enjoy Exchange.
You are not able to list public folders in a co-existence scenario with Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010/2013 using the Exchange 2007 EMS or EMC.
When you try to execute Get-PublicFolder you receive the following error:
Get-PublicFolder " There is no existing PublicFolder that matches the following Identity: '\'. Please make sure that you specified the correct PublicFolder Identity and that you have the necessary permissions to view PublicFolder.
This might happen after you have removed the first Exchange 2007 mailbox server, but not the last Exchange 2007 mailbox server.
Exchange Server 2007 uses the Exchange System Attendant to access the public folder store and fails, if the System Attendant discovery in Active Directory does not provide a proper configuration.
KB 2621350 describes the discovery process:
There two annoying things about these steps
The magic System Attendant mailbox has been removed from Exchange 2010. But the System Attendent configuration node does still exist in the Active Directory Configuration Partition for compatibility reasons. The configured attributes of the System Attendent entry vary depending on the version of the installed Exchange Server.
In regards of public folder issue, we need to focus on the following:
To fix the public folder access issue for Exchange Server 2007, set the homeMDB and homeMTA attributes. Set the Exchange System Attendant attributes to appropriate values for your Exchange servers.
Repeat steps 4 to 8 for each Exchange 2013 server in your environment.
Repeat steps 4 to 13 for each Exchange 2010 server in your environment.
Wait for Active Directory replication and retry to access the public folders using Get-PublicFolder in an Exchange Server 2007 Management Shell.
It might be required to restart the Exchange 2007 Information Store and System Attendant service of the Exchange 2007 server in question
Use an administrative PowerShell
Restart-Service MSExchangeIS Restart-Service MSExchangeSA
I haven’t noticed any issues in production environments so far. If you encounter any issues in your environment, feel free to leave a comment.
You need assistance with your Exchange Server setup? You have questions about your Exchange Server infrastructure and going hybrid? You are interested in what Exchange Server 2016 has to offer for your environment?
Contact me at thomas@mcsmemail.de Follow at https://twitter.com/stensitzki
Last Updated: 2018-01-24
This scripts creates a new room mailbox and security two groups for full mailbox access and and for send-as delegation. The security groups are created using a configurable naming convention. If required by your Active Directory team, you can add group prefixes or department abbreviations as well.
The script uses a Xml configuration file to simplify changes for variables unique for your environment.
High level steps executes by the script:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <Settings> <GroupSettings> <Prefix>pre_</Prefix> <SendAsSuffix>_SA</SendAsSuffix> <FullAccessSuffix>_FA</FullAccessSuffix> <CalendarBookingSuffix>_CB</CalendarBookingSuffix> <TargetOU>mcsmemail.de/IT/Groups/Mail/Rooms</TargetOU> <Domain>mcsmemail.de</Domain> <Seperator>-</Seperator> </GroupSettings> <AccountSettings> <TargetOU>mcsmemail.de/IT/Mail/RoomMailboxes</TargetOU> </AccountSettings> <GeneralSettings> <Sleep>10</Sleep> </GeneralSettings> </Settings>
The calendar booking security group feature is currently not available. But will be available in an upcoming release.
The following example creates a room mailbox for an Conference Room with empty security groups.
.\New-RoomMailbox.ps1 -RoomMailboxName "MB - Conference Room" -RoomMailboxDisplayName "Board Conference Room" -RoomMailboxAlias "MB-ConferenceRoom" -RoomMailboxSmtpAddress "ConferenceRoom@mcsmemail.de" -DepartmentPrefix "C"
You can simplify the use of the script by using a paramterized helper script named Run-NewRoomMailbox.ps1.
The following Run-NewRoomMailbox.ps1 script simplifies the process of creating a team mailbox even more.
$roomMailboxName = 'MB-Conference Room' $roomMailboxDisplayName = 'Board Conference Room' $roomMailboxAlias = 'MB-ConferenceRoom' $roomMailboxSmtpAddress = 'ConferenceRoom@mcsmemail.de' $departmentPrefix = 'C' $groupFullAccessMembers = @('JohnDoe','JaneDoe') # Empty = @() $groupSendAsMember = @() $groupCalendarBooking = @() $RoomCapacity = 0 $RoomList = 'AllRoomsHQ' .\New-RoomMailbox.ps1 -RoomMailboxName $roomMailboxName -RoomMailboxDisplayName $roomMailboxDisplayName -RoomMailboxAlias $roomMailboxAlias -RoomMailboxSmtpAddress $roomMailboxSmtpAddress -DepartmentPrefix $departmentPrefix -GroupFullAccessMembers $groupFullAccessMembers -GroupSendAsMember $groupSendAsMember -RoomCapacity $RoomCapacity -AutoAccept -RoomList $RoomList
I came across an interesting issue when setting up a new Exchange 2013 server in an Exchange organization having the cmdlet extension agent enabled.
As mentioned in my last post Exchange setup checks for the existence of the ScriptingAgentConfig.xml file when agent extenstion is enabled in the Exchange organization. It turned out that this ist not only true when you install an Exchange update using /mode:update, but as well when installing a new Exchange server using /mode:install.
The following error occurs when Exchange Management Tools are provisioned.
Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server Preparing Setup COMPLETED Stopping Services COMPLETED Copying Exchange Files COMPLETED Language Files COMPLETED Restoring Services COMPLETED Language Configuration COMPLETED Exchange Management Tools FAILED The following error was generated when "$error.Clear(); Set-WERRegistryMarkers; " was run: "Microsoft.Exchange.Provisioning.ProvisioningBrokerException: Provisioning layer initialization failed: '"Scripting Agent initialization failed: "File is not found: 'C:\Program File s\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\CmdletExtensionAgents\ScriptingAgentConfig.xml'.""' ---> Microso ft.Exchange.Provisioning.ProvisioningException: "Scripting Agent initialization failed: "File is not found: 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\CmdletExtensionAgents\ScriptingAgentConf ig.xml'."" ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: "File is not found: 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exc hange Server\V15\Bin\CmdletExtensionAgents\ScriptingAgentConfig.xml'." at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.ScriptingAgentConfiguration.Initialize(String xmlConfigPa th) at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.ScriptingAgentConfiguration..ctor(String xmlConfigPath) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.ScriptingAgentConfiguration..ctor(String xmlConfigPath) at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.ScriptingAgentClassFactory.get_Configuration() at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.ScriptingAgentClassFactory.GetSupportedCmdlets() at Microsoft.Exchange.Provisioning.ProvisioningBroker.BuildHandlerLookupTable(CmdletExtensionAgen t[] enabledAgents, Exception& ex) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Exchange.Provisioning.ProvisioningLayer.GetProvisioningHandlersImpl(Task task) at Microsoft.Exchange.Provisioning.ProvisioningLayer.GetProvisioningHandlers(Task task) at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.<BeginProcessing>b__4() at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.InvokeNonRetryableFunc(Action func, Boolean termin atePipelineIfFailed)".
As expected a fresh Exchange install contains the sample file only. The following screenshot shows the Exchange Management Shell and the releated folder in the background.
The only solution currently known to me is to disable the cmdlet extension agent until the setup of the new Exchange server has finished.
Disable-CmdletExtensionAgent "Scripting Agent"
Having the cmdlet extension agent disabled the setup finishes without any issues. Don't forget to copy the cmdlet extension Xml file to the newly built server and to enable the cmdlet extension agent again.
Enable-CmdletExtensionAgent "Scripting Agent"
You might encounter EventId 106 errors on Exchange 2013/2016 servers.
There are some article available on how to fix this issue on servers having a full installationof Exchange Server 2013/2016.
But you might encounter this error on servers having the Exchange 2013/2016 Management Tools installed only as well. In this case the solutions described will not work as expected.
Running the New-PerfCounters cmdlet requires the Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Setup PowerShell snapin. This PowerShell snapin cannot be loaded on servers having the Exchange Management Tools installed.
Add-PsSnapin : The Windows PowerShell snap-in 'Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Setup' is not installed on this computer. At line:1 char:1 + Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Setup + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (Microsoft.Excha...owerShell.Setup:String) [Add-PSSnapin], PSArgumentEx ception + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AddPSSnapInRead,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddPSSnapinCommand
The required code library is available on servers having the Exchange Management Tools installed. But the library is not added to the registry by default.
Registry of a server running Exchange Management Tools only:
Registry of a fully installed Exchange Server:
Just export the registry key Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Setup from an Exchange Server, fix Exchange file paths (if required) and import the regiytry file on the server having the Exchange Management Tools installed.
Example registry file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\PowerShellSnapIns\Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Setup] "CustomPSSnapInType"="Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.SetupPSSnapIn" "ApplicationBase"="D:\\Program Files\\Microsoft\\Exchange Server\\V15\\bin" "AssemblyName"="Microsoft.Exchange.PowerShell.Configuration, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" "Description"="Setup Tasks for the Exchange Server" "ModuleName"="D:\\Program Files\\Microsoft\\Exchange Server\\V15\\bin\\Microsoft.Exchange.PowerShell.configuration.dll" "PowerShellVersion"="1.0" "Vendor"="Microsoft" "Version"="15.0.0.0"
After adding the registry key, you can successfully fix the performance counter issue.
Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Setup New-PerfCounters -DefinitionFileName "$exinstall\setup\perf\WorkerTaskFrameworkPerfCounters.xml”
The Exchange Server product used the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE, aka JET Blue) to store data for decades. The story of the JET Blue (in contrast to JET Red which is used for Access database) can be read here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Jet_Database_Engine). In the acient days of data storage the ESE database was the best choice for storing mostly unstructured data with many dynamic properties.
The Messaging API (MAPI) had been developed in the 1990s to provide programmers with a set of unified interface for easier message exchange. The MAPI documentation at TechNet has been replaced by the current Outlook 2013 MAPI Reference. In todays world it is not easy to find reliable ressource about the original MAPI implementation. The only printed resource is Inside Mapi (Microsoft Programming Series) , ISBN 978-1572313125 , which has been published in 1996.
At Ignite 2015 Ross Smith VI joked about moving the Exchange storage engine to SQL. Back in the day with Exchange 2013 in production and Exchange 2016 coming, this was true. But Ross laid the tracks for the evolution of Exchange.
But it seems that the Exchange Product Team realized that in today's world with heavily standardized communication and less dynamic requirements than in the 1990s the days of JET blue are over. At the same time SQL Server evolved to mature database solution, capable of handling big data. The question was, if it can store SharePoint data, why not Exchange data. After twenty years of Exchange Server using the good ole ESE engine it was time to move on.
The SQL scripts that are used by Exchange to configure SQL are loacted in $exbin\SQL
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[MAPI_PROPERTIES]( [MAPI_PROPERTTY_ID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [MAPI_PROPERTY_NAME] [nchar](127) NOT NULL, [IsWellKnownProperty] [bit] NOT NULL, [MAPI_TYPE_ID] [int] NOT NULL, CONSTRAINT [PK_MAPI_PROPERTIES] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ( [MAPI_PROPERTTY_ID] ASC )WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY] ) ON [PRIMARY] GO ALTER TABLE [dbo].[MAPI_PROPERTIES] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_MAPI_PROPERTIES_MAPI_TYPES] FOREIGN KEY([MAPI_TYPE_ID]) REFERENCES [dbo].[MAPI_TYPES] ([MAPI_TYPE_ID]) GO ALTER TABLE [dbo].[MAPI_PROPERTIES] CHECK CONSTRAINT [FK_MAPI_PROPERTIES_MAPI_TYPES] GO
The current Exchange 2016 CU2 Preview supports an undocumented registry key to activate SQL Server support for Exchange. Personally I do not know, if this was supposed to be officially included in a public realease. So maybe the SQL support was made available by error and is already removed from the most current build again.
The famous SqueakyLobster registry key in has been used in Exchange 5.5 to troubleshoot performance issues. The new "Lobster" key is used to activate hidden code in Exchange Server product. The name of the key is LobsterMapiDB.
This key activates support for Exchange modern storage. Without this key you won't be able to move mailboxes from ESE legacy storage to SQL modern storage.
It is assumed that a SQL Server 2014 instance is available. A SQL Server 2014 Express edition is sufficient for testing purposes.
Note: Any changes to configurations or the registry should be validated in a test environment first. Never try this in production right away.
The high level steps required to activate SQL support for Exchange 2016 are:
The detailed steps are:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <!-- Exchange SQL Configuration - preliminary support --> <!-- %MAILBOXDATABASENAME% will be replaced by Exchange --> <!-- More information https://goo.gl/QiTtDo --> <configuration> <sectionGroup name="SqlMapiProviderGroup" type="Microsoft.Exchange.Data.SQL.SqlMapiProviderGroup, Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Common, Version=15.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"> <section name="SqlMapiProviderSection" type="Microsoft.Exchange.Data.SQL.SqlMapiProviderGroup, Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Common, Version=15.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" /> </sectionGroup> <runtime> <gcServer enabled="True" /> <generatePublisherEvidence="False" /> </runtime> <appSettings> <add key="MigrateMailboxesAutomatically" value="false" /> <!-- Not yet supported --> <add key="AllowJETBlueCoexistence" value="true" /> <!-- Allows for SQL/ESE Coexistence in DAG --> <add key="PerDatabaseMaxSize" value="1GB" /> <add key="VerboseLoggingEnabled" value="False" /> </appSettings> <SqlMapiProviderSection> <SqlMapiProvider> <add name="LobsterMapiDB" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Data Source=SERVERNAME\INSTANCE;Initial Catalog=%MAILBOXDATABASENAME%;Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" /> </SqlMapiProvider> </SqlMapiProviderSection> </configuration>
CREATE LOGIN [DOMAIN\Exchange Trusted Subsystem] FROM WINDOWS
More can be found here:
Enjoy Exchange for the next 20 years...
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Are you unsure, if you should migrate to Office 365? You want to know more about security of cloud applications and services? Your Exchange Server infrastructure requires an upgrade? Contact me via email: thomas@mcsmemail.de