Just can't get enough of IT

Description

When you want to migrate your modern public folders from Exchange 2013 or newer to modern public folders in Exchange Online, you must prepare the public folder names for migration.

Public folder names are not allowed to contain the following:

• A backslash "\"
• A forward slash "/"
• A semicolon ";"
• A comma ","
• A colon ":"
• Leading or trailing spaces

The script Fix-ModernPublicFolderNames.ps1 fixes the public folder names to prepare migration to modern public folders in Exchange Online.

Examples

# EXAMPLE 1
# Rename and trim public folders

.\Fix-ModernPublicFolderNames.ps1

# EXAMPLE 2
# Rename and trim public folders, export list of renamed 
# folders and folders with renaming errors as text files

.\Fix-ModernPublicFolderNames.ps1 -ExportFolderNames

Version History

• 1.0, Initial community release

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Fix-PublicFolderNames

Follow

• Twitter @stensitzki
• LinkedIn

Community

Are you located in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland? Join the Exchange User Group DACH to collaborate with other Exchange enthusiasts.
Follow us on Twitter @exusg, join on Meetup, or visit our website. 

Description

This script reads Exchange Organization data and creates a single Microsoft Word document. A later version will support exporting to an Html file.

The script requires an Exchange Management Shell for Exchange Server 2016 or newer. Older EMS versions are not tested.

A locally installed version of Word is required, as plain Html export is not available, yet.

The default file name is 'Exchange-Org-Report [TIMESTAMP].docx'. 

Most of the script requires only Exchange admin read-only access for the Exchange organization. Querying address list information requires a membership in the RBAC role "Address Lists".

The script queries hardware information from the Exchange server systems and requires local administrator access to the computer systems.

Examples

# Example 1
# Create a Word report for the local Exchange Organization using 
# the default values defined on the parameters section of the PowerShell script.

.\Get-ExchangeOrganizationReport.ps1 -ViewEntireForest:$true

# Example 2
# Create a Microsoft Word report for the local Exchange Organization with 
# a verbose output to the current PowerShell session.

.\Get-ExchangeOrganizationReport.ps1 -Verbose

Version History

• 0.9. Initial community release
• 0.91, Information about processor cores, memory, and page file size added

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Get-ExchangeOrganizationReport
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Gather-Exchange-Organizatio-8c0dd625

Additional Credits

The script is based on the ADDS_Inventory.ps1 PowerScript by Carl Webster: https://github.com/CarlWebster/ActiveDirectory

Follow

• Twitter @stensitzki
• LinkedIn
• Xing

Description

This script creates an HTML report showing the following information about an Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and, to a lesser extent, 2007 and 2003 environment.

The report shows the following:

•  As summary
  • Total number of servers per Exchange Server version
  • Total number of mailboxes per On-Premises Exchange Server version, Office 365, and Exchange Organisation
  • Total number of Exchange Server functional roles
     
• Per Active Directory Site
  • Total number of mailboxes
  • Internal, External, and CAS Array names
  • Exchange Server computers
    • Product version
    • Service Pack, Update Rollup, and/or Cumulative Update
    • Number of preferred and maximum active databases
    • Functional Roles
    • Operating System with Service Pack
       
• Per Database Availability Group
  • Total number of member servers
  • List of member servers
  • DAG databases
    • Number of mailboxes and average mailbox size
    • Number of archive mailboxes and average archive mailbox size
    • Database size
    • Database whitespace
    • Disk space available for database and log file volume
    • Last full backup timestamp
    • Circular logging enabled
    • Mailbox server hosting an active copy
    • List of mailbox servers hosting database copies
       
• Per Database (Non-DAG, pre-DAG Exchange Server)
  • Storage group and database name
  • Server name hosting the database
  • Number of mailboxes and average mailbox size
  • Number of archive mailboxes and average archive mailbox size
  • Database size
  • Database whitespace
  • Disk space available for database and log file volume
  • Last full backup timestamp
  • Circular logging enabled
     

The script uses a separate CSS file for styling the HTML output.

Examples

# Example 1
# Generate an HTML report and send the result as HTML email with attachment 
# to the specified recipient using a dedicated smart host

.\Get-ExchangeEnvironmentReport.ps1 -HTMReport ExchangeEnvironment.html -SendMail `
-ViewEntireForet $true -MailFrom roaster@mcsmemail.de -MailTo grillmaster@mcsmemail.de -MailServer relay.mcsmemail.de

Example Screenshot

Version History

• 2.0, Initial community release
• 2.1, Table header label updated for a more consistent labeling
• 2.2, Bug fixes and enhancements
  • CCS fixes for Html header tags (issue #5)
  • New script parameter ShowDriveNames added to optionally show drive names for EDB/LOG file paths in database table (issue #4)
  • Exchange organization name added to report header

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Get-ExchangeEnvironmentReport
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Exchange-Environment-11fa7246

Additional Credits

Additional credits go to Steve Goodman for the original Exchange Environment Report V1.x scripts.

Follow

• Twitter @stensitzki
• LinkedIn
• Xing

When you run the following cmdlet to prepare Active Directory for the installation of an Exchange Server Cumulative Update (in this case CU17) you might encounter a System.UnauthorizedAccessException. 

D:\tmp\Cu17>setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 17 Unattended Setup


Unhandled Exception: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\
Windows\Temp\ExchangeSetup\ExSetup.exe' is denied.
   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
   at System.IO.File.SetAttributes(String path, FileAttributes fileAttributes)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Setup.CommonBase.SetupHelper.DeleteDirectory(String pat
h)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Bootstrapper.Setup.BootstrapperBase.CopySetupBootstrapp
erFiles()
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Bootstrapper.Setup.Setup.Run()
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Bootstrapper.Setup.BootstrapperBase.MainCore[T](String[
] args)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Bootstrapper.Setup.Setup.Main(String[] args)

There is a simple reason for the the System.UnauthorizedAccessException:

• .NET Framework Optimization Service 

The required .NET Framework 4.6.2 had been installed just minutes before executing setup.exe. Preparation of the Active Directory schema ran without any issues. But when the /PrepareSchema call finished, the temporary folder in C:\Windows\Temp\ExchangeSetup could not be fully cleaned up, as mscorsvw.exe had an open file handle on ExSetup.exe.

Additionally, when you run Setup.exe and the folder C:\Windows\Temp\ExchangeSetup exists, the setup will not try to copy required installation files. Regardless if the folder files exists in the folder or not.

Solution

• End both mscorsw.exe processes or wait until both process have finished optimizing your .NET Framework applications
• Manully delete the folder C:\Windows\Temp\ExchangeSetup
• Run the required Exchange setup step again

D:\tmp\Cu17>setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 17 Unattended Setup

Copying Files...
File copy complete. Setup will now collect additional information needed for
installation.

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

    Prerequisite Analysis                                     COMPLETED

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

    Organization Preparation                                  COMPLETED

The Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.

Enjoy Exchange!

There are quite a lot of good step-by-step manuals available describing how to enable Kerberos authentication for Exchange Server 2013/2016.

The following issue has been seen in an Exchange 2013 infrastructure (8 server DAG) where Outlook clients use OutlookAnyhwere to connect to Exchange Server. MAPI over Http is disabled on an organizational level due to a compatibility issue with another client software.

Problem

Even if you follow the detailed descriptions you might end up in a situation where your Outlook clients still won't connect to Exchange Server using Kerberos. The Outlook connection status overview (Ctrl + Right Click on the Outlook icon in System Tray) still shows Ntlm as the used authentication provider:

Reason

You are supposed to use the following PowerShell cmdlets to configure OutlookAnywhere to use Kerberos:

Get-OutlookAnywhere -Server CASSERVER | Set-OutlookAnywhere -InternalClientAuthenticationMethod  Negotiate

All eight Exchange 2013 servers where still not offering Nego as an authentication provider even after some period of time. Verifying the OutlookAnywhere configurations using PowerShell showed the correct configuration values. So what to do?

A quick check at the IIS authentication settings of the \Rpc virtual directory of the Front End web site (Default Web Site) showed that this virtual directory was still configured to use Ntlm only.

Solution

Use the IIS management consolte to add the Negotiate authentication provider to the list of available providers and reorder the list to use Nego first.

Now Outlook clients will pick up the configuration change an will connect to OutlookAnywhere using Kerberos.

Note

You should not use the IIS management console to change any settings of the Exchange Server virtual directories during normal operations. Using the IIS management console should only be used for troubleshooting fancy situations that you encounter in your Exchange Server infrastructure. 

The preferred method to change Exchange Server vDir settings is PowerShell.

Links

• Configuring Kerberos authentication for load-balanced Client Access services (Exchange 2016), https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff808312(v=exchg.160).aspx
• Configuring Kerberos authentication for load-balanced Client Access servers (Exchange 2013), https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff808312(v=exchg.150).aspx

Enjoy Exchange Server