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. 

Exchange Server 2016 introduced the PowerShell cmdlet Get-MailboxServerRedundancy. This cmdlet helps you plan and prepare for Exchange Server maintenance by querying the current maintenance readiness of the database availability group (DAG). 

Interestingly, there is no PowerShell help available for this vital cmdlet. Microsoft Docs or Exchange Management Shell's Get-Help provide any valuable information.

When querying a DAG about the server redundancy status, the cmdlet's default output provides you with the essential information.

The default output contains information about:

• Identity
  Name of the DAG member server
   
• IsServerFoundInAD
  Indicates if the corresponding server computer object exists Active Directory
   
• IsInMaintenance
  Indicates if the server is currently in maintenance mode
   
• RepairUrgency
  Indicates an aggregated state of the mailbox database and search index repair modes 
   
• SafeForMaintenance
  Indicates if you can safely activate the maintenance mode for this server
   
• HealthInfoLastUpdateTime
  Timestamp when the server's health state was last updated
   

Example - Prior Maintenance

This example shows the Get-MailboxServerRedundancy output of a six server DAG, before activating maintenance mode for server LOCEXS06.

Get-MailboxServerRedundancy -DatabaseAvailabilityGroup EXDAG01

Identity        IsServerFound IsInMainten RepairUrgency SafeForMaintenance HealthInfoLastUpdateTime
                InAD          ance
--------        ------------- ----------- ------------- ------------------ ------------------------
LOCEXS01        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 09:10:11
LOCEXS02        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 09:10:11
LOCEXS03        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 09:10:11
LOCEXS06        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 09:10:11
LOCEXS05        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 09:10:11
LOCEXS04        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 09:10:11

As Exchange Administrator, you are most interested in the information displayed in columns RepairUrgency and SafeForMaintenance.

As you can see in this screenshot, no server is in maintenance mode. Servers S01 and S04 have a RepairUrgency state of Prohibited, and a SafeForMaintenance state of False. The latter tells us that we cannot activate maintenance mode for servers safely without risking mailbox database redundancy. 

What is the reason for this? Let's have a look.

Server Information

You can use the same cmdlet to query detailed information for each member server of the DAG. The default output for a single server does not provide any additional information on the server status. 

Get-MailboxServerRedundancy -DatabaseAvailabilityGroup EXDAG01 -Identity LOCEXS01

Identity        IsServerFound IsInMainten RepairUrgency SafeForMaintenance HealthInfoLastUpdateTime
                InAD          ance
--------        ------------- ----------- ------------- ------------------ ------------------------
LOCEXS01        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 09:11:11

Because we cannot activate maintenance mode for server LOCEXS01 safely, we are interested in identifying which redundancy state is responsible.

You can find this information by displaying the detailed server information.

Detailed Server Information

Use the Format-List, or short FL, cmdlet to display the Get-MailboxServerRedundancy cmdlet output as a formatted list.

Get-MailboxServerRedundancy -DatabaseAvailabilityGroup EXDAG01 -Identity LOCEXS01 | FL

RunspaceId                                  : 70d82f8d-e6ca-4bfc-863f-11300a9784ff
Identity                                    : LOCEXS01
IsServerFoundInAD                           : True
IsInMaintenance                             : False
RepairUrgency                               : Prohibited
SafeForMaintenance                          : False
ServerContactedFqdn                         : LOCEXS04.VARUNAGROUP.DE
HealthInfoCreateTime                        : 15.06.2018 15:16:19
HealthInfoLastUpdateTime                    : 17.02.2020 09:11:11
ServerFoundInAD                             : CurrentState: Active; LastActiveTransition: 15.06.2018 15:22:16;
                                              LastInactiveTransition:
InMaintenance                               : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 17.01.2020 09:07:02;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 17.01.2020 10:42:02
AutoActivationPolicyBlocked                 : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 09.01.2020 10:14:50;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 09.01.2020 11:00:51
ActivationDisabledAndMoveNow                : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: ; LastInactiveTransition:
                                              15.06.2018 15:22:16
HighAvailabilityComponentStateOffline       : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 17.01.2020 09:07:02;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 17.01.2020 10:42:02
CriticalForMaintainingAvailability          : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 31.01.2020 16:52:49;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 31.01.2020 16:56:49
CriticalForMaintainingRedundancy            : CurrentState: Active; LastActiveTransition: 29.01.2020 11:43:06;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 29.01.2020 11:42:06
PotentiallyCriticalForMaintainingRedundancy : CurrentState: Active; LastActiveTransition: 01.02.2020 05:49:37;
                                              LastInactiveTransition:
CriticalForRestoringAvailability            : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 06.05.2019 09:16:36;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 06.05.2019 09:20:36
CriticalForRestoringRedundancy              : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 29.01.2020 11:42:06;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 29.01.2020 11:43:06
HighForRestoringAvailability                : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 29.01.2020 11:42:06;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 29.01.2020 11:43:06
HighForRestoringRedundancy                  : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 10.02.2020 09:05:02;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 10.02.2020 09:06:02
IsSafeForMaintenance                        : CurrentState: Inactive; LastActiveTransition: 03.11.2019 09:42:35;
                                              LastInactiveTransition: 12.11.2019 06:29:58
IsValid                                     : True
ObjectState                                 : Unchanged

The lines 24-27 show the information we want to know. Both, the CriticalForMaintainingRedundancy and PotentiallyCriticalForMaintainingRedundancy parameters have a CurrentState value of Active. The Primary Activation Manager (PAM) considers the server availability critical to provide redundant availability of the database copies hosted by this server. 

Each of state-parameter shows three pieces of information:

• CurrentState
  The current state, either Active  or Inactive
   
• LastActiveTransition
  The timestamp of the last state change to Active
   
• LastInactiveTransition
  The timestamp of the last state change to Inactive

But there is still the bothering question of why are two of the six servers not safe for activating maintenance?

The reason is simple. The mailbox databases mounted by the member servers of the DAG have a different number of database copies. This configuration is due to data storage capacity constraints.

The mailbox databases storing primary user mailboxes use four database copies per database. Those copies are evenly distributed across all six mailbox servers. Mailbox database storing online archive mailboxes use three copies per database. This database copy layout allows for safely activating server maintenance for one server at a time without risk to database redundancy.

The servers LOCEXS01 and LOCEXS04 hold mailbox databases with just two copies per configured database. Placing one of those two servers into maintenance mode reduces the database availability for these mailbox databases to one. Therefore, PAM informs us that database redundancy is at risk when activating maintenance for those two servers. 

Example - During Maintenance

This example shows the member server redundancy state while LOCEXS06 is in maintenance. The reason for monthly maintenance for installing Windows updates.

Maintenance was activated using the StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 PowerShell script.

Get-MailboxServerRedundancy -DatabaseAvailabilityGroup indag01

Identity        IsServerFound IsInMainten RepairUrgency SafeForMaintenance HealthInfoLastUpdateTime
                InAD          ance
--------        ------------- ----------- ------------- ------------------ ------------------------
LOCEXS01        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 11:04:12
LOCEXS02        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 11:04:12
LOCEXS03        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 11:04:12
LOCEXS06        True          True        High          True               17.02.2020 11:04:12
LOCEXS05        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 11:04:12
LOCEXS04        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 11:04:12

Having a single server in maintenance has a significant impact on all other servers in the DAG. The servers LOCEXS03 and LOCEXS05 are not safe for maintenance as well. Activating maintenance for those two servers would affect the database redundancy for the databases hosted by those two servers.

Example - After Maintenance

After completing all maintenance tasks, e.g., installing Windows Updates or a new Exchange Server Cumulative Update, you end server maintenance using the PowerShell script StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1.

We query the server redundancy state again. 

Get-MailboxServerRedundancy -DatabaseAvailabilityGroup indag01

Identity        IsServerFound IsInMainten RepairUrgency SafeForMaintenance HealthInfoLastUpdateTime
                InAD          ance
--------        ------------- ----------- ------------- ------------------ ------------------------
LOCEXS01        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 11:23:12
LOCEXS02        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 11:23:12
LOCEXS03        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 11:23:12
LOCEXS06        True          False       High          True               17.02.2020 11:23:12
LOCEXS05        True          False       Normal        True               17.02.2020 11:23:12
LOCEXS04        True          False       Prohibited    False              17.02.2020 11:23:12

Server LOCEXS06 is not in maintenance, but the RepairUrgency state is High. The local Exchange Server replication engine is still busy replicating and processing log files, and updating the search indices. When CopyQueueLength and ReplayQueueLength are back to 0, and ContentIndexStates are back to Healthy, the RepairUrgency switches to Normal.

Tip

• You receive an error message when activating maintenance for an Exchange Server not safe for maintenance using
  ​StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 -serverName [SERVER]
  
  In this case, you must use:

.\StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 -serverName SERVERNAME -overrideMinimumTwoCopies:$true

Enjoy Exchange Server!

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 gathers a list of enabled users for a selected Exchange Server client protocol. The list of users is sent by email as HTML text in the email body or as an attached CSV file. You can select to gather data for a single protocol or for all protocols.

Available protocols are:

• POP
• IMAP
• ActiveSync

Requirements

• Windows Server 2012 R2 or newer
• Exchange 2016+ Management Shell
• GlobalFunctions module (found here)

Examples

# Find users having all protocols enabled, create a CSV file per protocol and send an email with CSV attachments

.\Get-EnabledProtocolReport.ps1 -SendMail -MailFrom automation@varunagroup.de -MailTo report@varunagroup.de -MailServer relay.varunagroup.de -Protocol ALL


# Find users having all protocols enabled, create a CSV file per protocol

.\Get-EnabledProtocolReport.ps1 -Protocol ALL -ExportCsv

Version History

• 1.0, Initial community release

Links

• Download and follow at Github: https://github.com/Apoc70/Get-EnabledProtocolReport
• Download and like at TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Script-to-remove-unwanted-9d119c6b

Follow Me

• 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