Category: Microsoft

Exchange Sizing Calculator & Backup Configuration

I see a lot problems with to small log disks. Sizing Exchange is a very imported thing!! Today there a lot of problems with Thiry-Party Devices. They can create a lot of log files if you run a oudated Exchange Server. Transaction logs are truncated when backup software successfully backs up an Exchange server. The ‘Backup/Truncation Failure Tolerance’ field in the Backup Configuration section, allows a value to be set that specifies how much capacity will be available for logs in the event of backup failures or issues with Thirth party devices. The default value is 3 days. Change This!! This ensures that the server will continue to function and you have the ability to restore from transaction logs for x days, if the backup fails & and if some thirth party device give some trouble. Logs disk & backup should be monitored to ensure that they are successful.

Configure your Exchange 2013 server with Configure-Echange2013.ps1 Updated to V2.5

I love Powershell <3.

Configure & maintaining your Exchange 2013 can be a hell… I do the most things with powershell…

I have a lot of standard scripts to configure an Exchange 2013 server or DAG cluster.

So i created a freaky nice script i my say so!! :

Updated to V2.5

Change List:
# V1.0 Begin
# V1.1 Added Some New Options 12-10-2014
# V1.2 Added Hyper-V Best Practise & NTFS Partition Offset
# V1.3 Added KB2995145 .NET Framework 4.5 garbage collector heap Fix
# V1.4 Added Set Minimum Disk Space Warning level (180GB Default CU6 200GB CU5)
# V1.5 Added Some new features
# V1.6 Changed the Layout & Add Move Arbitration Mailbox
# V1.7 Added PST Export & KB2990117
# V1.8 Added Full backup, Database in GB and Mailbox Size in GB Export CSV
# V1.9 Added Outlook AnyWhere & SafetyNetHoldTime
# V2.0 Added Check DatacenterActivationMode, Get-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupNetwork, Add Static Route, Disable Replation Network on DAG, Database Copies Per Volume (AutoReseed)
# V2.1 Added Edge Subscription
# V2.2 Added Check Transaction Log Growth
# V2.3 Changed the Menu to Submenu’s
# V2.4 Added Check Database White Space
# V2.5 Added MAPI HTTP External URL & Fixed some things

Save the Script as configure-Exchange2013.ps1

Download: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Configure-Exchange-2013-e0ffb2a6

Microsoft Ignite first things about Exchange Server v.Next & Skype for Business

Microsoft Ignite will be hell add may 4-8. The session catalog contains 275 sessions, covering products like Exchange (49), Office 365 (85) and Skype for Business (26). It will be the first major Microsoft event where details will emerge on the next version of Exchange, Exchange v.Next.

The next version of Exchange Server is arriving in the second half of 2015. A short heads-up as the session catalog for Microsoft Ignite has been published. So, if you are still undecided or already want to pick ‘must see’ sessions for your schedule, you can check the session catalog here.

I will not attend Ignite. But i hope the sessions wil be publishd on Channel 9 here.

Short List of sessions:
Tools and Techniques for Exchange Performance Troubleshooting
Meet Exchange Server v.Next
Choosing between Server, Online and Hybrid with Skype for Business
Deploying Exchange Server v.Next
Deep Dive into How Microsoft Handles Spam and Advanced Email Threats
Exchange Server Preferred Architecture
Experts Unplugged: New Exchange Scenarios
Exchange on IaaS: Concerns, Tradeoffs, and Best Practices

Moved al mailboxen to Office 365 & Still using dirsync! Can you remove the last Exchange 2010/2013 Server. Yes It Can! Just don’t do it!! You will have a support issue when you have problems!!

After a customer migrated  to Exchange Online some time ago.
They wanted not a hybrid situation. but they are using still DirSync!

After reading: Decommissioning your Exchange 2010 servers in a Hybrid Deployment a I read its not a real problem.

Changed DirSync & After that Uninstalling Exchange 2013 was very easy.

I had only to disable the Arbitration mailboxes: I did that with the following powershell command:

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | disable-Mailbox -arbitration -RemoveLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed

I did not publish this article because i has still some doubts!!

I had still a question: Do want to remove the last Exchange Server? Have you a supported Environment without a local Exchange Server and still using DirSync??

Yes & No!!

After reading Concerning Trends Discovered During Several Critical Escalations

Microsoft Says:
You may remove the last Exchange Server locale when you move totally to Office 365/Exchange Online, but change Exchange Attribuuts trough ADSI is not supported.

If you don’t have a third party tool for that. The only way is trough ADSI and that is not supported.

My Conclusion:

You have a support issue when you dropped a Call at Microsoft and they investigate your environment.
Don’t remove the last Exchange Server even when all mailboxen exist in Office 365/Exchange Online and keep them up to date!
You can always install a Exchange Server but most of the times it will be always to late!

How to speed up PXE boot in WDS (MDT)

 

During a PXE boot, when the boot image file is being loaded in the client, it should not take any longer than a few minutes time depending on the size of the boot.wim and your network. If it seems that your PXE boot times are extremely slow, you may be able to speed up the process by increasing the TFTP block size. This article will show you how to speed up PXE boot in WDS and SCCM.

Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is the network protocol used for downloading all files during network boots. TFTP is an inherently slow protocol because it requires one ACK (acknowledgment) packet for each block of data that is sent. The server will not send the next block in the sequence until the ACK packet for the previous block is received. As a result, on a slow network, the round-trip time can be very long.

Change the Maximum Block Size to 16784 on your WDS server Winking smile

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MDT Create your own Default Task Sequence

MDT is a greate tool, You can create your own Default Task Sequence for Clients Servers!!

Normal i need to customize every Task Sequence that i create and that is so boring!!

I Create in this example a task sequence (ID & NAME) Server and Changed some things things like Windows Update.

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So now go to to that Folder \\DeploymentShare\Control\Server
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Copy the TS.XML

Go to: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Templates & save the TS.XML File

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Rename the TS.xml file. I my demo Ward Server Deployment.xml

Edit the Name and the Description:image

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When you maken now what to make a new Task Sequence, You will see Ward Server Deployment Listed. Freaking Awesome!!

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Bulk import applicaties in MDT

Mikael Nystrom created i freaking nice script.

Often I need to import applications into the Deployment workbench and that is fine. The process is easy and fast, but it is boring and if you have more then 5 apps it is really boring. Based on the fact that almost all my apps in MDT is deployed using VB or PowerShell wrappers its is just one file in a folder and then there is a subfolder with the content. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that 90% of all the apps pretty much have the same folder and file structure in the root of the application folder, so why don’t we use PowerShell to import all the apps based on some guessing?

The command line:
This is the tricky part, since there is no way to know that it will be a guessing game and the command line might need to be modified after import, but I rather modify 2-3 applications instead of importing all of them manually.
The default cmdline for all imported apps will be:

.EXE    “$Install /q”
.MSI    “msiexec.exe /i $Install /qn”
.MSU    “wusa.exe $Install /Quiet /NoRestart”
.PS1    “PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File $Install”
.WSF    “cscript.exe $Install”

The Script:
The script is rather easy, it takes 2 parameters. The folder from where to import and the deployment share. You need to have MDT installed since it is using PowerShell cmdlets from MDT. The syntax for the script looks like this:

.\Import-MDTApps.ps1 -ImportFolder d:\APPS -MDTFolder D:\DeploymentShare

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You can download the script here: http://1drv.ms/1pGTvkA mirror: Import-MDTApps.7z

Part 1: Running XPEnology under Hyper-V

Some times you find a cool feature on the internet.

XPEnology is an operating system based on Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM). This is possible because Synology DSM has developed under the GPL license . As a result, it is free to use and adapt by third parties. The advantage of XPEnology is that it is compatible with many different hardware and so you almost any old PC / server can use as a NAS. Also you can also XPEnology as a virtual machine (VM) running on ESXi for example, Hyper-V, VirtualBox.

With this flexibility, functionality and ease XPEnology offers a good alternative to a Synology NAS or other NAS solutions.

On XPenology.nl you will find great articles how to run the Software on Hyper-V, ESXi, Workstation and on dedictad hardware.

So i followed this guide: http://www.xpenology.nl/hyper-v-installatie/

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Awesome!!! Open-mouthed smile Open-mouthed smileOpen-mouthed smile

Things to do:
1. Hyper-V Harddisk Pass Through
2. Install & Config SABnzbd
3. Install  &Config Sickbeard
4. Install & Config Couchpotato
5. Config my Diskstation with DNLA to my TV

Keep you posted!!!

Public Folder Move Script to Exchange 2013

Move Public Folder script from 2007/2010 to Exchange 2013 Script created by Ward Vissers www.wardvissers.nl

THIS CODE IS MADE AVAILABLE AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK
OF THE USE OR THE RESULTS FROM THE USE OF THIS CODE REMAINS WITH THE USER

Please Select the Choice You Want

Prepare for Migration (Legacy Exchange Server)
01) Take a snapshot of the original source folder structure
02) Take a snapshot of public folder statistics such as item count, size, and owner.
03) Take a snapshot of the permissions
04) Locate public folders that have a backslash in the name
05) Rename Public Folder
06) Checks the public folder migration status.
07) Set PublicFolderMigrationComplete to False

Check Exchange 2013
08) Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequest
09) Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder
10) Get-PublicFolder

Generate CSV Files and create Public Folder Mailboxes (Legacy Exchange Server)
11) Export-PublicFolderStatistics PFSizeMap.csv
12) PublicFolderToMailboxMapGenerator PFMailboxMap.csv

Create the public folder mailboxes on the Exchange 2013 server
13) Master Public Folder Name
14) Create Public Folder Mailboxen (Check PFMailboxMap.csv)

Migrating the Public Folders
15) BadItemLimit (Exchange 2007 Only)
16) Migrate Exchange 2010 public folders
17) To verify that the migration started successfully (AutoSuspend is Compleet)

Lock down the public folders on the legacy Exchange server for final migration (downtime required)
18) Lock the legacy public folders for finalization

Finalize the public folder migration (downtime required)
19) Finalize the public folder migration (downtime required)

Test and unlock the public folder migration
20) Add Public Folder to Test User
21) Unlock the public folders for all other users
22) Public Folder Migration Complete (Legacy Exchange Server)
23) Public Folders Enabled Local

Final Check
24) Take a snapshot of the original source folder structure.
25) Take a snapshot of the public folder statistics such as item count, size, and owner
26) Take a snapshot of the permissions

99) Exit

Download the script here: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Public-Folder-Move-Script-49126418

Exchange & Patching!!!

Microsoft recommends adopting a software update strategy that ensures all software follows N to N-1 policy, where N is a service pack, update rollup, cumulative update, maintenance release, or whatever terminology is used by the software vendor. Microsoft strongly recommend that our customers also adopt a similar strategy with respect to hardware firmware and drivers ensuring that network cards, BIOS, and storage controllers/interfaces are kept up to date.

Software patching is not simply an issue for Microsoft software. You must also ensure that all inter-dependent solutions (e.g., Blackberry Enterprise Server, backup software, etc.) are kept up-to-date for a specific release as this ensures optimal reliability and compatibility.

Customers must also follow the software vendor’s Software Lifecycle and appropriately plan on upgrading to a supported version in the event that support for a specific version is about to expire or is already out of support.

For Exchange 2010, this means having all servers deployed with Service Pack 3 and either Rollup 7 or Rollup 8 (at the time of this writing). For Exchange 2013, this means having all servers deployed with Cumulative Update 6 or Cumulative Update 7 (at the time of this writing).

For environments that have a hybrid configuration with Office 365, the servers participating in the hybrid configuration must be running the latest version (e.g., Exchange 2010 SP3 RU8 or Exchange 2013 CU7) or the prior version (e.g., Exchange 2010 SP3 RU7 or Exchange 2013 CU6) in order to maintain and ensure compatibility with Office 365. There are some required dependencies for hybrid deployments, so it’s even more critical you keep your software up to date if you choose to go hybrid.

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