You had me @ stfu

Exchange virtual directories default permissions

This article has been ported from my old TechBlog as it is still valid and useful.

I had to look up the default permissions for Exchange Virtual Directories and decided that I should capture them in my techblog for posterity. I got them from here: http://busbar.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/exchange-20102007-virtual-directory_16.html

Nowadays I’m only interested in Exchange 2010, but these are valid for Exchange 2007 as well. It’s handy to have these as a reference for when you are fixing someone else’s mess, which seems to becoming a full-time job for me these days. Just call me 'the fixer'…

NodeStructureSettings

This article has been ported from my old TechBlog as it is still valid and useful.

I noticed an annoyance with an Exchange 2010 deployment with six servers (3 MBX and 3 CAS/HTS) where the servers had a hissy fit when the first MBX server was rebooted. The Exchange Management Console just didn’t want to connect whenever that MBX server was rebooted. It turns out that it relates to the value in the following registry key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\AdminTools\NodeStructureSettings

The fix is to delete the key.

Enter our superhero saviour of the day – Captain Powershell – dah dah dah (fanfair).

Remove-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\AdminTools\ -Name NodeStructureSettings

Just run that on each of your Exchange 2010 servers (see my post about backing up registry keys – what do you mean “you already deleted it”?).

OWApp password change page (standalone)

This article has been ported from my old TechBlog as it is still valid and useful.

I was asked what is the password change page is OWApp by someone who just wants to use it standalone. I know it’s an Exchange Control Panel page, but didn’t know what the url would be for the page on its own. Why would I? Do I have ‘SAD’ written on my forehead? (I’m not talking about those ‘priceless’ photos from my youth). Enough suspense; here it is:

https:///ecp/PersonalSettings/Password.aspx?showhelp=false

Of course, whether you can get to this from outside your domain network depends upon how your organization publishes OWApp. If everything is redirected via /owa, you’ll enter via your mailbox. But if it’s done properly you’ll get the following:

Revealing items hidden in ExBPA

This article has been ported from my old TechBlog as it is still valid and useful.

When viewing a report in ExBPA, you can hide items. But you may wonder how on earth you get them back again. Here’s how.

GUI:

When you are viewing a previous report in ExBPA, click the "Other Reports" radio button. If items have been hidden, you will see a "Hidden items" tab. You can unhide them by choosing "Show me this item again for all instances".

POWERSHELL:

The hidden items are stored in the registry and unhiding them can also be controlled from there.

The path is:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\ExBPA

The key is called SuppressionData and has a string data type. All the items you have suppressed are listed in this key and you can recover them by deleting individual ones or all of them. The values are comma separated.

When hiding items in ExBPA, the choices are “Do not show me this item again for this instance only” and “Do not show me this item again for all instances”. Which choice you make is reflected in the registry by appending the name of the instance you were working with to the name of the item. An item stored in this key that has a server name or Org name is hidden only for that server or Org, whereas an item without anything to accompany it is an exception item for all instances. If you clear the key completely then all hidden data is restored. You can do this with:

Remove-ItemProperty –Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\ExBPA -Name SuppressionData

After you have manipulated the SuppressionData value in the registry you have to restart ExBPA for the changes to take effect.

BTW. If you weren't aware, you can use the Exchange Pre-deployment Analyzer with Windows 7 to view exported EXBPA reports.

Test-OutlookWebServices

This article has been ported from my old TechBlog as it is still valid and useful.

I was trying Test-OutlookWebServices with a new Exchange 2010 SP1 installation and it was failing with:

WARNING: An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Failed to find the mailbox. Mailbox = 'extest…

My friend Google led me to this fix:

http://www.itexperience.net/test-outlookwebservices-failed-to-find-the-mailbox-in-exchange-2010/

telling me that I have to run .\new-TestCasConnectivityUser.ps1 first…

which also failed with:

Mailbox could not be created. Verify that OU ( Users ) exists and that password meets complexity requirements.

Yes & Yes.

My friend Google helped me out again, as the client has more than one OU with the name ‘Users’ in the title (Main Office Users, Test Users, Remote Office Users) with the following:

http://www.zerohoursleep.com/2010/10/new-testcasconnectivityuser-ps1-fails-with-verify-that-ou-users-exists/

advising me to specify the OU as follows:

.\new-TestCasConnectivityUser.ps1 -ou domain.local/users

Woo-hoo. Success. Got there in the end. Thank you. Now what was I trying to do in the first place?

Connecting to Office365 with Powershell

This article has been ported from my old TechBlog as it is still valid and useful.

To manage Office 365 you can use Powershell. Here are the steps that you need to take to get set up for doing so:

http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/hh124998.aspx

Then you need to connect to the service (best to have UAC disabled). Use the ‘Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows Powershell’ that you now have installed, or import the module in Powershell with:

import-module MSOnline

The credentials that you need to provide are admin credentials for your Office 365 portal – that’s how it knows which account to connect to:

$livecred = get-credential; $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection; Connect-MsolService

Now that you are connected, here are the cmdlets that you can use:

http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/hh125002.aspx

You may want to start with:

Get-MsolDomain