Can’t install Exchange 2010 RTM when Exchange 2007 SP3 exists
I am faced with a very funny issue at a client where I'm migrating from Lotus Domino to Exchange.
As you might know Microsoft didn't release migration tools from Lotus to Exchange 2010 directly so the path was Domino -> Exchange 2007 and then Exchange 2007 -> Exchange 2010.
Since Exchange 2007 SP3 has been released a couple of days ago I've installed it on, what I was planning to be, a temporary server.
I was surprised today that I was not able to install Exchange 2010 and setup.com /PrepareSchema failed with the following error.
Backup/Restore/Manage your Exchange whitelist using exchange management shell
I will show you today how to manage, backup and restore you sender safe list on Exchange 2007 and 2010 using exchange management shell cmdlets.
To add a entry
$SafeSenders = (Get-ContentFilterConfig).bypassedSenders $SafeSenders.Add("user@safedomain.com") Set-ContentFilterConfig -BypassedSenders $SafeSenders
To remove an entry
BIS & other EWS applications in Exchange 2007 to 2010 coexistence
I have received comments about my "Installing your first Exchange 2010 CAS" 3 parts - tutorial that it didn't include any reference to services other than OWA. The reason behind this is simply because other services like ActiveSync, POP3, IMAP4, will work through proxying without the need for any additional configuration other than what has already been covered.
However I have faced a strange issue with Exchange Web Services and coexistence of Exchange 2007 and 2010. Since it is clearly stated on technet that
Clients that use Exchange ActiveSync, Exchange Web Services, POP3, and IMAP4 can't use redirection.
I thought it is safe to assume that EWS traffic will be proxied just like it is the case of ActiveSync, POP3 and IMAP4. My thoughts were further confirmed by the same technet article stating that Proxying supported between Client Access servers in the same Active Directory Site for the Exchange Web Services protocol (check section "Client Access protocols for redirection and proxying"), but obviously my thoughts were wrong!
Doing some tests with requests hitting the Exchange 2010 CAS server & using the famous test exchange connectivity website showed failures for users who's mailboxes are still on Exchange 2007 with the following error, while the test passed for users who's mailboxes are now on Exchange 2010.
The Client Access server version doesn't match the Mailbox server version of the resource that was being accessed. To determine the correct URL to use to access the resource, use Autodiscover with the address of the resource.
So it seems that the only way for EWS to work in a mixed Exchange 2007-2010 environment is that the application itself should support Autodiscover.
This is bad news, it means that my client will need to edit manually the settings for all its Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) users!
At this point I am still unsure if it is a bug but it looks like one, so if someone has more insight about it I would really appreciate the feedback.
Hub Transport Rule based on recipient’s domain
If you have played long enough with Hub Transport rules in Microsoft Exchange 2007 you might have noticed that they contain no flexible condition that applies on the recipient's address.
For whatever reason it is always assumed that the recipient is a user inside your organization and you won't find an easy way to implement the missed ToAddressContains predicate.
In this example I will show you how to build your own ToAddressContains predicate and create a Hub Transport Rule that will Blind Carbon Copy all emails sent to @domain.com to a specific mailbox, this mailbox will be called Alerts.
Microsoft Exchange 2007 up to SP1 Rollup update 8
If you are running any version of Exchange 2007 up to SP1 Rollup 8 create your transport rule by running the following from Exchange Management Shell.
Of course make sure to replace @domain.com and Alerts with the required values.
Exclude hidden mailboxes from a Dynamic Distribution Group
Another interesting finding I made thanks to an Expert Exchange question I was involved with.
The question sounded pretty simply
I can create new dynamic distribution groups using powershell and the Exchange Console, but I cannot figure out how to filter the hidden mailboxes so they are not added.
I logically started by trying to use the msExchHideFromAddressLists attribute trying to get the list of mailboxes where it is set to false using the following powershell script to create the Dynamic Distribution List
New-DynamicDistributionGroup -Name "test" -OrganizationalUnit 'mydomain/Distribution Groups' -RecipientContainer mydomain -RecipientFilter { recipienttype -eq 'usermailbox' -and HiddenfromAddresslistsEnabled -eq $false}
But I was surprised to noticed it didn't work! It was actually returning only mailboxes the ones hidden from the address lists. There was something wrong in my OPATH query but wasn't able to find out what up front...
To double check I was not missing something I tried creating another DDG with the same command as above just with HiddenfromAddresslistsEnabled -eq $true and both groups where giving exactly the same results! Here is the full powershell command I used to create test1
New-DynamicDistributionGroup -Name "test1" -OrganizationalUnit 'mydomain/Distribution Groups' -RecipientContainer mydomain -RecipientFilter { recipienttype -eq 'usermailbox' -and HiddenfromAddresslistsEnabled -eq $true}
That was pretty weird !
How to run Exchange .ps1 script as scheduled task
There are many reasons why one would like to run an Exchange powershell .ps1 script as a scheduled task.
In this post I will share with you how to achieve this on both Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010.
Obviously you should start by creating your .ps1 script for this article we will assume the script location is c:\pcs\YourScript.ps1
