Category: Uncategorized

Exchange Server 2010 SP1 and above – Error putting 2 servers at a time in maintenance mode using StartDagMaintenance.ps1 script

   The StartDagMaintenance.ps1 script pauses servers cluster node and blocks chosen servers and databases from being mounted. Here is what it does in the below example, for en environment that has 3 or more Servers with 3 or more database copies per database:  Here is the logic used by the script (big thanks to Allan Wang … Continue reading Exchange Server 2010 SP1 and above – Error putting 2 servers at a time in maintenance mode using StartDagMaintenance.ps1 script →

Exchange 2010/2013 – How to give permissions to users to manage Universal Security Distribution Lists (must use RBAC)

Users on Exchange 201x who try to update or create a Distribution List may get the following error message: "Changes to the public group membership cannot be saved. You do not have sufficient permission to perform this operation on this object.”   Usually, it’s because they don’t have the permissions (reminder: RBAC only for Exchange … Continue reading Exchange 2010/2013 – How to give permissions to users to manage Universal Security Distribution Lists (must use RBAC) →

Windows – 2003 to 2012 – Monitoring replication (without SCOM)

Choice of two useful Tools to monitor AD replication. First is Active Directory Replication Status Tool. Second is REPADMIN.     > Examples below are run in an AD Forest named “Contoso.ca”, composed of 1 domain and 2 DCs (GC2K7 and E2010) with no errors.   Repadmin gives something similar to: PS C:UsersAdministrator> repadmin /showrepl … Continue reading Windows – 2003 to 2012 – Monitoring replication (without SCOM) →

Aide-Mémoire – Converting ExTra ETL trace to CSV

 Just a reminder for me (Extrace.exe is an internal tool used for deep debugging). extrace.exe -c -v ExchangeDebugTraces.etl >TraceOut.csv We have to use the Microsoft.Exchange.Diagnostics.dll matching the Exchange build where the trace come from. To check your Exchange server build, checkout the following link:http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/240.exchange-server-and-update-rollups-build-numbers.aspx Sam.

Exchange Server 2010 – If search fails after upgrading to SP3 (RU2 as well in this case)

 First, as my colleague Rhoderick wrote in a nice and easy-to-read “Troubleshooting Content Indexing” article, we can use the Troubleshoot-CI.ps1 script to try detect other potential issues such as deadlocks (threads blocked and search is waiting on these to continue to index), corruption (not likely here as the state is “Healthy” for the indexes), stall … Continue reading Exchange Server 2010 – If search fails after upgrading to SP3 (RU2 as well in this case) →

Exchange 2007/2010/2013 – Gather email statistics like Exchange Profile Analyzer used to give in the past, but now using Powershell !

 Want to pull out statistics from Exchange such as :· messages sent per mailbox per day · messages received per mailbox per day · average message size… And more if you want ?Use Powershell and Excel now !  I- If you want to pull data from Exchange 2003 to 2007 Exchange versions, then you can use … Continue reading Exchange 2007/2010/2013 – Gather email statistics like Exchange Profile Analyzer used to give in the past, but now using Powershell ! →

Windows 2008 R2 – WMI Quota issue caused by either a WMI leak or an application overallocating WMI memory

 I- Default WMI memory quotas for Windows 2008 R2: Memory Per Host:  536870912 Handles Per Host:  4096 Memory All Hosts:  1073741824 Process Limit All Hosts:  32 Threads Per Host:  256 To check what is the current ones on any Windows 2003 and up servers, you can use the following script, and pipe one or more servers on … Continue reading Windows 2008 R2 – WMI Quota issue caused by either a WMI leak or an application overallocating WMI memory →

Exchange 2010 – Enabling an Autoreply Message (Out Of Office) using the Exchange Management Shell (Powershell)

  Here is how to test it on a user first. 1> Using powershell, do a $objMailbox = Get-Mailbox Some_Test_User to get the user we will assign the Out Of Office to. 2> Now define your text (best is to do it in HTML) and store it on 2 variables $InternalMsg and $ExternalMsg like in … Continue reading Exchange 2010 – Enabling an Autoreply Message (Out Of Office) using the Exchange Management Shell (Powershell) →

How-to procedure – Exchange 2010 SP1+ – Enabling and Troubleshooting Calendar Repair Assistant

  Did you ever have users complaining that meetings didn’t show up for some attendees ? Or a boss scheduling a meeting, and the meeting disappears from his calendar ?   How-To procedure - Exchange Server 2010 SP1 - Operations - Enable Calendar Repair Assistant.pdf   Note: if the Calendar Repair Assistant has to do … Continue reading How-to procedure – Exchange 2010 SP1+ – Enabling and Troubleshooting Calendar Repair Assistant →