How to Use a Specific Domain Controller in Exchange 2010 Management Shell

In a recent post I looked at how to specify a domain controller for use in the Exchange Management Shell for Exchange Server 2007.  In this post I will demonstrate the same technique for Exchange Server 2010.

Any Exchange Management Shell cmdlet will permit you to specify a domain controller using the -DomainController switch.  But you can also set a preferred domain controller for your entire session.

Note the cmdlet to use here – Set-AdServerSettings. This cmdlet configures the session settings such as the preferred Domain Controller and other settings such as the recipient scope.  Check out the full list of Set-AdServerSettings parameters here.

First take a look at the current session settings. In this example dc1.exchangeserverpro.local has been automatically selected.

[PS] C:\>Get-ADServerSettings | fl

RunspaceId                                 : 15e4d968-032b-4cd8-bc66-bf0b665c4161
DefaultGlobalCatalog                       : DC1.exchangeserverpro.local
PreferredDomainControllerForDomain         : {}
DefaultConfigurationDomainController       : DC1.exchangeserverpro.local
DefaultPreferredDomainControllers          : {DC1.exchangeserverpro.local}
UserPreferredGlobalCatalog                 :
UserPreferredConfigurationDomainController :
UserPreferredDomainControllers             : {}
RecipientViewRoot                          : exchangeserverpro.local
ViewEntireForest                           : False
Identity                                   :
IsValid                                    : True

Using Set-ADServerSettings we can specify the preferred server for the current session with the -PreferredServer switch.

[PS] C:\>Set-ADServerSettings -PreferredServer dc2.exchangeserverpro.local

Now Get-ADServerSettings shows this change has occurred.

[PS] C:\>Get-ADServerSettings | fl

RunspaceId                                 : b15cbfd9-5144-442e-bc74-c00a3216b864
DefaultGlobalCatalog                       : dc2.exchangeserverpro.local
PreferredDomainControllerForDomain         : {}
DefaultConfigurationDomainController       : dc2.exchangeserverpro.local
DefaultPreferredDomainControllers          : {DC1.exchangeserverpro.local}
UserPreferredGlobalCatalog                 : dc2.exchangeserverpro.local
UserPreferredConfigurationDomainController : dc2.exchangeserverpro.local
UserPreferredDomainControllers             : {dc2.exchangeserverpro.local}
RecipientViewRoot                          : exchangeserverpro.local
ViewEntireForest                           : False
Identity                                   :
IsValid                                    : True