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Exchange 2010 FAQ: What is the Difference Between Disabling and Removing a Mailbox

Paul Cunningham — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:13:11 +0000

Question: What is the difference between disabling and removing an Exchange 2010 mailbox using the Exchange Management Console?

Something that I see a lot of new Exchange administrators get mixed up with is the difference between disabling and removing mailboxes in Exchange Server 2010.

In the Exchange Management Console when a mailbox is selected the actions pane shows two tasks; Disable and Remove.

Exchange 2010 mailbox tasks: Disable and Remove

These two tasks do the following:

Disable will remove the Exchange attributes for the user account but leave the user account in Active Directory. The mailbox is then also left in the Exchange mailbox database until the retention period has lapsed, then it is removed permanently.
Remove will remove both the Exchange mailbox and the user account from Active Directory

Unfortunately some admins wrongly assume that Disable is for temporarily disabling mailboxes, and that Remove will only remove the mailbox and not the user account.

If you’re having trouble remember the correct usage of these tasks think about it in terms of the Exchange Management Shell commands and how they pair up.

Enable-Mailbox is for creating a mailbox for an existing user, and Disable-Mailbox removes only the Exchange attributes from the user account
New-Mailbox is for creating a new AD user and mailbox at the same time, and Remove-Mailbox removes both the mailbox and the user object.

But if thats too hard just to try to remember that Disable is the safest option, because you can quickly reconnect the mailbox to the user again if it is still within the retention period.

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Exchange 2010 FAQ: Why Can’t I Manage Mailboxes in AD Users & Computers Any More?

Paul Cunningham — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:12:12 +0000

Question: Why can’t I manage Exchange 2010 mailboxes in AD Users & Computers any more?

One of the first things my customers notice when I demonstrate Exchange Server 2010 management to them is that mailboxes are no longer created or managed in the Active Directory Users & Computers console.

This is sometimes alarming for them because it means that migrating to Exchange 2010 forces a change in their administrative habits and workflows, for example creating a user account and a mailbox now requires two different management tools instead of just one.

I usually explain a few or all of the following reasons for this change:

AD Users & Computers used to integrate nicely with the Exchange 2003 System Manager tools
AD Users & Computers uses a different MMC version than the Exchange Management Console
The Exchange Management Console is now built on top of PowerShell, which AD Users & Computers is not
The change re-unites Exchange mailbox management with organization and server management in a single console
The sheer number of management tasks available in the Exchange Management Console would make the AD Users & Computers interface too crowded and confusing
Separating the two is important for organizations that separate the roles of user and Exchange management into different teams with different levels of administrative rights

Personally I’m in favor of the change and have enjoyed having dedicated management tools for Exchange Server 2007 and 2010.

Since the main impact tends to be on new user creation workflow I demonstrate to customers that they can change to one of three approaches:

Create the user account as part of the mailbox creation process in the Exchange Management Console, and then switch to AD Users & Computers to finish the job (eg configure group membership, home drive and profile paths, etc)
Create the user account in AD Users & Computers first, and then switch to the Exchange Management Console to mailbox-enable the account
Use scripting and automation to enable mailboxes for newly created user accounts (eg have a script that checks AD every hour for new user accounts within a certain OU structure and enable a mailbox for them on the appropriate mailbox server)

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Exchange 2010 Certificate Revocation Checks and Proxy Settings

Paul Cunningham — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:00:27 +0000

The Microsoft Exchange Team blog posted about an issue people are experiencing in the field in which certificate revocation status check failures prevent you from assigning a certificate to any Exchange services.

If Exchange can’t access the CRL, the certificate status is returned as RevocationCheckFailure by the shell. In EMC this is displayed as The certificate status could not be determined because the revocation check failed.

When a certificate fails a revocation check due to any of the above reasons, the EMC prevents you from assigning the certificate to any Exchange service. Note, this does not impact certificates that have already been assigned to Exchange services. The services will continue to function.

- Source

Two of the causes of this are listed as:

# Network or proxy misconfiguration, or a firewall rule preventing Internet access

# Intentional blocking of Internet connectivity from the server

In a comment on the post I mention using proxy settings to work around the issue. In other words, if you can use a proxy in Internet Explorer to browse the web when you’re logged onto the server, then you can use this workaround. However, you need to proceed with caution or you may inadvertently break your management connection to the Exchange server.

Firstly, you can check the server’s proxy settings using the netsh command (proxycfg is no longer available in Windows Server 2008 R2).

C:\>netsh winhttp show proxy

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Direct access (no proxy server).

Note: if you can resolve the direct access issue at your proxy/firewall then that is going to be easier than using this procedure. Otherwise, read on.

If you have the correct proxy settings configure in Internet Explorer then netsh lets you import that configuration to the server.

C:\>netsh winhttp import proxy ie

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Proxy Server(s) :  10.10.10.10:80
    Bypass List     :  (none)

Depending on your environment you may find that this breaks you connection to the Exchange server using either the Exchange Management Console or Exchange Management Shell.

VERBOSE: Connecting to ex1.exchangeserverpro.local
[ex1.exchangeserverpro.local] Connecting to remote server failed with the following error message : The client cannot c
onnect to the destination specified in the request. Verify that the service on the destination is running and is accept
ing requests. Consult the logs and documentation for the WS-Management service running on the destination, most commonl
y IIS or WinRM. If the destination is the WinRM service, run the following command on the destination to analyze and co
nfigure the WinRM service: "winrm quickconfig". For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [], PSRemotingTransportExc
   eption
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PSSessionOpenFailed

The reason for this is that the Exchange Management Shell is trying to make a remote connection to the server, even when you are logged on to the server that you want to manage. This is known as Remote Shell and you can read more about it here.

You can see here that when I launch the Exchange Management Shell on my lab server there are corresponding entries in the IIS log files for the connection that I just made to the /powershell virtual directory.

The reason that this breaks your management connectivity to the server is that the proxy you are using is not correctly configured to let you access local websites. Fortunately you can resolve this by using proxy exceptions on your local Internet Explorer settings.

If I configure Internet Explorer to automatically bypass for local sites, and then re-import the settings to the server with netsh, I see different output.

C:\>netsh winhttp import proxy ie

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Proxy Server(s) :  10.10.10.10:80
    Bypass List     :  < local >

In some cases this still might not work if Internet Explorer is not correctly detecting local sites and bypassing the configured proxy. In that case you can manually specify the proxy exceptions in Internet Explorer.

Again when you re-import using netsh you see a different result.

C:\>netsh winhttp import proxy ie

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Proxy Server(s) :  10.10.10.10:80
    Bypass List     :  *.exchangeserverpro.local;< local >

Alternatively, you can set a proxy configuration for the server that is different to that of your own Internet Explorer settings.

C:\>netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="http://10.10.10.10:80" bypass-list="*.exchangeserverpro.local"

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Proxy Server(s) :  10.10.10.10:80
    Bypass List     :  *.exchangeserverpro.local

Again you need to make sure you set the correct exceptions so that management connectivity to the server isn’t broken in the process.

If you can get the proxy settings configured with the right proxy and exceptions you should be able to connect to the server with the console and shell, and also have the server successfully perform CRL checks for your SSL certificates.

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Browsing Mailbox Databases in Exchange 2007 and 2010

Paul Cunningham — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:00:33 +0000

A reader asks whether it is possible to browse through mailbox databases to view the details and statistics of the mailboxes they host on Exchange Server 2007 and 2010. You might recall this was simple to achieve using the Exchange Server 2003 System Manager tools.

The nearest equivalent feature in the Exchange Management Console is using filters in the Recipient Configuration/Mailboxes section of the console.

However this feature does not expose mailbox statistics such as item count and total size. For those types of details we can use the Exchange Management Shell instead.

For example, we can view the mailbox databases in the organization.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabase

Name                           Server          Recovery        ReplicationType
----                           ------          --------        ---------------
Mailbox Database 1             EXCH2010-TEST   False           None
Mailbox Database 2             EXCH2010-TEST   False           None
Mailbox Database 3             EXCH2010-TEST   False           None
Mailbox Database 4             EXCH2010-TEST   False           None

Or to look at the mailboxes within a given database we can pipe one shell command into another.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 1" | Get-Mailbox -ResultSize 15

Name                      Alias                ServerName       ProhibitSendQuota
----                      -----                ----------       -----------------
Administrator             Administrator        exch2010-test    unlimited
Aisha.Bhari               Aisha.Bhari          exch2010-test    unlimited
Alan.Reid                 Alan.Reid            exch2010-test    unlimited
Alannah.Shaw              Alannah.Shaw         exch2010-test    unlimited
Aldith.Walker             Aldith.Walker        exch2010-test    unlimited
Aleisha.Harrison          Aleisha.Harrison     exch2010-test    unlimited
Alex.Heyne                Alex.Heyne           exch2010-test    unlimited
Alice.Mullins             Alice.Mullins        exch2010-test    unlimited
Alison.Pugh               Alison.Pugh          exch2010-test    unlimited
Alison.Lindsay            Alison.Lindsay       exch2010-test    unlimited
Almaz.Duggan              Almaz.Duggan         exch2010-test    unlimited
Amanda.Watters            Amanda.Watters       exch2010-test    unlimited
WARNING: There are more results available than are currently displayed. To view them, increase the value for the
ResultSize parameter.

We can also look at statistics such as item count and total mailbox size of all mailboxes in a given database.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 1" | Get-MailboxStatistics | Sort totalitemsize -desc | ft displayname, totalitemsize, itemcount

DisplayName                             TotalItemSize                                                         ItemCount
-----------                             -------------                                                         ---------
Administrator                           1.402 GB (1,505,666,188 bytes)                                            72179
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000009        84.46 MB (88,567,215 bytes)                                                2977
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000012        77.23 MB (80,986,155 bytes)                                                2568
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000011        71.99 MB (75,483,699 bytes)                                                2489
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000010        70.77 MB (74,204,704 bytes)                                                2523
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000019        54.73 MB (57,390,302 bytes)                                                1917
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000001        51.48 MB (53,980,482 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000020        51.15 MB (53,634,243 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000015        50.92 MB (53,394,939 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000008        50.69 MB (53,153,806 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000016        50.68 MB (53,138,572 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000014        50.62 MB (53,079,853 bytes)                                                1741
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000017        50.58 MB (53,035,273 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000005        50.53 MB (52,980,645 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000004        50.35 MB (52,795,218 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000000        50.31 MB (52,755,053 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000002        50.06 MB (52,490,485 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000023        50.05 MB (52,486,337 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000022        50.03 MB (52,464,722 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000003        49.87 MB (52,292,132 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000021        49.75 MB (52,170,805 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000007        49.6 MB (52,006,854 bytes)                                                 1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000024        49.44 MB (51,841,314 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000018        49.31 MB (51,709,283 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000006        48.64 MB (50,999,424 bytes)                                                1725
EXCH2010-TEST 4FE1F90C-LGU000013        29.46 MB (30,886,139 bytes)                                                 995

Alternatively, we can take a closer look at the mailbox statistics for one specific mailbox.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxStatistics -identity Administrator | fl

RunspaceId              : c3678368-5798-4340-8a0a-ab3f721b1a97
AssociatedItemCount     : 131
DeletedItemCount        : 0
DisconnectDate          :
DisplayName             : Administrator
ItemCount               : 72179
LastLoggedOnUserAccount : DOMAIN\Administrator
LastLogoffTime          :
LastLogonTime           : 1/14/2010 2:19:58 PM
LegacyDN                : /O=TEST ORG/OU=EXCHANGE ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=ADMINISTRATOR
MailboxGuid             : 9658e261-c681-40ac-ad6d-515791e28203
ObjectClass             : Mailbox
StorageLimitStatus      : BelowLimit
TotalDeletedItemSize    : 0 B (0 bytes)
TotalItemSize           : 1.402 GB (1,505,666,188 bytes)
Database                : Mailbox Database 1
ServerName              : EXCH2010-TEST
DatabaseName            : Mailbox Database 1
MoveHistory             :
IsQuarantined           : False
IsArchiveMailbox        : False
Identity                : 9658e261-c681-40ac-ad6d-515791e28203
MapiIdentity            : 9658e261-c681-40ac-ad6d-515791e28203
OriginatingServer       : exch2010-test.domain.local
IsValid                 : True

One of the common tasks that the Exchange Server 2003 System Manager was used for was exporting lists of mailbox users into CSV format for reporting in Excel. We can still achieve this in the Exchange Management Shell by exporting output to a CSV file.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 1" | Get-MailboxStatistics | Sort totalitemsize -desc | Export-CSV C:\mailboxes.csv

The CSV output is formated correctly for easy import into Microsoft Excel.

As you can see although it may seem less intuitive than the previous method of browsing through a GUI the Exchange Management Shell actually makes it much simpler and easier to gather information about the mailboxes in your organization.

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How to Add Remote IP Addresses to Existing Receive Connectors

Paul Cunningham — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:00:35 +0000

The Exchange Management Shell provides the Set-ReceiveConnector cmdlet for modifying settings on Hub Transport server Receive Connectors. This can include the RemoteIPRanges setting, which is the multivalued list of IP addresses on the network that are allowed to use that Receive Connector to send mail.

Most Exchange environments will include at least one Receive Connector that is configured to allow certain hosts and applications to relay email. Over time this may build up a lengthy RemoteIPRanges IP address list. When it comes time to add additional IP addresses to the list it seems logical to use Set-ReceiveConnector, however this cmdlet will overwrite the existing setting with the new IP address specified.

For example, look at the current IP addresses:

[PS] C:\>Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" | fl remoteipranges

RemoteIPRanges : {10.0.0.21, 10.0.0.23, 10.0.0.22, 10.0.0.14, 10.0.0.20, 10.0.0.19, 10.0.0.18, 10.0.0.17, 10.0.0.16, 10
                 .0.0.15, 10.0.0.10, 10.0.0.9, 10.0.0.8, 10.0.0.7, 10.0.0.6, 10.0.0.5, 10.0.0.4, 10.0.0.13, 10.0.0.12,
                 10.0.0.11, 10.0.0.3, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.1}

Note: if the list of IP addresses is too long and is being truncated in the shell output see this tip for extending the enumeration limit.

Now use Set-ReceiveConnector with a new IP of 10.0.0.99:

[PS] C:\>Set-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" -RemoteIPRanges 10.0.0.99

And whoops, we’ve overwritten all of the previous IP addresses!

[PS] C:\>Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" | fl remoteipranges

RemoteIPRanges : {10.0.0.99}

If you were just adding one new IP address the Management Console would do the job, but that can be slow for remote servers and is not as efficient if the change is being applied to multiple servers or involves adding multiple IP addresses.

Fortunately with the Exchange Management Shell we can easily add IP addresses to existing Receive Connectors.

To add a single IP address to an existing Receive Connector:

[PS] C:\>$RecvConn = Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector"
[PS] C:\>$RecvConn.RemoteIPRanges += "10.0.0.99"
[PS] C:\>Set-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" -RemoteIPRanges $RecvConn.RemoteIPRanges

Now we can see that 10.0.0.99 has been added to the Receive Connector.

[PS] C:\>Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" | fl remoteipranges

RemoteIPRanges : {10.0.0.99, 10.0.0.23, 10.0.0.22, 10.0.0.21, 10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3, 10.0.0.11, 10.0.0.12, 10.0.
                 0.13, 10.0.0.4, 10.0.0.5, 10.0.0.6, 10.0.0.7, 10.0.0.8, 10.0.0.9, 10.0.0.10, 10.0.0.15, 10.0.0.16, 10.
                 0.0.17, 10.0.0.18, 10.0.0.19, 10.0.0.20, 10.0.0.14}

To add multiple IP addresses at once use this command sequence:

[PS] C:\>$RecvConn = Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector"
[PS] C:\>$RecvConn.RemoteIPRanges += "10.0.0.99", "10.0.0.100", "10.0.0.101"
[PS] C:\>Set-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" -RemoteIPRanges $RecvConn.RemoteIPRanges

Sometimes the list of IPs being added is too long to type out. To add multiple IP addresses from a text file called newips.txt use this command sequence instead:

[PS] C:\>$RecvConn = Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector"
[PS] C:\>Get-Content .\newips.txt | foreach {$RecvConn.RemoteIPRanges += "$_"}
[PS] C:\>Set-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" -RemoteIPRanges $RecvConn.RemoteIPRanges

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How to Prevent Truncation of Long Output in Exchange Management Shell

Paul Cunningham — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:35:37 +0000

When working in the Exchange Management Shell you may encounter some query output that gets truncated with ellipsis. An example of this is a long RemoteIPRanges list on a Receive Connector. For example:

[PS] C:\>Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" | fl remoteipranges

RemoteIPRanges : {10.0.0.14, 10.0.0.20, 10.0.0.19, 10.0.0.18, 10.0.0.17, 10.0.0
                 .16, 10.0.0.15, 10.0.0.10, 10.0.0.9, 10.0.0.8, 10.0.0.7, 10.0.
                 0.6, 10.0.0.5, 10.0.0.4, 10.0.0.13, 10.0.0.12...}

The reason this happens is that the default Powershell environment for Exchange has an enumeration limit. This is controlled by the $FormatEnumerationLimit variable in the ..\bin\Exchange.ps1 file. This variable has a default value of 16.

[PS] C:\>$FormatEnumerationLimit
16

You can modify the variable to a larger value, or set it to -1 for “unlimited”.

[PS] C:\>$FormatEnumerationLimit =-1

Now when we run the same command the output is no longer truncated.

[PS] C:\>Get-ReceiveConnector "Relay Connector" | fl remoteipranges

RemoteIPRanges : {10.0.0.14, 10.0.0.20, 10.0.0.19, 10.0.0.18, 10.0.0.17, 10.0.0
                 .16, 10.0.0.15, 10.0.0.10, 10.0.0.9, 10.0.0.8, 10.0.0.7, 10.0.
                 0.6, 10.0.0.5, 10.0.0.4, 10.0.0.13, 10.0.0.12, 10.0.0.11, 10.0
                 .0.3, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.1}

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How to Enter the Exchange Server 2010 Product Key for Multiple Servers

Paul Cunningham — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:30:38 +0000

When Exchange Server 2010 is first installed it runs as a 120 day time-limited trial. Within that first 120 days, or preferably before you put the server into production, you must enter a product key to remove the server from trial status.

For multiple servers in the organization this can be achieved using the Exchange Management Shell. First identify which servers are currently in trial mode.

[PS] C:\>Get-ExchangeServer | where {$_.IsExchange2007TrialEdition -eq "True"}

Name                Site                 ServerRole  Edition     AdminDisplayVersion
----                ----                 ----------  -------     -------------------
EX1                 exchangeserverpro... Mailbox,... Standard... Version 14.0 (Bu...

To enter the product key use the Set-ExchangeServer cmdlet with the -ProductKey switch.

[PS] C:\>$trialservers = Get-ExchangeServer | where {$_.IsExchange2007TrialEdition -eq "True"}

[PS] C:\>$trialservers | Set-ExchangeServer -ProductKey 12345-12345-12345-12345-12345
WARNING: The product key has been validated and the product ID has been successfully created. This change won't take effect until the Information Store service has been restarted.

Restart the Information Store on the servers and they are no longer in trial mode.

[PS] C:\>Get-ExchangeServer | fl name,*trial*

Name                              : EX1
IsExchange2007TrialEdition        : False
IsExpiredExchange2007TrialEdition : False
RemainingTrialPeriod              : 00:00:00

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

Paul Cunningham — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:20:17 +0000

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

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How to Modify Recipient Scope in the Exchange Management Shell

Paul Cunningham — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:00:25 +0000

In multi-Domain Forests you may encounter a situation where the Exchange Management Shell is not displaying the results you are expecting for some Get- queries. The reason for this is what is known as the Recipient Scope.

[PS] C:\Admin>Get-Mailbox

Name           Alias          ServerName  ProhibitSendQuota
----           -----          ----------  ---------------
Administrator  Administrator  exchserv    unlimited

The Recipient Scope is the portion of Active Directory that the Exchange Management Shell or Console will use when managing recipients. For example, you may set the scope to a single Domain, OU, or to the entire Forest.

You can view the current Recipient Scope in the Exchange Management Shell.

[PS] C:\Admin>$AdminSessionADSettings

ViewEntireForest              : False
DefaultScope                  : resource.contoso.com
PreferredGlobalCatalog        :
ConfigurationDomainController : dc1.resource.contoso.com
PreferredDomainControllers    : {}

You can also modify the scope. For example, to modify the scope to the entire Forest you would issue this shell command.

[PS] C:\Admin>$AdminSessionADSettings.ViewEntireForest = $true
[PS] C:\Admin>$AdminSessionADSettings

ViewEntireForest              : True
DefaultScope                  :
PreferredGlobalCatalog        :
ConfigurationDomainController : dc1.resource.contoso.com
PreferredDomainControllers    : {}

Notice now that the entire Forest is enabled and the scope is not limited to a single domain. Get- cmdlets for recipient management will now return all recipients in the multi-Domain Forest.

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Configuring the Exchange Server 2007 Product Key

Paul Cunningham — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:00:33 +0000

Your Exchange server will run for 120 days without a product key but you should enter one as soon as possible and certainly before placing the server into production.

You can also enter product keys using the Exchange Management Shell.

Launch the Exchange Management Console from the Start Menu of your server. A warning will appear listing each Exchange server that is currently unlicensed. Click OK to clear the warning.

In the left pane of the Exchange Management console navigate to Server Configuration/Mailbox. Right-click the server in the middle pane and choose Enter Product Key.

Enter your Product Key in the field and then click the Enter button.

You will see a message when the Product Key has been applied warning you that the change does not take effect until the Information Store service is restarted.

You can ignore this for now because we will be restarting that service at least once before the server goes into production.

Click Finish to complete the task.

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Exchange Server Pro » EMC

Exchange 2010 FAQ: What is the Difference Between Disabling and Removing a Mailbox

Related posts:

Exchange 2010 FAQ: Why Can’t I Manage Mailboxes in AD Users & Computers Any More?

Related posts:

Exchange 2010 Certificate Revocation Checks and Proxy Settings

Related posts:

Browsing Mailbox Databases in Exchange 2007 and 2010

Related posts:

How to Add Remote IP Addresses to Existing Receive Connectors

Related posts:

How to Prevent Truncation of Long Output in Exchange Management Shell

Related posts:

How to Enter the Exchange Server 2010 Product Key for Multiple Servers

Related posts:

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

Related posts:

How to Modify Recipient Scope in the Exchange Management Shell

Related posts:

Configuring the Exchange Server 2007 Product Key

Related posts: