With the latest version of DirSync, Microsoft has created a full PowerShell module for DirSync instead of that semi-module we used to have to run to get the Start-OnlineCoexistanceSync command. Since we figured out that we can run Import-Module DirSync now to get the Start-OnlineCoexistanceSync cmdlet, I figured there must be other commands in this module. So I did some poking around to see if I could find out what they might be.
Read moreConnections conference sessions
It is my great honor to say that Tony Redmond, whose many books have been my primary resource for learning Exchange, has asked me to speak at the IT Connections conference in Las Vegas this September. I am both excited and more than a little bit nervous about speaking at this event, but I guess the only way to grow is to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Read moreGet-EDSData part 2
When we left our intrepid hero, I had just completed a very basic script to collate a single performance counter from the daily performance logs of an Exchange 2013 server into its own .blg file. The code for this script looked like this...
Read moreThe Get-EDSData project
If you saw my blog post last week on Pulling performance counter data from daily performance logs you now know, as I do, that Exchange 2013 records a ton of performance data on your Exchange server by default. I was recently out on a walk, where I do some of my best thinking, trying to come up with a way to make use of all that data. Thusly was the Get-EDSData project was born. I am by no means a PowerShell expert. I’m not quite a PowerShell novice, but honestly I am probably closer to being a novice than an expert.
Read morePreventing accidentally deleted accounts from syncing via DirSync
Believe it or not, I’ve done some pretty dumb things. I’ve deleted all kinds of things that I should not have, and I’m fairly confident that I’ll do more dumb things in the future. The best I can do is know that I am going to screw things up and try to figure out ways to make sure I can recover from screw ups when they happen. It that vein, I was pretty happy to discover a new DirSync setting that helps prevent the accidental deletion of large numbers of AD accounts from Azure AD and/or Office 365.
Read morePulling performance counter data from daily performance logs
Exchange 2013 collects a lot of performance data on itself by default. By a lot I mean that your Exchange 2013 server has data for about 3,000 performance counters for the last seven days sitting there waiting for you to access them. The problem, however, is that it is not readily apparent how to use this data in its native form. If you open the DailyPerformanceLogs folder on your Exchange 2013 server (C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Logging\Diagnostics\DailyPerformanceLogs by default) you will see 7 rather large files there with the extension .blg. On my lab servers they tend to run about 750MB each. If you open one up with performance monitor you’ll see a useless tangle of lines that will lend you absolutely no assistance in diagnosing the performance issues on your Exchange server. So how do you glean useful information from these logs? Well read the answers are below.
Read moreOffice 365 tenant administrator roles have changed
For the last 3 years, Office 365 has had a rather poor set of choices for the roles you can assign to your administrators. The old administrator roles for Office 365 are; Billing admin, Global admin, Password admin Service admin, and User management admin. I don’t think that these roles are terribly self-explanatory to most of the people to whom they would be assigned, and they don’t really map to real world jobs that administrators do. The only role there with usable administrate rights is global admin, the other roles are all for some level of running Office 365 itself. The Global admin role has all the rights to all the constituent parts of Office 365; Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint. In the real world, there are not many people who actually know how to work those 3 different technologies. As of this morning, Microsoft has changed the roles groups into something that looks like it makes more sense.
Read moreOffice 365 feature release roadmap
I’m a pretty big fan of Office 365, not just because Office 365 migrations are the majority of how I make a paycheck. In general I think Office 365 is the current best example of “the cloud”, meaning Office 365 is the most complete and useable group of workloads that business IT departments can outsource to make both their and their users work lives better. That being said, I do have a few of issues with Office 365 and most of them are communication.
Read moreForcing a manual DirSync
Remember the old days (by which I mean last week) when the process to force a DirSync to run from your DirSync server was to run the .\DirSyncConfigShell.psc1 then you could access the Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync commandlet? Well, Semper Gumbi (pseudo-Latin for “always flexible”) faithful readers because things have changed.
Read moreNew SSL certificate causing mail flow to fail in hybrid deployments
This is a problem that I have seen, and just came up on the Exchange master list, so I thought it would be something that might save others some time and headaches. Renewing your SSL certificate on your Exchange hybrid server can cause mail flow to stop. Here’s why…
Read moreExchange Online and the staged migration
I do a lot of Exchange Online migrations. I’m not really sure how many I have done, but I would guess the number is between 50 and 100 over the last 3 years. Over 90% of those migrations have been Hybrid. In fact, I’m pretty sure only one or two of those migrations have not been hybrid. Recently I had occasion to do a staged migration. I’d like to go through that process and discuss why I ended up making the choices I did.
Read moreCreating a function to connect to Exchange Online
OK so I’m way behind on this. I do migrations to Office 365/Exchange Online almost constantly, but I have been opening Remote PowerShell connections to Exchange Online the hard way. What I am about to post below is in no way original or timely. I am mostly posting it here so I can find it again without having to do too much searching.
Read moreExchange 2013 CU5
Earlier this week Microsoft released CU5 for Exchange 2013. Overall CU5 is mostly bug fixes and clean-up items left after SP1. There is not a whole lot of new functionality in this release. That being said, there are a few new things worth noting.
Read moreSelf Service Password Reset writeback to Windows Server AD using DirSync
As soon as I heard about password sync for DirSync, my first feature request was password write back. It’s been just about a year since password sync capabilities were added to DirSync and how we have password reset writeback available in public preview. There are a couple of caveats that we need to cover, but for the most part this feature is here and ready to go.
Read moreRecovering a from a datacenter failure
In previous posts (before I got all busy writing my sessions for IT connections), I promised to detail the process for recovering from a datacenter failure. For the purposes of this post I’ll assume we’re talking about a 2 site Exchange deployment with 2 Exchange servers at each site. All 4 Exchange servers are members of the same DAG, and all databases are replicated to all servers. We are also assuming that the DAG in question is running DAC mode.
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