Saturday, August 20, 2011

Preparing Windows Server for Exchange 2010


Hey guys,

Before the installation of Exchange 2010 we have to make sure our system answers Microsoft's perquisites.
The next step is preparing our Server by installing a few Roles and Features - Installing one by one is an effort which can be done by three PowerShell commands.
First, open PowerShell (If you don't have- Install it) and type the following commands:

1. Import-Module ServerManager

2.  Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy -Restart

3. Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

4. Download the Filter Pack Here

Finally, install Exchange. 

Dennis. 

Alternate DNS Servers for testing purposes


Hey guys,

While testing or troubleshooting different issues, sometimes we'll need alternate DNS server other than the ISP's.

The most popular one is Google's : 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4
Personally I'm using : 4.2.2.2 / 4.2.2.3

When comparing performance it'll be obvious that the ISP is the winner since the geographic location is closer from Google's - At least in my case (Israel).

Dennis.

Exchange 2003 - Recover Deleted Items


Hey guys,

In case of an accidental mail deletion, even with Shift+Delete, there's a way of restoring it with a simple Registry modification.

Basically when a mail is being completely deleted within Outlook, there is a way of recovering it by selecting the "Tools"->"Recover Deleted Items" option. There is a BUT, we'll be able to see the deleted mail only under "Deleted Items" and we won't be able to see the items that got deleted using Shift+Delete.
To bypass those defaults we'll open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following path :
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Option"
There we'll add the following DWORD:"DumpsterAlwaysOn" and change it to 1.
**The Registry modification will be made on the client computer. We can use Group Policy to apply the change to all the computers in the organization while starting Windows**

I'm adding the Registry tweak which I created, using Group Policy you can apply it as a logon script.

Dennis.