Category: Exchange 2013

Powershell Data Formatting

Scenario:  You have collected information into a variable, and you want to run different formatting commands against that variable to performs tasks such as Sorting, Grouping, Selecting, Ect.

Don’t forget the Pipe!    $final | Sort name

Example of the command you ran:

$final = get-mailboximportrequest -batchname ‘502’

#To display all properties:

$final | FL        #List Style  
$final | Select *  #Table or List Style
$final | FT        # Table Style

#Sorting based on  a property:

$final | Sort Identity   #Ascending Order

$final | Sort Identity -Descending #Descending Order

$final | Sort -unique  # Sorts Unique Values

#Grouping  based on a property

$final | Group RequestQueue   #Provides a Count of number of objects in array based on the value of the RequestQueue.

$final | Group Request Queue | Sort Count #Same as command above by sorts by the count of the value of the Request Queue

# Where statements: Filter your variable based on a Property Value with

$final | Where Status -ne Completed

$final | Where {$_.Status -ne "Completed"}

$final | Where Status -like "*Failed*"

$final | Where WhenCreated -gt "5/3/2016 2:00:00 PM"

#common conditions: 
-eq      equals
-ne      not equals
-gt      greater than
-ge      greater than or equal
-lt      less than
-le      less than or equal
-like    Contains
-notlike Does not contain

#Rename a Property

$final | Select Identity, @{Name="Database";Expression={$_.RequestQueue} #this will display the request queue as the headername of Database.

 

 

Mail automatically deletes itself as soon as it enters into the Inbox.

Scenario:  A mailbox was recently created and every time mail is sent to this mailbox, it immediately deletes from the Inbox.

You have already verified that there are no mailbox rules, mobile devices, and applications that are causing this behavior.

Solution:  Check the RecipientType of the mailbox that was created by running the following command:

get-recipient iBroke

We had a mailbox that was incorrectly configured as a Room Mailbox and this mailbox needed to be a normal user mailbox. The automatic calendar processing was immediately deleting this message.  We resolved this issue by running:

Set-Mailbox iBroke -Type Regular

 

 

Determine which groups are distribution of all the groups a AD user is a member of

Scenario:  A user is a member of multiple security and distribution groups and you wish to determine which of these groups are distribution.

Script:

$1 = (Get-ADUser STEVE -Properties Memberof).memberof
$2 = $1 | %{Get-DistributionGroup $_}

 

Script to import PST’s into a mailbox by first automatically finding the PST file location

Scenario:  You have a list of PST files that you want to import into a mailbox. You want to place the imports into a folder in the mailbox called ‘Imported’ so it doesn’t conflict with the users current mailbox folder structure.

Here is what you have:

  1. A list of users in .csv format with the csv header of NAME
  2. The PST files located in a directory (or multiple sub directories) with the users name in the PST files.
  3. Exchange Powershell!

Script: The script below will take the list of users in the csv format, loop through each user to find their PST’s. For each PST it will create a New Mailbox Import Request. Note – Make sure your properly plan space as you could potentially blow up your database/log size.

#Import the users from the CSV File
$users = Import-csv C:tempusers.csv

#Loop through each user
$users | %{
$u = $_ | Select -ExpandProperty Name

#Find the PST files for the user in this loop    
$files = get-childitem \FileServer1SharePSTs -file $u* -Recurse

#For each PST file, Create a Mailbox Import Request
    $files.fullname | %{
    New-mailboximportrequest $u -filepath $_ -acceptlargedataloss -baditemlimit 100000 -batchname BigImport -targetrootfolder Unarchived
                       }
}

 

Undeliverable Message reads: Remote Server returned ‘550 5.3.4 SMTPSEND.OverAdvertisedSize; message size exceeds fixed maximum size’

Scenario:  You try to send a message with an attachment to a recipient but you receive a bounce/undeliverable message that shows this error.

Remote Server returned ‘550 5.3.4 SMTPSEND.OverAdvertisedSize; message size exceeds fixed maximum size’

When sending the message, although the message size is close to the max message size set by Exchange, it still falls under the max message size.  For Example:  The maximum message size that your email servers will allow is 35MB, and the message you want to send has a size of 30MB.

Cause for the bounce:  There is a message size conversion when passing off between different message relays. Sometimes this conversion can be up to a 30% increase of the original message size.  For example,  when the message is received in Exchange it shows 30MB.  When the message is passing through the send connector, a size conversion takes place on the message and when Exchange attempts to send it through the send connector to the next message relay, it reads 38MB.  This 38MB exceeds the 35MB limit set on the next message relay and it causes a bounce/undeliverable message.

You can see the size conversion in the TotalBytes field by running a command similar to the following:

get-tranpsortserver | Get-messagetrackinglog -MessageSubject “Big Attachment” -start 1/28/2015  | Sort TimeStamp | Select ServerHostname, Source , EventID, TotalBytes

*In my experience, the type of message attachment influences the size conversion for the message.

WorkaroundResolution:

The easy solution is to just zip the attachment and make it smaller and then attempt to pass it through.  Else you need to increase your maximum message size limits on your message relays to account for the increase caused by the conversion.  For Example, if you truly want to allow a 35MB attachment and account for a 30% message size increase, your maximum message size needs to be 45.5MB.

Open another Mailbox via Outlook Web App (OWA)

Scenario:  You have permission to another users mailbox and you want to open that mailbox via Outlook Web App (OWA)

Steps:

  1. Sign in to your account in Outlook Web App.
  2. On the Outlook Web App nav bar, click on your name. A list appears.
  3. Click Open another mailbox.
  4. Type the alias or email address of the other mailbox that you want to open. Another Outlook Web App session opens in a separate window, allowing access to the other mailbox.

Mailbox Auditing and Audit Log Retrieval

Scenario:  You want to enable mailbox auditing on a mailbox and you want to log all actions performed by Admins, Delegates, and Owners.  You also want to retrieve the audit entries into a easy to read format.

Enable Auditing on a Mailbox:  By default, mailbox auditing is disabled but the audit options are already pre-set for Admin and Delegates. You will need to enable mailbox  auditing and set the actions for the owner of the mailbox as well by running this command:

set-mailbox testuser1 -AuditEnabled $true -AuditOwner Update,Move,MoveToDeletedItems,SoftDelete,HardDelete,Create

To view the audit status for a mailbox:

get-mailbox testuser1 | FL *Audit*

 

View Audit Log entries

To view the log entries for an audit, you can run the following command-lets.

#Edit the following Variables
$Mailbox = "testuser1"      #Mailbox that has Auditing Enabled
$hours = "48"      #Hours to search back from
$myDir = "C:temp"
$mailto = "steve@domain.com"
$MailFrom = "steve@domain.com"
$ReportemailSubject = "Audit Log Results for $Mailbox"
$MailServer = "smtp.domain.com"

#Static Variables
$reportemailsubject = "Mailbox Audit Logs for $mailbox in last $hours hours."
$rawfile = "$myDirAuditLogEntries.csv"
$htmlfile = "$myDirAuditLogEntries.html"
$smtpsettings = @{
 To =  $MailTo
 From = $MailFrom
    Subject = $reportemailsubject
 SmtpServer = $MailServer
 }

Write-Host "Searching $mailbox for last $hours hours."
$auditlogentries = @()
$identity = (Get-Mailbox $mailbox).Identity
$auditlogentries = Search-MailboxAuditLog -Identity $mailbox -LogonTypes 'Delegate','Owner','Admin' -StartDate (Get-Date).AddHours(-$hours) -ShowDetails
if ($($auditlogentries.Count) -gt 0)
{
    Write-Host "Writing raw data to $rawfile"
    $auditlogentries | Export-CSV $rawfile -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
    foreach ($entry in $auditlogentries)
    {
        $reportObj = New-Object PSObject
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Mailbox" -Value $entry.MailboxResolvedOwnerName
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Mailbox UPN" -Value $entry.MailboxOwnerUPN
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Timestamp" -Value $entry.LastAccessed
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Audit Logon Type" -Value $entry.LogonType
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Accessed By" -Value $entry.LogonUserDisplayName
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Operation" -Value $entry.Operation
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Result" -Value $entry.OperationResult
        $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Folder" -Value $entry.FolderPathName
        if ($entry.ItemSubject)
        {
            $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Subject Lines" -Value $entry.ItemSubject
        }
        else
        {
            $reportObj | Add-Member NoteProperty -Name "Subject Lines" -Value $entry.SourceItemSubjectsList
        }
        $report += $reportObj
    }
    $htmlbody = $report | ConvertTo-Html -Fragment
$htmlhead="<html>
    <style>
    BODY{font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;}
    H1{font-size: 22px; font-family: 'Segoe UI Light','Segoe UI','Lucida Grande',Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;}
    H2{font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Segoe UI Light','Segoe UI','Lucida Grande',Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;}
    H3{font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Segoe UI Light','Segoe UI','Lucida Grande',Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;}
    TABLE{border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 8pt;}
    TH{border: 1px solid #969595; background: #dddddd; padding: 5px; color: #000000;}
    TD{border: 1px solid #969595; padding: 5px; }
    td.pass{background: #B7EB83;}
    td.warn{background: #FFF275;}
    td.fail{background: #FF2626; color: #ffffff;}
    td.info{background: #85D4FF;}
    </style>
    <body>
                <p>Report of mailbox audit log entries for $mailbox in the last $hours hours.</p>"
 $htmltail = "</body></html>" 
 $htmlreport = $htmlhead + $htmlbody + $htmltail
    Write-Host "Writing report data to $htmlfile"
    $htmlreport | Out-File $htmlfile -Encoding UTF8
    Write-Host "Sending email"
 Send-MailMessage @smtpsettings -Body $htmlreport -BodyAsHtml -Encoding ([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8) -Attachments $rawfile
}

Write-Host "Finished."

 

 

Method Invocation failed because [Deserialized.Microsoft.Exchange.Data.ByteQuantifiedSize] does not contain a method named ‘ToMB’

Scenario: When connecting to Exchange PowerShell without the Exchange management tools installed, you get the following error message when trying to convert the mailbox size to another Size unit.   For example:  With the Exchange Management tools installed,  you can run the following command successfully:

Get-MailboxStatistics  user1 | Select {$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToMB()}

But when you connect to Exchange Powershell via a session without the Exchange Management tools installed, you receive the following error:

Method Invocation failed because [Deserialized.Microsoft.Exchange.Data.ByteQuantifiedSize] does not contain a method named ‘ToMB’

Solution:  To work around this problem:

#Collect Mailbox Stats
$stat_o365 = get-mailbox -resultsize unlimited | Get-mailboxstatistics

#Loop the stats
$stat_o365 | %{
$Name = $_.displayname
$TIS = [string]$_.TotalItemSize
$TDIS = [string]$_.TotalDeletedItemSize

#start the value manipulation
$regex = [regex]"((.*))"
$TISstring = [regex]::match($TIS, $regex).Groups[1]
$TDISstring = [regex]::match($TDIS, $regex).Groups[1]
$TISString = $TISString -replace "Bytes",""
$TDISString = $TDISString -replace "Bytes",""

#Convert the strings to Int
$TDISValue = [INT]$TDISString
$TISValue =  [INT]$TISString

#Add the Mailbox Size and round to the nearest MB
$TotalSize = [Decimal]::Round((($TDISValue + $TISValue)/1024)/1024)
}

 

 

Powershell method for finding any services that are set to start automatically but have been stopped due to a failure or error.

Scenario: You want a Powershell  method for finding any services that are set to start automatically but have stopped in error or by failure.

Solution:  The script below looks for any Exchange servers that start with 2013* and then uses the logic “Find a Service that is set to Automatic that is currently not running and an Exit Code of the service is not 0” for each server.  Then attempt to restart that service on each server.   An exit code of 0 means the service was stopped manually OR stopped by Windows as it was no longer required to run. Here is a list of Error Code/Exit Code descriptions: Exit Code Descriptions

 

#Collect Servers into a Variable
$1 = Get-exchangeserver 2013*

#Collect Services that are not started due to failure or error
$2 = $1 |%{Get-CimInstance win32_service -Filter "startmode = 'auto' AND state != 'running' AND Exitcode !=0 " -ComputerName $_ | select systemname, name, startname, exitcode}

#View the Services that are stopped for each server
$2

#Restart each failed service
$2 | %{Get-service $_.Name -computername $_.SystemName | Start-service -passthru}