Unable to uninstall Exchange server 2010 while mailbox database has un-moved arbitration mailboxes

Posted by on May 24, 2011 No comments

Hi

It has been a while since I did a transition for Exchange server 2010, and last days I did one…

Today I was doing the final part of it which is decommissioning the old server, I did it but I had to do some extra work to finish the job…

I had moved all the users mailboxes to the new server, and the database seems empty, but in fact, it was not, because there were some system mailboxes called Arbitration mailboxes

So when trying to uninstall the server, I got the following error message (which is self-describing)

Click to Enlarge

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Connect to Exchange server remotely using PowerShell

Posted by on March 14, 2011 No comments

I know this sounds easy, but just to be a reminder…

If you want to connect to Exchange server remotely, I would say the best way to do it is using PowerShell (actually you can just connect using remote desktop…), and to do that:

first create the user credentials:

PS C:\> $user1=Get-Credential

Then we need to create session options, these will be useful to avoid the certificate issues (if you were using self-signed or local CA certificate):

PS C:\> $sesop = New-PSSessionOption -SkipCACheck -SkipCNCheck -SkipRevocationCheck

Then, we create the session variable and link the user credentials to it:

PS C:\> $session2=New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri http://EXServerName/PowerShell -Credential $user1 -Authentication Basic -SessionOption $sesop

And then, we import the session into the PS:

PS C:\> Import-PSSession $session2

 

I have a note about connecting to Exchange using remote PowerShell, which is the Exchange server uses RBAC to give the user access to the cmdlets that are in his role group, so in case you did not see any command getting executed, you need to check the permissions on RBAC that the user you used has…

 

That was it, Thanks for reading

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70-662 Exam next Sunday

Posted by on February 3, 2011 2 comments

Hi All,

Well, Next Sunday is my exam day for: TS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuring

So, wish me luck at that time :-)

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Outlook Continuously Asks for User Name and Password in Exchange Environment

Posted by on February 1, 2011 No comments

Hello Everybody,

I have got through a problem where MS Outlook continuously asks for user name and password to authenticate the user for exchange…

This could be annoying for users and frustrating for the guys who are troubleshooting that, today I made some researches about problem and I got some solutions for it, but all are on the client side, so imagine if you have about 100 clients, you need to go to all of them and apply the fix (if it was the right solution), of course this is not acceptable at all, so I made some more searches about it into the server and I got to the bottom of it…

Before I put my solution, I would like to clear something, which is this solution has came from experiencing the problem with my configuration, so most likely your configuration will be different from mine (maybe you will have the same configuration anyway), so just keep this in mind that there are some things different for sure…

So, now to the solution

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Managing Exchange Users Using Groups

Posted by on January 31, 2011 2 comments

Hello everybody

Last few days  I was having too much troubles with the rain, and the situation was not good at all in Jeddah, I even had to spend 1 night out of home… :-( because the water has blocked almost all the roads in the city… actually you can see a bit of what happened from my Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/salehram, well, it is in Arabic so you better know some Arabic if you are not Arabic :-P

OK, I almost forgot the main reason of this topic :-D , it is about managing the Exchange users using the Groups in Active Directory…

There are many ways to manage the users in the Exchange, the easiest at all is using the EMC (Exchange Management Console), and there are many methods to do that, for example you can:

  • Just go for the user you want and right click him
  • Multi-select a group of users and manage them
  • Distribute the users on OUs and manage each OU’s users alone
  • Use the EMS (Exchange Management Shell) and select a group of users depending on a certain condition and then manage them

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Fixing the problem when Server Manager cannot display information for Roles and Features

Posted by on January 25, 2011 No comments

Hello everybody

Today I got a very annoying problem, actually it was the most annoying problem I’ve ever faced in my entire work time with Windows Server…

The problem was that the Server Manager cannot display the information related to Roles and Features, thus we will be unable to perform any kind of operation related to these both, not even using the PowerShell…

Part of the reason of it being annoying is the solutions talking about this issue because none of them worked!!

There is one solution for this, which is described in the following link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2461206

Now the above link tells us the solution well, except in step 3, where it miss a bit…

Instead of renaming the 2 gathered files, we just LOOK for the original files we want to replace in the expanded cabinet file, and THEY ARE THERE, all what we need to do is copy and paste into the packaging directory with replacing the already existed files

And that’s it!, hit the refresh option on the Server Manager, and all should be OK…

Hope that was helpful for you, as I lost too much time on this issue…

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Error when trying to prepare the organization for Exchange 2010 installation (otherWellKnownObjects attribute)

Posted by on January 24, 2011 3 comments

Hi all,

Sorry for going offline for too long, I was having some bad times (happens to all :-) )

I am going to talk today about a problem that I have passed long ago, but did not expect to encounter again, it is related to the exchange 2010 and active directory…

Now as you all know that Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and previous versions as well, are active directory-integrated, which mean that when ever we install the exchange system into the network, it will be having roots (this how I would like to call it anyway) in the active directory schema, which by itself (the schema) is the blueprints of the whole Windows network…

The above introduction, I had to write it to let you get close to the problem I am going to talk about; it is related to the removing of the exchange server, and more specific way… well, FORMATTING the server without un-installing the exchange!!

YES!, that is right, there are people who are still doing that, and they get stuck when trying to have a fresh installation of their server…

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Removing the Public Folder Database from Exchange 2007

Posted by on November 11, 2010 No comments

Hello All,

Well, this is a frustrating thing actually, I’ve done this thing before, and yet, I made the same mistake again :-S, which is in the removing the Public Folders Database during the last phase of a migration project I am (was) doing, when I got to the time to un-install the old exchange server (2007) after thanking it for its service time :-P , I got stuck for some time at the point when to remove this database…

So, to help myself first, and help any other guy who is looking for the answer, here it is:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876883(EXCHG.140).aspx

The most important thing is that you never think about going to ADSI Edit while you have the solution, because missing with that thing is really a bad thing…

When you get into that link, just before you do anything, make sure that you did not deleted anything related to the Public Folders Database of the Offline Address Book before, or you might get some troubles…

You might also get an error when you are executing a script called “MoveAllReplicas.ps1″, when you get that error make sure that you write everything correctly, because in most of the cases that is the error, and if your Public Folders Database is empty (no public folders are created) create one just to know when is the replication finished, as it takes some time, and here is the other problem we get… We have to WAIT! almost 30 minuets in my case…

After this, the next steps should go with you smooth, and you should be able to decommission the old exchange server and totally be on the new one…

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Some Useful Documentations About Lync Server 2010

Posted by on November 5, 2010 No comments

I’ve found these documents about Lync Server 2010 on the Microsoft website, and I loved to share them with you for quick access:

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (Release Candidate) Planning Documents

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (Release Candidate) Lab Deployment Guide

And here is the link to download the RC server and client of the new communications server:

http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/ff808407.aspx

I will update these links and add more as soon as I find more released, while I am still waiting for the GA date…

Update:

I’ve got a word today, that the release date for the partners who have Volume Licensing partnership with Microsoft will be on 17 November, and the GA data will be on December (1st I think…)

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Error Message “No process is on the other end of the pipe” When Trying to Access NAS Device on 2008 Domain Network

Posted by on October 30, 2010 1 comment

Hi,

Sorry for this long time out, some bad times happens to everybody :-)

Anyway, today I was trying to configure a NAS system for the company I am working for, and after I configured it when I want to access it, I’ve got the following error message:

No process is on the other end of the pipe

I’ve made some searches about it, and I got the error cause, and also the solution…

The following link explains what is wrong, and how to fix it, actually my problem was exactly as symptom 4, and it was easily solved when I understood what was wrong, the solution requires you to make some changes on the group policy, so if you don’t know what are you doing, I suggest that you DO NOT do it, and check it with someone who DOES know what is he doing!

Here is the link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942564

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