Exchange 2010 - How much White Space do I have?

Haven't posted a blog entry for quite some time but that's because I haven't had the time to do one.  Fortunately this little gem landed on my door last week and I think it needs to be shared.  In Exchange 2007 we had to wait for Online Database Maintenance to tells us how much White Space was in a mailbox store.  Now in Exchange 2010 we have a great PowerShell cmdlet that does it all for us:

Get-MailboxDatabase -Status | ft name,databasesize,availablenewmailboxspace

The output will tell you exact how much Available White Space you have - if it's a high amount then to reclaim you have to migrate all your mailboxes to a new store.  Sounds bizarre but it's the best and safest way to do it to avoid corruption, Microsoft do not recommend using ESEUTIL on Exchange 2010 stores.  This is due to the new database schema that is now used.

Happy Defragging!

Hotfix - When you try and log on a Windows XP workstation with SP3 using a roaming profile, the profile fails to load

I thought about other useful posts I could put on this blog and decided that hotfixes can be useful.  Most of the time Microsoft Support will be first in the list of Google but having said that some of the fixes I have obtained aren't readily available until later and also their key word searches can be a bit poor.  Mine may not be much better but Google aren't that bad at getting me the answers I need.

Anyway here is my first hotfix that could prove useful for those with Win XP clients, with SP3, that won't log into the domain with a proper roaming profile.  This is a particular issue with Thin Client XP boxes.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958058

This is the hotfix we have applied and it does appear to be working well.  Remember any hotfixes should be tested thoroughly and only applied to systems that exhibit the issues described.  Be sure to read Microsoft's guff before you apply them!

Exchange 2010 - Scheduled Migrations Made Easy

It would appear that in their infinite wisdom, Microsoft have removed the tools to allow you to schedule migrations. During all my 2003-to-2007 migrations I used this feature heavily for overnight moving of mailboxes that needed to be up the next day. But do not fear Exchange geeks for I have found a useful little article from a fellow Exchange blogger that aided me - this is how it's done...

TMG - URL Normalization

Hey Folks, found a fix for something I haven't seen before and fortunately it was quite a quick one too.  If you are publishing a website via TMG using a publishing rule you will find that, if your URL contains % symbols or "escaped characters" as the Help file calls them, the HTTP Filter which is on all HTTP/HTTPS rules will block it.  This is how to fix it...

PowerShell - Easy Mailbox Stats Gathering

Just a quick bit of PowerShell for those that use it as often as I do.  This is something I created a long time back for reporting against user mailbox sizes.  You can tailor it to your own needs of course if you know the right attributes:

Get-mailboxstatistics –Server GLL-EXCHMB-01 | select-object servername, storageGroupname, databasename, DisplayName, @{name="TotalItemSize(KB)";expression={$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToKB()}},StorageLimitStatus,LastLogonTime, LastLoggedOnUserAccount,ItemCount, DeletedItemCount | export-csv c:\Server_Stats.csv

Have fun!

Documentation - Can it be easier?

Just a quick post to say that someone has showed me one of the best features I have ever seen in Windows and hopefully it will make life documenting installs and configuration so much easier than using Print Screen and Wordpad...

Windows Server 2008 R2 - Print Servers and different architecture drivers

There comes a time where we all have to upgrade and move on away from old things to the new and mostly it is a good thing to do.  One pain in the side though that I am sure many technicians and consultants alike will face is the prospect of upgrading a Windows 2003 server with a Windows Server 2008 R2 version and want to get those lovely x86 printer drivers going.  Well I have news for you, it isn't always easy...

SQL Server - Active Directory Helper service does not start

I rebooted a server today and when it came back up I received the usual "Service Failed to Start..." hoo har that plagues all IT administrators.  Now most of the time it is the Network Load Balancing service or something that isn't in use but Windows will endeavour to start for you.

On this occasion though it was something that looked a bit more serious...

Exchange 2007/2010 - Powershell to obtain Distribution Group Members

The PowerShell is probably one of the best innovations within Exchange in the last two releases.  The only problem is that it does take a lot of getting used to and also you do need to have a little programming knowledge to work out the syntax (language for those not in the know) to make it do what you want.  Like all things Microsoft, it never works how you want it to but for once I managed to get it to do what I want...

Exchange 2003 - OWA stops working when you replace the certificate

Stricly speaking this won't be a guide but more of what to do if it "doesn't work like you think it should" sort of post.  I encountered an issue where Exchange 2003's Front End server stopped working when servicing OWA requests.  The certificate placed on the site was going to expire, a new one had been purchased and processed but when applied it failed.  404 and the joy of IIS and certificates...

Remote Desktop/Terminal Services - Error In The Licensing Protocol

One of the most common errors that I see working with RDS/TS is when a user attempts to connect and they receive the following message:

"The remote computer disconnected the session because of an error in licensing protocol."

Thoroughly frustrating but happens so often when licences either run out. 

Microsoft's solution is to remove the MSLicensing registry key which will resolve the issue if it's just an expired licence.  The problem still happens though in Windows 7 even after you remove that key and it's all down to that effective but stupidly annoying User Account Control (UAC to those in the know).

Microsoft TMG Server - Publishing a website that requires HTTP and HTTPS Traffic

This is the kind of post that might win me some award or it could be just useless twaddle that I find out during the day job that has foxed me for many a moon and someone might, just might, need to know.


TMG is Microsoft's ISA Server 2010 and for those that don't know either of those things, look away now for the rest of the post because you will be asleep by the end of it.


If you have a website that you want to publish both HTTP and HTTPS traffic for you may think this is very very easy and I can do this with no bother at all.  I had this notion when I started out trying to get it to work and we spent 4 years trying to get it to go - OK not 4 years but it's been that long since I looked at this issue and it only came about due to one of my customers requiring it and me not wanting to use just our main firewall.  Security is big these days...

Sims 3 - Freezing every few seconds...

Now I know this is probably not the most technical post to start with but I am quite proud I found the answer to the problem.

My wife, an avid fan of the Sims 3, doesn't do technology and when something doesn't work it takes all of 5 minutes before it is removed from her sight and something else takes it's place.

So when the Sims 3 stopped working as normal I was keen to get it going again as she does like it and I find game issues a real challenge compared some of the more mundane problems I have to solve each day. 

And unto us a blog was born...

To all those visiting my blog for the first time you most likely notice it's full of technical trash and mostly things people won't understand but I hope in writing my various notes on problems I come across during my working day I can help others understand why Microsoft don't make things work the way you think they should!

I will also be posting several odd fixes for things you might come across at home - for example your favourite game doesn't work or your Anti-Virus software clogs up the machine.  Useful things that might just be worth posting about.

All in all I am techy and a geek and proud of it - I was gifted by God to work with these machines and help others to not stress but relax and embrace technology.

Lets rock n roll...