Exploring the Exchange Management Console


Now that you know how to install the Exchange 2007 management tools, let's take a look at the console layout, wizards, and new features. We think that you will be impressed once you have some time to get to know it. We are particularly impressed with the ease of use, how quickly you can find the exact tasks you need, and the ability to save your configuration.

There have been many improvements to reduce the complexity of the console tree, to make objects more discoverable, and to separate objects that can be configured from the tree and tree containers.

Console Layout

Let's start by taking a look at the console as a whole and then we will dissect it in to its various components or parts. Figure 7.5 shows the Exchange Management Console (EMC) with the four major components, or panes.

image from book
Figure 7.5: Introducing the Exchange 2007 Management Console

Notice that the default console is broken up in to four separate sections, or panes. These are the navigation tree pane, the work pane, the Results pane, and the Actions pane.

Navigation Tree

The console navigation tree is one of the biggest improvements in the Exchange 2007 EMC. Unlike the Exchange 2003 System Manager, the EMC contains only static data and containers; there is no dynamic data or objects that must be configured in the navigation tree. The EMC navigation tree is a maximum of only three levels deep and by default contains only four work centers. A view of just the navigation tree is shown in Figure 7.6.

image from book
Figure 7.6: Exchange Management Console navigation tree

The work centers you see in Figure 7.6 show the different types of configuration data or operations that an administrator may be required to manage. Later in this chapter, we will show you how to break the console up so that an administrator can only see a particular work center. The Exchange 2007 work centers are as follows:

Work Center

Description

Organization Configuration

Contains objects and properties related to the configuration of the entire Exchange 2007 organization. These objects and properties affect all servers and recipients.

Server Configuration

Contains the server objects that can be configured individually, such as mailbox databases, Outlook Web Access virtual directories, SMTP receive connectors, and Unified Messaging components.

Recipient Configuration

Contains the recipient data for all mail-enabled objects in the organization, including mail-enabled users, mail-enabled contacts, and mail-enabled groups. In Exchange 2000/2003, this information was managed through Active Directory Users and Computers.

Toolbox

A launching pad for additional tools or consoles, including the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer, the Queue Viewer, the Mail Flow Troubleshooter and tools for database recovery management and message tracking.

Also note in Figure 7.6 that the Organization, Server, and Recipient Configuration work centers include containers that help to categorize the types of objects found in them.

Results Pane

The Results pane of the EMC will be different depending on which work center object and subcontainer is highlighted in the navigation tree. For example, if you highlight the Recipient Configuration object in the tree, the Results pane will show all mail-enabled recipients (users, contacts, groups). A view of the entire Recipient Configuration container is shown in Figure 7.7.

image from book
Figure 7.7: General view of the Recipient Configuration work center

However, the console layout will change and the scope of what is displayed in the Results pane will be different if you select the Mailbox subcontainer that is found under the Recipient Configuration object. Figure 7.8 shows the view of the Recipient Configuration Results pane when the Mailbox subcontainer is selected. As you would expect, the Results pane contains only user and resource mailboxes.

image from book
Figure 7.8: Mailbox-specific view of the Recipient Configuration work center

You can further restrict the scope of what is displayed in the Results pane by applying a filter. At the very top of the Results pane is a Create Filter button; you can use this option to create expressions that define or restrict the scope of what is displayed in the Results pane. While filters can be defined for any result in the Results pane, we are using the example once again of mail-enabled recipients. To create a filter, click the Create Filter button and the filter options will appear at the top of the Results pane.

image from book

The leftmost part of the filter defines the attribute on which you want to filter. Attributes on which you can build a filter include ActiveSync Mailbox Policy, Alias (Exchange alias), City, Company, Custom Attributes 1–15, Database (mailbox database), Department, Display Name, E-Mail Address, External E-mail Address, First Name, Last Name, Managed By, Mailbox Folder Mailbox Policy, Name, Office, Recipient Type Details, Server (home mailbox server), State or Province, UM Enabled, User Logon Name (pre-Windows 2000), and User Principal Name (UPN).

The middle option defines the operator for the attribute you are filtering; operators include Equals, Does Not Equal, Contains, Does Not Contain, Starts With, Ends With, Is Present, and Is Not Present. The actual operators you see will be based on the attribute on which you are building the filter.

Finally, the rightmost portion is where you enter the data for which you are building the filter. The preceding screen shot shows that we have created a filter that displays only mail-enabled users whose city is Honolulu. We can click the Add Expression button and add additional expressions to further filter the information that is displayed in the Results pane. In this example, we have further restricted the filter using two expressions so that it shows only recipients whose city is Honolulu and whose department is Viper Pilots.

image from book

This filter will only be in effect for the Mailbox container since that is the subcontainer on which we created it; if we select the entire Recipient Configuration work center or the Distribution Group, Mail Contact, or Disconnected Mailbox subcontainers, the filter does not apply.

Certain types of attributes, such as the ActiveSync Mailbox Policy, Managed Folder Mailbox Policy, and the Unified Messaging Mailbox Policy, will include a Browse button that allows you to browse the directory for the specific policy for which you want to set the filter. When you choose the Recipient Type Details attribute, the last field is converted to a drop-down list and you can select the specific type of recipient you are looking for. The recipient types include Dynamic Distribution Group, User Mailbox, Legacy Mailbox (a mailbox located on Exchange 2000/2003), Linked Mailbox, Shared Mailbox, Room Mailbox, Equipment Mailbox, Mail Contact, Mail User, Mail Universal Distribution Group, Mail Universal Security Group, and Mail Non-Universal Group.

Work Pane

Some Results panes list objects that require more than just a single set of property pages. Objects such as Exchange servers have property pages, but also objects under the server, such as storage groups and mailbox databases. Server objects require an additional pane under the Results pane called the Work pane. In Figure 7.9, we have selected the Mailbox subcontainer found under the Server Configuration work center. Notice that there is a new pane below the Results pane; this is the Work pane.

image from book
Figure 7.9: Server objects include a Work pane.

Since we have selected the Mailbox subcontainer, the Results pane lists only servers that hold the Mailbox server role. Since the Mailbox subcontainer is highlighted, the work pane will have property pages (in this case, only one property page) related to mailbox server management. Notice that the Work pane has a Database Management property page that contains the storage groups for the highlighted server in the Results pane as well as the mailbox and public folder databases. Since the Mailbox subcontainer has been highlighted, you will see only the Mailbox-server-related properties in the Work pane.

If you select the Client Access subcontainer in the Server Configuration work center, the Work pane shows only the properties related to the Client Access server that you have selected in the Results pane. Figure 7.10 shows the Work pane if the Client Access subcontainer is selected.

image from book
Figure 7.10: Work pane property pages and objects when the Client Access server subcontainer is selected

Actions Pane

The Actions pane is the most dynamic of the panes found in the Exchange Management Console. It is also arguably the biggest change found in the EMC interface. Any change of a selected object in the navigation tree, the Results pane, or the work pane will change the Actions pane in one way or another. The Actions pane consists of the tasks or actions that are available for the selected object. As different objects are selected in the navigation tree, Results pane, or work pane, the Actions pane will change. The addition of the Actions pane is a result of Exchange administrators reporting to Microsoft that they have difficulty finding out what the available tasks for a particular object are.

Figure 7.11 is a good example of the Actions pane. In this example, the Server Configuration's Mailbox subcontainer is selected, in the Results pane a mailbox server is selected, and in the work pane, a storage group called First Storage Group is selected.

image from book
Figure 7.11: Corresponding actions available based on selected objects

Notice that the Actions pane has a Mailbox section, a section for the specific Exchange server that we are working on (E2K7-BASE), and a section for the storage group that we have selected (First Storage Group). The actions that are available against the server (E2K7-BASE) are to view its properties, to create a new storage group, and to change the management view to another role (Manage Hub Transport Rule or Manage Client Access Role). These actions are available because this server supports all three roles (Mailbox, Client Access, and Hub Transport).

Finally, the actions available in the First Storage Group section include moving the selected storage group's files, creating a new mailbox or public folder database, enabling local continuous replication, deleting the storage group, and viewing the storage group's properties.

The object First Storage Group was also the most recent object selected in the interface, so the actions found in the Actions pane for this object will correspond with the actions found on the context (right-click) menu and on the Action pull-down menu.

image from book

One final example of Action menu tasks are the actions that are available when the Mailbox subcontainer under the Recipient Configuration navigation tree object is highlighted.

image from book

Figure 7.12 shows the Actions pane for the Mailbox subcontainer. Notice that the Actions pane has two sections; the first section shows the actions available for the Mailboxes subcontainer. This includes modifying the maximum number of mailboxes returned, setting view options, and creating a new mailbox.

image from book
Figure 7.12: Actions pane for Recipient Configuration Mailboxes subcontainer

The second section shows actions for a specific mailbox because we have selected the mailbox Damion Jones. From here, we can disable the mailbox, remove the mailbox from the account, move the mailbox to another database, enable Unified Messaging, or view the user and mailbox properties. You may be wondering if this is the only information we will cover on recipient management. Don't worry; we just want you to become familiar with the console right now. In Chapter 10, we will cover in depth recipient management, including managing mailboxes, contacts, and groups.

Exchange Management Console Customization

The new Microsoft Management Console v3.0 is much more flexible and customizable than earlier versions. This means that you will be able customize your Exchange Management Console even further and create specialized consoles for tasks such as recipient management.

Customizing the Console View

There may be features or views of the EMC that you simply don't need in order to complete your daily tasks. Many of the console components (such as the tree, toolbar, status bar, and Actions pane) can be removed from the default view. From within your console, select View Customize to see the Customize View dialog box shown in Figure 7.13.

image from book
Figure 7.13: Customizing the components shown in the Exchange Management Console

If you are creating a scaled-back EMC console for a junior or delegated administrator, restricting or removing some of the console features may be helpful in order to create a more simplified interface. From the Customize View dialog box, you can enable or disable the following components from the console view:

  • The navigation tree

  • MMC-specific Action and View menus

  • MMC-specific toolbars

  • The MMC status bar

  • The MMC description bar

  • Taskpad navigation tabs (if creating taskpads)

  • The Actions pane

  • Exchange Management Console - specific menus

  • Exchange Management Console - specific toolbars

For an experienced administrator, there will probably not be a need to restrict these features, but as you will see in the following example, you can certainly make the console simpler by removing some of the unnecessary features.

Creating a Recipient Management Console

Even with earlier versions of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), there was a lot of flexibility in creating and customizing the views that are available to the administrator. The Exchange 2007 EMC is even more customizable. Consoles can be scaled back and restricted so that only specific functions are available. In a medium-size or large organization, an excellent example of this would be the need to create a management console that allows the user to manage only recipients.

In the example we are going to show you, we are creating a console that allows the person using it to manage mailbox objects only. The end result of this customization is shown in Figure 7.14.

image from book
Figure 7.14: Customized recipient management console

So, how did we scale back a full-blown EMC to just mailbox management features? It's pretty easy once you know of a few of the tricks. Follow these steps to create a customized MMC that can be used just for mailbox management; you can do variations of these steps to create other types of consoles, too.

  1. Run mmc.exe to create an empty console window.

  2. From the menu, select File Add/Remove Snap-in.

  3. Click the Add button, scroll through the list of available snap-ins until you find Exchange Server 2007 and select it, click Add, and then click Close.

  4. Click the OK button.

  5. In the console tree, expand the Microsoft Exchange Management Console and then expand the Recipient Configuration work center.

  6. Right-click on the Recipients Configuration container and choose Modify Recipient Scope to see the Recipient Scope dialog box. In the console shown in Figure 7.14, we had restricted the scope of the view to a single OU; you do this by selecting the View All Recipients in Specified Organizational Unit radio button and then specifying the domain name and OU name. This step will be optional if you do not need to filter by domain or OU.

    image from book

  7. Right-click on the Mailbox subcontainer under the Recipient Configuration work center and choose New Window from Here. This creates a window with just the mail-enabled recipients.

  8. From the View menu, choose Add/Remove Columns, remove Recipient Type Details from the Displayed columns list since we know that everything in this list will be a mailbox. Add City and move it up to just under Alias. Click OK.

    image from book

  9. Now we can remove some of the unnecessary components of the console from the view. From the menu, select View Customize. This will display the Customize View dialog box. Ensure that the only check box that is enabled is the Action Pane check box; the rest of the console components are unnecessary for this specific console. Click OK when finished.

    image from book

  10. In the MMC, select File Options, and then in the Console Mode drop-down list, select User Mode - Limited Access, Single Window. Click OK.

  11. In the MMC, select File Save As and give the MMC file a name such as MailboxRecipientManagement.msc.

  12. If you have any other MMC windows open within the MMC you are creating, you will see a prompt that says, "You chose to display a single window interface when this console opens in user mode, but you have more than one window open. The user can view only the currently active window. Are you sure you want to display a single window interface when this console opens in user mode?" Simply answer Yes at this prompt.

Congratulations. You have just created a simplified EMC that will allow the user of this console to manage just mailbox recipients. You can use this MSC file from any computer on which the Exchange 2007 Management Tools have been installed provided the user has been delegated the appropriate permissions to manage the user objects in Active Directory and they have been delegated recipient administration permissions to Exchange 2007.

Toolbox Work Center

The Toolbox work center that is found in the Exchange 2007 EMC is a new concept for Exchange management tools. The Toolbox work center from a default installation of Exchange 2007 is shown in Figure 7.15.

image from book
Figure 7.15: The Toolbox work center of the Exchange Management Console

The tools that are found in the Toolbox are not directly integrated with the Exchange Management Console, but rather the Toolbox provides links to these external tools. As new or updated tools are released by Microsoft, the Toolbox can be updated. The following tools are found in the Toolbox:

  • The very popular Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) tool, which analyzes your Exchange configuration and makes recommendations for configuration and security improvements based on Microsoft and industry best practices.

  • The Database Recovery Management tool helps guide Exchange administrators through the process of performing disaster recoveries of various server roles.

  • The Database Troubleshooter tool helps an Exchange administrator determine why mailbox databases will not mount or why transaction log files will not replay.

  • The Mail Flow Troubleshooter helps diagnose problems relating to messages being transferred between Mailbox, Hub Transport, and Edge Transport servers.

  • The Message Tracking tool allows you to track a message's progress through an Exchange organization and see which Exchange components have processed the message.

  • The Queue Viewer allows you to view the message queues on Hub Transport servers.

  • The Performance Monitor tool is a Windows tool that helps analyze and troubleshoot Windows performance. When you launch the tool from the EMC Toolbox work center, it includes common performance counters related to Exchange servers.

  • The Performance Troubleshooter analyzes a server and looks at common factors that could hurt performance, such as memory and disk configuration, and makes recommendations to improve them.

Finalize Deployment Tips

If you highlight the Microsoft Exchange portion of the EMC's navigation tree, two property pages appear in the Results pane. These are the Finalize Deployment and End-to-end Scenario pages; the Finalize Deployment page is shown in Figure 7.16.

image from book
Figure 7.16: Finalize Deployment tips in the Exchange Management Console.

The information on the Finalize Deployment and End-to-end Scenario property pages provide links to tips and help on the topics shown. These tips and help topics are provide to give administrators quick reference to things they must commonly configure. For example, if you click the Create a postmaster mailbox task, the steps necessary to create a postmaster address are displayed.

image from book

Here are some other tasks you'll find in the Finalize Deployment page:

  • Enter the Exchange Server product key. The product key is required to keep using the 32-bit evaluation edition longer than 120 days and it is required to use the Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition features with the 64-bit version. See Chapter 4 for more information.

  • Running the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer helps you to find potential configuration problems and tune your configuration to Microsoft's recommendations.

  • Creating offline address books for Outlook 2007 clients involves creating offline address book virtual directories on Client Access servers. This allows these clients to download the offline address book and use a local copy.

  • Creating offline address books for Outlook 2003 and earlier clients involves designating that the offline address books be created for older clients and that they are replicated to public folder servers that are near the client computers.

  • Configuring SSL for Client Access servers helps to secure Web client connectivity to Exchange. Each Client Access server includes a self-signed certificate, but these should be replaced with certificates that were signed by a trusted certificate authority.

  • Configuring Exchange ActiveSync (including defining ActiveSync policies) if users will be using Windows Mobile- or ActiveSync-enabled devices.

  • Configure a list of domains for which your Exchange organization will accept e-mail (on the Accepted Domains list). This tells Exchange which domains are internal or for which you must relay mail.

  • Configuring an EdgeSync subscription so that you can synchronize recipient, safe sender, and block sender lists to an Edge Transport server.

  • Configuring Unified Messaging that allows a user's mailbox to accept inbound faxing or inbound voice mail.

Wizards and Things

There have been a lot of additional improvements in the graphical user interface in an effort to make it more intuitive and easy to use. This includes making the wizards easier to use, providing indications that a wizard is working, showing problems where information is incorrect or missing, and giving the user the ability to view or block information.

Most wizards also include an option on most screens that allows you to type Ctrl + Cand copy the contents of the wizards on to the Clipboard. This is very useful if you need to quickly document what you are doing or if you need to paste this information into Notepad or some other editor. Most of the wizards also show the Exchange Management Shell command that was used to perform the task the wizard performed. You can use this information to create scripts and one-line commands for future use.

Confirmation Dialog Boxes

EMC wizards now include a confirmation page that allows administrators to confirm that the actions that they selected are really what they want to do. Figure 7.17 shows the confirmation screen for the Move Mailbox Wizard.

image from book
Figure 7.17: Confirmation screen for the Move Mailbox Wizard

Confirmation dialog boxes and progress dialog boxes also include a new control called a trident control. We have included on Figure 7.17 a pointer to a trident control; they look like double v either facing upward or downward. By clicking on these controls, you can expand the line for more information or collapse the line for less information.

Progress Dialog Boxes

Progress dialog boxes have been enhanced so that they give the administrator a better feel for "something is happening." Figure 7.18 shows the new progress dialog box for the Move Mailbox Wizard. Notice at the end of each of the status lines there is a trident control that allows you to display more information or to collapse each line so that less information is shown.

image from book
Figure 7.18: Move Mailbox Wizard progress screen

Completion and Management Shell Tasks

If you are trying to learn the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) but find yourself continually having to look up how to do something, don't feel bad; you are not alone. The designers of the EMC wanted to help you along a little bit even when you're managing objects from the graphical user interface (GUI). When you run a wizard, the wizard's completion screen includes the EMS cmdlets required to complete the task that you just executed via the GUI.

An excellent example of this is the Move Mailbox Wizard that we have been looking at in previous screen captures. Figure 7.19 shows the completion screen for the mailboxes that were moved.

image from book
Figure 7.19: Move Mailbox Wizard Completion screen and EMS cmdlets

Notice that the first mailbox that was moved and has a full completion report is the mailbox for Julie Samante; we collapsed the trident controls for the other mailboxes. The Completion dialog box includes the EMS command necessary to move Julie Samante's mailbox to another mailbox database. The Completion screen also gives you the option to type CTRL + C and copy the text contents of the screen in to the computer's paste buffer; you can then paste that text in to Notepad or some other program. Here you can see where we have copied the results of the command on the Completion screen so that we can reused the command:

 move-mailbox -TargetDatabase:'CN=Mailbox Database,CN=First Storage  Group,CN=InformationStore,CN=E2K7-BASE,CN=Servers,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups, CN=Volcano Surfboards,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration, DC=fourthcoffee,DC=com' 

Although we are not quite ready to start teaching you the EMS cmdlets, we will tell you that this command was created using the absolute most unique name of the mailbox database. That is the distinguished name of the mailbox object, or CN = Mailbox Database,CN = First Storage Group,CN = InformationStore,CN = E2K7-BASE,CN = Servers,CN = Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN = Administrative Groups,CN = Volcano Surfboards,CN = Microsoft Exchange,CN = Services,CN = Configuration,DC = fourthcoffee,DC = com. If there was only a single mailbox database called Mailbox Database in your entire organization, you could have moved Julie's mailbox by typing this:

 Move-mailbox "Julie Samante" -TargetDatabase: "Mailbox Database" 

However, the distinguished name of the mailbox store was used in order to guarantee uniqueness. As you start to learn the EMS, you will find there are usually multiple ways to accomplish the same task.

Schedule Dialog Boxes

The Move Mailbox Wizard also has a schedule option; the ability to schedule mailbox moves first came about in Exchange 2003, but since that time the wizard options have changed just a bit. Figure 7.20 shows the new schedule options. Now you can specify the start time and then specify the maximum running time as opposed to the time at which the moves should stop if they are not completed. Anyone who has ever had to wait around until after hours to move mailboxes when running Exchange 2000 or Exchange 5.5 will tell you what a handy feature this is. Schedule your mailboxes to move and then go home!

image from book
Figure 7.20: The Move Schedule page of the Move Mailbox Wizard

Error Notifications

Often when you are doing something in a graphical user interface, you get an error message but you can't quickly figure out where you made the error. The Exchange 2007 EMC helps to point you to the error more quickly by not only showing a pop-up error but also including a warning icon next to the offending property.

In Figure 7.21, we are creating a mail-enabled contact. We tried to save the contact without first entering a valid external address; the EMC shows us an error indicating that the proxy address cannot be empty, but also a small red and white exclamation point shows up next to the External E-Mail Address field. We have circled this exclamation point to make it a little more clear on the screen capture.

image from book
Figure 7.21: Improved error controls

Object Pickers

When assigning a mailbox to an existing user or mail-enabling a universal group, you will use an object picker when you browse the Active Directory. In the simplest format, the object picker (shown in Figure 7.22) allows you to scroll through the list of user accounts in the Active Directory. Note that the object picker includes a Recipient Type Details column (User or Mailbox User), which may make the interface more difficult to use than it really needs to be by mixing up users who don't have mailboxes and those who already have mailboxes.

image from book
Figure 7.22: Selecting objects from Active Directory

However, the object picker has some nice features. First, it automatically filters the list of users from the Active Directory so that only users without a mailbox or an e-mail address will appear. Second, you can enter part of the name for which you are searching in the Search box and click the Find Now button. If you do a little exploring, though, you will find an option under the View menu called Enable Column Filtering. Column filtering is (also shown in Figure 7.22) allows you to specify a filter for any of the columns. The filter is similar to the Results pane filtering option; you can specify that the data in the column meets a certain criteria. The filter options are as follows:

  • Column Contains

  • Column Does Not Contain

  • Column Starts With

  • Column Ends With

  • Column Is Exactly

  • Column Is Not




Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1
ISBN: 0470417331
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 198
Authors: Jim McBee

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net