Howto: Expand your C:\ drive in VMWARE ESX 3.5

Just as I did some days ago, you may face the problem that you’re running out of diskpace on your C:\ drive (system drive)  in VMWARE. Expanding the system drive is not as easy as expanding a non-system drive (like D:\, E:\ or whatever partitions you may have in your server :) )

These steps will guide you to expand your C:\ drive easily and without any risk. To ensure you don’t lose any data, we first have to make a backup of the vmdk. To do this, turn off the virtual machine a make a copy of the vmdk of the target server. You can do this with WinSCP for example, but if you don’t know how to use that, you can also make a clone of the server. A clone is a good backup too :)

Now that we have backup, we can start with the necessary steps to expand the disk. The following steps are taken from a forum topic of VMWARE. All credits go to GordonG.

1.3.0 Use the VI Client to connect to VirtualCenter

1.3.1 Remove the Disk from the Original Server

·         Select the VM, right-click and select Edit Settings

·         Select the hard disk and select Remove (DO NOT select the option to Remove and Delete).

·         Click OK to apply the changes.

1.3.2 Add the Disk to the Temporary Server

·         Select the VM, right-click and select Edit Settings

·         Click Add, then Hard Disk, Use An Existing Disk.

·         Browse to the datastore, directory and select the vmdk file that we are working with.

·         Click OK to apply the changes.

1.3.3 Expand the Partition

·         If the temporary server was shutdown boot it. If it was running, logon, go to Disk Management and do a rescan to detect the new disk.

·         Note that this will only work with Windows 2003 SP1 or later and only when the partition is the only one on the disk.

·         Login to the server as an administrator

·         Open a Command Prompt (*cmd*)

·         Type Diskpart
Type list volume
Type select volume n (where n is the volume/ partition you want to extend. Check the drive letters and use Disk Management to be sure).
Type extend
This will extend the selected volume to fill the entire disk. Check the changes in Disk Management

1.3.4 Remove the Disk from the Temporary Server

·         Shutdown the Temporary Server.

·         Select the VM, right-click and select Edit Settings

·         Select the hard disk and select Remove (DO NOT select the option to Remove and Delete).

·         Click OK to apply the changes.

1.3.5 Add the Disk Back to the Original Server

·         Select the VM, right-click and select Edit Settings

·         Click Add, then Hard Disk, Use An Existing Disk.

·         Browse to the datastore, directory and select the vmdk file that we are working with.

·         Click OK to apply the changes.

·         Power on the VM and check the disk in Disk Management.

How to forward all email to another account using OWA

To enable auto-forwarding of email within ESM:

1. Drill down in ESM into Global Settings or hub transport (exchange 2007)
2. Right-click on Internet Message Formats in the left pane.
3. Then double-click the Default format in the right pane.
4. Select the Advanced tab, and then verify that "Allow Automatic Forwards" is enabled.

 Message Format tab for remote domain properties

here in this link how to create e-mail fowarding rules in outlook web access

http://onlinehelp.hostbasket.com/shared-mailhosting/office-mail-exchange-2007/outlook-web-access-2007/990-manual-to-create-e-mail-forwarding-rules-in-outlook-web-access-2007-owa.html

 more about Managing Remote Domains setting in this link

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996309.aspx

applies the mandatory properties to the mailbox

when you create a mailbox using the Exchange 2003 tools (ADUC), Your Exchange 2007  mailbox will indicate that it's a "Legacy" mailbox and will therefore be blocked from using some of the new E2k7 features

to reset the mailbox setting use this command:

 Set-Mailbox -ApplyMandatoryProperties -Identity ShowInAddressBookUser -V

create/remove Global Address List

new-GlobalAddressList "Default Global Address List" -RecipientFilter {(Alias -ne $null -and (ObjectClass -eq 'user' -or ObjectClass -eq 'contact' -or ObjectClass -eq 'msExchSystemMailbox' -or ObjectClass -eq 'msExchDynamicDistributionList' -or ObjectClass -eq 'group' -or ObjectClass -eq 'publicFolder'))}

or create a GAL for the DAN company, run the following command.

New-GlobalAddressList -Name "DAN GAL" -IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers -ConditionalCompany dan

Remove-GlobalAddressList -Identity "DAN" -DomainController ex7k.dan.com

 or delete the gal using "adsiedit"

 for hidden a mailbox use this command:

Set-Mailbox "Mailbox Name" -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true

NSLOOKUP: *** Can't find server name

When NSLOOKUP starts, before anything else, it checks the computer's network configuration to determine the IP address of the DNS server that the computer uses.
Then it does a reverse DNS lookup on that IP address to determine the name of the DNS server

 create a reverse zone in Simple DNS Plus, click the "Records" button, select "New" -> "Zone", select "Reverse Zone

Your Out of Office settings cannot be displayed, because the server is currently unavailable

here is a link for helpful articles 

http://www.proexchange.be/blogs/exchange2007/archive/2009/07/14/your-out-of-office-settings-cannot-be-displayed-because-the-server-is-currently-unavailable-try-again-later.aspx

 and a articales about autodiscover

http://www.exchangeninjas.com/AvailabilityServiceFAQ

Managing Resource Mailboxes

 Set-ResourceConfig -DomainController server1.dan.com -ResourcePropertySchema ("Room/room222","Equipment/Projector","Room/8Seats","Equipment/Whiteboard")

 NOTE:

Installing Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008 (disable IPv6)

Service 'MSExchangeTransport' failed to reach  status 'Running' on this server

Disable IPv6

1. Open Registry with "Regedit"
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters
3. Create a dword (32-bit) value and name it as "Disabled Components" and then click OK
4. Double click "Disabled Components" and type 0xffffffff(hexadecimal value) or 4294967295 (Decimal value)
   Please note: The above value 0xffffffff(hexadecimal value) or 4294967295 (Decimal value) will disable all IPv6 components, except the IPv6 loopback interface.

Offline Address Book web distribution in Exchange Server 2007

To use the Exchange Management Shell to update an offline address book

OAB Generation on a cluster server fails

In this cluster type nodes do not share the same physical storage; instead, the passive node continuously replicates database updates, but not the OAB files. Therefore, as the OAB Generation process needs access to the results of previous generation, only one CCR cluster node is able to generate the OAB data files, making such cluster basically asymmetric with regard to OABGen.

To control this behavior the Exchange setup process creates the registry value 'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters\OABGen-Server\EnableOabGenOnThisNode' which contains name of the node installed first, and from now on assumed as ‘primary’ cluster node. Whenever cluster has failed over to the ‘secondary’ node, the scheduled or forced OAB Generation task will log the event id 9395 and finishes.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeSA
Event Category: OAL Generator
Event ID: 9395
Date: 2007-01-26
Time: 1:55:10
User: N/A
Computer: OABGen-Server
Description:
OALGen is running on CCR cluster node which does not have registry value 'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters\OABGen-Server\EnableOabGenOnThisNode' or it is not set to this node name. OAB generation will not be performed.

How To Fix

This is an expected error if the ‘primary’ CCR node is temporarily unavailable, so just make sure it is back online . Otherwise, the following registry key needs to be in place and contain valid cluster node name: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters\Server-Name\EnableOabGenOnThisNode ="ThisNodeName".

NOTE: Make sure that you updated the registry value on the CCR node to be the name of the CCR node.

Connecting to SMB share on a Windows Server 2003-based computer may not work with CNAME alias "Access denied" or "No network provider accepted the given network path"

Connecting to SMB share on a Windows Server 2003-based computer may not work with CNAME alias  "Access denied" or "No network provider accepted the given network path"

SYMPTOMS

Consider the following scenario. You install Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) on a Windows Server 2003-based computer. After you do this, you experience authentication issues when you try to access a server locally by using its fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or its CNAME alias in the following Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path:

In this scenario, you experience one of the following symptoms:

• You receive repeated logon windows.
• You receive an "Access denied" error message.
• You receive a "No network provider accepted the given network path" error message.
• Event ID 537 is logged in the Security event log.

Note You can access the server by using its FQDN or its CNAME alias from another computer in the network other than this computer on which you installed Windows Server 2003 SP1. Additionally, you can access the server on the local computer by using the following paths:

• \\IPaddress-of-local-computer
• \\Netbiosnameor \\ComputerName

 CAUSE

This problem occurs because Windows Server 2003 SP1 includes a new security feature named loopback check functionality. By default, loopback check functionality is turned on in Windows Server 2003 SP1, and the value of the DisableLoopbackCheck registry entry is set to 0 (zero).

Note The loopback check functionality is stored in the following registry subkey:

Export and Import mailboxes to PST files in Exchange 2007

Export/Import to PST Requirements

In order to export or import mailboxes to PST files the following requirements must be met:

• Export/Import to PST must be run from a 32 bit client machine with Exchange Management Tools installed (Version Exchange 2007 SP1 or later). The 32bit requirement comes from a dependency with the Outlook client.
• Either Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 must be installed on the client machine.

A before you perform this procedure, be aware of the following:

• To grant full access to a mailbox, use the Add-MailboxPermission cmdlet and specify FullAccess for the AccessRights parameter. For example, if the user Admin01 needs to import data from a .pst file to John's mailbox, you must first run the following command.

Procedure

Add-MailboxPermission -Identity john -User Admin01 -AccessRights FullAccess

Import-Mailbox -Identity john@contoso.com -PSTFolderPath C:\PSTFiles\john.pst

more option in this link 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691363.aspx

Managing Diagnostic Logging with Exchange Server 2007

For those familiar with the GUI interface for Exchange Server 2003 diagnostic logging the new Exchange Server 2007 diagnostic logging cmdlets might seem a little daunting at first.  But with a little PowerShell understanding they become much easier to manage.  Lets take a look at a few examples.

First of all the two shell cmdlets we are going to use are Get-EventLogLevel and Set-EventLogLevel.  Each does what the name suggests, and can be combined to manage multiple diagnostic logging items quickly and easily. The -Level parameter of each cmdlet determines what level of diagnostic logging is displayed. The levels you can choose are 0 (Lowest), 1 (Low), 3 (Medium), 5 (High), and 7 (Expert). Usually level 5 (High) is adequate but sometimes you will want level 7 (Expert). The default level is 0 (Lowest) and should always be reset once your troubleshooting is complete.

more of this in this link

http://www.capslockassassin.com/2009/02/23/managing-diagnostic-logging-with-exchange-server-2007/

How to move WSUS 3.0 to a new server

http://www.capslockassassin.com/2008/09/22/how-to-move-wsus-30-to-a-new-server/comment-page-1/#comment-903

Recover Deleted Items in Outlook

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type DumpsterAlwaysOn, and then press ENTER.
5. Double-click DumpsterAlwaysOn.
6. Type 1 in the Value data area, click Decimal in the Base area, and then click OK.
7. Close Registry Editor.
8. Restart Outlook.