30-1-2013 Edit – Link to part 3 is here.
In the Exchange 2007 and 2010 world there are definite scenarios where there is a need to add multiple IP addresses to a server so that we can assign specific IP addresses to different web sites. However we do not want clients resolving the Exchange server to multiple A records and getting into a tizzy.
You can a review a previous blog post that I wrote on new functionality that was added to Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 via an update that allows only allowed IP addresses to be registered into DNS. This is a boon especially if you only have a single NIC.
Windows 2012 has this functionality, and also embraces the PowerShell paradigm by providing the same functionality in a PowerShell Cmdlet. Lets review Netsh first then move to PowerShell.
In the below screen shot you can see the Skip As Source parameter:
As a recap, to add the address using Netsh:
Netsh Int IPv4 Add Address <Interface Name> <ip address> SkipAsSource=True
"Interface Name" is the name of the interface for which you want to add a new IP address.
"IP address" is the IP address you want to add to this interface
In my case this was the command used:
Netsh Int IPv4 Add Address Ethernet 192.168.2.201 SkipAsSource=True
And the results can be seen below:
And should you want to remove the IPv4 address using Netsh:
Netsh Int IPv4 Delete Address Ethernet 192.168.2.201
In PowerShell we can achieve the same by leveraging the New-NetIPAddress Cmdlet. First up, let’s take a look at the existing IP addresses via the Get-NetIPAddress cmdlet, and note the current IP of 192.168.2.246 has a value of $False in the SkipAsSource field.
Now let’s add the additional IP address in with the New-NetIPAddress Cmdlet:
New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress 192.168.2.201 -InterfaceAlias Ethernet -SkipAsSource $True
We can see that the SkipAsSource field is set to $True in the above screen shot, and the result is also shown in the Get-NetIPAddress Cmdlet:
Get-NetIPAddress 192.168.2.201
Now you go to parties and impress people with how to add IPs and not have then register into DNS.
Cheers,
Rhoderick
One issue that is often encountered on Exchange engagements is that of maintaining the update level of other applications in the environment. This can relate to backup software, management software in addition to just the Exchange server’s service pack and rollup version.
To assist with keeping the Forefront products at the latest patch level, there is a handy dandy guide on TechNet.
And the table at the bottom of the page has links to the relevant updates.
Looking to ramp up on Windows 2012?
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Update 17-11-2012: 2010 SP2 RU5 is currently not available due to an issue with the update.
Update 11-12-2012 2010 SP2 RU5v2 is now available. Details are here.
Exchange sustained engineering has released Exchange 2010 SP2 RU5 to the Microsoft Download Center.
The list of fixes is at the bottom of the post, though one worth mentioning is this: 2733415 Event ID 1 is logged on the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server in a mixed Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2003 environment. If you have an Exchange environment with both Exchange 2003 & 2010, and you installed SP2 RU3 then you will be glad to see the flood of red in the application log can be stopped . SP2 RU3 introduced changes to RPC Client Access, and a side effect of this was Autodiscover and Exchange 2003 mailboxes. If a user had Outlook 2007/2010 installed and they ran Test Email Auto configuration then the following would be logged into the application event log:
Source: MSExchange Autodiscover Event ID: 1 Task Category: Web Level: Error Description: Unhandled Exception "User setting 'PreferredSite' is not available."
And the net result can be a sea of red:
This occurs because the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server does not calculate the PreferredSite value appropriately for the Autodiscover service request from the Exchange Server 2003 user.
Other notable fixes are:
2750293 Items remain in the "Recoverable Items\Deletions" folder after the retention age limit is reached in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2750847 An Exchange Server 2010 user unexpectedly uses a public folder server that is located far away or on a slow network
2743761 DAG loses quorum if a router or switch issue occurs in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2748870 Declined meeting request is added back to your calendar after a delegate opens the request by using Outlook 2010
In addition to the above, Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 resolves the issues that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles:
2707146 IRM-protected messages cannot be returned in search results if the messages are recorded and sent to an external contact in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2710975 Some MAPI property objects in an ANSI .pst file contain unreadable characters if you import the file by using the "New-MailboxImportRequest" cmdlet
2712001 ExTRA.exe does not collect data if you select a scheduled task for a data collection in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2712595 Microsoft Exchange RPC Client Access service crashes when you run the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2716145 Store.exe crashes on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox server if a VSAPI based antivirus software is used
2717522 Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service crashes on an Exchange Server 2010 server when you update the OAB that contains a DBCS address list
2720017 An RBAC role assignee can unexpectedly change a DAG that is outside the management role group scope in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2727802 Microsoft Exchange Replication service crashes intermittently when you try to move mailboxes from an Exchange Server 2003 server to an Exchange Server 2010 server
2733415 Event ID 1 is logged on the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server in a mixed Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2003 environment
2733609 Email message and NDR message are not delivered if an email message contains unsupported character sets in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2748766 Retention policy information does not show "expiration suspended" in Outlook Web App when the mailbox is set to retention hold in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2748767 You receive an NDR message that incorrectly contains recipients of successful message delivery in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2748879 You cannot access a mailbox by using an EWS application in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2749075 A copy of an archived item remains in the Recoverable Items folder of a primary mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2749593 Outlook logging file lists all the accepted and internal relay domains in the Exchange Server 2010 organization when you enable troubleshooting logging
2763886 "The operation failed" error in the Outlook client when you open a saved message from the Drafts folder and then try to send it in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
This could be a handy dandy addition to your RSS feed so you can keep track of the updated articles relating to Exchange.
The RSS feed contains a list of the recent KBs for a given version of Exchange, this is the Exchange 2010 feed for example:
Exchange 2007 feed can be found here.
Exchange 2003 feed is here.
The evaluation build of Exchange 2013 is now available on the TechNet Evaluation Centre.
That’s a lot of Exchange 2013 loving in the last week -- enjoy!