David Strome's Blog : Exchange Management Shell

Exchange 2007 “How Do I?” Videos

dstrome — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:51:20 GMT

If you want to learn more about Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, check out the “How Do I?” videos that we’ve published in the Exchange TechCenter library. These videos combine narration and step-by-step procedures recorded on test servers. There are some great videos on how to:

More videos will be posted in the future on a variety of topics so check back regularly.

Exchange Management Shell Help Feedback

dstrome — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:20:32 GMT

As you know we're working on Exchange 14, the next version of Exchange Server. As part of that work we're taking a look at how we write content for all of the features of Exchange. I'm working on defining the guidelines for how we write the content for the Exchange Management Shell - what overview and procedural topics need to be written to what content we put into the individual cmdlet topics and how its displayed to you.

I'm really interested in what you think of the Exchange Management Shell help in Exchange Server 2007. What do you like about it? What do you, well, hate? Is it how it's displayed? Or are we missing something important that would make your life easier if we'd included it? Or did you discover something that just made things 'click' for you?

I want to know about it. Put together a wish list or list of things you love (or both!) and send them to me. I'll be taking your feedback and seeing how it can help us to improve the E14 product documentation. Some things will be easier to do and some will likely be harder so I can't promise everything you send to me can be addressed. But I will take everything you say seriously and work to align the shell help to meet your expectations.

The best way to send your feedback to me is to click on the Email link on the left side of this site. Or you can copy this URL into your address bar: http://blogs.technet.com/dstrome/contact.aspx. Please pass this blog post on to your colleagues and ask them to send their feedback too. The more the better.

Thanks!

David.

PS. Don't forget to send feedback on individual topics in the Exchange Server 2007 documentation library located here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558.aspx. Click on the "Click to Rate and Give Feedback" link in the top right corner of the page. Every comment and rating you submit with that tool gets submitted directly into a database that we continually monitor. That link is the best way to get attention on topics that need work or to send kudos on topics you especially like.

February 2008 Exchange Server 2007 Documentation Updates

dstrome — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:45:54 GMT

Check out the Exchange Server 2007 documentation update notes for a list of topics that were updated today in our February refresh.

We also released an updated Exchange Management Shell help file. This help update brings the Exchange Management Shell help in sync with the content available on the Microsoft TechNet site and in the Exchange Server 2007 product help file.

To update the Exchange Management Shell help, download the updated help file and extract it over top of the existing Exchange Management Shell Help file, Microsoft.Exchange.Management-Help.xml. By default the help file will extract to C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Bin\en. If you installed Exchange Server 2007 to a different path, or if your installation locale is not English (en), modify your path accordingly.

Once you have extracted the updated help file to the correct location, close the Exchange Management Shell and re-open it to load the updated help file.

David.

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Featured in TechNet Magazine

dstrome — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:22:05 GMT

In case you missed it, check out the December 2007 edition of TechNet Magazine which focuses on Exchange Server 2007 SP1. The Exchange-related feature articles included in this edition of TechNet Magazine are:

Don't forget that the December 2006 edition of TechNet Magazine also focused on Exchange Server 2007. While the articles in this edition of TechNet Magazine are based on a pre-release version of Exchange 2007, they still contain a wealth of information. I highly recommend you check them out. The Exchange-related feature articles included in this edition of TechNet Magazine are:

Exchange Management Shell Tips and Quick Reference

dstrome — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:40:43 GMT

I'm sitting here watching downhill skiing (a Canadian finished third! woo!), recovering from Christmas and a nasty cold. Colds aren't fun. But getting one at Christmas is just wrong. So I'm planted in an easy chair, staring at the TV. Bored. I've even clicked through pretty much all the various greetings that pop up when you play Scrabulous on Facebook. Did you know that Aloha means not only 'hello' and 'goodbye', but also reflects affection, love, mercy and compassion? You would if played Scrabulous (I hope they're right). Anyways. I want to highlight a couple of Exchange Server 2007 help topics that you may not have come across.

Exchange Management Shell Tips

When you open the Exchange Management Shell, a greeting is displayed to you with useful commands and a tip as is shown in the following screen shot:

Every time you open the shell, you receive a new tip. You can also bring up new tips by using the Get-Tip cmdlet. There are a few dozen tips available in the shell and the Get-Tip cmdlet (it's actually a function that gets defined in Exchange.ps1 in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin and reads from an XML file in the directory that relates to your locale within the bin directory) randomly chooses one each time it's run. We figured it would be a good idea to take the tips and publish them as a single topic so that you could easily browse through them and discover tips that make your life easier.

The Exchange Management Shell Tips of the Day topic lists all of the tips along with links off to relevant topics for each time. Take a look through - I'm sure there are at least a couple of tips that would be useful to you. Be sure to take a look at the other topics beneath Understanding the Exchange Management Shell also. There's lots of good information for those who are new to the shell.

Exchange Management Shell Quick Reference

The second topic I wanted to highlight is the Exchange Management Shell Quick Reference downloadable sheet available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads (you can get to it directly by clicking this link: Exchange Management Shell Quick Reference). When you click on the link, you will be prompted to download quickref.exe which when run will extract two files to the default location c:\ExQuickRef. Browse to that directory and then open ExQuick.htm.

The Exchange Management Shell Quick Reference sheet contains several dozen common commands that are categorized by task. For example, if you want examples of commands used to manage mailboxes, click on Mailbox Management. Below is a screenshot of a small section of the mailbox management section:

I recommend that you download the sheet and print it out so you have easy access to it.

For both the tips of the day and the quick reference topics, feel free to send in tips or examples commands that you use frequently or would benefit other administrators. For the tips, please use the feedback mechanism on the page to submit tip ideas - they will get entered into a database and assigned directly to me. For the quick reference, add a comment to this post, or if the comments eventually close, feel free to submit ideas through the contact form. I'd love to hear about ideas you have.

Hope you all have a great and safe New Years. I think it's time for a nap.

David.

Exchange Server 2003 Community Content

dstrome — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:05:00 GMT

We recently enabled a new feature on our Exchange Server 2003 product documentation. A new "Community Content" section enables you to add content to our existing topics. Now you can add your own thoughts to a topic. Have you implemented something and have real-world insights into what people should expect? Have you found a better way to do something? Want to fill in details? Go ahead and add it to the topics. I'm pretty excited about this because you have the opportunity to share with your fellow administrators what you've learned while designing, implementing and operating your Exchange installations.

Right now it's enabled on Exchange Server 2003 to see what the response is. Depending on the response we'll add it to more content over time. I really hope you'll go and check it out and add your thoughts. You can access the Exchange Server 2003 documentation by clicking here: Exchange Server 2003 docs. At the bottom of the page, click on the Add Community Content link, register and then add your content.

And don't forget that you can submit feedback on all of our content. Just click on the "Click to rate and give feedback" link in the top right of the page, give it a rating and then provide your feedback. What's great is that every piece of feedback (that isn't spam :) that you leave is entered into a tracking database and assigned directly to the writer that owns the topic. We evaluate everything that's sent to us and if action is warranted, we will take it. Your feedback is extremely important to us.