ADFind Oneliners

2009 June 29
tags: ,
by k0v3

I’m very fond of the powerful AdFind command line utility from joeware.net. Here’s a little overview of a little list I’m keeping for my own refernce:

Find the user behind a GUID:

adfind -binenc -gc -s subtree -b dc=test,dc=com -f “objectGUID={{GUID:????????-????-????-????-????????????}}” displayName

Likewise, you can use the same tool to find the e-mail address of a certain user:

adfind -gc -b dc=???,dc=??? -nodn -nolabel -f “sAMAccountName=??????” mail

The command above is actually part of script, so I used the “-nodn” and “-nolabel” parameters to have the tool only return the e-mail address. You obviously need to replace the question marks with something meaningful in the examples above.

List all distribution groups:

adfind -csv -nodn -f “(&(objectcategory=group)(mail=*))” displayname

List all contacts:

adfind -csv -nodn -f “(&(&(& (mailnickname=*) (| (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=contact)) ))))” displayname

List all mailbox-enabled users:

adfind -csv -nodn -f “(&(&(& (mailnickname=*) (| (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(|(homeMDB=*)(msExchHomeServerName=*))) ))))” displayname

Run a query against another domain:

adfind -h %servername% -u %domain%\%username% -up %password% -csv -nodn -f “displayname=John Doe” displayname

More info

VW Touran Fietsdrager

2009 June 13
by k0v3

(Repost) Al een tijdje rijd ik rond met het idee zelf een rek te bouwen voor het binnenruim van mijn VW Touran. ‘t heeft lang geduurd maar uiteindelijk is een eerste ontwerp toch afgeraakt:

729-412663069db4e81b

In de lokale doe-het-zelf zaak vond ik alu profielen die met hun 10cm breedte perfect tussen de benen van de voorvork van een fiets passen. De hoofdbalk wordt bevestigd op de beugels voor de achterzetels door middel van oogvijzen (8mm) en “draaiknoppen” recupereer ik van een oude grasmachine. Daarop heb ik dan 2 dwarsbalken gevezen dmv 8mm bouten en bolkapmoeren.

Elk van de dwarsbalken heeft 2 mogelijke posities. De eerste kan enkel gebruikt worden voor de mtb én wanneer de stoelen volledig verwijderd zijn. De 2° positie biedt plaats voor de koersfiets of de mtb (met opgeklapte achterzetels dan). Er zijn dus ook 2 uitsparingen voor de schijfremmen.

Het moeilijkste waren de gaten in de breedte voor de snelspanners (5mm). Het profiel heeft in het midden ook een wand en met het hobby materiaal waarover ik kon beschikken is het moeilijk die 3 gaten (2x buiten- + 1x binnenwand) netjes op een lijn te krijgen. Ik moest immers in 2 keer boren.

Commerciële alternatieven:

Nog enkele foto’s en shema’s (die spijtig genoeg in veel te lage resolutie gescanned werden):

VWTouranBikeDragerSchema1

IMG_5952729-41266306becf1358

IMG_5956729-41266306bef8091a

IMG_5949729-41266306bf17e4b1

IMG_5951729-41266306bf3c4d5e

IMG_5967729-41266306bf5dad52

IMG_6083729-41266306bdfdb975

Om het af te werken nog een dikker rubber mat op maat gesneden zodat het kofferruim niet al te vuil wordt.

Tot slot nog een bedankje aan Dirk De Meyer die iets gelijkaardig (maar dan achterstevoren) bouwde en me enkele nuttige tips gaf.

XCycle Heverlee

2009 June 5
tags: ,
by k0v3

20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6778 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6779 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6780 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6781 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6783 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6784 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6785 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6786 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6787 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6788 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6789 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6790 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6791 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6792 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6794 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6798 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6799 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6800 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6802 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6804 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6807 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6808 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6809 20090530_XCycle_Heverlee_6810

Commuting

2009 June 5
tags:
by k0v3

I started commuting by bike once a week since Thursday of last week. I’m still suffering a bit as I quit cycling on a regular basis about 2 years ago.

Ninove-Merelbeke (35km)

Ninove-Merelbeke (35km)

A little self-motivational post ;-)

Exchange 2010 archiving

2009 May 19
tags:
by k0v3

Got some questions from one of our customers about Exchange 2010 archiving. First of all its important to understand that the solution proposed by Microsoft is like having a second mailbox in the same database. I’m sure the technology will evolve later on but this seems kind of a drawback to me.

You can either read the details on the Exchange 2010 product home page or checkout this assessment (less Marketing!) from Ferris Research. Screenshot junkies on the other hand can check out this blog post from The Three UC Amigos. Last but not least there’s a TechNet webcast coming up (10th of June) which covers the new “Archiving & Retention” features.

Update 2009-06-26: Noticed an interesting discussion in the TechNet forums covering the “Personal Archive” feature.

Exchange 2010 Webcasts coming up!

2009 May 18
tags:
by k0v3
Hey ya messaging freaks out there. There are a number of MS Webcasts coming up on Exchange 2010 next month.
All of them are scheduled to start @ 18h00 in our time zone. Want to participate; This way please…

Automating a powershell demo using AutoHotKey

2009 May 15
by k0v3

I gave a custom Exchange 2007 course to one of our customers yesterday. Not unsurprisingly, it also included a demo of Exchange Management Shell (EMS). These demos tend to end up in a quest for the exact command, which is quite annoying if you’re in front of an audience (even a small one). Think about:

  • about_regular_expressions or about_regular_expression?
  • $_. or $._?
  • Why is -Confirm $False not working?

This time I decided to try and automate that demo by using the autoreplace feature (Hotstring) in AutoHotKey. The main goal is avoiding typo’s by using tried and true commands in a working order. A poor man’s Start-Demo script if you wish ;-)

The script starts of with a bunch of commands controlling the overall functionallity (the first 3 come with the default template):

#NoEnv

Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.

SendMode Input

Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.

SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%

Ensures a consistent starting directory.

#Hotstring EndChars `n

Limit the hotstring end characters to ENTER only

#Hotstring O

Don’t actually type the end character. (I want to launch the command myself after/during my explanation.)

#Hotstring R

Type replacement text in raw mode. (To prevent AHK from interpreting e.g. “{”)

The remainder of the script is actually a long list of hotstring definitions like these ones

::ems01::Get-Help
::ems02::Get-Help About
::ems03::Get-Help About_Regular_Expression
::ems04::Get-Command *mailbox
::ems05::Get-Help New-Mailbox
::ems06::Get-Help New-Mailbox -Detailed
::ems07::Get-Help New-Mailbox -Full

and so on.

Seems stupid with these simple examples, but the advantage becomes clear for more complex commands. Lets take “ems26″ for example;

::ems26::1..10 | Foreach-Object { new-mailbox -Database “Mailbox Database 2″ -Name (”User” + $_) -UserPrincipalName (”User” + $_ + “@exchange2007.lab”) -Password $Pwd }

When I type “ems26″+ENTER in EMS AutoHotKey executable automatically replaces this string with “1..10 | Foreach-Object { new-mailbox -Database “Mailbox Database 2″ -Name (”User” + $_) -UserPrincipalName (”User” + $_ + “@exchange2007.lab”) -Password $Pwd }” and waits. I do my talking and then hit ENTER again to execute the command.

It worked nicely actually. People were impressed with my typing skills ;-) I only encountered one error because I didn’t delete some manually after a test the day before. It even works with shell running inside a VM while the AutoHotKey script is running on my physical computer.

Exchange 2010 Beta Released

2009 April 16
tags:
by k0v3

Hundreds of blogs already reported on the release of the beta of Exchange 2010/Exchange 14.

 Anyway, here are some resources in case you would want to catch up with the latest messaging bits from Microsoft:

The most important changes:

  1. SCR, LCR & SCC all dissapear. CCR will be enhanced with multiple replicas of the same database
  2. Web based management console (on top of PowerShell)
  3. OWA becomes “Outlook Live”
    1. Self-service features for the end user: e.g. request membership of a DL
    2. Premium interface finally supports Firefox (and Safari)
    3. Gmail like conversation view.
  4. Role Based Access Control for an even more granular delegation model
  5. Storage groups are replaced by Availability Groups.
  6. All mailbox access passes through the CAS servers,  adding an extra abstraction layer.

A more extensive write-up of the new E2K10 can be found on simple-talk.com. Some installation guidance can be found on Scott Schnoll’s Blog on the other hand.

Note that the only supported Operating System so far is Windows Server 2008 x64 (no R2!)

Happy testing!

Preparing for an exam the lazy way

2009 March 30
tags:
by k0v3

After converting some training videos with SUPER I could successfully watch them from the comfort of my couch via my latest toy; a WD TV HD MediaPlayer.

WD TV HD Mediaplayer in combination with an old JVC television

TechDays BeLux 2009 Day 2

2009 March 13
tags:
by k0v3

Bart De Smet on PowerShell v2Session 1: PowerShell v2 (Bart De Smet)

Bart kicked of the last day of this event with a session on PSv2. After outlining the PS mission (as integrated with the OS as bash, as programmatic as Perl/python, as …) he explained the deliverables for PSv2:

  • Make it easier to use and learn
  • Layer apps on top of PS
  • Managed everything, everywhere

The demo’s of Graphical PowerShell, Debugger, new Cmdlets, modules, Native Code and remoting were enough to make me start thinking about installing Win7 on my personal laptop ;-)

Session 2: Sysvol replication – FRS vs. DFS-R (Rhonda Layfield)

Rhonda discussed the strengths and weakness of both FRS (File Replication Service) and DFS-R (Distributed File System – Replication), the benefits of using the latter for sysvol replication and the procedure to migrate from one to the other.

Jorge de Almeida Pinto on Object Recovery in ADSession 3: Object Recovery in AD (Jorge de Almeida Pinto)

Prior to this session there was a general power cut. The speaker announced a delay of half an hour. But when we returned the presentation had already started. We missed the first couple of slides. Jorge basically covered the solutions for restoring accidentally deleted items from Windows 2000 up to Windows Server 2008 R2, including the new AD Recycle Bin feature.

Ilse van Criekinge on CCR & SCRSession 4: Exchange Server 2007 High Availability (Ilse van Criekinge)

Yet another presentation by Ilse. This time covering Continuous Replication. After uncovering the 4 High Availability methods in Exchange Server 2007 (LCR, SCC, CCR & SCR) she went into a more detailed comparison of SCC (Single Copy Cluster) and CCR (Cluster Continuous Replication).

Last but not least we got into a bit more details about lost log resilience, log roll, reseeding and the transport dumpster.

Sam Hassani on Patching SharepointSession 5: Patching Sharepoint (Sam Hassani)

This session was way to specific for me as I don’t have any particular knowledge about the Product.

Session 6: Network Monitor (Rhonda Layfield)

Rhonda entertained us with with a session about net latest versions of Network Monitor 3.2 & 3.3 beta.

Back to work now…