leedesmond’s blog

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Thanks for your support and understanding!

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In Exchange Management Shell, get-excommand works very much like the get-command in Windows PowerShell but returns only Exchange specific cmdlets.

For instance, get-command -noun mailbox is equivalent to get-excommand *-mailbox. Executing get-excommand -noun mailbox will fail with the red-colored error:

Get-Command: The term ‘-noun’ is not recognized as a cmdlet, function, operable program, or script file. Verify the term and try again.
At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin\Exchange.ps1:141 char:14

+     get-command <<<< $args[0] | where { $_.psSnapin -ilike ‘Microsoft.Exchange*’ }

Any attempt to call for on-line help covering get-excommand will result in the error below:

Get-Help : Cannot find Help for topic “get-excommand”.
At line:94 char:26
+     get-help <<<< $Name -Category $Category

If you examine the source or closely at the first error message, it can be clearly seen that get-excommand is actually a wrapper for get-command expecting exactly one argument on the command line. Unless you know the exact Exchange cmdlet to inquire, such as get-excommand Disable-Mailbox, always include the wildcard character (denoted by an asterisk as in get-excommand *mailbox). Otherwise, you will see the same error message again.

Once you get over this initial confusion, you can use your Windows PowerShell knowledge to drill down further into the Exchange cmdlet. An example would be get-excommand disable-mailbox | get-member -memberType property (or replace with get-command).

Note that Exchange specific cmdlets show up only within the Exchange Management Shell. Calling get-command -noun mailbox within Windows PowerShell will return nothing.

See also: Using the Exchange Management Shell, Exchange Management Shell Quick Reference

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For C, C++ or C# developers, one of the most missed operator in Windows PowerShell v1.0 (current RTM) must have been the ternary operator. This is a shorthand notation (… ? … : … ) typically used to compress if-else loop(s) into one (or more) statement(s).

Jeffrey Snover blogged about this and provided a link to Karl Prosser who contributed this time-saver at the Windows PowerShell team blog. Worth checking out not just for the ?: but also get to learn how to harness advanced PowerShell features!

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Announced at the MS Exchange team blog, the PowerShell Scriptacular demo pack is a collection of PowerShell scripts that showcases the innovations in Exchange [2007 System] Management Shell.

Download and run the demo scripts to see the power of PowerShell in action. Or dissect the source (from the source itself) to get a jump-start learning PowerShell to script Exchange 2007.

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… is not a Microsoft supported option*. Neither is an in-place upgrade to Exchange Server 2007 from any previous versions supported.

Migration to Exchange Server 2007 from 5.5 is supported from an existing Exchange organization to an entirely different Exchange organization. Coexistence of Exchange Server 2007 in a single Exchange Server organization works only with Exchange 2000 or 2003.

As part of a migration upgrade strategy to Exchange Server 2007, no Exchange 5.5 servers can exist in the Exchange Server organization and the latter must be in the (Exchange Server) native mode. The entire Exchange 2000/2003 organization is upgraded instead of individual Exchange servers. In other words, you install Exchange Server 2007 and move resources such as system folders, existing public folders, mailboxes and messaging services from Exchange 2000/2003 to 2007 before decommissioning the former (similar to the familiar Exchange 5.5 to 2003 intra-organizational upgrade).

Additionally, the infrastructure must meet the following requirements:

• the Schema Master and Global Catalog (GC) domain controller must be running Windows Server 2003 SP1
• presence of one or more GCs in each Active Directory (AD) site where Exchange Server 2007 will be installed
• at least Windows 2000 native at the AD domain functional level for all domains in an AD forest
• minimum AD forest functional level must be Windows Server 2003 if forest-to-forest trust is used

The message is clear. If you are still on Exchange 5.5 and need to maintain the current Exchange organization, start planning for the move to Exchange 2003 to ease the next step towards Exchange Server 2007 implementation.

* check out third party products that should help fill this gap

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Have you been looking around for a tool loaded with advanced features to help with your day-to-day scripting needs? Or have you been longing to learn PowerShell from one of the leading experts in this field to augment and raise your scripting skills to the next level? Then do not miss The PowerShell Essentials Package brought to you by the folks at SAPIEN Technologies! This powerful and complete scripting software package is made up of:

- PrimalScript 4.1 Professional Software
- Windows PowerShell(TM): TFM Book by Don Jones
- PowerShell Snippets Pack

OFFER GOOD from 0001 hrs to 2359 hrs PST on December 31, 2006 only!
( 0901 hrs GMT to 2059 hrs GMT )

Tech.Ed IT Forum 2006 delegates - I demonstrated during my session using PrimalScript 4.1 RTM and here is your chance to grab hold of this excellent package at the special New Year price offer!

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Do you know that you can save your Office 2007 documents in the PDF or XPS file format using “2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS“?

Office 2007 must already be installed and the product validated or else download will fail:

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A selection of photos taken at Zürich’s main shopping street Bahnhofstrasse, stretching from the main train station to Bürkliplatz near the beautiful lake. The annual Zürcher Christkindli Markt in the main train station (HB) should not be missed for locals and visitors alike, selling traditional foods, arts and crafts. Notice that there is still no snow yet

( drop me a line or comment if you like a larger version of the image - sorry limited space asset )

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VMware Beta N° II of the Day! This one just in — you hear it here first

Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:16:52 -0800
From: “The VMware Team” do-not-reply act .vmware.com
Subject: VMware Workstation 6.0 Beta

VMware Workstation 6.0 Beta Program

Dear VMware Customer,

We are pleased to invite you to the VMware Workstation 6.0 Beta Program. Workstation 6.0 includes exciting new features, including:

Support for Windows Vista - Use Windows Vista as host operating system

Multiple monitor display - You can configure a VM to span multiple monitors, or multiple VMs to each display on separate monitors.

Integrated Virtual Debugger - Workstation integrates with Visual Studio and Eclipse so you can deploy, run, and debug programs in a VM directly from your preferred IDE.

Automation APIs (VIX API 2.0) - You can write scripts and programs to automate VM testing.

Headless mode - You can run VMs in the background without the Workstation UI You can find detailed information on new features, answers to frequently asked questions, links to download the product, release notes, etc. at:

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/ws/

Your serial keys will be provided to you once you have completed the registration survey. Please save the serial keys for your own record.

In addition, we have created a discussion forum where you can connect with other beta users to discuss product features, post questions, etc. You can find the discussion forum here:

http://www.vmware.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID=372

Please note that the discussion forum is not the mechanism to request tech support.

We ask that you give us candid feedback on the software and the documentation. If you encounter problems while testing the release, please submit a Service Request (SR) here.

http://www.vmware.com/support/sr/sr_login.jsp?followingPage=/support/sr/sr_home.jsp

We ask you to make all problem reports using the web form above as it is the only way that they are reported to the engineering team. Please do not send email reports as they may get misfiled.

Best regards,

The VMware Workstation Team

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This one just in for all you Mac fans out there (finally from VMware behind Parallel)!

Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:27:27 -0800
From: “The VMware Team” do-not-reply act vmware.com
Subject: The Fusion Beta Program is live!

Dear ,

We are excited to announce that the Fusion beta program is now live. Fusion is the codename for a new VMware desktop product for Mac that will enable Intel-based Macs to run x86 operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, in virtual machines at the same time as Mac OS X. It is built on VMware’s robust and advanced desktop virtualization platform that is used by over four million users today.

You can find detailed information about this new VMware product, answers to frequently asked questions, links to download the product, release notes, etc. at: www.vmware.com/fusionbeta.

We ask that you give us candid feedback on the software and documentation. If you encounter problems while testing this release, please submit a bug report by clicking on Service Request located in the Quick Links section at: www.vmware.com/fusionbeta.

We also have a discussion forum where you can interact with the product team and other beta users to discuss product features, post questions, exchange tips and tricks. You can access the forum by clicking on http://www.vmware.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID=371.

With Fusion you can now run any of the over 360 virtual appliances available at the Virtual Appliance Marketplace (http://vam.vmware.com) on your Mac. Virtual appliances are pre-built and pre-configured applications bundled with an operating system so they can run on any hardware or operating system.

Best regards,

The VMware Fusion Team

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