Kinahan's Tech Rants

Note: In an Exchange 2007 environment BlackBerry Enterprise Server should NOT be installed on the mail server as the BES software is not 64BIT compatible. In the event BES is installed on the mail server is will change IIS from 64BIT to 32BIT mode, this will then cause sites like OWA to be disabled. Also before installing BES you MUST have public folders enabled and have an Offline Address book configured in Exchange 2007.

1. On the server you have selected to load BlackBerry Enterprise Server download and install “Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1” which is available from the Microsoft Download site (a.k.a ExchangeMapiCdo.EXE). This will install the CDO and MAPI DLLs which are no longer available in Exchange 2007. This replaces the previous requirement to have Exchange System Manager installed as in Exchange 2000 or 2003 environments. The current download link is as follows:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e17e7f31-079a-43a9-bff2-0a110307611e&DisplayLang=en
2. Log onto your Exchange Server using an account which has permissions to create an account. Open the Exchange Management Console and create a service account called BESadmin.
3. From the Exchange 2007 server open the “Exchange Management Shell” which can be found in the Exchange program group. From EMS run the following two scripts to set the delegate control and required permissions:
get-mailboxserver <mail_server_name> | add-exchangeadministrator BESAdmin –role ViewOnlyAdmin
get-mailboxserver <mail_server_name> | add-adpermission -user BESadmin -accessrights GenericRead, GenericWrite -extendedrights Send-As, Receive-As, ms-Exch-Store-Admin
4. Open Active Directory and from the View menu select "Advanced Features". Then go to each user that will be added to the BES and open their properties, go to the security tab and add the user BESadmin and add the security permission "Send As". (This will overcome some MS patches that prevent BES sending emails). Methods are available to add BESadmin "Send As" rights to all users if required but this method ensures only the required users have permissions added.
5. Make BESadmin a local Administrator of the server where you will be installing the BES software. This is done by right mouse clicking my computer and selecting “Manage”. From Computer Management expand “Local Users & Groups” and select Groups. From Groups double click “Administrators” and add BESadmin.
6. On the BES server go to “Administrative Tools” and open "Local Security Policy" and then expand the "Local Policies" and "User Right Assignment". You need to add BESadmin to "Log on Locally" and log on as Service".
7. Log onto the server where you will be installing the BES using the BESadmin account. Extract the install files and run the install file. Normally you select "BlackBerry Enterprise Server" as the install option once prompted as most sites don't use the MDS services for custom applications (MDS is a much heavier install). Follow the prompts of the install and the server will be required to restart half way through the install. Restart the server and log back on as BESadmin and the install will continue. (Make sure the Connect Test works and the SRP ID etc is validated during the install)
8. After the install is finished open BlackBerry Manager, an error will appear about MAPI client which you can just hit OK. The MAPI setting windows will appear so just add the server name back in and select "Check Name", if it resolves just hit OK and the manager will start.
9. Within Blackberry Manager click on Blackberry Domain in the left column and then the users SERVERS tab in the centre section, select your server within this tab and view the properties below. Ensure that "SRP Status:" is Connected (This can take a few minutes the first time so refresh the screen a few times). Once your status is connected you can start adding users.
10. Within Blackberry Manager click on your server name (The blue server) in the left column and then the users TAB in the centre section, just add a user and the click on that user. You will see all the users’ properties and a drop down menu called "Service Access” and select “Set Activation Password” and set a password of “a” for example.
11. Turn on you BlackBerry device and ensure Wireless is enabled. Go into “Options/Settings” and “Time & Date” and set the correct zone and time etc. Then from the home screen go to enterprise activation and enter the users email address and enter the password that was set in step 10. Press the track wheel and select Activate. Within a minute you should get data returned which indicates the process is functioning correct.

Here is a PowerShell script to identify the top 10 users who have the biggest mailbox on your Exchange 2007 server and output the result to Internet Explorer.

$strComputer = (Read-Host "Enter The Server Name").Toupper()
$ie = new-object -comobject InternetExplorer.Application
$ie.visible = $True
$ie.navigate("About:Blank")
$ie.document.title = "Top 10 Mailbox Users On $strComputer"
$ie.toolbar = "1"
$ie.statusbar = ""
$BigMailUsers = Get-MailboxStatistics -server $strComputer |sort-object -Property totalitemsize -des |select-object Displayname, ItemCount,
@{name='TotalItemSize(MB)';expression={$_.totalitemsize/1MB}} -first 10 |Convertto-html
$ie.Document.Body.InnerHTML = $BigMailUsers
$ie.Document.body.Bgcolor = "MintCream"
$ie.Document.FgColor = "MidnightBlue"

If you use VMware in virtually any of its flavors, then you've probably become familiar with the list of files created in each folder you create for a virtual machine. Those files are used by the software to process the running of each virtual machine.

But what exactly is each file for? What does each do? Let's take a few minutes to look at the files, and specifically the file extensions, that you'll see within each virtual machine's folder to help you understand the role of each:

.VMDK -- These files are the actual hard disk of the virtual machine itself, and tend to be the largest file within the folder. You can consider the size of this file to be roughly equivalent to the size of either the disk itself (if you've chosen to use preallocated disks) or the size of the data currently stored on that disk (if you use growable disks).

.NVRAM -- Consider this file the BIOS of the virtual machine.

.VMX -- With typically one VMX file per folder, this file holds the configuration information for the virtual machine in a text format. Unlike almost all the other files you'll see, these files can be edited using any text editing program, a process that is actually required for some functionality that is not exposed in the GUI.

.VMXF -- This file, in XML format, includes additional information about the virtual machine if it has been added to a team. If a machine has been added to a team and then later removed, this file remains resident. This file can also be opened and read in a text editor.

.VMTM -- For virtual machines actively participating in a team, this file stores information about that team membership.

.VMEM -- These files, which contain a backup of the VMs paging file, are typically very small or non-existent when the virtual machine is powered off, but grow immediately to the size of configured RAM when the machine is powered on.

.VMSN and .VMSD -- When snapshots are created for a virtual machine, these files are created to host the state of the virtual machine. The VMSN file stores the running state of the machine, what you could consider the "delta" between the VMDK at the point of the snapshot and what has been processed up until the present time. The VMSD stores information and metadata about the snapshot itself.

.VMSS -- If you've suspected the state of your machine, this file contains the suspended state of that machine. These files typically only appear when virtual machines have been suspended.

Depending on the VMware product you use or the platform upon which it resides, these files may be slightly different. However, these files are mostly the same across all versions of VMware's products.

Credit: Greg Shields.

Neither Exchange 2007 nor Exchange 2007 SP1 is supported in production in a virtual environment. However, as stated previously, Microsoft Virtual Server is a good environment for training, labs, and demos. Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2007 SP1 are supported in production environments using only the 64-bit version of Exchange 2007, and currently neither Microsoft Virtual Server nor Microsoft Virtual PC supports 64-bit guest systems. Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2007 SP1 are also not supported in production in a virtual environment using virtualization software that is not Microsoft software. For details about the Microsoft support policy for third-party virtualization software, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 897615, Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.

In addition to the missing Exchange Management Console interface for entering a product key as described in "Evaluations and Product Keys" later in this topic, two other features are not available in the 32-bit version of Exchange 2007:

• Automatic anti-spam updates from Microsoft Update. Only a licensed 64-bit version of Exchange 2007 can get automatic anti-spam updates from Microsoft Update.
• Large numbers of storage groups and databases. You can have a maximum of five databases per server in as many as five storage groups on the 32-bit version.