a blog or 2

Failed exchange event sink - methods to troubleshoot

pareshj — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:38:00 GMT

I had a customer that reported failures with an event sink working on one machine but failing on another server. This article lists methods to help, remind anyone what steps to take to help find a solution quicker.

This customers event sink worked for many other clients but just failed for this one customer.

"The event sync don’t receive the event from the exchange.”

What they had was an application that can change outgoing emails to add things such as a disclaimer to the email.
The application works using Exchange 2003 smtp event sinks and registering to recieve the OnSessionStart event.
The application is installed and works for many different clients but for one of out clients we are unable to get the application to function. The event sink seems to be registered correctly but it is not recieving events from the exchange server.

The problems turned out to be a combination of missing dlls in the GAC, invalid dll registration, security and assembly versioning.

I've listed below methods we took to determine how to troubleshoot and resolve this.

-Security:
One of the most common problems why an event sink will fail to fire will be around security.
Event sinks in Exchange run out of process so they must have a Com wrapper configured that sets a specific identity for it to run under. To provide a security context so that your event sink can run out-of-process on Exchange you must wrap your event sink as a COM+ component application. This is done before registering an Event Sink.

On Windows 2003, to create a COM+ application for an event sink
Click Start, point to All Programs, then Administrative Tools, and click Component Services.
In Component Services, select COM+ Applications under Console Root\Component Services\Computers\My Computer.
Right-click COM+ Applications, point to New, and click Application.
Click Next, then click Create an empty application.
Name the application, verify that Server application is selected, and then click Next.
On the Set Application Identity page, click This User. Browse for an appropriate account, one that has the necessary permissions to perform the tasks in the event sink, and enter the password for this account. It is recommended that you not select the Interactive User option because the Exchange server will not normally have a user logged on interactively. Click Next, Next, and then Finish.
Open the new application, and right-click Components in the tree view.
Click New and then click Component.
Click Next and then Import component(s) that are already registered.
When the list displays, select your component,
Click Next, click Finish, and click OK to close Component Services.
Right-click on the application and select Properties.
Select the Security tab. Uncheck the Enforce access check for this application box and select the Perform access checks only at the process level. radio button.
Click OK.

If you use an administrator account as the identity for the sink don't expect that this will have rights to folder you registering the sink on.
Make sure whatever account you use as the Com+ identity can access the folder in question and has rights to read and create items in this folder.
If you are developing your sink on a Exchange server then you can debug your sink with the Visual Studio debugger, your sink does need to be at a level where it can actually fire though (eg no problems with the underlying
assemblies you have used).

- take a look at the applicaiton event logs to determine what event ids you get back
- Try increasing diagnostic logging on Logons on the Store your trying to register the sink on this can help you at least see if anything is trying to logon to the store when you event should fire.

-Missing DLLs in the Gac
The Global Assembly Cache (GAC) is a central repository for storing shared assemblies.
The GAC allows multiple versions of the same assembly to be installed and also prevents different assembly vendors from overwriting each other's assemblies. The file responsible for installing the assemblies manually is GACUTIL, with the GAC located at C:\WINDOWS\assembly.

Assemblies are of two types: application private and shared. The default is application private and only one application uses them. These are the assemblies that are in the application folder. Shared assemblies are meant to be used by more than one application. It has a globally unique name (called a "strong name") and it must be defined in the GAC. GACUTIL will list, install, and uninstall assemblies in the GAC

GacUtil is located:

VS2003 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\windows\v6.0a\bin\
VS2005, its located here - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin\
VS2008 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC

Global Assembly Cache Tool (Gacutil.exe)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ex0ss12c(VS.71).aspx

To install assemblies into the global assembly cache, use the /i switch:
gacutil /i mySharedDLL.dll

To uninstall an assembly from the global assembly cache, use the /u switch along with the name of the assembly without the .dll extension:
gacutil /u mySharedDLL

often you may get configurations in conflict with itself so its best to try and uninstall the assembly and re-register.

How to install an assembly in the .NET Framework global assembly cache
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910355

Spotlight On: Microsoft Silverlight

pareshj — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:49:00 GMT

Microsoft Silverlight is a free runtime that powers rich application experiences and delivers high quality, interactive video across multiple platforms and browsers, using the .NET framework. It extends and amplifies your existing development skills, empowering you to build new types of applications for the Web regardless of target platform or browser.

We occasionally get customers asking us how they can get up to speed on Silverlight so please check out the links and materials below to help you get familiar with Silverlight.

USEFUL LINKS

Overview

Why Silverlight

Silverlight -Showcase

Silver Light Gallery

Silverlight - Wiki

SILVERLIGHT LEARNING RESOURCES

How to Install and Uninstall Silverlight

Silverlight Examples and Samples Download

How to use gradient color brush in Silverlight

How to display text with solid color brush

Hello World Silverlight Example with Tag

Install Silverlight

BOOK Resources:

Introducing Microsoft Silverlight 2.0, 2nd Edition

Silverlight 2 Visual Essentials

Data Services with Silverlight 2

Silverlight 2 in Action

Silverlight Video

Screen casts for Silverlight 2

Hands-On Labs

Silverlight Presentations

Silverlight for Mobile

Watch the following introductory videos for Silverlight 2

WHITE PAPERS

Getting started

Media & Animation

Silverlight Server Administration

TOOLKIT

Silverlight 2 Toolkit March 2009 Installer

Silverlight 3 Toolkit March 2009 Installer

Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1

Microsoft Expression Blend™ 2 Service Pack 1

Microsoft Expression Blend™ 2 Trial

Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2 Software Development Kit

Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio

Microsoft® Silverlight™ 3 Tools Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2008 SP1

Eclipse Tools for Silverlight

DOWNLOADS

Silverlight - Documentation on Administration

Free Ajax Code Generator!

Install Deep Zoom Composer

Microsoft Expression Blend

Expression Design

Silverlight Community

Microsoft® Expression® Encoder 2 Trial

Microsoft® Expression® Studio 2 Trial

Spotlight On: Microsoft .NET Framework

pareshj — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Please find below some of the important links which have been collated on Microsoft Core .NET Platform.

.NET Framework Conceptual Overview
The .NET Framework has two main components: the common language runtime and the .NET Framework class library.
The common language runtime is the foundation of the .NET Framework.

About Microsoft .NET 3.5 Framework
Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5. Framework is an integral Windows component that supports building and running the next generation of applications and Web services. The key components of the .NET Framework are the common language runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework class library, which includes ADO.NET, ASP.NET, Windows Forms, and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

.NET Framework 3.5 Architecture
The architecture of the .NET Framework version 3.5 and 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1) builds upon the earlier versions of the .NET Framework.

.NET Framework System Requirements
- System Requirements for Version 3.5
- System Requirements for Version 2.0
- System Requirements for Versions 1.0 and 1.1

Official downloads
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1
.NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable
Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Redistributable Package
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 (x86)
Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86)
Public Sector Developer Weblog
Download the .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components
.NET Compact Framework API Documentation
ActiveSync 3.7.1
Windows Mobile-based Smartphone 2003 SDK
Introducing the .NET Micro Framework
Building Devices for Windows SideShow with the .NET Micro Framework
Porting the .NET Micro Framework
.NET Compact Framework Downloads

Resources

BCL Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/bclteam/archive/2008/11/04/what-s-new-in-the-bcl-in-net-4-0-justin-van-patten.aspx

Community Blogs
http://weblogs.asp.net/communityblogs/archive/tags/Web+Services/.NET+Framework/default.aspx

Aaron Ruckman's Web Log
http://blogs.msdn.com/aaronru/archive/2008/01/19/installing-net-framework-3-5-language-packages-with-the-core.aspx

Wenlong Dong's Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/wenlong/archive/2008/09/07/net-4-0-wf-wcf-and-oslo.aspx

Wikipedia - .NET Framework
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework

Architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#Architecture

Standardization and licensing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#Standardization_and_licensing

.NET Framework 3.5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#.NET_Framework_3.5

.NET Framework 4.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#.NET_Framework_4.0

.NET vs. Java and Java EE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#.NET_vs._Java_and_Java_EE

Microsoft .NET new logo and branding
http://www.uxpassion.com/2008/10/new-microsoft-net-logo-and-branding/

.NET Framework Developer Center
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/

.NET Framework Technologies
Data Platform Development using ADO.NET
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/data/default(en-us).aspx

Getting Started with ASP.NET
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/asp.net/default.aspx

Base Class Libraries Community
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/netframework/aa569603(en-us).aspx

.NET Micro Framework
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/netframework/bb267253(en-us).aspx

Windows CardSpace
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/netframework/aa663320(en-us).aspx

Windows Communication Foundation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/netframework/aa663324(en-us).aspx

Windows Client.NET
http://windowsclient.net/

Windows Workflow Foundation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/netframework/aa663328(en-us).aspx

.NET Framework 4.0
http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/.NET+Framework+4.0/

Parallel Programming with .NET:.NET Framework 4.0 Poster for Download
http://blogs.msdn.com/pfxteam/archive/2008/11/03/9037931.aspx

Sandboxing in .NET 4.0
http://blogs.msdn.com/shawnfa/archive/2009/05/22/sandboxing-in-net-4-0.aspx

Tools and Utilities
.NET Tools and Utilities
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Resources/Tools.aspx

WPF Toolkit
http://sweux.com/blogs/smoura/index.php/wpf/2009/04/15/introducing-the-wpf-toolkit-datagrid/

What build tools are available for .NET?
http://windowsclient.net/blogs/faqs/archive/2006/05/26/what-build-tools-are-available-for-net.aspx

CLR Profiler for the .NET Framework 2.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a362781c-3870-43be-8926-862b40aa0cd0&DisplayLang=en

Fx Cop
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/bb429476.aspx

Performance Console (PerfConsole) 1.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5a04ee30-6259-4fad-bf05-ccb72be09b4a

.NET Productivity Suite
http://www.ideablade.com/downloads.html?referrer=MSDNForms

ILMerge
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22914587-b4ad-4eae-87cf-b14ae6a939b0&displaylang=en

LibCheck
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4b5b7f29-1939-4e5b-a780-70e887964165&displaylang=en

CLR Profiler
http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/b/d/abd115c6-a96e-4d8d-b7de-9480deb6cd5c/clrprofiler.exe

Windows Communication Foundation Tools
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms732015.aspx

Windows Presentation Foundation Tools
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms742404.aspx

Windows Workflow Foundation Tools
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms734408.aspx

Useful Sharepoint Links

pareshj — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:43:00 GMT

Useful Links

· MOSS Video Demos (Total 14 Modules)

· Before You Begin with SharePoint Server 2007

· MOSS Tools for performance and capacity planning

· Downloadable book: Planning and architecture for Office SharePoint Server 2007

· MOSS 2007 - Planning and Architecture for Office SharePoint Server 2007

· MOSS 2007 - Administrator Guide

· Complete reference of all STSADM operations

· Using the 2007 Microsoft Office system for disaster planning and response

· Planning and Designing SharePoint Products and Technology Solutions for Geographically Dispersed Sites

· Complete reference of all STSADM operations

· Complete reference of all PSCONFIG operations

Best Practices

· Before You Begin with SharePoint Server 2007

· Best Practices Analyzer for WSS 3.0 and MOSS2007

· Writing SQL Syntax Queries for Relevant Results in MOSS2007

· Backing Up and Restoring Web Sites with Stsadm

· Downloadable book: Planning and architecture for Office SharePoint Server 2007

· MOSS Hardware and Software Requirements

· SharePoint 2007 products comparison download

· Which SharePoint technology is right for you?

· White Paper: Working with large lists in Office SharePoint Server 2007

· MOSS Tools for performance and capacity planning

How to Deploy updates for SharePoint 2007

· Deploy software updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

· Deploy software updates for Office SharePoint Server 2007

· How to troubleshoot common errors that occur when you run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard

How to configure Alternate Access Mappings (AAM) successfully

· http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/fromthefield/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=8

What every SharePoint administrator needs to know about Alternate Access Mappings

· http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/03/06/what-every-sharepoint-administrator-needs-to-know-about-alternate-access-mappings-part-1.aspx

· http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/03/19/what-every-sharepoint-administrator-needs-to-know-about-alternate-access-mappings-part-2-of-3.aspx

· http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/04/18/what-every-sharepoint-administrator-needs-to-know-about-alternate-access-mappings-part-3-of-3.aspx

STSADM COMMANDS

· Jose Barreto's Blog Complete reference of all STSADM operations (with parameters) in MOSS 2007 SP1

· Jose Barreto's Blog Complete reference of all STSADM operations (with parameters) in MOSS 2007

SharePoint Administration Toolkit

· SharePoint Administration Toolkit (Office SharePoint Server)

TCP Chimney should be disabled

· http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942861

· The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack release

Exchange 2007 online resources

pareshj — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:37:00 GMT

Exchange 2007 introduces many new concepts and capabilities, so Microsoft offers many free online resources to help you get better acquainted with it. Please feel free to share this information with anybody on your staff who will be working with Exchange 2007.

Exchange Server 2007 Proof of Concept (POC) in a Box: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4d1e4eca-0a59-4208-83d0-43b812bf0cd9 allows you to experience Exchange Server 2007 using four pre-configured virtual machines with the indicated server roles:

· Active Directory RMS

· Hub Transport, Mailbox, Client Access, Unified Messaging, Forefront Security for Exchange

· Edge Transport, Forefront Security for Exchange

· Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise

TechNet Exchange Server page: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb330841.aspx

Exchange Virtual Labs: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb499043.aspx

Exchange Server Webcasts and Podcasts: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288465.aspx

Downloadable Technical Architecture of Exchange Server 2007: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b34fa7cc-8f13-4e21-ae87-eb824728ddd1&DisplayLang=en

Downloadable Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6BE38633-7248-4532-929B-76E9C677E802&displaylang=en

Getting Started with Exchange Server 2007 (and Unified Messaging): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D67743AF-9A64-44C5-8BAE-BCA9E140C604&displaylang=en

Common Mistakes When Upgrading Exchange 2000/2003 to Exchange 2007: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555854

Exchange team blog: http://msexchangeteam.com/

Exchange Server forum: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/exchangeserver/

Evaluation Copy of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 (120 days): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb330851.aspx

Tools for Exchange Server 2007: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb330849.aspx

Last but definitely not least, here’s the entire TechNet Library Exchange 2007 overview:

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 Topic Last Modified: 2007-10-31

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, which provides a reliable messaging system, with built-in protection against spam and viruses. Using Exchange 2007, users throughout your organization can access e-mail, voice mail, calendars, and contacts from a wide variety of devices and from any location.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) introduces many new features and technologies that were not available in the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Exchange Server 2007. These new features and technologies will help to increase productivity and reduce administrative overhead. For more information about the new features and technologies in Exchange 2007 SP1, see What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1.

The technical documentation for Exchange 2007 consists of the following categories:

This technical documentation applies to both Exchange 2007 RTM and Exchange 2007 SP1. Some topics contain both RTM and SP1 content, while others are specific to RTM or SP1. The "Applies to" information at the beginning of each topic will let you know to which release of Exchange 2007 the content applies.

Getting Started

Use the Getting Started documentation to learn about the new features available with Exchange 2007, including basic concepts and the steps required to install a simple Exchange 2007 organization. This documentation provides you with a walk-through of Exchange 2007 features and functionality and gives you a first look at how you can use Exchange 2007 as your end-to-end messaging system.

Getting Started documentation includes:

Server Role Roadmap Roadmap to the Exchange 2007 documentation based on server roles.
Feature-Based Roadmap Roadmap to the Exchange 2007 documentation based on features.
What's New Detailed information about the new features found in Exchange 2007.
Overview Detailed overview of the features and functionality in Exchange 2007.
Setting up Exchange 2007 Checklist for planning, installing, and configuring Exchange 2007.
Frequently Asked Questions Frequently asked questions about Exchange 2007.
Exchange 2007 Language Support Information about the specific languages that are supported for each feature and component within Exchange 2007.
Getting Assistance Information about how to get assistance Exchange 2007.
How to Use Exchange Documentation Information about using the Help Viewer.

Planning and Architecture

Use the Planning and Architecture documentation to help you design a highly reliable and consistently available messaging system. This documentation helps you identify concerns related to network infrastructure, hardware, the Active Directory directory service, and administration before you deploy Exchange 2007 in your organization.

Planning and Architecture documentation includes:

Planning Your Deployment Guidance and best practices for deploying Exchange 2007 organizations of all sizes.
Planning Active Directory Information about how Exchange Server integrates with Active Directory.
Planning for Client Access Servers Planning considerations specific to Client Access servers.
Planning for Edge Transport Servers Planning considerations specific to Edge Transport servers.
Planning for Hub Transport Servers Planning considerations specific to Hub Transport servers.
Planning for Mailbox Servers Planning considerations specific to Mailbox servers.
Planning for Unified Messaging Servers Planning considerations specific to Unified Messaging servers.
Technical Architecture Information about the architecture of Exchange 2007.

Deployment

Use the Deployment documentation to get Exchange 2007 up and running in your organization. Whether you are new to Exchange Server or moving from an existing Exchange Server installation, this documentation helps you prepare and deploy a solid Exchange 2007 messaging system to meet your business needs.

Deployment documentation includes:

Preparing to Deploy Exchange 2007 Information about system requirements for installing Exchange 2007.
New Installation Information about deploying a new installation of Exchange 2007 in your organization.
Upgrading to Exchange 2007 Information about upgrading an existing Exchange or non-Exchange messaging system to Exchange 2007.
Post-Installation Tasks Information about required and optional tasks to complete your Exchange 2007 deployment.
Removing and Modifying Exchange 2007 Information about the four scenarios for removing and modifying Exchange 2007.
Recommended Deployments Information about how to deploy various Exchange 2007 topologies.

Operations

Use the Operations documentation to learn about the many aspects of operating your organization. This detailed documentation includes conceptual and procedural information about administration, disaster recovery, high availability, monitoring, performance, and troubleshooting.

Operations documentation includes:

Management Interfaces Information about the Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell.
Configuring Permissions Detailed information about the permissions that are needed for operating your Exchange 2007 organization.
Educating Information Workers Information your end users need to know before using various Exchange 2007 features, such as Microsoft Outlook Web Access and Exchange ActiveSync.
Managing Mailbox Features Information about address lists, the offline address book (OAB), scheduling resources, Out of Office Assistant, content indexing, and storage groups and databases (including public folder management).
Managing Client Access Information about managing Outlook Web Access, Microsoft Outlook Anywhere, Exchange ActiveSync, POP3 and IMAP4 clients, Autodiscover, and the Availability service.
Managing Recipients Information about managing mailboxes, contacts, and groups.
Managing Unified Messaging Information about configuring and managing Unified Messaging (UM) with Exchange 2007.
Managing Transport Servers Information about managing accepted domains, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connectors, remote domains, the Pickup directory, the Replay directory, the categorizer, transport agents, the Store driver, delivery status notifications (DSNs), queues, message tracking, protocol logging, and the Address Rewriting agent.
Managing Anti-Spam and Antivirus Features Information about configuring anti-spam and antivirus features.
Managing Messaging Policy and Compliance Features Information about messaging records management (MRM).
Disaster Recovery Information about how to back up and restore your Exchange 2007 data, and other disaster recovery procedures, strategies, and tools.
High Availability Information about high availability, site resilience, clustered mailbox servers, local continuous replication (LCR), cluster continuous replication (CCR), standby continuous replication (SCR), and single copy clusters (SCC).
Monitoring and Operations Management Information about monitoring the daily operations of your Exchange 2007 organization and information about using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) and the Exchange Management Pack.

Troubleshooting

Use the Troubleshooting documentation to help you diagnose the cause of issues or failures and to resolve problems.

Troubleshooting documentation includes:

Offline Address Book, Address List, and Recipient Issues Descriptions of event log entries, error codes, sequence numbers, and other information to help you troubleshoot issues.
Performance Issues Information about isolating the causes of performance problems.
Public Folder Issues Information about using the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer to troubleshoot public folder issues.
Transport and Mailflow Issues Information about using pipeline tracing to diagnose transport problems, and information about non-delivery reports.
Tools for Troubleshooting A list of all the tools available to help troubleshoot issues and information about how to install and run those tools.
Unified Messaging Server Issues Specific information for troubleshooting problems with unified messaging.

Security and Protection

Use the Security and Protection documentation to help you locate information about deploying and operating a secure organization.

Data Path Security Reference Information about ports, authentication, and encryption for all data paths used by Exchange 2007.
Exchange 2007 Permissions: Frequently Asked Questions Answers to common permissions-related questions.
Exchange 2007 Server Setup Permissions Reference Detailed information about the permissions required to set up an Exchange 2007 organization.
Securing Exchange Server 2007 Client Access Information about the security and authentication options that are available for the Client Access server role.
Securing a Unified Messaging Environment Information about the security options that are available for the Unified Messaging server role.
SMTP TLS Certificate Selection Information about how the Microsoft Exchange Transport service selects certificates for Transport Layer Security (TLS).

Technical Reference

Use the Technical Reference documentation to learn about Exchange 2007 components and how these components can be used to more effectively manage and troubleshoot your Exchange 2007 organization. This documentation also includes detailed reference topics about Exchange 2007, including errors and events, features such as tools, scripting languages, and glossary terms.

Technical Reference documentation includes:

Active Directory Schema Changes Information about the changes that will be made to the Active Directory schema when you install Exchange 2007.
Exchange Management Shell (SP1) Detailed information about the Exchange Management Shell commands in Exchange 2007 SP1.
Exchange Management Shell (RTM) Detailed information about the Exchange Management Shell commands in Exchange 2007 RTM.
Help Reference (SP1) Help topics that are available on demand as you perform tasks in the Exchange 2007 SP1 version of the Exchange Management Console.
Help Reference (RTM) Help topics that are available on demand as you perform tasks in the Exchange 2007 RTM version of the Exchange Management Console.
Errors and Events Reference Detailed information about Exchange 2007 errors and events.
Performance Counters Information about Exchange 2007 performance counters.
Glossary A list of Exchange 2007 terminology.

Development

Use the Development documentation to learn about creating customized applications that work with Exchange 2007. Exchange 2007 includes new development technologies including Exchange Web services, access to the MIME parser and other content-conversion utilities, and a new agent-based protocol and transport event model. All the new APIs work with the .NET Framework 2.0 and managed code, so your applications can use the latest Microsoft programming tools and methods.

Development documentation includes information about:

Selecting the Exchange 2007 development technology that is right for your application needs.
Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and the new Exchange 2007 development technologies.
Migrating applications from Exchange 2003 technologies to the new APIs.
Learning a variety of important programming tasks using the technologies available in Exchange 2007.
Technical reference material needed to effectively use the Exchange 2007 APIs, including the new Exchange 2007 Web services, agents, and content conversion APIs.

# Thanks to Michelle Z for this information

Information and Resources on VSTO 3.0 and outlook development

pareshj — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:40:00 GMT

I had a customer who required information and advice on creating an addin for their environment.

Their requirements were to create a button in the Appointment window which simply launches a web page (used to book a meeting room through an internal web application). The URL for this web page would use the start date of the Appointment, so the add-in has to be able to retrieve this start date before launching the web page.The customer wanted information on how to develop this for Outlook. They wanted to use VS2008 but specifically target for Office 2003 and Office 2007 clients.

Here are the examples, code that were sent to them to assist them.

This aricle would help provide an understanding of how commandbars work in Outlook
201095 OL: How to Use CommandBars in Outlook Solutions
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;201095

This article provdes bacgroun dinformation on programmming the Office Environment:
306130 How To Create Office COM Add-Ins by Using VBA and Office Developer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;306130

Article on coding using VSTO with Office

Developing Office Solutions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386279.aspx

Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office system (version 3.0)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d2tx7z6d.aspx

Programming Application-Level Add-Ins
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb157876.aspx

Walkthrough: Creating Your First Application-Level Add-in for Outlook
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc668191.aspx

Outlook Object Model Overview
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms268893.aspx

provided a coded sample for the customer to implement in their environment.
The code below tested on a Windows xp3, Outlook 2003 sp2 with Visual Studio 2008 sp1

The Office PIAs (Primary Interop Assemblies) are required for programmatic to office libraries and need to be installed when targeting for office 2003. This is accomplished by running the Office setup program and choosing .NET programmability support.
Click Start | Control Panel |Choose Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and click ‘change’
- This will start the office setup process
Click Add or remove Features and choose ‘next’
Click the checkbox - choose advanced customization of applications and ensure all the products are selected (at least Outlook), then click ‘next’
You will see Microsoft Office Outlook in the list so expand this
The first entry will be .NET Programmability Support, choose this and popup will appear confirming you wish to ‘Run from My Computer’
Click on update and the office setup will install the Outlook PIAs

Start your Visual Studio Environment and click new project, the new project dialog will appear
You will see Office and the Visual Studio Installed templates
Choose Outlook 2003 Addin
This will start the project environment.
‘ replace the class with the code below
-

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.Office.Core;
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace Elia.Omr2007
{
    public partial class ThisAddIn
    {
        #region VSTO generated code

        /// <summary>
        /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
        /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
        /// </summary>
        private void InternalStartup()
        {
            this.Startup += new System.EventHandler(ThisAddIn_Startup);
            this.Shutdown += new System.EventHandler(ThisAddIn_Shutdown);
        }

#endregion

private List<object> objectsToRelease = new List<object>();

        private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                Inspectors inspectors = this.Application.Inspectors;
                this.objectsToRelease.Add(inspectors);
                inspectors.NewInspector += new InspectorsEvents_NewInspectorEventHandler(Inspectors_NewInspector);
            }
            catch (System.Exception exc)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(exc.ToString(), "Exception...");
            }
        }

        private void ThisAddIn_Shutdown(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                foreach (object objectToRelease in this.objectsToRelease)
                {
                    Release(objectToRelease);
                }
            }
            catch (System.Exception exc)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(exc.ToString(), "Exception...");
            }
        }

        private void Inspectors_NewInspector(Inspector inspector)
        {
            AppointmentItem appointment = null;
            CommandBars inspectorCommandBars = null;
            CommandBar eliaCommandBar = null;
            CommandBarControls eliaCommandBarControls = null;
            CommandBarButton meetingRoomButton = null;
            try
            {
                appointment = inspector.CurrentItem as AppointmentItem;
                if (appointment != null)
                {
                    inspectorCommandBars = inspector.CommandBars;
                    eliaCommandBar = inspectorCommandBars.Add("EliaOMR", 1, false, true /*this makes the command bar temporary, no cleanup needed*/);

                    // Add a button to the command bar and create an event handler.
                    eliaCommandBarControls = eliaCommandBar.Controls;
                    meetingRoomButton = (CommandBarButton)eliaCommandBarControls.Add(1, Missing.Value, Missing.Value, Missing.Value, Missing.Value);
                    meetingRoomButton.Style = MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption;
                    meetingRoomButton.Caption = "Meeting Rooms Reservation...";
                    meetingRoomButton.Click += delegate(CommandBarButton ctrl, ref bool cancel)
                    {
                        DateTime startTime = appointment.Start;
                        string url = string.Format("http://meetingrooms.elink.elia.be/site/RedirectFromOutlook.asp?newdate={0}&screenres=640", startTime.ToShortDateString());
                        Process.Start(url);
                    };
                    this.objectsToRelease.Add(appointment);
                    this.objectsToRelease.Add(meetingRoomButton);

                    eliaCommandBar.Visible = true;
                }
            }
            catch (System.Exception exc)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(exc.ToString(), "Exception...");
            }
            finally
            {
                Release(inspectorCommandBars);
                Release(eliaCommandBar);
                Release(eliaCommandBarControls);
            }
        }

        private static void Release(object value)
        {
            if (value != null)
            {
                Marshal.ReleaseComObject(value);
            }
        }
    }
}

It is crucial that calls are made to Marshal.ReleaseComObject; without them all sorts of random errors can apparently occur. So best include cleanup code in any COM interop stuff you develop. here is a explanation for that:
Outlook Item leaks
http://blogs.msdn.com/mstehle/archive/2007/12/07/oom-net-part-2-outlook-item-leaks.aspx

Customer also wanted to know that after all this,what solutions we had for deploying their addins to their clients. Here is a bunck of links provided to help customers with deployment and a tool that you could use to help diagnose potential client side issues.

Reference:
Introduction to Interoperability Between COM and .NET
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb610378.aspx

Deploying Office Solutions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386179.aspx

Troubleshooting Office Solution Deployment (2003 System)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb772071.aspx

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Microsoft Office System: Microsoft PSS VSTO 2005 Client TroubleShooter
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c9fb6a54-8069-4918-a6f9-e744928dfac3&displaylang=en

invalid chars after migrating from exchange 2003 to exchange 2007

pareshj — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:19:00 GMT

Problems with migrating users from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007? Well quite likely you might see situations where mailbox aliases get corrupted with invalid charcaters, pretty much all objects could get affected by this: e.g: users, distriubution lists, contacts.

One of my customer saw this after generating a transcript after their migration:

Start powershell
[PS] C:\Windows\System32>get-mailpublicfolder -ignoredefaultscope | format-list

In the transript file, these warnings were littered all over the place.

“WARNING: Object servizi.prv/Microsoft Exchange System Objects/Protocollo SI
(GRTN) has been corrupted and it is in an inconsistent state. The following
validation errors have occurred:
WARNING: "Protocollo SI (GRTN)" is not valid for Alias. Valid values are:
Strings formed with characters from a to z (uppercase or lowercase), digits
from 0 to 9, !, #, $, %, &, ', *, +, -, /, =, ?, ^, _, `, {, |, } or ~. One or
more periods may be embedded in an alias, but each one of them should be
preceded and followed by at least one of the other characters. Unicode
characters from U+00A1 to U+00FF are also valid in an alias, but they will be
mapped to a best-fit US-ASCII string in the email address which is generated”

This one has an alias of:
“Alias : 1° INVIO”

As the warning specifies, the invalid characters needed to be stripped out..

Exchange escalation engineer Matt Byrd has coded up a powershell script to fix just this problem.
http://msexchangeteam.com/files/438479/download.aspx

Also, this article will help those having similar problems:

How to Remove Spaces From Recipient Aliases by Using the Exchange Management Shell
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb851499.aspx

oh outlook, oh outlook , wherefore art thou development

pareshj — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:46:00 GMT

Developing for Outlook can sometimes be overwhelming and simply customers could often get lost in information spread around the web. here are some notes that will help folks get to grips with it

The three parts to understanding developing for outlook is:

1.-using the outlook object model and understand what it could provide for your application

2.-using the development environment and understand how to create addins targeted for your environment.

3.-using the right tools to deploy your addin

And of course, I’ll list some resources to help you on towards support and development. I’ve listed the articles below which are all available within the MSDN that will help you understand all these areas and would make a good basis for your planning and development with your next application with outlook.

1.-Understanding the Outlook object model

What's New for Developers in Outlook 2007 (Part 1 of 2)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb226711.aspx

What's New for Developers in Outlook 2007 (Part 2 of 2)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb226714.aspx

The reference guide for the Outlook Object Model - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb176619.aspx. This will contain information for all of the objects, properties, methods, and events contained in the Outlook object model. This will contain relevant maps for the Application, Items, Navigation Bars and Outlook Bars, Rules and Views Object Model Maps.

2.- Development environments.

Building Outlook 2007 Solutions by Using Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Office System SE

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb897406.aspx

Outlook 2007 Sample: What's New Add-Ins

The Outlook 2007 What's New Add-Ins are a learning tool that will help you understand some of the important new features in the Outlook 2007 object model.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=aabf127d-d069-4549-a1b1-667a698c3ef6&displaylang=en

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb226710.aspx

3. Deployment

Automating the Deployment of Outlook Add-ins by Using Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc136646.aspx

Deploying Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Office System SE Solutions Using Windows Installer (Part 1 of 2)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332051.aspx

Deploying Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Solutions Using Windows Installer: Walkthroughs (Part 2 of 2)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms406084.aspx

4. Resources. These are resources available from Microsoft to aid in your development.

Outlook Developer Portal

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905455.aspx

Outlook Community

Get the help you need from the Outlook development communities.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/aa905464.aspx

Newsgroups and Support

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.outlook.program_vba

The product group have really tried to make developing for outlook easier. not only is it powerful but l;ike above there is a wealth of resources out there to help you.

Hope the above helps someone, it certainly did for the person who prompted me to stick this blog up.

tracing and troubleshooting your applications

pareshj — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:47:00 GMT

So you're poised with a problem that you just don't know where to turn for help?

Here are a few ways to investigate problems you are having with your application. It's the basis of tools that Microsoft support engineers will most likely use first, to track down problems.

You can't go wrong spending a few minutes playing around with the Microsoft (Sysinternals) Tools - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

You can perform some file and registry analysis by installing these tools
FileMon- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896642.aspx. This tool will allow you to log what accesses to what files are being made at the time of program execution.

Another tool Regmon - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896652.aspx - will allow you to trace calls made by processes that are made to the registry. Both these tools help us in Microsoft support to understand if the correct files and the correct registry entries are being used for the successful running of applications.

Another 3rd tool called ProcessMon - <http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx> is good at identifying dependencies are required.

WindBG - Windows Debugging - this is one of the alternative tools that Microsoft support will utilize. We normally would require customers to build us a before, during and after dumps that would tell us the state of the process failing and ask you to send them over to us where we can perform the analysis and try and understand what was the cause of failure. of course you can have a peek as to what is happening to give you further clues yourself so heres a first bit of analysis you can try, you'll need to install the debugger (Windbg) - from <http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx>

Once installed,
- run windbg -z <dump file>
<< this dmp file will be located in a folder where you performed the adplus command

- in the windbg command window run these commands:
        .symfix c:\symbols
                                .reload
                                !analyze -v

- read the output of !analyze -v
<<!analyze -v is the first command we use to investigate what actually caused the crash in the first place.
More info about using windbg for your own training/researching can be found here

286350 How to use ADPlus to troubleshoot "hangs" and "crashes"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;286350

'sending failed' when using code to send mail

pareshj — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:22:00 GMT

A customer contacted messaging dev and told us about their problems in their asp.net applications. Their error...

Server error in '/email' application

A connection attempt failed becuase the connected party did not properly respond aftera period of time, or established connection failed becuase connected host has failed to respond to 10.1.1.100:25

After looking at the stack trace for more clues, the above port "25" already drops the biggest clue from the asp.net application and the trace showing a whole bunch of socket/smtp exception errors.

The customers code:

Dim myMessageSubject As String = "Email Subject"
Dim myMessage As String = "Some Text for Email Body"
Dim msg As New Net.Mail.MailMessage(strmailfrom, strmailto, myMessageSubject, myMessage)
msg.IsBodyHtml = True
Dim mySmtp As New Net.Mail.SmtpClient("127.0.0.1")
Try
mySmtp.Send(msg)
Catch ex As Exception
Response.Write(ex)
End Try

Looks fine but the response was a "Sending failed" error message?

Areas to check here are:
smtp services installed on the server
smtp communications to/fro server
network connections/access
any further errors in the applications logs - look for event id types and codes.
use eventviewer (eventvwr.exe) to see the system logs - check for the smtp protocol
how is your machine configured for relaying internet mail
a quick telnet test to ensure smtp functionality, follow the steps below to perform...

On a computer running Windows Server 2003, type Telnet at a command prompt, and then press ENTER.
At the telnet prompt, type set LocalEcho, press ENTER, and then type open <machinename> 25, and then press ENTER.

The output resembles the following:
220 computername.microsoft.com ESMTP Server (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service 5.5.2651.58) ready

Type helo me, and then press ENTER.

The output resembles the following:
250 OK

Type mail from:email@domain.com, and then press ENTER.

The output resembles the following:
250 OK - mail from <email@domain.com>

Type rcpt to:youremail@yourdomain.com, and then press ENTER.

The output resembles the following:
250 OK - Recipient <youremail@yourdomain.com>

Type Data, and then press ENTER.

The output resembles the following:
354 Send data. End with CRLF.CRLF

Type Subject:This is a test, and then press ENTER two times.
Type Testing, and then press ENTER.
Press ENTER, type a period (.), and then press ENTER.

The output resembles the following:
250 OK

Type quit, and then press ENTER.
The output resembles the following:
221 Closing Port / Mail queued for delivery

Conclusion on the above case was down to the companies/isps admins blocking Port 25 which is the port used to send mail. This is to cut down on spam that is send to/from their networks. The above customer changed smtp configuration on their exchange server which allowed successful mail flow. Port 25 blocking allows internet service providers to block spam sent out through their networks, but for those innocent parties that have a need to send through e-mail servers other than those belonging to their ISP. ISPS require their SMTP server to be used instead of the remote SMTP server or a SMTP server running on your computer.

The Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 SDK is out!

pareshj — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:30:00 GMT

You can get it from here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8c32d5ee-a071-459e-843d-8ede0a9582b3&DisplayLang=en

Its got code and samples aplenty~
Bandwidth Logging
Body Conversion
Bridgehead Logging
Calendaring
Cancel Appointment
CDO Scripts
COM Interop
Create Mailbox Before Logon
Create New Appointment
Create New Store
Custom Filter Sink
Events
Gateway Logging
Issue Tracking
Managed Tree View Control
Messaging Samples
Move Mailbox ADSI_CDOEXM
New Mail
Notification
OLEDB Scripts
Security
Task Wizard
Technology Evaluation
Tree View Control
User Information Web Service
WebDAV
XHeader

The following APIs are not available in Exchange 2007:
Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Management (CDOEXM)
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Workflow (CDOWF)
Exchange Web Forms
At Functions
Outlook Web Access Customization
Exchange Server 2003 Task Wizard and the XML files it produced

The following APIs are de-emphasized in Exchange 2007:
OLE DB provider for Exchange Server (EXOLEDB)
Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange 2000 Server (CDOEX)
Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
Exchange Store Events

Enjoy...

Whats new for Developers in Office 2007

pareshj — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 14:21:00 GMT

Check it out here - http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/program/outlook/2007/default.aspx

Exchange API - a brief history of what's around and what won't be....

pareshj — Tue, 16 May 2006 15:02:00 GMT

So in all my years at Microsoft, as email has become more and more important in peoples live, the Messaging product groups over the years have also tried to keep on top of things by developing programming interfaces to help application developers give more functionality within their processes and applications. Did you know that in the last 20 years, Microsoft have come out with about 42 different sets of API to service the developer community!!

Lets take a step back and remember what's been around, what's gonna get shelved as well as whats coming!

1992	MS Mail 3.0
		Simple MAPI 1.0

1995	Windows 95
		***Extended Mapi

1996	Exchange 4.0
		Directory API
		EFD - Electronic Forms Designe
		**EDK - Exchange Developer Kit Gateway API
		OLE Messaging 1.0a
		CMC - Common Messaging Calls

1997	Exchange 5.0
		Active Messaging 1.1
	Exchange 5.5
		CDO - Collborative Data Objects 1.2
		CDOHTML - CDO Rendering Library
		***Event Service Agents
	NT Option Pack 4.0
		CDONTS - CDO for Windows NT

1998	Exchange 5.5 sp1
		***CDO 1.2.1
		**Routing Objects
		HTML Forms Converter

2000	Exchange 5.5 sp3
		Virus Scanning API 1.0
	Exchange 2000
		*ESEdbcli2 - Backup and Restor API
		*CDOEx - CDO for Exchange 2000
		***CDO for Workflow
		***Exchange Installable File System
		***ExOLEDB - Exchange OLEDV Provider
		***WSS Forms + Frontapge Extensions
		***OWA URL Commands
		*Queue Viewer API
		***Store Events
		***WebDAV
		*WMI Classes for Exchange Management
		***Workflow Designer for Exchange 2000
	Windows 2000
		**CDOSYS - CDO for Windows 2000
		**SMTP Transport Events

2001	Exchange 2000 sp1
		Virus Scanning API 2.0

2003	Exchange 2003
		Virus Scanning API 2.5

2006	Exchange 2007
		Exchange Management API - Monad
		Agent/Transport API
		Web Services for Exchange/ASP.NET

* Replaced by New Management API
These will be Exchange management tasks written as Exchange 12 Monad cmdlets

** Replaced by E12 Agent/Transport API
This will be a new Managed Code SMTP stack which will allow for clear disctinction between SMTP protocol events and mail routing events.
SMTP events (onHeloCommand, OnEndOfHeaders, OnDisconnect)
Mail routing events (OnSubmittedMessage, onRoutedMessage)

*** Replaced by Web Services for Exchange/ASP.NET
Good Visual Studio.Net integration, replaces many commands fropm webdav, cdo and OWA

Exchange will use the same apis that are exposed to development and all api's will be unified into:
- mail transport
- pim data storage
- exchange managent - monad

The Developer impact on this means that everything is rewritten in managed code with great VS.NEt integration. The next generation will be drastic and we'll be cutting a lot of those 42 apis in future versions so there may be breaking changes possible within the next 5 years, older apis may/will not be supported.

"Kicking off Powershell (PS)" for techs

pareshj — Wed, 10 May 2006 15:17:00 GMT

So things are getting pretty hot around here and lots of devs and admins are needing more control over their systems. Command line just doesn't cut it with all this new technology so we need more power, flexibility and control.

Monad has been the talk of the town amongst many engineers in PSS and sooner or later it will have an important part to play in all the products we currently support hence we're all gearing up for this cool new technology which marketing have finally branded "POWERSHELL"

I took some time out to get a real simple overview for newbies and thought I'd add it to my blog too for those looking to get busy with it. Here Goes...

"Monad" the term is no longer used and "Windows Powershell" is the new kid. Its the next generation interactive command line shell and scripting language in Windows that provides task automation and complete scripting solutions built on top of .NET. It allows developers and administrators total control of their windows environments.

What: Windows Powershell is a new command line shell environment and scripting language developed for the Windows platform. The terms "MSH" and "Monad" are no longer used and are now replaced by the terms "PS" and "Windows PowerShell" respectively.

When: Currently available as a standalone component, and will be installed with Ex2007 and MIIS, the plan is to have it in all future server and operating systems. The new shell environment is designed by administrators wanting more control over their windows systems. It provides a robust, clean way to interact with the system. The RTM date for the product will be announced in Oct ‘06 by Marketing. Public has access to RC1 (x86 & x64 builds)

Where: Powershell is supported on Windows XP SP2, Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Vista. You need Framework 2.0 installed located here. Powershell is available from here. Install it and thats all you need. You can find more Monad resources on ms.com here.

Why: Admins and developers have asked for it. They want more control of their systems from a reliable scriptable language. With Powershell, they can access every part of the operating system including registry, files, drives, event logs, services, applications, WMI and much more. You can write and customise scripts within the environment and have them compiled. You can query objects within the system and output data to files, databases or straight out in xml. You can query the internals of the system. It’s command line (cmd.exe) on steroids.

When you start Powershell you will see a cmd prompt

Microsoft Command Shell

PS D:\MshScripts>

Most powershell commands are identified by a pair of words, one verb and one noun, separated by a hyphen.The verb describes the action (such as get or set) while the noun represents the target of the action (such as process or location).

These are called Cmdlets (pronounced "command-lets"). PS provides a framework within these cmdlets. A cmdlet is implemented as a managed class (built on the .NET Framework) that implements a well-defined set of methods to process data.

Examples:

PS D:\MshScripts> get-process

Run the cmdlet to generate a list of currently active processes within the system.

PS D:\MshScripts> get-process [ws]*

Show me all processes beginning with “s” or “w”

PS D:\MshScripts> get-wmiobject win_32_bios

Show me the current bios for the machine

PS D:\MshScripts> get-wmiobject

Run this, and it asks you for a wmi class to show - thats just cool!

10 Cool things to discover with PowerShell :

1) POWERSH.exe or PS.exe is the new Shell environment (the old windows shell was called cmd.exe)

2) Look for help in the shell by typing “powershell -help” or "get-help" anywhere within the shell

3) The terms "MSH" is replaced by “PS” and "Monad" is now called "Windows PowerShell" respectively.

4) get-command is the most helpful cmdlet available

5) Use "get-help" cmdlet to discover what cmdlets are available, there are over 100 scripts available

e.g PS D:\MshScripts> get-help get-process

6) Cool tracing ability in the shell by setting "$env:PSEnableTrace=”True” and calling “set-psdebug” cmdlet

7) Get a list of all applications processes by running = "get-process"

8) On live production environments, all scripts should be signed and execution policy should be set to run only signed scripts.

9) Using Namespace providers is the best way to interact with the system.

10) Navigate the registry using Powershell, just like a filesystem

e.g PS D:\MshScripts> cd hkcu

PS D:\MshScripts> dir

Check out the Windows Server Scripting newsgroup

Sniff, Sniff here and a fiddle there

pareshj — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 19:26:00 GMT

I came across another cool tool the other day, we all love Regmon, Filemon as well as Netmon in support. Netmon is the hardcore tool that all network admins use to sniff those network packets to try and understand what data is being sent along the wire. So while debugging my customers Outlook Web Access/WebDav issues trying to understand whats going on in the background. I found fiddler.

Fiddler is written by a program manager in the Internet Explorer team and has been out for some time. Fiddler is a HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. Its a lightweight version of Netmon which is easy to read and understand.

The tool is a Microsoft toy and you can pick it up from http://www.fiddlertool.com. Eric the developer has also written a good MSDN article on it.

Fiddler PowerToy - Part 1: HTTP Debugging
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwebgen/html/IE_IntroFiddler.asp

Check it out.