In Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server
2003, administrators had to use a combination of the Active Directory
Users and Computers utility and the Exchange System Manager to manage
and configure mail-enabled user accounts. This has changed in Exchange
Server 2007. With Exchange 2007, much of the administration process can
be performed within the new Exchange 2007 Exchange Management Console
(EMC) tool or from an included scripting language called Exchange
Management Shell (EMS).
Exchange Management Console
In
Exchange 2007, the primary management utility is now called the
Exchange Management Console. The Exchange Management Console is a
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0–based utility that allows
administrators to view and modify the configuration of Exchange Server
2007 organizations utilizing a graphical user interface (GUI). In
addition, the Exchange Management Console snap-in can be added to
custom MMC-based tools.
The Exchange
Management Console is supported and can be installed on any Exchange
2007 server. When utilized on Exchange 2007 servers housing the
Exchange 2007 Hub Transport, Client Access, Unified Messaging, and/or
Mailbox server roles, the console displays all servers in the
organization and includes all console tree nodes. However, if the
Exchange server has the Edge Transport server role installed, the
console only displays the Edge Transport server role.
Improvements to the Exchange Management Console
In
Exchange 2000/2003, the GUI interface was known as the Exchange System
Manager (ESM). In Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft has completely
redesigned the interface, so it is only fitting that they offer the
utility a new name as well. The Exchange Management Console is more
intuitive and organized than previous versions, which were somewhat
tedious to utilize.
One other significant
change is the integration of recipient management directly into the
Exchange Management Console. With previous versions of Exchange, the
configuration of recipients was accomplished in the Active Directory
Users and Computers application.
The new interface consists of three sections, the console tree, the results pane, and the action pane, as shown in Figure 1.
The console tree is on the left side of the management console and consists of four nodes:
Organization Configuration—
This section is used to configure Exchange global data. Data residing
here applies to all servers in your organization that hold a particular
role. For example, email address policies and the Offline Address Book
(OAB) can be managed from this node.
Server Configuration—
This section is used to manage the configuration of all Exchange
servers and the server’s child objects. Examples of these child objects
are server databases and protocols.
Recipient Configuration—
This section is used to manage settings for email recipients throughout
your organization. Exchange mailboxes, distribution groups, contacts,
and disabled mailboxes can be managed from this node.
Toolbox—
Finally, the Toolbox includes additional tools that are useful when
managing an Exchange 2007 organization. The Toolbox consists of the
Exchange Best Practices Analyzer, Database Troubleshooting and Recovery
Management utilities, Message Tracking and Mail Flow utilities, and
several other troubleshooting and performance utilities.
The console tree can be shown or hidden by clicking Show/Hide Console Tree on the Exchange Management Console toolbar.
The
results pane, located in the center of the console, displays a
collection of objects that an administrator can select, based on the
object that is selected in the console tree.
Finally,
the action pane is located on the right side of the console. This pane
lists all actions that are available to administrators based on the
items selected in the console tree or results pane. Like the console
tree, the action pane can be shown or hidden by clicking Show/Hide on
the console toolbar. Bear in mind, even with the action pane hidden,
you can still access the relevant actions through context menus
available by right-clicking the object.
Exchange Server 2007 Final Deployment Guides
After
Exchange 2007 has been installed, the first time the Exchange
Management Console is launched, a new screen appears, the Exchange
Server 2007 Finalize Deployment page. This page details a series of
tasks that are recommended by Microsoft to ensure the server performs
properly. This page can be reviewed at a later date by selecting
Microsoft Exchange at the top of the console tree.
The Finalize Deployment page might show tasks such as the following:
Configure domains for which you will accept email
Subscribe the Edge Transport server
Create a postmaster mailbox
It is strongly recommended that you review this page to finalize the server configuration.
In
addition, there is another tab on the page labeled End-to-End Scenario.
This page contains additional tasks and instructional guides that will
assist you with items such as the following:
Managing Outlook Anywhere
Securing your Exchange server from viruses, worms, and other malware
Configure your system for the Rights Management Services (RMS) Policy Application Agent
As with the Finalize Deployment page, these items should be reviewed for applicability in your environment.
The Exchange Management Console
Unlike
the Exchange System Manager of the past, an administrator no longer
selects a specific server from the console tree to view its resources;
instead a server role is selected in the console tree and a list of the
servers in your organization that hold that role are shown in the
results pane. From there, you can select a specific service and see the
available options in the action pane.
Items
in the results pane can be filtered based on several expressions. This
allows an administrator to filter, or focus on, a subset of items that
meet specific criteria. Filters can be made up of one or more
expressions and allow minute control over which items are displayed in
the results pane.
To create a filter,
click Create Filter located in the upper-left corner of the results
pane. A filter is made up of one or more administrator-defined
expressions. Each expression contains three parts: an attribute, an
operator, and a value.
The attributes
that are available are determined by the object for which you are
creating a filter. For example, when selecting a Mailbox server, the
available attributes are Cluster, Edition, Name, Product ID, Role,
Site, and Version.
The operators that are
available are based on the attribute you selected. Some of the possible
operators are Equals, Does Not Equal, Is Present, or Starts With.
Finally,
the list of values is also based on the attribute selected. Some
values, such as Name or Site, can be typed in to match the name or site
of an object in your organization. Others, such as when selecting the
attribute of Edition or Role, are selected from a drop-down list.
To
add additional expressions (and make the filter more restrictive),
click the Add Expression box and input another attribute, operator, and
value.
After you have set the expressions
that you want, you can click Apply Filter. The expressions you
configured are applied to the results pane, effectively filtering the
results so that only the objects that match the expression are shown.
Applied
expressions can be modified on the fly—simply click on the attribute,
operator, or value, make the changes you desire, and click Apply
Filter. This feature can be extremely useful when you make a mistake
and find that you have “filtered” yourself into an empty results pane.
To
remove any of the created expressions, simply click Remove Expression
located to the right of it. This button resembles a red X. However,
after you have removed an expression, you must click Apply Filter again
to implement the change.
The Exchange Management Shell
New
in Exchange 2007, the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) is a command-line
management interface that can be utilized to perform server
administration in an Exchange 2007 organization. Tasks that have had to
be done manually within the confines of the management application in
previous versions can now be scripted, allowing administrators
increased flexibility for repetitive tasks. The Exchange Management
Shell, shown in Figure 2, looks similar to the command prompt (cmd.exe),
in that it opens a window with a black background and a text interface.
However, you will notice immediately that certain commands and pointers
are highlighted in yellow text, rather than the traditional
monochromatic command prompt.
With
the Exchange Management Shell, administrators can manage every aspect
of Exchange 2007, including the creation and management of new email
accounts, the configuration of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
connectors and transport agents, or properties of database stores.
Every task that can be accomplished within the Exchange Management
Console can now be accomplished from a command line. More so, there are
tasks that can be accomplished in the shell that can not be performed in the console.
With
the new Exchange Management Shell, administrators now have a flexible
scripting platform that is much easier to take advantage of than using
Microsoft Visual Basic scripts in previous revisions. According to
Microsoft, “What once took hundreds of lines in Visual Basic scripts
can now be accomplished easily with as little as one line of code.”
The
Exchange Management Shell does not use text as the basis for
communicating with Exchange 2007, instead using an object model that is
based on the Microsoft .NET platform. This allows the shell commands to
apply the output from one command to subsequent commands when they are
run.
Exchange Management Shell Key Features
The
Exchange Management Shell has a number of command functions, support
options, and customization features. The following is a list key
features of the Exchange Management Shell:
Command-line interface—
Unlike the GUI interface of the Exchange Management Console (and the
Exchange System Manager before it), the command-line interface allows
you to access and modify Exchange 2007 features and their values. In
addition, it allows you to perform repetitive tasks that would be time
consuming and tedious through the GUI interface of the Exchange
Management Console and the Exchange System Manager before it.
Piping of data between commands—
One of the shortcomings of scripting Exchange tasks prior to Exchange
Server 2007, was that there was no way to take the output of one
command and utilize it directly as the input for other commands. Output
data had to be stored and recalled utilizing many lines of code. With
the Exchange Management Shell, the ability to “pipeline” can help you
increase your productivity with programmatic changes. Pipelining allows
you to utilize the output from one command as input in other commands,
so you can now easily perform complex operations utilizing criteria
applied to filtering commands that then supply the objects to be
modified to commands down the “pipe.”
Object-oriented data handling—
Because the resulting output from any command in the Exchange
Management Shell is an object, all output can be acted upon and
processed by other commands with little to no changes. Commands that
are intended to work together on particular feature sets accept the
output from other commands in the same feature set.
Extensive support for scripting—
Whether you are performing multiple mailbox creations or modifications,
monitoring the performance of several servers, or any other automated
administrative task, the Exchange Management Shell provides a powerful
object model environment based on the .NET platform.
Access cmd.exe commands— Although the Exchange Management Shell has a similar look and feel to the command prompt (cmd.exe),
it is much more powerful. Through the shell, not only can you utilize
any and all commands that are available through the command prompt, but
you also can take the output from those commands and perform actions
based on that output. In addition, you can integrate the output into
data that you can then provide to another command.
Trusted scripts—
Administrators have long been concerned that the ability to run scripts
in an organization could be dangerous. Now, to improve security, the
Exchange Management Shell requires that all scripts are digitally
signed before they are allowed to run. This feature is intended to
prevent malicious users from inserting a dangerous or harmful script in
the Exchange Management Shell. Before a script can be run, the
administrator must specifically “trust” it, helping to protect the
entire organization.
Profile customization—
The Exchange Management Shell provides a powerful, easy-to-use
interface with the default installation. However, administrators might
want to customize the interface by adding shortcuts to frequently used
commands. In addition, an administrator can adjust the interface to
suit his or her tasks. This can be accomplished by editing the personal
Exchange Management Shell profile. With this, you can control how your
interface is configured or even specify commands to automatically run
when the Exchange Management Shell starts. Furthermore, profile
customization allows you to assign scripts to different aliases that
you use frequently in the daily administration of your Exchange 2007
organization.
Extensible shell support—
An administrator can change the way data is displayed within the
Exchange Management Shell because the application uses Extensible
Markup Language (XML) to let you modify many aspects of its behavior.
Programmers can even create new commands that integrate with the
built-in Exchange Management Shell commands. This open platform gives
administrators more control over their Exchange environment than ever
before.
Tip of the day— Although
perhaps not as impressive as the preceding features, the author was
pleased to see a “tip of the day” appear each time the Exchange
Management Shell is opened. The tip of the day offers advice on how to
perform specific tasks within the shell, and lists the command and
proper syntax for its use.
