Happy Diwali

Back Again .. New passion

This marks a new chapter in life .. I was away from the blog for a loooong time. But a new hobby has given me a reason to be back on the blog. I tried orkut and facebook in the last 3 years. I am bored of all the social sites.

I joined my dream company 2 years back, But I am not a hands on techie anymore. Good news is that I am driving towards the right direction. Will get back to being a techie, Posts will follow soon.

Crictet has taken a backseat, photography is the new passion.

Event Source: MSExchangeIS Event ID: 9536

Too many things have happened in my life since I last wrote .. I got married .. :) .. I hope everyone will understand that I had much more to do than write .. Another thing that changed, Is the job. I have just started to get settled in my job and life .. Both of them were moving at the speed of light.

Something that did not change is the place where I stay. House number and street address have changed. But the city and state remain as it is.

Life after marriage is much more complicated than exchange. It can be an outage / P1 / Critsit ( meaning : ask someone at MS Support ) if your new boss ( I mean your wife ) is not supportive and understanding.

Getting back to the technical world. One of the errors that I found on the exchange box was :

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: General
Event ID: 9536
Date: 7/10/2009
Time: 3:55:58 PM
User: N/A
Computer: EXBOX01
Description:
An ambiguous Mailbox Guid ecebdef2-4230-4f223-c839-bedfee88849f was found on 0x2 mailboxes in the DS. The store cannot map this Mailbox Guid to a unique user.

In order to find the culprit, Download the tool : ADFind and run this command

adfind -gc -b "" -binenc -f " msExchMailboxGUID={{GUID:ecebdef2-4230-4f223-c839-bedfee88849f}}" -dn

You will know what to do now. Delete the mailbox, reconnect, purge etc. It can vary as per your environment.

Exmerge via Script

We can perform bulk exmerge from different mailbox stores on the same exchange server and also schedule it. This sounds cool .. isn't it .. This is true as well.

So how will we do this .. All we need is legacyDN for all users for whom we need to perform exmerge.

How to get it ? One way is to write a script and the other way is csvde
I will explain the second one and if you need the first way then mail me ..

csvde -s -d "ou=users,ou=china,dc=rishimakeiteasy,dc=com" -l displayname,legacyexchangeDN -f exmergedata.txt

The output file exmergedata.txt will have the contents that you need. Open the file is excel and get the desired result. The input file only needs the legacyexchangeDN value.

Step 1 : Create a input file e.g exmergeusers.txt and add all legacyexhangeDN values one per line.

Step 2 : Open exmerge.ini file from the exmerge folder and make the changes to the following sections -

MergeAction
Should be set to the default (which is MergeAction=0) this means that EXMERGE is looking to export only.
SourceServerName
This value needs to the set to the name of the Exchange server that we are going to extracting data from - for example SourceServerName=MyServer
DataDirectoryName
The is the directory where you wish for the PST files to be placed - be mindful that the location needs to have enough space to accomodate the exported files.
FileContainingListOfMailboxes
The FileContainingListOfMailboxes value should be teh patch where you save exmergeusers.txt

Step 3 : Create a batch file e.g exmergestart.bat. Contents of the file are :

C:
CD c:\program files\exchsrvr\bin\
EXMERGE -F EXMERGE.INI -B

Now you are ready to trigger the batch file also it can be added to a schedule task. Remember to do this is off production hours.

Blackberry users are not able to send emails or perform address lookup

I am back from a well deservered break and as I wrote in the last blog .. My travel to the woods was great .. the bad part was that I was not well during my stay at the woods .. Life is changing at a great speed .. Both professionally and personally.

I will write about my self after a month ... Lets get on with some t/s.

I encountered a problem that Blackberry users were not able to send emails but were able to recieve. Another thing missing was that the GAL lookup. This was strange and was happening with all users.

On checking the event logs and BB logs I found this :

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: BlackBerry Messaging Agent DNT037 Agent 4
Event Category: None
Event ID: 20265
Date: 1/22/2009
Time: 5:31:50 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DNT037
Description:
{TPI00761} MAPIMailbox::~MAPIMailbox - DeleteAllDeviceSearches (0x00000000) failed

This points to connnectivity of BES server to the exchange. Thus, we need to restart BB services and the issue is resolved.

On digging deep I came to a conclusion that this happens after Exchange servers are patched and rebooted. So as a practice whenever exchange servers are rebooted that should be followed by a reboot of the BES server.

Event Source:MSExchangeMU Event ID:1043

If this is what you guys are looking for : Metabase Update failed to initialize enumerator of virtual server on cluster database. Error code is error 800706d9 (There are no more endpoints available from the endpoint mapper

As usual I will write about my life and then the resolution to the problem. If you are not interested in me .. scroll down .. :) .. I don't mind.

As we are a step away from the new year .. Thanks to the economic slowdown .. there is less work .. After a long time .. I enjoy coming to office ... I could catch up with lot that has changed during the last few months when i was burried under loads of work / pressure / dead lines / ego's / mergers / fast changing bosses ...

Also, i m going to Nilgiris on 1st for 2 days .. this is a resort at the foothills of ooty and i will have lot to write about when i am back. I have a topic in my mind already .. This may well be my last trip as a bachelor. After that the count down starts and a new chapter begins ..

Here is the resolution :

Then you are at the right place. I faced a simliar issue and could not find much on google. Thus, giving me an oppurtunity to write another post.

This error should take you to cluster service and no where else .. There is no problem with the cluster database .. Still, you can check it :

C:\windows\cluster\clussvc /debug > c:\debug.log

Check the log file to find more ..

If you are not able to RDP to the server .. Then, use DRAC / ILO etc to get inside the box and delete the profile of the cluster admin account. You need to remove it from :

1. C:\Documents and Settings
2. Right-click My Computer, click Properties, and then click Settings on the Advanced tab under User Profile.

Once done .. Log off fromt the server. Then login with the cluster account. All you need to do now is to start the cluster service .. BINGO !!!

You have done it .. The issue is resolved .. If then you have to find a RCA .. Best of Luck .. If you find one .. lemme know ..

Resource Scheduling - The operation timed out

I have been a lot busy for last few months and I had good stuff to write about. But thanks to nisha ( the cyclone in chennai ) .. I got some time out .. I will cover an interesting topic today that is not easy to find on the internet. But before I begin .. as custom .. I will talk about myself and then the technical stuff ..

I completed one year in this city of humidity / cyclones / heavy rains ( Good for me at times ) .. It was a slow start but the last few months have moved at the speed of F1. There have been ups and downs .. But I am confident of a great future.

We shifted to a new building and it is a cool place .. I have a permanent place to sit ( Finally .. As I thought a manager should have one .. But my company did not feel that way ) .. Roll # 1 .. Just opposite to my Boss's cabin .. I have to walk half a mile to take a print out and 3 steps to get a thrashing from my boss .. Not a good place .. But my boss is happy as he has a printer in his cabin and all his team in front of his eyes ...

The city girls have been kind to me .. Sangeetha ( Where I had food ) and Nisha ( The cyclone ) .. Lets move on to the technical stuff ..

We recently moved out data center and it was sever by server ... So we were actually decommissioning - shipping - reinstalling with a new name .. In the process .. we came across a problem that the conference room ( Mailbox enabled AD accounts ) stopped showing the free / busy info and when we clicked " Resource Scheduling " it gave an error - Operation time out.

It happened as all the information for free / busy is stored in the system folder ( Schedule free + busy ) and old PF server was moved and renamed. This is what needs to be done to fix it :

1) Open PFADMIN and add the new server with PF as replicas under ( Schedule free + busy )

2) Correct the site folder server name .. This is how you do it.

• Open an Active Directory editor, such as ADSI Edit.
• Locate the public folder information store you want to designate as the Site Folder Server, by expanding the following: CN=, CN=, CN=InformationStore, CN=, CN=Servers, CN= ,CN=Administrative Groups, CN=, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=Services, CN=Configuration,DC=,DC=com.
• In the right pane, right-click CN= and select Properties.
• In the Attributes field, scroll down and select the distinguishedName attribute.
• Click the Edit button, and then copy the entire attribute to the Clipboard.
• Expand the Configuration container, and then expand CN=Administrative Groups,CN=,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=,DC=com.
• Right-click the administrative group you want to modify and select Properties.
• In the Attributes field, scroll down and select the siteFolderServer attribute.
• Click the Edit button and paste the value for the distinguishedName attribute into the Value field.
• Double-check the contents of the Value field to ensure the paste was done correctly, and then click OK to save the change.Click OK to close the administrative group properties dialog box.
• Exit ADSI Edit and restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service on all Exchange Server computers in the site for the change to take effect or wait for replication.

Note : On the client side, click Start, click Run, type Outlook /cleanfreebusy, and then press ENTER. Alternatively, send a test meeting request to all users homed to this server and ask them to accept the request.

Exmerge Decoded

Today, I wrote my 1st email announcing the promotion of my team member .. It was a good feeling .. I feel it was yesterday when I started working here .. Time is flying .. It has been nearly 2 years when I was sitting in the office at my home town and I took an interview of a guy who looked smart but was nearly shivering .. The same guy came along with me to a place .. where we had to battle it out all over again .. Battling the new office / new city ( Town - Village .. Whatever you call it ) / new team / new food / new apartment / new aunty .. But life has started to settle down ( work not personal ) .. So my happiness has doubled .. seeing some one grow from day 1 ..

Like sparrows sitting on a tree .. When there was a "BANG" .. Lot of them flew in different directions .. Some flew even before the D day .. Now that most of them have settled .. It takes away any bitter feeling that was left inside .. Having said that .. There are couple of sparrows which hurt a lot when they flew away .. Not because I couldn't fly without them .. but 'cos they took the U turn too late

How can I forget the crow's .. Wohi to ... the one's who turned white and the colours changed like a chameleon .. They remind me of the trust vote of Dr. Manmohan Singh .. I still pray .. God give some wisdom to the souls that are roaming around on this planet .. doing things that shouldn't be done ..

Back to work :
Exmerge is an utility which i believe is not used to its potential .. However, it is very easy to use and to understand ..

This tool was developed by : Kali Buhariwalla ( Naam se to Hindustani Lagta hai )

You can get EXMERGE from http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q174197&

Lets go step by step :
Start Exmerge

1. On the “Procedure Selection” dialogue box, select “Export or Import (One Step Procedure)” or “Export or Import (Two Step Procedure)”

• One step procedure is not used much in Exchange 2003 as you can move mailboxes between Administrative groups.
• Two step procedure is the most commonly used way for exporting / importing the mailbox / mails / permissions ..

2. On the “Two Step Procedure” dialogue box, select “Step 1: Extract data from and Exchange Server Mailbox” or “Step 2: Import data into an Exchange Server Mailbox”

• As we can see, the two options are either to import the PST that was extracted or copied from source to the destination mailbox or to export the contents in the form of mails or permissions

3. We are now presented with the “Source Server” dialogue box, specify the name of your Exchange server, and if applicable the name and LDAP port number of your Domain Controller, if you do not specify the Domain Controller Exmerge will use your Global Catalogue server to find the users, this will take longer, but if you have a multiple domain environment this should be used.

• You don't need to specify the FQDN anywhere on this tool .. Neither for the name of exchange server Nor for the domain controller.

4. The most important thing to know in exmerge is the "Options" button on the “Source Server” dialogue box

On the first tab “Data”, the options are :

• User Messages and Folders : This option is used to copy all the contents of the mailbox. Free / Busy information will not be copied as it resides on the public folders.
• Associated Folder Messages : We should always select this option while exporting a mailbox. One of the reasons if that OOF message will not be exported if we don't select this message.
• Folder Permissions : As the name suggests all folder permissions will be exported ..
• Items from Dumpster : Dumpster is a feature that is disabled by default in outlook. Usually this is not used when we want to export mailbox.

On the second tab “Import Procedure”, the options are:

• Copy Data into the Target Store : This will copy the data to the destination mailbox and will not check for duplicate emails.
• Merge Data into the Target Store : This option will do the similar thing like the previous option. But is intelligent enough to eliminate any duplicates.
• Replace Existing Data in Target Store : This should be used when the destination mailbox is corrupted and we are restoring the mails from the PST backup.
• Archive Data to Target Store : This option is used to archive emails when the users are too lazy to do it on their own or if the IT has pampered them too much .. :)

On the third tab “Folders”, the options are:

• Ignore these folders : This will give you an option to ignore specified folders while importing or exporting. Hidden folders like sync folders are not available here. Also folders created by the user are also not available.
• Process only these folders : It is of similar use as the last option .. Use your brains to see what suits your requirement the best .. It depends on case to case as to which radio button to select.
• It also has a check box " Apply action to subfolders " .. Which is self explanatory

On the fourth tab “Dates”, the options are:

• All : This will select all messages.
• Dated From / To : this gives you an option to specify the dates between which the mailbox items have to be exported.
• We can also select the radio button to perform the actions based on the Delivery Time or the Last Modification Time

On the fifth tab “Message Details”, the options are:

• Enter new message subject : This will give us an option to add / delete a message with specific subject or messages which contain a specific word in the subject.
• Enter new attachment name : This also gives us an option to add / delete a message with specific attachment or messages which contain a specific word in the attachment name.

5. Once we have click on Next the “Database Selection” dialogue box is displayed, from here we can choose what Stores we would like to search through.

• This will show all mailbox stores and not public folder or recovery storage groups

6. On moving to the next screen, we are presented with the “Mailbox Selection” dialogue box,

• You can select individual mailboxes or you have the option to “Select All”

7. the next screen is the “Locale Selection” dialogue box

• If you are using say Chinese Locale on the exchange server then it has to changed accordingly.

8. Next is the “Target Directory” dialogue box

• You just have to browse to the folder path where you want to save the file.

9. The next screen is the “Save Settings” dialogue box,

• File Names : Here we can change the file names and location where exmerge saves its files. e.g Subjects.txt, Folders.txt, etc

10. On the next screen the actual process starts .. :)

If we abort the process .. it will only get killed till the current folder that the tool is working upon is not completed.

How to add change password option in OWA

I liked the way I wrote my last post. . It should start with something about me and then about the work .. This gives those people who know me a reason to read the blog who have nothing to do with AD / Exchange or even technology .. :)

Today one of my Best Friend called and asked .. What is the your definition of achievement .. I joked that .. I have moved from roti to idli .. that is an achievement .. But if I really think .. That is what it is actually .. I came here to make my life better .. Lot of things that I left behind .. roti is also one of them ..

I wonder .. how can 2 words on your signature or on the business card make you leave friends / family / good food / luxury / place where you spent your childhood ..

Idli has been my staple diet .. and the first time I ordered parota thinking it was parantha .. It was 11 PM and I had to eat it as I had no choice .. @11 PM .. It is like a curfew in chennai ..

Sangeetha my GF as I call it has been feeding me from the time I have been here .. Don't jump to conclusions ... Sangeetha is a resturant near my office .. I have tried all Dosa's / Idli's and Vada @ Sangeetha .. I don't eat stuff if I can't pronounce the name .. I wish I had a similar choice with people .. ;)

*** Work ***

When I had to implement the change password option in OWA in my company .. I strugglled a bit .. as there was no good documentation any where . Not even google helped .. It has stuff here and there .. So I decided to put all at one place ..
Note : This will work for BE - FE - ISA setup

The Virtual Directory is created on the FE server and the change password option is enabled on the BE as the option is loaded in OWA through the BE server and not FE. Also, We need to modify the rule on ISA for ISA to allow access to the Virtual Directory on FE to remote users.

The following steps have to be done on all the FE servers or servers where you have the OWA site running on IIS.

1. Log on to the Front End server.


2. Click Start All Programs Administrative Tools Internet Services Manager.


3. Expand Local Computer Web Sites.


4. Right-click the OWA Web Site and point to New, then click Virtual Directory.


5. The Virtual Directory Creation Wizard is launched. Click Next.


6. In the Virtual Directory Creation Wizard, type IISADMPWD in the Alias box, then click Next.


7. You now need to specify the directory path. Type C:\windows\system32\inetsrv\iisadmpwd ,then click Next.


8. Verify that only the Read and Run scripts (such as ASP) check boxes are set.


9. Click Next and then Finish.


10. Right-click the IISADMPWD virtual directory, then select Properties.


11. On the Virtual Directory tab, ExchangeApplicationPool should be selected under Application Pool.


12. Select the Directory Security tab, and then under Authentication and access control, click Edit.


13. Put a check mark in the Basic Authentication box.


14. Click Yes. On the IIS Manager popup.


15. Under Default Domain type your <> not the FQDN.


16. Click OK twice and close the IIS Manager.

Now lets move to the BE servers .. This is easy ..

1. Open Regedit


2. Go to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeWEB\OWA


3. Change the value of DisablePassword REG_DWORD from 1 to 0.


4. Close the registry editor.


5. Restart IIS.

Last thing .. We should go to the ISA server.

1. Log on to the ISA server.


2. Navigate to Firewall Policy.


3. On the right side pane, Right Click on OWA Publishing Rule and Click Properties.


4. Click the Paths tab and hit the ADD button.


5. Type /IISADMPWD/* in the box and Click OK.


6. Click OK and Click Apply to commit the change on ISA.

How to remove a specific user from Mailbox Manager Policy

I am back after a looong time .. There has been a lot of work as I have moved to a new place .. Geographically this is a city .. But it is not more than a town . I travel the same road to office everyday and visit my sisters place ( Not too far either ) and I cant count my Boss's place as we stay on the same road. . So what I call as the town has shrunk to a village .. ;)

Life has changed a lot in the last 6 months .. Got promoted professionally and personally .. I had a lot of friends / family back home ( The place which is a city and also qualifies to be called a Metro ) .. But here life is restricted to people whom I can count on the fingers of my left hand. I interact with more people on email than personally .. :)

I could have written more but I vomitted my frustration on my friend / mentor .. Divy .. ( Just got off the call ) .. So lets get back to work ..

As the title says ... this is a request that came today from an executive to make sure the deleted items policy does not affect a particular user. I had done this long time back .. but forgot the schema change .. So I want to save it for my own good as well as for other's who might need it.

I will try to keep it as simple as possible :
Mailbox Manager Policies are uniquely identified by their GUID {3B6813EC-CE89-42BA-9442-D87D4AA30DBC}. E-mail Address Policies have their own GUID of {26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}.

So inorder to exclude a user we need to use adsiedit.msc and drill down to the properties of the user. One of the attributes will read : msExchPoliciesIncluded. Remove the GUID values that is set. Then add the GUID values to the attribute : msExchPoliciesExcluded

Attribute Name : msExchPoliciesExcluded
Attribute Value :
{3B6813EC-CE89-42BA-9442-D87D4AA30DBC}
{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}

Explanation : msExchPoliciesIncluded has values set as GUID,GUID. Like GUID,{3B6813EC-CE89-42BA-9442-D87D4AA30DBC} for a mailbox manager policy and / or GUID,{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7} for an email address policy. The 1st GUID specifies the actual policy and the 2nd part is the default GUID.
So what actually we did was to remove all the policies and that can be applied and also adding the default GUID's to the exclusions. Because if we dont add to exclusions and just remove from inclusions .. it will be populated again by RUS.

Time to get breakfast otherwise the line will be too long .. The next topic will be posted soon .. I promise the delay will not be as long as it was for this one .. :)

Calculate amount of disk space to be reclaimed by Offline Defrag

By using the command eseutil /ms, we can calculate the exact amount of disk space that can reclaimed by doing the offline defrag. Here are the steps:

1) Run eseutil /ms command from the bin directory on the dismounted database. It will always be run on the edb file.

2) The first section of the space report is the SLV SPACE DUMP. This reports on free space in the streaming database file (.stm).
TOTALS:
Free: 1528814
Reserved: 2238
Deleted: 228
Committed: 11888
Unknown: 0
There are 1528814 free pages in the .stm file, and each page is 4096 bytes in length. Therefore, there are 6,262,022,144 bytes of empty space in the file (1528814 x 4096).

3) As for the EDB file dump you'll see the following information in the last line in the column 'Available'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3244272

The number at the lower right of the output (3244272) is the total of all free pages in the database. If you multiply this number by 4096, you will see that defragmenting this database will recover 12.3 gb of space.

4) Hence, based on the above example you will recover 12.3 GB + 6GB after you do the offline defrag.(this is including the STM also)

India - 60th Year Of Independence

Note : 28 States and 7 UT's .. Thanks to Raman .. Intelligent ...

Something we all should know about our country ..

Yeah. The country is so diverse! Many languages, religions, costumes flourish in India. Even the division into states are basically according to this cultural/language diversity.

Most of the states have its own language. eg: Language of the state of Kerala = Malayalam. ( Mallu )

Hindi is the national language. English has associate status and is widely used.

Herez a list I got from Wikipidea, on the major languages:

1. Hindi हिन्दी
2. English (associate official)

Recognized national languages of India (Scheduled list for official use)

1. Assamese (official language of Assam) অসমীয়া
2. Bengali (official language of Tripura and West Bengal) বাংলা
3. Bodo (official language of Assam)
4. Dogri (official language of Jammu and Kashmir)
5. Gujarati (official language of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Gujarat) ગુજરાતી
6. Hindi (official language of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal) हिन्दी
7. Kannada (official language of Karnataka) ಕನ್ನಡ
8. Kashmiri
9. Konkani (official language of Goa)
10. Maithili (official language of Bihar)
11. Malayalam (official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep) മലയാളം
12. Manipuri (Meithei) (official language of Manipur)
13. Marathi (official language of Maharashtra) मराठी
14. Nepali (official language of Sikkim)
15. Oriya (official language of Orissa) ଓଡ଼ିଆ
16. Punjabi (official language of Punjab) ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, پنجابی
17. Sanskrit संस्कृता
18. Santali
19. Sindhi سنڌي، سندھی, सिन्धी
20. Tamil (official language of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry) தமிழ்
21. Telugu (official language of Andhra Pradesh) తెలుగు
22. Urdu (official language of Jammu and Kashmir) اردو

Other popular languages of India(over 5 million speakers but no official status)
1. Awadhi (often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
2. Bhili (Bhil tribals)
3. Bhojpuri (language of Bihar, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
4. Bundeli (often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
5. Chhattisgarhi (language of Chhattisgarh, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
6. Gondi (Gond tribals)
7. Hariyanavi (Haryanvi) (language of Haryana, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
8. Hindustani (A mixture of Hindi and Urdu. Spoken largely in the Northern part of India.)
9. Kanauji (language of Uttar Pradesh, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
10. Kodava, spoken in the Kodagu district of Karnataka
11. Kutchi (language of Kutch, a region in Gujarat)
12. Magadhi (language of southern Bihar, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
13. Marwari (language of Rajasthan, often considered a sub-variety of Hindi)
14. Tulu (spoken by Tulu people of Karnataka and Kerala)

Indian Flag:

The orange (deep saffron) symbolizes courage and sacrifice (saffron is the sacred color of Hinduism).

The white stands for peace, unity and truth.

The green stands for faith (Islam) and fertility.

The wheel in navy blue indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law in the Sarnath Lion Capital.

The blue symbolizes the sky and the ocean.

The 24 lines inside the chakra (wheel) symbolizes 24 hours of the day.

Latest MS KB

The below URL will take you to the latest MS KB articles.

http://support.microsoft.com/selectindex/?target=rss

Export All DL's in a Domain

The following command can be used to export all Distribution List's.

csvde -f c:\DistributionLists.csv -s GCNAME -d ",dc=rishi,dc=com" -p subtree -l name,managedBy -r "((&(objectCategory=Group)(objectClass=Group)((groupType=8)(groupType=4)(groupType=2)))(objectCategory=ms-Exch-Dynamic-Distribution-List)(objectClass=msExchDynamicDistributionList))"

If you remove -l it will give the dump of all the attributes.

Drive Safely

Last weekend I got a car for my sister .. Today while reading my mails .. I came across a junk mail .. But it was really good .. So I want you all to read it .. We all have loved ones whom we want to be there always ..
This is really touchin ..............
Sanjay, a rich guy, loved fast cars and he did have a few in his possession. He loved to speed and could not be bothered about breaking speed limits. Many a times he was caught by the cops and speed radars, fined, but still he never bothered until.
One day as he was driving at a very high speed as usual, he saw a cop following him. The cop overtook him finally and asked him to stop and checked his license. He then took out his pad and started Writing, and then handed over the sheet of paper to Sanjay.
How much was this one going to cost?!!!
Wait a minute.
What was this????
Some kind of joke? Certainly not a ticket.
Sanjay began to read:
"Dear Sanjay,
Once upon a time I had a lovely daughter. She was six when killed by a car.You guessed it - a speeding driver's car.A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his three daughters. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until Heaven, before I can ever hug her again.
A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now. Pray for me.. And be careful, Sanjay, my son is all I have left."
Sanjay turned around in time to see the cop's car pull away and head down the road. He watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he too, pulled away and drove slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived.
Life is precious. Handle it with care.

Shortcut to Command Prompt

We go to the command prompt via Start > Run > Cmd and then do Ipconfig or nslookup .. and so on .. There is a shorter way to do it ..

Start > Run
Type : cmd /k ipconfig or cmd /k nslookup

The above commands can be used as batch file as well. Create few batch files and keep them on the desktop so that you dont have to type .. You know .. I want to make it easy for you guys.

Move the Offline Address Book to another drive

A situation can occur where we have less space on the drive, So we can move the address book to a different drive.

The address book can take upto 700 MB.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersionWindows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Profile_name\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.
4. Type 001e660e, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click 001e660e, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type the path of the folder where you want to store the Offline Address Book files, and then click OK.
7. Quit Registry Editor.

NDR : 5.1.4

MS definition : Two objects have the same (proxy) address, and mail is sent to that address. This issue can also occur if the recipient does not exist on the remote server.

Normal search in ADUC does not give the result that we want. So go to the command prompt and make use of LDIFDE

ldifde -f c:\duplicate.txt -s DC_name -t 3268 -d "dc=abc,dc=com" -p subtree -r "(proxyAddresses=smtp:duplicate.smtp@abc.com)"

Macro to warn you if attachment is missed

I have made such mistakes many a times .. I used to write to my Boss .. Please find the attached file .. But there was no attachment .. hehehehe..

I thought .. better i find a way .. before my Boss finds a way to improve me .. So I went to my best friend google .. and found a Macro .. I have edited it as per my requirement ..

Steps in detail :

In Outlook, go to Tools -> Macros -> Security and select Medium. You'll be prompted if you want to run macros when you start Outlook.

Go to Tools -> Macros -> Visual Basic Editor.

Double-click on 'This Outlook Session' in the left-hand panel.

Paste the following code into the code window:
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim lngres As Long
If InStr(1, UCase(Item.Body), "ATTACH") <> 0 Then
If Item.Attachments.Count = 0 Then
lngres = MsgBox("'Attach' in body, but no attachment - send anyway?", _vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton2 + vbQuestion, "Boss wont like it ... You did it again")
If lngres = vbNo Then Cancel = True
End If
End If
End Sub

Press F5 to check the code and make sure it's properly compiled.

Close the code editor and restart Outlook. You should be asked on startup if you want to run macros; select Enable Macros.

Send a test message with "attach" somewhere in the body and no attachment to make sure the script works.

Range of MX Record

The values that we can assign to MX records are in the range of 0 to 65535. That makes 65536 values. It is 2^16 = 65536.