Exchange 2010 Distribution Groups

Distribution Groups, they are great arent they?

Set up a number of people, assign an email address and hey presto, easy mailing.

Thats what I thought!

so why, when I have set up a distribution group, does an automated email from SQL bounce?

4 more grey hairs later I discover why.

Exchange 2007 and 2010, will automatically set the distribution group so that any un-authenticated users are unable to send to the group.  an anti-spam measure if you will.

Under the Mail Flow Settings tab on the properties page, there is an option for “Message Delivery Restrictions”

See that little tick box - 4 grey hairs that cost me

Untick that pesky box and away you go!

Thanks to Amit Tank whose article pointed me in the right direction

Exchange 2010 Photos in the GAL – The Cmdlet

So I said that I would post the cmdlet that you needed to update the photo into the GAL for Exchange 2010, well, who am I to dissapoint, here it is:

Import-RecipientDataProperty -Identity "Joe Bloggs" -Picture -FileData
([Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path "C:\Wherever\JoeBloggs.jpg" -Encoding Byte
-ReadCount 0))

Bear in mind - it is all one command line, the line breaks I have put in make it look nice on the page  

Exchange 2010

Now, I have just started using Exchange 2010, and I have to admit – I LOVE IT

OK, it takes a bit of getting used to, it only runs on x64 and the admin console is effectivley removed from AD. 

Coming from Exchange 2000/2003 where you could administer the Exchange side of things from within AD-U&C (as long as you had the admin pack installed) it feels a bit strange to kinda go back to Exchange 5.5 territory where the administration console is a seperate app.  that being said however, the roles based admin templates is brilliant.

Add to that the fact that you can display thumbnail images of the users on the system by uploading them into AD with the aid of a powershell cmdlet it makes it even better, now you know what the person your emailing looks like!  OK, not such a big thing in a small company, but if your working for a huge international company, it adds that little touch of personality if you will.

just make sure your image is 90px x 90px and is less than 10Kb

add to that the links into Office Communication Server, and Office Communicator, you also have “Presence”  people can see whether or not you are in the office, or in a meeting before they call you, all at a glance.

Coming up soon in my task list is getting the OCS installation completed, which is going to include:

external presence, live meeting, web conferencing and ultimately full integration with the PBX.  This project is going to be………. Interesting

Oh my word!

It has been nearly a year since I last posted – Im not very good at this am I?

Well, Im back, and hopefully, there will be a multitude of new posts on some very interesting technology.

To give you some Idea of what Im working on, it includes Hyper-V, App-V, OCS 2007 R2, Forefront TMG and lots lots more.  let the adventures begin!

Outlook 2007 “permissions” error

The other day, an end user reported receiving the error

 ”You do not have permissions to send the message on behalf of the specified user”

although he was actually logged into his own account(s) as himself. I combed thru the MS-KB as well as the entire Web but just couldn’t seem to find anything that helped, until I found this fix in a “non-MS” newsgroup….I am posting this here in case someone else runs into the same issue. The problem was caused by a Stored Password for an old domain. Once the stored password was deleted, he no longer got the error message and was able to send mail without issue. To see the list of stored user names & passwords, go to Start – Run and type in: control keymgr.dll From here, you can Add/Remove or Edit (Properties) Stored Password information. Hope this helps someone out there who is stumped as I was!

 

 

(OK, yes, I admit it was me having the problem)

Sorry…

I havent written for over eight months.

just shows how interesting my life is at the moment.

well, it has been, what with a relationship breakup, new duties at work, and a whole host of stuff happening in the cadet world.

Will try to update more often, promise.

Welcome to 2008

So, we are 13 days into the new year, and the shine can be said to be wearing off.

Interestingly, it is said (and reported) that the 10th is the day that most people run out of money, due to the early Christmas payday.  anyone out there run out?

Hopefully have something interesting to write soon

Windows Deployment Services 2

Had a breakthrough with WDS today.

 I was trying to take a machine pre-installed with Vista and image it to XP.

However, everytime I tried the capture, the XP installation had moved to the D drive.

Little hint – if you want to roll a machine back to XP and then image it, you need to delete the Vista recovery partitions or it ain’t going to work.  I will try to post some more info later

Work-Life Balance

I look at the stats for this blog, and I see what people have typed into search engines to find me.

Now, all of my posts so far have been in relation to problems I have encountered on Vista (apart from two), but I saw an interesting search term today – Christmas and work life.

Now, I am assuming that that person was referring to Work-Life Balance, so I thought why not make a post on it (hey, it may generate more hits!)

I feel that Work life balance is important, but sometimes difficult.  I however, try to live by the adage “You work to live, not live to work”.

In my last job, I was often working over 60 hours per week.  I would be in work for 8/8:30 and leave at 5/5:30.

Once home, I would sign in and do some work from home while trying to interact with my son.  once he had gone to bed, I would be back on the laptop until normally around 3am.  Conversation with my partner was stifled and things were not all that good.

I made a choice when I started a new role, my home life would come first.  I make more time for my son, I make more time for my partner, and (at the moment) don’t work from home.  I arrive at work at 8:30/9 and leave at 5:30 like everyone else.   Things seem much happier at home.

I would like to say to those out there that may be struggling to find the balance, Home is more important.  let that reflect in the hours of work and the hours of not at work.

Christmas Party (Work)

So, last night (as in Thursday Night) was the works Christmas do.  (are you supposed to spell do with one o or two o’s in that context?)

(and why a bloomin Thursday, you can’t have THAT much fun, cause you have to be in work the next day (maybe its SO you don’t have that much fun… who knows.)

Anyway, work paid for all of us to go to the NEC for Jasper Carrott’s “Rock With Laughter”, and it was the “VIP” package don’tcher know!!

 Free parking (for those that drove), VIP Entrance, Buffett, Bubbly, Wine, and even chocolates on the tables!  skip the queue’s and walk into the auditorium from backstage and take our seats on the front row.

I had some REALLY miserable bint next to me who had won her tickets from the local papers “competition”.

Good line up, but with dissapointments.

Jasper was full of energy, but had very little new material which was a shame

Nicki was there, fresh from being kicked off X Factor, and my god, she has got a FANTASTIC voice.

Ray Quinn (again X Factor, but from last year) did an Amy Winehouse!  he could barely sing, and looked like he was either stoned or p*ssed (or both).  not all that impressive, also, trying to do “Sexy” moves when you like like a Secondary School First Year is NOT a good thing (Quoted from Jasper: “I’ve never had to introduce a foetus before!”)

Jo Brand: Never really been a fan of Jo’s, but she had me in stitches all the way through her set

Jack Dee: Unimpressive, not as good as I was expecting

Dame Edna: Still going strong

Jamelia: Again, WOW, what a voice!  also, you would never guess she was a mother.  in fact I could see a fair few envious looks shooting her way.

 The Manfreds: Fantastic

The Tapdogs (or Lapdogs as JC called them): Erm, its a group of guys stamping their feet.  what more can be said?  oh, oh, one can stamp his feet while bouncing a basketball!

Shakin Stevens: Lived up to his name

Chris De Burgh: A-Bloody-Mazing (but isn’t he short… he always sounds much taller (if that is possible))

A bloody good night all round though.

Now, getting ready for my ACF XMas do.  Saturday Night, formal affair, should be great fun!

 G’Night