In my company sponsored lab environment, I have HWS 1.8 deployed in feature/option parity compared to production. Deploying a second instance of HWS (perhaps a pre-release version), is challenging, due to DNS/Reverse DNS Checks that are done.

Anyways – the reason you’re probably here is to find out how to systematically modify DNS records, so here ya go!

To create the A Record Test-A-Record with IP 192.168.100.100 to DNS Server corp-dns-1 in zone corp.internal, use the following command:

Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -Name Test-A-Record -IPv4Address 192.168.100.100 -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1

To remove the same record, run the following command:

Remove-DnsServerResourceRecord -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name Test-A-Record -RRType "A"

So, in order to switch between environments, you can use the following snippets:

Switch From Original state to Alternate Environment:

Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name configurator-va -IPv4Address [configurator-ip-address]
Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name service-va -IPv4Address [service-ip-address]
Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name connector-va -IPv4Address [connector-ip-address]
Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name gateway-va -IPv4Address [gateway-ip-address]

Revert Back to original state:

Remove-DnsServerResourceRecord -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -RRType "A" -Name configurator-va
Remove-DnsServerResourceRecord -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -RRType "A" -Name service-va
Remove-DnsServerResourceRecord -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -RRType "A" -Name connector-va
Remove-DnsServerResourceRecord -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -RRType "A" -Name gateway-va

Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name configurator-va -IPv4Address 10.69.0.110
Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name service-va -IPv4Address 10.69.0.111
Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name connector-va -IPv4Address 10.69.0.113
Add-DnsServerResourceRecordA -ZoneName corp.internal -ComputerName corp-dns-1 -Name gateway-va -IPv4Address 10.69.0.117

Hope this helps!

Source: MS Technet

The post Modify DNS Records via Powershell appeared first on VirtJunkie.

I wanted to be in full control of mailbox migration, so my requirements were fairly strict:

• Don’t just submit all mailbox move requests en masse
• Submit move requests in “Suspended” status, so that I can manually release them at a later time
• Move smallest mailboxes first, and progress gradually to big mailboxes
• Chose best destination mailbox database
  • I define best as the database with the most free space.
• Only pull mailboxes from one mailbox database at a time

The script below will accomplish these objectives.

Keep in mind, your destination mailbox database is likely named differently than mine – make sure you change it on line number 21.

I’ll post the script I use to release these suspended jobs systematically at a later date.

$BatchSize = 5
$sourceMailboxDatabase = "Mailbox Database 1"

Write-Host "Creating Move Requests and Suspending them"

$allmbx = Get-Mailbox -database $sourceMailboxDatabase |
   Get-MailboxStatistics |
   Sort-Object TotalItemSize |
   Select-Object DisplayName,TotalItemSize
   $AllMBXCount = $allmbx.count

Write-Host "There are" $AllMBXCount "mailboxes to be migrated"
Start-Sleep -Seconds 8

$batch = 1
for ($i=1;$i -le $AllMBXCount;$i++)
{
	if ($i % $BatchSize -eq 0)
	{
		#write-host "Batch $batch" -ForegroundColor 'DarkCyan'
		$result = Get-MailboxDatabase -identity "DAG*" -Status |
                Select-Object name,DatabaseSize,AvailableNewMailboxSpace |
                Sort-Object -Property DatabaseSize
		$bestDatabase = $result[0].name
		$batch++
	}

	Write-Host "New Move - Batch:" $batch "-" $bestDatabase "/" $allmbx[$i].DisplayName -ForegroundColor 'DarkGreen'
	New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase $bestDatabase -Suspend -Identity $allmbx[$i].DisplayName -BatchName "Batch $batch" | out-null

}

The post Exchange 2010 – Bulk Mailbox Migration In Batches appeared first on VirtJunkie.

Opening AD Users and Computers is something that I open on a pretty regular basis, but I use this method on several different utilities.

In order to do this, you’ll have to modify the target field in the shortcut of your program to include the runas command.

Example: Active Directory Users and Computers:

Original:    %SystemRoot%\system32\dsa.msc

Different User:    C:\Windows\System32\runas.exe /user:[domain]\user “mmc %windir%\system32\dsa.msc”

The post Run As Different User (All the time, without holding shift!) appeared first on VirtJunkie.