| Sys Admin Extraordinaire |

2010-10-20 Initial Post

Exchange Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2 AD

I ran into an issue at work the other day which was new to me and I didn’t really find any good documentation either on the Internet or at work, so I did some testing and wrote up a procedure to get around the issue. The issue has to do with the Associated External Account feature. Basically, that feature is used to grant permission to a mailbox in a cross-forest account/resource forest setup. If both of a user's accounts in the account and resource forest are enabled (not MS recommended), he will not be able to access other users'  Outlook folders or Outlook public folders unless a special procedure is followed.

I'm going to give an account of my testing scenario and will not be going into a lot of background details, so refer to the articles on MSExchange.org and MS TechNet for background info on the Associated External Account feature. The issue can be really confusing, so I don't expect anyone to follow it easily, but if you're reading this, then that means you might have run into the same issue and will understand what I'm describing. (more…)

2010-07-06 Initial Post

Exchange Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2 AD

These are the AD attribute names for common mailbox size limit settings. You can use these attributes in a script to make changes or view current settings. (more…)

2009-09-08 Initial Post

Windows Server 2003/2008

STUB ZONES AND CONDITIONAL FORWARDERS

I’ve been working with AD for 9 years and just recently really understood what a stub zone was and which situations are appropriate for its use. I also came to a similar realization about conditional forwarding, although I was already more familiar with that. Anyway, I don’t think many people really understand these features for two major reasons: (more…)

2010-04-15 Updated
2008-04-15 Initial Post

Tested on Windows Server 2003 SP2 AD / Exchange Server 2003 SP2

When a user or group is made the manager of a group via the Managed By tab of the group’s properties AND the checkbox for “Manager can update membership list” is selected, the user/group is given permission to add and remove members. If that checkbox is not selected, nothing else really happens other than the user/group’s name showing up as the group manager. If the user/group that is the manager is also mail enabled, viewing the managed group’s properties from Outlook would show the manager’s name as Owner. (more…)

2008-07-16 Initial Post

Windows Server 2003 AD

Ntds.dit is the actual file for the AD database. By default, it’s located in C:\WINDOWS\NTDS\ along with related transaction logs and checkpoint files. The database is based on ESE (Extensible Storage Engine) technology, which is also used by Exchange Server. It is not a flat file database and uses transaction logs and other database technologies. Only Administrators and system accounts have permission to C:\WINDOWS\NTDS\ by default. The files are locked by the OS during normal operation, so you wouldn't be able to make a copy of them while the OS is operating normally. (more…)