Author: Richard Burrs

Conferences

MyIgnite – Reflections on Microsoft Ignite 2018

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on MyIgnite – Reflections on Microsoft Ignite 2018

        

I attended this year’s Microsoft Ignite conference in Orlando, FL and decided i would provide my reflections on the event.  The annual conference provides a plethora of sessions on Microsoft technology offerings and solutions related to Microsoft 365, IoT, containers, DevOps, Team collaboration, Azure services and more.  Also, there’s an Expo of various IT vendors; panel discussions on Diversity in IT; and hands on labs to provide IT skill development.  It’s a huge event with attendees in all walks of IT from around the world.

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Azure, Azure AD

Azure AD Attribute Hide and Seek

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on Azure AD Attribute Hide and Seek

Azure Ad Connect provides organizations with the ability to synchronize their On-premises users and groups to Azure Active Directory.  When synchronizing objects to Azure, administrators have the ability to control which users or groups are synchronized to the cloud.    Furthermore, it’s also possible to select which user or group attributes are synchronized.  Some organizations may have Security policies that prohibit certain information, such as phone numbers and addresses, from appearing in the cloud.  Luckily, attributes can be easily filtered by unchecking the attribute on the AD connector object in Synchronization Service Manager.

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Azure, Exam Prep

A Guide to Passing Azure Exam 70-533

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on A Guide to Passing Azure Exam 70-533

Back in April of this year, I passed Azure exam 70-533:  Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions.  To be honest, this was actually my second attempt at the exam.  I failed on my first try about three weeks earlier.  But who’s counting?   All that matters is that I persisted and eventually passed.  I’m not mentioning this to be discouraging to anyone intending to take the exam.  However, my intention is to provide encouragement if you don’t pass the first time around.  No one likes seeing the word “Fail” on the exam printout, but it’s not the end of the world.  With that being said, I thought I would write an article outlining the methods I employed to prepare for the test.

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Exchange, Powershell

Powershell Function to Get Messages in Exchange

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on Powershell Function to Get Messages in Exchange

If you are an Exchange server administrator, you more than likely spend a fair amount of time searching the Message Tracking logs.  The data provided by these logs can be helpful in finding all messages with a particular subject or sent by a certain user during a specific time frame.  Of course, there are two ways to search the Message logs:  the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or Exchange Management Shell.  Using the GUI is perfectly fine, if that is your preference.  However, if you are having to perform searches on a regular basis, the EMS is the more efficient option.

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Exchange, Powershell

Exchange Powershell Tip

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on Exchange Powershell Tip

Do you want to know how to get the mailbox count per database on a particular server?  Use the following cmdlet to get that information:

Get-Mailbox -Server servername | Group-Object -Property:database | select Name,Count | FT -AutoSize

Remember to change “servername” to the name of your Primary Mailbox server.

Here’s an example of the command output:

example

 

Exchange

No Outlook Reminders

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on No Outlook Reminders

We have very busy work and personal lives, which can easily involve several meetings in the span of one week.  Outlook reminders serve an important role in helping to manage scheduled appointments and meetings.  Although, it’s not sufficient to have a slot on the calendar for that demo scheduled next week with a software vendor.    This is where Reminders come to the rescue of human memory shortcomings.  A reminder will popup and say  “your demo session with Vendor X starts in 15 minutes”.  That’s not what it actually says, but you get the point.

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Exchange

A Case for Exchange Personal Archives

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on A Case for Exchange Personal Archives

With the expanded role of email in business communication, there is a need for organizations to preserve emails for compliance and security reasons.  Email has become the lifeblood of companies, the primary means by which employees communicate with clients, coworkers and vendors.  Since electronic messages contain business related data or content, emails often maintain importance that extends months or years into the future.  Additionally, many times an Email administrator will be faced with the task of gathering and producing messages for legal cases.  For these reasons, message Archiving is a vital process.

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DNS

DNS Records Not Updating

by Richard BurrsLeave a Comment on DNS Records Not Updating

I’m going to stray off of the beaten path and post a blog regarding an Active Directory DNS issue that I experienced.  Although it’s not Exchange server related, I thought this would be worth publishing as I’m sure others have encountered this issue.

We noticed that client DNS records were not getting updated in a timely manner.  More specifically, this was occurring primarily with clients that were connecting remotely to the internal network via VPN.

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