February 27, 2004
PrimalScript: any good?
I'm tired of using Notepad as a script editor, so I've been on the hunt for a better solution. Right now, I'm using UltraEdit32, which I like. However, I noticed a Google ad (on this very page!) for a scripting IDE called PrimalScript. It seems fairly expensive, and it has lots of features that I don't care about-- but if it's a good tool, I don't mind paying for it. So, readers, has anyone used it? Is it worth a hoot? What other scripting development tools are useful to you?Posted by Paul at 05:40 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2004
Exchange 2003 Security Hardening Guide released
Microsoft's released the Exchange 2003 Security Hardening Guide, which is basically the Exchange 2003 remix of the well-received Exchange 2000 Security Operations Guide. Like its predecessor, it's meant to be used in conjunction with the Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 hardening guides. The Exchange guides provide a set of security templates that can be applied to automatically harden Exchange 2003 servers; it also provides prescriptive guidance on protecting against viruses, spam, and DoS attacks. Of course, it's no substitute for a good book on security :)Posted by Paul at 06:44 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2004
Useful stuff for scripters and admins
This isn't directly related to Exchange, but I discovered it while setting up my Exchange server at home, so I thought I'd pass it on. In brief, Microsoft's new Services for Unix 3.5 is an amzing bit of goodness to have available when writing and using scripts.
Forget the NIS/AD/NFS services and interoperability; it's all sweet, but that's not my point. The absolute blow-me-away feature is the Interix POSIX sub-system. Previous versions of SFU included the MKS POSIX subsystem, which was functional but nothing to write home about.
Interix is amazing because -- get this -- you can invoke Windows binaries and scripts from within the Unix shell and shell scripts. I can write a Korn shell script, using awk and sed and all the nifty tools available on the Unix command line, and pipe input and output into VBscript and Jscript.
So how did I discover this? My installation archive of Exchange got mangled by some idiot filename conversion settings, and I discovered this while running through the install process. Happily, the damage was done in a predictable fashion, so I was able to fix everything using a few timely ksh scripts to rename the affected files based on regular expressions.
I'm sure I could have done the same thing with VBscript, but honestly, it would have taken far longer and required much more scripting. I was able to do many of the renames in a one-liner. And doing it this way saved me a drive back in to work over the weekend.
Moral of the story: having multiple tools in your toolbox is good.
Posted by Devin Ganger at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2004
Understanding Exchange's scripting interfaces
There's more than one way to peel a grape, and there's more than one way to script Exchange. This column explains Exchange's primary scripting interfaces and what they're for; you'll see most of them used in various recipes for this book.Posted by Paul at 05:44 AM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2004
Moving Right Along
Chapter 2, Installation and Infrastructure, is just about completed, and I think we're all pretty happy with the results. I know I still want (need?) to tweak a few of my recipes, but it's great to see progress on the book.
Some of the recipes include preparing a Windows 2000 server for an Exchange installation, using the ExDeploy tools (which are a GREAT addition to Exchange 2003 and are so useful for guiding you through the installation process), and enumerating all Exchange connectors.
Do you have suggestions for recipes to be included in this chapter? We think that we've covered most of the big ones, but are always interested in hearing ideas from the field.
Posted by Missy at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2004
Exchange team blog launches
There must be an echo in here. Anyway, the Exchange team now has a group blog: You Had Me at EHLO. Recommended reading.
Posted by Paul at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2004
Outside the Box
Hello, folks. As Paul said, I've got UNIX on my resume -- quite a bit of it, in fact. I come from humble systems administration roots, a good chunk of it spent babysitting ISPs. The key principle there was "Make the services that customers want to pay for work." That meant using Solaris, Windows, Linux -- whatever. As such, I've become quite agnostic over the years -- every piece of hardware and software is a result of design compromises and as such, everything has its warts.
That said, working with 3sharp and Paul and Missy has given me a new appreciation for Exchange. It's all too easy to become cynical and bitter about it if you don't take the time to really learn what it is capable of (and kudos to Microsoft for increasing those capabilities with each release!) and where it is strong.
I'd like to echo Missy's question and encourage you to let us know what sorts of things you want to see. My own slant on this, though, is that I want to know what you do with Exchange that might be outside of the typical Exchange box. These kind of real-world situations are useful to tell us how people are using Exchange and to uncover new general categories of recipes that need to be written.
Posted by Devin Ganger at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
Your Input Requested
So what's the deal with the Exchange cookbook? Basically, we're hoping to be able to mirror the type of book Robbie Allen produced with his oh-so-useful Active Directory Cookbook. We'll provide numerous recipes, many with scripts the reader can use, that will detail the important "How To Get Things Done" features within the last two releases of Exchange (sorry folks, but Exchange 5.5 is a very different animal than either of the 200x releases, and won't be covered). As Paul mentioned, we now have a list of 240 recipes, and expect that will expand a bit as we find more interesting subjects.
I think these cookbooks are brilliant resources - while you probably won't want to read them cover-to-cover, they're books that should be on any Exchange administrator's desk for easy access.
The burning question -- what tasks would you like to see in the book? Suggestions from those of you who manage Exchange every day would be very useful - while we think we've got most of the good stuff covered, I'd love to hear from the field on this one! So comment away!
Posted by Missy at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)
Schedule
One of the questions I often get about book writing is how long it takes. This cookbook is a little atypical, since it's very modular-- each recipe stands more-or-less on its own, so it's possible to write several recipes in parallel. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what we're going to do. Devin, Missy, and I have committed to average five recipes per person per week, giving us an aggregate total of 15/week. Right now there are about 240 recipes, so figuring in a 10% fudge factor means that we need about 18 weeks. So, the schedule we agreed to with O'Reilly calls for us to turn in two complete chaptes on 16 February, followed by turning in 50% of the manuscript (and that's by chapter, not by recipe-- no half-chapters allowed!) on 12 April. Our 100% complete date is 6/28.
The money question: when does the book get on the shelf? Not until about 12 October. Why the delay? Well, O'Reilly allows for about four weeks of technical review (and if you're interested in being a tech reviewer, contact our editor at rallen AT rallenhome DOT com). The book should go to production about 26 July, and the entire time between then and October is required to design the cover; index, print, bind, and ship the books, and get them into the distribution system. You'd think that a smaller, more nimble publisher like O'Reilly would have a time advantage over behemoths like MS Press, but they don't. You might also think that technological advances would have shortened this time since the mid-1990s-- but they haven't, at least not so far as I can tell.
Posted by Paul at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2004
My First TechEd Session Proposal
Well, I made a big jump about a week ago – I submitted a proposal to present a session at TechEd. I think I’ve found an interesting subject – the proposed title of the session is “Exchange Scripting for Mere Mortals” – and I’m fairly certain that I can get some interesting, useful content together to present. But wow, speaking in front of a bunch of my peers certainly is an intimidating prospect. I don’t know how one prepares for such a thing – my guess is that you do everything you can to make sure you understand your material, then you take a couple deep breaths and just do it.
Despite my initial fear, I’ve had some fun jotting down ideas for the presentation – an introduction (duh), a section on the resources available to help get moving with scripting for Exchange, an explanation of the different tools available (CDO, CDOEXM, Perl, VBScript, WMI, etc.) – and which tools are most appropriate for which jobs. I also want to include several sample scripts that folks can use immediately and then modify as they get more comfortable.
The funniest thing (well, I think it’s funny, but I have a strange sense of humor) is that I don’t have a scripting background. I can usually make other people’s scripts do what I want them to do, and I generally can read scripts (heck, I can even decipher several lines of C++ if I have to…), but I haven’t taken any classes or read any books (although I’m working on that one – thank you Alain Lissoir) on the subject. But writing this book with Paul and Devin will surely give me the tools to succeed (or fail miserably, if I don’t pay attention!) (let’s hope for success, eh?).
Of course, now that I’ve spent a ton of time in OneNote outlining my session, MS will decide they aren’t interested, and I’ll be off the hook. Not sure what I think about that.
Posted by Missy at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)
About the authors
This book is a little unusual in that it has three authors: Devin Ganger, Missy Koslosky, and Paul Robichaux.
This is Devin's first book, but he's been active in writing stuff for the Postfix community and for Steve Jackson Games. Plus, he writes a ton of stuff at work, mostly focused on (surprise) Exchange and security. Although he's from a UNIX background, we love him anyway, and his scripting expertise is a great addition to the book.
Missy is well-known in the Exchange community; she's a long-time MVP who taught Paul much of what he knows about Exchange 5.5 (but don't hold her accountable for it, 'kay?) She has extensive production experience with large Exchange deployments, and a healthy dislike for boring repetitive tasks. This is her first book too.
Paul is, well, Paul. He's been writing about Exchange for almost six years (yikes! has it really been that long?), and this is his fifth Exchange book: one MCSE book, one for O'Reilly on Exchange 5.5, and two Exchange security books (covering Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003) for Microsoft Press.
Posted by Paul at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
First post
W00t. I got first post.
This site is the companion site to the Exchange Cookbook, forthcoming from O'Reilly and Associates.
Posted by Paul at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)