# Remove Databases
# By Josh M. Bryant
# www.fixtheexchange.com
#
$data = Import-CSV C:\Scripts\dbcreate\exdbs.csv
$Servers = Get-MailboxServer | Where {$_.DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -ne $null}
ForEach ($line in $data)
{
$dbname = $line.DBName
    ForEach($Server in $Servers)
    {
    Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity $dbname\$Server -Confirm:$False
    }
Remove-MailboxDatabase -Identity $dbname -Confirm:$false
}

---

 

On an Exchange 2010 DAG, you have to delete all copies of the database BEFORE it will allow you to delete the database.  The GUI will only allow you to do this one at a time, so if you've got a large number of databases that need deleting, this script is a real time saver.  Database copies and databases are deleted much faster than they're created.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Mass deletion of databases on an Exchange 2010 Database Availability Group. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

---

# Exchange 2010 Database Creation Script
# By Josh M. Bryant
# Last updated 10/18/2011 11:00 AM
#
#
# Specify database root path.
$dbroot = "E:\EXCH10"
#
# Specify log file root path.
$logroot = "L:\EXCH10"
#
# Specify CSV file containing database/log paths and database names.
$data = Import-CSV C:\Scripts\dbcreate\exdbs.csv
#
# Get list of mailbox servers that are members of a DAG.
$Servers = Get-MailboxServer | Where {$_.DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -ne $null}
#
# Specify Lagged Copy Server identifier.
$lci = "MBL"
#
# Specify ReplayLagTime in fromat Days.Hours:Minutes:Seconds
$ReplayLagTime = "14.0:00:00"
#
#Specify TruncationLagTime in format Days.Hours:Minutes:Seconds
$TruncationLagTime = "0.1:00:00"
#
# Specify RpcClientAccessServer name.
$RPC = "mail.domain.com"
#
#
#
# Create databases.
ForEach ($line in $data)
{
$dbpath = $line.DBPath
$dbname = $line.DBName
$logpath = $line.LogPath
New-MailboxDatabase -Name $dbname -Server $line.Server -EdbFilePath $dbroot\$dbpath\$dbname.edb -LogFolderPath $logroot\$logpath
}
#
# Mount all databases.
Get-MailboxDatabase | Mount-Database
Start-Sleep -s 60
#
# Create Database Copies.
ForEach ($line in $data)
{
ForEach ($Server in $Servers)
    {
    If ($Server -notlike $line.Server)
        {
        Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity $line.DBName -MailboxServer $Server
        }
    }
}
#
# Setup lagged copies.
ForEach ($Server in $Servers)
{
If ($Server -like "*$lci*")
    {
    Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server $Server | Set-MailboxDatabaseCopy -ReplayLagTime $ReplayLagTime -TruncationLagTime $TruncationLagTime
    }
}
#
# Set RpcClientAccess Server and enable Circular Logging on all databases.
Get-MailboxServer | Get-MailboxDatabase | Set-MailboxDatabase –RpcClientAccessServer $RPC -CircularLoggingEnabled $true

---

The exdbs.csv file reference in the script, contained these 4 columns: "Server,DBPath,DBName,LogPath".

The script first creates the 94 databases, 47 of them on one server, 47 on another.  It then creaties copies of all these databases across all servers in the DAG.  2 of the servers are for lagged copies, so it goes and sets those based on server naming convention.  The final set is to set the RpcClientAccessServer to the FQDN of the CAS Array on all databases. UPDATE: I have the script setting all the databases for circular logging at the very end now too.

This is still a work in progress, so use at your own risk.  As always please leave author information at the top of the script intact if you use it, and don't forget to link back to this site if you share it anywhere else.

The script worked great, despite having a few "RPC endpoint mapper" errors.  It got the databases 95% setup.  One server had a service not running on it, so the database copies were in the "Suspended" state on it.  Simple use of the "Resume-MailboxDatabaseCopy" command easily correct this issue.   I also had to go back and specify the Activation Preference, which was easy to do based on the naming convention, running the Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus command against each server and piping it into the Set-MailboxDatabaseCopy -ActivationPreference command.

UPDATE: I made some changes to the script, and no longer saw any errors during database creation.  I also fixed the syntax for the database and log paths so they get created in the correct location.  

The end result was 367 fully functional and ready to use database copies.  Even with the minor clean-up after running the script, it made everything a lot easier.  Creating this many database copies would have taken quite some time if done manually.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Automating mass Exchange 2010 database creation with PowerShell. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

My goal was to get this 100% automated. Due to time constraints, I’m only at about 95%. This last bit takes a small amount of manual work. Don’t worry, it’s just simple copy and paste.

First we need to list out all volumes, to do this, open PowerShell, and run diskpart.

diskpart
list volume
exit


Next we just open Excel, put “Volume” in cell A1, and “Label” in cell B1. Copy “Volume ###” from the diskpart output and paste it into column A of the Excel sheet. Copy “Label” from the diskpart output and paste it into column B. Remove any disks that already have drive letters assigned. If you remember from last week, I had 5 disks that I assigned drive letters. After removing them from this list, I had 188 rows (not including the column names in row 1). Save it as a .csv file

Next we run a PowerShell script I called cvmp.ps1:

# Volume Mount Point Creation Script
# By Josh M. Bryant
# www.fixtheexchange.com
# Last modified 9/6/2011 8:30 AM
#
$dmount = "E:EXCH10"
$lmount = "L:EXCH10"
$data = Import-CSV C:Scriptsvolumes.csv
ForEach ($line in $data)
{
$volume = $line.Volume
$label = $line.Label
Add-Content -path C:Scriptsvolumes.txt -value "Select $volume"
If ($label -like "*L*")
{
Add-Content -path C:Scriptsvolumes.txt -value "assign mount=$lmount$label"
}
Else
{
Add-Content -path C:Scriptsvolumes.txt -value "assign mount=$dmount$label"
}
}
diskpart /s C:Scriptsvolumes.txt


That’s it! The PowerShell uses the .csv file to create the diskpart script that assigns the volume mount points.

I would eventually like to go back and script out the .csv file creation using the Export-CSV command. I was having trouble getting the output from the diskpart command (which is not a PowerShell command) into a usable format with the Export-CSV command.

Even with the manual copy and paste work, this saved a ton of time. Can you imagine how long all of this would have taken without scripting?

If you use scripts from this site, please keep the author info intact, and include a link back to this site if you post them anywhere else.

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Creating 188 volume mount points in under 2 minutes with PowerShell and diskpart. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.

5 of the disks received drive letters, the remaining 188 are to be volume mount points. There was no way I was going to do any of this manually, so I created some PowerShell scripts that use the diskpart command to do all the work for me. The result is having 5 disks partitioned, formatted, labeled and drive letters assigned. Then 188 folders get created for use as the volume mount points. The remaining 188 disks get partitioned, formatted, and labeled. I’m still trying to work out a way to script mapping the volume mount points to the folders, so this is a work in progress. (UPDATED: Click here to see how I solved this problem.)

First we have the primarydrives.txt script for diskpart to create the main drives that actually have letters assigned to them:

select disk 3
create partition primary NOERR
format FS=NTFS LABEL="SAN Exchange" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR
assign letter=D NOERR
select disk 4
create partition primary NOERR
format FS=NTFS LABEL="SAN Temp" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR
assign letter=T NOERR
select disk 196
create partition primary NOERR
format FS=NTFS LABEL="SAN Tracking Logs" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR
assign letter=M NOERR
select disk 5
create partition primary NOERR
format FS=NTFS LABEL="SAN Databases" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR
assign letter=E NOERR
select disk 6
create partition primary NOERR
format FS=NTFS LABEL="SAN Exchange" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR
assign letter=L NOERR


Next we have the fvmpcreate.ps1 script that creates folders based on names in a text file. I had a spreadsheet with what the database names are going to be, so I just copied those to the text file to use for this script. This script also writes a text file for use by diskpart to partition, format, and label each disk. Like I said, I’m still working on how to get it to map the volume mount points to the folders created by the script.

# Folder and Volume Mount Point Creation Script
# By Josh M. Bryant
# www.fixtheexchange.com
# Last Updated 9/2/2011 3:40 PM
#
$dbfile = "C:Scriptsdbdrives.txt"
$logfile = "C:Scriptslogdrives.txt"
$dbdata = Get-Content C:Scriptsdbnames.txt
$ldata = Get-Content C:Scriptslognames.txt
$dbpath = "E:EXCH10"
$logpath = "L:EXCH10"
$drive = 6
#
#Create Database Folders and Volume Mount Points
#
ForEach ($line in $dbdata)
{$drive = $drive + 1
New-Item $dbpath$line -type directory
add-content -path $dbfile -value "select disk $drive"
add-content -path $dbfile -value "create partition primary NOERR"
add-content -path $dbfile -value "format FS=NTFS LABEL=`"$line`" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR"
}
#
#Create Log Folders and Volume Mount Points
#
ForEach ($line in $ldata)
{$drive = $drive + 1
New-Item $logpath$line -type directory
add-content -path $logfile -value "select disk $drive"
add-content -path $logfile -value "create partition primary NOERR"
add-content -path $logfile -value "format FS=NTFS LABEL=`"$line`" UNIT=64K QUICK NOWAIT NOERR"
}


The last script I called createdrives.ps1, this is the master script that calls all the others.

# Exchange Drive Creation Script
# By Josh M. Bryant
# www.fixtheexchange.com
# Last Updated 9/2/2011 3:55 PM
#
# Create primary drives.
diskpart /s C:Scriptsprimarydrives.txt > primarydrives.log
# Wait for disks to format.
sleep 30
# Create EXCH10 Folders
New-Item E:EXCH10 -type directory
New-Item L:EXCH10 -type directory
# Create Folders and Diskpart Scripts
& "C:Scriptsfvmpcreate.ps1"
# Create Volume Mount Points for Databases
diskpart /s C:Scriptsdbdrives.txt > dbdrives.log
# Create Volume Mount Points for Logs
diskpart /s C:Scriptslogdrives.txt > logdrives.log


This ended up being a huge time saver. Everything completed in about 2 minutes. Even if I can’t figure out how to script out the volume mount point mapping, it will have saved me a tremendous amount of time. The best part is this is scalable, so I can easily adapt it for use on other servers, regardless of the number of disks that need to be configured.

UPDATE: Click here to see how I solved the volume mount point creation.

If you use these scripts, or want to re-post them anywhere else, please keep the author information at the top of the script, and include a link back to this site. Thanks!

Josh Bryant

Cybersecurity Product Leader and internationally recognized Speaker at several Information Security conferences and events with over 26 years of experience as a proven leader in Cybersecurity, Product Management, Threat Hunting, Incident Response, IT Management, IT Architecture, IT Operations, IT Engineering, and Messaging Systems, on a global scale, across a diverse set of industries in both the Public and Private sectors.

192.168.2.21:30040

The post Configuring 193 disks in under 2 minutes with PowerShell and diskpart. first appeared on Fix The Exchange!.