There are many tools around that help IT professionals do their job. In this post I have listed my top 5 most useful/favorite tools which I use on a regular basis. Some of these tools have saved me a great deal of time as well as saving organizations money by allowing myself and other IT Professionals to do our jobs quicker and more effectively.
NOTE:
Later in the week I will post an article for each tool explaining usage, from/using real world examples.
My Top 5 Tools are:
ADModify
This would have to me my all time favorite tool, which has saved me many hours, from either modifying AD Objects manually or creating a script to do the same. ADModify is used to bulk modify Active Directory objects, it also has an undo feature which hopefully you will never have to use. When using ADModify you are presented with a screen, which allows you to select the domain, type of objects and the selection of objects to modify. Figure 1 below shows this window.
Figure 1 “The ADModify.NET selection window”
After you have selected the objects you wish to modify then click next ADModify presents you with a window similar to the User/Group/Contact properties window that you would find in Active Directory Users & Computers (ADUC), this is where you check and populate the fields of the attributes you wish to modify, and yes the best thing of all you can use variables such as %'mailNickName'%, %’givenName’% & %’sn’% to populate fields with non-common user specific data. Figure 2 below shows the E-mail Addresses tab in ADModify.
Figure 2 “The ADModify.NET E-mail Addresses tab”
ADModify.NET can be downloaded from here:
http://www.gotdotnet.com/workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=f5cbbfa9-e46b-4a7a-8ed8-3e44523f32e2
Csvde
When your boss calls you at 4:30 Pm Friday afternoon and asks you for a list of all distribution lists and their members by 5:00 pm, this is the tool to use. Csvde can also be used for bulk importing of objects into your Active Directory. Personally I use the export feature of this tool more often than the import feature. Csvde can also be used to batch modify objects in a similar way that ADModify does, but because Csvde is a command line tool it takes a little longer use as you need to know the attribute names.
Because Csvde is a command line tool it is nothing much to look at so I will save the screenshots until I post my article on this tool with an example extracting a list of all distribution lists and their members.
ADSIEdit
Exchange System Manager allow you to do most tasks that you need to do as an Administrator, but there are some things it won’t do, one task that comes to mind is generating a filter or query for a custom GAL or Recipient policy. Exchange System Manager only allows you to build an AND search filter, which limits the types of queries/filters you can create. ADSIEdit will allow you to create a greater range of queries/filters, because you can use AND OR NOT operators. Figure 3 below shows the purportedSearch of the default recipient policy in ADSIEdit, which is the attribute you need to modify to filter the objects that a recipient policy will apply to.
Figure 3 ”Using ADSIEdit Viewing the purportedSearch Attribute of the Default Recipient policy”
ADSIEdit can be found in Windows 2000/XP & Windows Server 2003. ADSIEdit is run from an administrative console MMC, Start | Run | MMC or Start | Run | adsiedit.msc
To run this tool in Windows 2000/XP the snap-in need to be registered as follows: regsvr32 adsiedit.dll
There are many dangers involved with using this tool, so always ensure you have a full backup of your Active Directory and DCs before attempting to use this tool.
The Exchange Migration Wizard
The Exchange migration wizard is as the name suggests a program used to migrate from a wide range of Mail platforms to Exchange Server or PST. The Exchange Migration Wizard can perform the following migration functions:
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MS Mail to Exchange Server or PST
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Microsoft Exchange to Exchange Server or PST
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Lotus cc:Mail to Exchange Server or PST
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Lotus Notes to Exchange Server or PST
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Novell GroupWise 4.X & 5.X to Exchange Server or PST
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Internet Directory (LDAP via ADSI) to Exchange Server or PST
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Internet Mail (IMAP4) to Exchange Server or PST
As you can see this tool is quite extensive in the Mail platforms it can migrate from. I primarily use the Exchange migration wizard to Migrate mailboxes/mail files (notes terminology the mailbox is a file) from Lotus Notes to Exchange, but also use it to move Exchange mailboxes between Exchange Organizations. Figure 4 below shows the “Select the migration function” window.
Figure 4 “Exchange Migration Wizard; Select migration function page”
The Exchange Migration is included with your install of Exchange Server; it is also installed when you install the Exchange System Manager on a remote admin console.
Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter (IMF)
Not really a tool but a free add-on, Microsoft IMF is Microsoft’s SPAM filtering engine for Exchange, and it does a very good job for a free add-on. Many organizations including Microsoft use it in conjunction with a 3rd party Anti-SPAM product to provide a layered Anti-SPAM solution. Exchange IMF assigns messages a Spam Confidence Level (SCL); an administrator can then use the SCL to filter messages at two levels, the Gateway and Store Junk E-mail level.
When configuring IMF remember if a message has an SCL higher than or equal to the gateway threshold the message can either be archived, deleted, rejected, or have No Action taken against it. When a message has a rating greater than the Junk E-mail threshold but less than gateway level, the email will be moved to users Junk E-mail folder. The wording for the Store Junk E-mail configuration setting is actually incorrect on this tool, the wording says "Move messages with an SCL rating greater than or equal to" it should read "Move messages with an SCL rating greater than" Figure 5 below shows the Intelligent Message filtering configuration page in Exchange System Manager.
Figure 5 “The Intelligent Message filtering configuration page”
There are a few other issues that you need to know about, but I will cover them in more detail when I post my article about this add-on.
Exchange Intelligent Message Filter and the latest filter update can be downloaded from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2003/imf/default.mspx
Well thats it for this post but drop back and or watch out for my more detailed posts on each of these tools later in the week.