kieranbarnes do you know where your towel is?

Exchange 2003, 2007 & 2010 Topology discovery failed, error 0×80040a02 (DSC_E_NO_SUITABLE_CDC)

A client has been struggling with Exchange 2003 for some time now and I've got the project to roll out Exchange 2010. The first hurdle I come to is a new incarnation of a pre-existing problem from Exchange 2003 - simply put "Can't find a domain controller". Which means it can't mount the Information Store. Brill.

How can I specify the Global Catalog (GC) that I want my Microsoft Exchange Server system to use?

If you want to force the Exchange server to use a specific GC instead of letting the server automatically choose a GC, you can perform the following steps:

1. Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Exchange System Management (ESM) snap-in (Start, Programs, Microsoft Exchange, System Manager).
2. In the treeview pane, navigate to Administrative Groups, &ltadministrative group name>, Servers.
3. Right-click the server and select Properties.
4. Select the Directory Access tab.
5. From the Show drop-down list, select Global Catalog Servers.
6. Clear the "Automatically discover servers" check box.
7. Click Yes in the confirmation box.
8. Click Add.
9. Enter the name of the GC to use.
10. Click OK.

Microsoft recommends that you don't manually set the GC that Exchange Server uses; therefore, you should manually set the GC only when it's absolutely necessary.

Mananging Exchange users and attributes from your XP desktop

So you are lazy and don't want to waste valuable seconds of your life connecting to an Exchange server to manage a recipient. Easy, add the Exchange attributes to your local copy of Active Directory Management Tools.

Works for Exchange 2000 and 2003 and Windows XP, probably works for the rest as well.

Cleaning up Deleted Items Automatically from Exchange

Do you want to automatically delete Deleted Items in Outlook/Exchange or delete any type of mail over a certain age?

You can use Mailbox Manager to create a recipient policy to automatically delete all messages from users Deleted Items folder, at an interval you specify.

Exchange Server Journaling

I've recently had to setup Journaling on an Exchange Server for a client - it was quite an experience. So I've made these notes that will hopefully help.

Microsoft Exchange Server journalling lets you record a copy of, or journal, all email communications in your
organisation and send them to a dedicated mailbox on an Exchange Server.