Multiple SendOnBehalfTo in EMS

If you use the Exchange Management Shell to define the SendOnBehalfTo property of an Exchange 2010 mailbox then the user that you provide overwrites any existing users with SendOnBehalfTo permission. This happens because the list of users is stored as an array. When you provide a single user, you overwrite that list with the single user. Instead, you need to add a user.

This is not the most concise way to do it. I just find it understandable this way.

#Get current list of users
$mailbox=get-mailbox "HelpDesk"
$SendList=$mailbox.GrantSendOnBehalfTo

#Add to list of users
$newperson=get-user "NewPerson"
$SendList=$SendList + $newperson

#Set new list
Set-Mailbox "HelpDesk" -GrantSendonBehalfTo $SendList

For more details about why this works see my posting on adding additional managers to a distribution group at http://byronwright.blogspot.com/2011/08/adding-additional-distribution-group.html. It uses a similar process to modify the list of managers

Messages Stuck in Submission Queue

Today we got a call from a client that messages were stuck in the Submission queue on an Exchange 2010 server with all roles. There were no specific error messages in the Application log.

A little bit of searching indicated that this can be caused by locally installed anti-virus/anti-spam software that has hooks into the transport service. So, we disabled GFI MailEssentials on the server and mail began to flow. When we re-enabled it, mail stopped immediately.

The client is now contacting GFI, but my best guess is that it is a bad update that got pushed out. We've seen similar things with other anti-virus products in the past. It will probably be fixed in the next update.

Exchange 2010 SP2 Released

Yesterday Microsoft released service pack 2 for Exchange 2010. I haven't had time to go through the details yet, but you can check it out on the Exchange team blog.

• http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/12/05/released-exchange-server-2010-sp2.aspx

Due to the problems with rollup updates earlier this year (two of them were pulled and updated), I'd wait at least a month before considering implementation of SP2.

Update: Summary of New Features
Things I think will be useful to me:

• Disable auto-mapping for mailboxes with full access. Auto-mapping automatically opens any mailbox to which you have full access when using Outlook 2010 (or 2007 with updates) and Exchange 2010 SP1. This is great if there are only a few shared mailboxes. There is a work around to stop this by editing an attribute with ADSIedit, but that is a bit clunky. Now there is an option to disable automapping when using the Add-MailboxPermission cmdlet.
• Mini-version of Outlook Web App. I haven't tested this yet, but I'm hoping this actually works on my older BlackBerry device with a browser that isn't so good.

Things that I don't think will be very important for me:

• Ability to disable or remove a mailbox with litigation hold enabled.
• New multi-valued custom attributes for groups, contacts, mailboxes, and public folders.
• Easier configuration of mailbox replication between forests
• Address book policies to define the address lists presented to a user (including GAL)
• Silent redirection to an alternate location for Outlook Web App
• Simplified hybrid configuration wizard. This is useful when integrating with Office 365. I just reviewed the documentation for the pre-SP2 wizard and this appears much improved.

For more detailed information about new features see:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh529924.aspx

Setting Message Size Limits in Exchange 2010

Exchange 2010 has multiple levels where you can configure message size limits. You need to be aware of where they are located to ensure they provide the message delivery infrastructure you want.

The most common places that you configure message sizes are:

• User. The maximum send and receive sizes that you configure for a user override the settings configured for levels. The allows you to create exceptions for specific users that are larger or smaller. Configure in the Mail Flow Settings tab of the user.
• Organization. This controls the maximum send and receive message sizes used by all Hub Transport servers in the organization. The default size is 10 MB. Configure in Organization Configuration > Hub Transport > Global Settings > Transport Settings > General tab.
• Receive connector. Each Hub Transport server has receive connectors with a default maximum receive message size. This should match the setting for the organization unless you want a specific connector to be more restrictive than the organization. Modify on the General tab of the receive connector.
• Send connector. Send connectors are used primarily for message delivery to external systems, including the Internet. This setting should match the setting for the organization unless you want a specific connector to be more restrictive than the organization. Modify on the General tab of the send connector.

For more detailed information about message size limits in Exchange 2010 see Understanding Message Size Limits in the Exchange 2010 SP1 help at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124345.aspx.