In the first part of this article (located here) I discussed what Address List Segregation was, and indeed what scenarios you might consider using such a process. Additionally I have provided a custom tool that in conjunction with this set of articles you can use to generate all of the require Powershell code required to configure your hosted environment.

In this part of the series I would like to run through the following topics:

• Generating the required POWERSHELL code using the Address List Segregation Tool

Using the Address List Segregation Tool:

The first part of the series you could download the Address Lists Segregation Tool which should installed on our Exchange Client Access server in a source directory of C:\SegTool.

In order to run the Segregation tool (from here on in known as the SEG tool) use Windows Explorer to navigate to the “C:\SegTool” and Execute the “Start.exe” program – this will scan your environment for relevant configuration information.

When this process has been completed (this could take up to 30 seconds after the “Start.exe” program has completed) you will be presented with the Address Lists Segregation Tools main screen which looks like the example below:

At this stage the only part of the program we are interested in is the section entitled “COMPANY OPTIONS” – located to the top right – see below:

At this stage you will notice that the configurable values (apart from Computer Domain Context) are set to a default – you can customise all the values – however some are self populating depending on the data that is placed in other areas (this will become clearer when you add some input) the following is a description of each of the user configurable key fields which Segregation Tool uses to construct its scripts:

• Computer Domain Context:
  • This is configured automatically by the “Start.exe” application it is essentially the “rootDSE” of your domain – you should not change this value.
• Hosting Company OU:
  • This is the Parent OU that will be created in your Active Directory Environment – all of the child companies which form the separate address lists, OU’s, Groups, and users will be placed under here – for example your hosting Company is called “Maverick-Hosting” this is the entry you should place within this box.
    You should also note that the value placed in this box ALSO pre-populates the “GLOBAL COMPANY SECURITY GROUP” value – I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU DO NOT MODIFY THE GLOBAL SECURITY GROUP value. The Global company security group is created under the Hosting Company OU.
• New Company Name:
  
  • This is the name of your child company (or indeed the name of the company that you are hosting services for). For example if you are hosting Exchange services for a company called “TopSpinToys” this is the entry that should be placed in here – you will notice that when you place data in this area the following fields are also pre-populated:
    • Company OU – this is created under the parent company hosting OU
    • Company Security Group – this is created within the child company OU
    • Company Global Address List – created within Exchange
    • Company Address List – created within Exchange
    • Company Offline Address List – created within Exchange

It is again advised that you do not change the values for any of the above fields.

• Company SMTP Domain:
  
  • This field allows you to configure the primary e-mail address for you hosted child company for example if your child company is called “TopSpinToys” and has a domain called “Topspin.com” enter in “topSpin.com” you will notice that by modifying this field the “Company Address Policy Format” value updates to reflect the domain.
    You should that by default the e-mail address format configured by the Segregation tool is: first initial of the first name then surname – “%1g%s” if you wish to change this have a look at the following Knowledge Base article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822447

The above might seem a little confusing at first – therefore I have provided the following video for you to view – it gives you an overview of how the fields function as described above within the application – you will need WinRAR or 7-Zip to extract this AVI.

SegToolFieldPopulation.avi [64KB Compressed - 5MB Expanded]

Hopefully by this point I have provided enough of an overview to build an understanding of how data should be entered into the tool – therefore lets move onto creating our hosting organisation and our first hosted company.

As per part one of this article the following assumptions are made:

• Our hosting company is called “MaverickHosts”
• Our hosted companies are called “TopSpinToys” and “TwinTwistToys”
• The DS Heuristics value has been set (see part 1)
• We wish for the e-mail address format of each company to be “firstname.surname@domain.com” therefore the address policy will be “%g..%s”

Given the above and that we will be creating “TopSpinToys” first and using a Hosting Name of “MaverickHosts” – the “Company Options” fields of the Segregation tool should be configured as per the example below:

When you are happy with your company configuration (for example as per above) I recommend that you save this configuration – this can be accomplished by using the “Export Company Data” option under the “Application Controls” section of the Segregation Tool – see below:

 

Click on the “GO” button and you will be presented with a window which looks like the following:

Click on the “Save” button where you will be prompted for a location to save the configuration report to – this can then serve as an “Aid memoir” to your setup as a text file.

When you have save your configuration to file click on the “Close” button to return you to the main screen.

Generating the Required Powershell Scripts:

On the right hand side of the Segregation Tool is a section entitled “Step By Step Actions” – see below:

There are 15 steps – each of which will generate a Powershell Script file which performs an individual step of Segregating your Exchange environment – you should note that the Segregation Tool DOES NOT execute these scripts – it only creates them – this is a deliberate action as this give you the chance to review the code prior to it making changes within your environment.

Before we generate the scripts I recommend that you created a folder on the hard drive of your Exchange 2007 where you can store all of the output scripts in one location – in my example I have created a Sub folder called “Scripts” within the program folder of the Segregation tool (this should be C:\SegTool\Scripts).

Ensure that you company options are correct (by reviewing the “Company Options” settings) then when you are happy – click on the “GO” button located under “Step 1: – Companies Parent OU:”

You will be presented with a Windows Save dialog box – locate the Scripts folder that you created and give your first step Powershell file a name (if helps if you can include the step number within the name so you know the order in which to execute the scripts as well as a descriptive name) – see below:

When you have named your file click on the Save button.

If you now look in your save location you should see the first script has now appeared – see below:

If you open the script file (using either Notepad or the PowerGUI script editor) you should see the following:

You now need to repeat the above steps 14 more times – remember you need to include the step number in the title of the script and a descriptive name.

When you have finished you should have a scripts folder which looks like the following:

Summary for this part and what next:

I would like to close this part 2 of the three part series here as this will give you a chance to review the code that the tool produces – what I intend to cover the next article:

• Execution of the Scripts
• Configuring a user within the first hosted company
• Adding in a second company
• Advanced Segregation Tool settings