Jul 03

Back to blogging : PowerShell and Azure presentation

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Gene

Hi All,

Been away for a while. I got a new job and I’ve been working like crazy. Also, I have a new son, so that’s been keeping me busy. I want to get back into blogging as I find it a great way to share helpful information and let people know what they can do with PowerShell.

I’ve got lots of ideas for posts, but for now, here is a video of a presentation I did for WindowsBoston on using PowerShell against Microsoft Azure. Enjoy

Aug 20

Writting to Excel

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Gene

I like to watch the twitter feed for #PowerShell, It’s amazing the stuff you learn! Someone recently posted this:

can anyone point me to posts, scripts where #powershell can generate/populate Excel spreadsheets with values I (or the code) can pass? #PoSH

Always eager to help, Here is my write-ExcelCell function

Function write-ExcelCell
{
  param (
    [parameter(position=0, mandatory=$true)]
    $Excel = $(throw "you must specify the Excel COM Object"),
    [parameter(position=1, mandatory=$true)]
    [string]  $sheetName = $(throw "You must specify the sheet to edit"),
    [parameter(position=1, mandatory=$true)]
    [int]    $column = $(throw "You must specify the colomn to edit"),
    [parameter(position=2, mandatory=$true)]
    [int]    $row = $(throw "You must specify the row to edit"),
    [parameter(position=3, mandatory=$true)]
        $value = $(throw "You must specify the value to enter")
  )

  $alpha = @('A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z')
  if ($debug) {write-host "`$column = $column"
  write-host "`$row = $row"
  write-host "`$value = $value"}
  if ($debug) {write-host $sheetName  $column  $row  "'"$value"'"}
  $activeSheet = $Excel.Sheets.Item($sheetName)
  $range = $activeSheet.range($alpha[$column - 1] + $row, $alpha[$column - 1] + $row)
  try
  {
    $range.Value2 = $value
  }
  catch [System.SystemException]
  {
    sleep -milliseconds 250
    $range.Value2 = $value
  }
}

Function write-ExcelCell

{

param (

[parameter(position=0, mandatory=$true)]

$Excel = $(throw "you must specify the Excel COM Object"),

[parameter(position=1, mandatory=$true)]

[string] $sheetName = $(throw "You must specify the sheet to edit"),

[parameter(position=1, mandatory=$true)]

[int] $column = $(throw "You must specify the colomn to edit"),

[parameter(position=2, mandatory=$true)]

[int] $row = $(throw "You must specify the row to edit"),

[parameter(position=3, mandatory=$true)]

$value = $(throw "You must specify the value to enter")

)

$alpha = @('A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z')

if ($debug) {write-host "`$column = $column"

write-host "`$row = $row"

write-host "`$value = $value"}

if ($debug) {write-host $sheetName $column $row "'"$value"'"}

$activeSheet = $Excel.Sheets.Item($sheetName)

$range = $activeSheet.range($alpha[$column - 1] + $row, $alpha[$column - 1] + $row)

try

{

$range.Value2 = $value

}

catch [System.SystemException]

{

sleep -milliseconds 250

$range.Value2 = $value

}

This function has it’s limitation (not being able to write past the Z column) and I’m sure there are others, but for the 80% of Excel writting, it should be fine.

Here is how to use it:

$ExcelFile = "c:\temp\ExcelTest.xlsx"
$SpreadSheetName = "Sheet1"
$Excel = New-Object -comobject Excel.Application
$Excel.Visible = $true
$workBook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($ExcelFile, 1)
write-ExcelCell -Excel $Excel -SheetName $SpreadSheetName -column 1 -Row 1 -value "Cell A1"

$ExcelFile = "c:\temp\ExcelTest.xlsx"

$SpreadSheetName = "Sheet1"

$Excel = New-Object -comobject Excel.Application

$Excel.Visible = $true

$workBook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($ExcelFile, 1)

write-ExcelCell -Excel $Excel -SheetName $SpreadSheetName -column 1 -Row 1 -value "Cell A1"

Enjoy!

May 24

A better “test file” maker

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Gene

Recently I needed to do some testing in Exchange 2010 OWA using different sized files. Rather than e-mail some file I found on my system which happened to be “close enough” to the right file size, I decieded to write a Powershell type file which I could use to create these files.

I wanted to make sure I could create some dynamicly sized files so I created a type called TestFiles.

Here is the code I came up with:

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"
	using System;
	public class TestFiles
	{
		private string OneKB = new string('X', 1024);
		private string OneMB = new string('X', (1024 * 1024));
		public void CreateFileWithSizeInMB(int size, string FilePath)
		{
			using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(FilePath, true))
			{
				for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
				{
					file.Write(OneMB);
				}
			}
		}

		public void CreateFileWithSizeInKB(int size, string FilePath)
		{
			using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(FilePath, true))
			{
				for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
				{
					file.Write(OneKB);
				}
			}
		}
	}
"@

Add-Type -TypeDefinition @"

using System;

public class TestFiles

{

private string OneKB = new string('X', 1024);

private string OneMB = new string('X', (1024 * 1024));

public void CreateFileWithSizeInMB(int size, string FilePath)

{

using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(FilePath, true))

{

for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)

{

file.Write(OneMB);

}

public void CreateFileWithSizeInKB(int size, string FilePath)

{

using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(FilePath, true))

{

for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)

{

file.Write(OneKB);

}

The nice thing about this is if I want to create some other kind of test file, I can just add the code for it and all my test files can be found in one place. :d

Here is an example usage:

 $tf = new-object TestFiles
 $tf.CreateFileWithSizeInMB(12,"c:\users\glaisne\desktop\12MB.txt")

1 2	$tf = new-object TestFiles $tf.CreateFileWithSizeInMB(12,"c:\users\glaisne\desktop\12MB.txt")

Jan 22

connecting disabled mailbox works… mostly.

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Gene

Hi all,

Recently I was playing with some mailboxes in Exchange 2010 and I disabled a test mailbox. I then went on to do some other things and a little while later decided to re-connect that disabled mailbox. After the account was connected and everything looked good, I sent a test message to that account. When I did, I got the following error:

Diagnostic information for administrators:

Generating server: ExCAS01.ad.bu.edu

oitmsg@bu.edu #554-5.2.1 mailbox disabled 554 5.2.1 STOREDRV.Deliver.Exception:AccountDisabledException.MapiExceptionMailboxDisabled; Failed to process message due to a permanent exception with message Cannot open mailbox /o=MyOrg/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=ExMBX01/cn=Microsoft System Attendant. 16.55847:C1000000, 17.43559:0000000020010000000000001F00000000000000, 255.23226:00000000, 255.27962:FE000000, 255.17082:6C090000, 0.26937:00000000, 4.21921:6C090000, 255.27962:FA000000, 255.1494:00000000, 255.26426:FE000000, 0.22086:05000780, 0.25876:EC030000, 4.7588:0F010480, 0.25840:EC030000, 4.6564:0F010480, 0.56333:00000000, 4.6372:05000780, 0.24916:1DFAFFFF, 4.6276:05000780, 0.51399:0F010480, 4.2567:6C090000, 0.19452:0F010480, 4.2199:6C090000, 0.56415:05000780, 4.48223:6C090000, 4.17097:6C090000, 4.8620:6C090000, 255.1750:2C000000, 0.26849:0F010480, 255.21817:6C090000, 0.26297:0E000000, 4.16585:6C090000, 0.32441:0F010480, 4.1706:6C090000, 0.24761:0F010480, 4.20665:6C090000, 0.25785:00000000, 4.29881:6C090000 ##

Original message headers:

…

To fix this error simply run the Clean-MailboxDatabase command against the database where the mailbox exists.

My assuption is that the system hasn’t removed the disabled flag on the mailbox itself and running Clean-MailboxDatabase takes care of this. Once I did this, all was fine.

Dec 04

Viewing reports in Windows Server 2012 WSUS

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Gene

Recently, I setup a WSUS server in our environment but was unable to view reports. I constantly recieved this message:

Clicking on the link, I would get a link to a page that said “The document that you are attempting to access is not available yet…” Understandable, Windows Server 2012 is new. So, I go look for Microsoft Report Viewer 2008 Redistributable on Microsoft Download. I download it and attempt to install it but then I get this error during the installation:

“Shouldn’t there be a 2012 version of this? Something where I don’t have to install some 2008 software?” I ask myself. So then I go looking for a 2012 version of the same software, maybe that will solve my issue. Ah ha! I find the Microsoft Report Viewer 2012 Runtime CTP. Quickly, I install and quickly I get this new error:

Seems I need to go back to the 2008 version. I’m using the default windows database not SQL for my WSUS server. Easily solved. Go back to the Install Roles and Features

Step through the Wizard until you get to features and check the box next to “.Net Framework 3.5 (includes .Net 2.0 and 3.0) under “.NET Framework 3.5 Features.”

Finish up the install of .NET Framework 3.5 and retry the Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2008…

Voi la!

And here is my report:

Dec 04

Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionalls

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Gene

Microsoft Press has made their “Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionalls” book free for download.

Download PDF, Mobi or ePub versions of this book here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2012/11/13/free-ebook-introducing-windows-8-an-overview-for-it-professionals-final-edition.aspx

Topics include:

• Performance, reliability, and security features

• Deployment options

• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit

• Windows PowerShell™ 3.0 and Group Policy

• Managing and sideloading apps

• Internet Explorer® 10

• Virtualization, Client Hyper-V, and Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack

• Recovery features

Gene Laisné

PowerShell, Exchange, Windows Server 2012, .NET, Other

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Back to blogging : PowerShell and Azure presentation

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