Professional Windows® PowerShell for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1

Part IV: Automating Administration

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There are several schemes administrators may choose to use when balancing users across mailbox

databases. One of the simplest methods is to use the first initial of the user ’ s last name to categorize the

user into a group that covers a set range of initials, for example the last name “ Adams ” would

correspond to the group “ A ” through “ F ” . The group would then correspond to a mailbox database

where that group ’ s mailboxes are to be created.

The administrator could then disperse all new mailboxes based on a pattern that guarantees an even

distribution, as long as the groups of initials correspond to the even distribution of users across the

organization. For the example script

bulk-newmailbox.v3.ps1 this section explores, the following

ranges of initials are being used: “ A ” through “ F ” , “ G ” through “ K ” , “ L ” through “ P ” , “ Q ” through “ T ” ,

and “ U ” through “ Z ” .

Examining the bulk - newmailbox.v3.ps1 Script

The code that enables this functionality is spread across what is an updated version of the

bulk-newmailbox.v2.ps1 script, so the following paragraphs describe the code changes where

they appear followed by the code they describe. Note that much of the code is simply a modification

of the original code, whereas some of the code is completely new.

The first line of code adds a ...