Very few people do know enough about Exchange Drew... I'm certainly not one of them either. I'm sure there is at least 1 person out there thinking adsiwshvbs?! Ack!!! And I personally don't find many of the MSDN code sample to be helpful to a nondeveloper admin type. If someone wants to learn more about the coding part of this process Thomas Eck's ADSI Scripting for System Administration, is an excellent resource. I think it's especially good if you happen to be an admin who is responsible for *everything*, not just Exchange. But, I think any kind of comment is valuable in this exercise. Even if it were just to suggest a feature, such as "You could use a database to track the requestor in case the CEO's account is the one disabled". While I'm trying to limit feature creep for the purposes of this exercise.. There's no reason we can't discuss features one could add in their own version of this as well. BTW, notice how I took the easy way out and assumed this was Exchange 5.5 and NT4. ;) Feel free to fork the project for a W2K/E2K solution if you like. ************************************************************* Chris Scharff [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.swinc.com Simpler-Webb, Inc. Austin, TX +1-512-322-0071 ************************************************************* > -----Original Message----- > From: Drewski [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 8:31 AM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: RE: An Academic Exercise (was: RE: Minions (was RE: > Undelete comm and) ) > > > yeah, I got a comment. > > I do NOT know enough about Exchange! > > Drew (MOS) > ******************************** > KWAR2001 website: www.schoolofdefence.org/kwar.html > Read my Column on OUTLOOKEXCHANGE.COM: > http://www.outlookexchange.com/articles/drewnicholson/default.asp > Pics of Max are BACK! http://www.drewncapris.net > ******************************** > "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are > injurious to others, but it does no injury for my neighbor to > say there are > 20 Gods or no God. It neither picks my pockets nor breaks my leg." -- > Thomas Jefferson > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Scharff, Chris > Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 8:17 AM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: RE: An Academic Exercise (was: RE: Minions (was RE: Undelete > comm and) ) > > > > 1. User could be determined either from a file, from > > requested input dialog > > box, or command line switch. > > Agreed. One might want to do this as part of a web interface > (way beyond the > scope of this exercise)... Where help desk folks could take > the request and > they could be pending until the admin approves it. If NT > accounts are based > at least in part on some unique identifier, such as Emp# the > process can be > much more automated. If it's just %1g$s or a similar format > someone needs to > manually error check against duplicates (or unreported > changes in marital > status). > > > 2. I assume this is a fairly basic VBScript command > > Can be done pretty easily in vbscript and perl. Assume it can > be done in wsh > and delphi as well w/o too much trouble (among others). > > > 3. You assumed that the Manager field was populated-- how do > > you get the > > manager's NT account from that information? Would it be > > supplied in the same > > way as the user to be deleted was in step 1? > > I was thinking one might be able to use ADSI to query the > Exchange server > for the mailbox defined as the manager and then another query for the > primary NT account on that mailbox. > > > 4. Is this something that VBScript can do with native > > capabilities, or would > > it be an export, massage, import type of thing? > > One could probably use import/export for this as well, but > ADSI is probably > cleaner. > > > 5. Notification is easily done... I assume that adding the > > mailbox to the > > manager's profile would have to be a manual step. > > I'd agree. You could try to automate it by generating an e-mail > (programmatically) for the manager with baby step by baby > step instructions > for them... Or a link to such instructions on your intranet. > You might also > automate a process by which they could let you know they'd > completed that > step (a url in the message calling the next script and > passing through the > account in question as a parameter). You might also automate > a process to > have a technician dispatched if they click another link in > the message or if > they don't respond within 72 hours. It might also be possible > to add the > mailbox to the manager's profile using a script as well. > > > 6. Implication here is that you know that the manager has > > done this (or that > > the SysAdmin does it). > > True. > > > 6.5. Could be pretty standard inside script, with a command > > line input for a > > date variable (or even a date calculation within the script). > > Sure, and accomplished via ADSI again I'd think. > > > 7. Would you need to use Exmerge, or does VBScript have > > access to Outlook's > > export function? > > There might be methods other than exmerge... But since this > script might do > bulk deletions (layoffs or downsizing) I'd think exmerge is the most > efficient. > > > 8. Easily scripted (assuming administrative access exists). > > 9. Ditto. Although it does beg the question of what to do > if the size > > exceeds a single CD. But then again, in your assumptions list > > you specified > > a non-crap CD burning software, so hopefully it'll span a > > couple of CDs. > > Otherwise some logic will have to be put in place to split things up > > somehow, or this becomes a manual task. > > True... And if the CD software is really good, you might be > able to e-mail > someone to tell them the status of the burn job (e.g. Burn 1 of 32 > successful, remove the CD and insert the next one you minion". > > > 10. Burn, baby, burn! > > 10.5 Good ol' sneakernet. > > 11. Could a delayed delivery message be scripted (or a > > calendar appointment) > > for the manager and the Exchange Admin? > > I'd probably have a daily AT job for the script which checked a file > containing pending deletions (with a date key) and fired when > the specified > deletion period had arrived. Allows you to manually remove a > person in the > event they are rehired... Much harder to stop an e-mail which > has already > been sent. > > > 12. Self-explanatory. > > 13. & 14. At this point, doing these manually is no problem. > > You could script it as well.... Perhaps notifying the admin > 48 hours in > advance so they can review the deletions list. > > > That's my (more or less non-programming) take on it. Anything > > in there that > > is totally wrong, or am I more or less on the right track? > > I'm not much of a programmer either, but I think you've got > the essential > bits and processes down. Anyone else have any comments or suggestions? > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp > To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp > To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
