[powershell] RE: Passing Parameter to a Begin Block:

[Michael B. Smith]

Are you suggesting that the value of $DC is not available to the begin{} block? 
It should be.

I'm a little surprised that you would go to this much effort instead of just 
passing in a PowerShell URI.

Third comment: this won't work with Exchange 2016 or Office 365.

From: listsad...@lists.myitforum.com [mailto:listsad...@lists.myitforum.com] On 
Behalf Of Orlebeck, Geoffrey
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 1:08 PM
To: 'powershell@lists.myitforum.com'
Subject: [powershell] Passing Parameter to a Begin Block:

I'm just diving into advanced functions/cmdlets and am wondering is it 
supported or possible to pass a parameter into a Begin block? I'm working on a 
script that will dynamically discover an Exchange server one time during the 
Begin block, then enable mailboxes for any/all users passed through to the 
function. There is one parameter that I want to pass through from the user add 
function, but it needs to be passed to the Begin block (it is not referenced in 
the Process/End blocks). I'm trying to search online, but I'm not finding any 
relevant results. Here is the full code, thank you for any help in adavance:

<#
.Synopsis
   Adds mailbox to new AD user without requiring EMS 2010 Mgmt tools
.DESCRIPTION
   Dynamically discovers Exchange Mailbox servers in specified domain
   and enables mailbox for specified users without requiring EMS
  tools on local endpoint
.EXAMPLE
   #Pending Update#
#>
#Requires -Version 3

function Enable-UserMailbox
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    [Alias()]
    Param
    (
        # AD user to enable mailbox
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
                   Position=0)]
        $UserID,
        # Primary SMTP address for user
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        $EmailAddress,
        # Domain controller for Exchange server discovery
        # Only referenced once in begin block
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        $DC,
        # Alias for user's new mailbox
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        $Alias
    )

    Begin
    {
        $ADRoot = Get-ADRootDSE -Server $DC
        $SearchBase = $ADRoot.configurationNamingContext
        $search = new-object 
DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher([ADSI]"LDAP://$SearchBase")
        $objectClass = "objectClass=msExchExchangeServer"
        $version = "versionNumber>=1937801568"
        $search.Filter = "(&($objectClass)($version))"
        $search.PageSize=1000
        [void] $search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("name")
        [void] $search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("msexchcurrentserverroles")
        [void] $search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("networkaddress")
        $ExServers = $search.FindAll() | Foreach{
            New-Object PSObject -Property @{
                   Name = $_.Properties.name[0]
                   FQDN = $_.Properties.networkaddress | %{if ($_ -match 
"ncacn_ip_tcp") {$_.split(":")[1]}}
                   Roles = $_.Properties.msexchcurrentserverroles[0]
                }
            }

        # Label Exchange server roles for selection
        $role = @{2  = "MB"
                  4  = "CAS"
                  16 = "UM"
                  32 = "HT"
                  64 = "ET"}

        $ExchSrvrs = foreach ($server in $ExServers)
        {
            $roles = ($role.keys | ?{$_ -band $server.roles} | 
%{$role.Get_Item($_)}) -join ","
            $server | select Name,FQDN, @{n="Roles";e={$roles}}
        }
        $ExSrvr = $ExchSrvrs | Where {$_.Roles -like "*MB*"}
        $URI = $ExSrvr[0].FQDN

        # Establish Exchange Server connection
        $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange 
-ConnectionUri http://$URI/PowerShell/ -Authentication Kerberos
        Import-PSSession $Session -DisableNameChecking
    }
    Process
    {
        Enable-Mailbox $UserID -PrimarySMTPAddress $EmailAddress -Alias $Alias
    }
    End
    {
        # END BLOCK REQUIREMENTS STILL IN PROGRESS #
        # Return output confirming mailbox addition?
        # Remove PS Sessions?
    }
}

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