Sumatra Holiday cmdlet for Microsoft Exchange - Download

Holidays.

Our server-side holiday cmdlet for Microsoft Exchange simply works and has more functionality than the client-side holiday capability Microsoft built into Outlook.  And of course an admin runs this server-side rather than hoping users run use Outlook to add holidays client-side.

When we offered it up as a "pay what you want" we got thousands of downloads, and a number of people who actually paid of the "use your fingers" magnitude.

But people keep asking for it, so we're going to let you download it under our advertising model meaning every item inserted will be stamped "Courtesy of Sumatra" in the agenda.

So you may download it here. 

If you want to suggest additions or modifications, contact us.

And check this blog or Follow @sumatra_dev to see what we'll support in the future. 

Exchange 2010 Permissions Debugging Protocol updated

It being a new year and we having found a few new ways that Permissions could be problematic in Exchange, we've modified the Debugging Protocol.

The latest is available at this link: Exchange_2010_Permissions_Debugging_Protocol.pdf and supersedes all earlier versions.

Changes mainly affect the holiday cmdlet.

#Exchange #PowerShell cmdlet for server-side holiday insertion updated

We're happy to announce we've updated the trial version of our Microsoft Exchange cmdlet for inserting holidays server-side.  This works on Exchange 2010 and Office 365.

You can read about it and get a download link by going here and filling out a form (we want to keep track of who is using it).

You can read the documentation here (and this includes how to insert class schedules using the tool as well as how to use the web-based version we've done).

We have had tens of thousands of people using this version since last year, but only a handful actually made any donations to the project.  So we're setting up a payment mechanism for the non-trial version.  When that's ready we'll let you know.

Add Holidays to Resources in Exchange 2010

Okay, okay.  I know we wrote that the SuHoliday cmdlet would not add holidays to resources.

BUT -- if you use FULL ACCESS instead of Impersonate, the current download-able version works like a champ for this.

To try this out:

·        Provision a service account (say, "exsu") that is NOT an Enterprise Admin

o   Set impersonate RBAC for that account

§  new-ManagementRoleAssignment -Name:_suImp8Exsu -Role:ApplicationImpersonation -User:'exsu@cod.sumatra.local'

o   Try to do an insert for a user AND

o  For resources "cr101b" or "room 222"

Results should not be good, but NOW....

·         Add fullaccess to that service account

o   Get-Mailbox -filter {isResource -eq $true}  -resultsize unlimited | add-mailboxpermission -user exsu -accessrights fullaccess   -InheritanceType: All

o   Add holidays for that room

Holiday Insertions in Live @ Edu

Kudos to Rachel in Georgia for her holiday insertion into Live @ Edu.

She's used SuHoliday on over 8000 users.  Thus far we think this is a record but we usually only hear from people when there are problems.

Also based on her experience and feedback we've added capabilities to our most recent version of the cmdlet, including:

• Not setting reminders for holidays
• Better logging
• Default time zone handling
• Memory handling improvements
• Improved resilience when Exchange throttles your insertion

We're discussing when and how to roll this out to the main cmdlet download.

Holiday cmdlet for Exchange 2010

We've been inserting holidays server-side on Exchange for a while and after some feedback last year we started re-thinking how to accomplish this.

These are the files in the downloadable ZIP

We've written a PowerShell cmdlet we call suHoliday that inserts holidays server-side.  We've run it through our internal testing against on-premises Exchange 2010, Live @ Edu, and Office 365, so now we think it's time to let it out into the wild and see what you folks can do with it.

The sample CSV file for US holidays

 Your inserted holidays will look like this in a user's calendar:

If you want to download it and run it through its paces in your test lab, you may do so here.  We just ask you to answer a few questions so we can keep track of where it's going.  If it works for you consider making a donation of US$20 per instance.  It'll make it easier for us to consider updates and new features for next year.

What's it do now?

Insert server-specific or user-specific holidays through 2012 with NO user intervention.

Customize for different state or national holidays.

Define Free/Busy status.

Script adding holidays at user provisioning time (e.g., by piping in from get-mailbox).

Support for multiple time zones.

Define All-Day Events or appointments at specific times.

Support international holidays / date formats. For example: 2012 UK Bank Holidays

Try it out and tell your friends.


Limitations (or, what do you want for free / ultra low cost?)

• This only inserts holidays for the year 2012 (well, we give you a few weeks into 2013).
• All inserted events have "Inserted courtesy of the Exchange Calendaring experts: Sumatra Development" in the agenda. (yep, even if you license it)
• We support via electronic means, so keep an eye on our blog.