Compellent | Development | Exchange | PowerShell

PowerShell with Compellent and Exchange 2010

Posted on December 2, 2009

I’ve been doing lots of work in the lab lately with Exchange 2010 to understand all the new changes and how it works with the Compellent Storage Center.

With Exchange 2010, the concept of Storage Groups no longer exists.  Databases are the sole object and are a peer to the server now.  Database names must be unique, but can be moved from server to server as necessary.

In the past, I’ve shared some scripts on how to provision storage for an Exchange 2007 environment.  I’ve slightly reworked this script to account for no longer needing storage groups, but to also automatically create the mailbox database on the Exchange Server and mount it when completed.

# NAME: Exchange2010LabCreate.ps1
# DESC: PowerShell script to create and map volumes for Exchange 2010 Lab
# BY  : Justin Braun, Compellent Technologies, Inc.
# DATE: November 24, 2009
# VER : 1.0
#
# THIS CODE IS MADE AVAILABLE AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.  THE ENTIRE
# RISK OF THE USE OR THE RESULTS FROM THE USE OF THIS CODE REMAINS WITH THE USER.
#
 
####################################################
# ERROR HANDLING
####################################################
    #"SilentlyContinue": do not print, continue 
    #"Continue": Print, continue (this is the default) 
    #"Stop": Halt the command or script 
    #"Inquire": Ask the user what to do 
    $ErrorActionPreference = "Inquire"
 
####################################################
# STORAGE CENTER CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
####################################################
    $schost = "storagecenter.lab.test"
    $user = "username"
    $pass = "password"
 
####################################################
# EXCHANGE STORAGE CONFIGURATION
####################################################    
    # Number of Databases Per Server
    $dbsize = "1TB"
    $dbtotal = 1
    $dbDiskFolder = "Assigned"
 
####################################################
# SERVER INFORMATION
####################################################
    # Server to Map To (server defintion on CSC must match server name in Windows because of VDS)
    $ServerName = "E2K10MBX01"
 
####################################################
# MISC. CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
####################################################
    # Volume folder name
    $SCParentFolderName = "E2K10MBX01"
    
    # Use custom disk folders for each volume? (if $false, then a single disk folder config is assumed)
    $useCustomDiskFolders = $false
    
    #Mountpoints (set to $true if mountpoint volumes weren't previously created.  Mountpoint volumes will be 1G by default)
    $createMountpointRoot = $true
    
    # Mountpoint Root
    $dbmproot = "M:\Exchange"
    $dbRootDrive = "M:"
 
##########################################################################################
##########################################################################################
# DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE !
##########################################################################################
##########################################################################################
 
 
# Creates volume with specified name and size using connection instantiated on script launch
function CreateVolume
{
    param
    (
        [string]     $VolumeName,
        [string]     $VolumeSize,
        [string]     $MPRoot,
        [string]     $SCDiskFolder,
        [bool]         $IsMountPoint
    )
 
    Write-Output "Creating new volume: $volumename..."
    if($useCustomDiskFolders -eq $true)
    {$scvolume = New-SCVolume -Name $VolumeName -Size $VolumeSize -ParentFolder $SCParentFolderName -StorageType $SCDiskFolder;}
    else
    {$scvolume = New-SCVolume -Name $VolumeName -Size $VolumeSize -ParentFolder $SCParentFolderName;}
 
    # Maps volume previously created and returned from CreateVolume function
    Write-Output "Mapping new volume $volumename to $servername..."
    
    # Map Volume (if multiple HBA ports are server will be used, make sure that MPIO is installed on server and remove -SinglePath switch from next line
    New-SCVolumeMap -VolumeIndex $scvolume.Index -ServerIndex $scserver.Index -SinglePath
 
    # Rescan Server
    Write-Output "Rescanning server for new volume..."
    Rescan-DiskDevice -Server $ServerName -RescanDelay 5
 
    # Issue Drive Letter / Mount Point
    Write-Output "Creating access path for new volume..."
    $device = Get-DiskDevice -SerialNumber $scvolume.SerialNumber
    
    # Check to see if the device is there yet after initial rescan
    if($device -eq $null)
    {
        # Device is still null, so let's perform up to 10 rescans before we move on
        $scancount = 0
        
        do
        {
            # Rescan the disk
            Write-Output "Rescanning server for new volume..."
            Rescan-DiskDevice -Server $ServerName -RescanDelay 5
            $scancount ++
            
            # Try getting the device again
            $device = Get-DiskDevice -SerialNumber $scvolume.SerialNumber
        }
        until($device -ne $null -or $scancount -eq 10)
    }
    
    # Set variable (this is only used if this is a drive letter mount)
    $finalpath = $MPRoot
    
    # Set full mountpoint path (create path if it doesn't exist)
    if($IsMountPoint -eq $true)
    {
        $finalpath = "$MPRoot\$VolumeName"
        
        # Check to make sure the full mountpoint path acutually exists, otherwise create it
        if (!(Test-Path -path "$finalpath\"))
        {
            New-Item "$finalpath\" -type directory
        }
    }
    
    Write-Output "Onlining Disk and setting access path to $finalpath..."
 
    # Finish creation of mountpoint/drive access
    Set-DiskDevice -SerialNumber $device.SerialNumber -Online
    Set-DiskDevice -SerialNumber $device.SerialNumber -ReadOnly:$false 
    $newvol = New-Volume -DeviceName $device.DeviceName -Server $ServerName -Label $VolumeName -AccessPath $finalpath
    
    # Null out device
    $device = $null
}
 
function LoadSnapins
{
    # Load Exchange Management Shell & Compellent Storage Center Snapins (if not already)
     $LoadedSnapins = Get-PSSnapin;
    $SnapinsToLoad = "Compellent.StorageCenter.Scripting", "Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010"
    
    "Adding PowerShell Snapins..."
 
    foreach($snapin in $SnapinsToLoad)
    {
        if (get-pssnapin $snapin -ea "silentlycontinue") 
        {
            write-host "$snapin is already loaded."
        }
        elseif (get-pssnapin $snapin -registered -ea "silentlycontinue") 
        {
            Add-PSSnapin $snapin
            Write-Host "$snapin is now loaded."
        }
        else 
        {
            write-host "PSSnapin $snapin not found" -foregroundcolor Red
        }
    }
}
 
#############################
# START SCRIPT
#############################
 
$started = Get-Date
 
#Load Requested Snapins
LoadSnapins
 
# Initialize Connection for Storage Center
#$pass = Read-Host -AsSecureString -Prompt "Please provide the Storage Center password for $user"
$securepass = ConvertTo-SecureString $pass -AsPlainText -Force
$connection = Get-SCConnection -HostName $schost -User $user -Password $securepass -Save $schost -Default
 
# Create new Volume Folder if it doesn't exist
$volumefolder = Get-SCVolumeFolder -Name $SCParentFolderName
if($volumefolder -eq $null)
{
    Write-Output "Creating new volume folder: $SCParentFolderName..."
    $volumefolder = New-SCVolumeFolder -Name $SCParentFolderName;
}
 
# Get server information for the server that we are mapping all of the volumes to
$scserver = Get-SCServer -Name $ServerName
 
# Create New Mount Point Volumes for database and logs (if requested)
if($createMountpointRoot -eq $true)
{
    CreateVolume "$ServerName-Exchange-MP" "1G" $dbRootDrive $dbDiskFolder $false
}
 
# Reset counters
$dbcount = 1
 
# Loop through total amount of databases for the server
do
{
    CreateVolume "$ServerName-DB$dbcount" $dbsize $dbmproot $dbDiskFolder $true
    
    "Creating mailbox database in Exchange 2010..."
    New-MailboxDatabase -Server $ServerName -Name "$ServerName-DB$dbcount" -EdbFilePath "$dbmproot\$ServerName-DB$dbcount\$ServerName-DB$dbcount.edb" -LogFolderPath "$dbmproot\$ServerName-DB$dbcount\Logs\"
    
    "Mounting new mailbox database..."
    Mount-Database -Identity "$ServerName-DB$dbcount"
    
    $dbcount ++ 
}
until($dbcount -eq $dbtotal + 1)
 
 
# Complete!
$ended = Get-Date
Write-Output "Volume Creation Complete!"
Write-Output "Started: $started"
Write-Output "Finished: $ended"
 
#############################
# END SCRIPT
#############################

There are a number of areas in which this script can be improved and that I will continue to work on. 

Exception handling is very important.  Understanding how your code could react in particular scenarios is difficult, but you don’t want your script to bomb out every time you run it either.  I’ve build quite a bit of exception handling into the mapping and mounting portions of the script, but this can always be reworked to be improved.

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Mark

I am Confused. What server is this asking for?

$ServerName = “E2K10MBX01”

I enter the server where to backup to but it does not like it.

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jbraun

This script is used to provision storage to the Exchange Server itself on initial buid.

Instead of manually creating and mapping a large amount of volumes, this script will take care of that in addition to creating the drive letter/mountpoint for each new volume. After the volume provisioning is complete, Exchange cmdlets are used to create new mailbox databases on these volumes.

The $ServerName variable refers to the Exchange Server that will have the volumes mapped to it.

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