How to Administer Exchange from One Window

[The_Exchange_Team]

Tired of switching windows between Exchange System Manager, Event Viewer, Active Directory Users and Computers and whatever else you use to manage your Exchange environment?

Just slap them all in one custom MMC window:

1. Start by opening a blank MMC Console (Start – Run – type ‘MMC’ – Enter)
2. On the File Menu choose Add/Remove SnapIn.
3. On the Add/Remove Snapin screen click the Add button. You’ll get a list of Snapins to choose from.
4. Add as many as you want. I’m going to add ADUC, ESM, Event Viewer, and Services in my example below.
5. When you’re done, make sure to save your new custom console. I pin a link to my start menu and/or put a shortcut on my desktop for easy access.

Now you can expand/collapse the tree on the left to show as much or little as you need at any one given time. Alt-Tab-b-gone!

- Tammy Treit

[#2]

Great tip leading to one question. Why can't I manage multiple Exchange organizations from one MMC console?

The best I can do is create a custom console like this and add the Exchange organizations I want to manage each time I open it. If I save and close the console and then re-open it, all of the ESM instances point to the same organization.

When doing Exchange development and using multiple organizations in a testing environment, this is an unpleasant user experience.

For more information or to offer a solution to my problem, feel free to contact me at Kirk <dot> Munro <at> Quest <dot> com.

[#3]

I actually hadn't tried that before and I'm not sure the technical reason for that behavior. I appreciate you pointing it out though. If I find out a work around I'll let you know.