The Scripting Agent is one of the cmdlet extension agents in Exchange Server 2013 (and 2010 for that matter). You can read more about cmdlet extension agents here, but in short they allow administrators to extend the functionality of PowerShell cmdlets by creating additional actions that are performed when a cmdlet is used.

One of the best examples, as well as being a common use, of the Scripting Agent is to extend the New-Mailbox and Enable-Mailbox cmdlets to automatically perform additional configuration tasks for new mailboxes as they are created.

For example, when a new mailbox is created automatically enable mailbox audit logging, or automatically disabled protocols such as POP and IMAP.

Enabling the Script Agent takes effect for the entire Exchange organization, so the first step is to deploy the Script Agent configuration file to each of your Exchange servers. This is a simple task if you use the PowerShell script that I’ve made available here.

If you need a placeholder config file before you’ve configured any actual actions this simple three line XML will do the trick.

exchange-2013-mailbox-audit-logging-02

The next step is to enable the Scripting Agent. You can view the existing cmdlet extension agent configuration using Get-CmdletExtensionAgent.

[PS] C:\>Get-CmdletExtensionAgent | ft name,enabled -auto

Name                               Enabled
----                               -------
Admin Audit Log Agent                 True
Scripting Agent                      False
Mailbox Resources Management Agent    True
OAB Resources Management Agent        True
Query Base DN Agent                   True
Provisioning Policy Agent             True
Rus Agent                             True
Mailbox Creation Time Agent           True

To enable the Scripting Agent use Enable-CmdletExtensionAgent.

[PS] C:\>Enable-CmdletExtensionAgent "Scripting Agent"

For an example of Script Agent config files check out how to enable mailbox audit logging automatically for new mailboxes.

About the Author

Paul Cunningham

Paul is a former Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services. He works as a consultant, writer, and trainer specializing in Office 365 and Exchange Server. Paul no longer writes for Practical365.com.

Comments

  1. Gilles Chiasson

    hello

    is there is way to get a list of users in the Send AS or FULL part of a generic mailbox

    1. Avatar photo
  2. Joel Cottrell

    Hi Paul, excellent article outlining this scripting agent. I’m wondering, do you think this could be coupled with the new-mailboximportrequest somehow? Right now I have a scheduled task which calls a powershell script that imports the contents of a pst file into newly created mailboxes, but it looks like using this scripting agent might fit the bill. Any chance you could point me in the right direction? Thanks.

    1. Avatar photo

      Possibly. I suppose you could use the agent to fire the new-mailboximportrequest command, but maybe it will run into permissions issues because there is a specific impersonation right required for those import requests.

      Still… the only way you’ll find out is to try it.

  3. Sunil

    Hi Paul,

    Please help me to sort out exchange 2010 SP3 issue. Getting below mention error while modifying mailbox settings.

    ——————————————————–
    Microsoft Exchange Warning
    ——————————————————–
    The following warning(s) occurred while saving changes:

    Set-Mailbox
    Completed

    Warning:
    The cmdlet extension agent with the index 3 has thrown an exception in OnComplete(). The exception is: System.Net.WebException: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a receive. —> System.IO.IOException: Unable to read data from the transport connection: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. —> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond
    at System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
    — End of inner exception stack trace —
    at System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
    at System.Net.FixedSizeReader.ReadPacket(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
    at System.Net.Security._SslStream.StartFrameHeader(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
    at System.Net.Security._SslStream.StartReading(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
    at System.Net.Security._SslStream.ProcessRead(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
    at System.Net.TlsStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
    at System.Net.PooledStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
    at System.Net.Connection.SyncRead(HttpWebRequest request, Boolean userRetrievedStream, Boolean probeRead)
    — End of inner exception stack trace —
    at System.Web.Services.Protocols.WebClientProtocol.GetWebResponse(WebRequest request)
    at System.Web.Services.Protocols.HttpWebClientProtocol.GetWebResponse(WebRequest request)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.SoapWebClient.CustomSoapHttpClientProtocol.GetWebResponse(WebRequest request)
    at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.SoapWebClient.CustomSoapHttpClientProtocol.c__DisplayClass4.b__3()
    at Microsoft.Exchange.SoapWebClient.HttpAuthenticator.NetworkServiceHttpAuthenticator.AuthenticateAndExecute[T](SoapHttpClientProtocol client, AuthenticateAndExecuteHandler`1 handler)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.SoapWebClient.SoapHttpClientAuthenticator.AuthenticateAndExecute[T](SoapHttpClientProtocol client, AuthenticateAndExecuteHandler`1 handler)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.SoapWebClient.EWS.ExchangeServiceBinding.FindFolder(FindFolderType FindFolder1)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.MailboxLoggerFactory.EwsMailer.GetAdminAuditLogsFolder(ADUser adUser)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.MailboxLoggerFactory.EwsMailer..ctor(OrganizationId organizationId, ADUser adUser, ExchangePrincipal principal)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.MailboxLoggerFactory.Create(OrganizationId organizationId, ADUser mailbox, ExchangePrincipal principal)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.AdminLogAgentClassFactory.ConfigWrapper.get_MailboxLogger()
    at Microsoft.Exchange.ProvisioningAgent.AdminLogProvisioningHandler.OnComplete(Boolean succeeded, Exception e)
    at Microsoft.Exchange.Provisioning.ProvisioningLayer.OnComplete(Task task, Boolean succeeded, Exception exception)

    ——————————————————–
    OK
    ——————————————————–

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