PowerShell Scripting to Replicate Microsoft Exchange Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for Microsoft Exchange offer live access to Microsoft Exchange data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for Microsoft Exchange and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate Microsoft Exchange data to a MySQL database.

After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing Microsoft Exchange data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

Specify the User and Password to connect to Exchange. Additionally, specify the address of the Exchange server you are connecting to and the Platform associated with the server.

Collecting Microsoft Exchange Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module ExchangeCmdlets

2. Connect to Microsoft Exchange:

   $exchange = Connect-Exchange -User $User -Password $Password -Server $Server -Platform $Platform

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-Exchange -Connection $exchange -Table "Contacts"

   You can also use the Invoke-Exchange cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

   $data = Invoke-Exchange -Connection $exchange -Query 'SELECT * FROM Contacts WHERE BusinnessAddress_City = @BusinnessAddress_City' -Params @{'@BusinnessAddress_City'='Raleigh'}

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name

Inserting Microsoft Exchange Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

   $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port

3. Loop through the Microsoft Exchange data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the Microsoft Exchange resource (Contacts) and to exist in the database.

   $data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Contacts" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

You have now replicated your Microsoft Exchange data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with Microsoft Exchange data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to Microsoft Exchange and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

  Select-Exchange -Connection $exchange -Table "Contacts" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Contacts" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

• If you wish to replicate the Microsoft Exchange data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-Exchange cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

  $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}