For about as many years as you’ve used Outlook, you’ve likely used the guidance in the older Outlook meeting requests: Essential do’s and don’ts article. However, if you read the older document, you almost certainly noticed that the document only generally applies to newer Outlook versions. Over the last few years, many enhancements were made to the Outlook Calendar. This made much of the guidance in the older document unnecessary. The new Best practices when using the Outlook...

In a previous article , I discussed the new server role architecture in Exchange 2013. This article continues the series by discussing the Client Access server role. While this Exchange server role shares the same name as a server role that existed in the last two Exchange Server releases, it is markedly different. In Exchange 2007, the Client Access server role provided authentication, proxy/redirection logic, and performed data rendering for the Internet protocol clients (Outlook...

The Past: Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 In 2005, we set out developing Exchange 2007. During the preliminary planning of Exchange 2007, we realized that the server architecture model had to evolve to deal with hardware constraints, like CPU, that existed at the time and would exist for a good portion of the lifecycle of the product. The architectural change resulted in five server roles , three of which were core to the product: Edge Transport for routing and anti-malware...

Update 2/5/2013: We have also uploaded a sample that will work on Exchange 2010 servers, you can find it here . What is a Transport Agent? Transport agents allow Microsoft, developers in your organization and third-party vendors to hook into the Exchange transport pipeline with their code to process messages (e.g. an antivirus scanner for incoming email messages). Transport agents can process email messages that pass through the transport pipeline in many ways. An agent is a ...

Exchange 2010 had many new enhancements and improvements over prior versions of Exchange. One really cool feature was the introduction of the Calendar Repair Assistant (CRA). The CRA is a mailbox assistant that is configurable through the Exchange Management Shell and runs within the MS Exchange Mailbox Assistants service. Its intended purpose is to help maintain consistency of calendar meetings between an organizer and the attendees by comparing the meeting copies of the organizer...

The Exchange team blog article OAB in Exchange Server 2013 introduced the new Offline Address Book (OAB) generation and distribution architecture in Exchange Server 2013. Take a few moments to visit the article if you haven’t seen it yet or re-visit it for a quick refresher. The OAB management and administration is different in Exchange 2013 because of architecture changes. Additionally, the new Exchange Admin Center does not currently have options for managing OABs....

Update 2/26/2013: In response to your feedback, we have also raised the limit for Office 365 for Education plans (A2, A3, A4) to 10,000 recipients per day. In response to feedback from our customers, we have increased the recipient rate limit within Office 365 Enterprise (E1, E2, E3, E4, K1, and K2), Professionals and Small Businesses (P1), and Government plans (G1, G2, G3, and G4) to allow users to send email to up to 10,000 recipients per day . These new limits also apply...

Recently, Windows Update began offering the Windows Management Framework 3.0 as an Optional update. This includes all forms of update distribution, such as Microsoft Update, WSUS , System Center Configuration Manager and other mechanisms. The key bit here is that the Windows Management Framework 3.0 includes PowerShell 3.0. Windows Management Framework 3.0 is being distributed as KB2506146 and KB2506143 (which one is offered depends on which server version you are running ...

Today the Exchange CXP team released the following update rollups to the Download Center. All three releases cover Security Bulletin MS12-080 . Because this is a security release, the updates will also be available on Microsoft Update. Update Rollup 5-v2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 Update Rollup 8 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 Update Rollup 9 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 Update Rollup 5-v2 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 This update contains a number...

Many organizations have chosen to configure a hybrid deployment with Exchange Online to take advantage of different features such as rich mailbox moves and cross-premises calendar free/busy sharing. This includes Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 organizations that require a long-term hybrid configuration with Exchange Online and organizations that are using a hybrid deployment as a stepping stone to migrating fully to Exchange Online. So, at what point should these...