This is the official blog of the Exchange Server Product Group. All content here is considered authoritative and supported by Microsoft, unless otherwise specified.
Would you like to suggest a topic for the Exchange team to blog about? Send suggestions to us.
We have put together a step-by-step walkthrough on how to run the Exchange Calendar Update Configuration Tool (MSExTMZCFG.EXE). This is a server-side tool that can be used as part of the 2007 DST process for Exchange. We have also included some information about solutions for commonly seen errors when running the tool.
Please note that the KB article that talks about this package (KB 930879) has additional information about the tool as well as prerequisites and possible complications.
There are 2 files that are downloaded in the above package:
MSEXTMZ.exe - This file extracts time zone information from mailboxes on a server that is running Exchange Server. This file also updates mailbox calendars for a specified list of users by invoking the Outlook tool against each specified user.
MSEXTMZCFG.exe - This file is a configuration tool that describes most of the steps when you update an Exchange Server server.
Step 1: Prerequisites to running the Exchange Calendar Update Tool
1) Pick a client operating system. The Exchange tool will run on any of the following operating systems:
2) Install Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. Create a profile that has rights to log in to any mailbox in the organization.
3) Install the OS DST Patch (KB 931836).
4) Install the Outlook Time Zone Update Tool (TZMOVE). Download from the Microsoft Download Center or from KB 931667.
5) Make sure that the .NET Framework v2.0 has been installed
Now you are ready to proceed. Click on screenshots below to see bigger versions if they are cut off in your browser window.
Step 2: Run the MSExTMZCFG.EXE, it opens up like this:
The "Server Domain Name" value is the server's LegacyExchangeDN from Active Directory. In order to get this information, you can use the utility such as LDP.EXE or ADSIEdit. The LegacyExchangeDN is in the following format:
/o=<Exchange organization name>/ou=<Administrative group name>/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=<Server name>
So something like this:
/o=Contoso/ou=First administrative group/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=E2003BE1
Step 3: Enter the Server Domain Name and press Next:
Possible issues at this stage:
- You might receive "Please Select the Valid Server" message box if the LegacyExchangeDN is not specified or is not in a valid format (extra spaces would be a problem too).
- You might receive the following errors in the MsExTMZ.log due to LegacyExchangeDN mismatch:
Unable open mailbox table for server /o=Contoso/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Servers/dn=E2003BE1. Error 0x80070057.
Unable open mailbox table for server /o=Contoso/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Servers/dn=E2003BE1. Error 80040115.
Step 4: Now you will get prompted for the Outlook profile name:
1. Make sure that you select a profile with administrator privileges and the profile is configured in online mode.
2. You might receive "Unable to find mailbox timezone: Error 0x80004005" (you can check the msextmz.log for errors). This might happen if the mailbox has never been logged into. To resolve this, login to OWA for the user specified in the error message and create a meeting request or an appointment and try re-running the tool again.
Step 5: The tool names the text files it will create
1. Conflictusers.txt - this file will contain users that have Conflicting TimeZone entries
2. NonExistent.txt - will contain users who do not have their TimeZone information set.
Press Next.
Step 6: Specify the Time Zone and paths needed
Next you will get to Select Time Zones and specify the path to Outlook.exe and TZMove.exe:
- When specifying the Outlook Time Zone Update Tool, make sure you select the TZMOVE.EXE which is about 304 KB in size rather than the download itself, which is about 8 MB in size.
- The TZMove.exe can be found in the following location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool
- The Outlook registry Path should be pointed to the following location if you are using Outlook 2003 to run the utility:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook
So after you specified the paths you should have something like this:
Step 7: Press Finish to finish the configuration
After you press Close on the above screen, the Configuration tool creates a folder named by the server name in the C:\MSEXTMZ directory. This folder will contain the following files:
Mailboxes_1.txt - This is the list of mailboxes that will be processed when the batch file is run.
MSExTmz_1.bat - This is a batch file that will call the C:\msextmz\msextmz.exe to process the MSExtmz_1.ini file
MSExTmz_1.ini - This is the INI file which is created by the utility based upon the input specified by us while running steps 1-6 above. If for some reason the update doesn't run, this ini file can simply be modified instead of running through the entire config tool again.
NonExistent.txt - This file contains the list of mailboxes which do not have Time Zone Information (like System Mailbox / SMTP Mailbox / System Attendant mailbox etc) or any mailboxes that have not been logged into yet.
The folder will look like this:
A sample snapshot of MSExTmz_1.bat:
A sample snapshot of MSExTmz_1.ini:
A sample snapshot of NonExistent.txt:
Step 8: run the MSExtmz_1.bat file:
Successful processing of the MSExtmz_1.bat will look something like this:
All of this information is also being logged into the msextmz.log (as specified in the .ini file).
If you get a bunch of errors with a code of 0x80004005, there are a few things to check:
- That the Outlook tool is installed
- Make sure the correct TZMOVE.exe has been selected in step #5 above
- Try to run the tool from the following location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool
For steps that you should do before and after running of the Exchange tool, other options that you have and related FAQ, please see the Exchange Server and Daylight Saving Time (DST) 2007 TechNet article.
- Ben Winzenz, Nino Bilic, thanks also to Suresh Babu D
Last week we released Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1. It has received some great feedback and reviews from customers, experts, analysts, and the Exchange community.
The starting point for SP1 setup/upgrade should be the What's New in SP1, SP1 Release Notes, and Prerequisites docs. As with any new release, there are some frequently asked deployment questions, and known issues, or issues reported by some customers. You may not face these in your environment, but we're posting these here along with some workarounds so you're aware of them as you test and deploy SP1.
The order of upgrade from Exchange 2010 RTM to SP1 hasn’t changed from what was done in Exchange 2007. Upgrade server roles in the following order:
The Edge Transport server role can be upgraded at any time; however, we recommend upgrading Edge Transport either before all other server roles have been upgraded or after all other server roles have been upgraded. For more details, see Upgrade from Exchange 2010 RTM to Exchange 2010 SP1 in the documenation.
Note: Due to the shared code base for these updates, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista share the same updates. Similarly, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 share the same updates. Make sure you select the x64 versions of each update to be installed on your Exchange 2010 servers.
Update 2/11/2011: Windows 2008 R2 SP1 includes all the required hotfixes listed in this table — 979744, 983440, 979099, 982867 and 977020. If you're installing Exchange 2010 SP1 on a server running Windows 2008 R2 SP1, you don't need to install these hotfixes separately. For a complete list of all updates included in Windows 2008 R2 SP1, see Updates in Win7 and WS08R2 SP1.xls.
Here’s a matrix of the updates required, including download locations and file names.
Microsoft Connect
Request from CSS
979099An update is available to remove the application manifest expiry feature from AD RMS clients.
x64: Windows6.1-KB977020-v2-x64.msu
Some of the hotfixes would have been rolled up in a Windows update or service pack. Given that the Exchange team released SP1 earlier than what was planned and announced earlier, it did not align with some of the work with the Windows platform. As a result, some hotfixes are available from MSDN/Connect, and some require that you request them online using the links in the corresponding KBAs. The administrator experience when initially downloading these hotfixes may be a little odd. However, once you download the hotfixes, and receive two of the hotfixes from CSS, you can use the same for subsequent installs on other servers. In due course, all these updates may become available on the Download Center, and also through Windows Update.
These hotfixes have been tested extensively as part of Exchange 2010 SP1 deployments within Microsoft and by our TAP customers. They are fully supported by Microsoft.
When installing Exchange Server 2010 SP1 the prereq check may turn up some required hotfixes to install. The message will include a link to click for help. Clicking this link redirects you to a page saying that the content does not exist.
We're working to update the linked content.
Meanwhile, please refer to the TechNet article Exchange 2010 Prerequisites to download and install the prerequisites required for your server version (the hotfixes are linked to in the above table, but you'll still need to install the usual prerequisites such as .Net Framework 3.5 SP1, Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0, and the required OS components).
Some customers have reported that after upgrading an Exchange Server 2010 server to Exchange 2010 SP1, the Exchange Management Shell shortcut is missing from program options. Additionally, the .ps1 script files associated with the EMS may also be missing.
We’re actively investigating this issue. Meanwhile, here’s a workaround:
NOTE: If these files are missing, you can copy the files from the Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 installation media to the %ExchangeInstallPath%\bin directory. These files are present in the \setup\serverroles\common folder.
Note: if the Exchange installation folder or drive name is different than the default, you need to change the path accordingly.
If you upgrade a server with the Edge Transport server role running with ForeFront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) and ForeFront Protection for Exchange (FPE) enabled for SMTP protection, the ForeFront TMG Managed Control Service may fail to start and E-mail policy configuration settings cannot be applied.
The TMG team is working on this issue. See Problems when installing Exchange 2010 Service Pack 1 on a TMG configured for Mail protection on the ForeFront TMG (ISA) Team Blog. Exchange 2010 SP1 Release Notes has been updated with the above information.
The ForeFront TMG product team has released a software update to address this issue. See Software Update 1 for Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 Service Pack 1 now available for download.
The location for setting the port the address book service should use has changed in SP1. In Exchange 2010 RTM you had to edit the Microsoft.exchange.addressbook.service.exe.config to configure the service port. In SP1 you must use the following registry key:Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\MSExchangeAB\Parameters Value name: RpcTcpPortType: REG_SZ (String)
When you apply SP1 to a machine where you had previously configured a static port by editing the Microsoft.exchange.addressbook.service.exe.config file, the upgrade process will not carry forward your static port assignments. Following a restart, the Address Book Service will revert to using a dynamic port instead of a static port specified in the config file. This may cause interruptions in service.
As with all upgrades where servers are in load balanced pools, we recommend you perform a rolling upgrade — removing servers from the pool, updating them and then moving the pool to the newly upgraded machines. Alternatively, we recommend that you upgrade an array of servers by draining connections from any one machine before you upgrade it.
There are times when these approaches may not be possible. You can maintain your static port configuration, and have it take effect the moment the address book service starts for the first time following the application of the service pack, by creating the registry key BEFORE you apply SP1 to your server. The registry key has no impact pre SP1, and so by configuring it before you apply the Service Pack you can avoid the need to make changes to set the port post install, and avoid any service interruptions.
After applying E2010 SP1:
iPhone users may not be able to view the content of incoming messages in their Inboxes, and when they try to open a message, they get an error saying:
Admins may see the following event logged in the Application Event Log on Exchange 2010 CAS Server:
Watson report about to be sent for process id: 1234, with parameters: E12, c-RTL-AMD64, 14.01.0218.011, AirSync, MSExchange ActiveSync, Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.InboundConversionOptions.CheckImceaDomain, UnexpectedCondition:ArgumentException, 4321, 14.01.0218.015.
OWA Premium users may not be able to reply or forward a message. They may see the following error in OWA:
An unexpected error occurred and your request couldn't be handled. Exception type: System.ArgumentException, Exception message: imceaDomain must be a valid domain name.
POP3 & IMAP4 users may also not be able to retrieve incoming mail and Admins will see the following event logged in Event Log:
ERR Server Unavailable. 21; RpcC=6; Excpt=imceaDomain must be a valid domain name.
Please run the following command under Exchange Management Shell and verify that there is one domain marked as ‘Default’ and it's DomainName & Name values are valid domain names. We were able to reproduce the issue by setting a domain name with a space in it, like "aa bb"
Get-AcceptedDomain | fl
If you also have an invalid domain name there (for example, a domain name with a space in it), then removing the space and restarting the server will fix the EAS (iPhone), OWA, POP3 & IMAP4 issues as mentioned above.
Command to run under EMS would be:
Set-AcceptedDomain –Identity -Name “ValidSMTPDomainName”
Thes examples update the Name parameter of the "My Company" and "ABC Local" accepted domains (the space is removed from both):
Set-AcceptedDomain –Identity “My Company” –Name “MyCompany.Com”Set-AcceptedDomain –Identity “ABC Local” –Name “ABC.Local”
If a server running Exchange 2010 RTM (or Exchange 2010 SP1 Beta) is upgraded to Exchange 2010 SP1, administrators may experience an error when using the Add-MailboxdDatabaseCopy or Remove-MailboxDatabaseCopy cmdlets to add or remove DAG members.
When you try to add a DAG member, you may see the following error:
Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy DAG-DB0 -MailboxServer DAG-2
The result:
WARNING: An unexpected error has occurred and a Watson dump is being generated: Registry key has subkeys and recursive removes are not supported by this method.Registry key has subkeys and recursive removes are not supported by this method. + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy], InvalidOperationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.InvalidOperationException,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.SystemConfigurationTasks. AddMailboxDatabaseCopy
The command is not successful in adding the copy or updating Active Directory to show the copy was added. This happens due to presence of the DumpsterInfo registry key.
Workaround: Delete the DumpsterInfo key, as shown below.
Identify the GUID of the database that is being added using this command:
Get-MailboxDatabase DAG-DB0 | fl name,GUID
Name : DAG-DB0 Guid : 8d3a9778-851c-40a4-91af-65a2c487b4cc
On the server specified in the add command, using the database GUID identified, remove the following registry key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Replay\State\<db-guid>\DumpsterInfo
The GUID identified in this case is 8d3a9778-851c-40a4-91af-65a2c487b4cc. With this information you can now export and delete the DumpsterInfo key on the server where you are attempting to add the mailbox database copy. This can be easily done using the registry editor, but if you have more than a handful of DAG members, this is best automated using the Shell.
This example removes the DumpsterInfo key from the 8d3a9778-851c-40a4-91af-65a2c487b4cc key:
Remove-Item HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\V14\Replay\State\8d3a9778-851c-40a4-91af-65a2c487b4cc\DumpsterInfo
To automate this across all servers in your organization, use the DeleteDumpsterRegKey.ps1 script.
For more info, see Tim McMichael’s blog post Exchange 2010 SP1: Error when adding or removing a mailbox database copy.
Thanks to all the folks in CSS and Exchange teams who helped identify, validate and provide workarounds for some of the issues mentioned above, and to the Exchange community and MVPs for their feedback.
Bharat Suneja, Nino BilicM. Amir Haque, Greg Taylor, & Tim McMichael
You have been eagerly waiting, and we have been working hard over the summer to deliver the latest Exchange Server 2010 enhancements as soon as possible. I am extremely happy to announce the availability of Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1, ready for download here.
We released the SP1 beta at Tech Ed North America in June. We also shared some of the SP1 enhancements in Yes Virginia, there is an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 back in April. Since then, almost 500,000 SP1 mailboxes have gone into production in Technology Adoption Program (TAP) customer environments.
Rather than recap all the SP1 features, I want to let a few of our Exchange TAP customers tell you what they loved.
Exchange has been the most resilient and trusted solution for enterprise Email for many years now and when Exchange 2010 originally RTM’ed, I thought, what else could be improved… But the Exchange product group and the TAP group members have done just that in Service Pack 1. From improvements to manageability for both administrators and users to better control and resiliency within the SMTP stack, and fantastic improvements in Unified Messaging, the list of improvements and features in Service Pack 1 amazes even an old Exchange guy like me (who has worked on Exchange since early 4.0 days). Of all the improvements in SP1, my favorite so far is the Audit Logging improvements available in the Exchange Management Shell and the Exchange Control Panel. All I can say is, “Great job Microsoft Exchange Product Group on another fantastic product!” Gary Cooper, Horizons Consulting
Gary Cooper, Horizons Consulting
Calendar publishing is awesome. When working with people outside our organization, instead of fumbling around in multiple emails or phone calls “Is Tuesday at 3 PM good? How about next Wednesday at 9:30?” I can just send them a link to my calendar. Now if more organizations would get to Exchange 2010 and federate their free\busy (including Microsoft).... Joseph Nguyen, University of Oklahoma
Joseph Nguyen, University of Oklahoma
One of the most common criticisms from our customers regarding Exchange and OWA had been its lack of cross-browser and open systems support. Although we saw major improvements in Exchange 2010, SP1 has built upon this and taken things to the next level. SP1’s OWA experience is now class-leading and the addition of open standards calendar sharing is a feature we’ve been asked for many times - and have now been able to deliver. With SP1, our users can choose to share their Calendar in HTML and iCal formats, enabling real time sharing with external colleagues or access to their calendar from platforms and clients without Exchange support. In addition to the OWA improvements, we’ve been delighted with some of the other new features. On the client side features like auto mapping of shared mailboxes to user’s Outlook 2010 profiles will remove a support headache. In the datacentre, the support for online archives on a separate database from the primary mailbox is the green light for archiving implementation. Finally the ability to import and export PSTs without needing Outlook installed are a welcome addition and will be particularly useful when we begin importing archive PSTs back into Exchange for online archiving. Steve Goodman, Aston University
Steve Goodman, Aston University
And a word from Dimension Data, one of Exchange’s Global Partners.
Exchange 2010 SP1 is a great example of how Microsoft is rapidly responding to customer and partner feedback. We believe these new enhancements to the archiving functionality, improved Outlook Web App experiences, and expanded mobility capabilities can only accelerate the already strong customer demand we’ve seen for upgrades. And, the continual innovation delivered by Microsoft Exchange enables our business to maintain strong relationships with our customers by always having the ability to offer them new, next generation scenarios to consider and deploy. Peter Menadue, Group General Manager, Microsoft Solutions at Dimension Data
Peter Menadue, Group General Manager, Microsoft Solutions at Dimension Data
Once again, a huge thank you to all of our customers, TAP participants, and EHLO readers for downloading the SP1 Beta, and the constant stream of great feedback. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Kevin Allison GM – Exchange Customer Experience
Update 6/13/13: we added a known issue with transport rules to the blog post below.
Today the Exchange CXP team released Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2010 SP3 to the Download Center.
Note: Some of the following KB articles may not be available at the time of publishing this post.
This update contains fixes for a number of customer-reported and internally found issues. For more details, including a list of fixes included in this update, see KB 2803727. We would like to specifically call out the following fixes which are included in this release:
For DST changes, see Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center (microsoft.com/time).
You cannot install or uninstall Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2010 SP3 on the double-byte character set (DBCS) version of Windows Server 2012 if the language preference for non-Unicode programs is set to the default language. To work around this issue, you must first change this setting. To do this, follow these steps:
After you successfully install or uninstall Update Rollup 1, revert this language setting, as appropriate.
We have identified the cause of this problem and plan to resolve it in a future rollup, but did not want to further delay the release of RU1 for customers who are not impacted by it.
We have an issue where the messages stick in poison queue and transport continually crashes after this rollup is applied.
We have gathered enough information and have determined the issue. Specifically, the issue is caused by a transport rule (disclaimer) attempting to append the disclaimer to the end of HTML formatted messages. When this occurs, messages will be placed in the poison queue and the transport service will crash with an exception. We are investing resources to develop a code fix. You can either disable or reconfigure the disclaimer transport rule.
Exchange Team
We know a lot of you have been waiting for this, and so it is with great excitement that we announce that Exchange Server 2013 RTM Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) has been released to the web and is available for immediate download! This is the first release using the new servicing model for Exchange Server 2013. In addition to this article, the Exchange 2013 RTM CU1 release notes are also available.
Note: Article links that may not have been available at the time of this post's publishing are now available. Updated Exchange 2013 documentation, including Release Notes, is now available on TechNet.
CU1 is the minimum version of Exchange 2013 required for on-premises coexistence with supported legacy Exchange Server versions. The final build number for CU1 is 15.0.620.29. For more information on coexistence, check out the Planning and Deployment documentation, and this Ignite webcast covering deployment of and coexistence with Exchange Server 2013.
Unlike previous versions, cumulative updates do not use the rollup infrastructure; cumulative updates are actually full builds of the product, meaning that when you want to deploy a new server, you simply use the latest cumulative update build available and do not necessarily need to apply additional Exchange Server updates.
Prior to upgrading or deploying the new build onto a server, you will need to update Active Directory. For those of you with a diverse Active Directory permissions model you will want to perform the following steps:
As mentioned in the Exchange Server 2013 CU1 release notes, when you deploy the first Exchange 2013 Mailbox server in an existing Exchange organization, a new default Offline Address Book is created.
Figure 1: The new OAB as shown in an Exchange Server 2010 SP3 & 2013 CU1 environment
All existing clients that rely on an OAB will see this new default OAB the next time they look for an OAB update. This will cause these clients to perform a full OAB download. To prevent this from happening, you can configure your existing mailbox databases to explicitly point to the current default OAB prior to introducing the first Exchange 2013 server. You can do this one of two ways:
Figure 2: Modifying the default Offline Address Book at the database level in the EMC
Get-MailboxDatabase | Where {$_.OfflineAddressBook -eq $Null} | FT Name,OfflineAddressBook -AutoSize
If no values are returned then you are already prepared. However, if you need to configure some databases, then this next command will find all mailbox databases in an Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 environment with no default OAB defined at the database level, and it will set it to the current default OAB in the org.
Get-MailboxDatabase | Where {$_.OfflineAddressBook -eq $Null} | Set-MailboxDatabase -OfflineAddressBook (Get-OfflineAddressBook | Where {$_.IsDefault -eq $True})
To confirm all Exchange 2007/2010 mailbox databases now have a defined default OAB, re-run the first command. This time it should return no entries.
Once the preparatory steps are completed, you can then deploy CU1 and start your coexistence journey. If this is your first Exchange 2013 server deployment, you will need to deploy both an Exchange 2013 Client Access Server and an Exchange 2013 Mailbox Server into the organization. As explained in Exchange 2013 Client Access Server Role, CAS 2013 is simply an authentication and proxy/redirection server; all data processing (including the execution of remote PowerShell cmdlets) occurs on the Mailbox server. You can either deploy a multi-role server or each role separately (just remember if you deploy them separately, you cannot manage the Exchange 2013 environment until you install both roles).
If you already deployed Exchange 2013 RTM code and want to upgrade to CU1, you will run setup.exe /m:upgrade /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms from a command line after completing the Active Directory preparatory steps or run through the GUI installer. Deploying future cumulative updates will operate in the same manner.
As you start migrating your mailboxes to Exchange 2013, one thing you may notice is that your mailboxes appear to be larger post move.
As you can imagine, with hosting millions of mailboxes in Office 365, accurate storage reporting is essential, just like in your on-premises deployments. One of the learnings that we accrued into the on-premises product is ensuring that the mailbox usage statistics are more closely aligned with the capacity usage within the Mailbox database. The impact of reporting space more accurately means that mailbox quota limits may need to be adjusted prior to the mailbox move so that users are not locked out of their mailbox during the migration process.
Our improved space calculations may result in a mailbox’s reported size increasing on average of 30% when the mailbox is moved from a legacy version of Exchange to Exchange 2013. For example, if a mailbox is reported as 10GB in size on Exchange Server 2010, then when the mailbox is moved to Exchange 2013, it may be reported as 13GB. This does not mean that migrating to Exchange 2013 will increase your capacity footprint by 30% per mailbox; it only means that the statistics are including more data about the space the mailbox consumes. 30% is an average value, based on what we have experienced in Exchange Online. Customers with pilot mailboxes should determine what their own average increase value may be as some environments may see higher or lower values depending on the most prevalent type of email within their mailboxes. Again, this does not mean there will be an increase in the size of the database file on disk; only the attribution of space to each mailbox will increase.
Exchange 2013 RTM CU1 includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the RTM release of Exchange 2013. Some of the more notable enhancements are identified below.
As discussed recently, an Address Book Policy Routing Agent has been included in Exchange 2013 RTM CU1. For all the juicy details, see Address Book Policies, Jamba Jokes and Secret Agents.
In Exchange 2010 you could not use a group as an owner for another group for membership management. Instead you had to deploy explicit permissions on groups or use a script as a workaround.
Since Exchange 2010’s release both Microsoft Support and the Exchange Product Group received resounding feedback on the need for this capability. The good news is that with Exchange 2013 RTM CU1 groups can once again be owners of groups for membership management.
In Exchange Server 2013 RTM there was no way to access Public Folder content through Outlook Web App. In CU1 you will now have access to Public Folders you have added as favorites via your favorites menu either in Outlook or Outlook Web App. However, this access is limited to Public Folders stored on Exchange Server 2013.
Figure 3: Adding a Public Folder as a favorite in Outlook Web App in Exchange Server 2013 RTM CU1
Remember, you cannot start creating Public Folders on Exchange Server 2013 until all users have been migrated to Exchange Server 2013. For how to migrate from legacy Public Folders to Exchange Server 2013 Public Folders, see Migrate Public Folders to Exchange 2013 From Previous Versions.
The Exchange Admin Center (EAC) has been enhanced and now includes Unified Messaging management, improvements in the migration UI allowing more migration options reducing the gap between PowerShell and the UI, and general overall improvements in the user experience for consistency and simplification based on customer feedback.
There are have been several enhancements in the high availability and Managed Availability space. In particular:
On behalf of the Exchange Product Group, thanks again for your continued support and patience, and please keep the feedback coming.
As a followup to Elizabeth's previous post I wanted to let you know that the "Preparing for daylight saving time changes in 2007" page has been updated with more information related to Exchange, Outlook, Windows and other products. Please keep checking that page for more information:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx
- Nino Bilic
We’ve heard your concerns and take them seriously. We’re looking into what we can do to improve this situation for you, nothing definitive yet but be assured we’re working on it and will post an update asap. Update 11/30/2012: Please note, ExBPA content does not have multiple versions. Content (links from the ExBPA tool) may currently display "Exchange 2013" as the version, but it's the same content the ExBPA tool linked to earlier. The CMS team is working to fix this.
Quick note to inform you that we've updated Exchange TechNet Library. Starting today, if you've bookmarked an Exchange 2010 article in the library (for example, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558.aspx), it'll take you to the Exchange 2013 version of the article.
Note, if an Exchange 2013 version of the article does not exist, the URL will still take you to the Exchange 2010 version.
Other versions menu You can still reach the Exchange 2010 version of a particular article by using the Other versions option right below the page title.
Append version info You can also get to the Exchange 2010 version of a particular article by appending version information (EXCHG.141) for Exchange 2010) at the end of the URL, right before the file extension (.aspx). So the Exchange 2010 version of the above URL will be http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558(EXCHG.141).aspx. Please update your browser favorites/shortcuts and links in any blog posts if you still want them to point to the Exchange 2010 versions.
Navigation tree You can use the navigation tree (on the left side of each page) to easily navigate to documentation for each Exchange Server version.
Short URLs You can also get to the main documentation page for each Exchange Server version by using the following short URLs:
Download help files You can also download the standalone help files in compiled HTML format (aka CHMs) from the following locations:
Bharat Suneja
11/12/2013: Post updated to show additional navigation options and links to help file downloads.
Earlier last year, we announced that Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3 would be coming in the first half of 2013. Later, we updated the timeframe to Q1 2013. Today, we're pleased to announce the availability of Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3, which is ready to download.
Service Pack 3 is a fully slipstreamed version of Exchange 2010. The following new features and capabilities are included within SP3:
NOTE: Exchange 2010 SP3 allows Exchange 2010 servers to coexist with Exchange 2013 CU1, which is also scheduled to be released in Q1 2013. Customers can test and validate this update in a representative lab environment prior to rolling out in their production environments as an important coexistence preparatory step before introducing Exchange Server 2013 CU1.
In addition to the customer reported issues resolved in previous rollups, this service pack also resolves the issues that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles:
2552121 You cannot synchronize a mailbox by using an Exchange ActiveSync device in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2729444 Mailboxes are quarantined after you install the Exchange Server 2010 SP2 version of the Exchange Server 2010 Management Pack
2778100 Long delay in receiving email messages by using Outlook in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2779351 SCOM alert when the Test-PowerShellConnectivity cmdlet is executed in an Exchange Server 2010 organization
2784569 Slow performance when you search a GAL by using an EAS device in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2796950 Microsoft.Exchange.Monitoring.exe process consumes excessive CPU resources when a SCOM server monitors Exchange Server 2010 Client Access servers
2800133 W3wp.exe process consumes excessive CPU and memory resources on an Exchange Client Access server after you apply Update Rollup 5 version 2 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2
2800346 Outlook freezes and high network load occurs when you apply retention policies to a mailbox in a mixed Exchange Server 2010 SP2 environment
2810617 Can't install Exchange Server 2010 SP3 when you define a Windows PowerShell script execution policy in Group Policy
2787500 Declined meeting request is added back to your calendar after a delegate opens the request by using Outlook 2010
2797529 Email message delivery is delayed on a Blackberry mobile device after you install Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2
2800080 ErrorServerBusy response code when you synchronize an EWS-based application to a mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
For more details, see Description of Exchange Server 2010 SP3.
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions.
Q. Does Exchange 2010 SP3 include the fixes in Exchange 2010 SP2 RU6? A. Yes. Service Packs are cumulative - they include all fixes included in previous RUs and service packs. Although Exchange 2010 SP2 RU6 was released on the same day as Exchange 2010 SP3, fixes in RU6 are included in SP3.
Q. Does Exchange 2010 SP3 include the security fix mentioned in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-012? Yes, fix for the vulneraiblity in MS13-012 is included in Exchange 2010 SP2 RU6, and (as stated above) fixes from SP2 RU6 are inclued in SP3. We recommend reviewing the related security bulletin before applying an update that contains security fixes.
Q. Why release RU6 for SP2 at all if all fixes are included in SP3? Exchange 2010 SP2 is a supported service pack (see Exchange Server Support Lifecycle). Customers typically deploy update rollups quickly but take longer to deploy service packs.
Q. Is Exchange 2010 SP3 compatible with WMF 3.0/PowerShell 3.0? A. Exchange team has validated and supports Exchange 2010 SP3 running on Windows Server 2012, which comes with PS 3.0 by default. Please note that even when running on Windows Server 2012, Exchange 2010 SP3 will still use only PowerShell 2.0 functionality. Exchange team has not validated Exchange 2010 SP3 running on earlier server OSes (2008, 2008 R2) with WMF3 / PS3 installed, and we therefore do not recommend that configuration.
Q. Does Exchange 2010 SP3 require an Active Directory schema update? A. Yes, as mentioned in Exchange 2010 SP3 Release Notes, an Active Directory schema is required.
Q. Can I install Exchange 2013 RTM in my Exchange 2010 organization after upgrading to Exchange 2010 SP3? A. As mentioned in the post, coexistence of Exchange 2013 in an Exchange 2010 SP3 org requires Exchange 2013 CU1, also scheduled for release in this quarter (Q1 2013).
Q. It's great that Exchange 2010 SP3 is supported on Windows Server 2012! Can I upgrade the OS my Exchange Server's running on from Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 after installing SP3? A. No. Upgrading the operating system after Exchange Server installation is not supported. You would have to uninstall Exchange, upgrade the OS, then reinstall Exchange. Or install Exchange 2010 SP3 on a fresh Windows 2012 install.
Q. Is MRM 1.0 supported on Exchange 2010 SP3? A. Yes, MRM 1.0 (Managed Folders) is a supported feature in Exchange 2010. We replaced MRM 1.0 management support in EMC with MRM 2.0 (Retention tags) in Exchange 2010 SP1. You can still use the Shell to manage MRM 1.0.
Q. Will I be able to restore and mount database backups created before a server is upgraded to SP3? A. Yes. When you restore and mount the database, it will be updated.
Q. Does Exchange 2010 SP3 add support for Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) in Cryptographic Mode 2? A. Yes, Information Rights Management (IRM) features in Exchange 2010 SP3 support AD RMS running in Cryptographic Mode 2.
Q. Is Exchange 2010 SP3 supported with <My great third-party Exchange add-on/tool>? A. Please contact the partner / third-party software vendor for this info. We recommend testing in a representative non-production environment before you deploy in production.
Today on the Office blog we announced that service pack 1 for the 2013 set of products including Office, SharePoint and Exchange will be released early next year. We know our Exchange customers have been looking for confirmation of the release but also have a desire for an early look at what's coming with Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1). So let's have a first look a few things you can expect to see in SP1. But wait… we haven’t released CU3 – well, news about CU3 is imminent - stay tuned for more information about CU3 coming very soon.
In this post we are highlighting a few of the notable improvements to be included in SP1. This isn't an all-inclusive list, so stay tuned for additional details as we approach release.
SP1 will require customers to update their Active Directory schema - customers should assume this requirement for all Exchange Server 2013 updates. Plan for this required update to quickly take advantage SP1 updates. Active Directory Schema updates for Exchange are additive and always backwards compatible with previous releases and versions.
On behalf of the Exchange Product Group, thanks again for your continued support. As always, let us know what you think!
Brian Shiers Exchange Technical Product Manager
We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of the release of Exchange Server 2013. This is traditionally the time when people start asking questions like:
When is Service Pack 1 coming? What’s the timeline for the next Exchange Server release? What are you cooking up for the next version of Exchange?
This time around, we’re also hearing a few customers ask:
Will there be another version of Exchange Server?
We hope the answer to that question is obvious, but we wanted to go on record to make sure no one is confused. Here are the facts:
It’s true that customers are shifting their Exchange deployments from on-premises to the cloud, and it’s true that we are investing heavily in Office 365. We’re fans of Office 365 because we’ve seen that when customers run email in our cloud, they save money, they get larger mailboxes, and they get faster access to our latest innovations. IT admins spend less time maintaining servers and more time lighting up features that make users happy. Running Office 365 also brings us real-world experience that helps us build a better on-premises product.
While we are enthusiastic about the cloud, we also understand that our customers will transition to the cloud at their own pace. Many customers will remain on-premises or in hybrid deployments for the foreseeable future, and we want to keep delivering our newest and best features to them. Fortunately, our development process allows us to do that. We have a single code base that serves both cloud and on-premises customers, so we can deliver innovation to both groups.
Our development strategy continues to focus on Office 365 as the initial platform where we roll out new features. This approach allows us to introduce and test new features at scale before including relevant functionality into on-premises updates. The benefits of the strategy can be seen in Exchange 2013, where features such as Managed Availability are directly based on work done to automate and improve our datacenter operations. If you want clues about what’s coming in the next version of Exchange Server, keep an eye on what’s happening in Office 365.
It’s an exciting time for messaging and collaboration. Today’s technology trends— cloud, mobile devices, social computing, machine learning—all have the opportunity to make email more useful and powerful. We’ve got some great stuff cooking, and we’re committed to bringing innovation to all of our customers, whether they choose to deploy Exchange in the cloud or on-premises. The Exchange product team and our customers have a 17+ year history of successfully navigating changes in IT architecture and management together. We look forward to continuing that tradition with you.
Perry Clarke Corporate Vice President Microsoft Exchange
The Exchange team is announcing today the availability of our most recent quarterly servicing update to Exchange Server 2013. Cumulative Update 3 for Exchange Server 2013 and updated UM Language Packs are now available on the Microsoft Download Center. Cumulative Update 3 includes fixes for customer reported issues, minor product enhancements and previously released security bulletins. A complete list of customer reported issues resolved in Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 3 can be found in Knowledge Base Article KB 2892464.
Note: Some article links may not be available at the time of this post's publication. Updated Exchange 2013 documentation, including Release Notes, will be available on TechNet soon.
We would like to call attention to an important fix in Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 3 which impacts customers who rely upon Backup and Recovery mechanisms to protect Exchange data. Cumulative Update 3 includes a fix for an issue which may randomly prevent a backup dataset taken from Exchange Server 2013 from restoring correctly. Customers who rely on Backup and Recovery in their day-to-day operations are encouraged to deploy Cumulative Update 3 and initiate backups of their data to ensure that data contained in backups may be restored correctly. More information on this fix is available in KB 2888315.
In addition to the customer-reported fixes in Cumulative Update 3, the following new enhancements and improvements to existing functionality have also been added for Exchange Server 2013 customers:
More information on these topics can be found in What’s New in Exchange Server 2013, Release Notes and Exchange 2013 documentation on TechNet.
Here are some things to consider before you deploy Exchange 2013 CU3.
Our next update for Exchange 2013, Cumulative Update 4, will be released as Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1. Customers who are accustomed to deploying Cumulative Updates should consider Exchange 2013 SP1 to be equivalent to CU4 and deploy as normal.
The Exchange Team
I had previously mentioned that Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2 would be coming this year – and it’s here! I’m pleased to announce the availability of Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 which is ready to download.
We’re delighted to continually add value to Exchange as part of our ongoing release rhythm and the enhancements in this Service Park are largely due to your feedback. SP2 includes much anticipated features such as the Hybrid Configuration Wizard, Address Book Policies, Outlook Web App Mini and Cross-Site Silent Redirection for Outlook Web App as well as customer requested fixes and rollups released prior to Service Pack 2.
As we did with SP1, Service Pack 2 is a fully slipstreamed version of Exchange with 13 server languages and 66 client languages (including English) available in a single package. There is no separate download for client and server languages; you’ll only need to download and install separate language packs if you have Unified Messaging.
Please check out the features in more detail or download SP2 and try them out yourself.
I had also announced that we would support the on-premises configuration of Exchange in a multi-tenant environment. In order to receive support, we’ll publish a follow-up blog shortly that will outline some scenarios and point to our detailed guidance. Please stay tuned.
Thanks again to our TAP participants and you, our customers for all of the great feedback that you provide us!
Kevin Allison General Manager Exchange Customer Experience
EDIT: This post has been edited on 9/14/2007 to point to new versions of videos.
We have put together three demos that you can use to familiarize yourself with the process of running the DST tools. We think that the following three scenarios cover what people need to run most often.
DST: How to Address Daylight Saving Time by Using the Exchange Calendar Data Update Tool
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=341747
DST: Using the Outlook v2.0 Time Zone Data Update Tool
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=341649
DST: Cumulative Time Zone Update for Microsoft Windows
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=341535
EDIT 3/1/07: We have added additional video for resource mailboxes here.
- Steve Justice, Chris Burnham
If you've not heard; Apple released iPhone 2.0 today which includes a software update to the existing iPhones in the market (yes, we mentioned it when it was announced as well). We're thrilled to add them to the family of Exchange ActiveSync licensees that enable all sorts of devices to connect to Exchange Server. For those of you that manage Exchange Servers this means you may see some new devices connecting and we wanted to give you a few notes about what to expect.
From the server side, you need to look at a user's device from the Exchange Management console (EMC):
From the user screen you can scroll though any devices the users has connected to their account (iPhone circled here - note that the version number will vary by iPhone firmware version, we took this screenshot with beta firmware):
Users using OWA will see their iPhones showing up in the Options > Mobile Device screen as shown in the image below:
Note: If you want to look for connections in your IIS server logs you can do a string search for "Apple-iPhone".
How do I find out more info on what policies the iPhone supports, how it connects to your server and other administrative questions?
Apple has published an Enterprise Deployment Guide for organizations that are deploying iPhones. This is where you should look for Administrator info on the technical side of what Apple has created.
How can I see how many iPhones are connecting to my server and which users have them?
To see how many users have iPhones and who they are, go though the following steps:
First you need to open an Exchange Management Shell window and execute the following command:
export-activesynclog -Filename:<IISlog dir>\*.log -outputpath:<output path>
An example is shown below though we just parsed one of the logs for simplicity.
Now open the file Users.csv in Excel. Below you can see the first three columns of this spreadsheet that we're sorted by column C (circled). You can see that by doing this you will be able to see all the iPhones grouped together and their owners will be listed in column A (circled):
So now you know what the iPhone will look like connected to your servers using Exchange ActiveSync (instead of IMAP) and how to find out who is using them in your organization. We're glad to have Apple connecting their devices to Exchange Server and hope you have fun using these tools to stay informed about when iPhones connect to your Exchange Server. We're always looking to hear how people are using our technology and we'd love to hear your experiences; are you seeing iPhones show up in your organization? What experiences are your users having? Let us know.
Adam Glick
For a brief period of time on August 9, 2008, a pre-release version of Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB952580) was inadvertently made available to Microsoft Update, the Microsoft Update Catalog, and Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) servers for download. While we quickly removed the update from Microsoft Update within a short period of time, some servers using these distribution methods might have detected, downloaded and/or installed this version of the update.
Known issues exist with this pre-release version of Update Rollup 4, including issues with Exchange Web Services (EWS) that creates the potential for a continuous crashing cycle, an uninstall issue where the EWS web.config is reset, and an issue with backup validation. The final release version of Update Rollup 4 will be released in the upcoming weeks, and until then, we recommend that customers who have not already installed Update Rollup 4 wait to do so. If you have already installed Update Rollup 4, we recommend uninstalling it.
The following known issues exist in the pre-release (version 8.1.311.1) of Update Rollup 4 for Exchange server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB952580). Also included are recommended steps to resolve this for customers who encounter any of the issues.
Failure observed in backup applications which result in the following events (or similar ones in the event log). The E00 in event ID 305 is the current log file for the storage group where the backup is performed. So it can be E0n if the backup is being performed against a different storage group.
Event Type: ErrorEvent Source: Storage Group Consistency CheckEvent Category: TerminationEvent ID: 401Description: Instance 1: The physical consistency check has completed, but one or more errors were detected. The consistency check has terminated with error code of -106 (0xffffff96).
Event Type: ErrorEvent Source: Storage Group Consistency CheckEvent Category: Log File ValidationEvent ID: 305Description: Instance 1: One or more errors were detected while validating the transaction log files in 'd:\database\' with a base name of 'E00'. Transaction log file validation failed with error code -1811 (0xfffff8ed).
1) Uninstall the rollup from "View Installed Updates" in Windows Server 2008 or "Add/Remove programs" in Windows Server 2003.
2) If the server also has the CAS role, open the web.config file located at <Exchange Install folder>\Client Access\exchweb\ews using an editor like Notepad.exe.
3) Replace all instances of %ExchangeInstallDir% with the actual path of the Exchange installation folder. E.g. If you have installed Exchange in D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server replace %ExchangeInstallDir% with D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\.
Here is a line in the web.config file.
Before
<codeBase version="0.0.0.0" href="file:///%ExchangeInstallDir%bin\Microsoft.Exchange.Common.IL.dll"/>
After
<codeBase version="0.0.0.0" href="file:///D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin\Microsoft.Exchange.Common.IL.dll"/>
Restart W3SVC service
Intermittent crashes in w3wp process on the CAS servers when Exchange Web Services (EWS) GetItem operations are processed. The following event is also logged in the event log.
Log Name: ApplicationSource: MSExchange CommonEvent ID: 4999Task Category: GeneralLevel: ErrorKeywords: ClassicDescription: Watson report about to be sent to dw20.exe for process id: 9364, with parameters: E12IIS, RTL-AMD64, 08.01.0240.006, WS, M.E.Services, M.E.S.C.PerfCounterReader.GetCPUPercent, System.InvalidOperationException, d177, 08.01.0311.001. ErrorReportingEnabled: True
Event Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"><System><Provider Name="MSExchange Common" /> <EventID Qualifiers="16388">4999</EventID><Level>2</Level><Task>1</Task><Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2008-09-11T00:49:11.000Z" /> <EventRecordID>1262</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>test.contoso.com</Computer> <Security /></System><EventData><Data>9364</Data><Data>E12IIS</Data><Data>RTL-AMD64</Data> <Data>08.01.0240.006</Data> <Data>WS</Data> <Data>M.E.Services</Data> <Data>M.E.S.C.PerfCounterReader.GetCPUPercent</Data> <Data>System.InvalidOperationException</Data><Data>d177</Data> <Data>08.01.0311.001</Data> <Data>True</Data></EventData></Event>
Check if the server has Update Rollup 4 for Exchange server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB952580) v1 installed. (See instructions below.)
1) Restart the W3SVC service.
2) Run your EWS application immediately to ensure that EWS is the first instance of w3wp process.
Use Task Manager to double check that only 1 w3wp process is present. If there are more than 1 w3wp process, then redo the steps from the beginning. If there is only 1 EWS is being serviced by the first w3wp process. As long this w3wp process does not crash the CAS server will not run into this issue. are more (which may be launched from a connection like OWA or ActiveSync).
2) Open the web.config file located at <Exchange Install folder>\Client Access\exchweb\ews using an editor like Notepad.exe.
4) Restart W3SVC service
Exchange Web Services (EWS) operations fail with the following response.
HTTP/1.1 302 FoundCache-Control: privateContent-Length: 175Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8Location: /ews/GenericErrorPage.htm?aspxerrorpath=/ews/Exchange.asmxServer: Microsoft-IIS/7.0X-AspNet-Version: 2.0.50727X-Powered-By: ASP.NETDate: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:00:02 GMT<html><head> <title>Object moved</title></head><body><h2>Object moved to <a href="/ews/GenericErrorPage.htm?aspxerrorpath=/ews/Exchange.asmx">here</a>.</h2></body></html>
1) On the CAS server, open the web.config file located at <Exchange Install folder>\Client Access\exchweb\ews using an editor like Notepad.exe.
2) Look for the presence of the text %ExchangeInstallDir% in the file. E.g.
1) Open the web.config file located at <Exchange Install folder>\Client Access\exchweb\ews using an editor like Notepad.exe.
2) Replace all instances of %ExchangeInstallDir% with the actual path of the Exchange installation folder. E.g. If you have installed Exchange in D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server replace %ExchangeInstallDir% with D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\.
3) Restart W3SVC service
During uninstall of Rollup 4, the admin is prompted for a request for Source.
Identification of Rollup version via Add/Remove Programs:
To identify the version of the Rollup that you have installed, press the "Click here for support information" link for the update, under Add or Remove Programs (or Programs and Features) applet in Control Panel:
Identification of the rollup version via the Registry:
To identify if the rollup is installed via the registry, the "DisplayVersion" value shown below will be 1. The final release version of the rollup will have a value data of 2 or higher.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\KB952580 Name: DisplayVersion Type: REG_SZ Data: 1
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and we are working to make sure this does not happen again.
- Scott Roberts
UPDATE: We have now released the hotfix that corrects this issue for Exchange 2003 SP2. The article is:
930241 The Exchange 2003 database does not mount, and event IDs 9518 and 9519 are logged in the Application loghttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;930241
The hotfix can be downloaded from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2A835A09-8E57-4027-A488-1E61C4B43A10&displaylang=en
For anyone who has used the workaround outlined in:
932599 Information Store database does not mount with Event ID 9519 and 9518http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;932599
You can apply the hotfix from 930241 and revert your permissions back to how they were before the application of the DST fix and the implementation of the workaround.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As everyone in the US IT industry is now aware, there will shortly be a change to Daylight Saving Time here in the US. DST will be starting three weeks earlier and ending one week later. So in order to accommodate this change Microsoft has released a number of hotfixes both for windows and for various Microsoft applications that are affected by this change. One such fix is the CDO DST update for Exchange 2003:
Update for daylight saving time changes in 2007 for Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926666
In Exchange 2003 (as was the case with all previous version of Exchange) any new hotfixes that are released contain all previous hotfixes. This is because Exchange fixes are built on top of each other to ensure that we don't have hundreds of "special" version of Exchange components; and that all pieces of the product will continue to work properly. The side effect of this is that when a major fix comes out like the DST fix our customers may end up having some unexpected changes to their systems if they have not been keeping up with server hotfixes.
In the case of the 926666 fix, there are two primary issues that our customers are running into.
First, the DST fix includes a previous fix to the Send As behavior of Exchange 2003. The Send As behavior was changed in Exchange 2003 to move it to a more secure model when it was determined that the current model allowed for unexpected levels of access based on permissions assigned. To check if you are going to be affected by this change you should locate Store.exe in your "Exchsrvr\bin" directory. If the Version is lower than 7650.23 then when you apply the DST fix you will need to be concerned with the Send As behavior change.
The following articles document the Send As changes and what you will need to do to adjust for it much better than I can do here:
New Exchange fixes may disrupt Blackberry, Goodlink and other serviceshttp://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/04/28/426707.aspx
"Send As" permission behavior change in Exchange 2003http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895949/
Users cannot send e-mail messages from a mobile device or from a shared mailbox in Exchange 2000 Server and in Exchange Server 2003http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912918
The other problem that you might encounter after applying the 926666 DST fix is that your database might not mount and generate an error when trying to mount. You will see events 9519 and 9518 with error codes 0x89a in the application log on the server. This is caused by a previous unrelated fix that was made for Exchange 2003. The above update to this post has the hotfix information.
In the short term, we have published a public KB article that describes this store mount issue and provides a work around that should work for the vast majority of customers that are affected by this problem:
Over all it is in your best interest to apply the DST fix for Exchange 2003 sooner rather than later. The sooner you get it on your system the less "fix up" will be needed of existing appointments.
For More information on the DST changes in please see:
Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Centerhttp://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst
- Matthew Byrd
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 SP2
This update contains a number of customer reported and internally found issues. For a list of updates included in this rollup, see KB 2785908 Description of Update Rollup 5 version 2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2. We would like to specifically call out the following fixes which are included in this release:
For DST Changes: http://www.microsoft.com/time
Exchange 2003 Server SP2 rounds out the anti-spam capabilities of Exchange Server 2003. With addition of Sender ID and IMF filters Exchange server is now capable of protecting an Exchange organization from many spam attack vectors. The flexible, reliable, and robust Exchange 2003 anti-spam framework proved to be very effective and instrumental in protecting Microsoft IT infrastructure from Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (UCE). However, the anti-spam solution offered by Exchange 2003 SP2 would not be complete without regular updates to the filter and spam definitions. Spammers constantly change tactics to find new ways to penetrate anti-spam defenses. And while spam attack vectors become obsolete rather quickly, it is necessary to keep track of them to prevent potential future ‘re-use’ of the attack scheme. All of this means that getting new spam definitions into production e-mail environments is truly imperative.
The regular updates to the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) will allow administrators to place the newest spam definitions onto mail processing Exchange Servers.
The regular IMF updates functionality can be enabled on Exchange 2003 SP2 servers that have IMF turned on (meaning these servers process inbound Internet mail). To make the functionality available on the server, new ContentFilterState registry key with the DWORD value 1 must be created under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange. The registry entry should look similar to this:
After you create this registry key, the next step would be to go to the Microsoft Update website and select the “Custom” button to scan for IMF Updates package (as shown below):
IMF Updates detection logic will detect the key and offer the package.
Both the regular IMF updates and the Exchange Intelligent Message Filter itself are language agnostic and supported on all Exchange Server languages.
The update mechanism will maintain the last three versions of the IMF data and binary files on the Exchange 2003 that the updates are being applied to. Once installed, the IMF update package will appear in Add/Remove Programs under the following name: “Update for Intelligent Message Filter on Exchange Server 2003: 2005.12.09 (KB907747)”. You should see an entry in the ‘Add or Remove Programs’ (ARP) Control Panel similar to the below:
If you look closely at the name, you will see that ‘2005.12.09’ corresponds to the date when the package was released. Over the course of the regular update cycle, this date will change while the name/number of the KB itself ‘(KB907747)’ will remain intact. For example, for the package released on January 18th 2006, the full name will be: “Update for Intelligent Message Filter on Exchange Server 2003: 2006.1.18 (KB907747)”.
The IMF update package can be uninstalled through the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel. Removing an update package will trigger Exchange 2003 SP2 IMF binary registration, which will cause the server to use the IMF update binary that was shipped in the original SP2 package. Uninstalling the IMF updates package will remove the Add/Remove Programs entry, delete an appropriate registry key for the update, and re-register the SP2 IMF binary. However, as I said earlier, the IMF updates installer will maintain the three most recent last packages on the system. An actual directory structure should be similar to the below:
It is important to understand that these directories will remain on the system intact and will be available for manual registration if needed so that, for example, you could remove the current package through Add/Remove Programs and run IMF using the previous package. Corresponding KB907747 goes into great details how to achieve this.
You may be wondering about the frequency IMF updates… The good news is that updates will be offered every first and third Wednesday of the month! IMF updates will be available not only through manual installation but also via scheduled Automatic Updates (AU)! The updates are cumulative (as they incorporate the latest spam definitions and data derived from the continuous learning and feedback loop processes), classified as Rollup Updates, and will be available for WSUS and SMS distributions! The bottom line is that the IMF Updates will be available through Microsoft Update technologies and the method of implementing an update – e.g. manual, Automatic Update, SMS, etc. – is flexible.
IMF updates will only be supported on Exchange 2003 SP2 servers with IMF enabled. For the updates to take effect, IMF updates installer will restart IISADMIN, so the best time to apply updates will be the time when the least amount of mail traffic is expected (e.g. during the night). The IMF updates installer will always offer the DAT and binary files to keep the Exchange IMF server implementation up to date with the latest anti-spam protection. IMF is not supported on Exchange clusters and as such IMF updates will not be offered for Exchange clusters. To summarize IMF updates offerings in a few words:
- Alexander Nikolayev
While we appreciate all the positive feedback we've received on Exchange Server 2010, we know you all are eager to find out what's been going on in Redmond since November. Today, we are happy to give you a first look at what's coming later this year in Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
SP1 will include fixes and tweaks in areas you've helped us identify, including a roll-up of the roll-ups we've released to date. I also wanted to flag some of the feature enhancements we're excited to bring to you with SP1 including: archiving and discovery enhancements, Outlook Web App (OWA) improvements, mobile user and management improvements, and some highly sought after additional UI for management tasks. This is not an all-inclusive list, so stay tuned for the detailed list coming soon!
In addition to sharing these details with you, I'm pleased to let you know that we'll be offering a beta of SP1 for download in parallel with TechEd North America this June. This will give you a chance to test drive SP1 and prepare for its official release.
With the release of Exchange Server 2010 last November, we introduced integrated archiving capabilities aimed at helping you preserve and discover e-mail data. In SP1, we've enhanced this archiving functionality based on the great feedback you've given us since our launch. This includes adding the flexibility to provision a user's Personal Archive to a different mailbox database from their primary mailbox. This means your organization can now more easily implement separate storage strategies (or tiered storage) for less frequently accessed e-mail. And, we didn't just stop there! We've also added new server side capabilities so you can import historical e-mail data from .PST files, directly into Exchange, as well as IT pro controls to enable delegate access to a user's Personal Archive.
To help streamline the implementation of retention policies, SP1 updates the Exchange Management Console with new tools to create Retention Policy Tags, so you can automate the deletion and archiving of e-mail and other Exchange items. New optional Retention Policy Tags give you even more flexibility in defining your organizations retention management strategy.
Lastly, we've made several improvements to the Multi-Mailbox Search features, which can be used to conduct e-Discovery of e-mail for legal, regulatory or other reasons. A new search preview helps with, for example, early case assessment by providing you an estimate on the number of items in the result set-with keyword statistics-before e-mail located in the search are copied to the designated discovery mailbox. And, you now have a new search result de-duplication option, that when checked, only copies one instance of a message to the discovery mailbox. This can help you reduce the amount of e-mail you need to review following the search. Finally, added support for annotation of reviewed items means you can make your e-Discovery workflow even more efficient and less time consuming or costly.
For those of you that have been holding your breath for this one, we're also happy to let you know that in SP1 timeframe, there will be an update which will enable us to support access to a user's Personal Archive with Outlook 2007.
Watch the embedded video to hear from the Exchange team's Ann Vu and Ian Hameroff talk about the investments we've made around archiving in Exchange 2010.
Learn more about our approach to archiving by reading the Archiving with Exchange 2010 whitepaper.
We didn't stop working with archiving and discovery, OWA gets a significant facelift with SP1 as well. With new work to pre-fetch message content, the OWA reading experience becomes faster. With delete, mark as read, and categorize operations running asynchronously, these actions feel instantaneous to the user. We've also made sure that certain long running operations, such as attaching a very large file, will not block the rest of the OWA experience, protecting the user from irritating web UI hang-ups. You'll see a number of other UI improvements as well to de-clutter a bit; helping make it easier to find common tasks with updated action icons and menus. The simpler UI will make OWA much friendlier to the smaller screens of ever popular Netbooks. Users will also be able to share their calendars to anonymous viewers via the web, assuming you enable this functionality as the admin.
In RTM, we delivered Information Rights Management (IRM) capabilities in OWA, allowing you to read and compose IRM-protected messages just like you've been able to do with Outlook in the past. In SP1, you'll be able to add Web-Ready Document Viewing of IRM-protected documents as well and you'll be able to do so in Safari on a Mac as well as in Firefox or IE on a PC.
Finally, for those of you who have been dying to change the look and feel of OWA, we're bringing OWA themes back; adding several OWA themes so you can match the OWA experience to your particular style. Oh yeah, and yes, the reading pane can be placed on the bottom or the right side.
While Exchange Active Sync (EAS) has become the de facto standard for mobile communication, there is no resting on any laurels in Redmond here either. In SP1, mobile users will be treated with tether-free IRM support in EAS, enabling you to send and receive IRM-protected mail without having previously connected your device to Windows Mobile Device Center to provision IRM. Updated EAS capabilities also enable support for send-as, support for notifying the user if their device has been placed on block or quarantine by their admin, full implementation of conversation view including the ability to sync only unique parts of messages. Also, for those users who need help setting up their mobile device to access mail via POP/IMAP/SMTP, we've added information in OWA to provide them the server names for these services. For those of you who haven't already seen Michael Higashi's blog post from March, take a look to read about all the updated Outlook Mobile capabilities already delivered.
We know you all love PowerShell, as do we, but SP1 will bring several new management UI enhancements to enable a number of management tasks in the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and Exchange Control Panel (ECP). Here's a taste:
Many of the improvements we are delivering in the SP1 are in direct response to the feedback you've provided since RTM. I am excited about how, in a very short period time, we've been able to quickly respond and introduce these improvements and innovation to Exchange 2010. A full list of what's coming in SP1 will be on TechNet soon.
As always, let us know what you think!
-- Michael Atalla
I am very pleased to let you all know that Exchange Server 2007 SP3 is available for download. As we highlighted in Updates to the Exchange Supportability Matrix this past November, this third service pack for Exchange 2007 enables Exchange 2007 to be installed on the Windows Server 2008 R2 version of the operating system. We heard you loud and clear that this is enormously important to our Exchange 2007 customers, so we worked quickly to deliver SP3 in order to meet this requirement.
Keep the feedback coming and for those of you evaluating all the good stuff packed into Exchange Server 2010, don't miss the beta of Exchange Server 2010 SP1. You can read about SP1 here.
Kevin Allison GM- Exchange Customer Experience
The Exchange team is announcing today the availability of Update Rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3. Update Rollup 3 is the latest rollup of customer fixes available for Exchange Server 2010. The release contains fixes for customer reported issues and previously released security bulletins. Update Rollup 3 is not considered a security release as it contains no new previously unreleased security bulletins. A complete list of issues resolved in Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 Update Rollup 3 may be found in KB2891587.
Note: The KB article may not be fully available at the time of publishing this post.
The release is now available on the Microsoft Download Center.
Update 8/14/13: Due to an issue with the Exchange 2013 Security Update installation process, the Exchange 2013 updates have been removed from the Download Center. For more information, please see Exchange 2013 Security Update MS13-061 Status Update.
Today, Exchange Servicing released several updates for the Exchange product line to the Download Center:
Note: Some of the following KB articles may not be available at the time of this article’s publishing.
The Exchange 2007 SP3 RU11 update contains two fixes in addition to the changes for MS13-061. For more details, including a list of fixes included in this update, see KB 2873746 and the MS13-061 security bulletin. We would like to specifically call out the following fixes which are included in this release:
The Exchange 2010 SP2 RU7 update contains the changes for MS13-061. For more details, see the MS13-061 security bulletin.
The Exchange 2010 SP3 RU2 update contains fixes for a number of customer-reported and internally found issues, as well as, the changes for MS13-061. For more details, including a list of fixes included in this update, see KB 2866475 and the MS13-061 security bulletin. We would like to specifically call out the following fixes which are included in this release:
MS13-061 is the first security update released for Exchange Server 2013 utilizing the new servicing model. MS13-061 is available as a security update for:
Important: If you have previously deployed CU2, you must ensure you are running build 712.24 in order to apply the security update. For more information about build 712.24, please see Now Available: Updated Release of Exchange 2013 RTM CU2.
Ross Smith IV Principal Program Manager Exchange Customer Experience
When we released Beta 1, we promised the release would be available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers early this year. Well, that time has come. Beta 1 is now being distributed via CD shipping to TechNet subscribers; MSDN subscribers will be able to download the CTP in March.
This CTP includes both the full 64-bit version, and the 32-bit version for feature evaluation, training, and demonstrations.
We chose to release this early build to only the TechNet and MSDN community (of 200,000) due to their long standing relationship with Microsoft and their commitment to providing valuable product feedback. We intend to make Beta 2 publicly available.
We are targeting mid-2006 for Beta 2, and remain on track to finish in the end of 2006 or early 2007. As always final timing will be driven by quality.
Thank you for all of your feedback and support to date. We look forward to that much more with this CTP release.
- Terry Myerson
Today the Exchange CXP team released the following update rollups to the Download Center. All three releases cover Security Bulletin MS13-012 (KB 2809279). Because this is a security release, the updates will also be available on Microsoft Update.
Update Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2
Update Rollup 10 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3
Update Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2:
This update contains a number of customer reported and internally found issues. In particular we would like to specifically call out the following fixes which are included in this release:
2489941 The "legacyExchangeDN" value is shown in the "From" field instead of the "Simple Display Name" in an email message in an Exchange Server 2010 environment 2779387 Duplicated email messages are displayed in the Sent Items folder in a EWS-based application that accesses an Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox server 2751581 OAB generation fails with event IDs 9126, 9330, and either 9338 or 9339 in an Exchange Server 2010 environment 2784081 Store.exe process crashes if you add certain registry keys to an Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox server
2489941 The "legacyExchangeDN" value is shown in the "From" field instead of the "Simple Display Name" in an email message in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2779387 Duplicated email messages are displayed in the Sent Items folder in a EWS-based application that accesses an Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox server
2751581 OAB generation fails with event IDs 9126, 9330, and either 9338 or 9339 in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2784081 Store.exe process crashes if you add certain registry keys to an Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox server
Update Rollup 10 for Exchange Server 2007 SP3:
2783779 A hidden user is still displayed in the Organization information of Address Book in OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment Note: Exchange 2007 SP3 RU10 allows Exchange 2007 servers to coexist with Exchange 2013 CU1, which is also scheduled to be released in Q1 2013. Customers can test and validate this update in a representative lab environment prior to rolling out in their production environments as an important coexistence preparatory step before introducing Exchange Server 2013 CU1.
2783779 A hidden user is still displayed in the Organization information of Address Book in OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
Note: Exchange 2007 SP3 RU10 allows Exchange 2007 servers to coexist with Exchange 2013 CU1, which is also scheduled to be released in Q1 2013. Customers can test and validate this update in a representative lab environment prior to rolling out in their production environments as an important coexistence preparatory step before introducing Exchange Server 2013 CU1.
Originally, we stated we would deliver Exchange 2013 RTM Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) by the end of this quarter. Unfortunately, we are not going to meet that goal. We know that many of you will be disappointed as a result of this statement. We understand your pain, however, the decision to delay is due to an issue we found in our final test pass coupled with feedback from members within our Technology Adoption Program community.
Specifically, we found an issue with Exchange 2010 coexistence. The issue actually had an easy workaround, but we made a decision; instead of burdening you with a configuration change on all of your Exchange 2010 Client Access servers, we decided to take a code change in Exchange 2013 and solve the problem so that you will not have to make any additional configuration changes. Given that the goal of CU1 is to enable coexistence with legacy versions of Exchange, we felt this was the right decision; after all, we want to ensure that your upgrade to Exchange 2013 and your coexistence period goes as smooth as possible.
As previously mentioned, Exchange 2013's update strategy is different from previous releases; we are uncoupling security updates and reducing the number of updates we release. In addition to those changes, we will continue to evaluate issues as they are identified during development (even during the final test pass) and if we determine that the vast majority of on-premises customers are affected, we will do everything we can to mitigate the issue prior to release, even if that means delaying the release.