As posted by the Exchange team yesterday, it is true: Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Beta Now Available for Download
Once you have downloaded the files, and deployed them, you are ready to rock the Exchange 2010 Sp1 world.
Let’s have a short look at some of the new features..
Just a few first impressions…more to follow :-)
Ilse
After deploying DPM2010, you will need to deploy an agent on any client you want to protect.
You can choose to automatically deploy your agents, by running the wizard in the DPM 2010 Administrator Console:
Or you can choose to manually deploy an agent.
When deploying a DPM agent manually, there are two steps envolved:
1. Install the agent
2. Attach the agent to your DPM server.
Let’s have close look at these steps…
Step 1: Install the agent
To install the agent, you can use the source files available in the source files of DPM:
Or you can use the source files deployed on your DPM server:
When running the executable, you can immediately add the name of your DPM server, if you don’t, you need to run afterwards SetDPMServer, to configure the necessary security permissions for the DPM server, and to configure the firewall to enable DPM agent to interact with the DPM server.
When the agent has installed, I just need to press enter to close the window:
After running DPMAgentInstaller_x64.exe on my server E2010MU2, I need to run SetDPMServer as can be seen below.
Step 2: Attaching the Agent to the DPM Server
To attach the agent to the DPM server, you have two options:
Open your DPM Administrator Console, go to Management, and select Install:
This will launch the Protection Agent Installation Wizard, and there you can select Attach agent:
Select the computer:
Specify a username, password, and domain for a domain account that has administrator rights on the computer that you want to attach to the DPM server.
Review the summary….
The protected computer will be attached :-)
And that’s it… now time to create protection groups, and get protected!
System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 is here, and it (amongst all other features) enables you as an Exchange administrator to backup your Exchange 2010 environment, and DPM 2010 is DAG-aware!
Let’s see…
After installing SCDPM2010, I need to deploy a DPM agent. In my current Exchange organization, I have created a DAG, called DAG1, too which two Exchange 2010 mailbox servers belong, being E2010CHM1, and E2010MU2.
When I select the option to install an agent in the DPM Administrator Console, DPM will prompt me that there is a cluster found :-)
DPM detected that you have selected servers that are nodes of a server cluster. You have not selected other nodes that belong to the same server cluster. However, if the nodes are part of a Exchange 2010 DAG you need not protect all DAG nodes.
You can protect nonclustered data in the selected nodes without installing protection agents on the other nodes.
What does this mean?
If you have a DAG configured, and if you only deploy a DPM agent on some of the DAG members, you will be able to backup any of the databases homed on those DAG members. But you will not be able to backup any database that are only homed on DAG members that haven’t got a DPM agent installed!
For example, in my deployment, I have a DAG, called DAG1, with two member servers. I have deployed a DPM agent on E2010CHM1, and not on E2010MU2. Databases are distributed as followed in my Exchange deployment:
When creating a new Protection Group, I will see the DAG, but I won’t be able to select any database which is homed only on E2010MU2. I will be able to select any database homed on E2010CHM1.
As can be seen in the print screen below, I can not see the mailbox database called BHV, since it is only homed on E2010MU2!
After selecting for example the Management database, I need to supply some more information, like a name for the protection group:
And then some specific Exchange information. DPM can run the Eseutil integrity check, thereby reducing the load on the Exchange server itself. DPM will check the integrity using Eseutil, and will inform Exchange afterwards about the status of the backup. DPM requires two files from Exchange in order to do this integrity check. You need to copy Ese.dll and Eseutil.exe from your Exchange server to the DPM bin directory, or you can install the Exchange management tools on your DPM server. I have chosen to copy the two files from my Exchange server to the DPM server.
Then there is specific question with regards to Exchange DAG Protection, you will need to assign your mailbox databases to either a Full Backup or to a Copy Backup. It is important to remember that you can only select one copy of a database for full backup, due to federated log truncation!
Specify your short term recovery goals…
Review the disk allocation…
Specify how you want DMP to create a replica of the data….
Define when you want consistency checks to run…
Review the summary…
And create the protection group…
Replication creation can begin…
And when done, you get a green OK :-)
And the files will be backed up on your selected drive:
And recovery can begin when and if needed :-)
Last week I was in Los Angeles, to deliver two sessions for The Experts Conference, one on how one can use Active Directory Rights Management Server to protect Exchange 2010, and one entitled “Exchange: On Premises or In the Cloud”.
During that last session, I promised to post all links I referred too, and here they are, or here it is, all links have already been gathered by Brett Hill, and posted here:
Quick-Reference for BPOS-S Technical Content
In addition, Tommy Clarke has posted a very nice comparison between Office Communications Online Standard, and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 last month, it’s available here:
Comparison Between Office Communications Online Standard and Office Communications Server 2007 R2
During my talk on Information Rights Management, the question came “how about Apple?”, there is a double answer to this question:
Source = http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876891.aspx
Cross-browser, multiple platform IRM support IRM in Outlook Web App offers cross-browser, multiple platform IRM support. IRM in Outlook Web App is supported in all browsers supported by Exchange 2010, including on Apple Macintosh and Linux operating systems
Source = http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-provides-a-first-look-at-the-ribbonized-office-for-mac-2011/5231
“Microsoft officials announced in August 2009 that the company was working on a new version of its productivity suite for the Mac — which has been christened Office 2011 for Mac, officials said on February 11. Last year, Microsoft officials said the new suite would include Outlook in place of the current Entourage mail client, support for Microsoft’s information rights management (IRM) content protection, and support for Visual Basic.”
A while ago I got a question from someone regarding one of the new features in Exchange 2010, being text messaging. Question was “is it available”…
Looking at the TechNet article he referred to, it does state:
Source = http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298136.aspx
The following is a list of new text messaging features included in Exchange 2010:
So let’s see.
Requirements
You need to have a Windows Mobile device:
And once you have chosen to sync your text messages, you will see all messages sent and received appear in your inbox, like below:
You will also receive an email, notifying you that you are able to send SMS/text messages using OWA/Outlook from now on:
What can you do?
How does it work?
When a text (sms) message is created using Outlook/OWA, it will be sent to Exchange. Exchange will use EAS to send/sync the message to the users cell phone. The user’s cell phone will then send that message out over SMS.
When a user receives a text message, the sent message will be synced to the user’s mailbox using EAS.
Some Q & A
Q. What if I have more than one SMS Sync enabled phones connected to an account?
A. The most recently connected one will be the one used to send the message
Q. Can I disable this feature as an administrator?
A. Yes, you can, using the Exchange Management Shell for example
Happy SMS/Text Messaging :-)
When talking about the new High Availability features in Exchange 2010 an often recurring question is “How many mailbox databases can you home on an Exchange 2010 Standard Edition?”
The answer is listed here: Looking at the On-Premise Licensing for Exchange Server 2010, and for a Standard Edition you are limited to 5 and for an Enterprise edition you are limited to 100:
I’ve got a DAG, called DAG1, which includes two servers: E2010CHM1, and E2010MU2. I’ve created a few mailbox databases as you can see in the picture below:
The following databases are mounted on E2010CHM1:
And the following mailbox databases are mounted on E2010MU2:
Now let’s try to add a mailbox database copy for the mailbox database BHV, so it will be available as a passive database copy on E2010CHM1.
Here’s the result:
Conclusion
Exchange 2010 Standard Edition is limited to a maximum database limit of 5 (which is the sum of active and passive database copies, and the public folder database!)
Question: Is it possible to check if a message has been read, even when the sender forgot to check the box “Request a Read receipt for this message”?
Answer: Yes, if you have configured your Exchange 2010 organization to enable the tracking for read status for messages, by using the Exchange Management Shell cmdlet Set-OrganizationConfig.
ReadTrackingEnabled: False
By default, when you run the EMS cmdlet Get-OrganizationConfig, you will notice that the tracking for read status for messages is not enabled.
Thereby, when you use the Exchange Control Panel, to track the delivery of a message, you won’t see any info if the message has been read or not.
To see the delivery report of a message, you can use both Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, or OWA, or go immediately to ECP itself.
Using Outlook 2010, go to Sent Items, select your sent message, click File in the toolbar, and there you can select Open Delivery Report underneath Info:
This will open up your default browser, and connect to the Exchange Control Panel, and show you the Delivery Report:
You can see the message was successfully delivered, but not information about the read status.
Set-OrganizationConfig –ReadTrackingEnabled:$True
Now, let’s enable the tracking of read status :-)
Use the Exchange Management Shell, and enter the line below:
And let’s check again if we can see if our message has been read:
Please Note:
This feature is NOT a replacement for the Read Receipt summary in the Outlook Tracking tab, a sender can always choose to request a read receipt, and depending on the recipients choice to issue one or not, the sender will receive this, independent of the organization wide config of enabling the tracking of message their read status!
More Information:
For more information about delivery reports in Exchange 2010 using the Exchange Control Panel, have a look at these links:
Spotlight on Exchange 2010: Delivery Reports
and
Exchange 2010 Delivery Reports
Last week I got a question from one of my colleagues to see if there was a list available somewhere that describes the differences between Outlook Web App and Outlook Web App Light, as there is a list available describing the differences between OWA Premium and OWA Light in Exchange 2007 (Exchange 2007 = Client Features in Outlook Web Access).
The following link was easily retrieved: Supported E-Mail Programs and Features, which includes a table listing some of the differences when accessing your mailbox using OWA, OWA Light, Outlook, Entourage, Mobile Device, POP, IMAP.
A great article about using OWA Light 2007 can be found here:
Microsoft Outlook Web Access Light 2007
But not really an overview of comparing OWA, to its light version in Exchange 2010.
So here’s an attempt to create such an overview…
Let me know if parts/pieces/features are missing!
Yesterday Scott Schnoll and I had the honor to deliver a one-day pre-conference fully dedicated to the wonderful world of Microsoft Exchange 2010.
A few questions came up during and after the sessions, and one of them came from Tom De Caluwé who was interested in seeing how secure Remote PowerShell is. During my talk on Managing Exchange, I gave a demo on how you can use PowerShell v2, and connect to your Exchange server by establishing a persistent connection to it using the cmdlet new-pssession, as shown in the figure below:
$a = New-PSSession –ConfigurationName microsoft.exchange –ConnectionUri http://<FQDN of your CAS Server/powershell/
Import-PSSession $a
It is save to connect using http, since you use Kerberos encryption. Tom was interested in knowing what was encrypted, if the entire session was encrypted, or just the initial setup.
To make sure, we sat down, and used a network monitoring tool to see what happens when connecting to Exchange from another domain-joined machine using Remote PowerShell.
After establishing the persistent connection to my Exchange 2010 Client Access server named demodc.nwtraders.com, we decided to create a mailbox-enabled user called Bumbalu, and this is what the sniffering gave us:
Looking at the output, it was clear that the session was HTTP-Kerberos-session encrypted :-)
Just as a double-check, we removed our user Bumbalu and we created it again, with a different password (all the rest was the same).
And then Tom used a tool to compare both sniffer results and the differences between the two streams came down to:
Remote PowerShell rocks :-)
Your presence state when logged into OCS 2007 R2 expresses your willingness and availability to communicate.
By default the following presence states are available:
AVAILABLE, BUSY, DO NOT DISTURB, BE RIGHT BACK, and AWAY
Below some Q & A on Presence States :-)
Q1. Is it possible to appear offline?
A1. Yes :-)
How? Using the registry editor, or using group policies, you can add the following DWORD value to the client’s machine.
Location = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator
DWORD_Value = EnableAppearOffline
Value = 1 (to enable)
You will need to exit communicator and relaunch.
Q2. Where does OCS get Presence Information from?
A2. Presence can be set manually, and can be derived from calendar information, out of office notes, and so on.
A very nice overview of presence and how the aggregated information is gathered and published to users can be found in this TechNet article
How Presence Powers OCS 2007
Q3. When setting my state to “Do Not Disturb”, my team members can disturb me, how come?
A3. This is by design.
When you set your status to “Do Not Disturb”, it will depend on the level of access granted to your contacts, if they can or are not allowed to disturb you.
When given the Level of Access of Company – Public – Blocked - Personal, that contact will not be able to disturb you, and see that your status has been set to “Do not disturb”.
When changing the Level of Access for a contact to Team, they won’t see the status of Do Not Disturb, but they will see a Busy state “Urgent Interruptions Only”, and they will be able to send IM or issue a Communicator Call to you. (Changing the Level of Access, doesn’t require anybody to relaunch communicator).
Q4. Can I configure custom presence states?
A4. Yes.
You can configure up to 4 custom presence state per OCS-enabled user.
The process is clearly described in this article:
Configuring Custom Presence States in Communicator 2007 R2
And if you want to see how to this in a video, here’s a link to a chopstick I recorded a few months ago:
Custom States Communicator
When talking about Exchange Unified Messaging, and often recurring question is “which languages are supported for which features”.
Time for an overview.
Link to bookmark 1 = Understanding Unified Messaging Languages
In this TechNet article the following information can be seen:
There are several key components that rely on UM language packs to enable users and callers to interact effectively with Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging in multiple languages. Each UM language pack includes a Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine, the pre-recorded prompts and support for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Voice Mail Preview for a specific language. This topic discusses UM language packs, the UM components that use the UM language packs, and how UM language packs, after they're installed, can be used to configure UM dial plans and UM auto attendants to use other languages.
Meaning, the following features are available in every UM language pack:
And Voice Mail Preview is only available for a few languages, being:
Link to bookmark 2 = Downloading the Language Packs
A few remarks first:
The following language packs are available for download:
Link to bookmark 3 = Quick Start Guide for Outlook Voice Access 2010
You can download for every UM language pack a nice pdf, which shows the navigational tree and the options that are available to UM-enabled users when they are using Outlook Voice Access. Definitely two pages to print + laminate and hand-out to all UM-enabled users :-)
Below a print-screen from the nl-NL Quick Start Guide:
Touchtone User Interface
Voice User Interface
How to install a UM Language Pack?
To install a UM Language Pack, you’ve got the following options:
setup.com /AddUmLanguagePack:<language> /s:<path to lang.pack>
Uninstalling any UM language pack (except the en-US one, which can only be uninstalled by uninstalling the UM server role), can only be done by using the Setup.com command.
After installing UM-language pack, you will be able to configure your UM dial plans to use on of them as the default language.
While configuring my demo environment, I noticed the following error message when trying to configure a set of Call Answering Rules for one of my demo UM-mailbox-enabled users:
“The phone number you tried to dial has been restriced.” interesting…
In order to be able to configure a call answering rule, which will transfer a received call to another number, we need to configure Exchange UM.
Let’s have a look.
Step 1. Configure Dial-In Rule Groups
By default, every UM-enabled user is allowed to dial any other UM-enabled user associated with the same dial plan. But, by default, any UM-enabled user is not allowed to dial external telephone numbers from inside the organization.
In order to enable UM-enabled users to dial any-one inside/outside the organization, from within the organization, you need to configure so-called dialing rule groups, which specify settings for in-country/region and international calls that will be placed by any UM-enabled user from inside your organization.
Both the Exchange Management Shell, and the Exchange Management Console can be used to create those groups.
Using the EMC, go to Organization Configuration, Unified Messaging, and right-click to select the properties of the dial plan, your UM-enabled user belongs to.
Select the property page, called Dialing Restrictions:
And add the needed In-Country/Region Rule Groups.
For example, any number that will be dialed with a Number mask of 03456xxxx (like 034562001), will be dialed by your configuration using the Dialed number +323456xxxx (like +3234562001).
Step 2. Configure Dialing Restrictions (Dial Plan & UM Policy)
After creating all the required rule groups, you need to define the appropriate dialing rule entries on the Dialing Group Rules tab, and you need to add the appropriate dialing rule groups from the UM dial plan to the UM mailbox policy on the Dialing Restrictions tab.
For the Dial Plan:
For the UM Mailbox Policy:
Step 3. Configure your Voice Mail options
Voice Mail options can be configured using the Exchange Control Panel, accessible using both Outlook 2010 and OWA. When using Outlook, you will be directed to a URL (!).
You can configure a call answering rule to:
- simply transfer the call to another number
- find me at the following numbers
When configuring transfer, the call will be transferred, when configuring Find Me, the process is a bit different, as described below.
FIND-ME or Transfer Call To?
In this example, what happens when user Robin Marstboom calls Ilse Van Criekinge?
1. Robin calls Ilse
2. Call is forwarded to UM
3. UM will present Robin with the configured Call Answering Rule menu
With a Call Answering Rule set to
“If the caller is one of the following people: Robin Marstboom
Then press 1 to transfer to 2001
For urgent matters, press 2 to find me (@ number 034562002)
Press # to record a voice message”
Robin will hear the following information:
“You’ve reached the mailbox of Ilse Van Criekinge
For 2001, press 1
For urgent matters, press 2 to find Ilse Van Criekinge
To leave a voice mail message press the pound key”
4. When Selection Option 1, Robin will hear from UM “Ok, dialing” and Call will be transferred.
5. When Selecting Option 2 to find Ilse Van Criekinge (Find –Me)
UM will tell Robin “Ok, dialing, at any time press the start key to quit and return to the main menu “ and will place the call on hold,
UM will place a call to the configured Find Me number (in our example that would be 034562002), and the phone will ring, when answered, the following information is given: “This is a call for Ilse Van Criekinge from Robin Marstboom, to accept press 1, to reject 2, to hear this message again press 3.”
After pressing 1, UM will say “connecting”, and Robin will be connected to Ilse.
If Ilse would select 2, Robin will get the following information back: “Sorry I was unable to reach Ilse Van Criekinge, returning to the main menu” and the menu will be repeated.
And if you want to know why, and what the consequences are...have a look at this great post from the Microsoft Exchange Team itself:
Dude, Where's My Single Instance?
Just published @ http://www.techdays.be, there will be two sessions on OCS 14, the next big OCS release, delivered by François Doremieux.
Who is François Doremieux?
Francois is a Director of Engineering in the Office Communications Product Group. He has spent the past 7 years contributing to drive Microsoft Unified Communications and Voice efforts. His current role consists in closely working with early adopters and leading customers, helping them define their UC strategy and deploying OCS. In turn, he brings these customers requirements into the Product Group product specification and development process. Francois’ primary technical domain is voice interoperability with IP-PBX.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Francois fulfilled leadership roles at Level(3), AT&T and Comcast.
Francois resides in Colorado and uses Microsoft UC tools to telecommute.
He will talk about:
Session 1, Introduction to Microsoft Communications Server “W14” Positioning and main features for Microsoft Communications Server “W14”, with emphasis on Voice and Collaboration capabilities
Session 2, New voice capabilities and infrastructure in Microsoft Communications Server “W14” Detailed description of voice features in Microsoft Communications Server “W14”, with discussion of implications on topology and interoperability
So, be fast, and register today for the TechDays!
Hope to see you there!
Then the Office Communications Server Team blog has some good news for you:
Free Instructor-Led Training for end-users: Introduction to Office Communicator
Here’s a copy-paste of the information posted:
“This live course is held in a virtual classroom via Office Live Meeting. It will allow hands-on experience to build knowledge, skills, and confidence to use Office Communicator more effectively.
These features will be covered in this high-level overview:
Click here to register: https://events.livemeeting.com/967/15027/reg.aspx?pc=05”
I have always loved this feature ever since I first noticed it when diving into Exchange 2007.
For more information about this web service, and how it is used by multiple applications like Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and later, and the Microsoft Office Communications Server Phone Edition, I would like to refer to this article on MsExchange.Org (Exchange Autodiscover).
In this blog post I just want to highlight how you can change the default behavior of Microsoft Office Outlook when figuring out the Client Access server to connect to use the Autodiscover web service.
When you launch Microsoft Office Outlook 2007/2010, Outlook will try to connect to a Client Access server using the given e-mail address. Imagine we want to configure a mailbox with a given e-mailaddress Ilse,VanCriekinge@TestAccount.Com.
Outlook will use the given SMTP Domain of TestAccount.com, and try to reach the Client Access server using the following order:
If this fails, the next try will be:
If this fails, the next try will be a local discover of xml files that may contain information on the Client Access server to be contacted.
If this fails, the next try will be a redirect to:
If this fails, the last step will be to locate a service record:
When holding the Ctrl button, and right-click the Outlook icon in the system tray, you can test the Autoconfiguration and troubleshoot Autodiscover configuration settings.
If this fails, Outlook will not be able to connect to a Client Access server in your environment to retrieve the following pieces of information:
In some cases it might be necessary to change the default behavior or Microsoft Outlook.
An example might be that you have two organizations, sharing the same namespace. Imagine a namespace of ProExchange.Global, shared by both forest A and forest B. When clients login to the domain, they will be services by Active Directory and retrieve the necessary settings. But when trying to launch Microsoft Office Outlook from the outside, there will be one autodiscover record pointing to a Client Access server in Forest A, which won’t help a user from Forest B….
In that situation it might be very useful, if you can help Outlook to query a Client Access server in Forest B directly.
Example situation =
• Situation: Move user x from organization A to organization B. • Organization A = ProExchange.Global • Organization B = Sunshine.Edu + ProExchange.Global • User ivancriekinge has two smtp addresses: SMTP: ivancriekinge@ProExchange.Global Smtp: ivancriekinge@Sunshine.Edu
• Situation: Move user x from organization A to organization B.
• Organization A = ProExchange.Global
• Organization B = Sunshine.Edu + ProExchange.Global
• User ivancriekinge has two smtp addresses:
When a user from Organization B, ivancriekinge logs into to the domain itself, there is no problem, since Active Directory will be queried:
When a user from Organization A, administrator logs into to domain itself, there is no problem, since Active Directory will be queried
When user administrator logs in from a non-domain joined machine, there is no problem, since the service record points to a Client Access server in Organization A.
But when user ivancriekinge logs into from a non-domain joined machine, the problem occurs, since the Client Access server in Organization A doesn’t know anything about user ivancriekinge, located in Organization B.
To make user a Client Access server is queried in Organization B, we can use an XML file, which includes the URL to use!
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Autodiscover xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/autodiscover/responseschema/2006"> <Response xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/autodiscover/outlook/responseschema/2006a"> <Account> <AccountType>email</AccountType> <Action>redirectUrl</Action> <RedirectUrl>https://autodiscover.sunshine.edu/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml</RedirectUrl> </Account> </Response> </Autodiscover>
Then you need to configure the client machine to query that XML file by adding the following registry key:
for Outlook 2007: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Autodiscover for Outlook 2010: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Autodiscover STRING_value <your_namespace> = path to XML file
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Autodiscover
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Autodiscover
STRING_value <your_namespace> = path to XML file
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Autodiscover for Outlook 2010: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Autodiscover DWORD_value, PreferLocalXML = 1
DWORD_value, PreferLocalXML = 1
And then it will work :-)
Yes :-)
If you don’t want autodiscover to check a few steps, you can include one or more of the following keys.
Outlook 2007:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover
Outlook 2010:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover
•"ExcludeHttpRedirect"=dword:0 •"ExcludeHttpsAutodiscoverDomain"=dword:0 •"ExcludeHttpsRootDomain"=dword:0 •"ExcludeScpLookup"=dword:0 •"ExcludeSrvLookup"=dword:0 •"ExcludeSrvRecord"=dword:0
•"ExcludeHttpRedirect"=dword:0
•"ExcludeHttpsAutodiscoverDomain"=dword:0
•"ExcludeHttpsRootDomain"=dword:0
•"ExcludeScpLookup"=dword:0
•"ExcludeSrvLookup"=dword:0
•"ExcludeSrvRecord"=dword:0
Autodiscover is a wonderful feature! Once configured correctly it will save you quite some time!
Exchange 2010 enables you as an Exchange administrator, to give your users an archive. A lot has been said already about this feature, and I just want to take note of some facts and a persistent rumor concerning the online archive.
FACT 1 = Accessible ONLINE using Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 and/or Outlook Web App (OWA)
If you have configured your mail profile to use cached mode, your will notice that your primary mailbox shows a connection status of Connected, where-as the online archive shows you Online.
When connection to the Exchange Mailbox Server is lost, the Online Archive will not be accessible:
FACT 2 = Archive Mailbox resides in the same mailbox database as its primary mailbox
When moving a mailbox from one database to another database, you will always move the primary mailbox and the archive mailbox together.
Given the new online move, your mailbox-enabled users won’t be disconnected during the move from their mailbox or online archive!
FACT 3 = A mailbox-enabled user requires an Exchange Enterprise Client Access License when giving the user an online archive
Here’s an overview from the additional features you gain when having an Enterprise Client Access License, as taken from http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/Licensing.aspx, dd January 29th 2010.
One rumor to end… You can only manage the archive using the Exchange Management Shell
This is not entirely true :-)
You can use the Exchange Management Console to:
You do need to use the power of the Exchange Management Shell in order to:
First you need to create a retentionpolicytag, which will enable you to define which settings you want to apply to which items &/or folders in a mailbox.
Possible types for a retentionpolicytag are:
Possible types for MessageClass, to define the message type to which the tag applies, like Voicemail, AllMailboxContent
The RetentionAction parameter specifies one of the following actions:
MarkAsPastRetentionLimit
MoveToDeletedItems
DeleteAndAllowRecovery
PermanentlyDelete
MoveToArchive
It might be useful to include the parameter Comment, to add a comment for the tag. You can even define localized comments, using LocalizedComment, and you can prevent users from hiding the comment by including MustDisplayCommentEnabled. If you want to, you can even define a localed name for the tag itself, using LocalizedRetentionPolicyTagName!
In the example below, I have created a new retention policy tag, which will be available to users to mark an item as Business Critical. I’ve created a policy that includes the default built-in retention tags and the Business Critical-one , and applied it to my mailbox.
For more information about tags and policies, head over to Ian’s blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/ianhamer/archive/2009/12/04/curious-about-exchange-2010-retention-policies.aspx
The Exchange Product Team has just released a new version of the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Requirements Calculator. Please begin using it in your designs and point your customers to it. You can download it here - http://msexchangeteam.com/files/12/attachments/entry453145.aspx.
For more information on what’s been added, which bugs have been fixed, and what is gone, head over to: Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator Updated to Version 3.2
Learn Exchange 2010 in Depth
The second Pre-conference for IT Pro’s will be one covering Exchange 2010. During this full day of training you will learn everything you want to know on how to deploy and manage an Exchange 2010 infrastructure. This session will be delivered by me and I’m very happy to be joined by Scott Schnoll who is a well-known speaker and spoken at many events all over the world!
Register today to benefit from the early bird pricing and save 15%
Exchange 2010 Client Side: What’s new talking about Client Access? In this session you will be introduced to the Client Access server role, which is one of five distinct server roles for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. You will see how it enables support for Outlook Web App and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync client applications, and the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP4) protocols, in addition to how it provides access to free/busy data by using the Availability service and enables certain clients to download automatic configuration settings from the Autodiscover service. After attending this session you will understand the Client Access server role, know how to manage and secure the Client Access server role, provide high availability, and use the power of Exchange Web Services. Exchange High Availability This session includes an overview of mailbox resiliency in Exchange 2010, and a deep dive into the inner workings of new features such as database availability groups, mailbox database copies, continuous replication, active manager, and more. It also covers several design examples for in-datacenter high availability and site resilience. Managing Exchange 2010 Exchange Server 2010 includes new capabilities that make the operation of your Exchange environment more efficient. Come and learn how we've made the Exchange Management Console more powerful, extended the reach of PowerShell, made it easier to delegate management tasks, and built Web-based tools to make the job of managing Exchange easier than ever. Exchange Performance/Scalability Selecting the right server hardware for an Exchange 2010 deployment becomes much easier when you know the product team's scalability and performance guidelines. This session provides a look at the product team's guidance for the processor and memory requirements of each server role in Exchange 2010. A number of key performance enhancements from this release are discussed, and you also learn about how to use related tools like the Exchange Mailbox Server Requirements Calculator, Exchange Profile Analyzer, Loadgen, and Jetstress to take the guesswork out of server sizing. Exchange Information Protection & Control (including RBAC) Worried about employees accidentally leaking valuable corporate e-mail? This session introduces new methods of information protection and control powered by Exchange Server 2010, including new transport rule for moderation, dynamic signatures and application of rights management. A discussion of the use of Active Directory Rights Management Service in parallel with Exchange is included, as well as an introduction to how these new features can be applied to real-world messaging control scenarios.
Exchange 2010 Client Side: What’s new talking about Client Access? In this session you will be introduced to the Client Access server role, which is one of five distinct server roles for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. You will see how it enables support for Outlook Web App and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync client applications, and the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP4) protocols, in addition to how it provides access to free/busy data by using the Availability service and enables certain clients to download automatic configuration settings from the Autodiscover service. After attending this session you will understand the Client Access server role, know how to manage and secure the Client Access server role, provide high availability, and use the power of Exchange Web Services.
Exchange High Availability This session includes an overview of mailbox resiliency in Exchange 2010, and a deep dive into the inner workings of new features such as database availability groups, mailbox database copies, continuous replication, active manager, and more. It also covers several design examples for in-datacenter high availability and site resilience.
Managing Exchange 2010 Exchange Server 2010 includes new capabilities that make the operation of your Exchange environment more efficient. Come and learn how we've made the Exchange Management Console more powerful, extended the reach of PowerShell, made it easier to delegate management tasks, and built Web-based tools to make the job of managing Exchange easier than ever.
Exchange Performance/Scalability Selecting the right server hardware for an Exchange 2010 deployment becomes much easier when you know the product team's scalability and performance guidelines. This session provides a look at the product team's guidance for the processor and memory requirements of each server role in Exchange 2010. A number of key performance enhancements from this release are discussed, and you also learn about how to use related tools like the Exchange Mailbox Server Requirements Calculator, Exchange Profile Analyzer, Loadgen, and Jetstress to take the guesswork out of server sizing.
Exchange Information Protection & Control (including RBAC) Worried about employees accidentally leaking valuable corporate e-mail? This session introduces new methods of information protection and control powered by Exchange Server 2010, including new transport rule for moderation, dynamic signatures and application of rights management. A discussion of the use of Active Directory Rights Management Service in parallel with Exchange is included, as well as an introduction to how these new features can be applied to real-world messaging control scenarios.
Call for Input
Don’t hesitate to let me know which content concerning Exchange 2010 you would like to see during this pre-conference!
One of the first warmly welcomed new features included with the next release of Microsoft Office Outlook, being 2010, is the ability to open up multiple mailboxes (up to 3 by default, and up to 15 using a registry entry) and the fact that when you send a message using one of the accounts the mail will be saved in the Sent Items folder of the sender’s mailbox. When opening a shared mailbox in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, it required you to create at least a rule to have the message moved from the primary mailbox its Sent Items folder, to the shared mailbox its Sent Items…
But…it seems that ever since June 2009, 30, this isn’t necessary anymore!
Time to investigate :-)
Situation
Running Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Service Pack 2, and opening two mailboxes. Primary mailbox is the one belonging to the Administrator, and the profile is configured to open one additional mailbox, being the mailbox of Ilse Van Criekinge.
Outlook looks like:
When I click New, to send new mail, I can change the From Address to Ilse, and a message to someone else.
After clicking Send, I can see the mail will be delivered to Robin, as sent by Ilse, but the message is stored in the Sent Items folder of the Administrator!
Solution
Included with Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, it is possible to configure Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to act the same :-)
Looking at the following Knowledge Base Article:
You need Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Sp1 + HotFix from June 2009,30
Or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Sp 2, and you need to add a DWORD_Value called DelegateSentItemsStyle, and set its value to 1 in the registry!
When sending a mail from Ilse after restarting Outlook, you will notice the mail is stored immediately in the Sent Items folder of the secondary mailbox!
Check the following two new URLs created for you to find out more about Exchange Online, with a complete overview of all advantages and links to find out more about Exchange Online.
Dutch version: www.werkvlotter.be
French version: www.travaillezmieux.be
Last year I blogged about uploading a picture in Outlook 2010 using the power of the Exchange Management Shell in Exchange 2010 (http://blogs.technet.com/ilvancri/archive/2009/11/17/upload-picture-in-outlook-2010-using-the-exchange-management-shell-exchange-2010.aspx)
The following question came back to me:
Is it possible to add the pictures to an Ex2007 Sp1/Outlook 2007 system?
So here’s a follow-up to the first article, time to investigate if pictures can be uploaded in other versions of Exchange / Outlook / Active Directory…
Server environment = Exchange 2003 sp2 (migex2k3) + Exchange 2007 sp2 (migex2k7) + Exchange 2010 (mailex2k10) + Active Directory 2008
Client environment = Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, and Outlook 2010
Mailboxes on all three servers
Running the below cmdlets on my Exchange 2010 server, shows that it is possible to use the shell to update this attribute for a mailbox located on Exchange 2010, ánd Exchange 2007, but (sadly, yet expected) not for one located on Exchange 2003.
The picture itself is ONLY visible using Outlook 2010!
Outlook 2003 =
Outlook 2007 =
Outlook 2010 =
However, it is possible to populate the field in AD, and have a picture shown in Outlook 2010 for a mailbox-enabled user located on Exchange 2003 J
Using Outlook 2010, the picture is there :-)
One might wonder if it isn’t possible to use the address template editor in Exchange 2003, and/or Exchange 2007 (more information here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232094(EXCHG.80).aspx) to include the field thumbnailPhoto, but no it’s not.
-Ilse
While talking to one of our customers, it became clear that there was no doubt about the possibilities offered to a company by deploying Microsoft Office Communications Server, and configuring its Instant Messaging, Conferencing, and Voice features. He did however wanted to know if there was any way it would be possible to show a kind of warning message when someone would use his/her communicator to start a conversation with on of his/her colleagues. Just to make sure the power of the system wouldn't be abused for non-work related time spendings. And that's one I remembered that during one of the training I delivered on OCS in one of my previous roles, there was a nice registry tweak that enabled just that. Here are the details…
IMWarning
If you want to include a message that is shown every time you start a conversation using Communicator you can, by adding the following value in your registry.
Location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Communicator
The value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE takes precedence however!
Name: IMWarning
Type: REG_SZ
Data: “Text to show”
This tweak allows you to customize this message for example to display your company chat policy.
You will need to relaunch Communicator to see the result of this setting!
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Client Group Policy
If you don’t feel like changing settings in the registry for every single user in your organization…there is a group policy template for you, which includes IMWarning :-)
February 5th, 2009, Microsoft released for download a new administrative template that contains registry settings for changing the behavior of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Clients, like Communicator, Communicator Attendant, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Client.
The download package contains the Communicator.adm file and a spreadsheet that documents the Group Policy settings for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 clients, including Office Communicator 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat.
For download, here’s the link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5d6f4b90-6980-430b-9f97-ffadbc07b7a9&displaylang=en
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and all the best for a wonderful 2010!!!!
Before the start of the Exchange 2010 RoadShow in Gent, I got an interesting question from one of the attendees (thank you Luc) who was eager to know if it is possible in Exchange 2010 to configure an Out-Of-Office for any mailbox in the organization without being required to login to the mailbox itself, using Outlook or OWA.
And the answer is…YES :-)
And even better, there are a few ways of doing so!
Among all new cmdlets included with Exchange 2010, there are two very interesting ones in this context, namely:
Get and Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration
Looking at our demo mailbox, belonging to me, it’s clear there is no Out-Of-Office configured yet:
When using the cmdlet Get-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration, we retrieve the same information:
Using a single line in the shell, it’s rather easy to provision the mailbox with an Out-Of-Office:
Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration –Identity <mailbox to configure> –ExternalAudience <allows you to define if you want everyone to receive the external message, or only your contacts> -ExternalMessage –InternalMessage –AutoReplyState <disabled, enabled, or scheduled if you want to schedule the OOF to start at a defined StartTime and possibly end after defined EndTime>
and this is how it looks using Outlook
Using any browser I can log into the Exchange Control Panel:
Choose to manage Another User, like Ilse Van Criekinge, and configure on her behalf her Out Of Office
To finish, and save the settings, click Save
In order to be able to make these changes, you need to have been delegated the necessary permissions!!!!
Until next time,