[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Fang Xie]

Microsoft Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 will be released soon on Microsoft Download Center for all Microsoft Exchange 2007 users, including Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 users.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is the industry's leading server for e-mail, calendaring and unified messaging. Exchange Server 2007 is the foundation for a dynamic and holistic unified communications experience, and has been designed to meet the challenges and address the messaging needs of today's businesses. Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) enables customers to increase their operational efficiency and it sets the foundation for the transition to Exchange Server 2010, which is expected to be available in the second half of 2009. It also contains all fixes that released earlier in update rollup packages for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. After Microsoft Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 is released, future Exchange upcoming Rollup Updates (RUs) will be offered to SP2-applied servers. For more information about Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP2, please refer to Exchange team blog.

Important update: Installing Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP2 on Windows Small Business Server 2008 currently causes problems in some web services of Windows SBS 2008 and requires manual steps to fix the problems. A prerequisite check is deployed in Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP2 setup program for Windows SBS 2008 so that Windows SBS users will be alerted and prompted before proceeding with installation.

UPDATED CONTENT [1/14/2010]

The Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 Installation Tool has now been released.  For more information, visit:

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2010/01/14/exchange-server-2007-service-pack-2-installation-tool-for-sbs-2008-released.aspx

Microsoft Windows SBS team is working on a Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP2 installation tool on Windows SBS 2008. The tool will automate the Exchange 2007 SP2 installation with a better user experience. With this tool released, users can download the tool to the Exchange 2007 SP2 setup folder and launch the SP2 setup from the tool. The tool will remove the prompt, stop the FSE services, launch Exchange 2007 setup UI, and then perform post-setup cleanup after SP2 installation is successfully completed.

For users who want to deploy Exchange 2007 SP2 on their Windows SBS machines urgently, manual steps are provided in KB 973862. However, we strongly recommend users to leverage our upcoming installation tool for a successful SP2 installation. We will inform you via this blog when this tool is available.

Note: KB 973862 should be available next week.

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Wayne McIntyre] 

Do you want to try a fun and awesome game powered by SilverLight Technology? Head on over to http://www.microsoft.com/click/serverquest/ and see how you handle the challenges of ServerQuest.

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Damian Leibaschoff and Justin Crosby]

Under certain conditions, the Windows SBS Console may show one or several of the following symptoms:

• The Other Alerts in the Home tab will show as “Not Available”
  
• The Console.Log may also contain exceptions like this one:
  
  [5164] 090620.094247.9164: Exception:
  ---------------------------------------
  An exception of type 'Type: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException, System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' has occurred.
  Timestamp: 06/20/2009 09:42:47
  Message: Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.
  Stack:    at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.ConsumeMetaData()
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.get_MetaData()
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, DbAsyncResult result)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
                     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar()
                     at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.SystemHealth.Monitoring.MonitoringSQLDataStore.GetAlertCountPerType(ComputerType type)
  
• The Security and Other Alerts status will take very long to update in the Home tab.
• The Security Status and Other Alerts will take a very long to populate in the Network, Computers tab.
• Manually generating a report in the Reports tab may cause the console to crash if the report includes the Security content option.

If you are seeing one or multiple symptoms like the ones described above, the following steps should help improve the overall performance of the Windows SBS console and prevent them from happening. There is always the chance that you might be experiencing an issue that is unrelated to this post but does present itself with similar symptoms, if that is the case, then the following steps might not provide relief.

1. Download the following file to the server you are going to be working on:
1. http://cid-d5fe25afb6c3615f.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/updateSBSMonitoring.sql
2. We recommend you save the file to an easy to access path, such as c:\windows\temp.
2. Complete a backup of the SBSMonitoring Databases
1. Open Services from Administrative Tools, Services
2. Accept the UAC prompt
3. Find and stop the SQL Server (SBSMONITORING) service.
4. Make a copy of the files in the following folder:
1. C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data
5. Once the file backup is completed, start the SQL Server (SBSMONITORING) service.
3. Proceed to run the following set of commands to implement the improvements
1. Open an Administrative Command Prompt (Run As Admin)
2. Type the following command, substitute the path to the updateSBSMonitoring.sql file as needed (We recommend that you do NOT copy & paste this command directly from the blog post):
1. Sqlcmd -S %computername%\SBSMonitoring -E  -i c:\windows\temp\updateSBSMonitoring.sql
2. Success will show an output like this:
   Changed database context to ‘SBSMonitoring’
   (1 rows affected)

This command can take up to 10 minutes depending upon the speed of the hardware.  Once complete results should improve immediately.

For more information about monitoring your Windows SBS 2008 server, read Monitoring and Reporting in Windows SBS 2008.

Updated 7/17/2009: Included command to immediately begin clean-up.

Yesterday at 6pm the WPC 2009 Booth doors opened, and the Expo started. The Windows Essential Server Solutions products were well represented at the Core Infrastructure and Optimization Booth (Core IO). There are demos of Windows Small Business Server 2008, Windows Essential Business Server 2008, and Windows Home Server, among other core infrastructure pieces such as Windows Server 2008 R2, System Center Essentials, and Virtualization among others.

The booth was hopping with activity from the handouts of the EBS Planning and Preparation Tool, a great tool for any business running Active Directory, regardless of size, information sheets and a chance to win a Windows Home Server every day!

Partners and ISVs from all over the world stopped by to say hello, and learn about the products offered at the booth. Here are just a few shots of the Windows Essential Solutions team meeting with partners:

As a reminder, the Core IO booth is open today from 12:30 to 6:00pm at the WPC 2009 Expo. Stop by, say hello, learn something about the server solutions offered from Microsoft, and even drop your business card into the fishbowl for a chance to win a Windows Home Server!

More photos and live information can be found with WindowsSBS on Facebook or Twitter.

Today, Russ Madlener, Dean Paron, Brendan Power and Eric Watson gave a session at World-Wide Partner Conference breaking down which server session is right for your business; discussing the two paths of solution skus and server skus. A Solution sku is a sku that provides a solution. Examples of these are Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008, as well as Windows Home Server. A Server sku is a generic Server such as Windows Standard Server and Windows Foundation Server (New!).

Russ, introduced the session and the speakers to the audience and then the information just started coming on the key products of Windows Small Business Server 2008, Windows Essential Business Server 2008 and Windows Foundation Server 2008.

After introducing the different products, a high-level dive into each feature area such as “Deployment”, “Management”, “Virtualization” and others where each product speaker talked about how each of these feature areas were implemented and why during the session.

The talk session was a great success and many questions were answered for the partners at WPC 2009.

It’s summer, so it’s time for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC).  During this annual event, Microsoft and the Windows Server Solutions Group share strategies and visions for addressing the challenging economy, saving customers money, and helping partners and customers compete confidently. Keynotes include Steve Ballmer, Stephen Elop, Kevin Turner, Allison Watson, Bob Kelly and many other executives who will share their vision for the company and its partners.

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference held July 13–16 in New Orleans, is an annual gathering where Microsoft Corp.’s partner community will network and build connections, share best practices, and learn new skills and techniques.  For those of you, who are unable to join us in New Orleans next week, we’ve created new social networking assets so feel free to follow WPC virtually on our team blog, Facebook or Twitter.

Learn about all the Windows Server options for SMB by attending our session CI003 Windows Server Portfolio for SMB: Which Server Is Best for Your Customer (and You!) on Monday afternoon at 3:30-4:30 in Room 255-257.  Also come by our Exposition Hall booth # 621 and you can enter to win one of 6 HP MediaSmart Server EX485 (ERP $599) Windows Home Servers and attend one of our two booth theater sessions.  The Windows Server for SMB booth theater sessions are Windows Essential Business Server 2008 and the free IT Network Health Scanner for SMB on July 16th from 12:30 – 12:50PM and the Windows SBS and Windows Home Server Client Backup on July 16th from 2:30 to 2:50PM. Simply drop your business card into the fishbowl on your way in the door or at the booth and we will choose one winner per day at the booth and one winner at each session. Sorry this Sweepstakes is only for event attendees, you must be present to enter.

Hopefully we'll get to see many of you at WPC this year. The best part of this conference is the time we spend with our partners and we are looking forward to meeting with as many of you as we can. Please use the WPC Connect to create a meeting request to request a specific meeting or simply drop by the booth to meet the Windows Server for SMB team including: Dean Paron, Eric Watson, Eric Kidd, Russ Madlener, Nick King, Leslie McGuire, Katharine Pike, Becky Lymberis, Vikram Ghosh, Cecile Charlot, Jonas Svensson, Kannan Iyer, Murali Sangubhatia, Sean Daniel, Lingan Satkunanathan, Cassie Hicks, Eduardo Melo, Brijesh Ramachandran, David Fabritius, Moira Whidby and Brent Reeser.

We hope to see you in New Orleans next week!