Johann's Unified Communications : exchange

Exchange 2010 has left the building

jkruse — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:19:06 GMT

The Exchange PG has declared RTM, so Exchange 2010 has been signed off and is now officially completed.

This is an exciting release and provides great value to business of all sizes.

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2

jkruse — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:38:19 GMT

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) has been designed specifically to help meet the challenges of any business and the needs of all the different groups with a stake in the messaging system.

Exchange Server 2007 SP2 is a mission-critical communications tool that enables employees to be more productive and access their information anywhere and anytime while providing a messaging system that enables rich, efficient access to e-mail, calendar items, voice mail, and contacts.

For the administrator, Exchange Server 2007 SP2 provides advanced protection options against e-mail security threats, such as spam and viruses, as well as the tools to help manage internal compliance and high availability needs.

For an overview of the new features that are available in Exchange Server 2007 SP2, see "What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP2".

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4c4bd2a3-5e50-42b0-8bbb-2cc9afe3216a

100,000 staffers to use online Exchange, SharePoint, OCS

jkruse — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:33:00 GMT

From ComputerWorld….

Microsoft Corp. officially launched its Business Productivity Online Suite outside of the U.S. today, headlined by a deal with GlaxoSmithKline PLC as its first major customer for the hosted communications software suite.

The London-based drug maker is migrating 100,000 employees from IBM's Lotus Notes to Microsoft's hosted suite, which includes Exchange for e-mail, SharePoint, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting, all managed from Microsoft's own data centers.

More at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128760

Exchange critical patch

jkruse — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:47:15 GMT

Just in case you’re not on the security announcement lists….

Executive Summary

This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server. The first vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a specially crafted TNEF message is sent to a Microsoft Exchange Server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of the affected system with Exchange Server service account privileges. The second vulnerability could allow denial of service if a specially crafted MAPI command is sent to a Microsoft Exchange Server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could cause the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service and other services that use the EMSMDB32 provider to stop responding.

More information and guidance on fixing the vulnerability at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-003.mspx

Exchange Activesync protocols now open

jkruse — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:00:12 GMT

A further sign of Microsoft’s commitment towards being more open is that the protocols for Exchange Activesync (EAS) have now been published to the public (previously they were only available to licensees).

EAS is already built into pretty much every major smartphone/PDA out there – but now that it is open I’m sure we will see some innovative and creative apps/tools from the developer community.

Documentation of the EAS protocols is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc307725.aspx

From the press release:

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 18, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it is expanding its Exchange ActiveSync Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing program, facilitated by Version 1.0 releases of technical documentation for protocols built into Exchange ActiveSync, which Microsoft posted on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) earlier this month. The posting of this documentation completes the set of Exchange ActiveSync protocols Microsoft committed to publish as part of its Interoperability Principles announced in February 2008 (http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/default.mspx).

“The Exchange ActiveSync IP Licensing program is another example of how we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to increased openness and collaboration,” said Horacio Gutierrez, vice president of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft. “This technology is being sought out by our partners and competitors alike because it enhances their value proposition to their customers, and we believe that to be a testament to the innovation taking place at Microsoft.”

Do You Really Need A SAN Anymore?

jkruse — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:46:00 GMT

I have had many interesting conversations about my post on Advantages of DAS over SAN storage in Exchange 2007 and the related session I delivered at Tech.Ed 2008… many sceptics have seen the light, although some remain sceptical.

It’s interesting to see that Forrester have published a paper titled “Do You Really Need A SAN Anymore?”.

An excerpt from the paper…

It's been the conventional wisdom of the past 10 years that to provide the best performance, protection, and capacity utilization for applications and databases, you need a robust storage array in a storage area network (SAN). But with low capacity utilization, the inability to prioritize application performance, long provisioning times, and soaring costs, SANs haven't lived up to their promise. SANs also leave application, database, and system administrators at the mercy of storage administrators for all their storage-related needs, such as capacity, data copies, and backups. To regain control and get better results, application vendors are starting to subsume more storage functionality into the application itself, giving IT buyers the option to spend less on commodity storage and get their high-value features from the application. The time has come for buyers to question the value of their SAN and consider simpler options that fit better with the applications they truly care about.

A very interesting read on allowing advanced applications (e.g. Exchange) look after storage. Unfortunately it’s not free, but you can purchase and read the paper at http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,47089,00.html

Sydney UC community to launch at Tech.Ed 2008

jkruse — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:32:00 GMT

At Tech.Ed next week we're launching a new community for Unified Comms in Sydney - Sydney UC!

If you work in, are passionate about, or just enjoy Exchange, OCS, VoIP, video, or comms in general - this is the place for you to network with your peers, learn from the experts, see the technologies and roadmaps, and of course have fun.

The group will be driven by several well-known experts in the industry including: Derrick Buckley (OCS MVP, owner of SWIUG), Craig Pringle (MVP) James McCutcheon (MVP), and Dr. Neil (MVP, Microsoft Regional Director).

We'll be kicking off Sydney UC at lunchtime on Thursday at Tech.Ed, and of course will be available via LiveMeeting for those who can't attend in person.

Come and join us!

More details at http://sydneyuc.org

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Exchange DST questions

jkruse — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:55:35 GMT

Alan's Tip O' The Day (not updated daily).

Alan Cardenas is an Exchange engineer from the Sydney GTSC, and has provided the following FAQ for the Australian Daylight Savings changes in Exchange. For information on Windows Mobile updates - see Rog42's post.

DST

Is there a video that I can watch before reading all the KBs: Yes there is. Click here to start watching.

What are the steps involved in using the DST tool?

Apply the Windows OS patch. This makes the computer aware of the changes in DST schedule.
Run the rebase tool. This adjusts existing appointments to comply with the DST changes.
Apply the Exchange patch. This ensures succeeding appointments are DST-aware when booked.

Applying Windows patches

Where do I find the patches? For XP, 2003 and Vista, They are found here. For Windows 2000, registry keys need to be copy/pasted. Details are found here.
What if Vista SP1 is being used. If SP1-Beta is being used, uninstall SP1 and apply SP1-RTM found starting here.
What if there is an issue with the installation of the patches? This is a hotfix issue. Log a support incident classified as a Windows update issue (NOT an Exchange/DST issue).

Running the rebase tool

What if the Exchange patch has been applied before using the rebase tool? DST adjustments will not take effect. Exchange patch needs to be uninstalled and rebasing repeated.
Do I really need to use the rebase tool? No. Calendar items can be manually updated using the “How to manually update calendar items” section of this article.
What should I check before running the tool? Go through the “What to do before you run the Exchange tool” section of this article.

What if there is error running the rebase tool? Using the Find option of your browser, this KB contains most of the error codes associated with the DST tools.

Error codes not found in the KB

Is the SystemPatchDate parameter being used? Re-run the tool without the parameter because there is a bug.

What if the tool is still generating an error? Log a support incident classified as an Exchange/DST issue.

Applying the Exchange patch.

Where do I find the Exchange patches? For 2003, they are found here. For Exchange 2000, an Extended Hotfix Agreement is required.

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Technorati Tags: exchange, dst, faq

Exchange Activesync on the iPhone

jkruse — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:51:00 GMT

Personally I have mixed feelings about the iPhone - it is an awesome device to play with, but in my opinion it has seriously lacked in a few key areas: the touch keyboard sucks for writing long emails, there was no Exchange support, it doesn't play Windows Media, and of course it's not 3G. (I'm hanging out for one of these babies from i-mate!)

Anyway - one of these has been fixed - great news for iPhone users is that Apple have licensed and built Exchange Activesync into the iPhone.

Love the old-fashioned BlackBerry NOC-based architecture - yay for EAS :)

This means that soon you will be able to get...

Push email
Calendar
Outlook contacts
GAL look-up
Enforced security policies
Remote wipe

...on your iPhone!

Read the announcement from Terry Myerson, and coverage at ZDNet, APC & Engadget.

(images lifted from ZDNet and Engadget)

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Technorati Tags: exchange, eas, iphone

Transporter Suite updated - now includes POP/IMAP

jkruse — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:41:26 GMT

We've launched a new version of the Transporter Suite and now include connectors for generic POP/IMAP servers, in addition to Lotus Domino.

Transporter Suite contains a set of tools for migrations from both Lotus Domino Servers, and generic IMAP/POP sources.

For Lotus Domino the suite contains a set of tools for Directory and Free/Busy interoperability between Lotus Domino 6 or 7 and Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. In addition for Lotus Domino the suite contains migration tools to migrate users, groups, personal address lists, mailboxes, personal mail archives, and applications from Lotus Domino 5, 6 or 7 to Active Directory, Exchange Server 2007, and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

For generic POP/IMAP servers the suite contains a set of tools to bulk migrate mailboxes from any generic email servers that support the POP3 or IMAP4 protocol to mailboxes in Exchange Server 2007

Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=35FC4205-792B-4306-8E4B-0DE9CCE72172&displaylang=en

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WSUS and Exchange

jkruse — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:09:02 GMT

Windows Server Update Services (aka WSUS) is a powerful free tool for patch management in a Windows environment. The great thing is that this tool can also be used to patch Exchange Server.

An excellent document on planning and deploying WSUS can be downloaded here, and the specifics for installing WSUS for Exchange Server can be found at Deploying WSUS for Exchange patch management.

Technorati Tags: exchange, wsus, patching, management

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Beta 2 released

jkruse — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:43:37 GMT

From the UC Group blog....

Great news from the Unified Communications Group and the Exchange Product Team. Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 2 has been released as a commuity technology preview for subscribers of MSDN and TechNet Plus.

To learn more about it, please check out the Exchange Team Blog http://www.microsoft.com/technet/abouttn/subscriptions/default.mspx

Technorati Tags: exchange, exchange 2007, sp1, scr

World-class Exchange management

jkruse — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:16:41 GMT

From the MCS Ireland blog....

The "Managing Exchange Messaging Services by Using Metrics" whitepaper is an excellent read for those wishing to adopt a more proactive and metric-driven approach for messaging service management. If you are adopting ITIL/MOF, or you just want a more scorecard-driven approach to service management, I thoroughly recommend spending 15 minutes reading the content.

The paper is available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase/content/manageexms.mspx

Technorati Tags: exchange, mof, itil