If you have a spare 7mins I suggest you watch this video of Perry Clarke (Exchange PM) talk about Exchange 2010 Storage, SSD, Hot and Cold Data.

Geek Out with Perry

So the covers are off today as discussed at VoiceConn - To find out more information please go here and be sure to sign up for the virtual launch happening in Feb.

Key new features of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 include the following:

Next-Generation Collaboration

Dial-in audio-conferencing. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 enables businesses to eliminate costly audio-conferencing services with an on-premise audioconferencing bridge that is managed by IT as part of the overall communications infrastructure.

Desktop sharing. This feature enables users to seamlessly share their desktop, initiate audio communications and collaborate with others outside the organization on PC, Macintosh or Linux platforms through a Web-based interface.

Persistent group chat. This enables geographically dispersed teams to collaborate with each other by participating in topic-based discussions that persist over time. This application provides users with a list of all available chat rooms and topics, periodically archives discussions in an XML file format that meets compliance regulations, provides tools to search the entire history of discussion on a given topic, and offers filters and alerts to notify someone of new posts or topics on a particular topic.

Enhanced Voice and Mobility

Attendant console and delegation. This allows receptionists, team secretaries and others to manage calls and conferences on behalf of other users, set up workflows to route calls, and manage higher volumes of incoming communications through a software-based interface.

Session Initiation Protocol trunking. This feature enables businesses to reduce costs by setting up a direct VoIP connection between an Internet telephony service provider and Office Communicator 2007 without requiring on-premise gateways.

Response group.A workflow design application manages incoming calls based on user-configured rules (e.g., round-robin, longest idle, simultaneous), providing a simple-to-use basic engine for call treatment, routing and queuing.

Mobility and single-number reach. This extends Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile functionality to Nokia S40, Motorola RAZR, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, allowing users to communicate using presence, IM and voice as an extension of their PBX from a unified client.^*

New Developer Tools for Business Applications

APIs and Visual Studio integration. This improves the efficiency of everyday business processes by enabling businesses to build communications-enabled applications and embed communications into business applications.

Over the past couple of days a few mails have floated through my Inbox asking for advice on capacity and performance planning for Ex2003. It can be quite a challenge to make sure that your Exchange Infrastructure is up to the job and planning is key to a successful installation.

I posted previously on an article written by two Exchange MCS guys here in the UK disussing how to use JetStress and Loadsim but you may also want to make sure that you plan for any "What-If's" well you can using the Capacity Planner

"Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006 helps size and plan deployments of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 by providing you with the tools and guidance to deploy efficiently while planning for the future by allowing for "what-if" analyses"

I assume, that when our own internal perf testing hascompleted that this tool will be updated to accomodate Ex2007. I will let you know as and when.

The title makes absolutely zero sense without a little bit of explanation :)

About 18months ago, Ewan, Eileen, John, Jason and I toured the country visiting partners and customers talking about Exchange 2003 SP2, Windows Mobile and generally encouraging customers to move off of 5.5 and onto Ex2003.

Well.... We are touring again, this time talking, explaining, demo'ing how to move from Ex2003 to Ex2007 - I can't publish the events registration links just yet, as soon as I can I will.

Nevertheless, one of the demo's will be what's known as a Lights Out install of Ex2007 - aka Unattended install.

Eileen is on the other side of the planet, in New Zealand at TechEd and has asked me to publish the Lights Out powershell script I will be using at the Exchange Unplugged events that will do the following - automatically - :

• Install Ex2007 SP1 into an Ex2003 SP2 Organisation
• Add the Exchange license key
• Create numerous OU's in AD
• Removes the default Storage Group and DB
• Creates multiple SG's and DB's
• Configures and enables LCR on one SG
• Moves mailboxes from Ex2003 to Ex2007
• Exports one mailbox to a PST ;)

It's a great demo and for those that come to an Unplugged event you will see it in action..!

Here's the script:

#   Unplugged_Install.ps1
#   Script will install Ex2007 SP1 into Ex2003 Org and move mailboxes to Ex2007
#   Brettjo@Microsoft.com

        &"C:\bin\Setup.com" "/r:M,C,H" "/LegacyRoutingServer:Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local"

#####################################
#Adding the Exchange Snapin into Windows Powershell#
#####################################

        Add-PsSnapin *Exchange*

################
#Adding the license key#
################

        Set-ExchangeServer -id "LOEx2007SP1" -ProductKey: 12345-12345-12345-12345

###############
#Setting the variables#
###############

        $server = hostname
        $Domain = "dc=Brettjo,dc=local"
        $AdminMbx = "$server\First Storage Group\Mailbox Database"
        $AdminMbxName = "administrator@brettjo.local"

###############
#Import the CSV files#
###############

        $sgs       = import-csv UnpluggedSG.csv
        $mbxdbs    = import-csv UnpluggedDBs.csv
        $OUs       = Import-csv UnpluggedOU.csv
        $AllUsers  = Import-csv UnpluggedUsers.csv

######################
#Create OU based on Database#
######################

        $OUs       = Import-csv UnpluggedOU.csv
        $objDomain = [ADSI]"LDAP://Ex2003SP2:389/OU=Unplugged,dc=Brettjo,dc=local"
                 foreach ($ou in $OUs)     {
        $objOU = $objDomain.Create("organizationalUnit", "ou=" + $ou.name)
        $objOU.SetInfo()
            }

############################
#Removing the pre-configured Databases#
############################

        get-mailboxdatabase -id "$server\First Storage Group\Mailbox Database" | Dismount-Database -confirm:$false

        get-mailboxdatabase -id "$server\First Storage Group\Mailbox Database" | remove-mailboxdatabase -confirm:$false

        get-storagegroup -id "$server\First Storage Group" | remove-StorageGroup -confirm:$false

#################
#Database Management#
#################

        $sgs = import-csv UnpluggedSG.csv
        foreach ($sg in $sgs) {
        new-storagegroup -Name $sg.Name -Server $server | ft Name,Server,ExchangeVersion
            }

        $mbxdbs = import-csv UnpluggedDBs.csv
        foreach ($mbxdb in $mbxdbs) {
        new-mailboxdatabase -StorageGroup $mbxdb.StorageGroup -Name $mbxdb.Name | ft Name,Server,ExchangeVersion
            }

        Get-MailboxDatabase -id "LOEx2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London" | mount-Database

###################
#Enable LCR on DB:London#
###################

        MKDIR c:\LCR

        Enable-DatabaseCopy -Id 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London' -CopyEdbFilePath 'C:\LCR\London.edb'

        Enable-StorageGroupCopy -Id 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East' -CopyLogFolderPath 'C:\LCR' -CopySystemFolderPath 'C:\LCR'

##########################
#Moving Users from Ex2003 to Ex2007#
#                   #################################################
#All users are moved to Ex2007 except administrator whose mailbox is copied to a PST :)#
##########################################################

        'Brettjo.local/Unplugged/Administrator' | move-mailbox -BadItemLimit '1' -TargetDatabase 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London' -GlobalCatalog 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -DomainController 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -confirm:$false

        'Brettjo.local/Unplugged/Eileen' | move-mailbox -BadItemLimit '1' -TargetDatabase 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London' -GlobalCatalog 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -DomainController 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -confirm:$false

        'Brettjo.local/Unplugged/Ewand' | move-mailbox -BadItemLimit '1' -TargetDatabase 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London' -GlobalCatalog 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -DomainController 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -confirm:$false
       

 'Brettjo.local/Unplugged/Julian' | move-mailbox -BadItemLimit '1' -TargetDatabase 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London' -GlobalCatalog 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -DomainController 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -confirm:$false
       

'Brettjo.local/Unplugged/Markdea' | move-mailbox -BadItemLimit '1' -TargetDatabase 'LOEX2007SP1\Unplugged_East\London' -GlobalCatalog 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local' -DomainController 'Ex2003SP2.Brettjo.local'

        MKDIR C:\PSTs

        Export-Mailbox -Id Brettjo@Brettjo.local -PSTFolderPath C:\PSTs\Brettjo.pst

A little off the Exchange topic, but useful nevertheless:

We recently released publicly additional tabs  for Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 applications.

These are available from  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Browse.aspx?DisplayLang=en&nr=20&productId=4289AE77-4CBA-4A75-86F3-9FF96F68E491&sortCriteria=date

An example of this in Word is below.  Commands on this tab give you easy access to free content on Office Online that helps you learn Word 2007 quickly.