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:

The next question is a lot of times: does this apply to active mailbox databases only?

Let’s see…

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:

1. Employees
2. Mailbox Database 0789…
3. Management
4. Soleil
5. Public Folder Database

And the following mailbox databases are mounted on E2010MU2:

1. BHV
2. Mailbox Database 1077…

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!)

Ilse

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…

Feature	Light	OWA
Spelling Checker	Not available	Available
Reading Pane	Not available	Available
Accessibility for Blind and Low Vision Users	Available	Not available
Notifications and Reminders	Not available	Available
Weekly Calendar Views	Not available	Available
Compose Messages by Using HTML	Only plain text is available in Outlook Web Access Light	Available
Calendar Options	Limited to the following features:	Available
	* Show week numbers
	* Set the first day of the week
	* Select days of the week
	* Set day start and end times
Arrange By	Limited to a subset of choices, depending on the folder type	Available
Right-Click Menu	Not available	Available
Drag-and-Drop	Not available	Available
Resource Mailbox Management	Not available	Available
Voice Mail Options	Not available	Available
Favorites	Not available	Available
OCS Integration	Not available	Available
Public Folders	Not available	Available
Share a calendar	Not available	Available
Open a shared calendar	Not available	Available
Monthly calendar views	Not available	Available
Conversation view	Not available	Available
Scroll between pages	Available	Not available
Retention Policies	Not available	Available
Users can create and edit personal distribution lists	Not available	Available
users can create and edit server side rules	Not available	Available
S/MIME support	Not available	Available
RMS Protection	Not available	Available
RBAC - Change user settings	Not available	Available
RBAC - Administrator settings	Not available	Available
Web ready document viewing	Not available	Available
Nickname cache	Not available (There is a list of most recent recipients)	Available
Message Tracking	Not available	Available
Advanced Search	Not available	Available
Mailtips	Not available	Available
Exchange Control Panel	Not available	Available
Attach Message to a Message	Not available	Available

Let me know if parts/pieces/features are missing!

Ilse

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.

Let’s see…

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

Ilse