May 2008 - Posts
Microsoft released an update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 (KB950219) that improves Internet calendaring functionality and compatibility with Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) servers.
Overview
This update extends Outlook 2007’s support for the iCalendar standards. The update also improves Outlook 2007’s compatibility with some IMAP e-mail servers.
This update adds support for the following iCalendar features:
- Propose New Time for iCalendar Meetings: Users can now respond to a meeting invitation received in iCalendar format with a proposal for a new meeting time.
- Extended Yearly Recurrence: Supports recurrence patterns for appointments or meetings that recur every N years, where N is greater than or equal to 1.
This update also includes miscellaneous improvements to IMAP compatibility.
And here's the link to the corresponding Knowledge Base article: An update is available for Outlook 2007 that improves Internet Calendar functionality and improves compatibility with IMAP servers.
Microsoft released an updated version (v6.0.4011.0) of the Exchange Server Error Code Look-up.
Overview
Use the Error Code Lookup tool to determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Microsoft Windows® operating systems. The tool can look up one or more values at a time. All values on the command line will be looked up in Exchange’s internal tables and presented to you. If available, informational data associated with the value or values will also be shown.
Here are a couple of examples of the output of the tool:
C:\temp\Err>err 0x8004010f
# for hex 0x8004010f / decimal -2147221233 :
ecNotFound ec.h
ecAttachNotFound ec.h
ecUnknownRecip ec.h
ecPropNotExistent ec.h
MAPI_E_NOT_FOUND mapicode.h
# 5 matches found for "0x8004010f"
C:\temp\Err>Err.exe -528
# for decimal -528 / hex 0xfffffdf0 :
JET_errMissingLogFile esent98.h
# /* Current log file missing */
# 1 matches found for "-528"
TechRepublic has a great article about this: Quickly identify problems using the Exchange Error Code Look-up tool.
I've just got this from Eileen Brown's Weblog:
TechNet Webcast: Forefront Security for Exchange Deployment Best Practices (Level 300)
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM Pacific Time
Mike Chan, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032377121&Culture=en-US
MSDN Webcast: Building Asynchronous Contextual Collaboration with Exchange Web Services (Level 300)
Thursday, June 26, 2008 - 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Chris Mayo, Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032378675&Culture=en-US
Momentum Webcast: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Role Memory Characterization Using HP BladeSystem (Level 200)
Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Stuart Ladd, System Engineer, HP
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032378658&Culture=en-US
MSDN Webcast: Behind the Scenes with Communications Server 2007, Communicator 2007, and Exchange Server 2007 (Level 300)
Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Chris Mayo, Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032378646&Culture=en-US
Microsoft released some cool Outlook 2007 demos. After all these months working with Outlook 2007, I'm still learning!
- Work with SharePoint calendars: Multiple calendars giving you multiple headaches? Stop juggling back and forth and start seeing your calendars all together — in Outlook 2007. When you link your calendar from a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site to Outlook 2007, you can view and work with the SharePoint calendar right alongside your Outlook calendar. When you make changes in one calendar, the two calendars are synchronized automatically. You can overlay the calendars to make viewing your complete schedule even easier. You can download the demo here any time you like.
- Stay on top of things with Outlook flags: Don't play catch-up — let Outlook flags help you keep up. Flags are colorful reminders for items you need to follow up on, whether tasks, messages, or contacts. Outlook 2007 offers several options for setting flags to complement the way you work. Flags can give you pop-up reminders and they also appear in the To-Do Bar, where you can easily see what actions you need to take each day. The demo shows you how to get started using flags and stay on top of your job. You can download the demo here any time you like.
- Add creativity to your e-mail: You can make your e-mail messages stand out with a few touches from the tools in Outlook 2007. Go from plain white to exciting with eye-catching features like page colors and textures, shading styles, and shapes. You can apply WordArt styles like shadows or 3-D, as well as highlighting and font colors. While you experiment with various graphic effects, you'll see instant previews of your choices in the e-mail message. Watch the demo for quick tips on adding fresh looks to your e-mail! You can download the demo here any time you like.
- 3 ways to share your Outlook Calendar with others: Sharing calendars can make it easier to collaborate with people both inside and outside your company. This demo shows you three ways that Outlook 2007 offers for sharing your calendar. If your company uses Microsoft Exchange Server, you can share your calendar within the organization by using that feature. You can also send a snapshot of your calendar in e-mail to people outside your company. And you can publish your calendar on the Microsoft Office Online Web site and restrict how much detail is shown and who can access it. You can download the demo here any time you like.
- Take inches off your workspace with the updated Navigation Pane: Are you using the Outlook 2007 Navigation Pane as your communications launching pad — where you can get to your most important folders and views with just a click or two? This demo shows you how to change the size of the pane to free up more space, customize the buttons and icons so you see what you want first, and arrange the folders for your convenience. You'll also see how easily you can change the organization whenever you want. Watch the demo and see how to make the Navigation Pane work better for you. You can download the demo here any time you like.
Microsoft is definitely committed to promoting its online services.
The Microsoft Online Migration Toolkit is composed by planning materials to help your organization migrate from on-premise Microsoft Exchange Servers to Exchange Online. The toolkit includes sample migration planning materials including: project plan, communication plan, tracking spreadsheet, procedures, e-mail templates, Known Issues and FAQ.
Here's an excerpt from the Migration Project Checklist:
Planning
- Identify migration project manager.
- Build migration project team.
- Build migration Support team.
- Develop migration project plan.
- Develop migration procedures.
- Develop migration communication plan.
- Develop migration tracking process.
Pre-Migration
- Configure Microsoft® Online for your organization.
- Establish e-mail coexistence.
- Establish directory synchronization.
- Validate your migration plan and procedures.
- Communicate.
- Qualify people for migration.
- Identify and track people to be migrated.
- Users perform Before Migration procedures.
Migration Day
- Activate the Microsoft Online accounts.
- Migrate mailbox content.
- Perform post migration validation.
- Send Welcome communication.
Post Migration
- Users perform After Migration procedures.
- Users complete post-migration survey.
- Delete local Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes.
- Enable incoming e-mail.
Microsoft expects half of Exchange inboxes to be hosted in five years.
Slipstick Systems was founded in 1994 by Sue Mosher, an Outlook MVP, and it's now run by Diane Poremsky, also an Outlook MVP.
Back in 1996, they decided to create the Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter, devoted to Microsoft Exchange Server. You can subscribe it through their home page and you can read all the back issues from the very first issue (April, 1996).
Do you know what were the highlights back in August 1996?
- Where has Sue been?
- Windows NT 4.0 released
- Exchange Service Pack 2 released*
- Exchange Deployment Conference
- Technet tools for Exchange
- The Boldon James Microsoft Exchange Client Auto Correlator
- Address export client extension
- Exchange on the Digital Bookshelf
- Internet Mail (and News) and Exchange
*This SP was for Exchange 4.5!!!
Do you know Scriptomatic, the utility that writes WMI scripts for you? Well, there's a new version, Windows PowerShell Scriptomatic, that has the same functionality, but uses PowerShell as the output.
Now you can start using WMI to manage Exchange more often.
Overview
A new utility that writes Windows PowerShell scripts that harness the power of WMI (Windows Instrumentation Management) for use in system management and administration. This tool was created by Microsoft consultant and author Ed Wilson.
System Requirements
- Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista; Windows XP
- Requires Windows PowerShell 1.0 or later to run the scripts created by the Scriptomatic.
Microsoft released version 3 of the Quick Reference for Outlook Voice Access.
Brief Description
This download contains a quick reference sheet that can be used when navigating the menu system found in Outlook Voice Access.
Overview
Outlook Voice Access lets UM-enabled users to access their Exchange 2007 mailbox using analog, digital, or cellular telephones. By using the menu system found in Outlook Voice Access, UM-enabled users can read e-mail, listen to voice messages, and interact with their Outlook calendar. This quick reference sheet shows the navigational tree and the options that are available to UM-enabled users when they are using Outlook Voice Access.
The June edition of TechNet Magazine is now available online or, if you prefer, you can download as an HTML Help .chm file for offline reading.
Security, security and more security. That's what you may expect to find on this issue.
If you are looking for Exchange related articles, I can recommend only these 2:
- Secure E-Mail Using Digital Certificates - Secure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions let you hide information in transit, validate senders, and authenticate messages. Learn how to secure e-mail using digital certificates and how to troubleshoot problems you may encounter on your S/MIME system. Matt Clapham and Blake Hutchinson
- Looking Good - Discover how the object-oriented nature of Windows PowerShell allows you to apply formatting to its output. Don Jones
Microsoft has just released the May update for the Outlook 2003/2007 Junk E-mail Filter.
"This update provides the Junk E-mail Filter in Microsoft Office Outlook with a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail."
The update is available for Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 or you can use Microsoft Update. As usual the update comes with the corresponding Knowledge Base article:
Devin Ganger, Exchange MVP and technical writer for 3Sharp, has recently posted the links to his slide decks from the Exchange Connections 2008 Conference.
These are definitely a must read, so here are the links to those PowerPoint presentations (I've also included the slides from the previous conference).
Today is "Weekend reading" day, but as an appetizer I would like to recommend 2 new Exchange Server 2007 white papers:
- Understanding Client Throttling: RPC Client Throttling is a new feature in Exchange Server 2007. It helps to prevent client applications from affecting overall server performance, allowing administrators to better manage the end-user performance experience
- White Paper: Outlook Anywhere Scalability with Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, and Exchange 2007: This white paper provides an analysis of the scalability of the Outlook Anywhere feature for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, and Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, and an analysis of expected client network traffic between enterprise e-mail clients and Exchange Server 2007 SP1 in non-Outlook Anywhere scenarios.
If you want to know what other Exchange technical content is new, read this post from the You Had Me At EHLO blog: Exchange Server Documentation Updates - May 2008.
Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB948016) has been released.
Overview
Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2007 SP1 customers.
For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB948016.
This update rollup does not apply to Exchange Server 2007 Release To Manufacturing (RTM). For a list of update rollups applicable to Exchange Server 2007 RTM, refer to the section Update rollups for Exchange Server 2007 RTM in the Knowledge Base article KB937052.
This is a cumulative update rollup and replaces the following:
- KB945684 Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB945684)
System Requirements
- Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86); Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 editions; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 x64 Edition; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 2
- Exchange Server 2007 SP1 must be installed prior to installing this update rollup.
- This update rollup cannot be installed if you are using Exchange Server 2007 RTM.
- Any Interim Updates for Exchange Server 2007 must be uninstalled prior to installing this update rollup.
- 32-bit editions of Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2003 R2 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista and Windows XP with SP2 are only supported for Exchange Server 2007 management tools.
Although Exchange Server 2007 is only supported on 64 bit platforms, you can still manage it using any 32 bit operating system (including Vista!). For that, you just need the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (32-Bit), which were recently updated to version 685.25.
Brief Description
Exchange Server 2007 is a native 64-bit application that includes 64-bit management tools. You can use the management tools to administer your Exchange Server environment remotely. If the remote computer is running a 32-bit operating system, you will need to download the 32-bit management tools.
Overview
The Exchange management tools include the Exchange Management Console, the Exchange Management Shell, the Exchange Help file, the Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer Tool, and the Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant Tool.
The new Exchange Management Console (formerly named Exchange System Manager) provides Exchange administrators with a graphical user interface (GUI) to manage the configuration of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 organizations. For more information about the improvements to the Exchange Management Console, see New Administration Functionality in the Exchange Management Console.
The Exchange Management Shell is a new Exchange-specific command-line interface based on Microsoft Windows PowerShell, formerly codenamed “Monad”. You can use the Exchange Management Shell to run a single command or a series of multiple commands for managing your Exchange Server 2007 servers and objects. For more information about the Exchange Management Shell, see Using the Exchange Management Shell.
I recently made 2 important decisions regarding my test environment:
- Move all the VMs to Hyper-V;
- Install Exchange 2007 SP1.
Moving to Hyper-V is not that hard:
- Remove the VM Additions;
- Create a new Hyper-V VM using the previous VHD.
My problems started when installing Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1. After I kicked the SP1 Setup, I got a warning that I should first install .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 (how could I disregard my own recommendations?), so I stopped the setup process.
After installing the required update, I resumed the SP1 setup, but now I got the following error:
Setup previously failed while performing the action "install". You cannot resume setup by performing the action "BuildtoBuildUpgrade"
Microsoft Knowledge Article KB947281 describes this problem and has a resolution for it. Unfortunately the article is a little bit incomplete. It tells you to delete the Watermark and Action entries from any of these Registry keys:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\ClientAccessRole
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\HubTransportRole
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\MailboxRole
But for my particular case the Watermark and Action entries were located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\UnifiedMessagingRole.
So, the right solution should be to check for those entries at any of these keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\ClientAccessRole
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\HubTransportRole
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\MailboxRole
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\UnifiedMessagingRole
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\ClusteredMailboxServer
[UPDATE]
The KB Article has been corrected!
The Visio - Exchange Server Connector is available to download from the Microsoft site.
Brief Description
This Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Connector is an add-in for Microsoft Office Visio 2007 that you can use to diagram a Microsoft Exchange Server site topology, including sites, servers, and connections for an organization.
Overview
Although Exchange Management are invaluable tools for managing, monitoring and administer networks, computers, services, and other system components. It does not provide a graphical view of user mailbox details. The administrator has to sift through a tree view and use embedded data to figure out the details
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) hosts administrative tools that you can use to administer networks, computers, services, and other system components. Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell are used to administer and configure specific settings for Mailbox servers and create and manage Mailbox objects.
The Mailbox server role hosts mailbox databases, which contain users' mailboxes. If you plan to host user mailboxes or public folders, or both, the Mailbox server role is required.
Administrators have to sift through a tree view to view the members of the Distribution group in an organization unit.
The Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Connector makes it easy for Exchange administrators to visualize, explore, and communicate complex information. Instead of viewing single user data at a time, administrators can create data-connected Visio diagrams that display data at a glance and dramatically increase productivity.
The Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Connector is an add-in for Microsoft Office Visio 2007 that you can use to diagram a Microsoft Exchange Server site topology, including sites, servers, and connections for an organization.
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