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Weekend reading
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Posted: May 09 2008, 07:37 PM by Rui Silva | with no comments
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New Exchange white papers

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.

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Posted: May 09 2008, 12:02 PM by Rui Silva | with no comments
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Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 (KB948016)

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB948016) has been released.

e2k7sp1-ru2

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.
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Posted: May 08 2008, 09:15 PM by Rui Silva | with no comments
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Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (32-Bit)

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.

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You cannot resume setup by performing the action "BuildtoBuildUpgrade"

I recently made 2 important decisions regarding my test environment:

  1. Move all the VMs to Hyper-V;
  2. Install Exchange 2007 SP1.

Moving to Hyper-V is not that hard:

  1. Remove the VM Additions;
  2. 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
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    Visio - Exchange Server Connector

    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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    Posted: May 05 2008, 09:01 PM by Rui Silva | with no comments
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    Weekend reading
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    Posted: May 03 2008, 12:22 PM by Rui Silva | with no comments
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    Exchange Load Generator v.08.02.0045

    Microsoft released an updated version of Exchange Load Generator (v.08.02.0045).

    Brief Description
    Exchange Load Generator is a simulation tool to measure the impact of MAPI, OWA, IMAP, POP and SMTP clients on Exchange servers.

    Overview
    Use Microsoft Exchange Load Generator (LoadGen) as a simulation tool to measure the impact of MAPI, OWA, IMAP, POP and SMTP clients on Exchange servers. LoadGen allows you to test how a server running Exchange responds to e-mail loads. To simulate the delivery of these messaging requests, you run LoadGen tests on client computers. These tests send multiple messaging requests to the Exchange server, thereby causing a mail load. LoadGen is a useful tool for administrators who are sizing servers and validating a deployment plan. Specifically, LoadGen helps you determine if each of your servers can handle the load to which they are intended to carry. Another use for LoadGen is to help validate the overall solution.

    Important! LoadGen should be used only in laboratories that have no connection to the production environment. This tool should not be used in any way in a production environment or an environment that is mission critical or contains important information of any kind anywhere in the network.

    Note: The XML configuration file schema in this release has changed from previous versions. You will need to create a new XML configuration file with the Load Generator UI. The existing topology will be marked as un-editable if there are users created by previous versions of Microsoft Exchange Load Generator. Add your remote client machines again, and then save the updated configuration XML.

    Note: If you use the recipient management features of this release to create users or other recipient objects and you have one or more Exchange Server 2007 servers in your test topology, you must run the Load Generator application with user credentials that have permission to manage Exchange recipients. The directory access account specified in the application configuration will not be used for this purpose.
    Note: This version includes scripted module functionality which enables load generation for OWA, IMAP, POP, SMTP.

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    Posted: Apr 30 2008, 08:38 AM by Rui Silva | with no comments
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    Exchange Server 2007 Protocol Documentation

    Following the commitment that Microsoft made in order to open most of its protocols, "so that software developers, business partners and competitors can better interact with these Microsoft products or invent new solutions for customers", the Exchange Server 2007 Protocol Documentation is now available to download.

    Overview
    The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Protocol technical documentation set provides detailed technical specifications for Microsoft protocols and extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols that are implemented and used in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to interoperate or communicate natively with Microsoft Office client and other server products.
    The documentation set includes a set of companion overview and reference documents that supplement the technical specifications with conceptual background, overviews of inter-protocol relationships and interactions, and technical reference information.

    If you can't spare the extra 45MB, this information is also available online at the MSDN site.

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    Weekend reading
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