Exchange 2010 & 2013 Compatible Not There Yet...

With the recent release of Service Pack 3 for Exchange Server 2010 compatibility with Exchange Server 2013, we are getting closer, but NOT yet. Now Exchange Server 2013 needs an update. The update is tentatively called Exchange Server 2013 CU1. That will then allow integration between 2010 & 2013. ETA should be available "shortly". I would guess March or April of 2013.

-Ben

Apple Screws Up iOS EAS Implementation AGAIN! - Exchange Suffers

Has your Exchange 2010 CAS recently started experiencing heavy CPU, insane transaction logs growth (aka DoS), Apple might be the cause. Apple released iOS 6.1 last week (beginning of Feb) and it has a "slight" EAS bug in it. ;-) Another bonus... it drained iOS batteries and wasted data bandwidth. So bad... Vodafone txted all iPhone users to NOT upgrade to 6.1. Oops.... and 6.1.1 doesn't fix it...

You would think a large company (aka Apple) that prides itself on releasing "amazing products" would not repeat their mistakes in the past (iOS 4), but sadly history is repeating itself. iOS 6.1.1 fixed another problem. This is why I am not a fan of EAS. It's buggy since vendors don't have a real incentive or pressure to make sure EAS works well. Sure, Microsoft releases "guidelines" and crosses it's fingers vendors follow, but it's a frequent problem. I know, since I see the EAS connections logs and the Exchange problems they cause. I'll post in the future, how to look this up in your Exchange logs. I'm leaving EAS soon enough... I'll be happy to return to the BlackBerry ecosystem when the Q10 is released. That's another post...

See the Microsoft KB article, but to summarize, there are is a quick fix:

- delete the Exchange account from the iOS device and re-add

iOS 6.1 EAS Bug - Workarounds

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2814847/en-us?sd=rss&spid=13965

iOS 4 EAS Bug (walk down memory lane)

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/07/01/3410271.aspx

-Ben

Recommended Exchange Deployments are Multi-role Now

At the last free "Tech Ed style" event in NYC held at the Microsoft Offices, we had Ross Smith IV present on

Exchange 2010 High Availability/Database Availability Groups. If you don't know Ross, he's a VERY senior Microsoft employee who wrote the Exchange Storage and Server Role Calculator. He knows Exchange, period. End of story. So, when he said that everyone should deploy Exchange 2010 in a multi-role configuration to improve performance and not break apart the roles, you need to take his recommendation seriously. This was the 1st time I had heard this. I had a long conversation with him about this in NYC, and he explained that for performance and the ability for leveraging failover capacity it is better to keep all the roles together. In theory, you could deploy less. Since if you were going to deploy 2 CAS and 2 Mailbox, you could in theory just deploy 3 consolidated roles. Well, Microsoft TechNet finally released some guidance on this. That only took 6 months. Don't forget to use a hardware/VM load balancer when deploy your multi-role Exchange Servers.

TechNet article title: Understanding Multiple Server Role Configurations in Capacity Planning
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298121.aspx

-Ben

Article - HA for Exchange 2010 is more costly than Exchange 2007

Ehlo All,

This is an excellent article especially if you're using or considering deploying Exchange 2007 in an HA configuration with SCR,. Also, the new HA mailbox solution in Exchange 2010 is called Database Availability Groups (aka DAGs). This requires the Enterprise Edition for Windows Server 2008, and we do not know if it requires Exchange 2010 Standard or Enterprise. Either way, the requirement of Server Enterprise Edition makes it costly.

Excellent website (Exchange-Genie.com) that explains with pictures the following HA solutions for Exchange 2007 & 2010, CCR, LCR, SCC, SCR, and DAG. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Information is power,
-Ben

The Truth Behind ActiveSync & Enterprise Licensing

Hello All,

Sadly I see this happen more often than it should. A potential client was lied to by another IT vendor's sales team. They claimed that for "iPhone ActiveSync remote wipe functionality, the Enterprise Client Access Licenses were required for Exchange Server 2010". Turns out this is a lie! Oops... caught by me.

The Enterprise Client Access License (aka eCAL) does not relate/control remote wipe for ActiveSync. The eCAL adds the following control for ActiveSync clients that support these features. Both server and client side need to support these ActiveSync policies for them to be in effect. Make sure you read that last sentence twice. I've put that in bold for you. This is critical in your understanding of ActiveSync device features. Pretty much each device that includes ActiveSync offers varying levels of ActiveSync capabilities.

iPhone support remote wipe (they also offer a limited capabilities for ActiveSync). The available ActiveSync functionality on the iPhone is documented here.

List of Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access License (eCAL) Functionality Abilities (screen-shots below)
Allow removable storage
Allow camera
Allow Wi-FI
Allow infrared
Allow Internet sharing from the device
Allow remote desktop from the device
Allow synchronization from a desktop
Allow Bluetooth
Allow browser
Allow consumer mail
Allow unsigned applications
Allow unsigned installation packages

-Ben

SBS Admins - Exchange 2010 is coming in January 2011

Ehlo All,

For those admin's running SBS (Small Business Server), SBS 2011 Standard Edition will include Exchange Server 2010 SP1. This is great news! SBS 2011 was recently released to manufacturing, and is estimated to be released in January 2011. Read more about SBS 2011 from the Microsoft Technet website here. Just make sure you get SBS 2011 Standard Edition and NOT Essentials. Essentials lacks Exchange Server. Oops...

-Ben

Which Version are you running (SPx w/Rollup x?) - Easily Tell Now!

Ehlo All,

Ever wonder if you have Rollup 6 or 7 installed on Exchange 2007 SP1. It can be very complicated since Exchange just lists a build version # 8.1.340.1 or 8.1.359.2. I work with Exchange a lot, and I can't remember them. So, thankfully Microsoft has a handy wiki page that does.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/exchange-server-and-update-rollups-builds-numbers.aspx

Enjoy,
-Ben

Exchange 2010 SP1 Released...

Ehlo All,

Exchange 2010 SP1 was released on August 24. This is not just a "service pack", but adds a # of features. Any "service pack" that upgrades the AD schema is more than just a few bug fixes. Before you upgrade to this, confirm your software applications for Exchange will support this since there are a LOT of changes with SP1.

Some note worthy changes
- server-side archiving (aka Online Archives) can now be stored in a separate database from mailbox
- OWA changes (UI changes)
- new management UI & features
- import/export on Exchange Server w/o need for Outlook

2 good postings for more information.

Windows IT Pro - Tony Redmond posting
http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/outlook/Exchange-2010-SP1-Upgrade.aspx

Microsoft - What's New in Exchange 2010 SP1
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff459257.aspx

-Ben

TechNet Article - Some Gotcha's for Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2003 Environments

Ehlo All,

This TechNet article has some good tips and fixes for scenario's involving Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2003. I recommend you review this if you are considering deploying 2010 and run Outlook 2003. Having said that, if you deploy Terminal Services and Exchange 2010, think Outlook 2007 and higher since there's still no fix for Outlook 2003.

-Ben

Blog Post - Quick Look at Exchange 2010 SP1 OWA Differences

Ehlo,

Came across a good blog post comparison of a few improve views of Exchange Server 2010 OWA versus SP1 OWA. I'm not running 2010 yet (on 2007) since the CDP backup application (AppAssure Replay) I use does not support it yet, but should when Outlook 2010 ships (or I can hope).

Enjoy,
-Ben

Article - Discussing cleaning up AD for Exchange 2010

Ehlo All,

If you plan to upgrade to Exchange 2010 from 2007, read this good article by Exchange MVP Brien Posey to learn how to clean up your Active Directory during the upgrade process.

Article - SearchExchange AD Clean-up from Exchange 2007 to 2010

I'm planning an Exchange 2010 deployment for a client in January, but it's a clean install with no pre-existing Exchange, so I won't need this, but for my own upgrade from 2007 to 2010, this would come in handy.

-Ben

Exchange 2010 is now supported by BlackBerry Enterprise Server

Ehlo All,

There was talk RIM would not release a BES compatible version for Exchange Server 2010 until Q1 2010. Well, RIM & Microsoft released updates to make it happen sooner. 3 updates are needed, 2 from Microsoft (MAPI update and Exchange Roll-up) and 1 from RIM (MR update). Specific details are here. Enjoy your BlackBerry functionality on 2010 now.

RIM Details on Exchange 2010 Support
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server/exchange/2010support.jsp

Microsoft's Exchange Team's Exchange 2010 BES Support
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/12/09/453486.aspx

-Ben

Exchange 2010 DAG has a weakness and it's Public Folders

Ehlo All,

One of Exchange Server 2010's best new features is Database Availability Groups. This is a high availability solution for mailbox servers. So, while Microsoft advertises how you can use JBOD and no RAID for disk subsystems for Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox Servers (see the Microsoft User Group presentation on this topic), there is one weakness with this. DAG does not work for Public Folders. So, do not put your Public Folder database on a non-RAID Mailbox Server. Plan on deploying a mailbox server that runs the Public Folder database with a well protected and appropriate disk subsystem. This is unfortunate especially since every Exchange environment deployment I've seen and worked on uses Public Folders. Maybe a future service pack or E15 can fix this. This isn't an easy fix though due to how Outlook clients communicate with Exchange 2010 though. Stay tuned.

-Ben

Exchange Server 2010 OWA - Missing Feature (adding notes) and Clarifcation of Multi-Browser Support

Ehlo All,

During last night's NY Exchange Server User Group meeting after Angi Livermore's excellent Exchange Server 2010 HA technical presentation and demo, I gave a demo comparing Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access to Exchange 2010 Outlook Web App and found a missing feature. I initially called it a bug, but I bet you Microsoft omitted the feature to release the product sooner. So, while 2010 OWA add some new features (below), the loss of adding notes is a major pain point. Also, a clarification of the multi-browser support.

Some New Features for OWA 2010

• Premium mode for non-IE browsers. Firefox on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Safari on the Mac. Safari does NOT work on Windows. I tested this with Safari 4.0.3 (531.9.1) on XP SP3. Safari on Windows is OWA Light only.
  
• Favorite Folders. Ability to add a Favorite folder. These are shown in the top left. Favorite Folders from Outlook to OWA are not shared.
• Ability for end user's to view email delivery reports. No more end users saying "did my email arrive yet?". The delivery report shows date and time the email left the Exchange Server organization and was delivered to an outside email server.
  
• Threaded email message conversations. All related emails are saved under one message (thread) in your Inbox. This is similar to how gmail's email conversation work or will exist in Outlook 2010 when it's released.
  
• Multiple Calendars. You can view multiple calendars in OWA and send a calendar share request from within OWA.
  
• Ability for the end user to change AD attributes [phone #, address, etc]. As per Angi, admins can disable this functionality.
  

Missing Feature for OWA 2010

• Unable to post a note. This existed in OWA 2003 and 2007. Below are screen shots showing this. This was tested using Microsoft's Exchange Server 2010 UC Trial Service. I debated replicated this with the RTM, but haven't had a chance. I mentioned this to a Microsoft rep to confirm this issue. If you notice, the only 2 drop-down options when in the Notes folder is to create an email message or meeting request.
  

Exchange 2010 OWA Premium Mode - attempting to add a Note. Click to view full image.

.

Exchange 2007 OWA Premium Mode - adding a Note is possible. Click to view full image.























I'm a big fan of OWA and the new support for Firefox, but the lack of adding notes is a pain since I heavily use notes. Hopefully Microsoft fixes this as soon as possible.

-Ben

Recap from November NY Exchange Server User Group Meeting - Exchange 2010 High Availability Technical Presentation and Demo

Ehlo All,

[UPDATED 11/18/09: Added PPTX presentation. See URL below.]

If you missed last night's NY Exchange Server User Group meeting presented by Angi Livermore of Microsoft and official presenter at the NYC Launch Event for Exchange Server 2010 a few weeks ago, you missed one of our best of all time.

Here are some highlights:
- Exchange Server 2010 technical demo of High Availability (called Database Availability Groups). Presentation by Angi can be found here [PDF] or here [PPTX - more clear version].
- most number of attendees (50) at a meeting ever!
- standing room only (we ran out of chairs)
- during my demo of OWA 2007 versus 2010, I found a bug in Exchange 2010 OWA relating to posting Notes. It's not possible based on the 2010 OWA provided by Microsoft for UC Trials. Oops. I'll blog about this later.

Other Notes from the meeting
- OS requirements to run Exchange Server 2010 DAG feature is Windows Server 2008 and later AND Enterprise Server or higher.
- Clone a VM, no need to change the SID. The application we all know called NewSID is not necessary anymore. Turns out it was a myth! NewSID developer (who now works for Microsoft) explains in this blog posting.
- Exchange 2007 will be supported on Windows 2008 R2. Microsoft reversed course on this. Microsoft Exchange Team stating such on this blog posting.

-Ben

Article - Discussing Leapfrogging from 2003 to 2010

Ehlo All,

This is a good non-technical article from SearchExchange.com that discusses IT admins that have gone from Exchange Server 2003 to 2010 and others that are considering it. Hence bypassing Exchange 2007. I would agree with this, since the biggest change involved in moving to 2007 or 2010 is the x64 operating system. Once you have planned for x64, make the jump if you can to 2010. Jumping from 2003 to 2007 improves I/O by 70%, while going from 2003 to 2010 improves I/O by 90%. So, this will allow you to support more users on a single server than before. One of the big cost savings in upgrading.

The only word of caution is make sure your Exchange eco-system software is supported (e.g. backups, spam filtering, archiving, replication, mobile messaging [aka BlackBerry], etc). Jumping Exchange versions typically requires software upgrade especially for a x64 operating system.

-Ben

TimeOutNY rates NY Exchange User Group as one of the best...

Ehlo All,

In this week's print & web issue of TimeOutNY, they rated NYExUG as one of "the best IT Techie groups for socializing and networking in NYC". Join us at one of our upcoming meetings to learn why. Article URL below.

Amazingly, they made an error on the article even though it was fact checked by a separate person who called me. This TimeOutNY error required me to do some email admin work. So, they listed the email as register@nyexug... when in reality it should have been rsvp@nyexug or join@nyexug. So, I added the incorrect alias to my mail gateway (email hits this before my Exchange Server) to auto-reply with a thank you email and some URLs pointing people to the correct place to RSVP for the meeting. And then I ran a query on my clustered spam filtering solution to see the # and email addresses of people who emailed the wrong address so I could notify them. All for a single email address error. Then again, I could have ignored it and let people fall by the way side, but that's not my style.

TimeOutNY Article
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/i-new-york/79899/the-best-it-techie-groups-for-socializing-and-networking-in-nyc

Our Upcoming November Meeting
November 10 Meeting Topic - Our Exchange 2010 Launch Party (e.g. Major New Feature Explained in detail [Database Availability Groups, etc])

Speaker: Angi Livermore (Principal Technology Specialist) of Microsoft. Full BIO below.

Register Now (open to the public & free pizza dinner / click to attend RSVP - by Mon November 9th at 3pm EST)
https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=141309

Meeting Topic Details - Launch Party for Exchange 2010. We have already had an "intro to 2010", so this meeting will focus on digging deeper into the new product. We'll have a presentation and demo for the following features.
- Database Availability Group (the new HA functionality that replaces CCR, SCR, & LCR)
- multi-mailbox search (ability to search content across numerous mailboxes)
- new OWA premium capabilities (premium support for 3 browsers instead of just IE)
- core store enhancements (better I/O)
- transport improvements (redundancy in transport of messages so transport server failures will not affect message delivery)
- admin audit logging (know what changes are done to your Exchange environment)

Full Speaker BIO
Angi Livermore is a UC Core Technology Specialist for Microsoft and has over 20 years’ experience in the technology industry with a strong background in messaging and collaboration technologies. Prior to this role, she worked in Microsoft Consulting Services for 4 plus years working in various Financial Services and NY district accounts.

Previously, Angi held several different positions with Merrill Lynch for five years and the latest was a Vice President of Product Delivery Services. Her last assignment was as an individual contributor focusing primarily on facilitating the release of Global Private Client (GPC) initiatives, (“Trusted Global Advisor”, also known as TGA) with a heavy emphasis on technology enhancements that reduced the total cost of ownership.

Prior to coming to Microsoft in August of 2001 and working for Merrill Lynch, Angi also worked for several Microsoft partners working with MS Mail, Exchange, Windows, Active Directory, and Mobile technologies. She is very passionate about helping customers achieve their full potential by using Microsoft technologies.

Angi lives in West Windsor, NJ with several four legged friends and her hobbies include: golf, golf, and more golf…

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Windows 2008 R2 and Exchange 2007? Microsoft says no.

Hello All,

Anyone who has not deployed Exchange Server 2007 and wants to do it on Windows 2008 R2 (it'll be launched this month), the answer is it is NOT supported. Not a big deal, since I would just wait a bit longer and have the benefits of I suspect to be the hands down best Exchange version yet, Exchange 2010. If you are wondering, 2003 is still the king. Some articles discussing this R2 rejection: Windows IT Pro and the Microsoft Exchange Team postings.

Server OS Support
Exchange Server 2003 supports Window Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, & Windows Server 2003 R2. (3 OSes supported)

Exchange Server 2007 supports Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, & Windows Server 2008. (3 OSes supported)

Exchange Server 2010 supports Windows Server 2008 & Windows Server 2008 R2. (2 OSes supported currently)

Microsoft decided against QA and supporting Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008, which is understandable since supporting 4 OSes is a time consuming process and 2010 is getting launch within the month. So, wait a little longer, and try and deploy Exchange Server 2010 once your eco-system is supported (e.g. BES, GFI, AppAssure, Backup Exec, etc).

-Ben

Exchange 2010 Beta Articles (Good and Bad News)

Ehlo All,

I know it's beta, but I'm all worked up over the OWA Premium mode for non-IE browsers (e.g. Firefox and Safari will support Premium mode). Don't worry, I'll still focus on 2003 & 2007 on the blog.

The good news guy, a Tony Redmond article called "A First Look at Exchange 2010" from Windows IT Pro about all the new features. Excellent for an overview of how 2007 to 2010 has changed. Tony is technical is he dives right in.

And the bad news guy, a B.K. Winstead articled called "Exchange 2010, Problems, Problems, Problems" from Windows IT Pro about why did Microsoft force so many things on us via Exchange 2010 (e.g. Windows 2008, 64 bit, no upgrade path, no LCR, no 32 bit evaluation version, etc). It's beta, but he has valid points. Good so you know what's missing and you can plan accordingly.

Until next time, keep you're eye on your mail server.

-Ben

Pigs are flying, Pigs are flying!!! Exchange 2010 will support premium mode for IE, Firefox, and Safari.

Ehlo All,

While I love (yes, I really do) Exchange Server, I haven't been this excited in a while. And everytime I think about OWA, I'm unhappy since when I jumped from 2003 to 2007, I lost a # of important features (most important, lack of access to Public Folders [aka PF] from Light/Basic Mode). Now, 2010 has me very excited (PF access is fixed) and I plan to run the beta and will jump to 2010 in production even if it's in beta once my "near-time" backup solution I use supports it. I've already downloaded it, and plan to install it in my ESX VM environment very soon. I'll post my comments when I do.

Welcoming Exchange 2010 - 1st 20 seconds are good.

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Introducing-Outlook-Live/

Good Overview of Exchange 2010 - screen shots and a handy chart

http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/first-look-exchange-2010-beta-shines-485?page=0,0

Exchange 2010 System Requirements.

- to summarize, it's Windows 2008 x64.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719(EXCHG.140).aspx

MS tech (Scott Schnoll) on how to install Exchange 2010.

http://blogs.technet.com/scottschnoll/archive/2009/04/15/how-to-install-exchange-server-2010.aspx

Go download it.....

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Microsoft-Exchange-Server-Download-59862.html

Let me know your thoughts on it.....
-Ben