Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Rollup 7 Released

Ehlo All,

Microsoft released Exchange Server 2007 SP1 rollup 7 on March 18, 2009. I have not installed it yet, but plan to in the next 1-2 days. Windows restart is not necessary, and the update automatically restarts the necessary services. Also, this is ONLY for Exchange 2007 SP1, NOT Exchange 2007 RTM. There is a big difference between the 2 versions.

My blog posting about the difference between RTM and SP1 versions. Each has there own line of updates and there are not applicable to either. You will break your Exchange install if you load the wrong rollup on your version of Exchange. A colleague did that by mistake.

Enjoy,
-Ben

A $100,000 Question. Which Exchange 2007 roll-up is on your system?

Ehlo All,

So, how do you confirm which Exchange 2007 roll-up is on your system when running Windows 2008? Uninstall or change a program (formerly called Add/Remove Programs), nope! Exchange System Console, nope! Windows file version #'s, nope! Windows Update, nope! That'll only show you if an update is available. Microsoft didn't make it easy, but someone did. Answer is a very handy PowerShell script that Paul Flaherty wrote. You literally, just need to run it, and bang, it does it's magic and you have your answer. In 3 simple steps.

1) Download and unzip it here, let me know if it goes offline, and I'll post my copy. Unzip and copy to a directory (e.g. c:\temp)
2) open Exchange Management Shell, and cd to the directory with the script.
3) type the following in bold (inside the quotes and there is no space between the . & \ characters) ".\Get-ExchangeServerPlus.ps1"

Results will say:
[PS] C:\Temp>.\Get-ExchangeServerPlus.ps1
EX [Mailbox, ClientAccess, HubTransport] [Standard] 8.0.535.0
- 20081209: Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB952580)
8.1.311.3
- 20090212: Update Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB959241)
8.1.340.1
- 20081217: Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB953467)
8.1.336.1

Now you know which rollup you have.

Enjoy,
-Ben

Free Microsoft Internet Tool for Verifying Exchange is setup correctly

Ehlo All,

"Have you ever installed an Exchange server and wanted to verify your Internet facing services were setup and configured properly? Things like Exchange ActiveSync, AutoDiscover, Outlook Anywhere (RPC/HTTP), and inbound email." Well, the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog finally announced an Exchange testing website I used in a presentation months ago. It's a great time saver. It's called Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer (ExRCA) tool which can be accessed at https://www.TestExchangeConnectivity.com.

This is a great free resource. Available for:
- Exchange 2003
- Exchange 2007
- Windows Mobile 5
- Windows Mobile 6.1+

Enjoy,
-Ben

OT - Economics of watching TV with a DVR (aka TiVo Economics)

Ehlo All,

OT = off-topic from Exchange Server.

I am a big believer in efficiency, so when I saw this blog posting about the economics of watching TV with a DVR (e.g. lack of commercial, time shifting, etc), I couldn't help myself. I run a DVR from SnapStream called BeyondTV and it's the adult version of TiVo. Tons of features and runs on Windows. And yes, I have it email me alerts.

Enjoy
-Ben

Why you can't VM your Exchange 2007 UM Server!

Ehlo All,

This brief posting from Windows IT Pro explains why you can't VM (virtualize) your Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging role server. Otherwise, virtualize away assuming you have enough disk I/O for it.

-Ben

Exchange Server 2007 High Availability strategies explained

Ehlo All,

This is a good technical introduction article to Exchange 2007 HA options (SCR, LCR, CCR) and options with SANs written by Mark Arnold. Mark is a rock-star in the Exchange world and you can read more about him at the article link above. That's enough acronyms for one blog posting.

-Ben

SearchExchange Top 10 Tips for 2008

Ehlo All,

SearchExchange (of TechTarget) posts their top 10 tips for 2008 for Microsoft Exchange Server (primarily 2007) article. I would call it 5 tips, but there are 10 listed. :-)

-Ben