Microsoft (online/print) and My Photos

Hello All,

Think you've seen me on the Microsoft website, you have! A couple of people have asked me about this. So, yes, it's true. Microsoft hired me about 9 months ago for a photo shoot. So, you'll see me online and in print media. Here's an example someone sent me recently.

I was hired for the look of an "IT manager". One of the coolest scenes was inside the train control center in Newark Penn Station. Anyone sees that, let me know and take a screen-shot.

Thanks,
-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

Attack Against Outlook Anywhere - SSL Man-In-The-Middle (thanks to Verizon Online)

Hello All,

Recently while setting up a client's Verizon DSL connection, the Verizon DSL connection did an attack technique on all network traffic and attempted to capture my Outlook Anywhere username and password. The attack is called a man-in-the-middle. It tricks the end user to provide information to an unauthorized server. So, my Outlook 2010's Outlook Anywhere secure connection was redirected to a Verizon server. Since I require the SSL certificate to match my server for Outlook 2010's Outlook Anywhere (formerly called RPC over HTTPS), I was able to detect and not proceed. Be warned when you see this on networks. Never proceed when you see this. Or better approach is close all applications until the Verizon DSL is setup. If you are wondering, Verizon should NOT be doing this during the setup, but they are!

Screen-shot below includes the Outlook Anywhere SSL certificate warning and the "unauthorized SSL cert" from Verizon.

Stay safe...
-Ben

Tip - Needing to move 10GB+ files use ESEUTIL

Ehlo All,

ESEUTIL utility is not just for Exchange Servers. Consider it for your large (think 10GB+ files) copies/moves. I'm preparing for an Exchange Server storage expansion (removing some existing hard drives and replacing them with larger ones) which requires I move a client's Exchange databases to another storage location and then move them back. We're talking about over 270GB of databases. So, when you move large files you do not want to use copy/paste, robocopy, richcopy, xcopy, etc since those buffer read/writes (aka caching) and is significantly slower than unbuffered read/writes (non-caching). For big files, you want to use an application that uses unbuffered read/writes which is (you guessed it), eseutil.

Microsoft Windows Server Performance Team Blog Article about using ESEUTIL for faster copies.

Notes from article:
"There are x86 & x64 versions of ESEUTIL, so make sure you use the right version for your operating system. The syntax for ESEUTIL is very simple: eseutil /y /d . Of course, since we're using command line syntax - we can use ESEUTIL in batch files or scripts." Once I test the scripts, I'll edit and update these article to help everyone.

Enjoy,
-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