Thursday, December 25, 2014

EighTwOne: Configuring IM Integration

Anyone who has configured Exchange 2013 IM integration with Lync Server at some point has to modify the web.config file on the Mailbox servers to configure OWA with the proper certificate for enabling IM. Another thing is that when you have configured this and you apply a Cumulative Update to Exchange 2013, these settings will be overwritten in the web.config, and you need to reapply those changes to the web.config file. This is where the script Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 might come in handy.


Requirements
Using the script requires Exchange 2013 and Lync Server. You need to provide the Lync pool and the Mailbox server you want to configure needs to have a valid certificate assigned to UM services. Note that the script does not perform the following steps:



  • It does not perform the required steps for integration in Lync Server, e.g. is does not configure Exchange as a trusted application.

  • It does not configure Lync Server as an partner application for Exchange (Configure-EnterprisePartnerApplication.ps1 script).


Usage


The script Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 uses the following syntax:


.\Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 [-Server <String>] -PoolFQDN <String> [-AllCAS] [-AllMailbox]


A quick walk-through on the parameters and switches:



  • Server specifies the server to configure. When omitted, it will configure the local server. This parameter is mutually exclusive with AllMailbox.

  • AllMailbox switch specifies to configure all Mailbox servers. This switch is mutually exclusive with Server.

  • AllCAS switch specifies to enable IM integration on all Client Access servers.

  • PoolFQDN specifies the FQDN of the Lync Pool to use. This parameter is required.


So, suppose you want to quickly reconfigure IM integration on a Mailbox server after applying a Cumulative Update, you can use:


.\Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 -PoolFQDN lync.contoso.com –Server exchange01.contoso.com


image


Or, you can quickly configure Mailbox servers and CAS servers for IM integration after performing the required steps to configure the trusted application settings and installing and assigning the certificate for UM:


.\ Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 -PoolFQDN lync.contoso.com -AllMaibox –AllCAS


image


Note that the script will skip Mailbox servers for which it cannot find a valid UM certificate assignment. In the example above, the CAS servers had already been enabled for IM.


Download

You can download the script from the TechNet Gallery here.


Feedback

Feedback is welcomed through the comments. If you got scripting suggestions or questions, do not hesitate using the contact form.


Revision History
See TechNet Gallery page.




Filed under: Exchange 2013 Tagged: Configuring, CU, Script



from Exchange News Full Article

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

msexchange.org: Update for Microsoft Outlook 2013 (KB2910923)

Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Outlook 2013. This update provides the latest fixes to Microsoft Outlook 2013. Additionally, this update contains stability and performance improvements.



from Exchange News Full Article

Saturday, December 20, 2014

EighTwOne: Book: Pro Exchange 2013 SP1 PowerShell Administration

As some of you may have noticed, it has been a bit more quiet here than it used to be. Well, after several months of collaborative hard work, blood, sweat and tears, it is finally ready (and in stores just in time for the Holidays):


2013pa


Together with fellow Exchange MVP Jaap Wesselius, we will talk you through topics such as:



  • Deployment and co-existence scenarios.

  • The Client Access Server and related topics such as namespaces, certificates, load balancing, and publishing.

  • The Mailbox Server roles and related topics such as managing mailboxes, distribution lists and recipients, message transport

  • High availability touches on topics like Database Availability Groups and improving Client Access and Transport availability.

  • Message Hygiene talks about Edge Transport server role, including anti-spam features.

  • Backup, Restore and Disaster Recovery which will also discuss the ‘backup-less’ Native Data Protection scenario.

  • Unified Messaging explores Exchange UM features and integration with IP telephony solutions, such as Microsoft Lync Server.

  • Compliance touches on In-Place Archiving and MRM, In-Place Discovery, In-Place Hold, Data Loss Prevention including fingerprinting, and auditing.

  • Security explores the Role-Based Access Control model and Split Permissions model for organizations that require this.

  • Office 365 and Exchange Online (EXO) will explain details of Hybrid scenarios, federating organizations, directory synchronization, ADFS and Multi-Factor Authentication, as well as basic tasks like onboarding and offboarding mailboxes.


This 600+ page book will take a PowerShell-first approach when talking about Exchange Server 2013. You can order the book from Amazon here. I have also added it to the book page here, which also contains other noteworthy books when you want to learn about Exchange or related technologies like PowerShell, Active Directory or Lync Server.




Filed under: Exchange 2013 Tagged: Book, Exchange2013, Office365, SP1



from Exchange News Full Article

Friday, December 19, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

Thursday, December 18, 2014

MSExchange.org: Managing Exchange Online using Server 2012 R2 Essentials Experience Role (Part 4)

In the previous part of this article series, we started using the Essentials Experience console to manage Exchange Online. Specifically, we created online accounts for existing on-premises users. In this article, we will see how to create brand new users in both environments and how to manage other aspects of Exchange Online such as e-mail aliases.



from Exchange News Full Article

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

MSExchange.org: Office 365 Message Encryption (Part 2)

Configuring the transport rules and sending/receiving encrypted messages.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Azure AD Connect: One simple, fast, lightweight tool to connect Active Directory and Azure Active Directory

Back in August I posted a blog announcing the beta release of Azure AD Connect. Since then we have received a lot of feedback and made improvements in AAD Connect and AAD Sync, including multi forest support and password write back. The biggest thing we've learned from you, our customers and partners, is that rather than a bunch of different tools (DirSync, AAD Connect, AAD Sync, ADFS, etc.) you want one simple, integrated tool for connecting your existing Windows Server Active Directory with Azure Active Directory. You'll be happy to know that we've acted on your feedback!



from Exchange News Full Article

Monday, December 15, 2014

msexchange.org: Active Directory from on-premises to the cloud – Azure AD whitepapers

Identity management, provisioning, role management, and authentication are key services both on-premises and through the (hybrid) cloud. Unsurprisingly, identity becomes a service where identity “bridges” in the cloud talk to on-premises directories or the directories themselves move and/or are located in the cloud.



from Exchange News Full Article

Sunday, December 14, 2014

msexchange.org: Exchange Server 2010 Monitoring Management Pack v14.3.210.2

This management pack includes scripts and rules to effectively monitor Exchange 2010 and report on performance, availability, and reliability of its server roles.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Exchange Server 2013 CU7 UM Language Packs

These downloads contain pre-recorded prompts, grammar files, text to speech data, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) files, and Voice Mail Preview capabilities for a specific language that is supported by Exchange 2013 CU7 Unified Messaging (UM). Warning: This UM language pack must only be installed as an add-in to Exchange Server 2013 CU7 Unified Messaging.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: System Center Service Manager Connector 3.1 for Exchange

The System Center Service Manager – Exchange Connector 3.1 connects Service Manager to Exchange Server for processing incoming emails related to incidents and change requests.



from Exchange News Full Article

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Subject Exchange: Cumulative Update and Update Rollups for Exchange 2007/2010/2013

Microsoft recently released a Cumulative Update (CU) for Exchange 2013 and Update Rollups (UR) for Exchange 2007 and 2010.


At this time you probably heard that UR 8 for Exchange 2010 had to be pulled up, but it has been re-released, so the discovered problems should be fixed now.



  • Cumulative Update 7 for Exchange Server 2013 (KB2986485)

    Cumulative Update 7 for Exchange Server 2013 resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2013 SP1 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2013 customers.

  • Update Rollup 8 v2 For Exchange 2010 SP3 (KB2986475)

    Update Rollup 8 v2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 (SP3) resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2010 SP3 RU7 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 SP3 customers.

    For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB2986475.

    This update rollup does not apply to Exchange Server 2010 Release To Manufacturing (RTM), Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

    For a list of update rollups applicable to Exchange Server 2010 RTM , Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (SP2), refer to the Knowledge Base article KB937052.

  • Update Rollup 15 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2996150)

    Update Rollup 15 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2007 SP3 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2007 SP3 customers.

    For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB2996150.

    This update rollup does not apply to Exchange Server 2007 Release To Manufacturing (RTM), Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

    For a list of update rollups applicable to Exchange Server 2007 RTM , Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2), refer to the Knowledge Base article KB937052.






from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.4.7 Update

This update fixes critical issues and also helps to improve security. It includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Security Update For Exchange Server 2013 CU6 (KB3011140)

A security update has been released for Exchange Server 2013 CU6. If you prefer, Microsoft has also release CU7 for Exchange Server 2013.



from Exchange News Full Article

Subject Exchange: Update for Outlook Junk E-mail Filter – December 2014

Microsoft has recently released the December updates for the Outlook 2007/2010/2013 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, Outlook 2010 (32-bit, 64-bit) and Outlook 2013 (32-bit, 64-bit) or you can use Microsoft Update. As usual the update comes with the corresponding Knowledge Base article:







from Exchange News Full Article

Friday, December 12, 2014

EighTwOne: Outlook 2010 gets MAPI/http support

Office-2010-Outlook-Icon[1] A quick heads-up today as the recently released KB2899591 hotfix adds MAPI/http support for Outlook 2010 clients. This will benefit organizations using Exchange 2013 SP1 or later considering switching from RPC/http to MAPI/http. The KB article includes details on the additional fixes that are included in hotfix KB2899591 as well.


You can request the hotfix for x86 and x64 versions of Outlook 2010 here.


Links to background information on MAPI/http, its impact on client performance, and impact on network traffic in an earlier blog post here.




Filed under: Exchange 2013, Outlook 2010 Tagged: Outlook



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Outlook 2010 now supports MAPI over HTTPS

Hurray for backward compatibility :)



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Wrapping up the year with a boat load of Azure AD news!

It's been quite a year here for us on the Azure AD team. We now have over 4 million organizations using Azure AD and as of yesterday, we've just completed our 1 TRILLIONTH authentication. And with the general availability (GA) of Azure AD Premium and its inclusion in the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) in May, we have seen amazing customer traction for the new capabilities that we continue to ship, month-in and month-out.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Announcing General Availability for Application Proxy and more!

Today we are announcing General Availability (GA) of Azure Active Directory Application Proxy! This is a big step for the service and we have done many fixes and improvements under the hood to take it to a level of reliability, performance, security, and scale that is suitable for your business use. General Availability also means that we back this up with Service Level Agreement (SLA).



from Exchange News Full Article

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

msexchange.org: Upgrading MSP Offerings from Infrastructure to Applications





from Exchange News Full Article

MSExchange.org: Product Review: UnitySync

In the article the author reviews UnitySync.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Exchange releases: December 2014

The Exchange team is announcing today a number of releases. Today’s releases include updates for Exchange Server 2013, 2010, and 2007.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Microsoft Virtual Academy - The Microsoft Hybrid Cloud: Best Practices Guidance





from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Update Rollup 8 For Exchange 2010 SP3 (KB2986475)





from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Update Rollup 15 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2996150)





from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Cumulative Update 7 for Exchange Server 2013 (KB2986485)





from Exchange News Full Article

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

EighTwOne: Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 8

Exchange 2010 Logo Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 8 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 (KB2986475). This update raises Exchange 2010 version number to 14.3.224.1.


This Rollup contains a security update to fix a potential elevation of privilege issue (bulletin MS14-075).


Notes:



  • If you want to speed up the update process for systems without internet access, you can follow the procedure described here to disable publisher’s certificate revocation checking.

  • If you got a DAG and want to properly update the DAG members, check the instructions here.

  • Rollups are cumulative per service pack level, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update Rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous Rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest Rollup package.


As with any Hotfix, Rollup or Service Pack, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this rollup in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

You can download Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 8 here.




Filed under: Exchange 2010 Tagged: Exchange2010, Rollup, SP3



from Exchange News Full Article

EighTwOne: Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 15

exchange2007logo2[1] Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 15 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2996150). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.389.2.

This Rollup contains a security update to fix a potential elevation of privilege issue (bulletin MS14-075).

Notes:



  • When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command;

  • If you want to speed up the update process for systems without internet access, you can follow the procedure described here to disable publisher’s certificate revocation checking;

  • Rollups are cumulative per service pack level, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update Rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous Rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest Rollup package.


As with any Hotfix, Rollup or Service Pack, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this rollup in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 15 here.




Filed under: Exchange 2007 Tagged: Exchange2007, Rollup, SP3



from Exchange News Full Article

Exchange Team Blog: Exchange releases: December 2014

The Exchange team is announcing today a number of releases. Today’s releases include updates for Exchange Server 2013, 2010, and 2007. The following packages are now available on the Microsoft download center.



These releases represent the latest set of fixes available for each of their respective products. The releases include fixes for customer reported issues and minor feature improvements. The cumulative updates and rollup updates for each product version contain important updates for recently introduced Russian time zones, as well as fixes for the security issues identified in MS14-075. Also available for release today are MS14-075 Security Updates for Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 and Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 6.


Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 7 includes updates which make migrating to Exchange Server 2013 easier. These include:



  • Support for Public Folder Hierarchies in Exchange Server 2013 which contain 250,000 public folders

  • Improved support for OAB distribution in large Exchange Server 2013 environments


Customers with Public Folders deployed in an environment where multiple Exchange versions co-exist will want to read Brian Day’s post for additional information.


Cumulative Update 7 includes minor improvements in the area of backup. We encourage all customers who backup their Exchange databases to upgrade to Cumulative Update 7 as soon as possible and complete a full backup once the upgrade has been completed. These improvements remove potential challenges restoring a previously backed up database.


For the latest information and product announcements about Exchange 2013, please read What's New in Exchange 2013, Release Notes and Exchange 2013 documentation on TechNet.


Cumulative Update 7 includes Exchange-related updates to Active Directory schema and configuration. For information on extending schema and configuring Active Directory, please review Prepare Active Directory and Domains in Exchange 2013 documentation.


Reminder: Customers in hybrid deployments where Exchange is deployed on-premises and in the cloud, or who are using Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) with their on-premises Exchange deployment are required to deploy the most current Cumulative Update release.


Note: Documentation may not be fully available at the time this post was published.


The Exchange Team







from Exchange News Full Article

MSExchange.org: Planning and Migrating a Small Organization from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013 (Part 17)

In the last part of our Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013 series we performed the post-installation configuration. In this part of the series we will prepare the environment for our Exchange 2013 mailbox migration by performing some base tests, configuring Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2010 for coexistence, moving mail routing and implementing and testing backup software.



from Exchange News Full Article

Saturday, December 6, 2014

msexchange.org: Success with Enterprise Mobility – December Webinar

An enterprise mobility strategy involves identity, management, and productivity. In this session featuring Brad Anderson, you will learn about the integration Microsoft has done across Intune, Azure Active Directory, and the Office mobile apps while enabling secure mobile productivity.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Exchange Server 2013 SP1 UM Language Packs v15.00.0847.032

These downloads contain pre-recorded prompts, grammar files, text to speech data, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) files, and Voice Mail Preview capabilities for a specific language that is supported by Exchange 2013 SP1 Unified Messaging (UM). Warning: This UM language pack must only be installed as an add-in to Exchange Server 2013 SP1 Unified Messaging.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Microsoft Dynamics CRM for E-mail Router Installing Guide for use with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

After the recent release of the 2015 version of the CRM E-mail Router, the corresponding documentation was now made available.



from Exchange News Full Article

Thursday, December 4, 2014

MSExchange.org: Managing Exchange Online using Server 2012 R2 Essentials Experience Role (Part 3)

In the previous part of this article series, we installed Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Experience Role and integrated it with Office 365. Now, we will start using it to manage Exchange Online.



from Exchange News Full Article

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

MSExchange.org: 16 Tips to Optimize Exchange 2013 (Part 3)

Tips covering virtualization, performance and scalability, monitoring and advanced troubleshooting of an Exchange 2013 infrastructure.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Keeping track of last modified documents in SharePoint 2013





from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2013: Full Installation for Upgrading from Business Contact Manager 2007

Compatibility pack for Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Lync Server 2013 Management Pack v5.0.8308.831

Download the latest Lync Server 2013 Management Pack.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Email Router

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Email Router is an interface between Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 and an email system.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.4.6 Update

This update fixes critical issues.



from Exchange News Full Article

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

Tony Redmond: ePublishing for Technology: a new book on Exchange 2013 High Availability

Time is both the greatest enemy and greatest friend of technical books. I know that seems like a statement which makes little sense, but truth lurks in these words.


We all know that technology now evolves at an ever-increasing cadence. The upshot is that the traditional publishing cycle struggles to keep up. In the past, an author would have time to consider several betas of a new product and then the final version before settling down to write text that (after technical and copying editing) would be accurate and valid for a couple of years. The publishers were happy because the investment they made in bringing a book to market could be recouped over that period; authors were happy because the hundreds of hours of work required to create the text would be compensated for through royalty payments.


The cloud has had a terrific effect on all of us, most positive as new features and functionality are revealed every week. But this makes it really difficult for authors who write about technology because their text ages dreadfully quickly, even as the first printed copies of books appear.


Take Exchange 2013 for example. Paul Robichaux and I declined to write our “Exchange 2013 Inside Out” books based on the first (RTM) version because past history had taught us the wisdom of waiting for at least six months to see how a new server functioned when revealed to the harsh judgment of customer deployments. Even though some kudos can be gained through first to market status, books rushed out to coincide with the first availability of a new product are invariably flawed, and in the case of Exchange, they can be horribly flawed.


So we worked away in the background to create and hone content, going through the exacting editorial process managed by Microsoft Press to ensure that the books were as good as a team of technical reviewers, copy editors, indexers, design artists, and series editors can deliver. We eventually ended up with material that is up to date with Exchange 2013 CU2, but that’s five cumulative updates ago!


A lot has happened since CU2 appeared. I would argue that the content of Exchange 2013 Inside Out: Mailbox and High Availability and Exchange 2013 Inside Out: Connectivity, Clients, and UM are still valuable resources because although some details have changed since Paul and I stopped writing in September 2013, the concepts and general descriptions of technology have not. Some of the content could be rewritten now because we have more knowledge about a topic or Microsoft has made decisions that affect how we might describe things. Modern public folders are an example as the scalability issues that have forced Microsoft to focus on some reimplementation and tuning in this area were not known when I wrote that chapter and I would definitely have some different advice to offer today.


Still, the books are valuable resources and have largely stood the test of passing cumulative updates as long as you treat them as a starting point for understanding Exchange and supplement what you find in the Inside Out series with information published since Microsoft released Exchange 2013 CU2.


Which brings me to “Deploying and Managing High Availability for Exchange 2013”, a new eBook authored by a high-powered trio of very experienced Exchange MVPs: Paul Cunningham (“Exchange Server Pro”), Michael Van Horenbeeck (“Van Hybrid”), and Steve Goodman (all-round nice guy and co-host of the regular UC Architects podcast). That’s a pretty good line-up of talent to focus on a topic like High Availability.


Spread over 210 pages of content and 43 of a useful lab guide, the book addresses the following areas:



  • Client Access server High Availability

  • Mailbox Server High Availability

  • Transport High Availability

  • High Availability for Unified Messaging

  • Managing and Monitoring High Availability

  • High Availability for Hybrid Deployments


The best thing about the book is its practical nature. The content is approached from the perspective of an administrator who needs to get things done and there are lots of examples included to show you what commands need to be executed to perform different tasks.


The interests of the authors shine through too. Paul has long been a dedicated fan of Database Availability Groups (DAGs), so the coverage of how to put a DAG into operation is detailed and exact. Michael’s interests cover hybrid connectivity (obviously), but also the murky world of Managed Availability, so there’s plenty on that topic. And I suspect that Steve had something to say about certificates and their proper use within an Exchange deployment.


You can buy an electronic (PDF or EPUB format) copy of the book here. The cost is a very reasonable $34.99 (check the site for a discount). That might seem high for an eBook, but consider how much you have to pay for an hour of a consultant’s time and it makes perfect sense to acquire some knowledge by buying a book.


No book is perfect and I am sure that people will find points on which they disagree with the authors in this book. But that’s missing the point. A book about technology should never be deemed to be the last word on a subject, especially when dealing with servers that are deployed into a huge variety of different on-premises environments where one implementation differs from the next. It is the role and responsibility of an administrator to accumulate knowledge from books like this and then put that knowledge to work by placing it in context with the operational environment and business needs of their company. This book provides a lot of useful information that will help people immediately but it is important that readers surround the knowledge contained in the book with their own experience, background, and opinions.


And because no book is perfect, it’s good to know that this eBook can be updated pretty quickly if new information comes to hand. For example, the thinking around DAGs evolved significantly with the introduction of the simplified DAG in Exchange 2013 SP1. It will evolve again when Microsoft allows witness servers for multi-site deployments to be located in Azure early next year. And so on.


I believe that the future for technology books is not in the printed form. Sure, we will continue to have some books that are suitable for printing, but I think that the vast bulk of the market for books covering commercial application servers like Exchange will soon be in electronic format. Given the release cadence, it just makes sense.


Follow Tony @12Knocksinna








from Exchange News Full Article

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

Friday, November 28, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

MSExchange.org: Deploying an Exchange 2013 Hybrid Lab Environment in Windows Azure (Part 18)

In this part 18, we will continue where we left off in part 17. More specifically, we will create a load balanced set for the Web Application Proxy (WAP) virtual machines. I will also talk about whether you should add the Web Application Proxy (WAP) servers to the internal Active Directory domain or not.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: What's new in BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12?





from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: What's new in BlackBerry12?





from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Make your SharePoint application rock solid





from Exchange News Full Article

MSExchange.org: Exchange Server 2013 Backup and Restore 101 - Recovering individual items (Part 2)

In this article, we will go over the process to restore individual items using PST export and eDiscovery.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: What's new in BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12?





from Exchange News Full Article

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Tony Redmond: ePublishing for Technology: a new book on Exchange 2013 High Availability

Time is both the greatest enemy and greatest friend of technical books. I know that seems like a statement which makes little sense, but truth lurks in these words.


We all know that technology now evolves at an ever-increasing cadence. The upshot is that the traditional publishing cycle struggles to keep up. In the past, an author would have time to consider several betas of a new product and then the final version before settling down to write text that (after technical and copying editing) would be accurate and valid for a couple of years. The publishers were happy because the investment they made in bringing a book to market could be recouped over that period; authors were happy because the hundreds of hours of work required to create the text would be compensated for through royalty payments.


The cloud has had a terrific effect on all of us, most positive as new features and functionality are revealed every week. But this makes it really difficult for authors who write about technology because their text ages dreadfully quickly, even as the first printed copies of books appear.


Take Exchange 2013 for example. Paul Robichaux and I declined to write our “Exchange 2013 Inside Out” books based on the first (RTM) version because past history had taught us the wisdom of waiting for at least six months to see how a new server functioned when revealed to the harsh judgment of customer deployments. Even though some kudos can be gained through first to market status, books rushed out to coincide with the first availability of a new product are invariably flawed, and in the case of Exchange, they can be horribly flawed.


So we worked away in the background to create and hone content, going through the exacting editorial process managed by Microsoft Press to ensure that the books were as good as a team of technical reviewers, copy editors, indexers, design artists, and series editors can deliver. We eventually ended up with material that is up to date with Exchange 2013 CU2, but that’s five cumulative updates ago!


A lot has happened since CU2 appeared. I would argue that the content of Exchange 2013 Inside Out: Mailbox and High Availability and Exchange 2013 Inside Out: Connectivity, Clients, and UM are still valuable resources because although some details have changed since Paul and I stopped writing in September 2013, the concepts and general descriptions of technology have not. Some of the content could be rewritten now because we have more knowledge about a topic or Microsoft has made decisions that affect how we might describe things. Modern public folders are an example as the scalability issues that have forced Microsoft to focus on some reimplementation and tuning in this area were not known when I wrote that chapter and I would definitely have some different advice to offer today.


Still, the books are valuable resources and have largely stood the test of passing cumulative updates as long as you treat them as a starting point for understanding Exchange and supplement what you find in the Inside Out series with information published since Microsoft released Exchange 2013 CU2.


Which brings me to “Deploying and Managing High Availability for Exchange 2013”, a new eBook authored by a high-powered trio of very experienced Exchange MVPs: Paul Cunningham (“Exchange Server Pro”), Michael Van Horenbeeck (“Van Hybrid”), and Steve Goodman (all-round nice guy and co-host of the regular UC Architects podcast). That’s a pretty good line-up of talent to focus on a topic like High Availability.


Spread over 210 pages of content and 43 of a useful lab guide, the book addresses the following areas:



  • Client Access server High Availability

  • Mailbox Server High Availability

  • Transport High Availability

  • High Availability for Unified Messaging

  • Managing and Monitoring High Availability

  • High Availability for Hybrid Deployments


The best thing about the book is its practical nature. The content is approached from the perspective of an administrator who needs to get things done and there are lots of examples included to show you what commands need to be executed to perform different tasks.


The interests of the authors shine through too. Paul has long been a dedicated fan of Database Availability Groups (DAGs), so the coverage of how to put a DAG into operation is detailed and exact. Michael’s interests cover hybrid connectivity (obviously), but also the murky world of Managed Availability, so there’s plenty on that topic. And I suspect that Steve had something to say about certificates and their proper use within an Exchange deployment.


You can buy an electronic (PDF or EPUB format) copy of the book here. The cost is a very reasonable $34.99 (check the site for a discount). That might seem high for an eBook, but consider how much you have to pay for an hour of a consultant’s time and it makes perfect sense to acquire some knowledge by buying a book.


No book is perfect and I am sure that people will find points on which they disagree with the authors in this book. But that’s missing the point. A book about technology should never be deemed to be the last word on a subject, especially when dealing with servers that are deployed into a huge variety of different on-premises environments where one implementation differs from the next. It is the role and responsibility of an administrator to accumulate knowledge from books like this and then put that knowledge to work by placing it in context with the operational environment and business needs of their company. This book provides a lot of useful information that will help people immediately but it is important that readers surround the knowledge contained in the book with their own experience, background, and opinions.


And because no book is perfect, it’s good to know that this eBook can be updated pretty quickly if new information comes to hand. For example, the thinking around DAGs evolved significantly with the introduction of the simplified DAG in Exchange 2013 SP1. It will evolve again when Microsoft allows witness servers for multi-site deployments to be located in Azure early next year. And so on.


I believe that the future for technology books is not in the printed form. Sure, we will continue to have some books that are suitable for printing, but I think that the vast bulk of the market for books covering commercial application servers like Exchange will soon be in electronic format. Given the release cadence, it just makes sense.


Follow Tony @12Knocksinna








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Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






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MSExchange.org: Deploying an Exchange 2013 Hybrid Lab Environment in Windows Azure (Part 18)

In this part 18, we will continue where we left off in part 17. More specifically, we will create a load balanced set for the Web Application Proxy (WAP) virtual machines. I will also talk about whether you should add the Web Application Proxy (WAP) servers to the internal Active Directory domain or not.



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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: What's new in BlackBerry12?





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Monday, November 24, 2014

Exchangepedia : Net neutrality and how ISPs can impact your email security

There was a time ISPs limited themselves to providing layer 3 connectivity. You got a connection, and if the link was up and your computer or network configured correctly for Internet Protocol (IP) communication, you could send and receive TCP/IP packets over that link. The ISP controlled the bandwidth, which is the maximum rate at […]



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Sunday, November 23, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

Friday, November 21, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






from Exchange News Full Article

Subject Exchange: Update for Outlook Junk E-mail Filter – November 2014

Microsoft has recently released the November updates for the Outlook 2007/2010/2013 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, Outlook 2010 (32-bit, 64-bit) and Outlook 2013 (32-bit, 64-bit) or you can use Microsoft Update. As usual the update comes with the corresponding Knowledge Base article:







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Thursday, November 20, 2014

MSExchange.org: Planning and Migrating a Small Organization from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013 (Part 16)

In the last part in this series, we finished installation of Exchange Server 2013 into our organization and configured the SSL and URL settings. In this part of this series we will configure the additional receive connectors, move the default mailbox database and create additional mailbox databases.



from Exchange News Full Article

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Exchangepedia : Net neutrality and how ISPs can impact your email security

There was a time ISPs limited themselves to providing layer 3 connectivity. You got a connection, and if the link was up and your computer or network configured correctly for Internet Protocol (IP) communication, you could send and receive TCP/IP packets over that link. The ISP controlled the bandwidth, which is the maximum rate at […]



from Exchange News Full Article

MSExchange.org: Product Review: Macrium Reflect v5 Server Plus for Exchange

In this review we will look at the latest version of Macrium Reflect Server Plus and how it can help administrators back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Server environments.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Microsoft Identity Manager Public Preview is now available!

Back in April, we blogged about the vNext release of Microsoft Identity Manager (a.k.a. "MIM", the product formerly known as Forefront Identity Manager).



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Introducing Cloud Witness





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msexchange.org: Announcing A New MCSE: Enterprise Devices and Apps





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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

MSExchange.org: Office 365 Message Encryption (Part 1)

Introducing Office 365 Message Encryption, connecting to the Office 365 tenant and configuring Azure Rights Management.



from Exchange News Full Article

msexchange.org: Introducing Cloud Witness

Cloud Witness is a new type of Failover Cluster quorum witness being introduced in Windows Server Technical Preview. In this blog, I intend to give a quick overview of Cloud Witness and the steps required to configure it.



from Exchange News Full Article

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Subject Exchange: Weekend reading






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