Exchange

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Chris Haaker — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:46:20 GMT

Announced today were the new features for the next OS version release for the Mac OS X – 10.6 – code named Snow Leopard. Each of the previous seven released over the last eight years since OS X was introduced ushered in over 1000 new features.

Number of new features being slated for introduction with Snow Leopard? Zero. None. Nada.

Okay, wait, there is one. Native OS integration with Microsoft’s Exchange server. Apple publicly acknowledged the market share Exchange server holds and has built native integration in to Apple Mail, iCal and the address book.

Snow Leopard (10.6) is slated to be released some time next year. Pre-release developer builds were handed out to attendees today. Exchange support requires Microsoft Exchange 2007. The presenter quipped that Microsoft should be happy with Apple for driving Exchange 2007 sales and adoption.

Palm Smacks RIM

Chris Haaker — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:11:35 GMT

LOL. Cute image from Palm highlighting RIMs service outage last week.

Technorati Tags: Palm,RIM,Blackberry

PostPath Email and Collaboration Server

Chris Haaker — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:16:31 GMT

I have recently been introduced to a company called PostPath. They are a new technology company that have created a Linux-based alternative to Microsoft's Exchange. Their proposition is that Microsoft Outlook is the killer application. As long as users can run Outlook and have all the features and functionality that they are used to, it shouldn't matter what is serving it up on the back end. And if that back end can run on cheaper hardware and storage with a highly-flexible open source OS, all the better.

I have been working with the latest version of the PostPath server and it is pretty amazing. It does deliver as promised - full Outlook functionality at a fraction of the software, hardware and storage costs. PostPath has also signed a partnership with VMWare and is fully supported as a virtualized platform. This gives you tremendous flexibility when it comes to disaster recovery and business continuity. They fully (and seamlessly) support Blackberry clients and the Blackberry Enterprise Server. They have enhanced the open source version of Zimbra for their web-based client and added several enhancements. They also offer a mobility server called Sync Server which supports Windows Mobile 6 clients.

The PostPath server can run in a Microsoft Active Directory environment by itself or in co-existence with an already installed Exchange organization. If Exchange is not already present, it can perform a full forest and domain prep to add the correct schema extensions to Active Directory. Once installed, when viewed within ESM, it looks like any other Exchange server. You can create mailboxes on it using ADUC just as you do with any other Exchange server. Users can be migrated to and from the PostPath server using the traditional ADUC move mailbox process. The one downside is, since it is running Linux, it does not respond to WMI calls. Therefor, you cannot administer or browse its resources through ESM and there are some workarounds for commonly performed Exchange tasks. However, enhancements to the product are being added at a rapid clip and the engineering team is very responsive to customer feedback and suggestions for engineering enhancements.

So far it has been a pleasure to work with the product and I look forward to learning more about it and its capabilities as an alternative to Exchange.

Technorati Tags: PostPath,Exchange Alternative,Exchange,Microsoft,Active Directory,Zimbra,Linux

Microsoft Releases Four New E2K7 (Exchange) Whitepapers

Chris Haaker — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:41:52 GMT

Microsoft has released four new whitepapers detailing how Exchange 2007 is used internally. I am a big fan of these papers. I like to see how the maker designs, uses and maintains its own software. You always find some good tips and previously unknown tricks. Some of the best sessions I have ever been to at TechEd have been the "how we do this at Microsoft" ones.

Technorati Tags: Exchange 2007,Microsoft IT,TechEd,Exchange

Tip of the hat to You Had Me at EHLO

Exchange 2007 Design and Architecture at Microsoft

Chris Haaker — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:49:19 GMT

I love these white papers from "How Microsoft Does IT." Obviously these guys are very skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to deploying their own technology. The insight you get is invaluable and really comes in to play when designing your own installations.

From the web site:

Ever wondered how a large enterprise plans and implements design and architecture of its next generation of messaging system? View this content to find out how engineers from the Microsoft IT messaging team will uncover the details on how Exchange 2007 infrastructure was introduced and fully deployed in a 120,000+ mailbox production environment. Topics will include: messaging topology design, hardware planning for various Exchange server roles, Client Access Server and Mobility scenarios, Transport architecture, Mailbox server and storage designs, backup, restore and high availability strategies.

Technorati Tags: Exchange 2007,Microsoft IT,How Microsoft Does IT,Exchange Design,Exchange Architecture

Microsoft Downloads Gets Jiggy With Exchange

Chris Haaker — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:39:32 GMT

Microsoft's download site has released (or re-released\updated) a whole raft of Exchange Server related content. Enjoy at will.

Exchange Load Generator (32 bit)

Exchange Load Generator (64 bit)

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes

Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based Authentication Tool

Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress Tool (32 bit)

Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1

Deploying a Complex Exchange Server 2007 Organization

Deploying a Large Exchange Server 2007 Organization

Deploying a Simple Exchange Server 2007 Organization

Deploying a Standard Exchange Server 2007 Organization

Exchange Load Generator

Microsoft Exchange Server Stress and Performance

Microsoft Exchange Certification Beta Exams

Chris Haaker — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:46:06 GMT

I just found out that I passed the beta for 70-238 (Pro: Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007). I had previously passed the beta for 70-237 (Pro: Designing Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007). Unfortunately, as detailed here, I did not pass 70-236 (TS:Configuring Exchange Server 2007) and I did not get a chance to take it in beta due to some scheduling conflicts. I don't think there is any sub-designation for passing just the IT Pro tests but not the TS test so I need to do some major Powershell studying and then sit again for 70-236.

Aggreg8: Exchange Working Group

Chris Haaker — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:32:31 GMT

I have started for some time now an Exchange working group on the Microsoft\Culminis community site Aggreg8. It now has a decent amount of traffic and conversation with lots of questions posted that many in the Exchange community may find helpful. You may also be able to share your experience with others. Please stop by and take a look. I can also give out some invitations if they are needed. Leave a comment.

Update: Okay, so while traffic spiked I had been remiss in looking at post dates - nothing since 11/2006! Let's get the posting back up!

Microsoft Says WM6 TCO Better Than With RIM

Chris Haaker — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:32:04 GMT

Microsoft published a white paper detailing the TCO on Windows Mobile 6 devices vs. RIM's Blackberry. Surprisingly they find a 28% savings in the Wm6 devices over Blackberries. And when studying the 160 enterprise customers they found 85% of them already had the incoming ports open needed for direct push since they are the same ones used for OWA. Nice.

Exchange Server 2007 RU3 Released

Chris Haaker — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:36:42 GMT

Microsoft has released rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2007. You can download it here. This rollup also contains all the fixes from rollups 1 and 2. It is also rumored to also contain a fix that allows for IMAP connectivity to the soon forthcoming Apple iPhone. Other fixes include:

• 931328 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931328/) An integer is added to the end of the legacyExchangeDN attribute of a newly created mailbox in Exchange 2007

• 930468 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930468/) The attachment is not displayed when you use Outlook 2003 to open an e-mail message that contains an attachment

• 931842 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931842/) Error message when the sender or the receiver of a meeting request has a double-byte character set (DBCS) display name in Exchange Server 2007: "The requested property was not found"

• 932207 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932207/) Error message when a user tries to open a forwarded message to accept or to deny a resource request in Exchange Server 2007: "Cannot open the free/busy information"

• 932515 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932515/) You receive a 5.2.0 non-delivery report (NDR) message when you send an e-mail message to an Exchange 2007 server that is running the Isinteg.exe tool in a dismounted mailbox store

• 934887 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934887/) DBCS characters are converted into two question marks in a forwarded e-mail message in Exchange 2007