MSExchange.org Monthly Newsletter of March 2007 Sponsored by: Intermedia.NET

Welcome to the MSExchange.org newsletter by Henrik Walther, Exchange MVP, MCSE 2003. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on Exchange Server. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: henrik@msexchange.org

1. Improvements and Changes in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1

Welcome to the March edition of the MSExchange.org newsletter!

This month I wanted to talk about some of the new and improved features you can expect to see in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1. I've wanted to share this information with you for a while, but since I've been under an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), this hasn't been an option. But now that public information about SP1 has been posted on the MSExchangeTeam blog, I can share the news here too.

I'll start out with the coolest SP1 improvement of them all, which is a new feature known as Standby Cluster Replication (SCR), not to be confused with Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR). The interesting thing about SCR is that it, unlike CCR, allows per-storage group continuous replication between both cluster and single mailbox servers. The SCR target can be placed in another datacenter or on another remote site, and does not need to be on the same subnet as the SCR source. This will really be a killer feature for many of the large organizations that require redundant datacenters or sites.

Many Exchange admins were especially disappointed with the lack of management tasks available in the Exchange Management Console (EMC). And although you could do the required configuration using the Exchange Management Shell (EMS), I agree that the ESM was a little, what should I say, "empty". But since the Exchange Product group had a strict deadline for Exchange Server 2007, unfortunately not everything could make it into the RTM version.

Good news is that most of the stuff we missed in the GUI is added back in Exchange Server 2007 SP1. The following will be added to the GUI in SP1:

• Public folder Configuration
• POP3 and IMAP4 Configuration
• SendAs permission configuration
• Delegation wizard scenarios

Bear in mind though that this is not a complete list. Actually there are also some other nifty GUI improvements to look forward to, but I can't share them here since they are still under NDA.

In addition to the EMC GUI improvements, the Exchange Product group also worked hard (and still do!) on getting the required OWA 2007 features we missed back into the web mail client. The following OWA 2007 improvements will be added with SP1:

• Personal distribution lists
• S/MIME
• Rules
• Monthly calendar view
• Deleted items recovery
• Public folder access
• OWA 2007 SP1 spell checking will add support for Arabic and Korean
• OWA 2007 SP1 will add support for viewing Office 2007 file formats as HTML

Personally I really look forward to the S/MIME component, as this was an Exchange 2007 migration/transition showstopper for organizations that relied on being able to digitally sign and encrypt messages using OWA 2007.

Besides the OWA 2007 improvements, the following features will be added to the Exchange 2007 Web Services:

• Public folder access
• Delegate management
• Folder permission management

Lastly the Exchange 2007 Move-Mailbox wizard has been improved further. This means that we Exchange admins now can export and import to/from PST files once again. And you know what? The Move-Mailbox wizard now supports Unicode PST files, meaning the old 2GB limit we had in Exchange 2003 now has been eliminated.

So when will Exchange Server 2007 SP1 be released? Well since SP1 is packed with new features and improvements, as well as need to be fully compatible with Longhorn, it won't be released in the near future. But before you get too depressed, I can inform you that a special CTP of SP1 will be included in April's TechNet Plus shipment.

BTW you can of course look forward to plenty of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 related articles here on MSExchange.org in the near future!

Should you have any ideas for content in future editions of the MSExchange.org newsletter, you're more than welcome to shoot me an e-mail at Henrik@msexchange.org.

2. Order Henrik Walther's Exchange Server 2007 book

3. MSExchange.org Learning Zone Articles of Interest

We have a great group of articles in the Learning Zone that will help you get a handle on your most difficult configuration issues. Here are just a few of the newer and more interesting articles:

• Installing Exchange 2007 into a Small Business Server 2003 domain Part 1 - Preparing and Installing
• Working with Recovery Storage Groups in Exchange 2007
• Using Transport Rules: Creating Disclaimers in Exchange Server 2007
• Exchange Server 2007 Email Routing, Part 1 - Theoretical Basics
• Configuring Exchange Server 2007 Preview - Chapter 9: Disaster Recovery with Exchange Server 2007
• Exchange 2007 Message Tracking (Part 2)
• Managing mailboxes in Exchange Server 2007 (Part 2)
• Recovering an Exchange 2007 Server using the RecoverServer switch
• Implementing Exchange Server 2007 for coexistence with Exchange Server 2003
• Exchange 2007 Message Tracking (Part 1)

4. KB Articles of the Month

Here are some interesting and useful MSExchange related articles posted by Microsoft in the last month:

• Event ID 8225 is logged when the LME-NOTES-MEXNTS process stops responding on an Exchange 2003 server that is running the Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes
• The resource room on a Lotus Notes server displays two different meeting requests for a nonrecurring meeting request after you use the Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes to update the meeting request
• Event ID 12014 may appear in Exchange 2007 Application Event Log
• The performance of the messaging system decreases, and NDR messages are not delivered in an X.400 connector messaging system in Exchange Server 2003
• A troubleshooting guide to the Exchange Calendar Update Tool (Msextmz.exe)
• A MAPI program may not obtain a referral server when the global catalog server to which the MAPI program points is shut down
• Error messages when you use a CDO application that is updated to the latest CDO library to log on to an Exchange 2003 server: "(0x8004011D) The server is not available" or "MAPI_E_NOT_FOUND (0x8004010F)"
• Meetings are moved back one hour in an Exchange 2003 organization if the meetings are scheduled between September 16, 2006, and October 7, 2006
• A uuencoded message attachment appears as garbled text in the body of a message in Exchange Server 2003
• The calendar appointments in the public folder appear in the time zone of the public server when you log on to the basic version of Outlook Web Access for Exchange Server 2003
• Event ID 206 is logged when you try to run an incremental Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshot backup on an Exchange 2003 server
• The Microsoft Exchange Event service stops responding on an Exchange 2003 server
• You are logged off unexpectedly when you try to perform another action after you try to view an e-mail message that includes an embedded graphic in Outlook Web Access
• A user can still send or receive e-mail messages successfully after you set a message size delivery restriction to 0 KB for an Exchange Server 2003 mailbox

5. Tip of the Month

Matt Fletcher provided the following BES tip in the Exchange 2007 forum on MSExchange.org this month. A great tip, which deserves to be shared :)

Just thought I'd provide advice if anyone is moving to Exchange 2007 and has a BES v4.1.3.

I ran these commands in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) and was able to get the BES talking with Exchange:

1. Add-ExchangeAdministrator "BESAdmin" -role ViewOnlyAdmin

2. Get-MailboxServer [Exchange Server Name] | Add-ADPermission -User "BESAdmin" -AccessRights GenericRead -ExtendedRights Send-As, Receive-As, ms-Exch-Store-Admin

6. MSExchange Links of the Month

Microsoft IT Showcase: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport and Messaging Protection

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/07/436817.aspx

Dogfood at home - living the life...

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/19/437145.aspx

How public folder referrals have changed in Exchange 2007

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/15/437075.aspx

Need help converting your LDAP filters to OPATH?

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/12/436983.aspx

Outlook 2007 feature matrix based on Exchange Server version

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/05/436656.aspx

Windows Mobile 5.0 vs Windows Mobile 6 comparison document

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/03/18/windows-mobile-5-0-vs-windows-mobile-6-comparison-document.aspx

Storage card wipe and encryption - What's the deal?

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/03/16/storage-card-wipe-and-encryption-what-s-the-deal.aspx

New Whitepaper - Security for Windows Mobile Messaging in the Enterprise

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/03/13/new-whitepaper-security-for-windows-mobile-messaging-in-the-enterprise.aspx

New Whitepaper - Security Model for Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 6

http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/03/13/new-whitepaper-security-model-for-windows-mobile-5-0-and-windows-mobile-6.aspx

Exchange 2007 Anti Spam Migration Tool

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=805eaf35-ebb3-43d4-83e4-a4ccc7d88c10&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Help (March 2007)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=555F5974-9258-475A-B150-0399B133FEDE&displaylang=en

7. Ask Henrik Walther a question

QUESTION: Hi Henrik,

I'm trying to uninstall an Exchange 2007 Server, but I'm getting the following error message which tells me I must remove the Public Folder database first. The database doesn't contain any vital data, but I cannot delete it using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell.

Can you help me?

ANSWER: Okay, my first suggestion is you try out the steps mentioned in MS KB article 927464. If this for some reason doesn't work for you, I recommend you simply delete the Public Folder database using ADSIEdit.

To do so, perform the following steps:

• Install the Windows Support tools (can be found on the Windows Server 2003 media)
• Click Start > Run and type adsiedit.msc followed by pressing Enter
• Now open the folder Configuration > Services > Microsoft Exchange > [Exchange organization] > [Administrative Group] > [AG name] > Servers > [server name] > Information Store > Storage Group
• Right-click the Public Folder in the right pane, then select Delete in the context menu