Welcome to Thomas Shinder's Section

Welcome to the Shinder Section

About Dr. Thomas Shinder:
Dr. Thomas W. Shinder is an MCSE, MCP+I, and MCT. He has worked as a technology trainer and consultant in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area, assisting in development and implementation of IP-based communications strategies for major firms such as Xerox, Lucent and FINA.


Dr. Shinder

About Mrs. Deb Shinder
Debra Littlejohn Shinder is an MCSE, MCP+I, and MCT. She has provided network administration services and website development for businesses and municipalities in North Central Texas and has taught at Eastfield College, in the Dallas County Community College District, since 1992. Deb and Tom were instrumental in developing the AATP training program at Eastfield, and currently teach all of the college's Windows 2000 MCSE courses.


Dr. Shinder and his wife Deb Shinder will be writing various articles, tutorials and FAQs related to Exchange Server. Their latest contributions will always be found on this page, though you should find links throughout the MSExchange.org website.

Thomas Shinder's Latest Contributions

Configuring ISA to Redirect OWA Users to the Correct Directories and Protocols (Part 2)
Date - Jul 28, 2005
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
Part 1 of this two-part series on how to redirect OWA users to the right site and protocol discussed the issues involved with creating redirects for users who enter incorrect URLs or incorrect protocols when accessing the OWA Web site. We also went over the initial configuration steps you can use to perform the redirects. In this, part 2 and final part of the series, we’ll go over the configuration steps from beginning to end and explain the rationale behind the steps. By the time you finish the procedure, users will be able to enter incorrect paths and incorrect protocols and still be redirected to the correct OWA Web site. The end result is fewer Help Desk calls.
Configuring ISA to Redirect OWA Users to the Correct Directories and Protocols (Part 1)
Date - Jul 12, 2005
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
A frequent request I see on the ISAServer.org Web boards and mailing lists is for information on how to help hapless uses who can’t remember to enter the correct path or protocol to reach the Exchange Server’s OWA site. While it might seem like a simple issue to enter the path https://owa.domain.com/exchange into the Web browser Address bar and press ENTER, long experience tells us that this isn’t the case.
Protecting Microsoft Exchange with ISA Server 2004 Firewalls
Date - Oct 11, 2004
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
Nobody likes to start from scratch. This is especially true if you have a well established network and firewall infrastructure that’s working for you. Why would you want to go and change everything just to add a new application layer intelligent firewall to your setup? Things are working already and you haven’t been successfully attacked for at least 6 weeks. This article shows how you can place an ISA 2004 firewall on your network to protect your Exchange Servers with minimal changes to your current network topology. Check it out!
Providing E-Mail Defense in Depth for Microsoft Exchange with the ISA 2004 Firewall SMTP Message Screener
Date - Mar 09, 2004
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
There’s no doubt that spam is public enemy number one, not only to the e-mail administrator, but also to the firewall admin. Spam clogs Internet connections, wastes corporate bandwidth, reduces employee productivity and consumes valuable Exchange Server software and hardware resources. Spam, together with its evil cousins e-mail worms and viruses, represent the primary threats against corporate networks today. Find out how the ISA 2004 firewall protects your Exchange Server by acting as the first line of defense against spam and viruses.
Joining the Branch Office to the Main Office with the Firewall for Microsoft Exchange - ISA 2000 : Connecting to the Main Office Exchange Server from the Branch Office using RPC over HTTP
Date - Feb 06, 2004
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
The new Outlook and Exchange 2003 RPC over HTTP feature is great for users stuck behind restrictive firewalls. But what if you want to put the RPC over HTTP proxy server on the ISA firewall machine itself? No problem! Check out this article for all the step by step procedures.
Configuring the Outlook 2003 RPC over HTTP Client
Date - Jan 05, 2004
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
The RPC over HTTP protocol allows your full Outlook 2003 MAPI clients to connect to Exchange 2003 Servers using HTTP/HTTPS. This solves the problem remote Outlook 2003 users have when located behind restrictive firewalls. The trick is to figure out how to properly configure the Outlook 2003 client to use this protocol. If you have remote users who need to access Exchange 2003 via Outlook 2003, then check out this article and see how to configure Outlook 2003 to use RPC over HTTP.
Configuring ISA Server 2000 to Support Outlook 2003 RPC over HTTP - Part 1: Preparing the Infrastructure and Configuring the Front-End Exchange Server
Date - Dec 29, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
Exchange Server 2003 allows Outlook 2003 clients installed on Windows XP Service Pack 1 and above full MAPI client access to Exchange Server 2003 resources using the new RPC over HTTP protocol. RPC over HTTP allows the RPC commands required for full Outlook 2003 MAPI client access to be wrapped or "encapsulated" in an HTTP header and passed through proxies that allow outbound HTTP/HTTPS (SSL). ISA Server 2000 is the ideal firewall to provide the highest level of protection for your Exchange Servers while at the same time allowing the rich functionality the Outlook RPC over HTTP client provides. Check out part 1 of this series on how to configure the ISA firewall to allow secure RPC over HTTP connections to your Exchange 2003 Server.
Configuring a Spam and Attachment Filtering SMTP Relay on the ISA Server 2000 Firewall - Part 1: Installing and Configuring the SMTP Services and Remote Domains
Date - Dec 01, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
Spam is a major threat to the Internet and corporate networks today. Spam clogs Internet routers and gateways, usurps bandwidth on corporate Internet links, and consumes processor cycles and disk space on corporate SMTP relays and mail servers. Criminal spammers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to circumvent spam filtering applications. The more complex the spammer’s attack methodologies used to avoid detection, the more processor intensive the spam whacking applications must be. These processor cycles are robbed from other applications and services running on the same machine and often require that you dedicate a single box to spam filtering. This two part article shows you with detailed step by step instructions on how to make your ISA Server 2000 firewall into a front-end spam filtering SMTP relay.
Introducing the ISA Server 2000 Exchange Server 2000/2003 Deployment Kit - Getting the Most Out of The Firewall for Microsoft Exchange Server
Date - Oct 24, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
The ISA Server 2000 Exchange 2000/2003 Deployment Kit is here! Answers to all your questions regarding Exchange Server publishing and remote access to Exchange Server services via ISA Server firewalls are found in the kit. Check out this article for an intro to the kit and download links.
The Firewall for Microsoft Exchange Server - Supporting ISA Server 2000 Publishing of Exchange Server 2000/2003 with SMTP Relays Part 1: What is an SMTP Relay and Why You Should Use One
Date - Oct 16, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
SMTP relay issues are very common for Exchange Server administrators who need their mail servers to connect to the Internet. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of good descriptions of what SMTP relay is, how it works, why you want one, and what problems you might encounter with them. This series on SMTP relays will help prevent you from becoming the victim of an RBL'er and improve the performance of your Exchange Servers. Check it out!
Announcing Beta 2 of the ISA Server 2000 Exchange Server 2000/2003 Deployment Kit
Date - Oct 15, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
Thanks to everyone who contributed suggestions, recommendations and enhancements to the ISA Server 2000 Exchange Server 2000/2003 Deployment Kit beta 1 release. I’ve been able to incorporate a number of changes and additions to the ISA Server 2000 Exchange Server 2000/2003 Deployment Kit documents based on your suggestions. If you haven’t seen a change based on your suggestion made yet, don’t worry. I’m still trying to catch up with your mail and will make the changes ASAP. I appreciate the input you’ve sent to me a tshinder@tacteam.net and hope to get even more.
Introducing the Beta 1 release of the ISA Server 2000 Exchange 2000/2003 Secure Remote Email Deployment Kit
Date - Oct 07, 2003
Section - Site News / General
Is your company interested in providing secure remote access to your Exchange Server? Do your remote users need to connect to the Exchange Server's SMTP/POP3/IMAP4/NNTP services? How about secure remote connections to Outlook Web Access? Are you ready to roll out RPC over HTTP connections? If you're considering a secure remote access solution to your Exchange Server, then check out this beta 1 version of the ISA Server 2000 Exchange Server 2000/2003 Deployment Kit. Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask is included in this kit. Check it out!
Providing Secure Remote Access for the Full Outlook MAPI Client using the Exchange RPC Filter
Date - Sep 26, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
You can allow remote Outlook 2000/2002/2003 clients to connect to your Exchange Server and take advantage of the full functionality provided by the Outlook MAPI client. Unlike Outlook Web Access, full Outlook MAPI client functionality allows remote users to take advantage of the entire set of mail and groupware features provided by Exchange Server. But you must do this securely. Check out this article to find out how.
Secure Exchange Server 2003 POP3 Publishing
Date - Aug 26, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
Your users can access their corporate email via the POP3 protocol using the Exchange Server 2003 POP3 service. However, in order to secure user credentials and data moving between the email client and server, you have to use SSL/TLS security. Check out this article and find out how to use ISA Server 2000 to provide secure POP3 access.
Publishing Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access (OWA) with ISA Server 2000 - Table of Contents
Date - Jul 17, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
I recently finished a five part series on how to publish the Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access Web site using ISA Server 2000. The inspiration behind this series was the realization that ISA Server 2000 provides an absolutely unique ability to protect my OWA 2003 Web sites in a way that no other firewall in its class can do. Check out this series *before* you publish that OWA 2003 site!
Publishing Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access (OWA) with ISA Server 2000 - Part 3: SSL Bridging Drill Down and Requesting a Web Site Certificate
Date - Jul 11, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
We continue our series on publishing Exchange 2003 OWA sites with a drill down on SSL to SSL bridging and the importance of Web site certificate configuration. Then the steps by steps for obtaining the Web site certificate and exporting it are discussed. Come on in if your wresting with OWA publishing and certificate assignment!
Publishing Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access (OWA) with ISA Server 2000 Part 2: Understanding SSL Bridging and Installing an Enterprise CA
Date - Jul 09, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
In the first part of this series on how to publish the Exchange 2003 OWA site using ISA Server 2000, we went over some of the advantages the Exchange 2003 OWA site has over previous versions and a high level overview of the steps required to make the internal Exchange 2003 OWA available to external network users via ISA Server 2000 Web Publishing Rules. In this article we'll look at how the ISA Server firewall uses SSL bridging to provide a unique level of protection for your Exchange 2003 OWA site
Publishing Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access (OWA) with ISA Server 2000
Date - Jul 08, 2003
Section - Exchange 2003 Articles / Mobility & Client Access
ISA Server 2000 is the firewall of choice when publishing Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 services. If you are running, or plan to run, Exchange 2000 or 2003 services and want to make those services available to external network users, then it behooves you replace any existing firewall setup you current have in place and use an ISA Server 2000-based firewall offering. Check out this series on OWA 2003 publishing to get off to a good start.
Secure Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service Publishing with ISA Server 2000 - Part 2: Understanding the Co-located SMTP Servers
Date - Apr 22, 2003
Section - Exchange 2000 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
In the first part of this article on publishing the Exchange 2000 IMAP4 service, we went over the procedures required to make the IMAP4 service available to users on the Internet via ISA Server 2000 (ISA Server) Server Publishing Rules. In this, part 2, of our secure IMAP4 publishing series, we’ll go over the high level details required to understand the Co-located SMTP server scenario we’re building
Secure Exchange 2000 IMAP4 Service Publishing with ISA Server 2000 - Part 1: Securing Publishing of the IMAP4 Service
Date - Apr 20, 2003
Section - Exchange 2000 Articles / Security & Message Hygiene
Everyone knows that Exchange 2000 is the perfect mail server if you need to support thousands of users, but its also great if you have fewer than a hundred users. If you're running a small shop, you might want to save on bandwidth costs by using ISA Server and IMAP4 publishing. Publishing IMAP4 is great, but you need to do it securely. Check inside for all the details you need to make it work!

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