MSExchange.org Monthly Newsletter of December 2007 Sponsored by: ArcMail

Welcome to the MSExchange.org newsletter by Henrik Walther, Exchange MVP, MCA: Messaging (Exchange Ranger) Apprentice, MCTS/MCITP Exchange 2007, MCSE 2003 Messaging/Security. 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. Videos - A new Service offering on MSExchange.org

Welcome to the December 2007 edition of the MSExchange.org newsletter! Christmas time is quickly approaching and many of us will soon be offline enjoying the Christmas days with our families, so we thought it would make sense to send out the December edition in good time.

Most of us received our very first Christmas present at the beginning of this month (here I'm of course talking about Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 which I guess many of you still are playing with, so you're ready to upgrade your production environments in the near future), but it doesn't stop here. Are you all ears? Well, we have been busy here at MSExchange.org and have come up with a totally new service, which we hope all you (our faithful geeky visitors) will like. Some of you may already know this since the very first video was published last Wednesday, but for those of you who have not noticed, we have now begun to publish video tutorials which will demonstrate, provide step by step instructions or explain different Exchange Server related topics. The videos will often relate to already published content, but will of course also cover completely new topics! Isn't this exciting news? I definitely think so myself and had a lot of fun creating our very first samples as well as the first complete video.

Please bear in mind this new service offering still should be considered beta! It's far from complete and we're still experimenting with different things, meaning you shouldn't expect everything to be perfect just yet. Over the following months we will, based on feedback from you guys, polish the videos further. Actually, we already requested you to send in any suggestions you might have (see this blog post), and yes we are already aware that the current quality of the video isn't optimal. We're still looking into what can be done in order to improve the quality in the most efficient and right manner.

That was all I had to share with you this month, now I'm almost ready to go offline; that is enter Christmas-mode, so I can spend some serious quality time with my family. I suggest you do the same! I'm sure your wife/kids/girlfriend/boyfriend will appreciate it! :-)

Have a great holiday and a great start to the New Year!

Cheers,
Henrik Walther

Note:
Should you have any ideas for content in future editions of the MSExchange.org newsletter, you are 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:

• The New Outlook Web Access Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
• Upgrading to Exchange 2007 SP1
• Hardening Exchange Server 2007 - Part 1: Introductory Steps
• Exchange 2007 Issues: Mailbox Management
• Configuring Mail Flow in a Single Exchange Server 2007
• Exchange 2007 SP1 Mailbox Management Features - Part 2: Managing Mailbox Permissions using the Exchange Management Console
• Implementing Outlook Voice Access with Exchange Server 2007 (Part 2)

4. KB Articles of the Month

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

• Microsoft support policy for Exchange Server installations that are running with a third-party Cluster service
• The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service stops unexpectedly when the Exchange Server 2007-based server replicates the Public folder
• VSS-based backups fail on a computer that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
• Active Directory Connectors cannot replicate a distribution list, and event ID 8270 is logged in Exchange 2003
• Some e-mail messages remain in the queue on an Exchange 2003 server
• The Cdo.dll file may use up to 100 percent of CPU resources when there are corrupted calendar items on an Exchange 2003 server
• A stub object is left behind in the source database for certain users after a move mailbox operation is complete in Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2
• The Store.exe process stops responding on an Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 server

5. Exchange Webcasts

So why do I include the webcasts for a month in a newsletter which is released at the end of each month? Well, because although the respective webcasts have taken place, nothing hinders you from watching them after they have occurred. You see each webcast is recorded so that you can watch it at any given time.

TechNet Webcast: Disaster Recovery in Exchange Server 2007 (Level 200)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359939&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant (Level 200)
Friday, December 14, 2007 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time
Chris Gregson, Support Escalation Engineer, Microsoft Corporation
Mike Hendrickson, Support Escalation Engineer, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359204&Culture=en-US

Momentum Webcast: How Microsoft Can Provide E-mail Security, Compliance, and Availability (Level 100)
Thursday, December 06, 2007 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Eric Trimble, Unified Communications Services Partner Account Manager, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032355609&Culture=en-US

6. MSExchange Links of the Month

• Videos on MSExchange.org
• Office 2007 Service Pack 1 is here!
• Exchange Server 2007 Updating Support Skills on Setup and System Management (this paper is currently unavailable as it contained some incorrect information, but once it’s updated you can find it via the provided link)
• The Best Damn Exchange, SQL and IIS Book Period hits Europe
• Exchange 2007 SP1 Enhanced by Messageware
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 RTM VHD - 32-bit version Released
• Q&A with MVPs coming up
• Microsoft IT Deployment of System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 TCS Published
• Operating a Global Messaging Environment by Using Exchange Server 2007 TWP Published
• New version of GFI MailArchiver: a cost-effective solution to email management problems
• Forefront Security for Exchange Server Service Pack 1 RTMs
• Update: Download Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Now!

7. Ask Henrik Walther a question

QUESTION: Hi Henrik,

Hope you are well; I just wanted to ask you a quick question. We have OU's in our Active Directory environment that contains Contacts "GAL" from another Exchange Organization, Now that we need to update our GAL with their updated GAL on a regular basis, so that once they have a new contact it synchronizes automatically, How can I go about doing that is there a tool that I can synchronize there updated GAL with our current one? I think that if I was to update my GAL with an Exchange 5.5 Organization to my Exchange 2003 Organization I could have used ADC tool "Recipient connection Agreement to set a Source and a Target server to Update Contacts, DLs & GALs.

Is there a Microsoft tool or 3rd party tool that can be used to Sync GAL?

David

ANSWER: Hi David,

This is possible using the GalSync agent included with Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 (ILM 2007) which was formerly known as Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 (MIIS 2003):

Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007

This is a rather expensive product though, so if you don't already use it for other purposes, you might want to take a closer look at the Microsoft Identity Integration Feature Pack (IIFP), which also includes a GalSync agent:

Identity Integration Feature Pack for Microsoft Windows Server Active Directory with Service Pack 2 (SP2)

Cheers,
Henrik

QUESTION: Hi Henrik,

I refer to your article at:

Fixing a Damaged or Incorrectly Configured OWA 2003 Installation

How can this be done in Exchange 2007?

Tony

ANSWER: Hi Tony,

It's funny you ask, as I'm actually going to write an article covering this in Exchange Server 2007, but until the article is published, see the last section in the following KB article:

How to remove and to reinstall IIS on a computer that is running Exchange Server

Cheers,
Henrik