MSExchange.org Monthly Newsletter of March 2009 Sponsored by: Red Gate

Welcome to the MSExchange.org newsletter by Henrik Walther, Exchange MVP, MCA: Messaging (Exchange Ranger) Apprentice, MCTS Windows Server 2008, 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. DPM 2007 SP1 - Backing Up SCR Targets

Welcome to the March issue of the MSE newsletter!

In this installment of the MSE Newsletter, I wanted to mention an interesting new Exchange related feature included in Data Protection Manager 2007 (DPM 2007) Service Pack 1 (SP1). DPM 2007 SP1 was released back in December 2008.

As several of you already know, the RTM version of DPM 2007 was capable of taking software VSS backups of stand-alone and SCC or CCR based Mailbox servers. Heck, you could even take the backup via a passive CCR cluster node as explained in an old article of mine. Taking the database backups via the passive node is a great idea since this offloads the backup workload from the active CCR cluster node.

Guess what DPM 2007 SP1 includes? Yes you are absolutely right, DPM 2007 SP1 is also capable of backing of Exchange 2007 Standby Continuous Replication Clusters (SCR) targets. For more information also see the DPM 2007 SP1 Release Notes. But there’s one thing you should be aware of. DPM 2007 SP1 uses standard file system snapshots to backup Exchange. That is the Exchange VSS writer isn’t used for backing SCR targets. This means that no quiescing of the databases occurs. Also, transaction log files are not truncated. More specifically what DPM 2007 SP1 does is the following:

• Calls Exchange to suspend replication
• Uses a Windows VSS to snap the SCR data
• Calls Exchange to resume replication
• Uses ESEUTIL to validate the backup information

So although we’re capable of taking backups of SCR targets with DPM 2007 SP1, one could argue whether the backup method used for backing up SCR targets in this version is Exchange aware or not.  But the above doesn’t change the fact that we now can backup SCR targets. For more information on limitations, necessary configuration steps etc. please check out the DPM 2007 SP1 documentation over at Microsoft TechNet.

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:

• Managing Outlook 2007 through Group Policies (Part 1) 
• A Practical Look at Migrating From Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 (Part 5) 
• Introduction to Exchange Online - Uncovering BPOS (Part 4) 
• Verify a Standby Continuous Replication Copy 
• Managing Exchange Server 2007 log files (Part 2) 
• A Practical Look at Migrating From Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 (Part 4) 
• Monitoring Exchange 2007 With System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Part 4) 
• A Practical Look at Migrating From Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 (Part 3)   

4. KB Articles of the Month

Since Exchange 2007 SP1 Rollup Update 7 (RU7) was released this month, there are a lot of new KB articles associated with bug fixes/changes in this RU in this version of the MSE Newsletter.

Exchange Server 2007

• Description of Update Rollup 7 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 
• When a CDO 1.2.1-based application generates a meeting request that includes some European characters in the message body, these characters appear as question marks in Exchange 2007 
• The Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging server does not update the caller information if an external user makes a call 
• The ByteEncoderTypeFor7BitCharsets setting does not take effect for the US ASCII character set after you install the hotfix that is mentioned in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 946641 
• Exchange Server 2007 cannot route e-mail messages to mail enabled Non-MAPI public folders that are hosted on an Exchange Server 2003 server 
  
• The MSExchange Transport service may crash intermittently on the Exchange 2007 server 
• Event 522 is logged when replication is resumed on a suspended Storage Group on an Exchange Server 2007 CCR or SCR environment  
  
• An increase in database size is generated unexpectedly when IMAP4 users use a Copy command in Exchange 2007 
• All Test commands that are related to the Client Access Server fail when you run the commands on an Exchange 2007 server in a disjoint namespace
  
• The Exchange Information Store service may crash when an Entourage client synchronizes with an Exchange 2007 server
  
• The Exchange Information Store service may crash after you enable tracing for the logon actions 
• Users cannot read calendar items when they connect Exchange Server 2007 by using certain IMAP4 or POP3 clients 
• The LegacyExchangeDN attributes for mail-enabled objects are incorrectly set in an environment that contains Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 
  
• A redirection message in Outlook Web Access 2007 is incorrect when the message is translated to Korean 
• You cannot update the task complete percentage to any value other than 0 or 100 in Outlook Web Access 
• An IP Gateway can still be used to dial out for a "Play on Phone" request after the IP Gateway is disabled 
• The Restore-StorageGroupCopy command may fail in an Exchange Server 2007 SCR environment 
• Event ID 9874 is frequently logged on Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1 
• Event 9673 occurs when the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service crashes on a computer that is running Exchange 2007 with Service Pack 1 
  
• The last logon time is not updated to reflect the logon times that have occurred after users log on to their mailboxes by using the Entourage client in an Exchange 2007 environment 
• Outlook Web Access or an Exchange Web Service application does not correctly display a monthly or yearly recurring appointment or meeting request
  

Exchange Server 2003

• Clicking 'Connect To This Discussion board' in SharePoint alert email gives error (0x800401F3) 
• A message that contains one byte Kana stays in the Directory Lookup queue in Exchange Server 2003 when the message is sent by using OWA 
  
• The search operation is aborted in Exchange Server 2003 when an Exchange store includes a corrupted HTML message
  
• Event ID 9582 message is logged in the Application log on an Exchange Server 2003 server 
• Event ID 459 may be logged after you perform a backup of an Exchange Server store in Exchange Server 2003 by using the NTBACKUP tool 
  
• The Information Store service crashes on an Exchange Server 2003 server when you import some personal folders (.pst) files by using the ExMerge.exe tool 
  
• An MDM device returns a "partial success" message because Exchange 2003 does not recognize the device

5. MSExchange News of the Month

• Update Rollup 7 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Released
• Digicert SAN Certificate screencasts available 
• Microsoft Transporter Suite now supported on Windows Server 2008 
• Microsoft Online Services Available Worldwide  

6. Ask Henrik Walther a question

QUESTION:

I have been round and round with Microsoft on this. I am an Exchange Architect for a national services company.

Anyway, here is what I have been in conversations with... it has to do with running the CAS and HUB roles on Windows 2008 Web Edition servers. I have seen this in production in many places and have designed a FULL lab with the same setup. Even with NLB running works GREAT. I have been in phone conversations with Microsoft around it and they say that they actually run THEIR environment with WEB Edition for the CAS and HUB roles and Enterprise for the CCR (backend). But... when you look at all the docs of what Microsoft supports for the OS for Exchange 2007... Web edition is NOT listed.

I asked WHY and the response I always get is that they are stating Exchange as a WHOLE and not as individual roles. I wish they would put Web Edition (CAS and HUB roles only).

I am wondering what kind of things YOU have come across with using the Web Edition or what things you have heard Microsoft say yes or no around it.

What they tell me is that when you load Windows 2008, the same foot print is installed on all (Web, Standard, and Enterprise). There are NO roles or functions installed… the only difference is what roles and functions CAN be installed from that point. Exchange 2007 CAS and HUB roles only need IIS and PowerShell installed. All three OS’s (web, standard, and enterprise) has these bits to install so once they DO install these minimum items, they are EXACTLY the same. The only real difference would be the startup bit map and the screen when you look at the basic info about the computer page (right click Computer - Properties). The actual items installed and running on the machine would be exactly the same.

I have been on support calls WITH Microsoft on the Web Edition servers and they supported them just fine even knowing that they were Web edition. I have always heard them say it doesn’t matter, it is the same OS for these roles. But I just can’t find anything that Microsoft will publicly say this on.

ANSWER:

I don’t know who within MS told you that MS IT install their CAS/HUB servers on the Windows Web Server edition, but I can guarantee this is not true.

Also installing Exchange 2007 on this server version is unsupported. Also see the following.