MSExchange.org Monthly Newsletter of November 2008 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. Automated Distribution Group Management Solutions for Exchange 2007

Welcome to the November issue of the MSE newsletter! In this issue, I will talk about the solutions available (or should I say lack thereof!) in regards to automating distribution group management in a messaging infrastructure based on Exchange Server 2007. When I say automating distribution group management, do not think dynamic distribution groups, which are query-based distribution groups, which automatically update membership based on search criteria. What I mean is a solution which reduces the administrative burden of Exchange administrators by offering the users to handle distribution group management themselves. A solution where users can request membership to a particular distribution group, and the group owner then can decide whether the user should be permitted or denied membership of the group. In addition, the solution should be capable of configuring a so called "open group" so that a user can be automatically added to a particular group, when a request to join it has been sent.

A tool that could do the above was actually included with the Exchange Server 2000 Resource Kit. It was called AutoDL and offered an organization to create a custom web-browser interface which users could access in order to handle distribution group management on their own. From the webpage users could request the addition and deletion of new distribution groups within the organization and create or delete groups etc. You can still see traces of this tool on Microsoft TechNet, for instance here.

Unfortunately the AutoDL tool can only be used specifically with Exchange Server 2000, and even worse an updated version was never made available for use in an Exchange Server 2003 or 2007 based messaging organization. And guess what? You are right; Exchange 2007 also does not have any native functionality that provides a distribution group management solution.

This is really a shame especially since Microsoft still uses a solution based on the original AutoDL tool internally within their Exchange 2007 based messaging infrastructure. I guess it is not as easy as one may think to create an updated version and release it to the web as an Exchange 2007 tool, if it was they would have done so.

So what are our alternatives? Well at this stage there's not that many to choose from. Quest Software used to have a tool called ActiveGroups, but it has been discontinued (traces of ActiveGroups can be found here and here). This leaves us to a product called SmartDL developed by a company named imanami. This product is very professional and does exactly what it should, but it may be an expensive solution for small to medium organization that were used to the free AutoDL tool from Microsoft.

Okay, so how does the future look in regards to Distribution Group Management solutions for Exchange? Well, the future looks somewhat brighter. Identity Lifecycle Manager Version 2 (ILM v2), which recently went out as a release candidate to the public and will release to manufacturing  in Q1 of 2009, includes a group management component among many other interesting additions. Although this sounds super duper to the large enterprises out there, that already use ILM for provisioning, coexistence etc. but the price tag of ILM hinders small to medium enterprises to think in this direction.

Side note
Back since 2003 until 2007, Microsoft also had a solution called Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP), a solution based on BizTalk Server. Although you may never have heard about this solution, it was a solution developed within Microsoft Services and has been deployed at customers both by consultants in Microsoft Services and Microsoft partners. After the release of ZTP 3.1, it was moved to the more formal solutions group. With ZTP 4.0 it is now also based entirely on ILM. So although I do not know for sure, my bet is the ZTP is the module that provides the group management capabilities in ILM v2. By the way you can read much more about ZTP on David Clark's blog. Last update was in January 2008, but it contains a lot of history about the ZTP solution and how that journey ended for him.

What about the next version of Exchange server (codenamed E14). Will this version include distribution group management functionality? It is no secret that the Exchange product group has received many requests over the years to add this feature back into the Exchange product, but whether it will be included in E14 or not is a secret. I know the answer as I’m in the E14 TAP, but my mouth is shut since I am under a strict NDA.

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:

• A Closer Look at Preparing Active Directory for Exchange 2007 (Part 4)
• Using Exchange Server 2007 Built-in Scripts - Part 2: Generating Transport AntiSpam Agent Reports
• Uncovering the Exchange 2007 Edge Transport Server (Part 4) 
• Monitoring Exchange 2007 With System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Part 1)
• Server Administration in Exchange 2007 using Powershell CmdLets
• A Closer Look at Preparing Active Directory for Exchange 2007 (Part 3)
• Using Exchange Sever 2007 Built-in Scripts - Part 1: Managing Public Folder Replicas and Client Permissions  
• Messageware AttachView 2007

4. KB Articles of the Month

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

Exchange 2007

• Meeting requests from external senders are displayed as Busy instead of Tentative in an Exchange 2007 environment
• The reseed process is unsuccessful on the CCR passive node after you restore one full backup and two or more differential backups to the CCR active node
• Exchange 2007 CAS cannot copy the OAB from the OAB share on Windows Server 2008-based Exchange 2007 CCR clusters
• The received time and date of IMAP messages are changed to the time of migration after you migrate mailboxes to an Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1-based server
• The start time and the end time of a meeting request are incorrect when a delegate uses Exchange Web Service to send the request in an Exchange 2007 environment
• You cannot add a Mail User or a Mail Contact to the Safe Senders list in Exchange 2007 by using OWA Client
• Japanese DBCS characters are corrupted when you reply to a message or forward a message in an Exchange Server 2007 SP1 environment
• An Exchange 2007 room mailbox stops processing requests after the resource booking assistant receives a delegated meeting request from an Exchange 2003 user
• The OAB generation is unsuccessful and Event IDs 9328 and 9373 are logged in the Application log in a Windows Server 2008-based Exchange 2007 Single-Copy cluster environment
• Event ID 1032 is not logged in the Application log when users send e-mail messages while they are logged on to Outlook Web Access as another user in Exchange 2007
• The last character of a user's Chinese display name is truncated in the Offline Address Book on an Exchange 2007 server
• Exchange 2007 users cannot send e-mail messages to a mail-enabled public folder in a mixed Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 environment
• The W3wp.exe process intermittently stops responding and Event ID 1000 is logged in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1
• Event ID 10 messages fill up the Application log on an Exchange 2007 CAS server if an Exchange Server 2003 mailbox owner makes an Exchange Web Service call
• Event ID 12800 is logged on an Exchange 2007-based server: "Message processing failed because there is not enough available memory (8007000E-82000387)"
• Description of Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1
• An exception occurs in Exchange Management Console when you preview AddressList in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
• Exchange Management Shell crashes (stops responding), and Event ID 1000 is logged when you perform a cross-forest migration from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007 SP1
• A sender receives an NDR from the Exchange 2007 server when the sender submits a private message by using an SMTP server
• Event ID 800 does not include the user name of users who ran the Get-MessageTrackingLog command in an Exchange 2007 environment
• Exchange Server 2007 Update Rollup 3 does not update the Outlook Web Access Logon.aspx file after you modify the file
• A VSS backup application causes the Information Store service to crash repeatedly on an Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1-based server
• The W3wp.exe process may crash on an Exchange 2007 CAS server after you use Entourage to send a message that is larger than 48 KB
• Unified Messaging does not handle the diversion header correctly in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1
• Meeting requests do not maintain the organizer information after the organizer is migrated from Lotus Domino to Exchange Server 2007 by using the Microsoft Transporter Suite
• You receive error messages or warnings when you change an Active Directory schema so that the Company property upports more than 64 characters
• Outlook 2007 crashes after you install a package that contains the .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1 and the .NET Framework 2.0 with SP2 on an Exchange 2007 Client Access server

Exchange 2003

• Exchange Server 2003 users in one child domain cannot access shared resources from another child domain in the same Active Directory forest
• Reminders for meeting requests reappear in Outlook after users synchronize meeting requests by using a mobile device and Exchange ActiveSync in Exchange Server 2003
• The worker process for Exchange ActiveSync crashes when end-users try to synchronize their third-party devices with an Exchange Server 2003 server
• Exchange System Manager stops responding when you expand public folders on a server that is running Exchange Server 2003
• Some recurring calendar items disappear from the "Day/Week/Month" view in Outlook when a user uses Exchange ActiveSync on a mobile device to modify a recurring meeting in an Exchange 2003 environment
• The "To" field is populated with the original recipients of the meeting request, and the "Subject" field is not prefixed when you use Outlook to forward a meeting request that was responded to by the CDO application

5. MSExchange News of the Month

• Update Rollup 5 for Exchange 2007/Exchange 2007 SP1 Released
• Overview of Namespace Planning
• The Fundamentals of Mobile Access to Exchange 2007
• ESE Internals (Ross Smith IV) Session from TechEd EMEA Online
• SonaSafe for Email Archiving Solution enables customers meet regulatory compliance and eDiscovery requirements

6. Ask Henrik Walther a question

QUESTION:

Is it possible to deploy and configure an Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport server for sending mails (only for mass mailing) in a Domino mailbox server environment?

ANSWER:

Yes this is no problem at all since an Exchange 2007 Edge Transport Server is simply an SMTP gateway that has some extra interesting features in regards to Exchange Server 2007 based organizations.