Virtualization of Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange Server is a product which is used for making the purpose of emailing faster. This software is designed to make the work more efficient. Since nowadays the e-mail pays a vital role in the business dealings, so many companies are going for the Microsoft Exchange Server which has made their work much easier and faster. Microsoft Exchange Server not only has increased the reliability but also provides the feature if adding servers for other applications and hence its utilization makes the workload much easier.

The main advantage of the Microsoft Exchange Server is that it is used for providing security enhancement to many software packages.

Harmful threats like viruses spam and hackers can be neutralized by the use of this server.

Hence it is much more reliable and provides the confidence to the customers and employees that their email system is well protected and full potential utilization of their system can be done with the help of this server.

• Going for the virtualization of Microsoft Exchange Server: -

i. This server provides a cost effective technique and hence providing a simpler business environment. The use and costs of e-mails can be managed and hence the complexities which are increasing day by day can be controlled by the use of M.E. server.

ii. Besides the helpful features like flexibility, increase availability, reduction in cost, disaster recovery simplifications, your hardware products can be tested and provided with a valid virtual solution. This is the technique used in the virtualization of this server.

iii. These services are provided by the two leading software companies - Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and VMware (leading data storage enterprise).

• Advantages of virtualization of Microsoft Exchange Server: -

It helps in increasing the reliability of the email system and also improves the disaster tolerant system by providing efficient infrastructure.

i. By encapsulating the Exchange Servers into virtual machines, it helps in simplifying the recovery of data for the improvement in the Exchange infrastructure.

ii. The VMware Infrastructure plays an important role in protecting the servers. So it is even more powerful technique with virtual machine.

It helps in improving the performance by the information exchange.

i. With the introduction of 'New 64-bit architecture' in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, the performance of the system has improved as much more RAM usage can be done with the better coordination with VMware virtual machine.

ii. Hence better access to the disk can be done and more memory can be used.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Virtualizing-of-Microsoft-Exchange-Server&id=1156138

Protect Data with Exchange Server 2007

Lucid8 delivers next-generation automated disaster prevention, optimization, protection, and recovery solutions for Microsoft® Exchange. Today, Lucid8 has over six-thousand product implementations to customers worldwide ranging from SMEs to Fortune 100 companies worldwide whose businesses depend on Microsoft Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003, and 2007.

Fear of loss compels us to protect ourselves, our cars, our homes, our families and our friends. Our concerns for potential loss encourage us to take precautions to help mitigate risks. This is why most of us exercise, take our cars into the shop when they make unexplained noises or motions, and buy insurance policies in case of other catastrophic losses. I seriously hope that no one’s life is in danger from his or her messaging system, but I am fairly certain that most companies would be wounded should a catastrophic problem occur within the Exchange environment.

Exchange Server 2007 is as self-healing as Exchange has ever been, but without a healthy hardware platform, drivers, Active Directory, DNS, network, and regular policy management, it can go belly-up faster than you can say cardiac arrest. To make matters even worse, many Exchange administrators are not current with the latest CPR techniques nor have they been practicing preventive maintenance on their Exchange databases in order to minimize unplanned downtime. In this white paper, you will learn the bare and necessary facts you should know to proactively maintain your Exchange Server 2007 environment.

In order to download the Protecting Your Data with Exchange Server 2007 whitepaper, please fill out the form below: You will find form here:

http://windowsitpro.com/Whitepapers/Index.cfm?fuseaction=ShowWP&WPID=393a7bec-e173-483c-b887-95b1cf858e28&code=winflink

How to Creating mail users in Exchange Server 2007

Mail users are actual accounts in your Active Directory, but their email does not reside within your Exchange environment; they use their own messaging system, Hotmail account, etc. This may sound a lot like a contact, but the difference is that a contact is an object that represents someone who neither has a mailbox in your Exchange environment nor an Active Directory account, whereas the mail user still has an Active Directory account.

To create a mail user in the Exchange Management Console, begin by navigating to the Mail User node under Recipient Configuration in the console tree. In the action pane, click the New Mail User link (Figure A) to start the New Mail User Wizard.



Navigate to the Mail User node:-



Beginning the New Mail User Wizard:-

Since you are creating a user within Active Directory, you first need to provide user account information on the User Information page of the wizard, as shown in Figure 3-35. Then, because the user will utilize an outside messaging system, you will need to provide his or her external email address, as shown in Figure 3-36.



Provide account information when creating a new mail user:-



Used For Referrence: http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid43_gci1333150,00.html

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Security features

Microsoft announced Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 and opened a technology preview for the software. Exchange Server 2007 SP1 features enhancements such as support for Windows Server 2008, enhanced integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, and improved mobile device management and advanced security technology.

Among other new features of Exchange Server 2007 SP1, these are security related ones:



Additional Exchange ActiveSync policies

New Exchange ActiveSync policies in SP1 build on Exchange Server 2007's robust security and management features with new policies for synchronization, authentication and encryption. For businesses with more advanced data protection needs, Exchange Server 2007 SP1 offers device, network and application controls. These new features allow network administrators to help manage and secure Exchange ActiveSync-enabled mobile devices.

Enhanced security

Microsoft also unveiled Forefront Security for Exchange Server SP1, which integrates with Exchange Server 2007 SP1 to provide an extra layer of security for even greater protection and control. Forefront Security for Exchange Server includes multiple scan engines from industry-leading security firms integrated in a single solution to help protect against viruses, worms and spam. The new service pack for Forefront Security for Exchange Server features improvements in content filtering and manageability as well as support for Windows Server 2008.

Source: net-security.org/secworld.php?id=5423

Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1

This is a heads up that Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 is in the final stages of getting released and should be out in a couple of days. The next step for the Exchange team will be to release the Update Rollup onto the Download Center and then publish it to Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update publishing will happen 2-3 weeks after the Download Center publishing, due to internal policies and processes. We will let you know when this happens.

Regarding the overall patching experience, we have addressed the issue of Exchange 2007 managed services might time out during certificate revocation checks. While we will have a full list of issues fixed when the Rollup releases, some of major issues are:

• CDCR: Need an option to apply ELC policy to only the root instead of applying it recursively to root and all subfolders
• CDCR: Add generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false" to Exchange Services Config Files
• SCR does not copy logs in a disjoint namespace scenario
• SCR cannot be enabled when DNS suffixes differ on source/target in disjoint namespace scenarios
• Exchange 2007 CAS cannot copy the OAB from the OAB share on Windows Server 2008-based Exchange 2007 CCR clusters
• Messages get stuck in outbox on Windows Mobile 6.1 devices When using CAS proxy
• CDCR: MSI patching doesn't update logon.aspx if the file is modified by customer

Source:bink.nu/news/update-rollup-5-for-exchange-server-2007-sp1-is-almost-out-the-door.aspx

Microsoft Launches Online Exchange, SharePoint

Microsoft on Monday officially launched hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint, two of its biggest on-premise cash cows, and continued to drive home the message that channel partners have nothing to fear from Microsoft's plan to move all its enterprise apps to the cloud.

Exchange Online and SharePoint Online are part of Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), which also includes Live Meeting and Office Communications Server, although the latter is still in beta and won't be available until next spring.

At a launch event in San Francisco, Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, said companies can reap cost savings of between 10 and 50 percent by moving to Microsoft-hosted SharePoint and Exchange services.

In July at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, some solution providers were upset by the commission structure for BPOS as well as by Microsoft's revelation that it would take over control of billing customers.

Exchange Online is priced at $10 per user/month, SharePoint Online per user/month is $7.25. Office Communications Server Online will be $2.50 per user/month, and LiveMeeting will be $4.50 per user/month. Microsoft will offer these services in one-year automatically renewing agreements.

At the Monday launch event, Elop insisted that Microsoft has maintained "a deliberate dependence" on its partner ecosystem by offering VARs the chance to develop recurring revenue streams.

To illustrate what Elop described as the "absolutely overwhelming" channel response to Exchange and SharePoint Online, Microsoft had several partners on hand to discuss deployment scenarios. These case studies helped underscore Microsoft's mantra that VARs can adapt their business models by focusing on value-added migration and customization services.

"The whole world is changing. It requires change, but it's representative of what's going on in the market today," said Elop.

Adam Smith, director of marketing at Phase 2 International, a Honolulu, Hawaii-based solution provider, says in the current economic environment, his customers are finding it easier to pay a monthly subscription as opposed to a major one-time capital expenditure.

Smith admits that the Microsoft's WPC announcement was initially ominous for Microsoft hosting partners, but said the practical realities of deploying on-premise Microsoft apps quickly dissolved those fears.

"We've never had a customer who was satisfied with an out-of-the-box, Microsoft application," Smith said. "Every customer, without exception, has required some level of support, training, integration, or customization."

Source: crn.com

Why does the user name get rejected when some users log in to Exchange Server 2007 via POP3?

Question:- Why does the user name get rejected when some users log in to Exchange Server 2007 via POP3?

Answer:- We're all familiar with the user principal name (UPN); it includes a user's log-on name, the @ symbol, followed by the domain name. Errors can occur when users have a UPN that exceeds 40 characters, which is the default limit for POP3 set by the MaxCommandSize setting. You can resolve this issue in one of two ways. The first method just increases the value of MaxCommandSize, this way:

• Start the Exchange Management Shell.
• Type Get-POPSettings to view current settings. You'll notice the default value is 40.
• To increase the value to 50 (the upper limit is 1,024 bytes), type Set-POPSettings -MaxCommandSize 50
• Restart POP3 for the changes to take effect.

2. The second method increases the value of MSExchPopImapCommandSize via the Adsiedit.msc snap-in. It's a bit more complicated...

Via:mcpmag.com

How To: Recreate OWA Virtual Directory - Exchange 2007

How To: Recreate OWA Virtual Directory - Exchange 2007. So many times I heard that OWA doesn’t work on Exchange 2007 server. There would be many reason behind it, like permission configuration, missing files, not able to load properly, .net errors etc…

There are different solutions base on various reasons but no one works then you may try by recreating OWA virtual directory which is giving problem.

Check and note the settings of directory in EMC before recreating it, like InternalURL, ExternalURL, Forms-Based Authentication settings ect..

Procedure:

• First step is to identify the directory which is giving the problem.

You can use Get-OwaVirtualDirectory to get the list of virtual directories.

• Now let’s say I have problem while accessing owa directory. Remove it with below command.

Remove-OwaVirtualDirectory “owa (Default Web Site)”

• Now create it again with below command.

New-OwaVirtualDirectory -OwaVersion “Exchange2007″ -Name “owa (Default Web Site)”

Note: if you are recreating other than owa directory which are legacy Exchange directories then you need to use “Exchange2003or2000″ in OWAVersion switch instead of “Exchange2007″

• Now configure the “owa” virtual directory settings like InternalURL, ExternalURL, Forms-Based Authentications etc… & check the OWA by logging with some test users.

Source: exchangeshare.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/how-to-recreate-owa-virtual-directory-exchange-2007

Google Android Adds Microsoft Exchange Support

When Google, HTC, and T-Mobile unveiled the first Android-powered handset in September, many mobile professionals were disappointed with the lack of Microsoft Exchange support. At the time, officials from T-Mobile and Google said that could easily be remedied by a third-party developer.

With this in mind, Wrike and Intermedia have rolled out a free Android application that will enable users to sync their G1s Exchange servers.

The app, ContactsSync, doesn't offer full Exchange syncing, but it does let G1 users load their contacts onto the phone. Changes made on the phone won't be made to your server-based contacts, but the developers said that should change in the future.

The developers also plan full calendar syncing, but e-mail syncing is not in the cards.

"Users can access their e-mail from Exchange using IMAP, so we don't have plans to sync e-mail," Wrike's Valerie Sinitskaya told gadget blog Gizmodo.

Once the application is downloaded onto the handset, setup can be completed by entering your e-mail address and password for the Exchange e-mail account. There is also an advance setup that enables the user to change or manually configure the Exchange Web Services address.

The ContactsSync application can be downloaded here, and it should eventually be in the Android Market.

The G1 will officially launch Wednesday, and users can expect multiple applications to pop up addressing the lack of Exchange support. A full syncing app may not appear in the Android Market until content developers are allowed to sell apps, but it may show up earlier at Handango.

Via:informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211300019

Difference between MS Exchange Server 2003 and MS Exchange Server 2007

Exchange Server 2003(v6.5)(currently at Service Pack 2) can be run on Windows 2000 Server (only if Service Pack 4 is first installed) and 32-bit Windows Server 2003, although some new features only work with the latter.

Like Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server 2003 has many compatibility modes to allow users to slowly migrate to the new system. This is useful in large companies with distributed Exchange Server environments who cannot afford the downtime and expense that comes with a complete migration.One of the new features in Exchange Server 2003 is enhanced disaster recovery which allows administrators to bring the server online quicker. This is done by allowing the server to send and receive mail while the message stores are being recovered from backup.

Exchange Server 2007 was released in late 2006 to business customers as part of Microsoft’s roll-out wave of new products. It includes new clustering options, 64-bit support for greater scalability, voice mail integration, better search and support for Web services, better filtering options, and a new Outlook Web Access interface. Exchange 2007 also dropped support for Exchange 5.50 migrations, routing groups, admin groups, Outlook Mobile Access, X.400, and some API interfaces, amongst other features.

Key improvements of MCSE 2003. The principal enhancements, as outlined by Microsoft, are

• Protection: anti-spam, antivirus, compliance, clustering with data replication, improved security and encryption
• Improved Information Worker Access: improved calendaring, unified messaging, improved mobility, improved web access
• Improved IT Experience: 64-bit performance & scalability, command-line shell & simplified GUI, improved deployment, role separation, simplified routing
• Exchange Management Shell: a new command-line shell and scripting language for system administration (based on Windows PowerShell). Shell users can perform every task that can be performed in the Exchange Server graphical user interface plus additional tasks, and can program often-used or complex tasks into scripts that can be saved, shared, and re-used. The Exchange Management Shell has over 375 unique commands to manage features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
• Unified Messaging” that lets users receive voice mail, e-mail, and faxes in their mailboxes, and lets them access their mailboxes from cell phones and other wireless devices. Voice commands can be given to control and listen to e-mail over the phone (and also send some basic messages, like “I’ll be late”)
• Removed the database maximum size limit. Database size is now limited by hardware capability and the window for backups and maintenance.
• Increased the maximum number of storage groups and mail databases per server, to 5 each for Standard Edition (from 1 each in Exchange Server 2003 Standard), and to 50 each for Enterprise

Source:/blog.test4actual.com/?p=407

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 review

When it released Exchange Server 2007 at the beginning of last year, Microsoft admitted to dropping a number of the expected features in order to meet its deadline. Some of these were new to the 2007 product, but others were already available in Exchange Server 2003, causing more than a little concern among customers looking to upgrade. It comes as no surprise, therefore, to find many of these features reinstated in Service Pack 1 (SP1) in a clear attempt to finally deliver the product that Microsoft originally promised.

Along with the usual performance enhancements and bug fixes, one of the new features is, naturally, support for Windows Server 2008, with SP1 required if you want to host Exchange Server 2007 on that platform. Otherwise you’ll need Windows Server 2003 with the SP2 update applied to run Exchange Server 2007 SP1. As before, the latest implementation is designed for 64-environments, although it can be deployed on 32-bit servers for unsupported testing and evaluation purposes.



Exchange Server 2007 SP1 fills in a lot of those gaps. For example, POP3/IMAP4 server settings can now be configured from the Exchange Management Console (EMC) just as before. Public folders can, similarly, be managed from the EMC again, along with user Send As permissions. With the original release, these options all had to be configured via the Exchange Management Shell (EMS), requiring programming skills that are not normally available in smaller companies. The Move Mailbox tool has also been enhanced in this release to allow import and export to personal folders.

The Outlook Web Access (OWA) Premium client in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 is yet another component to benefit from the return of lost functionality. This includes the ability to manage personal distribution lists from a browser, create and maintain custom rules, recover deleted items and select a monthly calendar view — all of which were dropped when Exchange 2007 was first launched. Support for S/MIME is similarly reinstated, but only when using IE 7.0; the list of attachments that can be converted to HTML in a message (WebReady Document Viewing) is also extended to include more of the Office 2007 formats. However, there are still document components that can’t be viewed this way.



Conclusion

The Exchange Server 2007 SP1 update can be downloaded free of charge. At 840MB it’s not small, but it can be used to install a fresh copy of Exchange as well as upgrade existing code. We found it straightforward to apply and would recommend anyone already on the new platform or installing Exchange for the first time to get hold of it. Upgrading from an earlier version of Exchange, however, can be problematic, and the support forums are full of customers who have experienced problems.

Careful planning and testing is, therefore, advisable even with this new and improved implementation. It's also still very much an enterprise solution, and there's no news yet about a small-business version of Exchange Server 2007.

Source:zdnet.co.uk/

Avoid the Top Ten Microsoft Exchange Migration Headaches

Organizations are taking a serious look at Microsoft exchange Server 2007, which sits on the Microsoft Unified Communications platform. Despite its enterprise e-mail, shared calendars, contacts and voicemail integration with e-mail, some administrators are reluctant to adopt the technology, for fear of a lengthy and expensive migration process. But migrating email and data doesn’t have to be such an arduous task. Read on for our tips about how to avoid the most common Exchange migration headaches.

Headache #1: Cost

IT directors can anticipate the following costs when planning an Exchange 2007 implementation: software licenses for Exchange 2007 and any third-party vendor tools; any new equipment to support the migrated platform, including servers, networking equipment and power appliances.

Licensing and equipment costs need not be prohibitive. Prior to launching a migration project, check your license agreements, as you may already own an independent software license for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or it may be a part of the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement your organization already has in place.

Even with Exchange 2007’s requirement for 64-bit servers, equipment costs may be less then you budgeted. You may be surprised to learn that most of your organization’s current e-mail environment is already running on 64-bit hardware and that you can reuse it if you are careful to select an appropriate migration approach. If you do find that you require new hardware, consider a scalable solution that will make the most of your investment, such as a blade system.

Headache #2: Lack of Time and Resources

When your team is already buried eyeball deep in current projects and responsibilities, the prospect of undertaking a migration project can seem overwhelming. Tasks that will require IT staff time include: assessing current infrastructure; creating the technical architecture plan; preparing a proof of concept or pilot project for testing purposes and evaluating the results; writing a plan for product deployment; provisioning users and settings; and executing the migration while ensuring user functionality. Each of these tasks is equally important and complicated. But with the right third party tool for your migration project, none are impossible. Talk with the support team for the tool you have chosen and map out a migration plan of attack.

Headache #3: Lack of Experience

It’s a good idea to send any staff members that will be handling the migration to training prior to the project. Microsoft holds a number of on-campus sessions throughout the year that are worthwhile.

If sending staff long distances to training sessions isn’t in your budget for this year, there is an alternative: Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) courses were designed to help your staff understand the platform. MOC offers courses, workshops, clinics and seminars at Microsoft IT Academies located in cities around the world. So find one that’s close to you, and it’s a cost effective way for your team to learn the fundamentals about the Exchange 2007 platform.

Headache #4: Business Continuity Options

Researching and selecting which business continuity or disaster recovery options to implement with Exchange 2007 can be difficult.

You should first ignore the technical requirements and capabilities for each method and instead focus on your organization’s functional requirements and recovery situations. Only after you’ve defined your company’s uptime and recovery conditions should you compare these to the options that Exchange Server 2007 offers.

Pay attention to monetary requirements as you work through this process — you may need to cut your requirements if they exceed your budget or ask for a funding increase.

Headache #5: Downtime and Missed Messages

One of the biggest worries when migrating a mail system is downtime and missed e-mails. Proper planning is important to ensure there is no major or unexpected interruptions when redirecting internet e-mail flow and migrating user mailboxes.

If your organization communicates with customers and partners on a regular basis, you may want to consider upgrading or replacing internet facing servers early in the migration process. Inserting one or more Exchange 2007 Hub Transport or Edge servers into your internet e-mail flow is easy to do and helps guarantee that internet mail will be routed to Exchange once the mailboxes are migrated. Depending on your environment, it’s a good idea to learn about external DNS configuration and the forwarding logic of your gateway provider prior to this step.

Headache #6: Establishing Coexistence

The duration of a migration project is wholly dependent upon the size of the organization — it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year to complete. Users need to be able to message one another and schedule appointments at all times, even while some accounts are on Exchange Server 2007 and others are still residing on the source messaging environment. All employees should see the same global address list, migrated or not.

Everyone should be able to continue work in the shared workspace; changes made to public folders should be visible to any user, regardless of whether he/she is located on the source or the target system. The two messaging environments must coexist effectively.
Coexistence requires synchronization in three key areas: directory, public folder and calendar. The two systems need to be exact copies throughout the migration project. Synchronization should be two-way so that whenever end users update one environment, the change is replicated in the other.

Third-party vendor tools can help with this part of the migration. Look for a product that can synchronize all Active Directory and Exchange data, such as public folders, calendar information and mailbox information.

Headache #7: Migrating from non-Exchange Platforms

Not all organizations are running previous Exchange platforms – some are working with non-Microsoft messaging systems, such as Novell GroupWise orIBM Lotus Notes. Migrations from these platforms to Exchange 2007 are challenging, but not impossible.
Some of the major differences between Exchange and other messaging platforms that can pose a problem are:

• Exchange 2007 uses Active Directory for its user directory; other manufacturers implement their own directories. Maintaining contact information, settings and user profiles are major issues to be taken into account.
• The certificate and encryption services that guarantee communication between users and external contacts are applied differently in alternate messaging platforms.
• Group policies and security models for login and management are different.

There are many solutions in the market that manage migrations from non-Microsoft platforms to Exchange 2007. Companies such as Transend andQuest Software all offer migration products that work with multiple messaging systems. The most important thing to look for in a migration tool is coexistence for migrated and non-migrated users, and a product that guarantees no lost data or downtime. Additional handy features include the ability to automate processes, handle parallel migrations and move archives. Reducing costs and saving staff time are nice functionalities as well.

Headache #8: Storage and Regulatory Compliance

It is critical to evaluate your current environment. Growing organizations often don’t have the mailbox storage quotas or e-mail retention policies needed to maintain database performance. Prior to the migration, assess your current processor, memory and storage use. Talk to legal or human resources to minimize any legal risk and remain compliant with all applicable regulations if you find that mailbox sizes are out of control.

Archiving e-mail before migrating is the best way to reduce the overall volume of e-mail data that needs to be migrated, which can end up saving your organization time and money. Besides lessening storage requirements in the new environment, archiving before you migrate reduces the risk of losing messaging data.

Headache #9: Public Folders

Information stored in public folders will also need to be migrated to the new Exchange environment. The Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 has a new graphical interface for public folder migration and management that helps you easily push the public folder hierarchy from one server to others in the organization.

Rather than migrate all public folders to Exchange 2007, some organizations have decided to move them to SharePoint. Look for a tool that offers automated migration (both individual or on a bulk basis), scheduled migration, content synchronization, permission mapping and multiple migration job handling.

Headache #10: Third-Party Product Integration

Many times through the course of this article, we have suggested using a third-party tool to assist your migration project – modern messaging systems are almost never deployed without one. Third-party integration usually includes one or more of the following: backup agents, antivirus software, message archiving and fax integration. Check with your vendors for versions of their software that support Exchange 2007, as well as guidance for migrating their software.

Test the new versions of software to guarantee that it has the same functionality and that it can run parallel with the old version. If the product has an Outlook component, confirm that it can run with your new version of Outlook.

Source:hdvoice.tmcnet.com

HP surprises itself with virtual Exchange servers

As the volume leader in the x64 server racket, Hewlett-Packard was an early and enthusiastic supporter of VMware and its ESX Server hypervisor for virtualizing servers. But with HP (or rather, Compaq) having long ago established that systems management is one of the key control points in a customer account - and VMware wanting to get more into management tools - the potential for head butting is pretty high.

IT shops don't like head-butting any more than they like finger pointing when something goes wrong, of course, which is why HP was all lovey dovey as it made announcements this week at the VMworld 2008 show in Las Vegas.

HP owns the entire virtualization stack on its Itanium-based Integrity server line, so it doesn't have to partner. Said another way, VMware and Citrix Systems are not supporting Itanium processors with their respective ESX Server and XenServer hypervisors, leaving HP little choice but to create the Integrity Virtual Machine hypervisor from code buried inside HP-UX. Integrity VMs support HP-UX, Linux, Windows, and OpenVMS partitions on Integrity iron and are distinct from the vPar and nPar partitions that HP 9000 servers had.

In any event, HP says that its Insight Dynamics VSE systems management tool, which provisions and manages physical and virtual servers, can interact with and integrate with VMware's VirtualCenter tool, which manages the ESX Server hypervisor and its add-ons. The exact nature of this integration was not detailed, but what users of both sets of tools undoubtedly want is to have all the features of both with whatever interface they are used to seeing - and to be blissfully unaware that there are two tools at work.

With more companies wanting to virtualize Windows and Exchange Server setup to provide fault tolerance and disaster recovery, HP has launched the Virtual Exchange Infrastructure service to help customers plan and implement a virtualized Exchange Server 2007 email and groupware setup running atop VMware's Infrastructure suite of tools (which includes ESX Server for carving up VMs on the iron and management tools to care and feed them). HP says that it can show companies how to virtualize and consolidate their Exchange setups without interrupting day-to-day operations.

"It is somewhat surprising to me the number of people who are interested in this," explains Doug Strain, marketing manager for software in HP's Enterprise Storage and Servers group. "I assumed that our large customers would be more interested in doing bare metal Exchange Servers, and while it is still early days for virtualized Exchange, there is definitely a lot of interest."

One of the reasons why companies might be willing to virtualize big email and database workloads is because the x64 architecture now has hardware-assisted processor, memory, and I/O virtualization that allows VMs to be run without such a punishing performance penalty.

On the disaster recovery front, HP and VMware have integrated their respective tools so they work together on VMs. Specifically, VMware's Site Recovery Manager add-on for ESX Server now knows how to play nicely with HP's Continuous Access Replication software in its EVA midrange disk arrays, which replicates data between mirrored disk arrays. According to Strain, about 85 percent of the virtualized environments that HP has setup using ProLiant and BladeSystem X64 iron for customers uses some kind of shared storage (NAS, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel SAN), and most people probably assume it is all running on high-end XP arrays.

Not so. The midrange EVA arrays, which marry well with the two-socket servers that are for now the standard virtualization iron, are getting a lot more traction. And HP's low-end MSA arrays do not have the recovery and storage virtualization features that enable a DR setup.

Another key EVA feature now certified to deal with VMware VMs is Data Protector, which backs up software onto tape. Data Protector now waits for VMware's Consolidated Backup, which gathers all the copies of VMs into one place, before shoving archives out onto tape.

HP also said that its thin clients have been certified to be supported by VMware's Virtual Desktop Manager 2.1 software, a management program for virtualized PCs being fed from server instances to thin clients. HP announced a set of virtual desktop services to help customers figure out how to get rid of PCs and replace them with servers fronted by thin clients.

Source:theregister.co.uk/2008/09/19/hp_vmware_services/

IBM Follows Through on Data Protection for SMBs

Just three months since it acquired continuous data protection (CDP) startup FilesX, IBM has rebranded its solution as IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) FastBack and today began pushing its own version to market.

CDP, also known as continuous backup, has been growing in importance as a way for companies to better ensure their files are safeguarded. The process automates file backups each time a change is made, enabling offices to not only restore lost files, but also to reconstruct files as they appeared at any point in the past.

In particular, such offerings are lower-cost offerings aimed at helping small business support (SMBs) and remote locations -- which typically lack dedicated IT staff -- deal with mounting storage concerns.

"There is more data being distributed and companies want consistent data protection strategies," John Connor, product manager for TSM FastBack, told InternetNews.com.

Big Blue said the ease of managing FastBack's disk-based, block-level storage approach makes it suitable for small and remote offices that have little tech support.

"This eliminates issues with backup windows and provides near-instant recovery," Connor said.

FastBack, which IBM acquired earlier this year, also represents a second try on the technology, Lauren Whitehouse, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, told InternetNews.com.

IBM initially had attempted to tweak its TSM top-end product to create a data protection tool tailored for small to midsized firms, called TSM Express. But it wasn't a perfect approach, Whitehouse said.

"They scaled down the comprehensive offering but the TSM Express really didn't meet the need as it was still hefty to manage," she added. Instead, the new FastBack offering "is the next generation of that approach."

Still, for Big Blue, being able to swiftly integrate the product and assimilate it into its sales channel shows its proficiency at technology mergers, Whitehouse said.

"They have the formula for taking in technology they acquire and getting it rolled out in an impressive time frame," she added.

The new offering serves to build on IBM's storage flagship, the venerable Tivoli Storage Manager. IBM also said the new FastBack offering, which has been melded into TSM, complements its CDP software for laptops and desktops, IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files.

Along with FastBack, IBM also introduced FastBack for Microsoft Exchange server and FastBack for Bare Machine Recovery, designed for system and server migrations. Together, the bundled components are sold as TSM FastBack Center.

While the suite is currently offered only for Windows platform, IBM has plans to develop additional versions, it said.

Source:internetnews.com/storage/article.php/3762211/IBM+Follows+Through+on+Data+Protection+for+SMBs.htm

Exchange Topology Discovery in Exchange 2003

To enable Exchange Topology Discovery, we must first enable Agent Proxy and then configure overrides.
1. Enable Agent Proxy configuration on all managed Exchange servers. In the Administration pane, under Administration, Device Management, Agent Managed, right-click on each Exchange server, select Properties, then the Security and check the box Allow this agent to act as a proxy and discover managed objects on other computers. This step will also make exchange cluster instances to appear in the Agentless Managed section.

2.In the Authoring pane of the Operations Console, click Object Discoveries. In the Object Discoveries pane, right-click Exchange 2003 Topology Discovery, point to Overrides, point to Override the Object Discovery, and then click For a specific object of type: Exchange 2003 Role . Select the desired server running Exchange Server 2003 from Matching objects (do it for both), and then click OK . In the Override Properties dialog box, select Override for the Enabled parameter, and then select True from the Override Setting drop-down list. Select the Management Pack to save the override in, and then click OK.
The previous procedures will enable topology view of your Exchange Organization.
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Microsoft release Exchange Servers
Exchange Server 2003
Exchange server support

Microsoft release Exchange Servers

As mentioned above, that data from a Microsoft Exchange server to your computer. This means instead of you having to manually press a button to poll the server and ask for changes, or set up a scheduled polling as soon as something changes on the server, it automatically sends the update out.

Every device being handled by a single central Network Operations Center (NOC), devices can connect to any Windows Server running Exchange (typically your business’ Exchange Server).

Microsoft's prices have always been geared to be affordable for the masses. And when entering a new market, it seems to always start low-ball. Microsoft today finally revealed how it will price online services, including Exchange and SharePoint, and how it will share revenue with partners. The company used its annual Worldwide Partner Conference to detail two bundles of services, one that targets workers who spend little time with a PC and one tailored for "information workers" that includes collaboration tools, portals, instant messaging/presence and Web conferencing. When doing the math for Microsoft's new services bundles, has it continued with the affordable theme? The jury is out.

An "information worker" bundle will be priced at $15 per month (and includes hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint services with the not-yet-popular Office Communications Server and Live Meeting). Given that the average enterprise refreshes its desktops and software every three to five years, this equates to $540 per user for a three-year cycle. Will that save you money over the per-seat licenses you pay for now for Exchange?

If desktop support really does go away because users are getting the service from the cloud (but come on, how likely is that?), then this is probably a bargain. Hardware costs are killed -- that's true -- but they are relatively cheap these days and network costs could rise. High-volume deals can certainly do better than $15 per seat, too.

The entry-level services fee at $3 per user, per month, seems more in line, but the limited service may not fit the average enterprise. And of course, Microsoft's channel gets hosed when an online service is only $36 per user, per year, and includes no hardware. At 12% for the first contract and only 6% in years after, it takes an awful lot of users to make a living selling the Microsoft cloud. Microsoft resellers tend to service the small business, not the enterprise, so it's hard to see how they will benefit from this pricing scheme, except if they can tack on additional server service fees to the sales. In that case, buyers beware.

Even so, a much bigger concern for all users will be data portability. How will Microsoft "lock in" its customers once they move to the cloud? Will it hold customer data for ransom, or will a customer be able to grab its data and switch vendors anytime it wants to?

Exchange Server 2003

Exchange Server 2003 (v6.5) debuted on September 28, 2003. Exchange Server 2003 (currently at Service Pack 2) can be run on Windows 2000 Server (only if Service Pack 4 is first installed) and 32-bit Windows Server 2003, although some new features only work with the latter. Like Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server 2003 has many compatibility modes to allow users to slowly migrate to the new system. This is useful in large companies with distributed Exchange Server environments who cannot afford the downtime and expense that comes with a complete migration.
One of the new features in Exchange Server 2003 is enhanced disaster recovery which allows administrators to bring the server online quicker. This is done by allowing the server to send and receive mail while the message stores are being recovered from backup. Some features previously available in the Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2001/2002 products have been added to the core Exchange Server product, like Outlook Mobile Access and server-side ActiveSync, while the Mobile Information Server product itself has been dropped. Better anti-virus and anti-spam protection have also been added, both by providing built-in APIs that facilitate filtering software and built-in support for the basic methods of originating IP address, SPF ("Sender ID"), and DNSBL filtering which were standard on other open source and *nix-based mail servers. Also new is the ability to drop inbound e-mail before being fully processed, thus preventing delays in the message routing system. There are also improved message and mailbox management tools, which allow administrators to execute common chores more quickly. Others, such as Instant Messaging and Exchange Conferencing Server have been extracted completely in order to form separate products. Microsoft now appears to be positioning a combination of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server, Live Meeting and SharePoint as its collaboration software of choice. Exchange Server is now to be simply e-mail and calendaring.
Source:wikipedia.org

Exchange server support

As Windows Server 2008 adoption becomes more widespread many of my clients are asking me about the Windows Server Backup tool and the differences between it and old school NT Backup. The most obvious is that it's a simple backup tool and not at all application aware. In other words when you set it to backup an Exchange server it won't know to truncate logs or create a restorable backup of an Exchange database. According to a recent post by the Microsoft Exchange team this is by design.

Right after we shipped Service Pack 1, we started hearing from customers who were upset with the fact that they cannot take Exchange-aware online backups with Windows Server Backup. These customers had enjoyed the integration of Exchange and Windows Backup (NT Backup) for many years, and for many versions of Exchange and Windows. We also saw quite a but of discussion activity on this issue in various Exchange communities (this blog, internal discussion groups, MVP and MCT communities, etc.).

They also added they are planning to release a VSS-based plug-in for Server Backup that will be Exchange aware. Al thought most enterprises choose a more robust backup solution like Microsoft DPM or Veritas/Symantec, many SMB customers are used to the local NTBackup paradigm and see no reason to change. I think this move by MSFT is a smart one and I applaud their effort to respond quickly to a perceived deficiency in their flagship Server product.