Next version of Outlook Web Access to actually support popular browsers

Microsoft announced on Thursday that the next version of the Exchange server, Exchange 14, will have a few useful new features including, finally, full support for browsers other than Internet Explorer.

A Microsoft demo video shows full Web access to the Exchange e-mail server from Firefox running on Vista, and Safari on OS X. The Web access product is now called Outlook Live. University users of Microsoft's free hosted e-mail service (Exchange Labs) will get the beta of the service shortly. It appears that corporate users, who know of Web access to Exchange servers as Outlook Web Access, will get it when their companies upgrade to the Exchange 14 platform. Exchange 14 is expected either late in 2009 or in 2010.

Outlook Live will also give users a threaded conversation view, useful for tracking e-mails that get more than a few replies. And the online app will integrate IM (as Gmail does), although it will likely only connect to users of Microsoft instant messaging servers.

Since corporations are generally very conservative in their upgrade plans for electronic mail platforms, business users (like my CNET co-workers) should not expect access to Exchange 14 until, at the earliest, several months after the release of the product. Until then, users who want full-featured access from a Web browser to their Exchange e-mail servers are advised to keep a copy of Internet Explorer handy on their desktop.

Source:http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10163423-2.html

Running Exchange Server 2007 in a virtual environment

With the release of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft began supporting Exchange Server 2007 in virtual environments. However, not every scenario is supported, and Microsoft only recommends and supports a virtual environment if specific conditions are met.

First of all, as I implied, only Exchange 2007 SP1 can run virtually. SP1 introduced further improvements to Exchange's I/O footprint, which, I imagine, led to Microsoft's easing of restrictions on the installation in virtual environments. Second, your Exchange servers must be running under Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2003-based Exchange servers are out of the question.

Next, your virtual environment needs to be running on Hyper-V or a third-party virtualisation provider validated by Microsoft. Validated third-party products include VMware (fortunately!) ESX 3.5 updates 2 and 3, and Citrix Xen Server, among others. Microsoft prefers that you use Hyper-V as your virtualisation platform, but it's nice to see that it isn't excluding other major players.

One major item of note: if you intend to use unified messaging that role is not supported in a virtual environment. In fact, it's not recommended that you use virtualisation for any services for which real-time communication is required. I have tested the unified messaging role in a virtual lab and can safely say that this role really needs to run on its own physical server.

There are a number of other items to take into consideration when it comes to running Exchange in a virtual environment. The list below is just a few of the major items.

• Don't forget to account for the processing and disk needs of the virtual host, particularly if you're using Hyper-V. Under Hyper-V, the root machine needs processors assigned to it, and the root machine will consume processing resources and RAM. As you build your virtual hosts and add virtual machines, make sure that the virtual processor-to-physical core ratio is no greater than 2:1. That is, if you have a four-core machine, do not assign more than eight cores worth of processor to the running virtual machines.
• Understand that Exchange's high-availability features, such as continuous cluster replication, don't mix well with hypervisor-based clustering, such as Hyper-V's quick migration or VMware's VMotion. Microsoft doesn't support combining these technologies. If you choose to forgo VMotion or quick migration on your root server or virtual host, then Exchange's clustering capabilities are fully supported in a virtual environment, although you do lose a significant server availability feature. Of course, you can always run clustered mailbox servers on different virtual hosts as a way to mitigate some of this downside. This limitation would only affect the virtual machines hosting the mailbox server role. The servers housing the other roles should not be limited.
• Microsoft does not support making snapshots of full Exchange virtual servers at the virtual host level due to the fact that most hypervisor-based snapshot tools are not application aware. Snapshots could end up creating a mess if used improperly.
• Even when running in a virtual environment, you need to adhere to design recommendations when it comes to building your virtual servers. If, for example, a physical machine would require 16GB of RAM for a particular Exchange installation, the virtual machine will too.
• Under Hyper-V, VHDs are limited to 2TB in size. Size your mailbox stores accordingly.

These are just some of the most significant limitations and items of note with regard to running Exchange in a virtual environment.

Source: http://www.builderau.com.au/program/windows/soa/Running-Exchange-Server-2007-in-a-virtual-environment/0,339024644,339294994,00.htm

Five dos & Don't for Exchange Server 2007

5 must-dos:-

• Read, read, read. Everything... but especially what is found on the Microsoft Exchange Team blog.
• Look up various MVP sites for Exchange. These folks post information for free regarding their personal experiences. It's a key.
• Nothing beats experience. Work through the how-tos in my book to ensure you have more than head knowledge.
• Try and attend at least one Exchange oriented conference each year. Tech Ed is a good one, TechMentor, Windows Connections, TEC. I speak at most of these and I love attending sessions and learning from other Exchange gurus.
• Teach someone else. You never learn a subject so thoroughly as when you have to teach it to others.

5 don'ts:-

• Don't install the wrong version of Server when working with high availability options. If clustering services are involved, you need the enterprise version of the Server.
• Don't install just an Exchange server. You need to see how the client side will work. Install an OS with Outlook 2003 and 2007 to really make sure you know what is going on in the user world. Don't forget to play with Outlook Web Access too.
• Don't forget to learn how to set up your true incoming and outgoing SMTP connections. Typically in a learning environment you don't worry about that because you aren't working with a live server, but it is a must if you plan on putting a real server out on the Net. DNS records and so forth... it's all important.
• If you're working with Unified Messaging, don't forget to bring in a telephony expert. Most likely, you won't fully understand the configuration for the back end without help.
• Don't think you can rely completely on the GUI. Exchange has a few PowerShell-only configuration options. Get reacquainted with the command-line, my friend. It's not disappearing and any Exchange guru worth his title these days is a command-line lover.

Source: http://www.itworld.com/unified-communications/62208/five-must-dos-exchange-server-2007-and-5-donts?page=0%2C1

Microsoft plans critical patches for IE, Exchange

Microsoft Corp. today said it will deliver four security updates on Tuesday, two of them pegged "critical," and will finally issue a patch for SQL Server that it's been working on since last April.

The four updates detailed in the advance notice published today will quash bugs in Internet Explorer 7 (IE7); its Exchange mail server software; the Visio application that's part of the Office lineup; and SQL Server. The IE and Exchange vulnerabilities will be labeled critical, the company's highest threat ranking, while the SQL Server and Visio bugs will be marked as "important," one step lower.

That bug is notable for several reasons. When Micosoft confirmed the vulnerability in a Dec. 22 advisory, it noted that exploit code had been published. Several days later, the company admitted that it first received a report on the bug from Bernhard Mueller of SEC Consult Security, a Vienna-based security consulting company, in April 2008.

"Three of these are all equally important, at least with the information we have today," Storms said about the IE, Exchange and SQL Server patches. "It all depends on an enterprise's infrastructure."

Companies are always sensitive to Exchange fixes, Storms continued, so the critical fix set for Exchange Server 2007, 2003 and 2000 will be parsed carefully. "Messaging is so important to the enterprise," Storms said, "that they'll want to spend a little extra time making sure the patch works." One plus, he said, is a "Does not require restart" note by Microsoft in today's bulletin.

"That could mean it's not necessarily a giant hole, or that we're just going to get lucky," said Storms. Because they won't have to restart their Exchange servers, IT administrators should be able to deploy the patch more quickly, he said.

"The IE vulnerability has to be something unique to IE7," wagered Storms. According to Microsoft, the critical vulnerability affects only that version of the browser, not IE6 or IE5.01, the latter edition specific to Windows 2000, and the oldest browser that the company still supports with security updates. Storms hesitated to guess what IE7-only issue might be patched. "It could be any number of things," he said. "Could be scripting or the antiphishing filter."

Microsoft's advance notice reported that the IE7 bug will be rated critical for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, but only "moderate" on Server 2003 and Server 2008.

Microsoft will release February's four updates at approximately 1 p.m. EST Tuesday.

Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9127438

Gaps found in Microsoft Exchange API documentation

Zarafa Chief Executive Brian Joseph--having ported, as he put it, "all the Exchange features to the Linux platform with full MAPI, said there are significant gaps in the Microsoft documentation released to date. Zarafa makes an e-mail server that is compatible with Outlook

Speaking to ZDNet UK at the CeBIT conference, Joseph said Microsoft's start is not promising: "This could definitely make life easier for developers, but we have spotted over 200 undocumented exceptions, including one that allows you to create recurring calendar appointments in Exchange. It was in the documentation for Exchange 2000, but they forgot to document it for Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007."

Zarafa produces the eponymous e-mail server that runs on Linux and is used by enterprises such as car-rental company Sixt, which recently migrated its entire e-mail server infrastructure to Zarafa. Zarafa uses the MAPI open standard to communicate to e-mail clients such as Outlook. While Microsoft Exchange uses MAPI too, it also uses a large number of proprietary APIs that let the Outlook client perform actions such as creating recurring calendar appointments on the Exchange server.

"I am very positive about unconditional publication of APIs," said Joseph, "but only time will tell if this is justified, given Microsoft's history. I think hundreds of thousands of developers around the world are very interested in full publication with regular updates, but the devil is in the detail; for policy makers, these gaps in the Exchange documentation should put another light on the value of Microsoft's announcement."

Zimbra Vice President John Robb agreed that Microsoft's announcement is a good move, but again expressed reservations. His company produces the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, which also runs on Linux platforms and servers. The Zimbra Collaboration suite runs 11 million mailboxes through the commercial version of its product and many more through the open-source version.

"The MAPI protocol is open anyway, so that doesn't affect us directly," Robb said, "but we are concerned that Microsoft has not announced which APIs have patent conditions, nor what those conditions are. We're anxiously awaiting details."

Source: http://news.cnet.com/Gaps-found-in-Microsoft-Exchange-API-documentation/2100-7344_3-6233802.html?tag=nw.3