Category Archives: Exchange 2007

Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 10

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exchange2007logo2[1]Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 10 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2788321). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.298.3.

Here’s the list of changes included in this Rollup:

  • This Rollup adds coexistence with Exchange Server 2013. However, for coexistence Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) is required, which hasn’t been released yet.
  • 2783779 A hidden user is still displayed in the Organization information of Address Book in OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

In addition to these fixes, this Rollup also includes a fix for the security issue described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-012 and new daylight saving time (DST) updates.

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that Rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update Rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous Rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest Rollup package.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 10 here.

The case of the not updating Outlook for Mac 2011

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exchange2007logo2[1]I had contact with a Twitter user on an issue with Outlook for Mac 2011 talking against Exchange Server 2007 on Small Business Server 2008.

When configuring a new account, Outlook for Mac reported “Account cannot be added.  Note that Outlook 2011 requires Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Update Rollup 4 or later.”

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However, that couldn’t be right because that user claimed to be running a higher version of Exchange 2007. After manually entering the server name, a connection could be established and an initial download of folders and contents took place. However, items weren’t updated and contacts and calendar remained empty.

After trying and checking some things, I asked to turn on Outlook for Mac’s logging hoping to find something in the Exchange Web Services log (Outlook for Mac 2011 is EWS based). You can enable logging by checking Window > Error Log > Errors > Settings > Turn on logging for troubleshooting. After a while I was sent the log file Microsoft Outlook_Troubleshooting_0.log which contained the following excerpt:

2013-01-24 08:55:34.392,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,"EWS: Response data received on thread=0x7d27bdb4, XML data=
<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-8""?><soap:Envelope xmlns:soap=""http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"" xmlns:xsi=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"" xmlns:xsd=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema""><soap:Header><t:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion=""8"" MinorVersion=""3"" MajorBuildNumber=""297"" MinorBuildNumber=""0"" Version=""Exchange2007_SP1"" xmlns:t=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"" /></soap:Header>

First, Exchange reports version 8.3.297.0 which corresponds with Exchange 2007 SP3 RU9 (EWS can report slightly different version than actual version), so something else was wrong while that’s well above Exchange 2007 SP1 RU4.

2013-01-24 08:55:39.355,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,"EWS: Sending request on connection=0x7dc89be8, URL=/EWS/Exchange.asmx, SoapAction=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages/SyncFolderItems"""
2013-01-24 08:55:39.358,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,EWS: Received response on connection=0x7d31dae8; status=500
..
2013-01-24 08:55:49.861,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,"EWS: Sending request on connection=0x7d71a648, URL=/EWS/Exchange.asmx, SoapAction=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages/GetItem"""	
2013-01-24 08:55:49.863,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,EWS: Received response on connection=0x7dc26638; status=500
..
2013-01-24 08:55:39.359,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,"EWS: Sending request on connection=0x7d31dae8, URL=/EWS/Exchange.asmx, SoapAction=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages/GetItem"""	
2013-01-24 08:55:39.477,0xFFFFFFFF,Outlook Exchange Web Services,Info,EWS: Received response on connection=0x7d7005c8; status=200

I then noticed various EWS requests returned http status code 200 (means OK) but also 500′s, which correspond to “Internal Server Error”. It happened after various requests (e.g. SyncFolderItems, GetFolder, GetItem) but not for all requests.

Now, code 500 isn’t very helpful (general terminal failure) and a quick restart of IIS with iisreset /restart /noforce didn’t solve things.

After some digging it turned out the seemingly unrelated KB2264110 pointed in the right direction. I say unrelated, because it’s on messages not being updated on Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) after installing Exchange Server 2007 SP2. Turned out the performance counters on the Exchange 2007 server were corrupt and rebuilding them solved the issue.

To rebuild the performance libraries, perform the following steps from an elevated command prompt:

  1. CD %SystemRoot%\System32
  2. Run lodctr /R (/R is case-sensitive) which will rebuild all known counters
  3. Run wmiadap /f which will update the WMI performance classes
  4. Restart the Exchange 2007 server

After these steps, Outlook for Mac 2011 could sync again with Exchange Server 2007 SP3.

Caution: KB2506146 and KB2506143 (Updated)

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powershellA quick word of caution on the following recently released updates:

  • KB2506143 is the WMF 3.0 update for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1;
  • KB2506146 is the WMF 3.0 update for Windows Server 2008 SP2.

These updates will install Windows Management Framework 3.0 which includes PowerShell 3.0. However, Exchange 2007 nor Exchange 2010 currently works with PowerShell 3.0 and installing these updates will render your system unusable, including workstations from where you run the Exchange Management Tools.

The related updates have been published recently as optional updates through Windows Update. However, depending on your patch management methodology (e.g. WSUS), these updates might be installed automatically (e.g. accept all).

Therefor, it is advised to block these updates from being installed on your Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 systems when possible; Exchange 2013 requires WMF 3.0 therefor this doesn’t apply to systems running Exchange 2013.

Note that PowerShell 3.0 compatibility is announced for Exchange 2010 SP3, which is scheduled for Q1 2013; compatibility with Exchange 2007 isn’t announced nor expected.

Credits to Exchange fellow Michael B. Smith for discovering this.

Update, December 14th, 2012: Microsoft has acknowledged the problem here.

Update, December 19th, 2012: Microsoft pulled the updates from Microsoft Update / WSUS. Note that Exchange wasn’t the only product affected; WMF 3.0 also breaks Sharepoint 2010 for instance. Needless to say, WMF 3.0 should also not be installed on systems containing Small Business Server.

Exchange 2010 SP1 Rollup 8

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Exchange-2010-Logo-733341[1]Besides the updated Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2, the Exchange team also released the following Rollups:

The rollups addresses vulnerabilities described in MS12-080. In addition, Rollup 9 for Exchange Server 2007 SP3 contains a fix for the EdgeTransport.exe process which could crash when processes a single occurrence of a recurring meeting (KB2748658).

The Exchange Versions, builds & dates page has been updated accordingly, including updated product version numbers.

Rereleases of Exchange 2010 SP1 RU8 and 2007 SP3 RU7

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Besides Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2, the Exchange team also released updates of the following Rollups:

The KB article reads that, “This update resolves an issue in which the digital signature on files that are produced and signed by Microsoft expires prematurely as described in Microsoft Security Advisory 2749655.”  However, that should have already been fixed already in the v2 updates (refer to the same Security Advisory).

The Exchange Versions, builds & dates page has been updated accordingly, including updated product version numbers.

With all this subversioning of rereleases, one may wonder why they didn’t release Rollup 5 for Exchange as Rollup 4 v3, which perhaps would be less confusing.

Rereleases of latest Exchange 2010 and 2007 Rollups

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The Exchange team rereleased the following Rollups:

These v2 updates solve an issue with a prematurely expiring certificate used to sign the update (see KB2749655), i.e. no code changes (apart from KB2756987).

The Exchange Versions, builds & dates page has been updated accordingly, including updated product version numbers.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 8

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Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 8 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2734323). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.279.3.

Here’s the list of changes included in this Rollup:

  • 2699574 Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may stop responding when you perform a search on Exchange mailboxes in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2701037 Events 4999 and 7034 are logged and the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service crashes on an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox server
  • 2730089 Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may stop responding when you perform a search on Exchange mailboxes in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2732525 Outlook keeps prompting you for credentials and incorrectly connects to an out-of-site global catalog after you install Update Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2007 SP3.

In addition to these fixes, this Rollup also includes a fix for the WebReady security issue described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-058 (KB2740358).

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that Rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update Rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous Rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest Rollup package.

One special note: Exchange 2007 Mainstream Support has ended; extended support will end on April 11th, 2017. Because this is another Rollup released after mainstream support ended and releasing the Exchange 2013 Preview, I assume this will become the version level required for co-existence with Exchange 2013 RTM which, according to speculation by people like Tony Redmond, is expected in November. But of course, this remains speculation.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 8 here.

Exchange can’t start due to misconfigured AD sites

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Recently, a customer had issues with their Exchange server which didn’t start properly after rebooting. After checking out the Eventlog, I noticed the it was full of messages, generated by all services. The most interesting events were the ones generated by MSExchange ADAccess:

MSExchange ADAccess, EventID 2141
Process STORE.EXE (PID=2996). Topology discovery failed, error 0x8007077f

MSExchange ADAccess, EventID 2142

Process MSEXCHANGEADTOPOLOGYSERVICE.EXE (PID=1760). Topology discovery failed, error 0x8007077f

Also, the results of the active directory discovery process generated every 15 minutes, which are normally logging in event 2080, “Exchange Active Directory Provider has discovered the following servers with the following characteristics”, was missing.

Note that because the system could start the Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service (until it failed and is restarted by dependent services), Exchange’s other services were also triggered, leading to almost indefinitely restarting services as configured in their corresponding service recovery actions sections.

Now, since I had connected to a domain controller using an RDP session from my client, and I was able to connect to port 389 (Global Catalog) from Exchange using LDP, so communications looked ok. Then, I switched to Active Directory Sites and Services:

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As you can see from the shot, here was a potential cause of the problem. First, there was a site without domain controllers. Second, there were no subnets defined. So, in this situation, it is undetermined in which site Exchange is located.

When a system can’t be determined to which site a computer belongs, the function DSGetSiteName, used to retrieve the current site, returns an error 1919 0x77f (ERROR_NO_SITENAME). Consequently, the Exchange Active Directory discovery process fails and eventually Exchange fails. You can inspect the current discovered site using nltest /dsgetsite or by having a peek in the registry at HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters\DynamicSiteName.

Now, to solve the situation we have three options:

  1. Making the site association static using a registry key, which isn’t a best practice.If you must, set registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters\SiteName (REG_SZ) to the desired site name;
  2. Adding proper subnet definitions;
  3. Remove the empty site definition.

It turned out the empty site was a place holder for a future site, so we went with the option of adding proper subnet definitions. After adding subnet definitions, like you normally should when working with multiple sites, including the scopes where the Exchange servers and domain controllers were located, and associating it with the main site, things started working again.

Note that the NetLogon service determines site association membership at startup and every 15 minutes. The Microsoft Exchange Discovery Topology service maintains this information by caching the information in the msExchServerSite attribute of the Exchange server object, in order to reduce load on active directory and DNS. Therefor, you might need to wait or restart Microsoft Exchange Discovery Topology  if you want to renew site association membership.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 7

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Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 7 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2655203). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.264.0.

Here’s the list of changes included in this rollup:

  • 2617514  Old spelling rules on the Brazilian Portuguese dictionary in OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2645789  MAPI_E_NOT_FOUND error when a MAPI application calls the GetProps method on an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox server
  • 2654700  Certain mailbox rules do not work automatically after you move a mailbox from an Exchange Server 2007 server to an Exchange Server 2010 server and then move it back
  • 2677583  Move operation is not completed and 100 percent of CPU resources are consumed on an Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox server
  • 2677979  MSExchangePOP3 service crashes in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2680793  Free/busy lookups between Lotus Notes and Exchange Server 2007 users stop responding
  • 2682570  Store.exe crashes on Exchange Server 2007 servers when a public folder that contains an empty PR_URL_NAME property is replicated in a mixed Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2690628  Pre-reform spelling rules are used in the Portuguese (Portugal) dictionary in Outlook Web Access in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2694267  MSExchangeRepl.exe process crashes when Active Directory returns the LDAP_PARAM_ERROR value in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2694274  User who has the Full Access permission cannot open another user’s mailbox by using Outlook Web App in a mixed Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2694291   The autocomplete=”off” parameter is missing in Outlook Web Access in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2696628  You receive duplicate read receipts from a user who is using an IMAP4 client in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

Note that this version will also fix the CAS-CAS proxy issue with Exchange 2010 SP1 (KB2696649).

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that update rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous update rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest rollup.

One special note: Exchange 2007 Mainstream Support has ended, making this the final standard support release. Extended support will end on April 11th, 2017.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 7 here.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 6

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Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2608656). This update raises Exchange 2007 version number to 8.3.245.2.

Here’s the list of changes included in this rollup:

  • 2289607  The week numbers displayed in OWA do not match the week numbers displayed in Outlook for English users and French users in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2498852  “0×80041606″ error message when you perform a prefix search by using Outlook in online mode in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2499841  An arrow icon does not appear after you change the email message subject by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2523695  A “System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException” exception occurs when you click the “Scheduling Assistant” tab in Exchange Server 2007 OWA
  • 2545080  Users in a source forest cannot view the free/busy information of mailboxes in a target forest when the cross-forest Availability service is configured between two Exchange Server 2007 forests
  • 2571391  Applications or services that depend on the Remote Registry service may stop working in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2572010  The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may crash after you run the Test-ExchangeSearch cmdlet in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2575360  A new feature is available to automatically stop the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service when a time-out is detected in an Exchange Server 2007 SP3 environment
  • 2591655  A journaling report remains in the submission queue when an email message is delivered successfully in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2598980  The PidLidClipEnd property of a recurring meeting request has an incorrect value in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2616427   An Outlook Anywhere client loses connection when a GC server restarts in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2617784  Journal reports are expired or lost when the Microsoft Exchange Transport service is restarted in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2626217   Certain changes to address lists may not be updated in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2629790   The Exchange IMAP4 service may stop responding on an Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server when users access mailboxes that are hosted on Exchange Server 2003 servers
  • 2633801   The SCOM 2007 SP1 server cannot alert certain issues in an Exchange Server 2007 organization
  • 914533  The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may stop responding on an Exchange Server 2007 server
  • 976977  The scroll bar does not work in OWA when there are more than 22 all-day event calendar items in an Exchange Server 2007 user’s calendar
  • 2641312  The update tracking information option does not work in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2653334  The reseed process is unsuccessful on the SCR passive node when the circular logging feature is enabled in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
  • 2656040  An Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server may respond slowly or stop responding when users try to synchronize the Exchange ActiveSync devices with their mailboxes
  • 2658613  The “PidLidClipEnd” property of a no ending recurring meeting request is set to an incorrect value in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

When running ForeFront Protection for Exchange, make sure you disable ForeFront before installing the rollup and re-enable it afterwards, otherwise the Information Store and Transport services may not start. You can disable ForeFront using fscutility /disable and enable it using the fscutility /enable command.

Note that update rollups are cumulative, i.e. they contain fixes released in earlier update rollups for the same product level (RTM, SP). This means you don’t need to install previous update rollups during a fresh installation but can start with the latest rollup.

You can download Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 6 here.