A quick note that if you are attending IT/Dev Connections this year, you can now build your schedule using a mobile app. The app allows you to browse and pick from 190 sessions, view speaker bios, etc.
The app is available for:
For other devices, you can use the generic mobile website here.
Note: You can still register for the event. New registrations can use SPKRSOC15 when registering for a $400 off!
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Episode 54 of The UC Architects podcast is now available. This episode is hosted by Steve Goodman, who is joined by Michael van Horenbeeck and Michel de Rooij. Editing was done by Andrew Price.
Some of the topics discussed in this episode are:
You can download the podcast here or you can subscribe to the podcasts using iTunes, Zune or use the RSS feed.
About
The UC Architects is a community podcast by people with a passion for Unified Communications; our main focus is on Exchange, Skype for Business or related subjects.
A small heads-up on something which you need to configure when deploying a Highly Available setup of physical or virtual KEMP LoadMaster devices in environments with redundant network routing components, but this may apply to other components with similar functionality as well. While in typical environments the LoadMaster’s default setting will never be an issue, it can easily be overlooked or not immediately considered suspect when you do have issues, for example in hosted environments.
Note: If you are looking for more information on load balancing Exchange 2013 using KEMP LoadMaster devices, Exchange-fellow Jeff Guillet did an excellent multi-part write-up on this topic here.
When configuring multiple LoadMaster’s in a High Availability setup, one of the settings is the HA Virtual ID parameter, which is located System Configuration > Miscellaneous Options > HA Parameters. This setting configures the routing identifier used by the LoadMaster as part of the VRRP or Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (see RFC5798).
The HA Virtual ID is used to construct a unique MAC address, so that all devices in the same VRRP group can communicate. The MAC address uses a format as defined by VRRP, and is 00:00:5E:00:01:<ID> for IPv4 and 00:00:5E:00:02:<ID> for IPv6. One device, the Master being the Active LoadMaster, owns the VRRP group and manages its MAC address and shared IP address.
As you can imagine, using the same identifier for multiple non-related devices on the same segment may cause unexpected behavior, like LoadMasters being unable to communicate with eachother, both HA LoadMasters thinking they are the Active HA node, or other disruptive behavior. This is likely caused by a device other than LoadMasters managing the VRRP group.
Therefor, it is recommended to always change the default value of ‘1’, but always consult with the network or hosting people which value to use, as different vendors use their own default ID. For example, Cisco may use a different default value than FortiNet or CheckPoint for their redundant networking components. Of course, you also need to use different values when using multiple HA LoadMaster deployments on the same segment.
And so it begins. Few moments ago, the Exchange team published the public preview of Exchange 2016. The build number of the preview version is 15.1.225.17 (yes, 15.1.*, not 16.*). Exchange 2016 Preview raises schema to version 15317.
The team’s post contains information on the changes and features introduced in Exchange 2016. Many of these were already announced at Ignite earlier this year. An earlier blog post on these announcements can be found here.
With this Exchange 2016 Preview, there are important deviations from announcements made at Ignite 2015:
Meanwhile, the TechNet technical library has been updated with information on Exchange 2016. Be advised that this documentation may be incomplete and subject to change, and in fact may even be not on par with the preview product. However, as the product reaches RTM, the documentation should become more complete and final.
Some links to get you started:
Needless to say, this is a preview. It’s great to play with in a lab, but don’t install it in your production environment unless you are part of the TAP program.
You can download the Exchange 2016 Preview here
Last Update: Version 1.4, July 19th, 2019
Exchange Server 2013 and Exchange Server 2016 enforces certain message size limits when it comes to client messages. These limits are in-place so clients can’t generate excessive load on your Exchange environment. These limits are determined for various access methods in multiple web.config files on Exchange Client Access Servers as well as Mailbox Servers.
Sometimes you may have good reasons to increase those limits. For example, when migrating to Office 365 using a product like MigrationWiz, you may want to increase the limit for Exchange Web Service (EWS) requests to allow for migration of larger items. Another example is when you want to allow for bigger attachments in Outlook WebApp (OWA). On TechNet, there’s an article on how to reconfigure these limits. However, the process consists of editing multiple web.config files, replacing multiple values in the same file, and following this process on each Exchange 2013/2016 server in your environment. This is not only labor intensive and prone to error, but becomes tedious when you consider that each Cumulative Update will overwrite your web.config files.
But do not despair. To execute these changes for OWA and EWS, I have created a PowerShell script which will perform these tasks for you.
Requirements
Using the script requires Exchange 2013. You need to provide the server name (default is local server) or AllServers to apply to all Exchange 2013/2016 servers in your environment. The script will modify the web.config remotely using the system share (e.g. C$), using the location of the Exchange installation, and uses IISRESET tool to restart IIS. It will create a backup of the web.config before modifying it.
Notes:
Usage
The script Configure-ClientSizeLimits.ps1 uses the following syntax:
.\Configure-ClientSizeLimits.ps1 [-Server |-AllServers] [-OWA <size>] [-EWS <size>] [-EAS <size>] [-Reset] [-NoBackup]
A quick walk-through on the parameters and switches:
So, suppose you want to configure OWA, EWS and EAS client message size limits on the local Exchange server, you can use:
.\Configure-ClientSizeLimits.ps1 -OWA 15MB -EWS 15MB EAS 15MB
If you want to configure EWS limits for all servers, resetting IIS, you could use:
.\Configure-ClientSizeLimits.ps1 -AllServers -EWS 10240 -Reset
Download
You can download the script from the TechNet Gallery here or GitHub.
Feedback
Feedback is welcomed through the comments. If you got scripting suggestions or questions, do not hesitate using the contact form.
Revision
See TechNet Gallery page.
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