Ignite 2015 Session Catalog is here!

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Michel de Rooij

A short heads-up as the session catalog for Microsoft Ignite has been published. So, if you are still undecided or already want to pick ‘must see’ sessions for your schedule, you can check the session catalog here.

The session catalog contains 275 sessions, covering products like Exchange (49), Office 365 (85) and Skype for Business (26). It will be the first major Microsoft event where details will emerge on the next version of Exchange, Exchange v.Next.

The Exchange team published a blog on the Exchange-related Ignite sessions here. The blog contains a nice video featuring Greg Taylor and Jeff Mealiffe talking about what to expect at Ignite.

Also, on Febuary 3rd, the team behind Ignite as well as several speakers will be available on Twitter to answer any questions you may have on Ignite. Use the hashtag #IgniteJam to participate, or follow @MS_Ignite for any updates.

More information on Ignite, pre-day sessions, the session catalog and the #IgniteJam in the original post on Channel 9 here.

End of Exchange 2010 Mainstream Support

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Michel de Rooij

With all the media attention for Windows 7 going out of mainstream support, one might forget today also marks the end of mainstream support for Exchange Server 2010.

Exchange 2010, which was released in October, 2009 (which seems centuries ago now), and which still has a very large installed base, is going into the extended support phase.

Depending on your support contract, this means Microsoft will no longer provide free support for this product. Patches for security issues will still be available, and owners of premier support contracts are eligible for non-security updates through extended hotfix support option.

Exchange Server 2010 will reach end-of-life on January 14th, 2020.

(Re)configuring IM Integration

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Michel de Rooij

Last Update: August 16th, 2016.

Note: The procedure has changed for Exchange 2016, which can use overrides to make this setting persistent. For these instructions, consult this article.

Anyone who has configured Exchange 2013 IM integration with Lync Server at some point has to modify the web.config file on the Mailbox servers to configure OWA with the proper certificate for enabling IM. Another thing (read: nuisance) is that when you have configured IM integration and you apply a Cumulative Update to Exchange 2013, the web.config will be overwritten, in which case you need to reapply those changes to the web.config file.

This is where the script Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 might come in handy.

Requirements
Using the script requires Exchange 2013 and Lync Server. You need to provide the Lync pool and the Mailbox server you want to configure needs to have a valid certificate assigned to IIS (or UM) service. The script will modify the web.config remotely using the system share (e.g. C$), using the location of the Exchange installation, and uses WMI to recycle the OWA Application Pool in IIS. It will create a backup of the web.config before modifying it.

Note that the script does not perform the following steps:

It does not perform the Lync Server parts to configure IM integration, e.g. configure Exchange as a trusted application.
It does not configure Lync Server as an partner application for Exchange (Configure-EnterprisePartnerApplication.ps1).

Usage
The script Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 uses the following syntax:

.\Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 [-Server <String>[]] -PoolFQDN <String> [-AllCAS] [-AllMailbox] [-UM] [-Thumbprint <String>]

A quick walk-through on the parameters and switches:

Server specifies the server(s) to configure. When omitted, it will configure the local server. This parameter is mutually exclusive with AllMailbox.
AllMailbox switch specifies to configure all Mailbox servers. This switch is mutually exclusive with Server.
AllCAS switch specifies to enable IM integration on all Client Access servers.
PoolFQDN specifies the FQDN of the Lync Pool to use. This parameter is required.
UM specifies that the script should look for a certificate assigned to UM services instead of IIS (default).
Thumbprint to manually specify the thumbprint of the certificate to use.

So, suppose you want to quickly reconfigure IM integration on a Mailbox server after applying a Cumulative Update, you can use:

.\Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 -PoolFQDN lync.contoso.com –Server exchange01.contoso.com

Or, you can quickly configure Mailbox servers and CAS servers for IM integration after performing the required steps to configure the trusted application settings and installing and assigning the certificate for UM:

.\ Configure-IMIntegration.ps1 -PoolFQDN lync.contoso.com -AllMailbox –AllCAS

Also, in the example above, the CAS servers had already been enabled for IM.

Download
You can download the script from the TechNet Gallery here.

Feedback
Feedback is welcomed through the comments. If you got scripting suggestions or questions, do not hesitate using the contact form.

Revision History
See TechNet Gallery page.

Book: Pro Exchange 2013 SP1 PowerShell Administration

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Michel de Rooij

As some of you may have noticed, it has been a bit more quiet here than it used to be. Well, the reason for that, after several months of collaborative hard work, blood, sweat and tears, is finally here (and in stores just in time for the Holidays): A book titled Pro Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 PowerShell Administration!

Together with fellow Exchange MVP Jaap Wesselius, we will talk you through topics such as:

Deployment and co-existence scenarios.
The Client Access Server role and topics such as namespaces, certificates, load balancing, and publishing.
The Mailbox Server role and topics such as managing mailboxes, distribution lists and recipients, message transport
High availability topics like Database Availability Groups and Client Access and Transport availability.
Message Hygiene using the Edge Transport server role and anti-spam features.
Backup, Restore and Disaster Recovery, including the backup-less’ Native Data Protection scenario.
Unified Messaging features and integration with IP telephony solutions such as Microsoft Lync Server.
Compliance features like In-Place Archiving and MRM, In-Place Discovery, In-Place Hold, Data Loss Prevention including fingerprinting, and auditing.
Role-Based Access Control model and Split Permissions model for organizations that require this.
Office 365 and Exchange Online (EXO) scenarios, federating organizations, directory synchronization, ADFS and Multi-Factor Authentication, as well as basic tasks like onboarding and offboarding mailboxes.

Our 600+ page book will take a PowerShell-first approach when talking about Exchange Server 2013. You can order the book from Amazon here.

I have also added it to the book page here, which also contains other useful books when you want to learn about Exchange or related technologies like PowerShell, Active Directory or Lync Server.

Outlook 2010 gets MAPI/http support

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Michel de Rooij

Update: Hotfix KB2899591 pulled in Dec2014 due to possible issues, replaced in Jan2015 by KB878264.

A quick heads-up today as the recently released KB878264 hotfix adds MAPI/http support for Outlook 2010 clients. This will benefit organizations using Exchange 2013 SP1 or later considering switching from RPC/http to MAPI/http. The KB article includes details on additional fixes that are included in this hotfix as well.

You can request the hotfix for x86 and x64 versions of Outlook 2010 here.

Links to background information on MAPI/http, its impact on client performance, and impact on network traffic in an earlier blog post here.