The UC Architects Podcast S01E06

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

The 6th episode of The UC Architects is online. The UC Architects is a bi-weekly podcast on Unified Communications in the Microsoft domain, i.e. Exchange and Lync Server, or related subjects.

This episode is hosted by Pat Richard, who’s joined by John Cook, Serkan Varoglu, Michael Van Horenbeeck and Mahmoud Magdy.

Amongst the topics discussed in this episode are:

Lync day added to MEC
Mac Lync 2011 Update
New Microsoft Logo
Lync Synthetic Tests
Exchange Update Rollups
Exchange DR Design
Exchange 2013 Migration Requirements
Exchange 2010 Data Protection & Compliance
Microsoft MVP Program

You can download the podcast here or subscribe to updates using iTunes here, Zune here or RSS here.

Copying Receive Connectors (update)

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

Once in a while you may have to execute a task so tedious and repetitive, you end up with an idea for a script to make your life easier. By tidying and publishing that script, I hope to make the life of others easier as well. This is one of those scripts.

When implementing Hub Transport servers on Exchange 2010, you may have to configure multiple receive connectors. Because receive connectors are defined on the Hub Transport server itself, contrary to send connectors, you may end up defining each receive connector on each Hub Transport server. This gets painful when you need to implement the ForeFront Online Protection for Exchange servers in the Remote IP ranges for example.

Yes, you can create a script which configures the connectors for you, but wouldn’t it be nice if you can create definitions on one server using the GUI and then just copy and paste those definitions to the other Hub Transport servers? This script also allows you to simply duplicate existing Receive Connector definitions after adding an additional Hub Transport server afterwards, not only after the initial configuration of the Exchange environment.

Here’s were my Copy-ReceiveConnector.ps1 script may come in handy.

The script is quite simple, and can help you with the following:

Copy Receive Connectors from one Exchange server to another (CopyFrom);
Export Receive Connector definitions to an XML file (ExportTo);
Import Receive Connector definitions from an XML file (ImportFrom).

In addition, you can specify whether you want to overwrite existing Receive Connector definitions (based on name) using the -Overwrite switch or clear all existing Receive Connectors before copying/importing using the -Clear switch.

So, let’s say you have two Hub Transport servers, L12EX1 and L12EX2. You have configured L12EX1 and you need to create the same set of receive connectors on L12EX2.

You can see in the example above, you can use the script to copy definitions from an existing server, e.g.

Copy-ReceiveConnector.ps1 <TargetServer> –CopyFrom <SourceServer>

You can also export and import settings, which may come in handy when you need to troubleshoot (you can have the customer export the receive connectors to a file) or when you want to prepare receive connector definitions off-site, e.g.

Copy-ReceiveConnector.ps1 <TargetServer> –ExportTo .\conn.xml

Copy-ReceiveConnector.ps1 <TargetServer> –ImportFrom .\conn.xml –Clear

Note that when ExchangeServer is specified as AuthMechanism on a receive connector, the FQDN needs to be set to the server’s FQDN, NetBIOS name or $null; in such cases I set it to the FQDN of the target server. ~~Also, it uses the existing name, meaning you may need to rename the Default and Client connectors, which contain the server name, afterwards.~~

Update 24th August, 2012 (v1.1): Added find/replace in Receive Connector name so that “Default L12EX1” on server L12EX1 will become or match with “Default L12EX2” on server L12EX2.

Click here to download the script from the Technet Gallery.

Exchange 2010 SP1 Rollup 7

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

The Exchange Team silently released RU7 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (KB2743248). This update raises Exchange 2010 version number to 14.1.421.0.

This Rollup only includes the fix for the WebReady security issue described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-058 (KB2740358).

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

As with any Hotfix, Rollup or Service Pack, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this rollup in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production. For the correct procedure on how to update DAG members, check here.

You can download Exchange 2010 SP1 Rollup 7 here.

Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 8

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

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 2010 SP2 Rollup 4

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

Today the Exchange Team released Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (KB2706690). This update raises Exchange 2010 version number to 14.2.318.2.

Here’s the list of changes in this Rollup:

2536846 Email messages sent to a mail-enabled public folder may be queued in a delivery queue on the Hub Transport server in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2632409 Sent item is copied to the Sent Items folder of the wrong mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment when a user is granted the Send As permission
2637915 “550 5.7.1” NDR when an email message is sent between tenant organizations in a multi-tenant Exchange Server 2010 environment
2677727 MRM cannot process retention policies on a cloud-based archive mailbox if the primary mailbox is in an on-premises Exchange Server 2010 organization
2685001 Retention policies do not work for the Calendar and Tasks folders in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
2686540 Journal report is not delivered to a journaling mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2689025 Performance issues when you use the light version of Outlook Web App in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2698571 Some email messages are not delivered when you set the MessageRateLimit parameter in a throttling policy in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2698899 Add-ADPermission cmdlet together with a DomainController parameter fails in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2700172 Recipient’s email address is resolved incorrectly to a contact’s email address in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2701162 User A that is granted the Full Access permission to User B’s mailbox cannot see detailed free/busy information for User B in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2701624 ItemSubject field is empty when you run the Search-MailboxAuditLog cmdlet together with the ShowDetails parameter in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2702963 The “Open Message In Conflict” button is not available in the conflict notification message in Exchange Server 2010
2707242 The Exchange Information Store service stops responding on an Exchange Server 2010 server
2709014 EdgeTransport.exe process crashes intermittently on an Exchange Server 2010 server
2709935 EdgeTransport.exe process repeatedly crashes on an Exchange Server 2010 server
2713339 Multi-Mailbox Search feature returns incorrect results when you perform a complex discovery search in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2713371 Throttling policy throttles all EWS applications in Exchange Server 2010
2719894 The Microsoft Exchange RPC Client Access service consumes 100 percent of CPU resources and stops responding on an Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server
2723383 Incorrect time zone in a notification when the Resource Booking Attendant declines a meeting request from a user in a different time zone in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
2724188 A subject that contains colons is truncated in a mixed Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2010 environment
2726897 Event 14035 or Event 1006 is logged when Admin sessions are exhausted in an Exchange Server 2010 environment

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

Note that This Rollup includes changes enabling Retention Tags for Calendar Items and Tasks (see KB2685001). If you wish to retain pre-SP2RU4 functionality, implement the following registry key on each Mailbox server:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeMailboxAssistants\Parameters\ELCAssistantCalendarTaskRetentionEnabled=0x00000000 (REG_DWORD); default value is 1. More information on possible implications at the Exchange Team’s blog here.

Important: Be advised that it is reported that installing MS12-058 (KB2740358) means Rollup 4 will be installed on your system. This applies to manual installations but updates installed through Windows Update / WSUS as well, which might pose a challenge (or better, dilemma) for security departments (Thanks to Paul Bendall).

Those who use WSUS to deploy security updates or manually apply MS12-058 will be inadvertently applying Exchange 2010 SP2 RU4 as the security

As of this Rollup, its no longer required to disable/re-enable ForeFront Protection for Exchange using the fscutility to be able to install the Rollup properly. However, if you want to remain in control, you can disable ForeFront before installing the Rollup using fscutility /disable and re-enable it afterwards using fscutility /enable.

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

You can download Exchange 2010 SP2 Rollup 4 here.