The UC Architects Windows Phone App

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

Most of you listen to or at least are aware of our The UC Architects podcast. If not, The UC Architects is the world’s most popular community podcast on Exchange and Lync made by people with a passion for Microsoft Unified Communications.

Now, as of today and thanks to fellow Johan Veldhuis, you can keep track of new podcasts when travelling, check our Tweets or even download and listen to podcasts using the UC Architects Windows Phone App. The app is available for Windows Phone 7 and 8. More information on the app itself can be found on our The UC Architects website.

You can download the app here.

YAII (or Yet Another IOS Issue) (Update)

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

L’Histoire se répète. After the meeting issues with iOS 6.0, which were fixed in 6.0.1, you could have assumed Apple learned a lesson. Unfortunately, there are again reports of misbehaving iOS devices; this they’re on iOS 6.1.

As reported by Exchange fellows Tony Redmond and Paul Robichaux today, there are reports iOS 6.1, released end of January, may generate excessive transaction log growth. A report on the F5 forum states the issue may lie in the improper handling of Meeting Responses by iOS 6.1 devices, causing some sort of loop.

Since Exchange is a business critical platform and excessive log growth can have severe consequences when not properly monitored (storage space running out, impact on replication or backup), it is recommended to take the following steps until the situation becomes more clear (and Apple releases a fix):

Inform iOS users and discourage them to upgrade at the moment (you can’t uninstall it). To create an inventory of iOS 6.1 users, use Steve Goodman’s Export-iOSDeviceStatistics script (available here) or use Get-ActiveSyncDevice, e.g.
Get-ActiveSyncDevice | where {$_.DeviceOs -match “iOS 6.1”}
Consider implementing an access rule to block IOS 6.1 users (see below);
When experiencing the issue, report it to Apple.

When you want to block iOS 6.1 users, specifically the MeetingResponses, you need to filter on User Agent “^Apple.*1002.*” and check the URI for “Cmd=MeetingResponse” (so iOS 6.1 users can keep having e-mail but not send meeting responses). Your options and implementation depend on the components user in your organization:

You can block iOS 6.1 devices using Exchange 2010’s Allow/Block/Quarantine mechanism, e.g.
New-ActiveSyncDeviceAccessRule -QueryString “iOS 6.1 10B142” -Characteristic DeviceOS -AccessLevel Block
Alternatively, you can install and utilize the IIS Rewrite Module;
When running TMG/ISA, you can utilize the http filter to block iOS 6.1, i.e. select the ActiveSync publishing rule, Configure HTTP, tab Headers. Unfortunately, wildcards are not supported, so you need to enter each iOS6.1 User-Agent variation by using Add / Request headers and entering the exact string like (list not complete):
- Apple-iPhone4C1/1002.142
- Apple-iPad2C1/1002.141
- Apple-iPad3C3/1002.141
F5 has guidance on creating a blocking iRule to block MeetingResponse requests for iOS devices on their forum here.

Generally speaking, like implementing Service Packs or Rollups straight after their release in a production environment is a bad idea, the same rule should apply to clients of all types. I know this might sound challenging with the whole Bring Your Own movement and the adoption of iPhones/iPads, I think blocking or quarantining newly released iOS versions and only allowing them after a few weeks (“incubation period”) can be a wise strategy. Also, this strategy can be part of your communications or house rules for end users when they connect their own or company devices to your corporate environment.

Update (11Feb): It is reported the issue won’t occur after deleting the partnership and setting it up again doing a full sync. To delete a partnership from Exchange’s perspective, use Remove-ActiveSyncDevice, e.g.

Get-ActiveSyncDeviceStatistics –Mailbox Olrik | Where {$_.DeviceOS –match “iOS 6.1”} | Remove-ActiveSyncDevice.

Note that the iOS 6.1.1 update released by Apple today is for iPhone 4S only and fixes 3G issues.

Update (12Feb): Microsoft published KB2814847. They added the option of mitigating the issue by introducing a throttling policy, which Exchange admins need to assign to iOS 6.1 users. Note that this only applies to Exchange 2010 and up and will only slow down the process of transaction log generation, but users can keep using their device. It’s then recommended to instruct iOS 6.1 users to restart their devices if their device complains it can’t connect. Looking at the article, Office 365 already has throttling in-place for all users.

Update (13Feb): Apple has published a support article as well (TS4532). Their suggestion; Turn calendars off, wait 10 seconds then turn calendars back on again. Yes, really. They mention it’s related to responding to recurring meeting exceptions and state a fix is in the works.

Update (15Feb): As it turns out, he meeting response issue isn’t the worst issue in iOS 6.1; apparently you can easily bypass the lock screen on iPhones due to a glitch in the emergency calling feature, allowing anyone to use your phone for calling or accessing your contacts.

Update (16Feb): Rumors are Apple will release iOS 6.1.2 early next week but before February, 20th.This update should fix this meeting bug as well as the lock screen issue.

Update (19Feb): Today, after more than 10 days after initial reports of the issue, Apple released iOS 6.1.2, which supposedly fixes the meeting bug which caused excessive transaction log generation and battery drain. Given Apple’s track record, I’d test this properly first in your environment before waving the green flag to all your iPhone and iPad users. Note that according to reports, the lock screen glitch hasn’t been fixed in 6.1.2.

Discontinued support of ActiveSync in GMail

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

Few days ago, Stuart J. Johnston of TechTarget approached me and several other Exchange fellows to ask how we thought the discontinued support of ActiveSync in GMail, part of Google’s “Winter Cleaning” operation, would impact users. You can read Stuart’s article here.

For reference and because Stuart only used a single quote from my (I think) extensive response, I’ve included my take on the situation below. Interestingly, today it turns out Google lost an ActiveSync patent case against Microsoft in a British court. Exchange fellow Tony Redmond did a nice writeup on that case and his personal involvement in that case here.

PS: I’ve already asked Stuart to fix my last name in the quote.

Regarding the discontinued support of ActiveSync in GMail, I think impact on both the Exchange as well as the GMail population varies.

First of all, the measure is aimed at new, free GMail accounts. I don’t know exact numbers, but I can imagine the number of people still not having a free GMail account is relatively minimal. Also, EAS will remain available to paid accounts.

Second, EAS is a means – no end – to synchronize information like mail, contacts or agenda. Consumers will adapt and switch to alternative protocols (or plugins) to synchronize this information between their Google account and their device. I think the effect of the information exchange becoming less efficient and the lack of information push is negligible.

Thirdly, Android and iPhone – covering 85% over the smartphone market – provide apps specifically aimed at GMail or other Google services. For those not using Google’s apps, the end user experience may be affected and all the additional tools required to fully synchronize with desktops won’t help.

Worst off are Windows Phone users or Windows 8 users using the built-in Mail app (Surface RT). While the Windows Phone user base may be relatively small, the Windows 8 user base is growing and they are both forced to use IMAP, which only does mail and there are – AFAIK – no *DAV apps in the Store to synchronize calendar or contact information.

While I do understand Google’s case, which is probably more a cost reduction and (resource) focus shift measure rather than another act in the Google vs Microsoft war, I also believe there might be a fair chance of Google shooting itself in the foot by dropping EAS. Microsoft’s free outlook.com service keeps supporting EAS (not surprisingly) and Microsoft has already taken up on plugging outlook.com as the alternative for Google

Finally, I’m in favor of competition which drives innovation. The whole GMail versus Hotmail/Office365 is no exception. However, it gets annoying when vendors drop functionality end users are accustomed to, making them have to put energy into looking at solutions or alternatives, which may become tiresome at some point.

iOS6 issues with Exchange (updated)

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

Since the release of iOS6, several issues have been identified with this version when used in conjunction with Exchange:

Meeting Request where the device user becomes the meeting organizer, which can potentially enable attendees to cancel the meeting for everyone invited. This issue has been documented in KB2768774;
Autodiscover not working properly when the e-mail address doesn’t match the user’s UPN.

The Exchange Team published an article where they mentioned several suggestion to “mitigate” the issue; mitigate is quoted here, because some of the suggestions mentioned are in my opinion non-options in a corporate environment, like the suggestion to switch to IMAP/POP. Not only does that remove calendaring functionality, it’s also a lot of work and hassle for end users for the – I expect – short period before we see an iOS update from Apple, after which people can go back to using Exchange ActiveSync again.

How to deal with this issue in the – relatively short – period between now and the iOS 6 fix, depends on the risk your organization is willing to take. When you’re not willing to take any chances, you can block IOS 6 devices using Exchange’s Allow/Block/Quarantine (ABQ) feature or blocking them on the Reverse Proxy level, e.g. ISA or TMG; more information on how to accomplish the latter here. While being a rather draconic measure, it might prove a better temporary measure when compared to the suggestion to ask end users not to take action on calendars in iOS, which could be an accident waiting to happen.

As a more user friendly solution, I’ll gladly bring to your attention a script created by UC Architects fellow Steve Goodman, which can collect information on current iOS users in your environment. Then, with this information, you can selectively pick out iOS 6 devices and communicate the issues with their users until a fix is released. You can get the script here.

Note that there are reports of Apple currently testing IOS 6.0.1 and it is rumored the Meeting Request fix will be included.

Update, November 1st, 2012: Apple released IOS 6.0.1 which fixes the meeting request issue amongst other things (but not the Autodiscover issue). Update your IOS device Over The Air or using iTunes.

Review: iPhone with Exchange 2010: Business Integration & Deployment

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Michel de Rooij

A while back, I was asked if I wanted to review a book written by Exchange fellow Steve Goodman. The full title of the book is “iPhone with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010: Business Integration and Deployment” and it’s Steve’s first book. However, I didn’t take that into account when writing this short review.

Overall, the book is a well written blend of Exchange and iPhone related content. Now, I look at products called “iPhone and/with ..” with a certain amount of skepticism. In such cases I expect something of which a marketing department decided that adding “iPhone” to the title could increase sales or justify a higher price, all because iPhone sells.

However, when reading through the 290 pages I was pleasantly surprised the book touches iPhone related contents some Exchange administrators may have never experienced first hand, like using the iPhone Configuration Utility. From my experience, most customers treat an iPhone device for what they are, YAEASC (Yet Another Exchange ActiveSync Client).

From an Exchange perspective, the book is extensive and covers topics like server roles and Database Availability Groups, but doesn’t cover all topics and not in too much details. For example, the book mentions that you need to make arrangements in order to make the environment available via the internet, but a little guidance on reverse proxy settings or how the important autodiscover process works might be helpful.

Overall, the book does a good job of trying to cover the gray area between iPhones and Exchange server, and could be appealing to Apple shops wanting to implement Exchange or a customer with Exchange or Office 365 looking for ways to manage iPhone end user devices. If you’re looking for in-depth information on Exchange only or PowerShell/Exchange Management Shell, I’d recommend like “Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Inside Out” by Tony Redmond or Microsoft Exchange 2010 PowerShell Cookbook by Mike Pfeiffer.

You can check for the book on Amazon here (Kindle version here).