Exchange 2013 CU2 v2

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

Cumulative Update 2 for Exchange Server 2013 was re-released today. This re-release fixes a serious permission issue when moving modern public folders mailboxes around, as described by the Exchange team here. For more information on changes already incorporated in the original CU2, check the original post on CU2 here.

The part which might confuse some people is that they updated the version of the CU (like they did for some Rollups in the past) while keeping the knowledge base article KB2859928 and download link identical to the original CU2; only the version number has been increased a notch (15.0.712.24). When you download the file it will contain a v2 postfix, i.e. Exchange2013-KB2859928-x64-v2.exe, which is helpful for identification purposes.

Because of the “every server is an island” principle, you don’t need to stick to a certain order when implementing Exchange 2013 updates and in theory you can just update your Mailbox servers. However, be advised that Exchange 2013 security fixes – which are CU level bound as mentioned here and emphasized here – will be based on CU2v2, which means you ultimately must implement CU2v2 on all of your Exchange 2013 servers.

Note that CU2v2 is a full installation set. Before installing CU2v2, make sure to save customized OWA settings as the web.config files might get overwritten causing OWA to use default settings (see KB2871485).

As with any update, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this in a test and acceptance environment first (re-releases make a great business case), prior to implementing it in production.

You can download Exchange 2013 CU2 v2 here.

Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 2

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

Cumulative Update 2 for Exchange Server 2013 was released today by the Exchange Team (KB2859928). This update raises Exchange 2013 version number to 15.0.712.22.

This CU contains the following major changes:

CU2 increases the maximum number of supported databases per server from 50 to 100 in the Enterprise Edition;
Enables silent redirection for Outlook Web App (OWA) to Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2013 when using multiple internet-facing AD sites or alternative ExternalURL settings (i.e. for legacy purposes);
Introduces the DAG Management Service which will offload monitoring and reporting from the Replication Service;
Shifting several responders from per-server throttling to per-group throttling;
Support for updating local help files using the cmdlet Update-ExchangeHelp;
Improvements in OWA Search to indicate search hit locations;
Introduction of *-MalwareFilterRule Cmdlets to apply custom malware policies to users, groups or domains.

The majority of the enhancements are in line with announcements at TechEd, on which I reported earlier here. Only exception is the Azure File Share Witness which didn’t make it in CU2 but it’s expected to appear in a later build.

Unfortunately, the list of bug fixes in this CU is undisclosed. However, I was able to assemble the following (incomplete) list with things fixed in this CU:

KB2866064 Can’t load OWA Premium by using Internet Explorer 11 in an Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2010 or Exchange Server 2007 environment
KB2846288 Information store worker process crashes when you export mailboxes in an Exchange Server 2013 environment
KB2842504 EAS users incorrectly throttled in an Exchange Server 2013 environment
KB2830765 “MAPI_E_FAILONEPROVIDER” error when you use a MAPI application in a mixed Exchange Server 2013 and Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2010 environment
KB2835562 You can’t disable Outlook Web App access for users in on-premises Exchange Server

This Cumulative Update includes schema and AD changes, so make sure you run PrepareSchema/PrepareAD. Note that Cumulative Updates can be installed directly, i.e. no need to install RTM then CU1 etc. and once installed, you can’t uninstall a CU nor any of the installed roles. The order of upgrading servers is irrelevant, unlike with previous generations of Exchange.

As with any Hotfix, Rollup, Service Pack or Cumulative Update, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

You can download Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 2 here. More details about these changes, preparing Active Directory or installing this Cumulative Update can be found in the original announcement.

Exchange 2013 Server Role Requirements Calculator 5.9

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

The Exchange 2013 Server Role Requirements Calculator received an update to reflect changed incorporated in Exchange 2013 CU2, like the increased maximum number of databases. The new version number is 5.9.

Changes since version 5.8:

DAG script fix

Changes since version 5.6:

Fixed VBA error “The object invoked is disconnected from its client” error when recalculating Distribution tab
Added validation check for per-server database limit
Improved conditional formatting for JBOD disk capacity/type alerts
Fixed conditional formatting bug on custom databases input
Fixed bugs and improved the CreateMBDatabases.ps1 and CreateDAG.ps1 scripts
Fixed disk function display name problem
Revised calulation of TotDBVolSpaceDAG on Volume Requirements tab to account for multiple databases per volume
Fixed bug when custom database size is set to zero
Fixed number of volumes for 48 copies/server in 2 volumes/backup set scenario
Removed 2nd site dependency for setting Alt FSW
Added support for 100 databases / server
Fixed bug with circular logging export
Fixed transcript bug in CreateMBDatabaseCopies script
Adjusted CI memory calculation for corner case scenarios
Fixed Shadow Effect calculation
Fixed mistakes in comments
Disabled AutoReseed when Log Isolation is enabled

You can download the calculator here. For more information please consult the release notes and read me

Exchange 2013 Unattended Installation Script v1.5 (Updated)

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

I’m pleased to announce that the Exchange 2013 unattended installation script has been updated and supports fully automated installation of Exchange 2013 on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

The new version contains the following changes:

Added support for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. To fulfill the requirements, code was added to install .NET Framework 4.5, Windows Management Framework 3, disable/enable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration (IE-ESC), install required hotfixes KB974405, KB2619234 and KB2758857 (which supersedes KB2533623).
Because of the mandatory reboot after installation of the hotfixes, a phase was inserted; this phase will be skipped when installing on Windows Server 2012.
Added InstallPath to AutoPilot parameter set (or default path won’t get set).

You can download the updated version of the script via the original Exchange 2013 Unattended Installation Script page (which also contains instructions) or directly from the Technet Gallery.

The script has been tested with Exchange 2013 CU1 but it should work with RTM as well (if you must ..). Your feedback is very much welcomed!

The last version is version 1.53, dated June 15th, 2013; For changes, consult the changelog on the original article or Technet Gallery page.

Exchange 2013 CU2 Announcements from TechEd

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Michel de Rooij

As most of you probably know, last week was TechEd North America. The sessions on Exchange 2013 did disclose some changes for Cumulative Update 2 (CU2), which – according to the announced CU cadence – should arrive somewhere in the summer, most likely July. For those who didn’t follow my Live Tweeting from the event, here’s a quick summary of the announced or probable changes for CU2.

The return of 100 DB Limit
Exchange 2013 CU2 Enterprise Edition will bump the limit for the number of database per server from 50 to 100. The initial limit to 50 for Exchange 2013 RTM (and CU1) is said to be chosen due to performance reasons, but many customers complained they want to host more databases per server. For CU2, Microsoft made changes which enable increasing this limit to 100 again. Perhaps the customers complaining transitioned from or are currently running Exchange 2010, and are facing having to introduce additional servers to host an equal number of databases. In such cases, be advised that regardless of this increased limit, Exchange 2010 and 2013 are not directly comparable and you should utilize the Exchange 2013 Server Role Requirements Calculator to size your Exchange 2013 environment (an update will follow as soon as CU2 becomes available). An important side note to keep in mind with all this is that adding (or removing) databases in Exchange 2013 requires a restart of the Information Store service, so you might prefer maximizing the number of databases from the start, not when required to, so you’ll avoid having to shut down services or having to move mailboxes around to comply with your SLAs.

Single Sign-On Redirects
Exchange 2013 CU2 will introduce Single Sign-On (SSO) by enabling silent redirects for Outlook Web App (OWA) to downlevel CAS servers when the mailbox is hosted on a downlevel mailbox server when they’re configured with a different ExternalURL (e.g. in a different internet-facing site).

DAG Management Service
The to be introduced MSExchangeDAGMgmt service will offload the Replication service by hosting the Replication Service MonitoringComponent, providing information on health status, logging events in the same location MSExchangeRepl used to, i.e. Application Eventlog using the same Crimson channel, but still using MSExchangeRepl as source.

DAG Witness Server in Azure (possibly!)
When you’re an Azure subscriber, a feature possibly included in CU2 will allow your DAG Witness Server to be located in Azure. This allows for example customers with 2 physical datacenters to utilize automatic site fail-over, as automatic site fail-over normally requires a 3rd well connected datacenter for hosting the Witness Server. From an Azure perspective, the Witness Server will be single File Server on Azure IaaS VM or two File Servers using persistent VMs with XStore shared storage. Note that extending Active Directory permissions to the Public Cloud is required for this option.

Responder Throttling per Group
Responders are part of Exchange 2013’s Managed Availability, and define if and how to act on generated alerts, e.g. restart a service or take a Mailbox server out of service. In CU2, several responders will be throttled per group, e.g. DAG, instead of per server.

ARR Support
Not CU2 related, but it was announced that support for ARR, which stands for IIS Application Request Routing, is coming for Exchange 2013. With the discontinuation of TMG, customers are looking for alternatives to publish their Exchange 2013 (or Lync web services) and ARR is one of them, often used because it utilizes IIS and is free despite it lacking some of TMG’s features. A clue for this could lie in one of the features announced for Windows Server 2012 R2, which will contain a Web Application Proxy, which basically will be an HTTP reverse proxy aimed at publishing corporate resources for access from the public network.