Exchange 2003 2007

Exchange 2007 SP1– Exchange 2007 SP1 what’s in it for you?

ben.hoffman — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:45:00 GMT

Exchange 2007 SP1 which was released in November 2007 brings together improvements for Exchange 2007 in the following three main areas: Client Access Improvements, Protection & Availability improvements, Transport Improvements, Mailbox Role Improvements, and Unified Messaging Improvements....(read more)

Exchange 2007 Roles – An introduction to Exchange 2007 Server Roles

ben.hoffman — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:33:00 GMT

Exchange 2007 Server Roles – Exchange 2007 has expanded the concept in Exchange 2007 Server of server roles, which further extends the old 2 role front end back end topology, with a new 5 role model....(read more)

Using PortQry to troubleshoot Exchange rpc connection issues

ben.hoffman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:56:00 GMT

In today’s secure corporate WAN networks one common issue I see on a regular basis is Exchange connected Outlook clients not working because of corporate firewall changes or misconfiguration. Properly the quickest way to check if a firewall is blocking or filtering rcp traffic between you outlook client and an exchange server is to use the PortQry.exe tool. This Windows Server Support tool sends packets to specified ports and looks to see if that port has been blocked (filtered). To begin install...(read more)

Exchange 2007 SP1: Microsoft release Exchange 2007 SP1

Ben Hoffman — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:20:00 GMT

If you have been hiding in a cave somewhere or just been busy with work you may have missed the release of Exchange 2007 SP1.

The download for of Exchange 2007 SP1 and related documentation can at the Exchange 2007 Downloads Page

Exchange 2007 Downloads Page

So what improvements & new features does Exchange 2007 SP1 give us?

· Exchange 2007 SP1 can be installed on Windows Server 2008 & use IPv4 & IPv6 IP addressing formats

· ActiveSync administration and end user improvements

o ActiveSync default mailbox policy

o New ActiveSync policies

o Remote wipe confirmation

o Direct Push performance enhancements.

· Outlook Web Access (OWA)

o Outlook Web Access light will now monitor user activity so it won’t time out during composition of long message

o Creation & editing of Personal Distribution Lists

o Creation & editing of server side rules

o WebReady Document viewing added support for some Office 2997 file formats

o Access to Dumpster and ability to recover deleted items

o Monthly Calendar added

o Move Copy commands added to OWA user interface

o Public Folders are supported though the /owa virtual directory

o S/MIME Customization features

§ Ability to intergrate with custom message times

§ Ability to customizes the OWA user interface to seamlessly intergrate custom applications with OWA

· POP3/IMAP

o Port settings

o Authentication settings

o Connection settings

o Message and calendar settings

· Transport Improvements

o Core Transport improvements

§ Back pressure algorithm improvements

§ The addition of transport configuration options to the Exchange Management Console

o Hub Transport Server improvements

§ Priority queuing

§ Message size limits on Active Directory site links

§ Message size limits on routing group connectors

§ The addition of Send connector configuration options to the Exchange Management Console

§ The addition of the Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) agent

§ X.400 authoritative domains

§ Transport rules are now able to act on Unified Messaging messages

o Edge Transport Server improvements

§ Improvements to the following EdgeSync cmdlets:

· Start-EdgeSynchronization cmdlet

· Test-EdgeSynchronization cmdlet

§ Improvements to the cloned configuration scripts

· Mailbox Server Role Improvements

o Public folder management by using the Exchange Management Console

o New public folder features

o Mailbox management improvements

o Ability to import and export mailbox by using .pst files

o Changes to Messaging Records Management (MRM)

o New performance monitor counters for online database defragmentation

· High Availability

o Standby continuous replication

o Support for Windows Server 2008

§ Support for multi-subnet failover clusters

§ Support for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) IPv4

§ Support for IPv6

§ New quorum models (disk and file share witness)

o Continuous replication (log shipping and seeding) over redundant cluster networks in a cluster continuous replication environment

o Reporting and monitoring improvements

o Performance improvements

o Transport dumpster improvements

o Exchange Management Console improvements

· Unified Communications

o Features with Exchange 2007 SP1 and Communications Server 2007

§ Ability to create SIP URI and E.164 dial plans by using the New Dial Plan wizard

§ Additional logic for resolving internal calling number

§ Notification of forwarding when leaving voice messages in scenarios where the destination uses call forwarding

§ Support for recording high-fidelity voice messages in Exchange Unified Messaging

§ Access to Outlook Voice Access from Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 without requiring the user to enter a PIN

§ Ability for Office Communicator 2007 clients to associate subjects and priorities to voice messages

§ Support for media streams to traverse firewalls Integration of missed call notification e-mail messages with Office Communicator 2007

§ Ability to prohibit Play on Phone calls that are placed by using Office Communicator 2007 from being subjected to call forwarding rules that are configured

o New Exchange 2007 UC features without Communications Server 2007

§ Support for Secure Realtime Transport Protocol (SRTP).

§ Exchange Management Console support for configuring Mutual Transport Layer Security (mutual TLS) for dial plans.

§ Ability to add a SIP or E.164 address for a user by using the Enable Unified Messaging Wizard.

§ Ability to modify extension numbers and SIP and E.164 addresses for a UM-enabled user by using the Exchange Management Console.

§ In-band fax tone detection. By default, this feature is disabled but can be enabled in environments that use IP PBXs.

§ Quality of Service (QoS) support.

· Development/API improvements

o Support for public folder access. Public folders can now be created, deleted, edited, and synchronized by using the Exchange Web Services.

o Improved delegate access.

o Delegate management.

o Item identifier translation between identifier formats.

o Folder level permissions.

o Proxy to the best Client Access server.

Microsoft Release New Exchange 2007 Documentation

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:05:00 GMT

Microsoft have just released new Exchange 2007 Documentation, released documents include:

Service Pack 1 Highlights
History is Made by those who show Up (A Q&A session with David Espinoza & Sara Windsor)
Poster: Exchange Server 2007 Component Architecture
Planning, Deploying & Managing Unified Messaging with Exchange Server 2007

The following Downloads are also available:

Nice stuff I now have a few nights reading ahead of me :)

Requirements for 64 bit Guest Virtualization - Repost from WindowsIS.com

Ben Hoffman — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 02:26:00 GMT

64Bit guest virtualization is becoming a requirement especially with the release of Exchange 2007 and the announcement that it will be 64 bit only for all server operating systems after Windows Server 2008. So to get a taste of 64bit virtualization just what are the requirements to run a virtualized 64 bit host under VMware? When thinking about running a 64 bit Guest in VMware you need to be concerned with the following three components: - Motherboard and Chipset - CPU - Virtualization Product Support...(read more)

Using Eseutil /MH - How to check which Transaction log files are not committed

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 29 May 2007 02:31:00 GMT

You have been busy and have not had the time to check your backups recently, all of a sudden your all of the Exchange Databases go offline, after some investigation you realise your full backup has not ran for several weeks and the drive that houses these transaction logs is now full. This is an extremely common issue, and I see it in the real world on a regular basis, a lot often than I should. ...(read more)

Microsoft Launch New and Improved Exchange TechCenter, Library and Community Pages

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:29:00 GMT

Microsoft have just launched New and Improved Exchange TechCenter, Library and Community Pages, after taking a quick look around I have to say their layout is simplified and more easily read, Great work. The pages can be found here:

Microsoft Exchange Server TechCenter
Microsoft Exchange Library
Microsoft Exchange Community Page

Eseutil /R (Soft Recovery) – A Quick and Simple Tutorial

Ben Hoffman — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 15:01:00 GMT

Eseutil /R what does this mode do and when would you use Eseutil /R ? The Eseutil /R mode is used when you need to perform a soft recovery of your Exchange Database/s ( Information Store ). This mode of the tool should not be confused with the hard recovery mode Eseutil /C

What is the Difference between Hard and Soft recovery with Eseutil?

As mentioned above there are two recovery modes hard and soft recovery, the Hard recovery mode Eseutil /c is only used after performing an online restore (restore database because of corruption, or system failure; basically an online restore from media) and is used to playback to transaction log files so that you have a current database.

Normally Soft Recovery happens automatically after the Exchange Information store service starts and manual soft recovery using Eseutil /r is rarely required as it is run automatically, in fact manual soft recovery is not recommended at all with Exchange 5.5, yet there are some instances when you will need to perform a soft recovery manually, below are the scenarios where you would perform a soft recovery manually with Eseutil /r

· Database drive that contains one of a storage groups Information Store fails

This causes the storage group and other Exchange Information stores (on other drives) to go offline (Dirty shutdown)

o In this scenario if you intend on later restoring your missing database your can, still recover (soft recovery) the remaining Information stores with the use of the /r mode along with the /I (Ignore) switch.

· To perform an Out of Place Restore of an Information Store

Using the recovery mode together with the /D switch will allow you to recover an information store out of place, either to a Recovery Storage Group and would be particularly useful when you are ready to restore the missing database from the previous scenario above. The D switch basically allows you to specify an alternate locate (Other than the original) for the Exchange Database files

· After a restore you see Event ID 494, 454, 101, 904, 903 the following description: Information Store (1352) ….. as outlined in the following Microsoft Kb Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/843092

The valid options and syntax for use with Eseutil /R is as follows:

Eseutil /R <E00>	This is normally E00 but in different scenarios may be different
	/L<Path>	Path to the log file location
	/s<Path>	Location of the System files (Checkpoint file, etc)
	/I	Ignore errors missing/mismatched database files (Exchange 2003 and above only)
	/D [Path]	Path to the location of the database files, if switch is not specified path will use the original local of database files, if switch is specified without a path the current working directory is used, if switch and path is specified the path specified is used.
	/8	Set 8k database page size (the default is 4k)
	/o	Suppress logo

Now that you have seen the options that can be used with Eseutil /R let’s look at it in action:

Suppose we had a scenario as one above where a drive failed that contained one of your storage groups databases, and this failure caused the storage group and remaining databases (located on another drive)to go offline. Now you want to get these remaining information stores back online ASAP and worry about restoring the missing database later. Figure 1 below show the Eseutil /R command and its output.

Figure 1: Eseutil Soft Recovery

The inclusion of the /D switch makes it possible to run this command against your database/s file in just about any location, it no longer needs to be in the original location. You can see how this switch can make Out of Place Restores and restores/recoveries of Recovery Storage groups possible. This feature however is only available in Exchange 2003 and above.

Before running Eseutil /R with the /I option is highly recommended that you make a backup copy of your transaction log files, especially in a scenario when you are recovering databases but you plan to use these log files in the future after you have restored the missing database file, as the use of Eseutil /r makes changes to your Transaction log files and may change them so that future recovery of your missing database files is impossible.

I highly recommend looking at the Microsoft document on running Eseutil /R:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998075.aspx

Please feel free to leave comments or questions I am always happy to answer!

Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 Beta Download on TechNet Site

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:36:00 GMT

Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta: If you have a subscription to TechNet and are interested in getting your hands on Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta, then good news is that it has just been added to the TechNet download site. So why not login and give it a try on your test lab.

Both the x64 and x86 versions have been released with the x64 version being 716Mb

Good luck

Eseutil /P – A Quick and Easy Tutorial

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:49:00 GMT

Eseutil /p - This article is the second part of my original article titled Eseutil – A quick and easy tutorial, in which I gave readers an overview of the Eseutil tool, some basic guidelines along with a look at Eseutil /d (defrag). In this article I will talk about Eseutil /p, the mode that can get you in the most trouble if correct procedures are not followed. So if you have not already please read my previous article where I outline some basic safety steps.

The Eseutil /p command is known as the repair mode and is used to repairs a database at the page and ese table level of the database. It should be noted that this repair process may leave your database incomplete, as to repair it may be required for Eseutil to delete rows and tables to repair the database.

Eseutil /p should be used as a last resort, so if you cannot restore and replay or fully replay your transaction log files, and if possible the database should be restored from backup to the most recent date then the corrupt database repaired and merged into the restored database using a recovery storage group. If possible never put only a repaired database back into production.

When using Eseutil /p you should always follow up the use of this tool with the use of the following two commands Eseutil /d to rebuild the indices and defrag the database ISInteg to repair the database at the application level.

If the database that you want to run Eseutil /p against is in a dirty shutdown state the Eseutil /p cannot be performed, and the database must be shutdown cleanly if this is not possible then the Eseutil /r switch (recovery) must be ran to perform a soft recovery and put the database back into a clean shutdown state.

Now for the syntax of Eseutil /p

ESEUTIL /p <database name> [options]

/s<file> Streaming file location (Optional default is not to use)

/t<db> Temporary Database Location and name default is: TEMPREPAIR*.EDB

/f<name> Prefix for database report files, the default is: <database>.integ.raw)

/i bypasses the mismatch error check on database and streaming file

/g To run the integrity check before repairing database

/createstm Creates and empty stm streaming file if this is missing

/8 To set the 8k database page size (default: auto-detect)

/o suppress logo

Running the eseutil /p command with only the basic default options looks like this:

eseutil /p "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb"

Figure 1 below shows the command running, and the warning says that this command should only be ran against a corrupt database and may cause data (pages and tables) to be deleted.

Figure 1: The Eseutil /p command (Repair) warning

A screenshot of the completed output of the tool is shown in figure 2 below:

Figure 2:The output of the completed Eseutil /p command

As stated above Eseutil /D should be ran followed by Isinteg, the database should now be backed up.

I hope this article enlightened you to the use of Eseutil /p, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this tool please post a comment. You could even start a new post in the forums above.

My next post will be on the /r mode of this tool the recovery mode.

To purchase or transfer a domain name look here:

Eseutil - A Quick and Easy Tutorial

Ben Hoffman — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:34:00 GMT

Eseutil some feel comfortable with this tool others don't; Eseutil should not be taken lightly, some modes of Eseutil that can reak havock if not used in the correct situation or with the correct procedure, which is why I am outlining some simple rules and steps, so that you can use Eseutil without fear and know exactly how it use it in a certain situation.

Eseutil is used in the majority of situations when you experience issues with your Exchange Information Store not starting or misbehaving but there are some senarios were this migh not be the case as you will see in the first example of the switch Eseutil /d below:

Firstly let's look at the what this tool does, Eseutil.exe can be used to analyze/verify and then modify/repair your exchange Information Store database files, these files in a default setup are named priv1.edb priv1.stm pub1.edb pub1.stm. It should be noted now with the release of Exchange 2007 (only with the Exchange 2007 version of the tool) eseutil can be used to perform these tasks against the ESE database files on the Exchange 2007 Edge Transport and Hub Transport servers along with the mailbox and public folder stores.

So now that you know what eseutil does I am now going to outline the switches that Eseutil uses and then give an overview of the defragment mode (eseutil /d), I will save the rest of the switches for another article.

Eseutil

Defragment                      /d <database name> [options]
Recovery                             /r <logfile base name> [options]
Integrity                               /g <Database name> [options]
Checksum                           /k <file name> [options]
Repair                                   /p <database name> [options]
File Dump                            /m[mode-modifier] <filename>
Copy File                              /y <Source file> [options]
Restore                                /c [mode-modifier] <path name> [options]

So as you can see there are a few commands/modes to this tool; before using Eseutil I along with Microsoft recommend follow these simple rules and you cannot go wrong:

When using Eseutil the information store must be offline
You can only run eseutil on one ESE database at a time
If using Eseutil on a production database you should first make a copy of any files that you might touch, this includes all .edb .stm as well as transaction log files .log and .chk, put these aside and don't touch them unless you need to get back to the original state, and in this case copy the backup files don't move, so you always have this safety net.
If you have a test lap virtual or physical use it, practice and write down each of the steps before performing on a production system.

Eseutil /d Defragment (Offline Defragmentation)

This switch is equivalent to your disk defragment, but a little different, what eseutil /d does is removes empty pages in the database file and rebuilds its indices. This procedure is commonly known as the offline defragmentation because the information store database is offline when the defragmentation occurs, as opposed to the regular nightly online defragmentation (maintenance) that occurs when the information store is online.

The additional options for Eseutil /d are as follows:

Note None of these additional options are required

/s<file>   - set streaming file name (default: NONE)
/t<db>    - set temp. database name (default: TEMPDFRG*.EDB)
/f<file>   - set temp. streaming file name (default: TEMPDFRG*.STM)
/i         - do not defragment streaming file
/p         - preserve temporary database (ie. don't instate)
/b<db>     - make backup copy under the specified name
/8         - set 8k database page size (default: auto-detect)
/o         - suppress logo

In general the eseutil.exe /d is used with the default options as below:

eseutil.exe /d "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb" /s "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.stm"

Figure 1: Running the eseutil /d command

Unless you wanted the temp database created in a different location, with a different name or did not want the original database to be overwritten by the defragmented version of the database.

In general you would not use the eseutil /d switch unless, you have removed/moved a lot of mailboxes from an Exchange database file or there are -1018 errors in your event logs, or you have just performed an Eseutil /p or there has recently been a mail storm.

Personally if I have say moved X% of the mailbox from one database to another database or server, or deleted a significant amount of mailboxes I prefer defragment using the mailbox move method. All you need to do this create a new blank database and move the mailboxes to the new Information store, this has the advantage of giving you a free defragmented database, and users are not impacted as much, because you are moving a single mailbox at a time and only that user is impacted during the mailbox move process, whereas with an offline defragmentation, all mailboxes on that information store are offline until, the entire Eseutil /d process completes.

To see how much free space you have in an Exchange Database file/s just check in the event logs and look for recent occurrences of event 1221 or you can run eseutil /ms (with database offline)

When you run eseutil /d you should ensure you have at least 110% of the database files size available in free disk space on volume that the defragmented copy of the database file is being created.

Microsoft does not recommend running Eseutil /d as a regular maintenance practice, as the online maintenance takes care of this. In addition if your Exchange database is not in a consistent state you should not use eseutil /d.

In the next few days I will outline and give tips on each of the other switches or modes of Eseutil.

How did you like this article? Please add any comments or suggestions, I am always willing to answer any questions and love feedback, you might have a great idea that can be added.

Just a quick addition: I have posted the following addition/follow up to this article, please see them here:

Eseutil /P – A Quick and Easy Tutorial
Eseutil /R (Soft Recovery) – A Quick and Simple Tutorial

Anti-Spam setting migration from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007

ben.hoffman — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:33:00 GMT

Via EHLO, The Microsoft Exchange team have created and released a tool (Exchange2007AntiSpamMigration.exe) to allow administrators to migrate some of their anti-spam setting from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007.

As stated in the EHLO post the tool can be ran on either Windows Server 2000 or Windows Server 2003 and requires .NET Framework 1.1 or higher to run and an account that has read access to the Active Directory configuration container and access to the MSExchange.UCEContentFilter.xml file.

The download for the Exchange Anti Spam Migration Tool can be found on the URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=805eaf35-ebb3-43d4-83e4-a4ccc7d88c10&DisplayLang=en

Windows Mobile 6 Standalone Emulator

ben.hoffman — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:19:00 GMT

Chris Rue over at "welcome to the funcave" has published pictures of what looks like the first stand alone (Visual Studio 2005 not required)Windows Mobile 6 emulator. Requirements for running this beast without Visual Studio 2005 are at least 24Gb of free disk space.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 released to Microsoft Update

Ben Hoffman — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:02:00 GMT

If you have been waiting for it, has finally arrived Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 has been released as a Download and to Microsoft Update. As with ANY update it should be extensively tested before being deployed into production.

To start testing head over to Microsoft update.

For the download version of Service Pack 2 head over to the following URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx

The update totals around 372 Mb for the 32bit x86 version of the update and 350.9 for the 64bit x64 version; you can also find Service Pack 2 for Windows XP Professional 64bit on the same above URL.

I would be interested in hearing how you have found this Service Pack, any issues or problems please let me know, so I can get as much information about this update before deploying into production.

EHLO - Helpdesk Guidelines document for the Outlook Time Zone Update Tool

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:06:00 GMT

EHLO has published a helpdesk guidelines document for the application of the Outlook Time Zone Update Tool/Patch to comply with the Daylight Savings Time (DST) 2007 rule change. The EHLO post can be found here:

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/06/436731.aspx

New Exchange 2007 Documentation Released

Ben Hoffman — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:35:00 GMT

Via EHLO: The Exchange documentation team have announced the release of new Exchange 2007 documenation at the Microsoft Exchange Server TechCenter.

The newly released documentation includes:

AD and Exchange InterOrg Migration - A Real World Example Part 1

Ben Hoffman — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 16:18:00 GMT

In part one of this two part series I will discuss the process of installing configuring running the Active Directory Migration Tool V3 (ADMT) with the objective of performing and Exchange Interorg migration which is what I was outline in the second part to this series. At least once in the life of a IT Administrator you will be faced with the situation of an Active Directory and Exchange Inter-org migration, this could be because a company is taking over another company, a business unit ne...(read more)

Office 2007 Beta released as a public beta

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 25 May 2006 12:15:00 GMT

This news might be a little old, but I am going to mention it anyway! The beta that everyone has been waiting for has been released to the public, Office 2007 Beta 2 has been released. You can find all the information about the beta as well as the beta download page from the offical Office 2007 Beta 2 website here...(read more)

Exchange 12 is now known as Exchange 2007

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 18:04:00 GMT

In a recent post on EHLO it has been announced that Exchange 12 is now known as Exchange 2007. you can read the post here.
I have known about this for a little while (well since the Exchange 12 Ignite training tour) but being under NDA my lips were sealed.

Other news Monad is now known as Windows PowerShell

Take a look at other interesting naming new on Nathan Mercer's Blog post here

DR plan in action as Cyclone Monica nears Darwin

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 03:36:00 GMT

Update Tuesday 25 April 2006 1:25pm: Last night Cyclone Monica changed track and has hit the coastline early, as such is situated further away from Darwin than originally predicted, it has also lost strength, Cyclone Monica is now rated at category 1.

For those that don’t know Darwin Australia is currently on cyclone warning, because of tropical cyclone Monica. (see current location here)

Working in the IT Industry at a site that hosts around 160 servers, means DR planning is especially critical, so on Friday when it looked very likely Tropical Cyclone Monica would affect Darwin our DR plan was activated, some items of our DR plan that have been put into place over the past few days have included:

Team members that would be responsible for in-acting various aspect of the plan
Flag critical systems (comms, email, voice, main corporate website, university radio station) that should run as long as possible.
Flag non-critical system which could be powered down to conserve UPS & Generator power
List of items to purchase that may be required help to limit the impact of the elements (Masking tape/Plastic sheets/Canvas/buckets)
Confirm list of contact details for team members and external contacts (Government/Suppliers/Warrant agents/Contractors)
Ensuring recent backups have happened successfully
Double check no systems are being left out of the backups
Confirm stand-by systems/network equipment is available and ready to be used, if any production systems/network equipment is damaged
Review restore methods, confirm this documentation is up to date and no systems have been left out
Ensure CD/DVD media for all systems is available
Check that all system documentation is up to date and printed out
Arrange for additional backups to be taken and stored along with printed system documentation at secure sites

Above is just a small list of what our team have been working on since Friday, now that Monica is less than 24 hours away we are all hoping it loses strength and keeps a safe distance from Darwin so that our DR plan does not need to be in acted any further.

AKU 2.0 has been released for the O2 Exec

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 18:00:00 GMT

As reported on Jason Langridge's weblog here O2 have released an update for the O2 Exec which includes AKU 2.0 and Direct Push features.
The update is labeled v1.30.162, following is a list of new & changed features:

Microsoft AKU 2 (Adaptation Kit Update) featuring:
Microsoft Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) allowing Direct Push Email, Wireless Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Global Address List (GAL) Lookup and Security Policies.

Updated Comm Manager, providing new buttons for controlling Direct Push Mail and active Data connections.
Updated Radio v1.09.00
Updated CE image v1.30.107

The Update can be downloaded from here

Exchange 12 Ignite Training Tour Singapore

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 05:13:00 GMT

Just noticed Paul Flaherty bloged about attending the Exchange 12 Ignite training event in the UK.
http://blog.flaphead.dns2go.com/archive/2006/04/03/3346.aspx

I am off to Singapore on tuesday to attend the Singapore leg of the tour, which is being held on Wednesday and Thursday. Can't wait the agenda looks great, both days are jam packed with sessions.

Currently on Holidays in Vietnam - Replys might be a little slow

Ben Hoffman — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:44:00 GMT

I am currently on holiday in Vietnam for 5 weeks and It is Vietnamese/Chinese New Year on the 29th of January, so I am spending a little time with my wifes family. Replys to forum and email messages during my holiday might be little slow, but will try to get access to the internet on a regular basis to reply. "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year) for the 29th. Moi Hai Ba Dzo Regards...(read more)

MVP Award - Windows Server System - Exchange Server

Ben Hoffman — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 05:35:00 GMT

Yesterday morning before getting ready for work, I checked my email to find that I have been awarded MVP status in "Windows Server System - Exchange Server" for my online contributions via my blog website as well as the Microsoft Exchange newsgroups. For me it is a great honor to be recognized along side individuals I have always looked up to and respected! Over the following year I will continue to contribute to this blog website and newsgroups, I am also looking to start getting into presenting....(read more)

Update IMF from Microsoft Update

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:32:00 GMT

You Had Me At EHLO... has a blog post on how enable Exchange IMF updates via Microsoft Update.

The main points of the post are:

Add registry key to enable HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange DWORD key ContentFilterState Value 1.
The last 3 IMF data and binary files are kept on the server.
This feature is only available for Exchange Servers with Exchange 2003 SP2 installed and enabled.
IMF updates will be made available twice a month on the first and third Wednesday of every month
IMF update can presently be applied manually or via Automatic Update but will be made available in the future for WSUS and SMS.

The original EHLO post can be found here

Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Web Administration Tool now released

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:57:00 GMT

While checking my RSS feeds noticed that Susan Bradley has bloged about Microsoft releasing the Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Web Administration Tool....(read more)

BIG NEWS Exchange 12 will only be on the 64bit Windows Server Platform

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 06:15:00 GMT

I have recently been hearing from various sources that Exchange 12 will only be available for the 64bit Windows Server platform and not the 32bit platform, I cannot quote anyone yet but as more new comes to hand I will publish the relevant links here.

UPDATE:
Here are some links and blog posts on the future release of Exchange 12 and it exclusively as 64-bit:

Nathan Mercer's blog post: http://blogs.technet.com/nmercer/archive/2005/11/18/414746.aspx
Microsoft Press Release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/nov05/11-15ITForum05UmbrellaPR.mspx
MS Exchange Blog http://hellomate.typepad.com/

Introducing the Exchange Server Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer Tool

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:07:00 GMT

Have there been times where users have complained about Exchange/Outlook performance, but you where not quite sure which counters to use and what values are considered normal? If so then this newly released free tool from Microsoft will be just what you have been looking for. Even experienced administrators will find the Microsoft Exchange Server Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer (ExPTA) a handy tool in their arsenal. ...(read more)

Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 has been released!

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:31:00 GMT

I was just over at the Exchange 2003 product website and noticed that Exchange 2003 SP2 has just been released. It can be downloaded from here

All I can say for now is Test Test Test.

Expect to see some of my experiences with Exchange 2003 SP2 posted here over the coming days and weeks.

EHLO Post - Sender ID

Ben Hoffman — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 21:05:00 GMT

Konstantin Ryvkin , has posted an article on EHLO about SenderID with Exchange 2003 SP2 and viewing the messages Sender ID value from within Microsoft Outlook 2003; you can read the post here...(read more)

ADModify.NET 2.1 released

Ben Hoffman — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 16:14:00 GMT

Any one who has read my articles would know that I absolutely love ADModify, Anyway I saw this post on Mark Fugatt's blog, ADModify .NET 2.1 has just been released and it has a whole lot of added functionality. Take a look at Mark's post for more details. ...(read more)

Exchange 12 will ship on DVD

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 02:23:00 GMT

Just read this news on EHLO ; Exchange 12 will ship on DVD. You can read the full post here...(read more)

The BIG event less than a week away

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 16:36:00 GMT

Well it’s just under a week until the BIG event starts. My lovely wife and I are flying out (1:55am yawn) to Brisbane this Friday to checkout the sights over the weekend before TechEd begins....(read more)

Keith Combs posts a great article on Sender ID Framework (SIDF) and Exchange Server 2003 SP2

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 16:13:00 GMT

Just going thru the RSS feeds I monitor and came across a very detailed post by Keith Combs from Microsoft on Sender ID Framework (SIDF) and Exchange 2003 SP2, you can read the post here

Exchange 2003 SP2 Community Technology Preview available 19th August 2005

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:29:00 GMT

Great new, it looks like the Community Technology Preview pre-release evaluation of Exchange 2003 SP2 will be available for download from 19th August 2005....(read more)

Using ADSIEdit - A Real World Example

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 12:00:00 GMT

In my third follow up post to my earlier post “Top 5 Tools an Exchange Administrator should not be without!” in this post I will show you how to use ADSIEdit to modify the Default Global Address List’s (GAL) LDAP search filter....(read more)

Details of OAB V4 in Exchange 2003 SP2

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 15:04:00 GMT

Dave Goldman from the Exchange Server Team has bloged about OAB V4 which ships with Exchange 2003 SP2. Most of the new features found in OAB V4 have been implemented to remove common OAB download problems....(read more)

Exchange 2003 SP2 Anti-SPAM framework

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 16:20:00 GMT

A detailed post on the new Anti-SPAM framework being shipped with Exchange 2003 SP2 from the Exchange Server Team Blog "You Had Me at EHLO", see it here

Using ADModify - A real world example

Ben Hoffman — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:49:00 GMT

This post shows how to use ADModify from a real world example - Modifying contacts in your Active Directory for a partner company that has had a name change and their SMTP addresses need to be updated....(read more)