Q&A with the Exchange MVP Experts (June 21, 2007)
Chat Topic: Q&A with the Exchange MVP Experts
Date: Thursday, June 21, 2007
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
Melissa Travers MSFT (Moderator):
Hello everyone. I am the MVP Lead for the Exchange Server MVPs in the US and would like to officially welcome you to today’s chat. For those of you who may not know, MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional. MVPs voluntarily share their time and expertise helping others in the technical community…such as participating in this chat today. To learn more about our program go to http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Please limit your questions to Exchange Server and Outlook. To ask one of our Experts a question be sure to check the Ask the Experts box after you type your question to submit. Hope you enjoy today’s chat. I am going to turn things over to our MVPs now and ask them to introduce themselves to you.
Introductions
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Hi, I'm Missy Koslosky, an Exchange MVP and co-author of The Exchange Server Cookbook.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
I'm Vlad Mazek, Exchange MVP; I've managed and developed for Microsoft Exchange for over 10 years. You can check out my blog at http://www.vladville.com and see what I work/do at http://www.exchangedefender.com and http://www.ownwebnow.com - bring on the questions!
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
I'm Michael B Smith and I have been working with Exchange for about eight years now and talk about Exchange on a number of mailing lists. His company provides hosted Exchange services for customers world-wide.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Hi Exchange Ninjas, this is Bharat Suneja. I'm an Exchange MVP. I work for Zenprise. I blog at http://exchangepedia.com/blog
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
I'm Devin L. Ganger, a technical writer and speaker for 3Sharp. I've contributed to a number of Microsoft whitepapers, am a co-author of the Exchange Server Cookbook (along with Missy), and blog at (http://blogs.3sharp.com/blog/deving/).
Start of Chat
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: How is the mobile integration better in Exchange 2007?
A: In many ways - for starters, it’s integrated into the product without having to download additional software. It is automatically available through OWA allowing users to manage their own phones if they lose them, so reduced costs. There are also over 20+ features only available in WM6 with Exchange 2007 vs. WM5 and 2003.
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: OK, experts.. Exchange 2003 customers on SA upgrading to 2007 - the biggest pain is getting Outlook 2007 licensing. It has taken Ingram and my sales team WEEKS to get "proof of licensing" from MS. Any advice?
A: Unfortunately, licensing is always the 900 lb. gorilla, isn't it? Unfortunately, MVPs aren't people who speak officially for Microsoft, so we can't answer licensing questions. Your best bet is to keep working with your Microsoft rep or reseller. Document all your interactions and print out copies of your orders, etc.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: I’m facing a general problem in my mail server...mails are getting delayed a lot..sometimes even by 2 days.. even if the sender is in the same domain..any specific reason?
A: This is not normal behavior. What kinds of error messages are you seeing?
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Is there a firm release date for SCR? Will it definitely be included in Exchange 2007 SP1?
A: As things stand and as announced by Microsoft, yes - SCR will be something to look forward to in SP1
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: About CCR: Normally we will install Exchange files on C: and have data and logs on separate disks. What about tracking log files – do you recommend to leave them on c: or move them to another location?
A: Whether on CCR or not, it is recommended to locate transaction logs on a separate volume (not simply a separate logical partition on the same volume)
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: backup agent supporting VSS. any ideas?
A: Right now, you need a third party backup solution to take advantage of VSS backups (NTBackup uses the online streaming backup API). However, later this year, System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 (DPM) is scheduled to be released, and it has great support for Exchange backups.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: I’ m facing a general problem in my mail server...mails are getting delayed a lot..Sometimes even by 2 days. Even if the sender is in the same domain. Any specific reason?
A: Please take a look at your message tracking. I would assume from your description that these messages are being discarded either by IMF or your AV software.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: also with VSync.
A: I am sorry, what is vsync?
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: As it stands now LCR is not supported when using a single copy cluster. Will this also be the case for Standby Continuous Replication (SCR) coming in SP1? We use SCC but still want the option of replicating via SCR to a warm DR site. TIA!
A: I don't think that information has been released yet
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
Q: Hi there. We are currently planning for a global Exchange Server consolidation (120 Exchange Sites down to 4) and we are facing some problems around backup. We wanted LCR or CCR but found that the major backup vendors (HP, Legato, etc.) don't have a ...
A: As of right now, I believe that you are limited to proprietary "snap-shot" based solutions.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Hi, we'll be changing from exchange 2003 to exchange 2007 and we were wondering if using exchange 2007 exclusively we can archive the journaled emails into a NAS or SAN
A: NAS or SAN boxes don't by themselves offer any archiving functionality. You can locate a separate Store on the NAS/SAN box and locate the journaling mailbox on it. For third-party archiving software, you would need to contact the respective vendors.
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: I would like to have my exchange admin automatically have full mailbox rights on users’ mailboxes. In 2k3, I was able to set this on the database level, can’t seem to this in 07. I can set on the OU or user level AFTER the account is created.
A: Powershell: Add-MailboxPermission Mailbox -user ServiceAccountMailboxName -accessright fullaccess -inheritanceType all
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
Q: is there any way to do this automatically AS the account is created? Thanks.
A: In order to customize your creation needs, you can create a provisioning script that can apply custom attributes and security.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: Antivirus: If you have AV in the perimeter network (edge) and on the HUB servers. Do we need installing AV on the mailbox server as well?
A: I think it's wise to have several layers of A/V protection running - and having an Exchange aware A/V protecting your information stores is an important piece of a complete solution. If you want to have file-level A/V on your Exchange servers you can, but there are some caveats with configuring it (like it needs to not scan the Exchange directories).
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: VSync is the integration for Verizon mobile email to integrate it with exchange
A: Third party sync tools do not ship with Microsoft Exchange - you will have to check with Verizon for that. You will still however be able to use native ActiveSync that’s shipped on every Windows Mobile device, along with pop3 and imap.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: An online demonstration of Exchange 2007
A: I was planning on doing an online demo, but can't quite figure out how to do it in chat software... :) - there are plenty of demo videos, etc. on the Exchange team blog (msexchangeteam.com)
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: An online demonstration of Exchange 2007
A: There are some great online demos here - http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/demos/default.mspx
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: In Exchange 2003 the common wisdom is to not allow your mailbox stores to grow beyond 100 GB - does that change with Exchange 2007? What is the new number?
A: There hasn't really been a "magic number" even for Exchange 2003; the best practice has always been "size your databases no larger than you can backup and restore within your SLAs." Having said that, Exchange gives you a lot more options for widening your backup window -- for example, you can perform backups from the passive node of a CCR configuration, giving you effectively a 24-hour window for backups. At that point, you're only limited by the speed of your backup solution and your restore SLA. Some sort of disk-based backup program (such as the forthcoming DPM 2007) will allow you to do restores a lot faster than you can from tape -- and will allow you to increase the size of your databases.
ChrisScharff (Expert):
Q: Can any of you make a recommendation on pre-configured VHD's? I want to get a feel for what's different from 2003 to 2007. I'm looking at one now that has LCS 2005 as part of it, however I'm after one that is more generic. Any ideas?
A: You can ignore the LCS 2005 portion of the VHD. I have used it in the past and actually forgot that LCS was a part of it. The download it a little bigger because of it, but Exchange is not different in any way that I have ever noticed. If you happen to have a TechNet Plus subscription or MSDN subscription I believe you can download the software and build your own as well. But for generic poking about the Microsoft VHD is faster to get up and running.
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: I've got an issue with the Out of Office assistant. Most users (Outlook Any. and local) are presented with a dialog indicating that it is currently unavailable. Going through OWA is still successful. Any thoughts on what I should do to fix the problem?
A: Typically, you will see that error if you do not have a DNS entry correctly set for autodiscovery. As an example, you should have a record for autodiscover.yoursmtpdomain.com.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: With SP1 and SCR, if there is a site disaster, how do you recover "stuff" from the transport dumpster in the recovery site?
A: If there is a site disaster, the assumption is that the source site's transport servers are offline. In that case, you can't recover anything from the transport dumpster.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: I understand that it's recommended to not run Exchange Server 2007 on Microsoft Virtual Server, but what about running in on VMWare?
A: Running any Microsoft software inside a third party virtualization product automatically makes it unsupportable- Microsoft CSS/PSS may ask you to replicate it in a non-virtualized environment.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: My users are unable to change their passwords through OWA. It responds saying that it does not meet the site policy. What should I do to fix the problem?
A: Try: get-owavirtualdirectory | fl - is ChangePasswordEnabled set to $true?
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: How is Microsoft working with Third party vendors to support Exchange 2007 ? (TSM - Backup, Blackberry, RightFax), etc...
A: Microsoft has specific programs like TAP for developers that provide early access to code and MS resources
Chris Scharff (Expert):
Q: We have added an MMC snap-in to ADUC in Exchange 2003 to allow our admins to set several mailbox-related attributes that we have added to the schema. Is the Exchange Management GUI in 2007 extensible to allow us to add property pages and code to handle this
A: I'm not aware of any way to extend the UI of the EMC, however using a combination of a web (or other) UI and Powershell it's now much easier to create a provisioning application for the creation of user accounts. Run the EMC to create a user and the powershell syntax will be presented. You can use this as a template to build an application structure to create users in exactly the same way (plus your additional modifications).
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: I'm interested to learning more about SCR, and anxiously awaiting for it to be released in a future beta of SP1. While I'm waiting, what is the best way to learn more about SCR (or get my hands on some code?).
A: Pete, we're all anxiously waiting for more information on SCR - the Exchange Product Group is releasing information on their blog as they can - see http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/02/23/435699.aspx for a sample post. I'm pretty sure they won't be releasing the code at any point, though! ;)
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to Password change in OWA -- Looks like there is nothing set. Just blank.
A: set it to true ($true)
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there another pre-release version of E2K27 SP1? Will SCR be included in that version? What is the timeframe for that?
A: This is the only public info on SP1: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/e/6/5e672458-592a-44a2-b489-11cec19d3c82/RelNotes.htm
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: I'm interested in the idea of backing up the passive node in CCR. In 2003 the problem is clearing the log files. Is that taken care of in 2007?
A: Yes, Continuous Replication takes care of this, so no log files that are not replicated get truncated. However, merely using replication will not truncate files, a backup will need to be performed.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there another pre-release version of E2K27 SP1? Will SCR be included in that version? What is the timeframe for that?
A: I haven't heard if there will be another pre-release SP1 version available or a time frame -- keep an eye on the Exchange team's blog, as I'm sure they'll post information on this when they're able to do so.
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: In a mixed Exchange 2003/2007 environment, do we *have* to replicate public folders to a 2007 server for 2007 mailboxes to see them? Also does not doing so affect free/busy when checking calendars of 2003 mailbox users?
A: In Exchange 2000 and 2003, you can assign a default PF database for an entire mailbox database -- and you can do the same thing in Exchange 2007! Any mailboxes on that database will then look to the associated PF database for PF replicas. As for F/B information, it still works on the basis of which admin group you're in. While Exchange 2007 doesn't directly use AGs, it still creates a new AG so the legacy Exchange server (and Outlook clients) know how to interact with it. As long as the PF servers have replicas of the F/B system folder for the Exchange 2007 AG, f/b info should work.
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
Q: I have a few RAID 10 sets for my 2007 exchange server. I am better served keeping the page file on its own RAID 10 volume, or SMTP queue? My mail server is both mailbox and hub transport
A: Performance is application specific (that is, how do you use that Exchange server?). However, if you put enough memory in your Exchange server, the page file will rarely be used and where it is located will have little-to-no impact on performance. The Exchange 2007 SMTP engine has been re-engineered from earlier releases and should access physical disk much less often. But if you have unlimited money and unlimited hardware, sure go ahead and split them out. :-)
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: During recovery, will you be able to recover from a SCR node directly back to a (production) CCR cluster? Will a full reseed be required?
A: Unfortunately, a lot of the details about how SCR will work are still under wraps. We're waiting for the release of more information as we get closer to the SP1 release just like you! All I can suggest is to keep watching the Exchange team blog for more details -- they're great about giving us the scoop on new technologies when they can.
Chris Scharff (Expert):
Q: LCR: For smaller customers LCR can be a good choice. But you should probably have the replicated data on separate disks? Because of this you need a server with a lot of disks. What is best-practice for LCR and disk configuration?
A: I would absolutely recommend the replicated data be on a separate disk. It matters both in terms of disk IO and availability. If you don't use a different disk set the only thing you are really protecting against is a database corruption (and one of the most common causes of database corruption is disk or controller error). It will require a server with more disks, but in theory the replica disk could be slower and less redundant (RAID 1 vs Raid 5 perhaps). However, if you ever had to failover you might experience performance issues with the copy. So there are tradeoffs to be sure. But I'd have a hard time justifying LCR to the same disk set in most instances.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: How can I, in Exchange 2007, delegate Exchange admin rights to admins in a manner that limits them to a specific store on a server or several stores on a server but not all of them. I followed the guidelines on Tech Ed and You Had me at EHLO.
A:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232100.aspx touches on this
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: I remember hearing about outlook 2007 would allow users to connect back to an intranet site via the rpc over http connection. But I haven't seen much talk about this. is this feature available today and does it have a name so I can find out more info
A: This is possible from OWA, not using RPC over HTTP(S)
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to Change password in OWA - I'm struggling with the powershell commands. After running a set command, it said it completed successfully but no settings were changed. I believe it was set to True already and the blank was from a diff Identity.
A: You're right - if no settings were changed, it should be set to true already
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there a policy that you can set in Exchange 2007 that will force permissions on objects in users mailboxes, such as calendars?
A: Not to the best of our knowledge, although you can continue to use the existing MAPI-based tools to go in and reset permissions on folders after the fact.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: I'm struggling to understand how to use SSL Certificates with remote access services like OWA, OutlookAnywhere, etc. I'd like to use a single cert for all services. I understand I could do it with a "Unified Messaging" cert, but... (more to follow...)
A: Yes, you can use a single cert that holds all the names (FDQN, local, etc) some authorities will allow you to place all the names on a single cert. Make sure you do not order a "wildcard certificate" because the name must be absolutely matched in order to work. Check out the Microsoft Exchange team blog for more discussion on the certificates in Exchange 2007
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: Does anyone know why there is a Windows 2003 SP2 requirement for E2k7 Sp1? ; We want to go to e2k7Sp1 when it is released, but the team that manages the O/S may not be ready for SP2 of Windows 2003...
A: As you know, it's a hard dependency - as required functionality ( MMC 3.0 for example) is built-into Windows 2003 SP2. Get those Windows guys going! :)
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: ...but am interested in some alternatives. For instance, can't I work through IIS with a single, typical certificate (based on a url), and use sites to direct traffic to the desired destination (OWA or OutlookAnywere)? Where is best documentation?
A: Follow-up to the previous question. The answer is, yes, you can but you won't get all the functionality and you'd have to purchase multiple certificates. It’s just easier to get the cert.
Chris Scharff (Expert):
Q: One of my engineers read in a planning guide that the GC to Exchange processing power ratio needs to be 1:4. Does this include all Exchange server roles? Can you dedicate special GC like in E2k3?
A: set-exchangeserver -id <E2K7 server> -staticDomainControllers 'dc.domain.com', 'dc2.domain.com'
If you want to reverse it:set-exchangeserver -id <E2K7 server> -staticDomainControllers $NULL
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: My users often ask 'did my message get delivered?' (to outside recipient). In E2K7, what would you recommend as the best means of tracking delivery (or progress toward) of a message? ;)
A: Aside from message tracking and receipts? I am not sure there is much you can do for the external users.
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
Q: Re: RAID 10 sets. I have one extra RAID 10 and have had performance issues with 2k3 and want a smooth 2007 operation. Thanks
A: Where was the performance limited? Was it I/O? The exchange team’s blog said that I/O was decreased 70-75% for their tests comparing 2003 to 2007 given similarly configured servers. Again, if you meet the memory recommendations for Exchange 2007, your reduction in I/O for 2007 is quite significant and you should get improved performance.
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: I have heard multiple opinions regarding a dedicated AD site and global catalogs for Exchange 2007. For what size organization, if any, would you recommend a dedicated site?
A: The general recommendation now for Exchange 2007 is to *not* use dedicated AD sites for Exchange 2007. See: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/28/437313.aspx
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to change password in OWA - If the Change Password is set to True, what else should I check to permit my users to change their password through OWA?
A: Is the password meeting the password complexity/password history requirements?
Chris Scharff (Expert):
A: Sorry, the other part of the answer with regards to GC ratio is 'it depends'. There is a good article on it in the Exchange Team Blog here: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/28/437313.aspx
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: With a HP Proliant 350, Xeon 2.8GHz 1MB, 3GB RAM, 216GB RAID5 & a HP Proliant 370, Dual Core Xeon 5110, 4GB RAM, 300GB RAID5 in 40 user environment, which server would you use for exchange with the other being basic file and print & which exchange version?
A: I think either server could handle Exchange readily, but my inclination would be to give the second server to Exchange and the first to the file server. With 64-bit servers, I'd go with Exchange 2007.
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
Q: We are doing a migration from an exchange 2k3 environment where the outlook clients are using PST files. Do we have to wait for SP1 to get import functionality? IF so what is anticipated timeframe for SP2 RTM?
A: SP1 will ship when it is ready. Who knows about SP2? :-) It may not be recommended, but SP1 is very stable. To do several migrations, I built a temporary server, installed SP1, used the import functionality and then removed the server.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to change password in OWA - Yes, the password does meet the requirements. I am able to reset their password through the MMC to the one that was requested in the web without complaint.
A: Have you tried to isolate if this is a problem for all users or one particular user?
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Exchange 2007 has a built in address book for Rooms, how would you create one for equipment?
A: new-addresslist
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: is SP1 release tied to the Windows Server 2008 release?
A: I don't know that Microsoft has stated this one way or the other to date.
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: What is the simplest/best/easiest way, in E2K7, to check progress of delivery/transport of a message (originating from an internal, E2K7 sender, to an external recipient)
A: Message Tracking is always the first place to start. The Exchange 2007 EMC toolbox also has a Mail Flow Troubleshooter wizard. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124926.aspx
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: The SSL requirements are clear but what are my options in following situation: Exchange with 3 Mail domains in same Exchange organization but owned by 3 separate entities and as such also the SSL certs so ... SAN SSL cert is not possible.
A: I hate to say it, but that's definitely outside of the normal boundaries for an Exchange deployment -- so you're almost certainly looking at multiple certs combined with multiple IIS virtual servers. What exactly are you trying to do with this configuration?
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to questions about SCR - I've scoured the Exchange Team blog, and other resources, but can find virtually no info about SCR. I appreciate the blog article "Talking Exchange SP1...", but isn’t' there more info? Can we get a definitive answer on...
A: At this time, Microsoft has not released more information that what's publicly available from those resources. As we near a public beta or release date, we should hear more about that.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to change password in OWA - This issue does apply to all users, not just one.
A: Aside from there being some sort of a group policy or domain security policy in place (password history, etc) we're out of ideas. Contact Microsoft CSS and open a case.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: ...when/where information will be available?
A: The best thing to do is to keep an eye on the Exchange team blog. When we've asked the Exchange team this type of question in the past, the standard answer is "when it's ready"...
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: We are still using Outlook 2003 as desktop client. I know auto-discover does not work with Outlook 2003. What are some other VERY compelling reasons (from an Exchange perspective) to move to Outlook 2007?
A: Search, search, search! There are also patches for larger PST/OST files and a host of other improvements to the interface.
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there a way in Exchange 2003 to allow for third party authentication instead of AD?
A: No. It's tied to AD.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Regarding Equipment Address List, I gathered that, but the only options it gives you for recipients, is all resource types, not just equipment
A: use -recipientFilter {RecipientTypeDetails -eq "EquipmentMailbox}
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: Follow up Q54: Well a client (government) has multiple agencies on same AD domain en Exchange organizations. I would like one of them to take care of the SSL and use SAN certs but political winds don't always agree with pragmatic approach ...
A: Unfortunately, you're stuck with multiple certs and multiple IIS virtual servers. If the agencies insist on having their own political control, they need to have separate AD forests and Exchange organizations.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: When my Outlook Anywhere clients open Outlook, they are always prompted for a password. Is there a way around that. Rephrased: What have I screwed up?
A: Unfortunately, no. If you can't save the password you are likely not in a domain, right?
Andy David MVP (Expert):
You can use the message tracking tool in the EMC toolbox or powershell.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: I read that you should NOT have Exchange on the same server as Active Directory. There are a few different Server Roles in E2K7, does this apply to all roles or only the mailbox role?
A: All roles. It's better to separate Exchange and Active Directory whenever possible.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there any MSDN or TechNet documentation or guidance on the path Outlook takes when sending credentials to Exchange? i.e.: When you fill in the login information when doing Outlook over RPC, just where is it posting the request to? Is it to /exchange?
A: I don't know if this is documented, but the information is sent back to Exchange, which proxies the request to Active Directory.
Chris Scharff (Expert):
Q: Follow-up to password prompting [68] - No, the remote clients are typically stand-alone computers.
A: In order not to be prompted for their password the user would need to be logged into the machine using their domain credentials. When logging in using a standalone machine the user will be prompted for their network credentials and they cannot be cached (which from a security standpoint is typically a good thing). I don't believe it is a function of OutlookAnywhere, but rather a function of Outlook as this has been true for all versions of Outlook AFAIK.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: Can exchange server Manage Bulk Email Sending
A: Yup, just remember to have the latest service pack on your E2K system.
Michael B Smith MVP (Expert):
Q: I read that you should NOT have Exchange on the same server as Active Directory. There are a few different Server Roles in E2K7, does this apply to all roles or only the mailbox role?
A: All roles. And while collocating Exchange and A/D is officially supported, note that executing dcpromo (to demote or promote a DC) on an Exchange server is NOT supported.
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: Andy David -- Regarding [Q55] "Message Tracking is always the first place to start", Can you elaborate about 'Message Tracking'. Is it a function in EMC that I've overlooked?
A: See my previous post.
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: Hot issue with many clients: they love document access via OWA, the next question always is when will updating be possible via document access using OWA
A: Microsoft hasn't released any information whether there are any plans on implementing such functionality.
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: I read that you should NOT have Exchange on the same server as Active Directory. There are a few different Server Roles in E2K7, does this apply to all roles or only the mailbox role?
A: As a follow-up, both AD and Exchange want to use as much memory as possible, so they'll fight over that. And your disaster recovery gets a LOT more complicated if you have both AD and Exchange on the same box.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: I want to use Exchange Server In a News Letter Sending Environment. So that’s the Bulk Email Sending Section. Multiple Recipient. From a C# programming API
A: You might want to consider a hosted environment for that type of activity, don't want to end up on blacklists due to the large number of bulk mail (regardless of whether its solicited or not)
Bharat Suneja [MVP] (Expert):
Q: I want to use Exchange Server In a News Letter Sending Environment. So that’s the Bulk Email Sending Section. Multiple Recipient. From a C# programming API
A: Assuming you would use SMTP to send mail through Exchange, yes.
Missy Koslosky MVP (Expert):
Q: I have a few users with 15-20 Gig of e-mail dating back to 1996. How does E2K7 handle such large mailboxes? Is the speed a function of RAM or CPU?
A: I admire your users' ability to retain information. ;) Exchange 2007 takes advantage of the 64-bit platform to better support large mailboxes. The biggest limitation with large mailboxes is really Outlook being able to present the information because building the various views can take a long time, and users need to be careful to limit the number of items in each folder.
Chris Scharff (Expert):
Q: I have a few users with 15-20 Gig of e-mail dating back to 1996. How does E2K7 handle such large mailboxes? Is the speed a function of RAM or CPU?
A: RAM and CPU certainly have some impact, but disk IO is also a factor. In that regard the 64bit architecture requires less disk I/O than previous versions so that will allow for a performance improvement. However, many of the performance issues I tend to see with extremely large mailboxes are due to the number of messages in a single folder or the number of custom views on a folder. And I am not sure that these issues are Exchange specific, but in large part depend on Outlook performance issues. In general Exchange 2007 was designed to allow larger mailboxes with improved performance, but 15-20GB is still outside of the typical design scenario I think.
Andy David MVP (Expert):
Q: Anyway to do brick level backups using ntback in Exchange 2007?
A: No. The Recovery Storage Group is the recommended solution to restore a database and extract a mailbox.
Devin LGanger MVP (Expert):
Q: Scenario: Linux Red Hat Sendmail was client default mail server now they want to change to exchange. How do you export the emails to exchange?
A: Sendmail is only a Mail Transport Agent (MTA); it doesn't directly support access to client mailboxes using a protocol like POP3 or IMAP. So what component are you using to access the mailboxes? Unfortunately, since there's no Migration Wizard in Exchange 2007, you can't just do an IMAP import for everyone at once. You can use a third-party product to move the contents of the mailboxes from the Linux system to the Exchange 2007 system via IMAP, or have everyone move their own content.
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: can you by any chance help me understand how to set up a network between two of my computers?
A: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/wired.mspx
Vlad Mazek MVP (Expert):
Q: Can I run E2K7 and E2K at the same time in on my domain while transferring users, or do I need to do it all at once?
A: Sure thing, just apply the latest SP and go for it.
Melissa Travers MSFT (Moderator):
We are going to wrap things up now. We had some great questions today! Thank you all for joining us today and a special thank you to our MVPs for sharing their expertise with us. The transcript from this chat will be posted in a couple of weeks to the TechNet community site.
Have a great day everyone!