Diriect Push over WIFI

Hi,

During a demo of Nokia Intellisync technology recently the question of whether Windows Mobile 5 devices can do DirectPush mail over WIFI arose.

Well, after a little investigation, it appears they can't. It also seems that there was a similar issue with the newly released Standalone Emulator for Windows Mobile although that has now been fixed.

See the link below for more details:

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/06/15/427970.aspx

Anyway, seeing that the Nokia solution can do push type email over any connection type it is about time MS got this working too.

So, anyone know when this might happen? If so then let me know. I will try to find out and post back.

Cheers
Nathan

The IO Model (not input output!)

I have recently been introduced to the MS IO model.

It was developed by MS as a simplification of a Gartner model. The aim is to provide a model which helps to define the state of different sections (and overall) of a companies IT infrastructure.

This will then help people plan projects around moving through the models four stages which each in turn, provide cost savings and a more flexible managable IT infrastructure.

This will be big in the next couple of years as MS aim to drive their new System Center range.

For more info I recommend you have a look here:

www.microsoft.com/io

How to change display names of Active Directory users

I came across this KB article on how to change the display name in AD whilst trying to solve an integration issue on a forum I frequent (often!!)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/250455/en-us

The idea is that you can use ADSIEdit to set the properties of the relevant locale under the configuration container so that you can have the full name and display name fields to the required format such as

lastname, firstname

or maybe lastname, firstinitial

One thing to bare in mind is that there isn't a locale in this area for UK English so make the settings under the 409 section as mentioned in the KB article.

Mobility and Messaging User Group

Hi,

Well the lack of posts recently has been due to it being a bit of a busy time!

In particular I have recently had a meeting with Eileen Brown at Microsoft:

http://blogs.technet.com/eileen_brown/default.aspx

The meeting was about filling a gap in the community which has concerned me for a while, yes, I am working towards creating a user group focused on Exchange and Mobile Messaging.

The physical sessions will be in the UK but it will obviously have a web site which will contain forums, blogs, articles etc for all.

I am aiming to have the website up and running in the next 6-8 weeks and hopefully have a first session based around the forthcoming Exchange 2007 beta 2 release.

If anyone is interested please feel free to get in touch.

Cheers
Nathan

Using your self signed certs on Orange phones

Installing SSL Certificates in Windows Mobile 5.0 devices

Orange has developed a solution to allow members of Orange Partner to install their own SSL certificate onto Microsoft handsets without unlocking the phone.

Why?

We recently released new versions of software for some of our Microsoft handsets C600, M3000 and M5000 that enable "push" email from Microsoft Exchange servers. This email service uses SSL certification which means that the server and the handset must have matching certificates or key pairs so they know they are allowed to communicate with each other. The handset has a public key and the server has a private key.

SSL certification can be achieved one of two ways. You can either:

Buy an SSL certificate from a recognised supplier (e.g. VeriSign, Thawte, Equifax) and install it onto the Microsoft Exchange email server (recommended solution). Install your own certificate (self created) onto the server and handsets.

However, installing your own certificate on the handset is not an option without either having a privileged application installed, or having your device unlocked.

the solution?

We will create a privileged application that will install the certificate on the handset for you.

Just create a file called _setup.xml and send it to Orange Partner. The XML should have the following format.

<wap-provisioningdoc> <characteristic type="CertificateStore"> <characteristic type="ROOT" > <characteristic type="THUMBPRINT"> <parm name="EncodedCertificate" value=" CERTIFICATE VALUE"/> </characteristic> </characteristic> </characteristic> </wap-provisioningdoc>

Orange Partner will then use this file to create a CAB file that will install the certificate.

The value of THUMBPRINT can be found by opening up the certificate. If the certificate is installed on the PC then it can be found by going to Internet Options, Content, Certificates and selecting the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab.

Click on view then go to the details tab. Find the thumbprint of the certificate, highlight it and copy it.

Paste it into the XML to replace THUMPRINT and remove the spaces between the hex pairs.

To find the CERTIFICATE VALUE export the Certificate in Base-64 format.

Now open up the exported certificate using notepad

Copy the certificate details and paste into the XML to replace CERTIFICATE VALUE. In the example above it would be the details from MIICk.. to wlklv.

A completed _setup.xml would look something like this.

<wap-provisioningdoc> <characteristic type="CertificateStore"> <characteristic type="ROOT" > <characteristic type="7e78de1f16d47b440cad4a101c8265cc290a1945"> <parm name="EncodedCertificate" value="MIICkDCCAfmgAwIBAgIBATAN

BgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFADBaMQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzEcUdXfp9E3j9HngXNBUmCbnaEXJnitx7HoJpQytd4zjTov2/KaelpzmKNc6fuKcxtc58O/gGzNqfTWK8D3+ZmqY6KxRwIP1ORROhI8bIpaVIRw28HFkM9yRcuoWcDNM50/MBoGA1UEChMTRXF1aWZheCBTZWN1cmUgSW5jLjEtMCsGA1UEAxMkRXF1aWZheCBTo5brhTMhHD4ePmBudpxnhcXIw2ECAwEAAaNmMGQwEQYJYIZIAYb4QgEBBAQDAgAHMA8GA1UdEwEB/wQFMAMBAf8wHwYDVR0jBBgwFoAUvqigdHJQa0S3ySPY+6j/s1draGwwHQYDVR0OBBYEFL6ooHRyUGtEt8kj2Puo/7NXa2hsMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBAUA ZWN1cmUgR2xvYmFsIGVC

dXNpbmVzcyBDQS0xMB4X

DTk5MDYyMTA0MDAwMFo

XDTIwMDYyMTA0MDAwMF

owWjELMAkGA1UEBhMCV

VMxHDAaBgNVBAoTE0Vxd

WlmYXggU2VjdXJlIEluYy4x

LTArBgNVBAMTJEVxdWlm

YXggU2VjdXJlIEdsb2JhbC

BlQnVzaW5lc3MgQ0EtMT

CBnzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQE

FAAOBjQAwgYkCgYEAuuc

XkAJlsTRVPEnCA4GBAD

DiAVGqx+pf2rnQZQ8w1j7

aDRRJbpGTJxQx78T3LU

X47Me/okENI7SS+RkAZ7

0Br83gcfxaz2TE4JaY0KN

A4gGK7ycH8WUBikQtBm

V1UsCGECAhX2xrD2yuC

Ryv8qIYNMR1pHMc8Y3c

7635s3a0kr/clRAevsvIO1q

EYBlWlKlV"/> </characteristic> </characteristic> </characteristic> </wap-provisioningdoc>

The completed file, _setup.xml, should be emailed to developers@orange.com. The email should have the subject SSL Certificate Install and include the attached file and your Orange Partner username.

Thanks to this Microsoft Blog entry for details on how to create this XML code.http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/01/28/making_a_root_cert_cab_file.aspx

Memory Tester

Hi,

I have finally got round to investigating why my main VM box at home keeps crashing!

I had a hunch that it was a memory issue and went in search of something to prove it.

What I found was this:

Memtest86+

http://www.memtest.org/

You download the software which is very small (around 100Kb). Then extract it and use the install.bat to put it on a floppy. If you don't have a floppy any more then there are versions which will work on USB key or CD.

One thing that is important is when the copy to the floppy is complete make sure you press any key as requested in stead of just shutting the window, otherwise the floppy seems to corrupt!

Next, boot from the floppy and the testing will start automatically.

On my particular system, after about 6 hours of running it found a few errors! So now it looks like I need to try some new RAM!

Hope this is useful to someone.

Cheers

Nathan

Uptime.exe, A tool that gives basic info about server reboot history and Uptime!

Whilst at a client site today someone wanted to know the history of a server which kept crashing.

After a little searching we found this tool, uptime.exe

Uptime.exe can be used to display the current uptime of the local or remote system. Optionally, it can also scan the Event log for key system events such as system restart or computers that are not responding (hanging). Where possible, it also calculates system availability.

It can be downloaded from MS and there is a KB article about it here.

The download link is here.

As you can see, it is a rather old tool first coming out around NT SP4!

Still it has some nice functionality, for a list of commands run

uptime.exe /?

and for more indepth info run

uptime.exe /help

The basic syntax uptime servername /s which gives you a history of reboots, BSOD and an availability estimate.