Nathan's I.T., Exchange & Other ramblings!

My new blog

2010-07-21T10:38:00.002Z

Hi,

I should have done this ages ago, but anyhow!

I now have a new blog at http://www.nathanwinters.co.uk which is where I post info on Microsoft Exchange and Unified Communications and the progress of my user group MMMUG (www.mmmug.co.uk).

It would be great to welcome you on the new site.

This blog is now closed and will no longer be updated.

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG August 2009 Meeting

2009-07-28T14:21:00.001Z

Hi,

The August 2009 MMMUG Meeting will be on Tuesday the 25th of August in the usual location, the Microsoft offices at Cardinal Place, near London Victoria.

This month we have Ewan Tsang-MacKellar from Microsoft who will be diving into all the High Availability options in Exchange 2010.

The meeting starts at 18:35 and finishes at 21:00. Food and drinks will be provided!

To sign up, or for more information, post at the forum thread below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/28465.aspx

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Cheers

Nathan

June and July 2009 MMMUG Meetings

2009-06-01T12:41:00.001Z

Hi,

I have a couple more meetings to let you know about.

The first in June is in Dublin however, it is being broadcast via LiveMeeting too!

The second in July is our regular MMMUG meeting in London. Details are below:

Irish Windows User Group Event: Introducing Exchange 2010

On June 12th we will be running a session on Exchange 2010, also known as Exchange 14. The speaker, Nathan Winters, is an Exchange MVP, consultant and author with huge experience and a growing international reputation. As you can see from the session agenda, the world of email has evolved into a world of communications and collaboration, introducing many new technologies and offering new ways to access existing technologies with solutions for the major corporates and the small businesses. This will be an interesting session that will explain what's happening now and in the near future.

Live Webcast

We will be using LiveMeeting to share this presentation live to the world! You can sign in here using this code: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=46G74S&role=attend

For more info see the link below:

http://ws-ugi.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9507B6AA3D63258!415.entry

MMMUG July 2009

Here are the details of our July 2009 MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MSFT offices in Cardinal Place near Victoria.

This month we are going to do something slightly different. We are going to take a look at Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. To keep things on an Exchange related note, we will also be looking at PowerShell v2 and the Remote PowerShell functionality in Exchange 2010.

The meeting will be held on Thursday 30th July.

For more info and to sign up see the link below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/28259.aspx

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG May 2009 – Introducing Exchange 2010

2009-05-09T10:01:00.001Z

Here are the details of our May 2009 MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MSFT offices in Cardinal Place near Victoria.

This month we are going to spend the evening introducing Exchange 2010. We will start with an overview session and then dive a little deeper into some key features.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 27th May at Cardinal Place, Victoria, London.

Presenters will be Nathan Winters and Brett Johnson.

For more information and to sign up see the link below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/28030.aspx

Interesting examples of Web 2.0

2009-02-14T10:02:00.001Z

Over the last few months I have been really looking into the whole Web 2.0 thing, as I kind of felt it was all passing me by! After all, who really wants to know what I’m doing all the time!

Anyway, I must admit I think I am really starting to get it now. I have learnt tons and struck better relationships with a bunch of people.

I thought it might be useful to list some of the sties I have been using:

www.facebook.com

Well everyone knows about the top social network site!

www.twitter.com

Cool micro blogging site!

http://thumbtack.livelabs.com/

A single place to save or share the stuff you want from all around the web

http://www.gladinet.com/

Gives access to files and remote access to PCs

Dimension Data acquires Teksys

2009-02-03T10:47:00.001Z

Hi,

As you probably know, I work for Dimension Data as part of the Microsoft Line of Business in the UK and run the Exchange practice.

This morning Dimension Data has announced that it has acquired a UK Microsoft infrastructure and licensing services company called Teksys.

The acquisition of Teksys, which employs a team of 65 talented and experienced employees, gives our Microsoft business scope to provide new services and to mount an even bigger challenge to become the go to provider of Microsoft consulting services in the Unified Communications and Infrastructure Optimization fields. It also means that Dimension Data becomes a LAR (is able to sell MSFT licenses) in the UK.

All in all, this is an exciting time!

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG Community Event (OCS, SharePoint and Exchange)

2009-02-02T12:51:00.001Z

Hi All,

As promised, things User Group wise are starting to move again (unlike the trains in the South today!)

This time I am emailing to publicize an event Steve Smith and I have been working to put together in March this year.

As in previous years UK User Groups are coming together to put on a two day event on March 11^th and 12^th.

The SharePoint User Group and the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group will be hosting a unique event at the Unified Communications Expo 09 at Olympia in London.

The aim of this community event is to show how today’s latest collaboration platforms work closely together from a communication as well as collaboration aspect. The event is split into two unique days with day one being more a solution based day (look what this technology can do) and day two being a technical how we got there day.

See the agenda page for more details of the session breakdowns. Products being demonstrated include Exchange 2007, OCS 2007 R2, SharePoint 2007 and Office 2007 all by recognized experts in the relevant fields.

This event is free so sign up early to avoid disappointment as we do have limited space in our theatre. To register see the link below:

http://www.communitiescollaborating.org/Registration.html

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG Meeting February 2009

2009-01-22T21:25:00.001Z

Hi,

Here are the details of our February 2009 MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MSFT offices in Cardinal Place near Victoria.

This month we have a evening about managing and automating Exchange led by Jonathan Medd from Hampshire County Council and Will Rawlings from Truconsulting. We will start with an introduction to PowerShell and then discuss how you can use PowerShell to manage Exchange 2003. After the break, we will dive into how to ensure your PowerShell scripts don't do any damange and look at how PowerShell can be used to manage large Exchange environments.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 18th February.

To sign up, or for more information see the link below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/26352.aspx

Cheers

Nathan

More on getting Windows 7 on Samsung NC10

2009-01-18T10:57:00.001Z

Having installed Windows 7 as mentioned in my previous post, all looked good.

However I then realised that a few drivers were missing.

This forum post is very useful in helping:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=329490

This is the key section:

1. LAN driver is Marvell miniport driver, download the latest generic one (the only one there) off Marvell's site
2. Graphics driver is Intel's generic driver, 15.8.3.1504 dated June 27, 2008
3. Wireless driver is Atheros 7.6.0.154 dated 6/30/2008 download from
The below can be found from the X360-34P Samsung notebook download page
4. Easy Display Manager -> controls your Functions keys and brightness/volume
5. Touchpad -> Synaptic driver, MULTITOUCH AWESOMENESS!
6. Bluetooth -> not needed as Vista has their own. Note that DISABLING bluetooth even via Device Manager does not affect the battery life (guess it's still on), yes I've done it and compared.
7. Sound -> Realtek **DO NOT CONFUSE WITH THE HD AUDIO DRIVER from Realtek's site. The one you are looking for is 6.0.1.5659 through Samsung's notebook page.

I must admit that I have not had a lot of luck with the Easy Display Manager and the Touchpad software so if anyone else has good instructions on getting it to work then please let me know.

Cheers

Nathan

Installing Windows 7 on my Netbook (Samsung NC10)

2009-01-09T10:21:00.001Z

Having downloaded Windows 7 Beta 1 yesterday, I have of course been trying to install it this morning.

There are a couple of posts out there about installing it on Netbooks without built in DVD drives.

The one I was following was talking about booting from and External USB Hard drive. We, I tried that! Massive waste of time……

The simplest method was simply to copy the files to the external USB drive and then boot into Windows XP (which is what was on the Netbook). Then simply start the setup from the drive and it will copy all relevant files and install to a second partition.

Simple!

Now I am just waiting for the install to finish!

Cheers

Nathan

Minasi Conference 2009

2009-01-07T19:52:00.001Z

It’s time for the 4th Annual Minasi Conference 2009 (http://web2.minasi.com/forummeet2009/forummeet2009.htm)! It will be held from April 19th to April 22nd 2009 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The location will be the same as last year, the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center.

Hosted by Mark Minasi (http://www.minasi.com), a familiar speaker on the tech circuit, he’s also the author of the top selling Mastering series of books and winner of several Reader’s Choice awards as “Favorite Technical Author” from CertCities. He also writes a column for Windows IT Pro magazine and sends out a monthly Windows Tech Support newsletter to his email list.
In its fourth year in 2009, the conference has doubled each of the past three years. Forum members from all over the world (Canada, Ireland, England, Denmark, the Netherlands, United States, etc.) come each year to share, teach and learn from each other. Forum members are given the opportunity to share their knowledge and present sessions on current technologies that they’re working with.

Professional Speakers during the past conferences included: Don Jones, Windows PowerShell MVP (http://www.concentratedtech.com); Greg Shields, Windows Terminal Services MVP (http://www.concentratedtech.com); Darren Mar Elia, Group Policy MVP (http://www.sdmsoftware.com); Todd Lammle, author of several Cisco books and President of GlobalNet Training (http://www.lammle.com); Rhonda Layfield, Windows Deployment expert (http://www.minasi.com); and Jeremy Moskowitz, Group Policy MVP (http://www.gpanswers.com); and, of course, Mark Minasi.

So if you’re looking for a great community of IT Professionals and are looking to share what you know, join the Forum. If you’re looking to attend a great conference this year, mark your calendar for the Minasi Conference 2009. And don’t forget to spread the word!

For more information on the Minasi Conference 2009, visit http://web2.minasi.com/forummeet2009/forummeet2009.htm for more details and to learn what’s new for this year.

Why move to Server 2008

2008-12-21T20:44:00.001Z

Mark Minasi, and partner Rhonda Layfield produce an excellent newsletter.

These two linked below go into some depth about whether you should move to server 2008 and are well worth a read.

http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws0809.htm

http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws0812.htm

Cheers

Nathan

Microsoft Photography tools

2008-12-21T20:37:00.001Z

As someone who is into photography I am often looking around for various tools which might make things easier at the computer end of the system.

So I was quite surprised, when looking for the SyncToy utility, to find that Microsoft have a whole range of tools which can be found below:

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/default.aspx

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG November 2008 Meeting - Exchange Virtualisation

2008-09-19T10:39:00.001Z

Hi,

It is time to advertise the November 2008 MMMUG Meeting:

This event will be held in London at the MSFT offices in Cardinal Place near Victoria.

This month we have a topical session led by Clive Watson, Brett Johnson and Julius Davies from Microsoft. We will be discussing the new support statements surround the issue of Virtualising your Exchange environment. Having understood which pieces of Exchange are now supported we will look at some of the key design issues facing those Virtualising Exchange.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday 11th November and starts at 18:30.

For more information and to sign up please see the link below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/23926.aspx

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG September 2008 Meeting

2008-08-10T10:56:00.001Z

Hi.

Here are the details of our September MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MSFT offices in Cardinal Place near Victoria.

This month we have a exciting session led by John Stewart-Murray from Dialogic. John will be introducing telephony to us as IT Pros. We will cover useful terms and then look at common scenarios which you may encounter.

We will then also look at how telephony is becoming integrated into the Exchange world by talking about how the telephony world operates with the Exchange UM role.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 10th September.

To sign up and for more information see the link below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/21851.aspx

Hope to see you there.

Cheers

Nathan

July MMMUG Meeting - Gordon McKenna SCOM 2007 and Exchange

2008-06-08T20:27:00.001Z

Hi,

Here are the details of our July MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MSFT offices in Cardinal Place near Victoria.

This month we have a great session led by top speaker Gordon McKenna! Gordon will be going into depth about how we should be managing and monitoring Exchange using the System Center Operations Manager 2007 product.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday 8th July. Directions to the venue can be found below.

The meeting will be a mixture of PowerPoint and Discussions so there will be plenty of time to run through your questions.

The agenda for the meeting will be as follows: (although I may tweak the timings slightly)

18:15 - 18:40 Arrival

18:40 - 18:45 Introduction to speakers and the aims of the group

18:45 - 19:30 1st session; Gordon McKenna, Managing and Monitoring Exchange using SCOM 2007

19:30 - 19:50 Food!

19:50 - 20:45 2^nd session; Gordon McKenna, Round Table discussion - Q&A focused on Managing and Monitoring Exchange

20:45 - 21:00 Summing up and suggestions for future meetings.

21:00 The End!

If you are interested in attending the July MMMUG meeting please sign up by posting in this thread.

For Directions to the London location please see the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/about/map-london.mspx

Thanks and looking forward to meeting you all!

Nathan

My Chapter in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: Implementation and Administration by Jim McBee

2008-04-03T09:53:00.001Z

I guess I may have mentioned this on here before at some point, but last year I was lucky enough to be asked by Jim McBee to write a chapter of a book he was involved with.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: Implementation and Administration (pub. Sybex/Wiley)

I decided to write all about Client Access servers and had an interesting time doing so.

We the book had now been released and I think it is a good read for those wanting a concise way of updating their Exchange 2000/2003 skills to Exchange 2007.

So take a look on Amazon to purchase!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Exchange-Server-2007-Implementation/dp/0470187417/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207216111&sr=8-5

If you're interested, my chapter is chapter 15!

Hope you enjoy

Cheers

Nathan

MVP Renewal arrived!

2008-04-01T14:46:00.001Z

Hi,

I haven't blogged for a while due to one thing or another (being rather busy at work, being ill, and trying to sort out a rather large 2008 Community Launch event)

Anyhow, I just received a most welcome email informing me that my MVP for Exchange server has been renewed for another year.

It is really nice to know that the work I do for the MMMUG site/group and my contributions to various online sites like MSExchange.org and the Minasi Forum get noticed and are useful to people.

Here's to another year!

Cheers

Nathan

The 2008 Community Launch Event

2008-03-07T21:48:00.001Z

Over the last few months I have been working with a couple of my colleagues from the UK IT Pro User Groups to put together a special event which will take place in April.

On Tuesday and Wednesday 8^th/9^th of April we will be holding the 3^rd Combined IT Pro User Group events in Reading at the Microsoft office in TVP.

This event will involve all of the UK IT Pro User Groups and will have a massive range of breakout sessions so there will certainly be something to appeal to everyone.

For loads of information including the full agenda and registration form see the link below:

http://www.ukusergroups.co.uk

Finally, on each evening of the event (8^th and 9^th April) we will be holding a small event in Reading at a local restaurant. There will be food, networking and a tech quiz with some prizes! This event is limited to 40 places and the sign up form will be live on the same site above over the weekend.

I very much hope you will be able to make some or all of the events and will enjoy discovering the new 2008 wave of products Microsoft is releasing and how they affect what is already out there!

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG March Meeting - In Warwick!

2008-02-01T20:14:00.001Z

Hi All,

See below details of the March MMMUG Meeting.

This month the event will be held in Warwick at the office of Berica Ltd.

As promised we are finally moving out of the capital for some events, and this time, we will be focusing on both Exchange 2007 SP1 and Identity Management with regards to Exchange projects.

The meeting will be held on Monday 17th March. Directions to the venue can be found below.

The meeting will be a mixture of PowerPoint and Discussions so there will be plenty of time to run through your questions.

The agenda for the meeting will be as follows: (although I may tweak the timings slightly)

18:15 - 18:40 Arrival

18:40 - 18:45 Introduction to speakers and the aims of the group

18:45 - 19:30 1st session; Speaker Phil Kelly, Infatech; Identity Management and Exchange projects, what you need to know!

19:30 - 19:50 Food!

19:50 - 20:45 2^nd session; Neil Johnson, Microsoft; A detailed look at what is new in Exchange 2007 SP1

20:45 - 21:00 Q and A; Summing up and suggestions for future meetings.

21:00 The End!

If you are interested in attending the March MMMUG meeting please sign up by posting in this thread.

For Directions to the Warwick location please see the info below:

Berica Ltd
8 Corunna Court
Corunna Rd
Warwick
CV34 5HQ

Telephone:+44 (0)1926 482820
Fax:+44 (0)1926 482821

Directions - Road and rail links to Corunna Court are excellent:

By rail - 5 minutes walk alongside the Grand Union Canal to Warwick Parkway station. Where regular services from London and Birmingham are provided by Chiltern Railways.

By road - 30 seconds to the A46T Warwick bypass; and only a couple of minutes from both Warwick town centre and the motorway network via M40 Junction 15 (Warwick North)

http://www.berica.co.uk/contactus.asp

Thanks and looking forward to meeting you all!

Nathan

New Articles on MMMUG website

2008-01-22T10:02:00.001Z

Hi,

I have been quite busy recently! So there are now a bunch of new articles available on the MMMUG site. They can all be found on the Articles page linked below (or individually as shown lower down!)

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/content/ArticleList.aspx

Articles downloadable from the MMMUG site

Exchange 2007 Resource Booking/Scheduling Functionality by Nathan Winters

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/files/10/doc/entry1976.aspx

Setup and Testing of Standby Continuous Replication in Exchange 2007 SP1 by Nathan Winters

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/files/10/doc/entry1956.aspx

Importing and Exporting data to/from Exchange 2007 mailboxes with SP1 by Nathan Winters

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/files/10/doc/entry1885.aspx

Articles linked to other sites I write for

GroupWise to Exchange 2007 - Interoperability and Migration, Part 1 by Nathan Winters and Declan Conroy

http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2007/migration-deployment/groupwise-exchange-2007-interoperability-migration-part1.html

Hope you enjoy them!

Cheers

Nathan

Use your Windows Mobile as a WIFI Access Point!

2008-01-17T17:22:00.001Z

Hi,

I came across what looks like a really cool free piece of software for Windows Mobile devices (versions 5 and 6 work, I believe).

The software lets you use your WM device as a WIFI Access Point and then use the 3G connection to get on the Internet!

This is really cool if you need to setup an adhoc connection for a meeting!

Just make sure you have a decent data bundle and don't break network rules about using devices as a modem.....

For more info see the links below:

http://www.modaco.com/content/Windows-Mobile-News/263875/WMWifiRouter-turns-your-WM-device-into-a-WiFi-er-Router/

http://www.jongma.org/WMWifiRouter/

Cheers

Nathan

Exchange 2007 Certificates

2008-01-17T10:12:00.001Z

This is a brief post about setting up certificates in Exchange 2007.

What follows is a document which I send to people who are interested in setting up Subject Alternative Name certificates for Exchange 2007.

Open EMS and enter the following;

New-ExchangeCertificate –GenerateRequest:$true -domainname email.domain.com,autodiscover.domain.com,hostname, internaldomain.com,hostname.internaldomain.com -FriendlyName “Exchange SAN cert” - privatekeyexportable:$true –path c:\ExchSANcert.txt

Submit to CA

Import-ExchangeCertificate –Path c:\cascert.cer

Make a note of the Thumbprint

e.g. 2C9FB5F00EE88BA77D72FCA273C787728866BF1E

Enable the certificate as below:

Enable-ExchangeCertificate –Thumbprint 2C9FB5F00EE88BA77D72FCA273C787728866BF1E –Services “IIS,POP,IMAP,SMTP”

Setup External URLs

Set-OABVirtualDirectory –Identity "OAB (Default Web Site)" -ExternalUrl https://url.extdomain.com/OAB -RequireSSL:$true

Set-UMVirtualDirectory –Identity "UnifiedMessaging (Default Web Site)" -ExternalUrl https:// url.extdomain.com /UnifiedMessaging/Service.aspx

Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory –Identity "EWS (Default Web Site)" -ExternalUrl https:// url.extdomain.com /EWS/Exchange.asmx

Setup the DNS records for external Autodiscover

Autodiscover.extdomain.com

Point to the external IP address (port 443) on the CAS server

It has recently come to my attention that when you are submitting these requests to an External CA you need to get the correct subject name too!

Take a look at the MSExchangeTeam blog here for more info:

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/02/19/435472.aspx

Hope this helps people understand this rather tricky area!

Cheers

Nathan

Backup and DR for Exchange 2007

2008-01-05T11:16:00.001Z

Hi,

If any of you have an Exchange and Outlook Pro VIP subscription, which is an online publication from Penton, they have recently published my two part series on backing up Exchange 2007.

If you are interested see the links below:

Part 1
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/97383/97383.html

Part 2
http://www.exchangeprovip.com/articles/articleid/97452/97452.html

Cheers
Nathan

New Article on PST import and export with Exchange 2007 SP1

2007-12-23T10:37:00.001Z

Hi,

Whilst investigating an issue with PST import in Exchange 2007 on a forum I moderate I took the opportunity to write the article linked below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/files/10/doc/entry1885.aspx

It covers the prerequisites for importing and exporting data from Exchange mailboxes using the new Import-Mailbox and Export-Mailbox PST commands.

It also looks at the commands themselves and gives some examples of use.

Hope it is of interest.

Cheers

Nathan

Upcoming MMMUG Events

2007-12-19T18:45:00.001Z

Hi,

This post is just an overview of the MMMUG events in January and February 2008.

Here are the details of the January MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MS offices near Victoria.

Ben Appleby from MCS will be back to talk us through all things backup and recovery.

The session will take a detailed look at the System Center Data Protection Manager platform in relation to Exchange and will delve into the concept of VSS backups be that software or hardware snapshots.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 23rd January.

To sign up see the thread here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1862.aspx

Here are the details of our February MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MS offices near Victoria.

This month we have our most popular speaker back! Yes; Jason Langridge will be with us this time talking all about Window Mobile device management. Jason will cover the recently announced System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 and enhancements to Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1. Jason will run through all the options and let us know what is the best route for management.

Jason will also share the roadmap for Windows Mobile.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 27th February.

To sign up see the thread here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1863.aspx

I look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers

Nathan

December MMMUG Meeting

2007-11-18T21:33:00.001Z

Hi,

Here are the details of our December MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the new MS offices near Victoria. This month Russ Kirk (Grey Convergence), Neil Johnson and Keith Hanna (both from Microsoft) will lead the session.

The session will give a detailed introduction to the concept of Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007. We will then show how to set this up and discuss pros and cons of Exchange UM verses other UM solutions.

The meeting will be held on Thursday 13th December. Directions to the venue can be found below.

The meeting will be a mixture of PowerPoint and Discussions so there will be plenty of time to run through your questions.

The agenda for the meeting will be as follows: (although I may tweak the timings slightly)

18:15 - 18:40 Arrival

18:40 - 18:45 Introduction to speakers and the aims of the group

18:45 - 19:30 1st session; Russ, Neil and Keith, Introducing Exchange UM

19:30 - 19:50 Food!

19:50 - 20:45 2^nd session; Russ, Neil and Keith, Demonstrating the configuration of UM and Discussion of Competitors.

20:45 - 21:00 Q and A; Summing up and suggestions for future meetings.

21:00 The End!

If you are interested in attending the December MMMUG meeting please sign up by posting in the thread here.

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1700.aspx

For Directions to the London location please see the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/about/map-london.mspx

Thanks and looking forward to meeting you all!

Nathan

November MMMUG Meeting

2007-10-14T20:38:00.001Z

Hi,

Here are the details of the November MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the new MS offices near Victoria. This month Doug Gowans from MCS and I will be leading the session.

We will be discussing what steps must be undertaken after installing Exchange to get to a fully serviceable install. We will then show how this can be automated from the command line.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 28th November. Directions to the venue can be found below.

The meeting will be a mixture of PowerPoint and Discussions so there will be plenty of time to run through your questions.

The agenda for the meeting will be as follows: (although I may tweak the timings slightly)

18:15 - 18:40 Arrival

18:40 - 18:45 Introduction to speakers and the aims of the group

18:45 - 19:30 1st session; Nathan Winters, Dimension Data and Doug Gowans, MCS; Exchange 2007 from the Commands Line.

19:30 - 19:50 Food!

19:50 - 20:45 2^nd session; Nathan Winters, Dimension Data and Doug Gowans, MCS; Chalk and Talk discussion about what make a good Exchange 2007 install.

20:45 - 21:00 Q and A; Summing up and suggestions for future meetings.

21:00 The End!

If you are interested in attending the November MMMUG meeting please sign up by posting in the thread here.

For Directions to the London location please see the link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/about/map-london.mspx

Thanks and looking forward to meeting you all!

Nathan

Mark Minasi Forum Meeting

2007-10-07T11:45:00.001Z

As some of you may know I am have long been a member of the Mark Minasi forum.

This is a brilliant forum with a whole lot of exceptional technical people and a very friendly atmosphere.

Starting in May 2006 I had the chance to attend a forum meeting and spoke on the subject of Exchange ActiveSync. In 2007 this event was repeated and this time I spoke on both VMware and Exchange 2007.

Both these events were excellent and a great chance to meet some new friends and to learn about a wide range of topics from some of the top speakers in the industry.

Well it is coming round to 2008 and again we will be meeting. We are hoping to spread the word a bit this year so for anyone wanting to come and here some great speakers for a very reasonable price take a look at the link below:

http://web2.minasi.com/forummeet2008/

I hope to see you there!

Cheers

Nathan

London TechNet Roadshow Event

2007-10-07T11:29:00.001Z

Hi,

I would like to take this chance to make a comment on an event I went to this week.

On Wednesday 3rd October I went to the TechNet Roadshow event at the MS offices in Cardinals Place, London.

Having been to many of these types of event before I would say that this event was by far the best that I have been to.

MS (Mainly in the form of James and Steve who spoke all day!) have really worked hard to provide an event which in many ways takes after the user group events I have been running.

The day was very much scenario based which meant not an overkill of PowerPoint but to technical guys talking us through live demonstrations using both released and yet to be released (Server 2008) technology.

All in all, this was a brilliant day and my congratulations go to MS and both speakers.

Thanks

Nathan

Changing the office product key

2007-09-30T10:46:00.001Z

I recently installed Office Outlook 2007 from my TechNet subscription and then found it wouldn't activate.

It turns out that the product key I used had been activated too many times (that's what happens when you build too many labs!)

So I located another product key from my second TechNet subscription and wanted to enter that just like you can in Vista.

Well, it doesn't appear that there is an interface for this in Office so what to do:

Well follow the steps at the link below and you should be fine:

http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/mglaser/archive/2006/12/12/Change-Office-2007-Product-Key.aspx

Hope this saves someone a little time.

Cheers

Nathan

Virtual PowerShell User Group

2007-09-29T06:51:00.001Z

Hi,

I was contacted recently by Marco Shaw who has setup a new PowerShell User Group.

http://marcoshaw.blogspot.com/2007/09/windows-powershell-virtual-user-group.html

"I am proud to announce a new PowerShell user group. This user group will have its meetings done via Live Meeting with the help of Microsoft. The intent for the first few meetings is to invite international "PowerShell superstars" to give some brief talks on what they are doing with PowerShell."

Sounds like it could be worth a look, so if you are interested check out the site.

I believe the first meeting it this week coming as below -

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting

Time: October 3rd, 2007 at 12PM (noon) EST (New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=121386
Event Code: 121386
-----------------------------------------------------------

Cheers

Nathan

Windows Network Load Balancing on Imaged servers

2007-09-27T21:04:00.001Z

Hi,

Having spent a most frustrating hour this afternoon trying to setup Windows Network Load Balancing (WNLB) on a VMware lab, I thought it might be useful to someone else to post the solution to my problem.

I had setup the 2 servers identically (from the same cloned machine in VMware). I had then changed the SID and prepared the app (IIS SMTP server).

I then setup the WNLB cluster on the first node and all was fine. Next I tried to add the 2nd node and now I faced a problem. It would simply not let me use the client accessible NIC (the first one in the machine). It presented the management NIC fine but not the client one.

So, after testing all sorts of things I found this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828258

Basically the error I got was

"No interfaces are available for installing a new cluster"

It turns out that because I cloned the machine, they have the same Network card GUID in the registry which means WNLB can't add the main duplicate NIC to the cluster.

To solve the problem, I uninstalled the NIC and installed another one which rectified the problem.

Hope that saves someone else the time.

Cheers

Nathan

Thoughts on Virtualising Exchange

2007-09-14T09:34:00.001Z

Hi,

Here are some thoughts on VMware and Exchange:

Having researched this matter yesterday and this morning, it is clear that there are various decisions which could be taken.

1. Microsoft do not officially support Exchange 2007 on a virtualisation platform. Equally, they do not officially support their OS on non MS virtualisation platforms.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=897615

It is clear the MS do support Exchange 2003 on their own virtualisation platform (Virtual Server 2005).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320220

Having spoken to various people internally at MS it seems highly likely that when the MS Viridian technology ships (within 180 days of Server 2008) Exchange 2007 SP1 will also be supported on a virtual platform.

It would seem that there are various pieces of anecdotal evidence out there on forums (see link below) which supports the statement that;

MS will very likely provide support for problems even if it is on virtual hardware, although there is a chance they will ask for the problem to be reproduced on physical hardware.

http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=688769

My suggestion would be to see what VMware’s support position is on Exchange 2007 and whether they will offer cover under their support model. Alternatively, if the implementation partner have a Premier Support Agreement (PSA) with MS then we may be escalate calls to MS where required as, having a PSA ensures that MS will make best effort to fix the problem without regard for the platform.

2. The next discussion point is around the various Exchange roles and which could/should be virtualised.

It would appear from various sources (see link below) that MS personnel are at least relatively happy with the idea of virtualising the non Database roles of Exchange 2007 using 3^rd party virtualisation software.

http://markarnold.blogspot.com/2007/06/microsoft-supports-exchange-2007.html

I would agree with this in principle so long as being officially supported by MS is not a show stopper for the client. I feel that running the Exchange Mailbox server role on VMware would not make sense technically as the IO and Memory requirements would likely negate the benefits of the virtualisation platform, especially with the Exchange DR/Replication solutions now available natively in Exchange 2007.

Therefore, moving onto the non DB roles, it would appear to me that the final possible barrier to virtualising the non DB roles (Client Access and Hub Transport) would be the implementation of Windows Network Load Balancing (WNLB) on ESX server. From the links below, it would appear that this is perfectly possible:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1556

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=410185&#410185

In summary; where the client is not concerned about official support from MS, or where a partner, through a Premier Support Agreement, will proxy the support requests I would accept that virtualising the non DB Exchange roles is a viable proposition. I would only consider virtualising the whole of Exchange where the system is either not mission critical (i.e. it is acceptable for mail to not be available for a period whilst the system is rebuild on physical hardware) or where the number of users is very small i.e. less than 100.

I hope this helps lead discussion.

Cheers

Nathan

Nokia N95 Latest Firmware

2007-09-09T09:26:00.001Z

Hi,

For anyone with a Nokia N95 who wants the latest firmware V12 but can't get it because they have a vendor branded phone, here is a method which worked well for me:

http://gisconsultancy.com/blog/nokia/nokia-n95firmware-updatean-expensive-paperweight

Cheers

Nathan

Great news about MS System Center Virtual Machine Manager

2007-09-06T19:08:00.001Z

See this announcement about Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2007/09/06/system-center-virtual-machine-manager-huge-announcements.aspx

It is well, nothing short of cool that MS will in future provide a single management interface to all virtualisation platforms!

The fourth announcement centers on where we are taking SCVMM moving forward. We are on a long roadmap with SCVMM and continue to get great feedback from customers about where to go. Our next release is planned to coincide with the release of Windows Server Virtualization (codename Viridian) so that we can expose all the great features it provides. In addition to Viridian support – we are also adding some key customer driven features. We have heard loud and clear from customers and partners that we need to manage other virtualization environments in addition to Windows virtualization. They want a single management solution that manages all the different hypervisor technologies. So – in our next set of releases will be adding support for non-Windows virtualization environments – specifically VMWare and Xen. We listened to you!!! And when I say we will manage these environments I mean really manage them – covering all the key scenarios they offer. From a single console and a single command-line you will be able manage Virtual Server, Viridian, VMWare and Xen.

Technical Rollup Info about Unified communications.

2007-09-06T13:42:00.001Z

UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS

News

Microsoft Unveils Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 in Technology Preview

New software builds on Exchange Server 2007’s anywhere access* to information, operational efficiency and built-in protection.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/aug07/08-13Exchange2007NewPR.mspx

Exchange Team Blog

http://msexchangeteam.com/default.aspx

Outlook Team Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/default.aspx

Office Communicator Team Blog

http://communicatorteam.com/rss.aspx

Office Communications Server Team Blog

http://communicationsserverteam.com/rss.aspx

Downloads

Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 (KB940006)

Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 (KB940006)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=1&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3de56fc52a-216e-4225-bf2f-f082c20b7b21%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Release Notes

This download contains a stand-alone version of the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Release Notes.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=2&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d5770bd59-376e-42ec-b940-be6225cd97ff%26DisplayLang%3den

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 2 VHD

This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate how Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 2.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=3&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dbc381af4-9bd0-49dd-be1a-0c6ee49cd2bc%26DisplayLang%3den

Intermass Fischer Asia

This is a case study of this company who migrated to Small Business Server from Windows NT

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=4&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d66436c0a-0291-4cf7-9b93-cd283e9696ef%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 Beta 2

Help protect your Exchange server from viruses and other malware.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=5&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dd181c088-2529-4021-b2e5-4dae6f46de44%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 Beta 2 Readme

Help protect your Exchange server from viruses and other malware.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=6&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dfb88f891-dd6d-42f8-8cb9-ac8ca734c478%26DisplayLang%3den

APAC Notes Compete Toray Saehan Case Study

APAC Notes Compete Toray Saehan Case Study

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=7&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d132c909a-8a2c-413f-8155-74692545f306%26DisplayLang%3den

Using Exchange Server 2007 for Unified Messaging and Fax

This content will detail the technical implementation and deployment strategy for deploying Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging features in the Microsoft enterprise messaging environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=8&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dc40185a3-513f-4403-9d15-40b2e46e8cc5%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress Tool (64 bit)

Simulate disk I/O load on a test server running Exchange to verify the performance and stability of your disk subsystem before putting your server into a production environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=9&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d73dfe056-0900-4dbb-b14a-0932338cecac%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes

The Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes is a tool designed for organizations that are migrating from Lotus Notes/Domino to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=10&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dc105b3e4-3beb-4f1e-8f52-e345af6c3e50%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based Authentication Tool

The Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based authentication tool provides several utilities to assist an Exchange administrator in configuring and validating client certificate authentication for Exchange Server ActiveSync.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=11&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d82510e18-7965-4883-a8c3-f73f1f4733ac%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress Tool (32 bit)

Simulate disk I/O load on a test server running Exchange to verify the performance and stability of your disk subsystem before putting your server into a production environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=12&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d94b9810b-670e-433a-b5ef-b47054595e9c%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes

The Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes is a tool designed for organizations that need to coexist during a migration from Lotus Domino to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=13&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dc14932a1-55f4-4256-af7e-617639d46024%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1

Starting with Exchange 2007, neither the Messaging API (MAPI) client libraries nor CDO 1.2.1 are provided as a part of the base product installation. As a result, there is functionality missing that many applications depend on. Microsoft Exchange MAPI and CDO 1.2.1 provide access to these APIs, which, in turn, provide access to the contents of MAPI stores.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=14&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3de17e7f31-079a-43a9-bff2-0a110307611e%26DisplayLang%3den

Collaboration Data Objects, version 1.2.1

Beginning in Exchange 2007 Beta 2 and Outlook 2007 Beta 2, CDO 1.2.1 will no longer be provided as a part of the install of the product. As a result, there is functionality missing that many applications depend upon. CDO 1.2.1 is a package providing access to Outlook-compatible objects through a COM-based API.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=15&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d2714320d-c997-4de1-986f-24f081725d36%26DisplayLang%3den

Exchange Load Generator (32 bit)

Exchange Load Generator is a simulation tool to measure the impact of MAPI clients on Exchange servers.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=16&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dddec1642-f6e3-4d66-a82f-8d3062c6fa98%26DisplayLang%3den

Exchange Load Generator (64 bit)

Exchange Load Generator is a simulation tool to measure the impact of MAPI clients on Exchange servers.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=17&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d0fdb6f14-1e42-4165-bb17-96c83916c3ec%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes

The Connector for Lotus Notes/Domino is a tool designed for organizations that need to coexist during a migration from Lotus Domino to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=18&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dd9f3a35e-1046-47b5-b09b-bda9de60cd9d%26DisplayLang%3den

Deploying a Simple Exchange Server 2007 Organization

This document provides descriptions and overviews of features, guidelines for planning, and steps for deploying a simple Exchange 2007 organization.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=19&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3db7bad09f-6952-4e54-b482-9fcd30d6c245%26DisplayLang%3den

Operations Management and Monitoring of an Exchange Server 2007 Organization

This document provides information, including checklists for daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, related to operations management of an Exchange Server 2007 organization. In addition, guidance is provided for using Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Service Pack 1 to monitor an Exchange organization.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=20&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3de96604b1-5332-4c4e-a0a6-2c85216147a0%26DisplayLang%3den

Exchange Load Generator

Exchange Load Generator is a benchmarking, pre-deployment validation, and stress testing tool that introduces various types of workloads into a test (non-production) Exchange messaging system.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=21&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dc7534cb2-4234-41f1-b0b2-ed9f376b4cb2%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Exchange Server Stress and Performance

This document describes how to use the Exchange Server Stress and Performance tool for both Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=22&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d435bfcfb-68d3-4e5c-b2d2-4bdf49538510%26DisplayLang%3den

Deploying a Large Exchange Server 2007 Organization

This document provides descriptions and overviews of features, guidelines for planning, and steps for deploying a large Exchange 2007 organization.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=23&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d8ece7461-1d43-49a9-bacb-dedc0ad3ac9f%26DisplayLang%3den

Deploying a Standard Exchange Server 2007 Organization

This document provides descriptions and overviews of features, guidelines for planning, and steps for deploying a standard Exchange 2007 organization.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=24&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d6bd13b0c-88b4-4deb-b55d-7d70916c660c%26DisplayLang%3den

Deploying a Complex Exchange Server 2007 Organization

This document provides descriptions and overviews of features, guidelines for planning, and steps for deploying a complex Exchange Server 2007 organization.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=25&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d32ba768d-9727-464a-b7e2-3e037d61a8d6%26DisplayLang%3den

Upgrading Office Communications Server 2007 Evaluation to the Full Released Version

This document describes how to upgrade from the evalation version of Office Communications Server to the full released version.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=1&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d54a5521d-a928-46f2-8bf7-125da636dd2e%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit Sample Chapters

Download three preview chapters from Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, by Jeremy Buch, Rui Maximo, and Jochen Kunert with the Microsoft Office Communications Server Team.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=2&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d407a3e40-350a-4e3d-b60e-c9505668b231%26DisplayLang%3den

Presence Integration Between IM Applications and 2007 Microsoft Office System

This document describes how an instant messaging (IM) application is integrated with Microsoft Office 2007 to provide Presence, IM, as well as call and conferencing features.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=3&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3ded4f13ae-9dd1-4041-b299-4993ee9bcacf%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 Release Notes

Refer to this file for information regarding known issues about Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=4&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d8102b4e6-62f2-4d33-b465-a6c5da1b8973%26DisplayLang%3den

Office Communicator 2007 What's New Guide

This document covers the new features introduced in Office Communicator 2007 since the Office Communicator 2005 release.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=5&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d39b9a6d4-5862-4a01-a2a6-ac193e77aed7%26DisplayLang%3den

Multilingual User Interface Package for Windows Messenger 5.1

For Microsoft Windows XP Multilingual User Interface users. Download the Multilingual UI Pack for Windows Messenger version 5.1.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=6&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3da4816899-e092-4305-bdd4-290e65f734a4%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Trial Download

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, formerly called Live Communications Server, delivers streamlined communications to help you find and communicate with the right person, in real time, from the applications you use most.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=7&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d663e5ef7-2288-46b0-9142-b2135a8fbdb9%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Trial Download

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 is a unified communications client that helps people be more productive by enabling them to communicate easily with others using a range of communication options, including instant messaging (IM), voice, and video.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=8&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d7f5ab627-2d34-470d-9393-8b3ede6fe3c4%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server Trial Download

With Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server, you can develop and deploy interactive voice response (IVR) applications. Speech Server combines speech technologies, Voice over IP (VoIP), and telephony capabilities into a single system and a single code base.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=9&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dbb183640-4b8f-4828-80c9-e83c3b2e7a2c%26DisplayLang%3den

Events/WebCasts

8 August 2007 : Momentum Webcast: Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Messaging Server (Level 100)

Is your messaging system keeping up with the requirements of your business? Dramatic shifts in business needs have revolutionized methods of communication and collaboration. As e-mail has become a preferred communication method, employees now expect to have efficient access to e-mail, calendars, and contacts, no matter where they are or what type of device they are using. For IT departments, delivering a messaging system that meets the needs of businesses is increasingly complex. Managers must contend with e-mail security threats, non-compliance issues, and rapidly growing message stores, while ensuring that the system maintains high uptime. However, time, money, and resource constraints force IT departments to do more with less. Join this unique, interactive webcast as we cover the key factors to consider when evaluating a messaging environment and explain the top ten reasons why you should consider upgrading your messaging software.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032345909%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

15 August 2007 : Momentum Webcast: A Sneak Peek at Microsoft Unified Communications (Level 100)

Organizations today have multiple communications systems like e-mail, telephony, and instant messaging (IM). However, these communication systems often exist in silos and are rarely integrated into business processes and applications. As a result, these communication systems are ineffective and costly to deploy and manage. Microsoft Unified Communications (UC) technologies use the power of software to help streamline communications between people and organizations, regardless of the medium, platform, device, or location. Join us for this webcast and see how the comprehensive set of Microsoft UC clients, servers, services, and devices deliver integrated capabilities like e-mail, calendaring, unified messaging, mobile messaging, presence detection, IM, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call management, and audio/video/Web conferencing. By empowering end users with a familiar set of tools built on an enterprise-ready, scalable, and easily managed software-powered architecture, Microsoft Unified Communications breaks down communication silos and extends existing communications investments while enabling business process innovation.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032345915%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

20 August 2007 : Momentum Webcast: Windows Mobile 6.0 Is Another Reason to Upgrade to Exchange Server 2007 (Level 100)

People in the current workforce need to be connected wherever their responsibilities take them to remain productive. Join this webcast to discover how mobility features in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 empower mobile professionals to easily and more securely access corporate resources and synchronize information with their Windows Mobile powered devices. See how you can enable even more productivity for your employees by extending the capabilities of Exchange Server 2007 to unify your communications through Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and the Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile client. With a Microsoft infrastructure, your workforce can be more secure, mobile, and productive.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032346008%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

24 August 2007 : TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2007 Client Access and Web Services (Level 200)

In this webcast, we focus on Client Access Services in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The overall goal of Client Access Services is to add value to the data in your inbox by enabling you to access that data from any location. We explain how to access inbox data using Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA), and mobile devices, and we describe some of the new client access features introduced in Exchange Server 2007. Join us for a look at the various underlying components of Exchange Server 2007 Client Access Services. We cover the enhanced calendar functionality, the new Unified Messaging and Exchange Server Web services, and programmatic access to messaging data. We conclude the session by examining Exchange Server ActiveSync improvements.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032345600%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

Premier Soundbytes and Workshops (Ask your TAM for more details)

17/09/07 : Soundbyte : Exchange 2007 Mail Flow Architecture and Troubleshooting

08/10/07 : Soundbyte : Introduction to Exchange 2007 Powershell

19/11/07 : Soundbyte : Exchange 2007 Messaging Records Management
17/12/07 : Soundbyte : Exchange 2007 Autodiscover

04/09/07 : Exchange 2003 : Best Practices

26/11/07 : Exchange 2007 Upgrade & Migration

26/11/07 : Exchange 2003 Clustering

28/11/07 : Exchange 2003 Storage Design Concepts

New KB’s

Exchange

Users cannot download offline address books in Exchange 2007 when you use Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 4.0

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=939560

Error message when you try to log on to Exchange 2007 by using Outlook Web Access: "440 Login Timeout"

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941201

Non-English characters in the meeting description field are replaced by question marks when an Exchange Server 2007 user opens a meeting invitation that was sent by a Lotus Notes user

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940058

Warning message when you start Outlook 2007 and then connect to a mailbox that is hosted on an Exchange 2007-based server: "The name of the security certificate is invalid or does not match the name of the site"

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940726

Error message when you try to use the spelling checker in Outlook Web Access: "Your Exchange server is busy and can't check spelling at this time. Try again later"

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940011

Event ID 31092 is logged when the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes delivers an Internet e-mail that contains recipients in only the Bcc box

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=939954

You experience problems in an Exchange 2003 and Lotus Note mixed environment after daylight saving time (DST) starts in New Zealand in 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=937655

The Setup program stops responding, and event ID 1031 is logged when you try to install or to reinstall Exchange Server 2003 in Disaster Recovery mode

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940725

You may receive duplicate e-mail messages after a CCR cluster fails over unexpectedly in Exchange Server 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940031

Outlook

Description of the Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter update: August 14, 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=936643

Description of the Outlook 2007 Junk E-mail Filter update: August 14, 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=936644

CDOs are not updated to support a newly created Group Policy object in Outlook 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926195

You cannot rename an attachment in an e-mail message in Outlook before you send the e-mail message

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940792

Error message when you try to synchronize Outlook to a Windows Live Hotmail account: "Error with Send/Receive"

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941198

A new feature is available that enables Outlook 2007 to use DNS Service Location (SRV) records to locate the Exchange Autodiscover service

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940881

How to troubleshoot performance issues in Outlook 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940226

Reminders for flagged e-mail messages are not displayed in Outlook 2002

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940168

How to deploy the "Always prompt for user name and password" setting for all users in Outlook 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940171

The owner of the e-mail message thread changes when an Outlook 2003 user responds to an Information Rights Management (IRM)-protected message that was sent from an Outlook 2007 user

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931217

Antigen

The default templates are not applied when you deploy them in Antigen 9.0 for Exchange

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=939409

Microsoft Unified Communications Road Show

2007-09-03T19:52:00.001Z

Hi,

Coming up this October/November is a great opportunity to get the latest info about MS Unified Communications platform including Exchange 2007, OCS 2007 and Windows Mobile 6.

In collaboration with some key partners MS is running a UC Road Show in several cities across the UK.

In particular I will be at the event on the 25th October run by Dimension Data. I will then be running a MMMUG meeting straight afterwards which will include a Panel discussion of the future of UC

To sign up to either event see here:

25^th October 2007, London: Exchange Unplugged in association with Dimension Data

MMMUG October Event

It will be great to see you there!

For an overview of the MS Road Show see below:

Microsoft UK’s best and brightest Unified Communications (UC) specialists will all be there to guide you through Exchange Server 2007, Office Communications Server 2007, Mobility and the rest of the Unified Communications stack. You’ll learn, first-hand, how Exchange 2007 has changed due to customer feedback, how to migrate from your existing solution to a unified communications solution and how Office Communications Server 2007 can help you users communicate better and much more. They will share with you all the inside info, including insider tips, those important “gotchas” and demos that will bring this to life.

Sessions will include:

· Exchange Server 2007 including SP1, an architectural overview and details on how it integrates into the rest of the UC suite

· How to migrate from your existing platform to a new UC platform. Its not just ‘move mailbox’. This section will cover other parts of migration including storage, public folders and hardware.

· How email and voicemail are coming together in Exchange 2007 in Unified Messaging. Also covered in this section is how Outlook Voice Access give can give you another way in which to interact with your inbox.

· Real world experience from a partner including a customer case study (slightly changed for EPG version – to just customer)

· Mobility and how Windows Mobile, Exchange 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 provide secure and scalable communications such as email, calendaring, presence and IM across an array of mobile devices.

· Office Communications Server 2007. Communication can be seen, typed or heard. Hear about the latest entrant into the Unified Communications stack and how it will change the way in which people will communicate forever.

Agenda
09.30 – 10.00 Registration
10.00 - 10.20 Warm Up Act & Welcome -Mark Deakin/Eileen Brown

10.20 - 11.05 Architecture Acapella - Exchange Server 2007 including SP1, an architectural overview and details on how it integrates into the rest of the UC suite - Eileen Brown, Brett Johnson or Julian Datta

11.05 - 11.20 BREAK

11.20 - 11.50     Partner Presentation - Special Guest
11.50 - 12.35     Migration Medley - How to migrate from your existing platform to a new UC platform. Its not just ‘move mailbox’. This section will cover other parts of migration including storage, public folders and hardware - Eileen Brown, Brett Johnson or Julian Datta
12.35 - 13.20     LUNCH

13.20 - 14.05 Email and Voicemail Duet - How email and voicemail are coming together in Exchange 2007 in Unified Messaging. Also covered in this section is how Outlook Voice Access give can give you another way in which to interact with your inbox - Brett Johnson, Paul Brombley, Julian Datta or Tanya Dyason

14.05 - 15.05 Mobility manoeuvres in the Dark -Mobility and how Windows Mobile, Exchange 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 provide secure and scalable communications such as email, calendaring, presence and IM across an array of mobile devices - Jason Langridge & Tony Cocks

15.05 - 15.20 BREAK

15.20 - 16.20 Y.O.C.S - Office Communications Server 2007. Communication can be seen, typed or heard. Hear about the latest entrant into the Unified Communications stack and how it will change the way in which people will communicate forever - Paul Brombley & Tanya Dyason

16.20 - 16.30 Q&A and Close - Mark Deakin

Dates Locations:

24^th October 2007, London: Exchange Unplugged in association with BT

25^th October 2007, London: Exchange Unplugged in association with Dimension Data

26^th October 2007, London: Exchange Unplugged in association with Fujitsu

30^th October 2007, Sheffield : Exchange Unplugged in association with Lynx

31^st October 2007, Manchester: Exchange Unplugged in association with Lynx

1^st November 2007, Maidenhead: Exchange Unplugged in association with Nortel

2^nd November 2007, Warwickshire: Exchange Unplugged in association with Post CTI

5^th November 2007, Glasgow: Exchange Unplugged in association with Capito

MMMUG Meetings - September and October

2007-09-02T13:32:00.001Z

Hi All,

Here are some details of forthcoming MMMUG meetings.

Our September MMMUG meeting will be held in London at the new MS offices near Victoria. This month we have Ben Appleby from MCS back, who helped lead the great session we had in July. The topics this time will be Exchange Message Transport with a particular look at Edge Security.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 26th September. Directions to the venue can be found below.

The meeting will be a mixture of PowerPoint and Discussions so there will be plenty of time to run through your questions.

To sign up post in the thread here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1466.aspx

Here are the details of our October MMMUG meeting.

This month we have something completely different! Firstly a new venue for MMMUG, the Radisson Edwardian in Mayfair. http://www.radissonedwardian.com/londonuk_mayfair

This event is also at a slightly different time than normal and, whilst it I understand it may make it a little harder to attend for some I hope you will be able to make it.

As you may know MS in combination with some big partners will be running a series of Unified Communication Roadshow events during October and this MMMUG event will follow directly after the event on Thursday October 25th hosted by Dimension Data. Directions to the venue can be found below.

Continuing the different feel to the event, we will be trying out a completely new format. The focus point will be a panel session made up of Eileen Brown, Mark Deakin, Brett Johnson and Jason Langridge. The panel will be there to discuss your questions and to have a look at the future of Unified Communications. Surrounding the panel session there will be food and drink and a chance to have a hands on look at the MS Unified Communications technologies (Exchange UM, LCS, OCS etc).

To sign up post in the thread here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1467.aspx

Hope to see you at the events

Cheers

Nathan

September Vista Squad User Group Meeting

2007-08-22T10:33:00.001Z

Vista Squad is having their next meeting on the 6^th of September in London. We have Mike Taulty and Stephen Lamb presenting for us, so it should be a great show! If anyone can, I would be most grateful if you could drop a link or blog about it to attract some more interest.

Details here:

Location: Microsoft London (Cardinal Place) 100 Victoria Street London SW1E 5JL

Agenda

6:30pm – 7:30pm
Stephen Lamb: Windows Deployment
7:30pm – 8:00pm
Break
8:00 – 9:00pm
Mike Taulty: WPF and Silverlight

MCITP - Exchange 2007 Enterprise Messaging Administrator

2007-08-13T20:34:00.001Z

As an MVP for Exchange Server, I got the chance to take the beta Exams for Exchange 2007. In January the first exam was piloted (70-236) which is an MCTS exam covering Exchange 2007 Configuration. I missed the chance to take the beta version of the (70-237) exam in March but did manage to sit the final beta exam, (70-238) in April. This just left the 70-237 exam to complete the set and become a MCITP – Exchange 2007 Enterprise Messaging Administrator which I managed to take in June.

I finally found out the results of the beta exams recently so can now call myself an MCITP

For more information about the Exams, see the number links.

Nathan Winters - A New Job

2007-08-06T14:27:00.001Z

Although I don't post non-Exchange topics on this blog very often, I thought this one was almost relevant....!?

I have a new job starting on 13th August. I will be working for Dimension Data in the UK, helping to build a new MS consultancy practise focussed on becoming the best out there in the Unified Communications field.

This opportunity will no doubt enable me to greatly expand my knowledge and experience of the field and therefore post more info here!

For more infomation about Dimension Data checkout the website:

http://www.dimensiondata.com/

I look forward to starting this new role.

Cheers
NathanNathan WI

Vista Squad User Group Meeting

2007-05-12T12:22:00.001Z

Hi All,

Here is some info about the second session of the Vista Squad.

The meeting is on the 24th of May, so if anyone is interested in Vista take a look at the link below for more info:

Link

Cheers

Nathan

Information about Virtualisation in Longhorn Server

2007-05-12T09:58:00.001Z

Hi,

Below is a link to a great blog post all about the new virtualisation features to be released as a beta when Longhorn Server RTMs

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/05/10/viridian-features-update-beta-planned-for-longhorn-rtm.aspx

Hope its helpful

Cheers

Nathan

UK IT Pro Community Event

2007-05-11T20:55:00.001Z

Hi All,

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know about the next big IT Pro Community Event in the UK. As some of you might remember several of the UK IT Pro User Groups, came together on January 23rd this year, to run a day long event at MS HQ in Reading.

Well it seems that the feedback was good enough for us to be asked back!!

So what is happening this time; On Thursday 21st June we will be running an even bigger event. This time we have many more user groups involved in some way. We will be covering Exchange, Vista, SharePoint, Office, PowerShell and Groove in detail and will have introductions from the Longhorn, Virtualisation and LiveMeeting user groups.

Below is the agenda for the day and for even more info see here.

09:30 Start

09:30 – 10:00 Keynote

10:00 – 10:25 Introductions to groups (Including LiveMeeting, Longhorn, Virtualisation)

10:25 – 10:55 Vista

10:55 – 11:10 Break

11:10 – 12:40 Office, SharePoint, Groove

12:40 – 13:25 Lunch

13:25 – 14:55 Break-out sessions

14:55 – 15:10 Break

15:10 – 15:40 OCS + UM

15:40 – 16:40 Exchange and PowerShell

16:40 – 16:55 Break

16:55 – 17:30 Q&A

So what do you have to do to sign up? Well, click on the link below and register there.

Registration Page

I really look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the event so to make sure you get a place, sign up soon, as places are limited and we sold out very quickly last time round.

Cheers

Nathan

Machines with 4GB RAM

2007-04-28T10:20:00.001Z

Recently I have been looking at getting a laptop with 4GB RAM to run loads of virtual machines.

It looks like this is somewhat of a problem area! There are lots of posts out there about this subject but this one from MS sums it up nicely

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Basically you won't be able to see the full 4GB RAM in Windows because of chipset limitations. The chipset has to map the top approx 700Mb for use by the PCI bus and devices on it.

To see the full 4GB you need a 64bit OS, compatible chipset and Bios and a 64bit CPU.

Intermedia Exchange 2007 Hosting

2007-04-14T08:15:00.001Z

Hi,

I recently was in the position where I had come to rely on my work laptop for personal email. Obviously this brings various problems, not least the fact that people who would normally use your personal email address end up replying to your work one which in the event of a job change could become annoying!!

So I decided something had to be done; It was about time I sorted myself out with a hosted mailbox.

I had a look around the Internet and discovered Intermedia (www.intermedia.net)

It would appear that they are one of the first companies offering fully hosted email based around Exchange 2007. Obviously this intrigued me so I investigated further. It looks like Intermedia have a great set of services included (importantly for me) a bunch of ways to syncronise mail with different devices.

So I signed up for their Small Business Exchange 2007 service which gives 3 mailboxes. The setup process was very simple and the only problem I had was that my card was checked manually because of the companies fraud filter. This was done quickly and without issue and frankly I am happy if a company takes extra steps to prevent fraud!!

So what about the service. Well, once my account was created, I setup my domain which was a simple matter of setting it as the primary domain name and then changing my MX record. After only an hour or so I was receiving mail into my new mailbox accessed via OWA or Outlook which is provided free for download.

All in all this was a very simple move and after a week of use I have had no problems and found the people I have dealt with at Intermedia very helpful.

Take a look at the link below for more info about there services:

http://www.intermedia.net/it-professionals/hosted-exchange/hosted-exchange.asp

Cheers

Nathan

Backing up Netware with BackupExec 11d

2007-03-24T12:46:00.001Z

This is something one of my work colleagues put together when having trouble with the above.

Please beware of a technical fault when attempting to back up Netware servers using BackupExec 11d for Windows.

Prior to this work, you will find that when you select a Netware server in the backup selections list, BackupExec will not allow the user credentials to the server and thus not allow a backup of a Netware server to be completed.

After deploying the BackupExec agent to the Netware servers, you need to do the following on the Netware server:

At the console:

Bestop

Smsstop

Sms new

Within smsnew:

Select YES to use SLP

Select NO to DNS

Enter to exit smsnew

Smsstart

Bestart

In sys:bkupexec, edit the advrtms.dat file and remove an ascii rectangle from the start of the backup servers ipaddress

You should now be able to open the Netware server with a single set of credentials. You can now make selections to be backed up from the Netware server.

When you save your selections, all will look fine. When you go back in to the selection list however, it will look as though the selections did not save. The tick boxes become populated when you explore down through the selections on the Netware server, proving the selections have been saved. This is a cosmetic error.

This will mean that everything is ready to be backed up.

Next problem - whilst testing the credentials of the backup job, you will notice that the Netware servers always fails and the test will not be successful. This is also a cosmetic error. If you have managed to get the server selection to be identified whilst setting the backup job, then the credentials are fine and thus you can ignore the error.

All of these problems are due to be resolved with service pack 1 for BackupExec 11d.

Hope it helps someone out there!

More Microsoft OCS info

2007-03-11T12:46:00.001Z

Hi,

I posted a little while ago some info from a colleague Arthur Pounder.

Well here is some more info about MS OCS.

Cheers

Nathan

Microsoft to announce Public Beta of OCS & OC 2007 & Jeff Raikes Keynote speach

UPDATE - Wednesday 7th March ...

Get notified when the beta software is ready to download!

This afternoon Microsoft have provided the ability for users to sign-up and receive notifications when OCS & OC 2007 become available for download.

Further information is available by following the link below

ORIGINAL POSTING ...

In a brief video message recorded prior to Jeff Raikes Keynote speech at VoiceCon, which is being held in Orlando Florida this week; Jeff Raikes has stated that "We're (Microsoft), announcing the public beta of Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Office Communicator 2007"; but within a communication released upon the Microsoft PressPass it is stated that "Microsoft plans to begin public beta-testing later this month of the company's first two products that include enhanced VoIP capabilities"

You can view the PressPass article via and also view the 4 minute video via

If you watch the short video, Jeff Raikes is also stating that "within three years, more than 100 million people will be able to make phone calls from Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, and other Microsoft Office System applications".

What I can say, because the information is already in the public domain

back on the 11th December Microsoft announced that OCS & OC 2007 had entered Private Beta which had been provided to 2,500 IT professionals. Then I presented a demonstration of OCS & OC 2007 on the 12th December at the New Day EVO Launch,

Those Microsoft employees who signed-up for the beta had their PBX deskphones removed, so that they would use the VoIP, and IP-Telephony elements of OCS and OC.

The ability to make full audio visual calls via the “click to call function” and conduct application sharing from your laptop wherever you are via a public internet connection, without the need to launch your VPN certainly sounds promising.

It would appear that Microsoft's early adoption of Interactive Connectivity Establishment, (ICE - http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mmusic-ice-12.txt), is beneficial in the provision of a contextual user experience.

Whilst the Redmond candles often burned late into the night during the early phases of development, to ensure the quality of communications under the jitter and signal degradation of the internet have paid off. In fact Microsoft are using the same acoustic echo cancellation process as that which is used in Windows Live Messenger, (alias MSN8).

So after all this what are the benefits of OCS & OC 2007

Well much of the information is still guarded; but what we do know is that OCS & OC 2007 should be available in March as a public beta; and I can only guesstimate that it should be released by early-to-mid June 2007 along with Server 2007 (Longhorn); pretty much following the Vista release cycle.

Some Of The Capabilities Available In Office Communications Server 2007 Are

Advanced Call Routing;
Deploy VoIP Capabilities.
Deployment Of Enterprise-Wide Presence
Enable Security-Enhanced Enterprise Instant Messaging
Enhanced Presence
Enterprise Telephony Integration
Group IM
Host On-Premise Audio, Video And Web Conferences
Livemeeting Integration
Multinodal Conferencing
On Premise Web-Conferencing
Placing And Receiving Voice Calls
Streamlined Integration With The New Unified Messaging Capabilities In Exchange Server 2007
Support For Universal Global Groups

Reading through the information provided by Microsoft concerning MSOffice 2007, Office Communicator 2007 will be included within both Office Professional Plus 2007 and Office Enterprise 2007, (2007 Microsoft Office system suites). The information contained within footnote 3 of the 2007 Microsoft Office system suites openly states that MOC 2007 is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2007, (I estimate June), with international versions of MOC 2007 scheduled for release in the second half of 2007.

Though having said that I expect that Mr Raikes will confirm the release date during this afternoons Keynote speech.

For information Jeff Raikes is scheduled to present between 10.30am & 11.30am (3.30pm – 4.30pm UK time).

Once I’ve seen the posting and more information becomes available I'll post it up for you

Arthur

Links quoted within the post

PressPass

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/mar07/03-07OfficeCommunications.mspx,

Jeff Raikes Video Message

http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0703/29543/JRaikes_MBR.asx

James O’Neill’s Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/jamesone/archive/2006/12/14/phew-evo-launch.aspx

Microsoft Office 2007 Suites

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101635841033.aspx

Licensing FAQ for MSDN

2007-03-06T10:26:00.001Z

Maybe this will be useful for those with MSDN subscriptions.

It give a useful overview of how and where you are allowed to use you MSDN software.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948864.aspx

Cheers

Nathan

Office 2007 feature comparison

2007-03-05T09:51:00.001Z

Hi,

Not sure whether I have blogged this before (don't think so!)

Anyway, here is a link to a feature comparison table for all the different version of Office 2007.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101635841033.aspx

Cheers

Nathan

Novell iFolder and Windows Vista

2007-03-04T22:13:00.001Z

Hi,

One of the things about working for both a MS Gold partner and a Novell Platinum partner is getting the two companies technology to work together!

So recently I went searching for a way to make Novell iFolder 2.1.x work with Windows Vista. The normal installation method simply doesn't work. However, I have found a work around, which is to use the Program Compatibility features of Vista.

For more info and screenshots check out the TID here:

Cheers

Nathan

Microsoft OCS beta program

2007-02-11T08:07:00.000Z

Hi,

This post is as requested by a colleague of mine Arthur Pounder, who is one of the leaders of the Unified Communications and RTC User Group - www.mucuguk.org

He contacted me the other day to say that MS are opening up the beta program for Office Communication Server as he says below:

"HOT OFF THE PRESS - Microsoft OCS 2007 Beta Sign-up
Good Afternoon,

I've just seen a Microsoft blog confirm that Microsoft office Communications Server (Microsoft OCS 2007) Beta will shortly be entering Public Beta. At the moment there is no mention of dates so you'll need to keep an eye open for more information
For those who cannot wait, and would like to sign-up for the Microsoft office Communications Server (Microsoft OCS 2007) Private Beta then please use the link below to e-mail Eileen Brown requesting inclusion.
http://blogs.technet.com/eileen_brown/contact.aspx "

For more info take a look at Arthurs blog here:

Cheers

Nathan

Temporary Post Used For Style Detection (e2226e50-2989-41f0-9a26-4aec5c0a6001)

2007-02-11T08:00:00.000Z

This is a temporary post that was not deleted. Please delete this manually. (17080293-f616-4e8a-9eb2-9d5314fe43c1)

Working with HP MSA 1500cs SAN

2007-01-31T22:52:00.000Z

Hi,

I have recently been working with an HP MSA1500cs SAN for a client who is putting in a new Exchange 2003 cluster.

Over the course of the last few days I have located several useful websites which I hope might be of use to someone else. So below are a bunch of links:

Acitve/Active Firmware

PDF about migrating Windows systems to Active/Active

Specs of the SAN and part codes for options

HPs general SAN infrastructure page

Downloads for MSA 1500cs

I hope you find these useful!

Cheers

Nathan

Installing ISA 2004 or 2006 with only one NIC

2007-01-31T12:34:00.000Z

If you have ever looked into ISA you will find that it is a very capable firewall. One of its major features is the ability to do application level scanning of traffic which helps cut out exploit type traffic pretending to be something it isn't!

It you are setting up ISA in a single NIC configuration then you will loose some functionality. Check out the links below to see what:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/838364

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/isa/2004/plan/single_adapter.mspx

Cheers

Nathan

An Interesting extension to VMware VDI for multimedia

2007-01-10T11:57:00.000Z

Hi,

Here is some useful info about extending the VMware VDI solution to provide full remote multimedia capabilities:

Here is a presentation that happened at VMWorld:

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/med0062.pdf

And here are two pieces of technology that the solutions requires:

Link

Link2

Patched for ESX Server

2007-01-10T11:14:00.000Z

Hi,

For anyone using VI3, in particular ESX 3.0.1 here is a link to the latest patches for download.

http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/index.html

Cheers

Nathan

Ideas for DC design and DNS in small networks

2007-01-09T11:20:00.000Z

Hi,

Although not definitive, the last few posts in this forum thread give some insight into design for DNS and DCs in a small AD network.

http://web2.minasi.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19157

Cheers

Nathan

Using new resolutions in VMware Workstation.

2006-12-31T13:01:00.000Z

Hi,

Have you every been stuck with a VM that simply won't allow you to run in the resolution you want.

Well recently a friend of mine Nick Swan, (who amongst other things runs the Sharepoint User Group in the UK - www.suguk.co.uk) found himself with a late Christmas present, a Dell 24 inch widescreen monitor!

Nice!!!

Anyway, what he found was that VMs would allow him to select the resolution of the new monitor 1920 - 1200.

We a bit of searching later, an I turned up this info. To set the maximum resolution to something different that that provided by the default VMware SVGA driver you have to edit or add a couple of lines in the .VMX file of the VM.

Locate the lines below and if they are not there add them:

svga.maxWidth = "1024"
svga.maxHeight = "768"

You can then put in the resolution required where the numbers are.

Please note; these changes must be made while the virtual machine is completely powered off, and not while suspended or running.

Hope this helps someone else.

Cheers

Nathan

Nice additional AD query tool

2006-12-11T10:25:00.000Z

Hi,

I found this tool recently when performing an upgrade to an AD Schema.

Adfind:

http://www.joeware.net/win/free/tools/adfind.htm

The tools allows you to perform various searches on info in AD.

For example to check the schema version try this:

adfind -schema -s base objectVersion

Another nice thing you can do is to use the "-h server:port" to talk to remote servers.

Hope people find this useful.

Cheers

Nathan

Microsoft not supported apps in a VM environment

2006-12-03T16:32:00.000Z

I have just seen this page on the MCS Ireland site.

It points to a KB article 897614 which details the apps which MS doesn't support on a VM environment.

Take a look at the site but basically it reads as follows:

MS Speech Server

ISA 2000 and 2004

Sharepoint Portal Server

MIIS 2003

MIIFP

NLB

None of the above are supported in a VM environment.

Exchange ActiveSync Article published

2006-10-08T19:55:00.000Z

Hi,

It has been a while since I posted and in fact I really should have put a note up about this earlier.

Anyhow, here it is now. I have had my Exchange ActiveSync article published so here is the link.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/MicrosoftExchangeOutlo...

The content is subscriber only but you can get a monthly pass which is well worth the money for the excellent content!

Cheers

Nathan

MMMUG October meeting details

2006-09-27T16:10:00.000Z

Hi All,

I have setup the next MMMUG meeting. Below are a few details but for more info or to sign up click here:

18:00 - 18:30 Arrival

18:30 - 18:35 Introduction to speakers and the aims of the group

18:35 - 19:30 1st discussion; lead by Greg Taylor, MCS and Brett Johnson, MS Exch TS

Designing an Exchange environment, from one to a thousand servers!

19:30 - 19:50 Food!

19:50 - 20:45 2nd discussion; lead by Greg Taylor, MCS and Brett Johnson, MS Exch TS

Archiving and Compliance for Exchange (including Exch 2007 feature check)

20:45 - 21:00 Questions and Answers and suggestions for future meetings.

21:00 The End!

Link problems

2006-09-20T09:13:00.000Z

Hi,

It has been brought to my attention that many of the long links on my blog are not working. I believe this is due to the way LiveWriter is posting the links.

I am working to solve this problem.

Cheers

Nathan

Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

2006-09-17T14:40:00.000Z

Hi,

Just to let you all know, MS have released the O2K7 B2 TR. See the links below to get it. It features:

Improved performance
Better product integration
Improved collaboration tools
General fit and finish changes.

This Technical Refresh is the final external product milestone leading to Release To Market (RTM).
Beta 2 users can download the Technical Refresh, at

2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 Technical Refresh
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b07a3387-01cf-4bc3-821a-0bb10e7a59fa&DisplayLang=en
Project 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0847fcdf-14a0-4cc0-b946-4f0dd9d2b88a&DisplayLang=en
SharePoint Server 2007 Beta 2 TR
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0b6bd175-e700-44b8-ab47-e4459250d16d&DisplayLang=en
Visio 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f80742b5-94f7-48d6-95b3-7814c8b0c180&DisplayLang=en
SharePoint Designer 2007 Beta 2 TR
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=257047cb-cbbc-430b-801d-849401b28db8&DisplayLang=en

Audio and Powerpoint!

2006-09-15T20:20:00.000Z

Having just downloaded the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh I began having a little look around PowerPoint. First thoughts are that it is now much faster. So that's good!

Anyhow, I just noticed something that looks really useful.

Yes, the ability to record audio along side your presentation. Not sure whether this has always been a feature or not, but certainly it would be really useful especially now I am doing more PowerPoint work both for clients and the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group UK (www.mmmug.co.uk) which I launched this week.

How to change your product key in Windows XP without re-installing.

2006-09-12T09:06:00.000Z

Hi,

Just a quick note about what to do when someone has installed Windows using the wrong code!

Take a look at this article on TechRepublic by Brian Posey.

Link

Hope it helps someone avoid having to re-install Windows altogether.

Cheers

Nathan

A free inventory tool.

2006-09-10T10:21:00.000Z

Some of you might be interested in this...

Quote:

Do you want to know exactly what hardware is in your PCs ? What software is installed ? What are the Serial Numbers ? When was it installed ? What "Other" devices are out there on your network ?
Windows Inventory could be just what you need. All data is retrieved using Windows built in VBScript and stored in a MySQL database. Data is displayed in a web browser, generated using PHP.

For more information and to download have a look here:

http://winventory.sourceforge.net/

How to ensure you don't get cut off from the Internet by using the remote default gateway when using a VPN.

2006-09-09T20:25:00.000Z

Hi,

Just a quick tip on how to make sure you can still access the Internet when you're connected to a VPN.

Open the properties of the VPN connection,

(Note ensure the correct IP address is present for access to the target network)

Select the Networking tab, Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP,

Select properties

Click advanced

Deselect the check box.

More Free Tools this time from MS

2006-09-03T14:13:00.000Z

Hi,

Check out the link below for all the free tools / powertoys that MS provide.

Link

Hope it is useful.

Cheers

Nathan

Wide range of Net troubleshooting tools - Free

2006-09-03T10:04:00.000Z

Hi,

I just came across these tools which look like a very comprehensive set of network troubleshooting tools.

Take a look here:

http://users.pandora.be/ahmadi/nettools.htm

Cheers

Nathan

Burning DVDs and ISOs on Windows Vista

2006-09-02T12:09:00.000Z

Well, with the release of the RC-1 build of Vista, I thought I should get it installed ASAP!

However, at this point I hit a small glitch...

...My DVD Burner was in a machine which is currently running Vista 5536 (the Pre RC-1 build). So how to burn the new ISO of the RC-1 build. Well at first I hoped that the Nero Express software which was on the machine before the Vista upgrade would work. It didn't! and neither did it work in compatability mode!

So then what? It would have been nice if I could have just right clicked the ISO and selected burn to DVD. That really would have been a great new feature, but again, no!

So then web searching began and I installed a variety of demo and free products none of which worked until I got to this one:

ImgBurn:

http://www.imgburn.com/

Installed, worked and now loading RC-1.

Cheers

Nathan

Internet Explorer 7 tip sheet

2006-09-02T08:50:00.000Z

For thos of you now using IE7 here is a great page showing all sorts of key combinations for various tasks.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/attachment/715071.ashx

Vista RC-1 is here:

2006-09-02T08:49:00.000Z

I try not to blog about other blog entries, but this is kind of important!

The Vista blog states that Vista RC-1 is ready! Build number 5600.

So take a look here for more info:

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/09/01/453491.aspx

If you are not on the beta program then it is not available quite yet, but it will be on Technet and MSDN shortly followed by general public release.

Cheers

Nathan

Mark Russinovich's New Blog.

2006-09-01T12:55:00.000Z

Hi,

For those of you who don't know Mark's company Winternals and Sysinternals was bought by Microsoft recently for more info see here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2006/07/on-my-way...

Amongst other things this had led to a new location for Mark's blog which can now be found here:

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/

Hope this is useful for people who like to keep in touch with the great in depth articles that Mark writes.

Cheers

Nathan

A really interesting security testing product

2006-08-29T10:00:00.000Z

I have just come across this in my inbox after my holiday.

I know how posts about posts can be annoying but this on looks worth it. Take a look at the link below for info about a product called BackTrack which is a free security testing suite that runs under linux and is bootable from a CD.

The Article:

http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,28948...

The download/product site:

http://www.remote-exploit.org/index.php/Main_Page

Before you worry, it is GUI based and looks very user friendly. Hopefully I will get a chance to try it out and then give some more info.

Cheers

Nathan

Interesting; New Genuine Office Validation!

2006-08-26T20:13:00.000Z

Well, not sure if this is really new but I guess it was coming after the step up of MS Genuine Windows Validation.

When trying to download the MS tool for automatically backing up your Outlook PST files at regular intervals I was asked to validate my copy of office. It didn't appear to be required but was recommended.

So obviously this is the way of things to come. How long will it be before MS actively disables unlicensed versions of Windows and Office?

It would be great to hear from people with thoughts on this!

Cheers

Nathan

A New Way to blog...

2006-08-26T10:03:00.000Z

Having finally managed to get a break from work this week (I believe it is called a holiday!) I have had some time to catch up with some developments in the Internet Community.

One of my favorite is this new way of blogging. Called Windows Live Writer, it is a beta application which can be found here:

http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/

Basically it allows you to prepare and then upload posts from an app on your machine as opposed to simply using the web interface of your blog. Although it is perhaps not a fully featured as Word 2007 it is a dedicated app for blogging and therefore maybe simply and more focussed.

I hope you find this interesting.

Cheers

Nathan

The Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group

2006-07-18T07:29:00.000Z

Hi,

Well its finally up!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been working to start a User Group based on Exchange and devices connecting to Exchange.

The User Group is called the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group UK or MMMUG for short! I hope that the group will become a friendly community of people interested in, or using, Exchange.

The website is now live and can be found here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk

Feel free to join and start posting in the forums!

If anyone would like to blog on the site or if you have any articles that you would like published on the site then let me know.

Thanks
Nathan

Terminal Services Licensing

2006-07-07T09:18:00.000Z

Hi,

For anyone struggling to understand Microsoft terminal services licensing, then it doesn't get much better than the article linked below:

Check it out for a thorough and clear explaination.

http://www.brianmadden.com/content/content.asp?ID=154

Diriect Push over WIFI

2006-06-30T08:29:00.000Z

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!)

2006-06-22T20:30:00.000Z

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

2006-06-22T20:02:00.000Z

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

2006-06-20T19:50:00.000Z

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

2006-06-08T14:50:00.000Z

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

2006-06-04T09:29:00.000Z

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!

2006-06-01T19:42:00.000Z

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.

Group Policy bits and pieces

2006-05-28T20:22:00.000Z

Hi,

Here are just a few group policy basics which might help a few people.

Firstly, the way group policy is processed:

In a domain environment it goes like this...

Local
Site
Domain
OU

Whichever policy is applied last wins and its settings apply.

NOTE: Be careful though to remember that if for example you define a setting in the local policy, if none of the other policies explicitly define that same setting, then the local policy setting will be applied even though it is not last in the processing order.

Someone recently asked how to reset the local policy:

The best way I have found would be to script the deletion of the registry.pol files from the

%windir%\system32\grouppolicy\machine

and

%windir%\system32\grouppolicy\user

directories.

This would leave you with a clean local GPO so that new domain policies can be applied without having to define every setting.

Finally, a way to reset local security settings on a 2000/XP and 2003 machine:

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

(note the above should be one line)

See the link below for more info on this one:

Link

Looks like my next phone is getting closer!!

2006-05-27T15:33:00.000Z

WOW!

Finally a small WM5 phone with UTMS functions (3G) and WIFI.

I have been using the SPV M5000 (Imate JasJar) for a while now and the 3G for web browsing is great, but the size it not :(

So this new phone looks like it will do everything!

For more info see below:

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=2945

Creating and ISO file from a group of directories

2006-05-27T11:22:00.000Z

Hi,

Just a quick post about how to create ISO files from a bunch of files on your hard disk.

I found this useful when working with virtual machines on VMWare ESX server that have no networking. I create an ISO image of the files I need in the VM and then mount it to the CD drive.

The tool I found which is very simple to use is called MagicISO and a trial version can be downloaded here:

http://www.magiciso.com/

You will find, that it also does a load more stuff like burn CDs and DVDs and also extract ISO images of existing CDs.

Hope this is useful.
Cheers
Nathan

Links and Blogs section.

2006-05-27T10:53:00.000Z

Hi,

As you can see, I have now added a few more sites and blogs that I regularly look at. I hope to build this into a set of links which will guide daily browsing.

Cheers
Nathan

A few of my favourite photos from the Minasi Forum meeting (mostly)

2006-05-22T20:31:00.000Z

The beautiful sun rise seen from my hotel window.

The Minasi Forum Server (on the right!)

My wife Lizzie on the beach in Folkestone

A group of us about to leave the hotel in Virginia:
Nick, Anthony, James, Mark, Tim, Aiden

Me and Mark Minasi

Me on the beach in Folkestone, UK

Accessing and LDAP directory using Outlook

2006-05-22T19:43:00.000Z

Hi,

This is an issue that a friend of mine raised recently and its fix:

I go into Outlook 2003 and configure and ldap settings using the default.
When I click on to it opens up a display box to type in a name to search on. I type a new and it returns nothing. I click on advanced and find to open up a search box. I type in a last name and the attached document will show the two dialog boxes I have gotten after I tried a few settings.

I can setup the same ldap directory , ldap.iup.edu, in
outlook express. I go to send a new message, click on to, type in a
name to find, and it searches the ldap directory fine.

He was getting the following error messages:

If I take the default settings and leave Seach Base blank:

And

After I enter in dc=iup, dc=edu

It turns out the fix was available on Experts Exchange and went as below:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/MS_Office/Q_21165809.html

The problem was caused by the fact that later versions of Outlook try to enumerate the entire directory on connection. The default setting on the ADAM LDAP server limits the search query to a maximum of 10,000 names. If number of LDAP entries exceeds that, Outlook will generate an error.

There are two fixes; One is to make a registry change on the client machine which will remove the error:

Open regedit and and browse to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\(if you've got office 2002 it will be (10.0) not (11.0)

Add new key, name it "LDAP"

Next add a Dword, name it "DisableVLVBrowsing" and set the value to "1" (don't actually add the quotes on either).

So what you have is [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\LDAP]"DisableVLVBrowsing"=dword:00000001

Now reboot (or it wont work).

The second solution (probably the better of the 2 depending on your directory size) is to change the maximum number of results ADAM will desplay AKA "MaxTempTableSize". The default is 10,000.On the LDAP server open "ADAM tools" and at the command prompt type "dsmgmt" (use /? to show the commands and quit to back up)

at dsmgmt: type "ldap pol"
at ldap policy: type "connections"
at connections: type "connect to server servername:389" (where servername is the name of your ldap server)
it should say binding to server etc...
at connections: type "quit"
at ldap policy: type "list" (you should see MaxTempTableSize listed. type "show value" to see the current value)
at ldap policy: type "Set MaxTempTableSixe to 20000" (or whatever value you want).
at ldap policy type "commit changes"

That's it type quit several times or do a "show value" to take a look at the new value. (Here's what it looks like)

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>dsmgmt
dsmgmt: ldap pol
ldap policy: connections
server connections: connect to server avsmtp1:389
Binding to avsmtp1:389 ...
Connected to avsmtp1:389 using credentials of locally logged on user.
server connections: quit
ldap policy: list
Supported Policies:
MaxPoolThreads
MaxDatagramRecv
MaxReceiveBuffer
InitRecvTimeout
MaxConnections
MaxConnIdleTime
MaxPageSize
MaxQueryDuration
MaxTempTableSize
MaxResultSetSize
MaxNotificationPerConn
MaxValRangeldap

policy: set MaxTempTableSize to 20000
ldap policy: commit changes

Hope this helps somebody else out.

Cheers
Nathan

New standalone emulator for Windows Mobile devices

2006-05-22T15:51:00.000Z

Hi,

Finally, we now have a standalone emulator for Windows Mobile 5 devices which also included direct push technology!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C62D54A5-183A-4A1E-A7E2-CC500ED1F19A&displaylang=en

Resetting the Directory Services Restore mode password in Active Directory

2006-05-22T14:58:00.000Z

Here is how you reset the AD restore mode password in 2003:

Start Ntdsutil (click Start, Run; enter cmd.exe; then enter ntdsutil.exe).

Start the Directory Service Restore Mode Administrator password-reset utility by entering the argument "set dsrm password" at the ntdsutil prompt: ntdsutil: set dsrm password

Run the Reset Password command, passing the name of the server on which to change the password, or use the null argument to specify the local machine.

For example, to reset the password on server testserver1, enter the following argument at the Reset DSRM Administrator Password prompt:

Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password on server testserver1

To reset the password on the local machine, specify null as the server name: Reset DSRM Administrator Password:

reset password on server null

You'll be prompted twice to enter the new password. You'll see the following messages:

Please type password for DS Restore Mode Administrator Account:

Please confirm new password:

Password has been set successfully.

Exit the password-reset utility by typing "quit" at the following prompts:
Reset DSRM
Administrator Password: quit

ntdsutil: quit

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for Windows 2000. One way around this would be to do a system state backup, DCPromo down, reset the password and then do the necessary restore.

DCGPOFIX a tool for reseting Default GPOs

2006-05-22T14:09:00.000Z

Hi,

I came across this tool recently when trying to recover a domain in a training environment.

One of the students had managed to delete his Default Domain Policy!

So to recover it I ran the following: dcgpofix /target:domain

It can also be used to recover the Default Domain Controllers Policy

dcgpofix /target:dc

By default with specifying the target, you will reset both policies.

NOTE: be very careful with this tool, as it will wipe out any settings you currently have in your default policies!

For more info on the tool check:

Link to the Technet Site

Copying files to Linux systems

2006-05-21T13:50:00.000Z

Well, now I am really branching out!

Whilst studying for my VMWare Certified Professional exam, I have discovered a great little tool which lets you copy files from a Windows machine to a Linux based one. In my case, a VMWare ESX 2.5.2 system.

The tool is called WinSCP and is available for download from:

http://winscp.net/eng/download.php

More photos from the Minasi Forum Meeting

2006-05-20T21:16:00.000Z

Here are a few more photos from the meeting:

http://tinyurl.com/ga4lj

Nathan's I.T., Exchange & Other ramblings!

My new blog

MMMUG August 2009 Meeting

June and July 2009 MMMUG Meetings

MMMUG May 2009 – Introducing Exchange 2010

Interesting examples of Web 2.0

Dimension Data acquires Teksys

MMMUG Community Event (OCS, SharePoint and Exchange)

MMMUG Meeting February 2009

More on getting Windows 7 on Samsung NC10

Installing Windows 7 on my Netbook (Samsung NC10)

Minasi Conference 2009

Why move to Server 2008

Microsoft Photography tools

MMMUG November 2008 Meeting - Exchange Virtualisation

MMMUG September 2008 Meeting

July MMMUG Meeting - Gordon McKenna SCOM 2007 and Exchange

My Chapter in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: Implementation and Administration by Jim McBee

MVP Renewal arrived!

The 2008 Community Launch Event

MMMUG March Meeting - In Warwick!

New Articles on MMMUG website

Use your Windows Mobile as a WIFI Access Point!

Exchange 2007 Certificates

Backup and DR for Exchange 2007

New Article on PST import and export with Exchange 2007 SP1

Upcoming MMMUG Events

December MMMUG Meeting

November MMMUG Meeting

Mark Minasi Forum Meeting

London TechNet Roadshow Event

Changing the office product key

Virtual PowerShell User Group

Windows Network Load Balancing on Imaged servers

Thoughts on Virtualising Exchange

Nokia N95 Latest Firmware

Great news about MS System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Technical Rollup Info about Unified communications.

Microsoft Unified Communications Road Show

MMMUG Meetings - September and October

September Vista Squad User Group Meeting

MCITP - Exchange 2007 Enterprise Messaging Administrator

Nathan Winters - A New Job

Vista Squad User Group Meeting

Information about Virtualisation in Longhorn Server

UK IT Pro Community Event

Machines with 4GB RAM

Intermedia Exchange 2007 Hosting

Backing up Netware with BackupExec 11d

More Microsoft OCS info

Microsoft to announce Public Beta of OCS & OC 2007 & Jeff Raikes Keynote speach

Licensing FAQ for MSDN

Office 2007 feature comparison

Novell iFolder and Windows Vista

Microsoft OCS beta program

Temporary Post Used For Style Detection (e2226e50-2989-41f0-9a26-4aec5c0a6001)

Working with HP MSA 1500cs SAN

Installing ISA 2004 or 2006 with only one NIC

An Interesting extension to VMware VDI for multimedia

Patched for ESX Server

Ideas for DC design and DNS in small networks

Using new resolutions in VMware Workstation.

Nice additional AD query tool

Microsoft not supported apps in a VM environment

More time sync problems!

Exchange ActiveSync Article published

MMMUG October meeting details

Link problems

Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

Audio and Powerpoint!

How to change your product key in Windows XP without re-installing.

A free inventory tool.

How to ensure you don't get cut off from the Internet by using the remote default gateway when using a VPN.

More Free Tools this time from MS

Wide range of Net troubleshooting tools - Free

Burning DVDs and ISOs on Windows Vista

Internet Explorer 7 tip sheet

Vista RC-1 is here:

Mark Russinovich's New Blog.

A really interesting security testing product