You can download the Rate card for Microsoft-led messaging migration fees for both BPOS Standard and Dedicated from here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=05985e7a-8211-4471-96de-262678a37a15

Quick Details

File Name: BPOS Messaging Migration Fees Standard Rate Card July 2010.pdf
Version: July 2010
Date Published: 7/20/2010
Language: English
Download Size: 230 KB

And a quick look at the DAG Configurations….

This is a good document to refer if you are designing Enterprise Messaging environments of similar sizes. Download it here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=accec9cd-9c09-4f7e-91c6-41f0e201b680&displayLang=en

By replacing Exchange Server 2007 servers with servers running Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft IT created new opportunities to drive down costs and system complexities while at the same time increasing security and deploying new features not available in previous versions of Exchange Server.

Quick Details

File Name: 0941_ExchangeServer2010ArchitectureTWP.docx
Version: 07/2010
Date Published: 7/12/2010
Language: English
Download Size: 8.2 MB

Download here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=accec9cd-9c09-4f7e-91c6-41f0e201b680&displayLang=en

I am really happy to state that I have been awarded MVP for Exchange Server for the second year running. I got this mail last week, but was too busy travelling and somehow missed it.

It is an honor and I would like to thank my MVP lead, Microsoft and people who have

Thanks to all of you……

With Exchange Server 2007 SP3 there is a new IIS 7 Module in Client Access server (CAS) that that detects expired passwords and redirects users to a new change password page.

Now that this feature is disabled by default, to avail this Password Reset feature administrators need to enable this…..To enable the password reset feature

1. Log on Client Access Server | Registry Editor
2. Go to HLKM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA
3. Create the following DWORD value if it does not already exist:
   Value name: ChangeExpiredPasswordEnabled
   Value type: REG_DWORD
   Value data: 1

You are all set !

Exchange Server 2007 SP3 supports all Exchange 2007 roles on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Exchange 2007 SP3 provides support only for a new installation of Exchange on Windows Server 2008 R2. Exchange 2007 SP3 is not supported in an upgrade scenario on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Exchange 2007 SP3 does not support the following installation scenarios:

• A new Exchange 2007 SP3 installation on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has been upgraded from Windows Server 2008
• Upgrading Exchange 2007 SP2 to Exchange 2007 SP3 on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has been upgraded from Windows Server 2008
• Upgrading the operating system from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2 on a computer that has Exchange 2007 SP3 installed

To see how to install Exchange 2007 SP3 on Windows Server 2008, refer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(EXCHG.80).aspx

Overview:

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) has been designed specifically to meet the challenges facing our customers and to help address the needs of all the different businesses and organizations utilizing our Exchange Server 2007 enterprise messaging system.

Exchange Server 2007 SP3 is a mission-critical communications tool that enables employees to be more productive and access their information anywhere and anytime while providing a messaging system that enables rich, efficient access to e-mail, calendar items, voice mail, and contacts.

For administrators, Exchange Server 2007 SP3 provides further flexibility with the addition of Windows Server 2008 R2 support for server roles and Windows 7 support for the Exchange management tools. These additions, along with enhancements for the advanced protection options against e-mail security threats, such as spam and viruses and the tools which help manage internal compliance and high availability needs provide Exchange administrators with the tools they need to manage their Exchange 2007 environments efficiently.

Note: Clean installations of Exchange 2007 SP3 on a new server are possible by using this download in the same manner as you would install Exchange 2007 RTM, Exchange 2007 SP1 or Exchange 2007 SP2.

Quick Details

Version: 8.03.0083.006
Date Published: 6/20/2010
Language: English
Download Size: 878.9 MB - 1773.2 MB*
Download Here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1687160b-634a-43cb-a65a-f355cff0afa6&displaylang=en
Files:  E2K7SP3EN32.exe &  E2K7SP3EN64.exe

Please review:

• How to install Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 on servers that are running Windows Small Business Server 2008
• Release Notes prior to installation of Exchange Server 2007 SP3
• System requirements for Exchange Server 2007 SP3.

So, go ahead and install Exchange 2007 SP3 !!!

With Exchange 2010 SP1 (beta), we now have a new cmdlet “Set-MailboxFolderPermission”, that helps in editing an existing permission entry. To be able to use Set-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet on a mailbox for assigning permissions to a user, an entry should already be present. So this means, before running Set-MailboxFolderPermission on a mailbox, we need to set permissions for a user with Add-MailboxFolderPermission first.

Let me explain this with an example.

Let us first look at the Add-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet…In my example I will give permissions to user “Quest-User99” the “Reviewer” permissions on Inbox folder of the mailbox “Nitin Gupta”.

Add-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity ngupta@quest-demo.com:\Inbox -User quest-user99@quest-demo.com -AccessRights ReadItems

Once this is done, we will use the Get-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet to check the permissions….

Get-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity ngupta@quest-demo.com:\Inbox

So far so good, now let us try to use Add-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet to change the permissions of ‘”Quest-User99” on the mailbox “Nitin Gupta”  to FolderVisible….

Add-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity ngupta@quest-demo.com:\Inbox -User quest-user99@quest-demo.com -AccessRights FolderVisible

So what happens, as mentioned in the beginning we encounter an error….

An existing permission entry was found for user: Quest-User99.
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (0:Int32) [Add-MailboxFolderPermission], UserAlreadyExis…nEntryException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CACE8CC4,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.StoreTasks.AddMailboxFolderPermission

This means that Add-MailboxFolderPermission cannot be used to modify an existing permission, so what was the workaround till Exchange 2010 RTM, remove the permissions and re-assign…

What happens now with Exchange 2010 SP1 (beta)….

With SP1, we now have “Set-MailboxFolderPermission” that we will use to modify the permissions….

Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity ngupta@quest-demo.com:\Inbox -User quest-user99@quest-demo.com -AccessRights FolderVisible

Wonderful, now let us look at the option where there is no permission entry for a user on a mailbox. To see, let us remove the permissions of “Quest-user99”” from the Inbox folder on mailbox “Nitin Gupta”

Remove-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity ngupta@quest-demo.com:\Inbox -User quest-user99@quest-demo.com

So now “Quest-User99” does not have any permission on mailbox “Nitin Gupta”. Let us run the cmdlet, Set-MailboxFolderPermission

[PS] C:\>Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity ngupta@quest-demo.com:\Inbox -User quest-user99@quest-demo.com -AccessRights Owner

There is no existing permission entry found for user: Quest-User99.
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (0:Int32) [Set-MailboxFolderPermission], UserNotFoundInPermissionEntryException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 4A3CC18C,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.StoreTasks.SetMailboxFolderPermission

This shows that a permission entry is required, before we can use Set-MailboxFolderPermission to edit/modify the permissions

The List of Permissions that can be set using the AccessRights parameter are as follows [Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298062(EXCHG.140).aspx]

• ReadItems   The user has the right to read items within the specified folder.
• CreateItems   The user has the right to create items within the specified folder.
• EditOwnedItems   The user has the right to edit the items that the user owns in the specified folder.
• DeleteOwnedItems   The user has the right to delete items that the user owns in the specified folder.
• EditAllItems   The user has the right to edit all items in the specified folder.
• DeleteAllItems   The user has the right to delete all items in the specified folder.
• CreateSubfolders   The user has the right to create subfolders in the specified folder.
• FolderOwner   The user is the owner of the specified folder. The user has the right to view and move the folder and create subfolders. The user can’t read items, edit items, delete items, or create items.
• FolderContact   The user is the contact for the specified public folder.
• FolderVisible   The user can view the specified folder, but can’t read or edit items within the specified public folder.

The AccessRights parameter also specifies the permissions for the user with the following combination:

• None   FolderVisible
• Owner   CreateItems, ReadItems, CreateSubfolders, FolderOwner, FolderContact, FolderVisible, EditOwnedItems, EditAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, DeleteAllItems
• PublishingEditor   CreateItems, ReadItems, CreateSubfolders, FolderVisible, EditOwnedItems, EditAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, DeleteAllItems
• Editor   CreateItems, ReadItems, FolderVisible, EditOwnedItems, EditAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, DeleteAllItems
• PublishingAuthor   CreateItems, ReadItems, CreateSubfolders, FolderVisible, EditOwnedItems, DeleteOwnedItems
• Author   CreateItems, ReadItems, FolderVisible, EditOwnedItems, DeleteOwnedItems
• NonEditingAuthor   CreateItems, ReadItems, FolderVisible
• Reviewer   ReadItems, FolderVisible
• Contributor   CreateItems, FolderVisible

The following roles apply specifically to calendar folders:

• AvailabilityOnly   View only availability data
• LimitedDetails   View availability data with subject and location

Set-OWAVirtualDirectory “owa (Default Web Site)” -DefaultClientLanguage <Language code>

In this example I have changed the default client language to Catalan, this causes the default folders names to be renamed based on the specified language i.e. Catalan.

Note:

• Once the default client language is specified when the users try to login for the first time (ever) in OWA, they are not prompted to choose a language and OWA Time Zone is picked up from the time zone of Client Access Server.
• In OWA then The Users can use Regional Settings in Outlook Web App to change Client language and time zone after they sign in.
• The change does not affect users who had already logged in once, before the default Language is specified
• List of Language Codes can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997435.aspx

A Weird Issue:

Now that I belong to India, I tried to set Default Language to Hindi and bum, I was in for a surprise, I encountered an error

[PS] C:\>Set-OwaVirtualDirectory “owa (Default Web Site)” -DefaultClientLanguage 1081
Invoke-Command : Cannot bind parameter ‘DefaultClientLanguage’ to the target. Exception setting “DefaultClientLanguage”
: “DefaultClientLanguage contains the value “1081″ which is not a supported LCID value.”
At C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Exchange\RemotePowerShell\w2k8r2-dc-msx.quest-demo.com\w2k8r2-dc-ms
x.quest-demo.com.psm1:54539 char:29
+$scriptCmd = { & <<<<  $script:InvokeCommand `
    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (:) [Set-OwaVirtualDirectory], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterBindingFailed,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.SystemConfigurationTasks.SetOwaVirt
   ualDirectory

Well, I can set the same at the initial login screen though…

Well I have raised this with the product team ! I have not checked to see what all Languages give this error.

Every Topic starts with the status

The list of all Topic Status is as follows…..

Same applies to Exchange 2010 SP1 documentation that has been made available, most of it is not Content Complete.