When Exchange 2003 came out, it offered Outlook Anywhere, although it was called “RPC/HTTPS”. This was an all or nothing service. In other words, if you set up Outlook Anywhere on the server then every user was able to use it. This poses a data security risk because users could connect to their mailbox from any Outlook client and download a copy of their mailbox, without using VPN or any other security checks on the remote system.

In Exchange 2007 (after SP1) and 2010, Outlook Anywhere permissions and capabilities are more granular.  You can set up Outlook Anywhere within the environment and then limit the ability on a per user basis. 

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There is a bug in the creation process for Dynamic Distribution Groups (DDG) in Exchange 2010.  When you use the Exchange Management Shell to create a DDG and specify the Organizational Unit (OU) where the DDG should reside in Active Directory, you must also specify the –RecipientContainer to search for that DDG.  Otherwise the DDG Recipient Container defaults to the OU where the DDG was created.

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The star of last year’s product roadmap was Office 365. Microsoft this year looks likely to pivot from the public cloud to the private cloud, while also shipping staples like SQL Server and releasing major betas — and possibly final versions — of blockbusters including Windows 8 tablet, client and server, and Office 15.

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One of my goals with any solution is “simplicity”. Make it easier for users to access the resources they need in a safe and secure manner. Redirecting your general URL for Outlook Web Access/App to the proper secure address makes life for your users much easier. The old method for doing this will no longer work in Windows 2008 R2/Exchange 2010 due to some of the new features (i.e. Remote PowerShell). Read More →

When the first Exchange 2010 mailbox server is installed a new mailbox database is installed as well. This database is named “Mailbox Database…” followed by a long string of numbers (ex: Mailbox Database 0947606264). When you create a new mailbox database with your companies standard naming convention and attempt to delete the first default database you get the following error: Read More →