Eileen Brown's WebLog

Communicator documents

Office Communicator 2005: Office Communicator 2005 Telephony Planning and Deployment Guide

The Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 Telephony Planning and Deployment Guide walks you through the deployment process for enabling telephony using Communicator 2005 and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1).http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=755ba5ec-2ec4-46ac-b692-747ada95b69b&DisplayLang=en 

Office Communicator 2005: Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 Planning and Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of planning and deploying the client for Communicator 2005.http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=04ce058b-5024-4198-8d27-2aa331fd5a3d&DisplayLang=en 

Office Communicator 2005: Microsoft Office Communicator Getting Started

Use the Communicator Getting Started Guide for step-by-step instructions on configuring and operating Communicator 2005.http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=70dcc4ec-ecdf-4e7a-b14d-cdf11adf2b74&DisplayLang=en 

Enhancing your presentations

I stumbled across this link when looking for something entirely different, and picked up some good hints and tips about presenting effectively.  i thought I'd share it with you in case you're the sort of person who has fear in your heart if you're asked to stand up and present...

10 tips to enhance presentations

To better engage your audience, follow leading communications consultant Cliff Atkinson's savvy tips for enhancing your presentation. Learn ways to interact with your audience so that your presentation is less of a lecture and more of a dialogue. Remove distractions that lessen the impact of your story, such as too many special effects in your slides, or equipment problems in your meeting room. Instead of all that glitz, learn innovative methods for focusing your ideas, coordinating spoken words with slide images, and creating an engaging narration.

And if you're an expert presenter..... do you want to share some tips?

posted by admin with 3 Comments

LCS 2005 Security Guide Available

This is quite a good document about best practices for securing your LCS deployment.  Download it here

Filtering contacts from the GAL

LCS 2005 Service pack 1

I was wondering why I couldn't send a URL to my colleague the other day and thought that it was just a policy that we'd introduced internally.  Then I remembered that this was a new feature for LCS 2005 which is designed to stop the propagation of IM virii.

SP1has lots of useful extras like this.  You can download it here

Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 with SP1 further improves business efficiencies by enabling information workers to communicate and share presence information with contacts in real time through a security-enhanced, enterprise-grade, integrated environment.

Live Communications Server 2005 SP1 improves on the features of Live Communications Server 2005 by extending the federation model, enhancing functionality, increasing security, and improving performance and infrastructure support. These improvements include:

• Tools to enable Public IM Connectivity; the ability to add contacts, send instant messages, and share presence information with users of the three main public IM service providers MSN, AOL and Yahoo!.
• Enhanced federation, which uses DNS-SRV resolution to simplify connecting to federation partners.
• New optional spim filters for better control of unsolicited instant messages.
• Support Microsoft Office Communicator 2005.
• Support for multiple tree Active Directory forests.
• Improved server API performance.

How to create Exchange folders with a script

I've found a web page which is quite useful if you have to create numerous folders in Exchange and would prefer to script the creation of the folder.  The Exchange SDK has quite a few scripts starting at this page that will give you a start.  The creating folders scripts are here.

Useful if you have a distributed organisation with similar folder heirarchy requirements.

LCS 2005 concurrent session limit

I often talk about LCS 2005 and how many more concurrent sessions we can support compared to LCS 2003.  We've greatly increased from the previous figures of 10,000 active sessions.  So when I was asked to quantify what I meant with Active concurent sessions after a previous blog entry.

Its important to distinguish between concurrent connections and concurrent sessions.  LCS standard and Enterprise edition can cope with up to about 25,000 concurrent connections.  This is limited by the type of hardware you're using and the amount of processing power you have available.  To get beyond this, you need to scale out by adding servers, load balancing and creating user pools.  Then you can get to the million mark that we talk about during presentations.

Concurrent sessions are different.  They're not really determined by the server, rather by the amount of active chats / audio / video / sharing activities that are actively going on at the time.  So this has an impact on your bandwidth and ultimately the message rate impacts the maximum number of sessions.  Here, you can use the capacity planning toolkit  and the resource kit to help you plan accordingly...

Exchange support in Virtual Server

John blogs about Virtual Server (his favourite cool toy), and I blog about Exchange  -one of my many cool toys :-).  But I've got the question about whether we support Exchange in a virtual environment.

The short answer is no. (we don't support Sharepoint or ISA server either).  Here's our support policy.

Customising OWA to the Xbox theme

I've just noticed that the zip files to customise the OWA theme to an Xbox skin are now on Microsoft.com.  Good job that Kristian did a blogcast for me demoing just how easy it is to do this.

Its one of the most popular blogcasts too - don't you want anything deep then?  Just fun stuff!

Exchange SAN allocation size

Sean has been configuring his SAN for his Exchange 2003 implementation and wondered about our disk allocation unit sizes.  His SAN vandor insisited that he had to use 64k which puzzled me a little so I did some research.   From the Optimising storage for Exchange document, 4k is the recommended unit size.  it sounds like his disk is a bit hungry, so Sean needs to do some performance analysis on the disk subsystem.  That's probably why he's been recommended to use 64k.  He may also need to plan how many disks are used per server and test the perormance of the SAN using Jetstress from here

Exchange users not persisting when permissions assigned

I've been offering some telephone support to my friend who is running Exchange 2000 who is trying to with migrate the rest of his users from Exchange 5.5 and I've noticed some strange behaviour (from Exchange, not my friend!).  Users keep disappearing (sometimes I wish....!)

When he assign permissions to a folder in AD and adds the user.  The next time he looks in the security tab - they've gone.  Its to do with the msExchMasterAccountSID attribute.

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Click View, and then make sure that there is a check mark in the Advanced Features check box. If the Advanced Features check box does not have a check mark, click to select the Advanced Features check box.

Note: A check mark in the Advanced Features box means that this feature is turned on.

3. In the folder tree, click Users.
4. In the right pane, find the user account that you want to change, and then click Properties.
5. Click the Exchange Advanced tab, and then click Mailbox Rights. 
6. Under Name, view each entry. Find the account that has the Allow check box selected for Associated external account, and then click to clear the Allow check box. 

Here's an article that fixes it for lots of users using CDOEXM

By the way, I had some great fun with the search engines using "disappearing users" ...

I need to get out into the sunshine some more...

[Update] Nino reminded me that there are some other really useful KB articles that you should also have a look at to troubleshoot this problem:

Delegated permissions are not available and inheritance is automatically disabled

Description and Update of the Active Directory AdminSDHolder Object

Thanks Nino.

SMS Primary and Secondary sites

So what's the maximum number of secondary sites that can attach to an SMS 2003 primary site?  <customer question>

Well, I've searched all over for the definitive answer to this one - and I can't find anything! I've discovered that SMS can't deal with more than 500 Distribution points at all, and that 500 secondaries are not recommended.  The SMS Capacity planner gives a lot of assistance in planning your site, and gets you round some of the questions - but you need to be aware of the reporting times that having such a lot of secondary sites gives you..

I've scoured the Deployment scenarios document but can find nothing definitive.  So if you see something that I've missed, please let me know so I can go back to my customer (rather a large scale deployment and they want to use the least number of servers possible)

TechNet Showtime

So now you don't even have to get out of your chair to watch your favourite presenter speak.  TechNet UK have created IT's ShOwtime, where you can watch on demand presentations.  We're going to be adding to these presentations month after month, so the site is definately worth bookmarking.

So if you get an hour spare, and want to learn something (and didn't manage to get to the original presentation at TechEd or IT forum) then here's your chance to listen to them again...

Active Active Clusters in Exchange 2003

Sam mailed me with the question that made me shout out Aargh!

"We're trying to configure Active Active cluster situation in Exchange 2003 but are having problems with poor performance when failing over.  Can you advise please?"

Well the best advice I can give you is DON'T do it!

We do support Active Active in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 but we DON'T recommend it.  Read this KB article that's been published recently, and go and deloy Active/Passive instead.  Please... 

There are some good tips in James' blog, and don't forget to have a read of the whitepaper on deploying Exchange clusters

Multiple Points of presence in Office Communicator 2005

I often work with 2 PC's: my Demo machine and my daily workhorse (which has all of my music on it) I use Outlook in cached mode on both, so i only need to take my demo machine away with me when I travel to the roadshow.  Office Communicator auto starts on both machines (unlike MSN messenger which only allows one sign on at a time) Communicator is quite happy for me to have conversations to the same person from 2 machines at a time.  So sometimes an alert will appear on the machine that I'm not actually working at, and its been bugging me, so I had a look around for an answer.

Its called multiple points of presence, and the device shosen to deliver the alert to is calculated via an aggregated machanism to the Endpoint. The RegistrarEndpoint built-in class defines a SIP endpoint stored in the registrar database of the Live Communications Server. This class can be used to determine the availability and activity level of an endpoint.

Then the device is chosen based on the following status of the client:

• Active
• Be Right Back
• On the Phone
• Out to Lunch
• Busy
• Idle
• Away
• Offline

But be warned - if your status is set to busy as it's picking up things from your calendar, and you have a meeting scheduled, then your other machine (which may be sitting at home) will be collecting the alerts for you.  so either sign off - or set that machine to do not disturb or something like that.. otherwise your buddies will think that you don't want to talk to them...

You can read how the RegistrarEndpoint works here...

MSN Desktop Search

I'm glad that we've released MSN Desktop search to the web.  I've been a big fan of Lookout for ages and was really pleased when I heard that we'd acquired Lookout.  It finds anything really quickly so my mails in my inbox and other folders don't need to be very structured any more

You might want to have a look at the addins that are available.  I like the ability to look inside all of my ZIP files and the PDF IFilter is quite handy too. There's quite a list on the addins web site for you to download - most of them are free too....

Blogging from your mobile phone to MSN spaces

I've just seen this on an email.  Cool idea (and nice that we've got this feature before anyone else...! )

Mobile SMS To MSN Spaces Blog

What is it?

This is a new BETA Service which allows our Spaces users to update Blogs on their MSN Spaces with an SMS message from their mobile phone.  The UK is the only market offering this at the moment. (Mike, why didn't you get there first???)

Why is it useful?

When you are traveling or are away from a PC and want to post a thought or comment about what you’re seeing or experiencing to share with your family!  You could be abroad, in a night club or in the middle of the countryside.

The cost of sending an SMS to MSN Spaces is free plus the normal carrier charge

 Find out more about how you set up your SMS to Spaces service here and if you do not have an MSN Space yet set one up here..

Log Bugs and make suggestions for MOM 2005

I received the following mail from the MOM team.. The site is worth bookmarking if you have any suggestions for MOM 2005

The MOM Product Team has been fielding bugs and enhancement requests logged directly from our community since MOM 2005 released last year. We have processed over 168 bugs and enhancement requests and over half have been accepted by our team for consideration for inclusion in MOM 2005 SP1 and MOM V3, but even so we would like to increase the level of engagement from our community in this forum.   We invite everybody from our community to contact us via this forum in addition to using the feedback link provided in the MOM Administrator Console and 3 links on http://www.microsoft.com/mom.

We are deeply committed to finding ways to connect with customers and we think this channel is an important step in that process. Please go to http://www.microsoft.com/mom/feedback and use this site to provide the MOM Product Team with their feedback.

The MSDN Product Feedback Center is a public suggestion and bug database for Microsoft products. Suggestions and bugs entered are ported directly into our internal bug and suggestion tracking databases. Because we collect information in a structured way and insert it into our developer’s usual workflow, it is very actionable for the product teams. Enforced search, voting, and validation, help to remove duplicates and surface the issues that are most important to our customers.

The Product Feedback Center is about transparency, community and closing the loop with you - our customers. You can report on a bug or post a suggestion, find out if it has already been reported or see if there is a workaround or a fix. The community can connect with other customers by posting workarounds and comments or influence the timeliness of a fix by validating and voting. We want to show that we not only acknowledge and accept customer feedback, but we also listened and act upon it.  Please support us in this effort – helping us to deliver a better product to you.

It's a good opportunity to get your suggestions directly to the product team...

System Center Data Protection Manager Webcast

Paul is delivering a TechNet event for me next month on System Centre, here in the UK.  Well, if you're too busy to come to the session or have some other reason, like you live in Australia or some other valid excuse. There's a webcast coming up showing how you can use DPM in a branch office environment.

If you need an overview about DPM you can have a look at this previously recorded webcast that I blogged about the other week.

MEDC 2005 - in the UK

Marcus has been blogging about the launch of Windows mobile 5.0, and Bill's keynote at Mobile & Embedded DevCon (MEDC 2005) in Las Vegas. (watch the webcast for more info).  I've completely missed this, due to other committments which kept me away from my PC for a few days.  Well I'm catching up now, and realised that the MEDC highlights are also coming to the UK on Friday 10th June.  Spaces are almost all filled up now - but I'd recommend that you put your name on the waiting list, as there are always people who can't make it at the last minute.

There are some interesting facts on the webcast.  did you know that there are more than 18,000 applications for Windows mobile? and some amazing stuff coming up too.  Very exciting...

Real Time Collaboration Webcasts for June

Portals Webcasts for June

Portals in Action: Connect people, processes, and information
Live and on-demand webcasts available now

Do your employees spend too much time each day searching for the data they need? Is it difficult for teams to collaborate on projects and share best practices? Do managers lack the information they need to make good, timely decisions?  Enterprise organizations have large data repositories, but often don’t have a central place to store this information. Join us for a series of 30-minute live and on-demand webcasts and discover how Microsoft’s comprehensive portal offering helps organizations connect people, teams, and information so they save time and work together more productively.

Microsoft Executive Circle Webcast: SharePoint Deployment from Test to Production

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time

Todd Bleeker, PhD, CTO, Mindsharp

Are you considering moving your SharePoint from one environment to another?  Deploying technical or end-user changes from one SharePoint environment to another can be challenging. There are a handful of tools that can help, but a good plan is essential. Your administrators and developers will only be successful if you understand the universe of potential bits to move. Moving new Web Parts from Test to Production is pretty straight forward. But what about moving an entire Site Collection, overlaying a Site Definition, alternating web.config files, adding columns to an existing SharePoint list/library, or moving actual SharePoint list/library data? Join us to learn the best practices and pitfalls of deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server bits and other assets from environment to environment.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032272532&Culture=en-US

Messaging and collaboration Webcasts for June

The Microsoft Platform: Leverage your Notes investment
Live and on-demand webcasts available now

Tune in and learn how you can get more out of your Lotus Notes investment by combining it with the Microsoft collaboration platform. Discover how communication and collaboration offerings are evolving and what is possible with Microsoft technologies, with a particular focus on solutions for information workers that integrate with existing Notes infrastructures.

Mobility Webcasts for June

Office Webcasts for June

Microsoft Office System Webcasts: for business professionals, topics include: using Microsoft Office System products such as Visio, Project and OneNote.

Microsoft Project: Align people, work and priorities

Live and on-demand webcasts available now

Manage and coordinate people, projects, and processes more effectively with the Microsoft Office Project 2003 family of products, including Project Standard, Project Professional, and Project Server 2003. Tune in to these free webcasts and learn how you can optimize project management in your organization, no matter what your role.

Discover Today’s Office: Learn tips and tricks for increased productivity
Live and on-demand webcasts available now

Discover how to get the most out of Microsoft Office System to save time and be more productive. Tune in to these live and on-demand webcasts for time-saving tips on optimizing today’s Microsoft Office System. Explore products such as Microsoft Outlook 2003, Word 2003, Excel 2003, OneNote 2003, InfoPath 2003, and PowerPoint.

Office Tips and Tricks for Administrative Assistants: Learn shortcuts you can use right away

Live and on-demand webcasts available now

In today’s fast-paced environment, administrative assistants are faced with new challenges. Beat information overload and collaborate with your team using Microsoft Office 2003. Learn steps you can take today to better manage Outlook, and new ways to manage documents and meeting notes, coordinate schedules, and support your team.

Microsoft Office System Webcast Calendar

Microsoft Office System webcasts listed in an easy-to-use calendar format.

BONUS: Attend any live webcast though June and you could win a Portable Media Center. See official rules for more details.

Additional Live & On-Demand Webcast Series Available NOW:

§          Real-Time Collaboration 

§         Digital Note Taking

§         Office System Webcasts

Microsoft Office System Webcasts: Enhance Your Skill Set with Expert Tips

Live and on-demand webcasts available now

Learn about the Microsoft Office System and productivity software such as Microsoft Outlook, OneNote, Visio, and Project.  Held live throughout the month and always available on demand, these online and interactive webcasts are an effective way for business professionals to learn how Microsoft products and technologies can help them be more efficient.

Microsoft Executive Circle Webcast: Using Lean Thinking and Microsoft Project in the Microsoft Solution Framework v4.0

Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time

David J. Anderson, Program Manager, Microsoft

In 2005, Microsoft is launching a new process guide for software development projects. This new approach incorporates many aspects of lean thinking and other principles used in highly-productive operational and manufacturing environments. It brings software development up to the same standards of operational management and governance held against other parts of an enterprise. Join this webcast to learn about the tools, techniques, and best practices used by Microsoft product development teams and other Global 1000 companies in meeting the demands of rapid innovation.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275519&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Executive Circle Webcast: What Do Office 2003, Information Security, and Regulatory Compliance Have in Common

Thursday, June 16, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time

Jason C. Hayek, President and Co-Founder, Triad Information Security Services, LLC

Organizations are constantly looking for better ways to secure Web content, documents, and e-mail; whether it's to protect sensitive and confidential information, or to comply with government regulations. Information security, data protection, governance, and regulatory compliance must work hand-in-hand in today's fast-paced, competitive, and regulated markets. In this webcast, Triad Information Security Services will highlight how Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) equip organizations with solutions that aid regulatory compliance efforts. See how implementing these technologies will help create an additional layer in your organization's overall defense-in depth and data protection strategies.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275299&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Executive Circle Webcast: Radical New Ways to Create Legal Documents and Manage Legal Content

Friday, June 24, 2005 - 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Pacific Time

Sherry Kappel, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Microsystems

Take steps to ensure consistent use of the best legal content and improve staff productivity to maintain a competitive advantage and increase firm profitability within your law firm. With Microsystems' D3 (for Dynamic Document Drafting) and the enhanced technologies of Microsoft Office 2003, law firms are in a position to rethink, radically rework and drastically improve the methods by which their lawyers, associates, paralegals, and secretaries create documents and manage content.  Attend this 60-minute webcast to learn about Microsystems' new D3 software application. See how the law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl is improving productivity and ensuring content quality standards using D3 when creating legal documents.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275301&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Office 2003 Deployment Using Windows Update (Level 200)

Wednesday, June 01, 2005 - 11:30 AM-1:00 PM Pacific Time

David Smith, Senior Consultant, Entirenet

Configure and operate the new version of Microsoft Windows Update Services (WUS) to update and patch the Microsoft Office 2003 suite. In this webcast you will learn how to manage, configure and maintain the expanded feature sets within WUS. We will also cover the upgrade path for Microsoft Software Update Services clients, to bring Office 2003 functionality to Windows Update Services administrators.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032273702&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Customized Outlook for Use by the Microsoft Sales Force (Level 300)

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 8:00 AM-9:00 AM Pacific Time

Vish Vadlamani, Microsoft IT Sr. Development Manager, Microsoft

Busy salespeople need an efficient and familiar way to get their job done. Microsoft IT has created a way for the Microsoft sales force to have critical information provided to them through a very familiar tool; Microsoft Office Outlook. This innovative approach has eliminated the need for salespeople to learn a new sales tool and, thus, has virtually insured widespread adoption throughout the Microsoft sales force. Salespeople are now able to retrieve critical sales account and opportunity data directly through Outlook. You won't want to miss this informative webcast to see how Microsoft is now using Outlook to help the Microsoft sales force realize its potential.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275590&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks on How to Make Microsoft Outlook Work for YOU from a True Power User! (Level 200)

Thursday, June 02, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Robin Eyman, Executive Assistant, Microsoft Corporation

If you caught Robin's last webcast you saw how she brings Microsoft Office Outlook to places you never knew were possible. Want to find out how to make Outlook work for you? Join us for this special webcast presented by Robin Eyman, Executive Administrative Assistant at Microsoft Corporation, as she shows us how to customize Outlook to do amazing things and be the center of your workday. This webcast shows how Outlook can access your documents, the Internet and more! Robin will walk us through how to set up those custom toolbars, custom notification boxes, to customized flags and more. If you want a "real person" to walk you through these more advanced Outlook features and how to apply them in every day use this is the webcast to watch.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275324&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Train-the-Trainer Tips and Tricks: Word Document Production Made Simple (Level 200)

Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Stephanie Krieger, Document Production Expert

If you develop or deliver end-user Microsoft Office Word training, this webcast is a must see. Microsoft Office document expert Stephanie Krieger, author of “Microsoft Office Document Designer,” shows how you can effectively simplify the process of complex document production for your end-users using a practical, hands-on approach help them feel empowered. Stephanie covers resources available as well as the "tips and tricks" of the trade she has developed training Fortune 500 clients and some of the top law firms and investment banks in the country. This 60-minute webcast can help set the direction for your Word training plan, saving you and your end-users time and effort and making you more effective.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275383&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Quick and Easy Organization Charts with Visio 2003 (Level 200)

Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Drew Dodd, Project Manager, Visimation

Automate the creation of organization charts using Microsoft Visio 2003.  Visio 2003 has powerful auto-layout and connection features that easily creates hierarchical data structures. Through a simple API, the Organization Chart Wizard can be programmed to silently and automatically create org charts from existing corporate data. In addition, the powerful auto-layout and auto-connection features of this add-on can be used to create other types of hierarchical diagrams. Join this webcast to learn how you can save time by creating organization charts automatically, and also take advantage of an offer for qualified webcast attendees; a special discount on Visio templates and add-ons.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032273718&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks for Legal Assistants: Complex Legal Documents Made Simple (Level 200)

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Stephanie Krieger, Document Production Expert

As a legal professional, you work with documents that are unique and complex—but sometimes it’s difficult to even know where to begin. Workarounds may take more time than doing it right, but one way or another it’s got to get done! Well, if you want better documents with less work but that sounds too good to be true, you might be pleasantly surprised. This webcast will provide you with some basic tips and tricks that can help simplify a wide range of legal document tasks—from working with styles or outline numbering to using tables and graphics. Regardless of how you need to use Word—from pleadings to offering memos and beyond—the techniques in this webcast will help you save time and stress while creating better legal documents.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275386&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: My How You've Changed: Side-by-Side Tips for PowerPoint 2000 and PowerPoint 2003 (Level 100)

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services

If you are like some Microsoft Office users, the year 2000 is alive and well in your favorite productivity applications. Let go of the past and step into a whole new era of workplace computing with tips and tricks for the Microsoft Office System. In this informative webcast, discover how the capabilities of Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 have evolved beyond those of Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2000 to help you create, present, and collaborate on presentations that have more impact.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275327&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005 (Level 100)

Thursday, June 23, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services

The Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005 Web conferencing service helps you and your employees run and participate in interactive meetings around the world with remote teams, prospects, customers, partners, colleagues, and global audiences in real-time and at a moment's notice. With everyone participating from their desktops, teams can swap ideas, share information, mark up files, collaborate with whiteboards, or negotiate deals at a fraction of the cost of travel. This informative webcast shows how you can help shorten sales cycles, increase productivity, and improve the bottom line with Live Meeting 2005.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275391&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Successful Project Management for the Pharmaceutical Industry (Level 200)

Thursday, June 23, 2005 - 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Pacific Time

Robert Happy, Senior Consultant/Partner, PM Practice

Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 plays a key role in enabling the successful planning and execution of pharmaceutical projects. This webcast has been developed to specifically address the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. Learn why project management is important to pharmaceuticals. Find out the critical success factors and challenges for the industry and see how Project 2003 can help with planning, communicating and the tracking and analyzing project data. Join us to take advantage of the special offer specifically associated with this webcast: free templates and a Project Management Health Assessment, valued up to $2,495!

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275329&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Making Best Use of OneNote Licenses in Your Company (Level 100)

Monday, June 27, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Scott Rockfeld, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Learn how to get the most value out of your Microsoft Office OneNote licenses with this exclusive webcast for OneNote customers. Join Scott Rockfeld, Microsoft senior product manager for OneNote, as he provides an overview of OneNote capabilities and other customer deployments. Scott will also provide answers to your questions on OneNote deployment and training resources. 

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275757&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: My How You've Changed: Side-by-Side Tips for Excel 2000 and Excel 2003 (Level 100)

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services

If you are like some Microsoft Office users, the year 2000 is alive and well in your favorite productivity applications. Let go of the past and step into a whole new era of workplace computing with tips and tricks for the Microsoft Office System. In this informative webcast, see how the capabilities of Microsoft Office Excel 2003 have evolved beyond those of Microsoft Office Excel 2000. Learn how to turn data into practical information with powerful tools that enable you to analyze, communicate, and share results.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032274875&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Small Business Webcast: Get More from Your Products: Visualize Your Business Information with MapPoint 2004 (Level 100)

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Matt Berg, Business Development Manager, Microsoft

This webcast shows how you can utilize Microsoft MapPoint 2004 data to help forecast your business growth. MapPoint is more than just a program for driving directions. MapPoint is an integrated set of products, servers, and services enabling you to locate and track key enterprise assets, as well as analyze geospatial data. MapPoint enables you to increase revenue, reduce operational cost and complexity, and improve business decisions.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275719&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Small Business Webcast: Learn How to Maximize Outlook and Discover E-Mail Archiving (Level 100)

Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time

Chris Smith, Business Development Manager, Microsoft

Are you an Outlook user? Microsoft Office Outlook provides an integrated solution for managing and organizing e-mail messages, schedules, tasks, notes, contacts and other information. This webcast shows you how to manage Outlook more effectively. Also, discover how archiving your e-mail can help you improve your productivity. See how easy it is to make the most of Outlook!

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275725&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Small Business Webcast: Get More from Your Products: Introduction to Office Updates (Level 100)

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM Pacific Time

Ed Faulkner, Business Development Manager, Microsoft

What is Microsoft Office Update and do I need it? Microsoft Office Update is the online extension of Microsoft Office that helps you keep your office products up-to-date. Office product updates are created by Microsoft to bring you the highest levels of security, stability, and critical functionality available. In this webcast, learn about the security features built into Office Updates and discover how it can help you and your organization.

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032275714&Culture=en-US

Office Communicator 2005 on the web

I got a mail over the weekend letting me know that Office Communicator 2005 has been released to manufacturing. I got quite a lot of mails after I'd blogged about this last time. You can download an eval version here.  Rex has some good screenshots here too...

Static port mapping for Exchange 2003 and Outlook

I got into a bit of a heated discussion in the pub the other evening about how Outlook communicates with Exchange.  Daft isn't it, how innocent statements get turned into full blown arguments (I suppose thats how some wars get started too).  Anyway the consultant I was arguing with couldn't see the reason why Outlook and Exchange used random ports to communicate with each other (it's the way that RPC works).  He wanted to set up a system so that the port ranges were fixed and static. I started off with a full explanation about RPC etc. etc. But he dug his heels in and wanted to fix the port ranges. I said "Exchange doesn't work like that"

Well, after a bit of searching <blush> Tony, here's how you do it.....

Locate, and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM

.,....\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters
Add the following entry for the Microsoft Exchange SA RFR Interface:
Value name: TCP/IP Port
Value type: REG_DWORD
Value data: Port number to assign

Watch out for the limitations for port ranges though.  There is a problem too with mail notification which is received through a random UDP port, and this port can not be mapped in a static manner.  So if you're using a firewall between clients and servers you need to turn on RPC polling. 

You must also manually create the following keys to override the ForcePolling registry value that is set by Windows XP SP2. To do this, follow these steps.
Locate and then click to select the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft
On the Edit menu, click Add Key, and then typeOffice. The class is None.
Click the Office key,click the Edit menu, click Add Key, and then type 10.0. The class is None. 
Click the 10.0 key, click the Edit menu, click Add Key, and then type Outlook. The class is None.
Click the Outlook key, click the Edit menu, click Add Key, and then type RPC. The class is None.
On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then type ForcePolling. The data type is REG_DWORD, and the value is 0.

So sorry Tony - I was wrong about the mappings.  Drinks are on me next time I'm in London :-)

Moving the Public Folder hierarchy in Exchange 2003

I've been asked about this twice this week, so I thought it was worth a blog entry.

How do you move public folders to another Administrative group?  Well firstly you need a Public folders container

To create a Public Folders container and move a Top level hierarchy to it:

1. Open the Exchange System Manager snap-in.
2. Click to select the new Administrative Group.
3. Right-click the Administrative Group, click New, and then click Public Folders Container.
4. Navigate to the public folder tree that you want to move.
5. Drag the public folder tree to the Public Folders container that you created in step 3.

Information is in this KB article... and any problems you may get might be covered here...

Organising recipients in Exchange 2003

Mike asked me if there was a way to organise recipients in Exchange 2003.

He wanted to have the structure of the GAL so that when the GAL displayed in Outlook it would look like this:

• Organisation name
  • Company name   
    • Region
      • Country
        • City
          • Office name
            • User

(Fairly comprehensive display eh? )

It's possible to change the GAL using the information here which covers how to nest address lists and configure them for appropriate access.

Exchange mailbox size limits

Scott mailed me with some questions about the Exchange stores, the differences between standard and Enterprise edition and how to upgrade from standard to enterprise edition.

Well with standard edition you are:

• Limited to 1 mailbox store database per server
• Limited to 1 MAPI public store database per server

The limit for database size in standard edition is 16GB.  This means you can only create a single public or private store, each of which can only grow to 16GB in size.  Have a look at this section in the deployment guide for more information.  You can have additional public folder stores however, each are associated with a general purpose folder tree (read the KB article for an explanation of the tree types). Each store has it's own set of database files (.edb, .stm) and transaction logs.  There's a good explanation about how public folders work on the Exchange team blog too...

If you're struggling because your standard edition database has reached the 16GB limit, there is a temporary workaround (a registry key entry Temporary DB Size Limit Extension ) that you can use to increase the size of the DB to 17GB, clean up files, and upgrade to Enterprise edition.

Oh, and to upgrade from Standard edition to Enterprise edition?  Put the CD in and select the reinstall option!...

System Center Data Protection Manager beta

Whilst the beta for System Center is just around the corner, you can have a look at Data Protection manager and how you can optimise and centralise your backup and recovery.  Click here to download the DPM beta software from the DPM site

There was a webcast last week that gives an overview about DPM which you can view at your leisure too...

DSI Demo

There's a nice little flash based demo on the web about DSI (you've got to press the ctrl key when you download it, as it runs in a pop up window).  It's very animated :-).

I present this session quite often, and this demo covers all of the fundamental concepts you need to know - especially if you're not too familiar with Visual Studio 2005 Team System. Christian points to some useful links about the SDM and VSTS to get you up to speed

You can also find other links from the DSI home page.

Exchange performance monitor wizard

I found this tool  on the web the other day when I was looking for something else (that's always the way isn't it?)  Not only does it help to troubleshot the OS, but you can also use it for Exchange too.  It's a nice handy thing to work alongside the Performance analyser for Windows 2003.

Now what was it that I was originally looking for? I've been around so many other places on the web, I've forgotten where I originally wanted to be! Some trips around the Internet are like that though.  I need to go with the flow more often, and see what turns up.  Something fascinating like the history of the internet in a timeline) or totally useless like the end of the internet

Nope I've forgotten - must be my age...

Try out a smartphone for free

Only if you're in the UK though.  You can try the c500 free for a month in your organisation with 200 minutes of voice and 4mb of data.

Then you'll be hooked.  Like I am.  I love this phone!

Get a list of all .PST files on a computer

I get a lot of comments about what a nightmare PST's are to manage effectively and how out of control they seem to be in lots of organisations.  I've had my own challenges with PST's too, so my sympathies are with every IT manager who has this problem.

Well I've found a little script that finds out how many different PST files are on a PC, so you can export the results to a CSV file and beg the powers that be for an archiving solution.

There are a couple of options about PST's you could try having a look at the Solution Accelerator guide and make yor decision about what to do about them....

Installing Exchange 2003 into a new site

Jemima mailed me with a question:

If I have a mixed mode Exchange 2003/5.5 environment of one site, can I install a second Exchange 2003 server into a new site? (and how)  Or do I have to change to native mode to do so?

Chapter 6 of the Exchange Deployment guide  details the following about mixed mode…
Switching from Mixed Mode to Native Mode
Because Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 are structured to take advantage of Active Directory functionality, there are some limitations when Exchange 2003 coexists in the same organization with Exchange 5.5. When Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 servers coexist with Exchange 5.5, your organization must run in mixed mode.
Running in mixed mode limits the functionality of Exchange 2003. Therefore, after migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003, it is recommended that you switch from mixed mode to native mode. This section discusses the advantages of a native-mode Exchange organization and provides the steps that are necessary to switch from mixed mode to native mode.
You are ready to change your Exchange 2003 organization to native mode if:
 
• Your organization will never require interoperability between your Exchange 2003 servers and Exchange 5.5 servers in the same organization.   
• Your Exchange 5.5 servers exist in an organization that is separate from your Exchange 2003 servers. 
   Note
After you switch your Exchange 2003 organization from mixed mode to native mode, you cannot switch the organization back to mixed mode. Make sure that your Exchange 2003 organization will not have to interoperate with Exchange 5.5 in the future before you switch from mixed mode to native mode.
First, however, you should determine in which mode your Exchange organization is currently running.

Jemima didn't say whether she still needed to keep connectivity with the 5.5 servers or not.  If not, then follow the steps in chapter 4 of the deployment guide

There are also some useful tips in Chapter 3 of the Planning an Exchange server messaging system To create a new site for Exchange read how we did it at Microsoft:

Hope this helps a little...

Detecting Stealth Software

My blog content mole pointed me to this report which has just been released .

Detecting Stealth Software with Strider GhostBuster
Yi-Min Wang; Doug Beck; Binh Vo; Roussi Roussev; Chad Verbowski
February 2005

Stealth malware programs that silently infect enterprise and consumer machines are becoming a major threat to the future of the Internet. Resource hiding is a powerful stealth technique commonly used by malware to evade detection by computer users and anti-malware scanners. In this paper, we focus on a subclass of malware, termed “ghostware”, which hide files, configuration settings, processes, and loaded modules from the operating system’s query and enumeration Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Instead of targeting individual stealth implementations, we describe a systematic framework for detecting multiple types of hidden resources by leveraging the hiding behavior as a detection mechanism. Specifically, we adopt a cross-view diff-based approach to ghostware detection by comparing a high-level infected scan with a low-level clean scan and alternatively comparing an inside-the-box infected scan with an outside-the-box clean scan. We describe the design and implementation of the Strider GhostBuster tool and demonstrate its efficiency and effectiveness in detecting resources hidden by real-world malware such as rootkits, Trojans, and key-loggers.

There are some evocative ghostware names arent there? Urbin, Mersting, Vanquish, Hacker (original eh?) Aphex, Defender and ProbotSE, Darkside and Synapsis (for UNIX and Linux) but it's nice that AskStrider can sort out these guys hiding inside your machine.  Mind you, I've always known that there were scary things hiding in here, moving my files when I wanted them and making the PC misbehave.  I always thought that they were just gremlins - but GhostBuster (who ya gonna call?) gets rid of those too.

Have a read of the document - it's interesting although a little bit intimidating, and it makes you realize how scarily clever these guys at Microsoft research are...

Restricting mail to a distribution group in exchange 2003

We recently created an email alias for the Industry Insiders forum and we were talking about whether to restrict inbound emails to the alias as we wanted to minimise any potential influx of spam.  The email alias is for Insiders to submit articles and biographies for inclusion on the forum and the TechNet web site.  So we had a look at how we could do this.  There's a kb article detailing how to restrict the users who can send inbound internet mail to another user or distributon group in Exchange 2003.

We've left the setting empty of course so you can send us your articles for publishing.  If you're interested in becoming an Insider have a look here, and find out what the Insiders do.   David and Jeremy have also included their pictures.  So I now know how to get images hosted somewhere in cyberspace, so send me your photo with your biography and article.  I've even managed to get a picture of me on my own blog so my fan can see my picture (thanks Dad...) 

Outlook command lines

Ewan sent me a mail the other day about all of the hidden stuff thats in Outlook that can be exposed using command lines. I had a browse around the site and found the crabby office lady, and the wonderful bit of Office Triva which will stay in my mind for ever now.

• The Calendar ends on August 31, 4500.

From the "Why would you want this many" department:

• The Places bar in Office 2003 can hold at least 150 places.
• Each folder can have 128 views.
• You can add 50 additional mailboxes to an Exchange profile.

Some people have too much time on their hands...

Exchange 2003 ADC

Michael emailed me with a problem he had with his Exchange 5.5 organisation talking to Exchange 2003.

Whenever he sent email from the 5.5 server to Exchange 2003 the email does not arrive in the 2003 email account until he clicked on a public folder on the 2003 client.  It seems that this makes 2003 talk to Exchange 5.5 to see the public folders and then 5.5 says, "that is where you are and here is your mail".  The 5.5 is in an NT domain with a two way trust to the AD and they are using the Exchange Active Directory connection tool to link the two servers.

Well, the problem appears to be that the ADC can't find the Exchange 5.5 server.  When you configure a 2 way connection agreement for Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2003 you need to ensure that the 2 servers can talk to each other in the first instance.  Start with ping and work your way up the DNS stack.  It may be something simple like an IP config issue, or a DNS error.  This is easier than trying to troupbleshoot using RPCping or MAPI. Then you need to correctly configure your Recipient Connection agreement and your Public folders connection agreement.  Have a look at the blogcast on how to do this.  THe Connection Agreement wizard should take you though all of the steps you need to set this up.

•	Recipient connection agreements -  replicate recipient objects and the data they contain between the Exchange directory and Active Directory.
•	Public folder connection agreements - replicate public folder directory objects between the Exchange 5.5 directory and Active Directory.
•	Configuration connection agreements:  During your initial Exchange 2003 installation, Exchange 2003 Setup creates a configuration connection agreement between Active Directory and your Exchange 5.5 site. Configuration connection agreements replicate Exchange-specific configuration information between the Exchange 5.5 directory and Active Directory. These agreements allow Exchange 2003 to coexist with Exchange 5.5.

You can also have a look at how to migrate from Exchange 5.5 in the Exchange 2003 Deployment guide...

Well after all of this, Michael mailed me back to tell me it was a DNS error.  Grrr!

Microsoft Exchange Server User Monitor

I found this on a forwarded mail the other day.  Its a previously internal only tool.   You can use the Microsoft Exchange Server User Monitor to gather real-time data to better understand current client usage patterns, and to plan for future work. Administrators can view several items, including IP addresses used by clients, versions and modes of Microsoft Office Outlook, and resources such as CPU usage, server-side processor latency, and total latency for network and processing with Outlook 2003 version MAPI.

I wish I'd had this tool when I migrated everything from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000.  It would have sorted out so many problems.....