Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 has been released and I already downloaded and installed it on a multi role server without issues. The only issue right now is that KB2706690 that describes all changes seems to be unavailable at the moment, but I guess that will be fixed soon.

Download Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 here

The list of fixes in RU1 for Exchange 2010 SP2 is quite impressive!

I’m really glad I can now add full permissions to a mailbox without waiting for the user picker… Or at least a good friend of mine is!

• 2465015 You cannot view or download an image on a Windows Mobile-based device that is synchronized with an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox
• 2492066 An automatic reply message is still sent after you clear the "Allow automatic replies" check box for a remote domain on an Exchange Server 2010 server
• 2492082 An Outlook 2003 user cannot view the free/busy information of a resource mailbox in a mixed Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2007 environment
• 2543850 A GAL related client-only message rule does not take effect in Outlook in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2545231 Users in a source forest cannot view the free/busy information of mailboxes in a target forest in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2549255  A meeting item displays incorrectly as multiple all-day events when you synchronize a mobile device on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox
• 2549286  Inline contents disposition is removed when you send a "Content-Disposition: inline" email message in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2556113  It takes a long time for a user to download an OAB in an Exchange Server 2010 organization
• 2557323  Problems when viewing an Exchange Server 2003 user’s free/busy information in a mixed Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2563245 A user who has a linked mailbox cannot use a new profile to access another linked mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2579051 You cannot move certain mailboxes from an Exchange Server 2003 server to an Exchange Server 2010 server
• 2579982  You cannot view the message delivery report of a signed email message by using Outlook or OWA in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2585649 The StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 script fails in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2588121 You cannot manage a mail-enabled public folder in a mixed Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2589982 The cmdlet extension agent cannot process multiple objects in a pipeline in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2591572 "Junk e-mail validation error" error message when you manage the junk email rule for a user’s mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2593011  Warning 2074 and Error 2153 are logged on DAG member servers in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2598985 You cannot move a mailbox from a remote legacy Exchange forest to an Exchange Server 2010 forest
• 2599434 A Public Folder Calendar folder is missing in the Public Folder Favorites list of an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox
• 2599663 The Exchange RPC Client Access service crashes when you send an email message in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2600034 A user can still open an IRM-protected email message after you remove the user from the associated AD RMS rights policy template in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2600289 A user in an exclusive scope cannot manage his mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2600943  EMC takes a long time to return results when you manage full access permissions in an Exchange Server 2010 organization that has many users
• 2601483 "Can’t open this item" error message when you use Outlook 2003 in online mode in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2604039 The MSExchangeMailboxAssistants.exe process crashes frequently after you move mailboxes that contain IRM-protect email messages to an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 mailbox server
• 2604713  ECP crashes when a RBAC role assignee tries to manage another user’s mailbox by using ECP in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2614698 A display name that contains DBCS characters is corrupted in the "Sent Items" folder in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2616124  Empty message body when replying to a saved message file in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
• 2616230 IMAP4 clients cannot log on to Exchange Server 2003 servers when the Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server is used to handle proxy requests
• 2616361 Multi-Mailbox Search fails if the MemberOfGroup property is used for the management scope in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2616365 Event ID 4999 when the Store.exe process crashes on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox server
• 2619237 Event ID 4999 when the Exchange Mailbox Assistants service crashes in Exchange 2010
• 2620361  An encrypted or digitally-signed message cannot be printed when S/MIME control is installed in OWA in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
• 2620441 Stop-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup or Start-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup cmdlet fails when run together with the DomainController parameter in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2621266  An Exchange Server 2010 database store grows unexpectedly large
• 2621403 "None" recipient status in Outlook when a recipient responds to a meeting request in a short period of time in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2628154 "The action couldn’t be completed. Please try again." error message when you use OWA to perform an AQS search that contains "Sent" or "Received" in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
• 2628622  The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service crashes in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2628693  Multi-Mailbox Search fails if you specify multiple users in the "Message To or From Specific E-Mail Addresses" option in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2629713 Incorrect number of items for each keyword when you search for multiple keywords in mailboxes in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2629777 The Microsoft Exchange Replication service crashes on Exchange Server 2010 DAG members
• 2630708  A UM auto attendant times out and generates an invalid extension number error message in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2630967  A journal report is not sent to a journaling mailbox when you use journaling rules on distribution groups in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2632206  Message items rescanned in the background in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2633044 The Number of Items in Retry Table counter displays an incorrect value that causes SCOM alerts in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 organization
• 2639150 The MSExchangeSyncAppPool application pool crashes in a mixed Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2640218  The hierarchy of a new public folder database does not replicate on an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 server
• 2641077 The hierarchy of a new public folder database does not replicate on an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 server
• 2642189 The RPC Client Access service may crash when you import a .pst file by using the New-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2643950 A seed operation might not succeed when the source mailbox database has many log files in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 DAG
• 2644047  Active Directory schema attributes are cleared after you disable a user’s mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2644264  Disabling or removing a mailbox fails in an Exchange Server 2010 environment that has Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 or Lync Server 2010 deployed
• 2648682  An email message body is garbled when you save or send the email message in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2649727 Client Access servers cannot serve other Mailbox servers when a Mailbox server encounters a problem in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2649734  Mailbox replication latency may occur when users perform a Multi-Mailbox Search function against a DAG in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
• 2649735 Warning of undefined recipient type of a user after the linked mailbox is moved from an Exchange Server 2007 forest to an Exchange Server 2010 forest
• 2652849  The MailboxCountQuota policy is not enforced correctly in an Exchange Server 2010 hosting mode
• 2665115 Event ID 4999 is logged on an Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server (CAS)

In my previous blog I went through how to install Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2 a Exchange server. In this post I will show how to install SP2 on a server that is a member of a Database Availability Group, DAG. The setup is pretty much the same but there are some things to keep in mind before installing.

Note! Service Packs should be installed on the different server roles in this order: CAS, HUB, MBX

Before we start installing we want to move databases that are mounted on this server to another server in the DAG.

To do that go to the /Scripts directory, you could do that by simply write

cd $exscripts

StartDagServerMaintenance.ps1 –Servername “Name of server to install on”

After the script has run, you can check that all databases on the server are passive copies by running:

Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus

It says status Healthy witch means it’s a passive copy, a mounted copy would state Mounted

So let’s close Exchange Management Shell and start an elevated cmd.exe

From the cmd run:

setup /m:upgrade

Almost exactly half an hour later I see the this:

So the final step is to put the server out of maintenance by running:

cd $exscripts

StopDagServerMaintenance.ps1 -Servername “Name of server to install on”

And finally we see that the AdminDisplayVersion on the mailbox server I just updated (LAB-MBX-E2K10-1) is Version 14.2 (Build 247.5)

Time to do it all over again on the other servers in your DAG!

Happy patching!

As you probably know Service Pack 2 was released today and I wanted to let you know what the install process is like so here’s the “Unboxing SP2” (I know I have been watching to much new gadgets getting unpacked on YouTube).

GUI Setup

I always recommend starting the install of a hotfix (Rollup update) or service pack from a elevated (run as admin) cmd to avoid trouble with UAC. Don’t forget to be logged on as a account with Exchange rights!

Navigate to the directory where you got your SP2 install files.

I will start by showing how to run the setup with the GUI, command line version is described later on.

Simply type setup in your cmd prompt and hit Enter

My first server to get Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2 is a combined CAS and HUB server and you should always start by installing SP2 on CAS then HUB and last Mailbox.

It will bring up this screen and you just click “Install Microsoft Exchange Server upgrade”

Hit next on the into page.

After carefully reading,  accept the License Agreement

Now the setup will check if your organization and your server is ready for upgrade. If you are upgrading a Exchange 2010 Client Access Server you will probably hit this:

Error:

The ‘IIS 6 WMI Capability’ component is required. Install the component via Server Manager

So to solve this we fire up PowerShell (run as admin)

Type:

Import-Module Servermanager

Add-WindowsFeature Web-WMI

Return to the SP2 Setup and click Retry and you should end up with a happy Readiness Check like this:

Hit Upgrade and you are on your way to build number 14.2.247.5

Installation is done! On a virtual server with 3 GB RAM it took less than an hour to install.

As you can see below the AdminDisplayVersion on the server LAB-CASE2k10-1 is now Version 14.2 (Build 247.5) meaning Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2!

Command line Setup

The command line setup is really simple and you start off the same way as above:

Start a elevated cmd

Navigate to your Exchange 2010 SP2 files and run:

Setup /m:upgrade /InstallWindowsComponents

By adding /InstallWindowsComponents you don’t have to add the Web-WMI component manually.

Then setup will check you organization and your server and if no issues are detected it will install SP2.

I left out the Office 2010 Filter Packs on this server but as you can see the setup will continue without them installed, though is a good recommendation to install them!

The install in this case was done on a virtual server with 2,5 GB RAM and took 48 minuets so very equal to the GUI version.

And now the second server (LAB-CASE2K10-2) also has a AdminDisplayVersion of 14.2 (Build 247.15)

Happy patching!

Just hours ago Microsoft released SP2 for Exchange 2010. Here’s a link for the download.

Service Pack 2 includes hotfixes as usual and some new features mentioned in Announcing Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2 as:

• Outlook Web App (OWA) Mini: A browse-only version of OWA designed for low bandwidth and resolution devices. Based on the existing Exchange 2010 SP1 OWA infrastructure, this feature provides a simple text based interface to navigate the user’s mailbox and access to the global address list from a plurality of mobile devices.
• Cross-Site Silent Redirection for Outlook Web App: With Service Pack 2, you will have the ability to enable silent redirection when CAS must redirect an OWA request to CAS infrastructure located in another Active Directory site. Silent redirection can also provide a single sign-on experience when Forms-Based Authentication is used.
• Hybrid Configuration Wizard: Organizations can choose to deploy a hybrid scenario where some mailboxes are on-premises and some are in Exchange Online with Microsoft Office 365. Hybrid deployments may be needed for migrations taking place over weeks, months or indefinite timeframes. This wizard helps simplify the configuration of Exchange sharing features, like: calendar and free/busy sharing, secure mailflow, mailbox moves, as well as online archive.
• Address Book Policies: Allows organizations to segment their address books into smaller scoped subsets of users providing a more refined user experience than the previous manual configuration approach. We also blogged about this new feature recently in GAL Segmentation, Exchange Server 2010 and Address Book Policies.
• Customer Requested Fixes: All fixes contained within update rollups released prior to Service Pack 2 will also be contained within SP2. Details of our regular Exchange 2010 release rhythm can be found in Exchange 2010 Servicing.

Happy install!

As Kevin Allison mentioned at DevConnections Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2 will arrive in Q4 this year. The team has also announced some the stuff that will be in SP2 like Address Book Policies, OWA Mini and of course a bunch of fixes.

But if you are as curios as I am and want information about more things that will come with SP2 there are some more sources to use…

A look at the Exchange Server Active Directory Schema Changes Reference, October 2011 for example.

It will reveal things like:

• new custom attributes added so now a total of 45
• new attributes to Mail-Recipient (company and department)
• a great number of attributes to support Address Book Policies

Feel free to download the changes above, I just want to point out that it’s a .doc file (actually two, including the license) and will not to anything to your schema. Yes I was asked that question!

I have been in the process of writing this blog for a long time and now it’s finally here. The reason for this blog is that after you install Exchange 2010 you can no longer install a previous version of Exchange into the same organization (in a supported way). You might think that that is not a problem and you are probably right but there are two scenarios when you might run into problems.

1. If you ever need to migrate from Lotus Domino to Exchange
2. If you need WebDAV

Migration

Let’s talk a bit about the first scenario and why this might be a problem.

When you perform you Schema updates for Exchange 2010 (or run the setup witch will update the schema for you) you will be prompted with a warning:

Setup is going to prepare the organization for Exchange 2010 by using ‘Setup /PrepareAD’.  No Exchange 2007 server roles have been detected in this topology.  After this operation, you will not be able to install any Exchange 2007 server roles.

So when you want to migrate mailboxes from Lotus Domino you could do that with Microsoft Transporter Suite. As stated in the overview it’s only supported for Exchange 2007

Transporter Suite contains a set of tools for migrations from both Lotus Domino Servers, and generic IMAP/POP sources. For Lotus Domino the suite contains a set of tools for Directory and Free/Busy interoperability between Lotus Domino 6, 7 and 8 and Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server 2003/2008 Active Directory. In addition for Lotus Domino the suite contains migration tools to migrate users, groups, personal address lists, mailboxes, personal mail archives, and applications from Lotus Domino 5, 6, 7 or 8 to Active Directory, Exchange Server 2007, and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. For generic POP/IMAP servers the suite contains a set of tools to bulk migrate mailboxes from any generic email servers that support the POP3 or IMAP4 protocol to mailboxes in Exchange Server 2007

There is no Transporter Suite for Exchange 2010 so this means that you would have to use a Exchange 2007 server to migrate your Lotus Domino data to Exchange.

So if you are about to install Exchange 2010 and might need to migrate from Domino, think about installing a Exchange 2007 first. Please also read the last part of this blog for more info about things to think about

If you already installed Exchange 2010 and now find you self in a situation where you need to migrate Domino to Exchange 2010 there are some third party tools you can use, BinaryTree and Quest.

WebDAV

The second reason for installing a Exchange 2007 server before you install Exchange 2010 could be WebDAV. WebDAV is not a part of Exchange 2010 so if you have systems that use WebDAV you will need to have a Exchange 2007 server for that purpose.

Things to think about

If you for any reason needs a Exchange 2007 server on your way to Exchange 2010 there are some things you should think about:

Routing Groups

When you install a Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server into a Exchange 2003 organization you will be asked to point out a Exchange 2003 server. The reason for this is to set up a routing group connector between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007.

Screenshot from Exchange 2007 setup

After you select a Exchange 2003 server setup will create a routing group connector between the server you install and the selected Exchange 2003 server. So what’s the problem with that? Well since the dialog in the screenshot above only will show up when you install your first Hub Transport server there is a possible risk of single point of failure and if you only have your Exchange 2007 server for “better safe then sorry” purpose then you might not care that much about it an possible even shut it down with the result of no mail flow between Exchange 2003 and 2007/2010.

To avoid that to happen you can use Exchange Management Shell to configure the RGC with multiple bridgehead servers.

[PS] C:\>Set-RoutingGroupConnector <Name of RGC> -TargetTransportServers <Name of Exchange Server> -SourceTransportServers <Name of Exchange Server>

Note: By default there are two routing group connectors created, enter multiple Target and Source Transport servers on both.

When you install your Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Servers it’s a good idea to include them as well.

Virtual Directories

After you install your Exchange 2010 servers you probably don’t want clients to access the “temporary” Exchange 2007 box so the are a few things to configure to avoid that.

Here are the settings I change (in these examples loadbalancer.mailmaster.local represent the internal Exchange 2010 load balancer and webmail.mailmaster.se the external URL, in my case a TMG Server)

Set-ClientAccessServer Exchange2007server -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri:"https://loadbalancer.mailmaster.local/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml"

Set-OwaVirtualDirectory "Exchange2007server\owa (Default Web Site)" -InternalUrl: “https://loadbalancer.mailmaster.local/owa” -ExternalUrl:”https://webmail.mailmaster.se/owa”

Set-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory "Exchange2007Server\Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync (Default Web Site)" -InternalUrl: “https://loadbalancer.mailmaster.local/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync” -ExternalUrl:”https://webmail.mailmaster.se/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync”

Set-OabVirtualDirectory "Exchange2007Server\OAB (Default Web Site)" -InternalUrl: “https://loadbalancer.mailmaster.local/oab” -ExternalUrl:”https://webmail.mailmaster.se/oab”

Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory "Exchange2007Server\EWS (Default Web Site)" -InternalUrl: “https://loadbalancer.mailmaster.local/EWS/Exchange.asmx” -ExternalUrl:”https://webmail.mailmaster.se/EWS/Exchange.asmx”

If you perform the above you can shut down your Exchange 2007 server and there will still be mail flow and client will still be able to connect to your Exchange 2010 servers.

Some other questions I can imagine can arise…

Q: Can I shut down the “temp Exchange 2007 server” and forget about it?

A: No! If you do the computer object will get tomb stoned in  Active Directory so the server should be online once in a while to prevent that. If you want to check how long you tombstone time is, check this out

Q: Can I uninstall the “temp Exchange 2007 server” and reinstall if needed?

A: No! To be honest I have tried that and I can actually get it to work but I have asked this question to members of the Exchange product group and got a no. It might be that it hasn’t been tested…

Q: How do I uninstall the “temp Exchange 2007 server” when I no longer need it (and I’m SURE I don’t need it)?

Nothing special here, you uninstall it like you would with any Exchange 2007 server, here’s a How to…

Q: Do you really install this “temp Exchange 2007 server” at every customer before you install Exchange 2010?

A: No! But I make sure the customer understands the pros and cons with that BEFORE I install Exchange 2010

Q: Will there be a change in SP1 regarding this?

A: To my knowledge no!

Additional information:

Cannot install Exchange 2007 roles after you prepare Active Directory for Exchange 2010

Installing Exchange 2003/2007 in an Exchange 2010 Environment