I work a lot with customers who are migrating from non-Microsoft mail platforms to Microsoft based ones, be that Exchange Online in Office 365 or on-prem. One of the interesting differences that comes up a lot for customers migrating is the difference between Exchange/Outlook and Domino/Notes and how shared mailboxes are handled. It’s a learning curve and big change for many companies that use shared mailboxes for customer service, sales inquiries, and other purposes, and interestingly enough, the default way that Domino/Notes handles sent and deleted items actually seems to be the more intuitive choice when compared to how Exchange/Outlook handles them. Continue reading Troubleshooting Shared Mailboxes and Sent Items

There’s a new tool out from the Exchange Team that you should know about. It’s a guided walkthrough for troubleshooting public folder replication in Exchange 2003. Yes, that’s right, a tool for a version of Exchange that is in extended support, and should be well on its way to retirement. Why should you care about something for a product that is near the end of its support lifecycle? There’s a couple of reasons actually. If you have any Exchange 2003 still in your environment, read on. Continue reading New Tool For Troubleshooting Exchange 2003 Public Folder Replication

Being mobile is extremely important these days, as users will most likely be checking their mail on their phone. To insure that your system is mobile friendly across multiple phone OS’s, take the necessary precautions when adding mobile configurations. In some cases iOS 6.1 or 6.1.1 does not work as expected and causes the system to consume excess resources, thus lowering your entire systems speed. If this issue continues it will only create more problems for every user on the system. Continue reading iOS 6.1 Devices can Cause an Enormous Amount of Data Usage on Exchange 2010

Last Summer I wrote an article called “Firewalls Between Exchange Servers? Not On My Network!” where I addressed some of the supportability issues that come up when the network and/or security team wants to put a firewall between various components of an Exchange infrastructure. In that post, I discussed why this was unsupported, that it was a bad idea to do it anyway, and what one could expect if one went ahead and did it anyway. In short, bad things. Continue reading Got Firewalls? Read This Now.

Exchange followers found a tantalizing morsel in their inbox last week. “Save the date. MEC is coming. April 2014. See, we told you it wouldn’t be another 10 years!”

Yes, flushed with the success of “The Lost Conference” last year in Orlando, Microsoft is planning a reprise, although a few details have yet to be worked out. For starters, when and where the conference will be held.

Details or no, Microsoft apparently wants to keep the pot of enthusiasm generated from MEC 2012 percolating. The conference drew generally good notices from attendees, like Michael Van Horenbeeck.

“To be honest, MEC 2012 was epic — at least it was to me,” he wrote in a blog recently. “People should have good reasons to be excited about the upcoming MEC.”

News of the announcement spread quickly with the help of social media, as did speculation about all aspects of the event. Continue reading MEC Will Return in 2014

Exchange server admins, Apple iPhone/iPad owners, and anyone who read my post from earlier this month on the problems iOS 6.1 was causing with Exchange will all be delighted to learn that last week the team from Cupertino released iOS 6.1.2 for Apple iPhones and iPads. Available to download for iPhone 3GS and later, iPad 2 and later, iPod touch 4th generation and later, and iPhone 5, the download was made available to install on compatible iOS devices on February 19^th. iOS version 6.1.2 is identified on the Apple site as DL1639, and has one of the most underwhelming descriptions of any update I have ever seen! Continue reading iOS 6.1.2 Released – Fixes Exchange Calendar Bug Issue

Microsoft knows what Oracle is going through right now with its Java programming language.

At one time, its Windows operating system was a prime target for hackers. It was said a Windows computer that connected to the Internet without virus protection would be infected in seconds.

Java is in the same boat. Oracle has been plugging holes in the software for more than a year in what often seems like an unending game of vulnerability wackamole.

For example, earlier this month, Oracle rolled out a massive update to Java 7 that addressed 50 security threats in the software. This week — after widely publicized attacks on Facebook and Apple through Java vulnerabilities — Oracle rolled out another security update with five additional fixes. Continue reading Exchange 2013 Can Blunt Java Security Threats

A serious problem with the implementation of Exchange ActiveSync in the latest version of Apple’s iOS mobile operating system was addressed this week in an OS update.

Meanwhile, administrators were alerted by Blackberry that a flaw was discovered in its server software that could be exploited to run code on it remotely.

Apple’s update, version 6.1.2 of iOS, fixes a problem that occurs when a device accepts an exception to a recurring calendar event. Continue reading Apple Fixes ActiveSync Bug, Blackberry Stumbles

In what will prove to be a bad day both for Apple fans and BYOD proponents, the latest version of iOS released recently is causing so many problems for some Exchange admins that they may be forced to block these devices! iOS 6.1 was released on January 28^th, and was supposed to include feature updates, bug fixes, increased compatibility with LTE carriers globally, and some security updates. But there are a growing number of reports that 6.1 also comes with decreased battery life, which is completely believable based on what many Exchange admins are seeing iOS 6.1 devices doing to their CAS servers. Continue reading Bad Apple? iOS 6.1 Causing Exchange Problems

After Jan. 30, Google will be cutting the cord for new users of its online applications who use Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). The Search Behemoth made the announcement last December in a move that Microsoft found surprising.

How surprised Microsoft actually was is the subject of some speculation after some unnamed sources told The Verge that Google warned Microsoft on the q.t. that the move was coming months before it was made public.

Regardless of whether Microsoft was surprised or not, the company has reportedly begun scrambling to ensure that its faithful who purchase devices running Windows software after Google’s arbitrary deadline and want to use Google Web apps like Gmail and Google Calendar won’t be left out in the cold.

Microsoft has asked Google to extend ActiveSync support for another six months. That request appears to have fallen on deaf ears, as Google’s response to the plea has been silence.

Microsoft is also working on adding support for DAV to a future version of Windows Phone, its mobile operating system. DAV is an open source protocol for syncing information like appointments and contacts. Continue reading Microsoft, Google Continue Sparring over ActiveSync