If you’re not familiar with greylisting, it’s a spam-blocking strategy that relies on the simple fact that the vast majority of spam runs are produced by software that doesn’t actually implement a full SMTP sender. Early spammers tried to bounce spam through existing mail servers, but these are relatively easy to find and shut down (or block, at the router if need be). Instead, the typical spammer now uses a large number of clients (often botnets of zombies, or machines that have been infected with malware and can be remotely controlled by the miscreants) to perform a distributed run of messages. The spam literally comes from hundreds or thousands of discrete IP addresses, making it difficult to control by traditional listing methods.

Enter greylisting. What greylisting does is keep track of the properties of incoming connections, typically some combination of the source IP address, the envelope sender address, and the envelope recipient address. This combination is known as a triplet and is treated as a single data item, even though it’s really a composite of three fields. The first time a greylist engine sees a connection from a given triplet, it records that fact in its database and instructs the SMTP server to issue a temporary error. By design, when SMTP-compliant machines get a temporary error, they queue the message up and try to send it again in a short time.

Read the full article at Devin Ganger’s blog.

Technorati : exchange server, spam
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A while ago, I wrote an article about building an Exchange solution using iSCSI technology for the storage subsystem: Storage Design - Have You Considered iSCSI?

In case you don’t know, Internet SCSI (iSCSI) is an official standard that allows the use of the SCSI protocol over TCP/IP networks. Although you can use dedicated iSCSI hardware, the initiator (the client part) can be in the form of software, allowing you to use a standard Ethernet network adapter.

Microsoft provides its own initiator software which has been recently updated to version 2.03: Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator Version 2.03.

System Requirements
Windows XP Pro SP1 or later
Windows Server 2003 or later
Windows 2000 SP3 or later

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4; Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 for Itanium-based Systems; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for 64-Bit Itanium-Based Systems; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition; Windows Small Business Server 2003 ; Windows XP 64-bit; Windows XP Professional 64-Bit Edition (Itanium) ; Windows XP Professional 64-Bit Edition (Itanium) 2003; Windows XP Professional Edition ; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2

Technorati : exchange server, iscsi
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While reading Jason Langridge’s WebLog I found out about this new cool service: Outlook 2007 Mobile Service.

Outlook Mobile Service is a new feature in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 that you use to create and send text messages as well as multimedia messages to a mobile device from within Outlook in a manner similar to e-mail messages.

Outlook Mobile Service features

• Complete integration with Outlook - After it is installed, Outlook Mobile Service becomes a part of Outlook, with options for mobile messages available along with the options for e-mail messages. The mobile messages that you send will be saved in your Sent Items folder, just like the e-mail messages that you send. The mobile messages that you receive will be sent to your Inbox if you want them to be, just like regular e-mail messages. You can also save mobile messages in the Drafts folder for later use.
• Mobile text and multimedia messages sent directly from your computer - Outlook Mobile Service helps you create text and multimedia messages on your computer. Type the message that you want, add pictures or sounds to your multimedia message if you want, and preview the message before you send it.
• E-mail messages, reminders, and calendar summaries forwarded to your mobile phone - You can configure your Outlook Mobile Service account to forward e-mail messages and calendar appointments to your mobile phone when you are away from the office.
• Both e-mail and mobile messages sent at the same time - With Outlook Mobile Service, you can send a message to mobile phones and e-mail addresses at the same time. The message will be sent as a mobile message to the mobile phones and as an e-mail message to the e-mail addresses. There is no need to send the message twice.
• A new mobile address book - A mobile address book that lists information about your mobile contacts is created when you create an Outlook Mobile Service account. Contacts with mobile phone number information in your Outlook Address Book will be added to this address book automatically.
• AutoResolve contacts - If you enter partial names when sending a mobile message, the AutoResolve feature will search for the contacts that match your entry and complete them.
• Right now it looks like only US providers are available, but be sure to visit regularly the OMS Hosting Providers, maybe they’ll expand the service to Europe.

Technorati : mobility, outlook
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I’ve just arrived from Barcelona where I attended the biggest Microsoft technical event here in europe: Tech•Ed IT Forum 2006.

Right now, there so many things in my head, probably because there are so many new exciting product coming up. Of course the one I’m more interested in is Exchange Server 2007, which will be available in early December.

And it was about these new products that Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft, during his opening keynote emphasized the increased value that Windows Vista, the Microsoft Office system 2007, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server “Longhorn” will bring to customers’ IT environments. Read the full Press Release: Microsoft Readies IT Customers for Windows Vista, the 2007 Office System, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

So, there’s a “Ready for a New Day” event coming to a town near you. Keep an eye on your local Microsoft site and be among the first IT professionals to experience first hand the new releases of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows Vista and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

Technorati : exchange server 2007, it forum, tech ed
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Microsoft Voice Command 1.6 has been released and is available at Handango.

Voice Command transforms your Smartphone into your own virtual personal assistant, letting you use your voice to look up contacts, make phone calls, get calendar information, play and control your music, as well as start programs. Voice Command makes it easier and more convenient than ever to take your digital lifestyle with you wherever you go.

Voice Command Benefits:

• Speaker independent: no voice training required
• New! Bluetooth hands free control: Bluetooth hands free control enhances your hands free eyes free experience and adds privacy to your spoken notifications. Now you can initiate a Voice Command interaction using a Bluetooth headset and some Hands free car kits*. You can also receive spoken notifications in a whisper mode through the Bluetooth headset keeping you privately up to date
• New! Spoken Email notifications: You can now configure Voice Command to speak the subject and sender of incoming email messages and the content of SMS messages as they arrive
• Spoken Caller ID: Pocket PC Phone Edition and Smartphone users can take full advantage of incoming caller ID without ever looking down at the screen. Incoming call information is announced as calls are received. Users who think they may have missed a call can simply ask, “What calls did I miss?” and Voice Command will recite the time and phone number of missed calls
• Voice-controlled utilities: Users can start any program in the Start menu or programs folder, such as Inbox, Calculator or Solitaire. They can get signal strength, battery level, time and date by voice. Voice Command will even alert users when the battery is getting low to ensure strong battery life on the go
• Voice-controlled hands-free phone: Whether in the car, at the airport or walking down the street, people will enjoy true hands-free eyes-free phone conversations without ever having to look at the device to manually dial a number. You can simply say any name from your contact list with the appropriate command. Voice Command will even announce incoming calls
• Voice-controlled media player: Voice Command turns your Windows Mobile 5.0 device into a super cool personal DJ that lets you play your favorite music by artist, album or genre using voice instead of having to search through a long list
• Voice-controlled calendar lookup: Regardless of your location, you can simply ask your device about the next appointment or for your calendar for the day, and the time, subject and location of each entry will be read aloud or privately through the Bluetooth headset

Technorati : direct push, exchange server, windows mobile
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Now that the final version of PowerShell has finally RTM’d (read It’s a Wrap! Windows PowerShell 1.0 Released! on the the blog of the Windows PowerShell team), Microsoft has also released the Windows PowerShell 1.0 Documentation Pack.

The documents included are:

• The “Getting Started Guide”, a 32-page introduction to using the shell and the Powerscript language supported by the Windows PowerShell (GettingStarted.rtf).
• A Windows PowerShell Language Quick Reference (quadfold.rtf).
• The “PowerShell User Guide” (userguide.rtf), a companion document to the Getting Started Guide. You should get yourself familiar with the contents of the Getting Started Guide as this document will build on the content and concepts of the Getting Started document.
  In this guide, you will find the features of the new shell documented with examples of how to use the new shell along with reasons for the behavioral choices that were made as this shell was being built. Also, this document includes examples of how to migrate VBScript to Powerscritp. Lastly, this document contains information for VB and C# developers and how Powerscript differs from those environments and how, as a developer, you can take full advantage of this new shell.
• Windows PowerShell V1.0 (for .NET Framework 2.0 RTM) Release Note (releaseNotes.rtf)

Technorati : exchange server, monad, powershell
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There has been some noise around Windows Mobile security, more specifically, analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates said the way Microsoft Exchange and Windows Mobile 5 handle data transfer leaves sensitive corporate data inadequately protected. The software can only transfer unencrypted data to devices, and Windows Mobile doesn’t provide any encryption options on the device, Gold said in the report, called “Microsoft’s Direct Push Insecurity”. You can read the full story in this article, Analyst blasts Windows Mobile security, from Computerworld.

Well, Jason Langridge from Microsoft doesn’t think the same way, so he exposes his thoughts in his blog. If you’re concerned about this issue, make sure you read DIRECT PUSH SECURITY FUD.

Technorati : exchange server, mobility, security
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I blogged about Windows Live Local Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook a couple of months ago. This cool add-in has been recently updated to version 2.1. Get it here.

Add maps to Outlook…
• Send your Microsoft Outlook® meeting requests with maps you can see in road, aerial, or bird’s eye view. *
• Use real-time traffic updates to help avoid accident or rush hour delays and find the best routes. *
• Print precise driving directions “to go”, then save the details to view when you are offline.
• If you have installed Microsoft MapPoint® 2006, access your map in MapPoint when offline.

…with features that save time…
Make Outlook meeting notices more useful then ever!
• Send maps and directions to meeting attendees to help them arrive on time-even those without Windows Live Local for Outlook.
• Create friendly names for frequently used locations such as “Downtown office”.
• Receive meeting reminders based on the estimated travel times.

…and search locally to find nearby places.
• View your map on the Windows Live Local Website to quickly locate places near your meeting location such as restaurants, hotels, office stores and gas stations.

*Bird’s eye views are available in most major U.S. cities. For traffic availability, visit local.live.com and on the action bar, click “traffic”.

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Matt Stehle, a Microsoft Support Engineer as a nice post about messaging development, where he points out the new features of Exchange 2007 and also the discontinued features and de-emphasized functionality.

Discontinued Features and De-Emphasized Functionality
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/excha...r=true

Here are the development features that are discontinued…

APIs and Development Features

• Transport event hooks: Retain a computer that is running Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 in the Exchange 2007 organization if you need this functionality.
• Workflow Designer that was included with the Exchange 2003 SDK: Use Windows Workflow Services (WWS).
• Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) for Workflow that was included with Exchange 2003: Use Windows Workflow Services (WWS).
• Microsoft Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Management (CDOEXM): Retain a computer that is running Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 in the Exchange 2007 organization if you need this functionality.
• Exchange Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) classes: Retain a computer that is running Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 in the Exchange 2007 organization if you need this functionality.
• MAPI client and CDO 1.2.1 on the Exchange installation: Exchange 2007 no longer depends on these components. They are a separate component that will be available for download. For more information about how to download the required components, see MAPI client and CDO 1.1.2 and CDO, version 1.2.1.

Here are the development features that are de-emphasized…

There are legacy Exchange features that are now being deemphasized in Exchange 2007:

• Public folders - Free/busy calendaring functionality is provided by the Availability service. If you need additional functionality, migrate to SharePoint Portal Server or a similar product.
• Proxy address generators - Use the Exchange Management Shell.
• CDO 1.2.1 - This functionality is provided by the Exchange Web Services.
• MAPI32 - This functionality is provided by the Exchange Web Services.
• CDOEX (CDO 3.0) - This functionality is provided by the Exchange Web Services.
• Exchange WebDAV extensions - This functionality is provided by the Exchange Web Services.
• ExOLEDB - This functionality is provided by the Exchange Web Services.
• Store events - This functionality is provided by the Notification Web service.
• Streaming backup APIs.
• Exchange 2003 Virus Scanning Application Programming Interface (VSAPI).”

Keep in mind that de-emphasized features will still be supported to work on or against Exchange 2007 but we will strongly discourage you from writing new solutions that use these APIs.

New Development Functionality
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/excha...r=true

Technorati : CDO, CDONTS, exchange 2007
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Govtech.net has a podcast about Exchange security available freely (requires registration) - Exchange Security: A Quick Primer.

ABSTRACT: Today’s complex Exchange environments are costly and difficult to protect and secure from threats like spam, spyware, malware and viruses. This 12-minute expert Podcast features a summary of the key issues pertaining to the security of Microsoft Exchange in enterprise environments.
Download this expert Podcast and learn how to secure your company’s Exchange environment and reduce downtime and lost productivity due to attacks on your messaging system. Listen to this expert Podcast anytime and learn how to:

• Secure your company’s Outlook Web Access
• Handle spam with Exchanges’ intelligent message filter
• Secure remote clients with RPC over HTTPS instead of VPN
• Control Exchange message delivery
• And more

Technorati : exchange server, security
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