I was reading the Pro Exchange site, when I noticed there are a couple of updated Exchange downloads. Here’s the list:

• Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1 - The Messaging API is a COM-like API that provides access to the contents of messaging stores. CDO 1.2.1 (Collaboration Data Objects, version 1.2.1) is a package providing access to Outlook-compatible objects through a COM-based API. Using either CDO or MAPI, a program can connect to a MAPI store, and then perform operations against that store. Starting with Exchange 2007, Microsoft will distribute the MAPI client libraries and CDO 1.2.1 as a Web download.
• Collaboration Data Objects, version 1.2.1 - CDO 1.2.1 (Collaboration Data Objects, version 1.2.1) is a package providing access to Outlook-compatible objects through a COM-based API. Using CDO, a program can connect to a MAPI store, and then perform operations against that store, including creating and processing calendar items, and resolving and handling mail recipients. Starting with Exchange 2007 and Outlook 2007, Microsoft will distribute CDO 1.2.1 as a Web download, separated from the two products.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes - The Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes supports the migration of Lotus Domino R5 and R6 mailboxes and associated Domino directory information to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. This tool replaces the Migration Wizard that ships with Exchange Server 2003 (including SP2), and includes improved retention of contents and Unicode characters during the migration from Domino to Exchange Server 2003.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes - The Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes supports messaging and calendaring interoperability between Lotus Domino R5/R6 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. This tool replaces the Connector that ships with Exchange Server 2003 (including SP2), and includes several updates to support better message fidelity when routing email between Exchange and Domino, support of iNotes and Domino Web Access clients, enhanced Unicode support and reliability.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes - The Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes supports the sharing of calendar free/busy schedules between Lotus Domino R5 and R6 and Exchange Server 2003. This tool replaces the Calendar Connector that ships with Exchange Server 2003 (including SP2), and is designed to be used with the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector.

I’m currently working on an article about backing up Exchange Server with DPM 2007. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in this subject, there are a couple of new and updated technical documents from Microsoft:

• Deploying System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 - Deploying DPM 2007 provides step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring DPM 2007, and includes an introduction to the DPM user interface. Deploying DPM 2007 also provides information on troubleshooting your DPM installation and how to repair and uninstall DPM 2007.
• DPM 2007 Pre-release Upgrade Guide - Upgrading Pre-release Versions of DPM 2007 provides step-by-step information for performing an upgrade from a pre-release version of DPM 2007 to DPM 2007 RTM, and includes any necessary upgrades to protection agents.
• System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Getting Started Guide - The DPM 2007 Getting Started Guide provides quick access to tasks required to protect and recover your data, and includes a Quick Start Guide that provides scaled down instructions for installing and configuring DPM 2007.
• Microsoft IT Deployment of System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 - Technical Case Study.

The Microsoft Exchange Team has published latest updates on technical documentation:

The Exchange Server documentation team is pleased to announce the following Exchange Server 2007 content.

• Service Pack 1 Highlights
• Common Criteria

You can see these articles and other Exchange Server documentation content in the Microsoft Exchange Server TechCenter.

Continue reading at http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/12/05/447692.aspx.

Paul Flaherty also keeps a monthly list of the latest downloads, webcasts, documentation and KB articles. You can read the full post at http://blog.flaphead.dns2go.com/archive/2007/12/12...7.aspx

Microsoft has just released the December update for the Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter.

“Install this update for Windows Mail to revise the definition files used to detect e-mail messages that should be considered junk e-mail or that may contain phishing content.”

The update is available through Microsoft Update or you can click the following links, according to your OS architecture:

• Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter (x32)
• Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter (x64)

As usual the update comes with the corresponding Knowledge Base article:

• Description of the definition updates for Windows Mail (KB905866)

Technorati : windows mail, junk email, spam
Del.icio.us : windows mail, junk email, spam

You can now download Microsoft Forefront Server Security Management Console Trial Version. The Forefront Server Security Management Console allows administrators to easily manage Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, and Microsoft Antigen.

Our team is really glad to announce that the Forefront Server Security Management Console (FSSMC) is now available here for free evaluation. FSSMC is the successor to Antigen Enterprise Manager (AEM) and includes lots of new features and improved performance, scalability and stability.

What is FSSMC?

FSSMC is a web-based central management console that allows administrators to easily manage Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint and Microsoft Antigen. The console provides centralized configuration and operation, automated download and distribution of signature and scan engine updates, and generation of comprehensive reports.

FSSMC also allows administrators to rapidly respond to outbreaks by updating protection across enterprise deployments, thereby improving organizational agility in responding to new threats.

What does FSSMC support?

• Use of SQL Server Express, SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 as the back-end database system
• Manage both Antigen 9 and the Forefront Server Security series of products (including the recent Service Packs for Forefront Server Security)
• Eleven localized languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian
• Support for Exchange 2007 CCR and Exchange 2003 clusters
• Cross forest server management support
• Cross domain user management support

Continue reading at http://blogs.technet.com/fss/archive/2007/12/12/fo...l.aspx

Overview
Forefront Server Security Management Console allows administrators to easily manage Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint and Microsoft Antigen, providing a web-based console to centralize configuration and operation, automate the download and distribution of signature and scan engine updates, and generate comprehensive reports. Forefront Server Security Management Console also allows administrators to rapidly respond to outbreaks and update protection across enterprise deployments, improving organizational agility in responding to new threats. Through integration with Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server, Forefront Server Security Management Console helps maintain reliability and performance of messaging and collaboration protection.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003

• 512 MB of available memory
• 64 MB of available disk space on an NTFS formatted drive for Forefront Server Security Management Console
• 186 MB of available disk space on an NTFS formatted drive for prerequisites listed below.
• IIS 6.0 or higher (with ASP.NET 2.0 enabled)
• SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition (SP3a recommended), SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition(or above), or SQL Server 2005 Express Edition - Forefront Server Security Management Console supports SQL Server 2005 Express Edition which will be installed when selecting the “Express Install” option.
• The following prerequisites are included in the trial download and installed automatically if they are not already present
  • .net Runtime v.2.0
  • MSMQ Triggers
  • MSXML 6.0 SP1

The site Pro Exchange will host a live meeting with Scott Schnoll.

I’m very proud and happy to be able to announce here that Scott Schnoll, Principal Technical Writer Exchange Team Microsoft Redmond, is going to spend an hour with us, Pro-Exchange, to explain some of the great high availability features included with Exchange 2007 (Sp1).

Here’s the short how? what? when? where?
What? An Online Meeting (using Microsoft Office Communications Server, what else
About? High Availability in Exchange Server 2007
When?  Monday, December 17th, 7pm-8pm
Where? Anywhere (hey, sounds like UC…), but you can also join me & Johan Delimon in Mechelen @ Global Knowledge to join the live meeting
Who? Scott Schnoll, great speaker (IT Forum, Exchange Connections), author (Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Distilled, and so many more), blogger, and senior technical writer (have a look at the SCR videos here)

Are you using Exchange Hosted Services? If yes, you may want to check the new Exchange Hosted Services Directory Synchronization Tool 7.3.

Brief Description
The Directory Synchronization Tool securely synchronizes valid end-user proxy addresses from your Active Directory to Exchange Hosted Services.

Overview
The Directory Synchronization Tool (DST) helps you keep your on-site Active Directory directory service and Microsoft Exchange Server environment synchronized with your Exchange Hosted Filtering, Exchange Hosted Archive, and Exchange Hosted Continuity services .

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2

• Active Directory (single-forest topology)
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (required for the Safelist Aggregation synchronization feature)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Instructions

For users installing the Directory Synchronization Tool for the first time:
If you are installing the Directory Synchronization Tool in your environment for the first time, use the following instructions to download and set up the tool:

1. Do one of the following:
   • For i386 environments, click EHSSyncSetup_i386.exe.
   • For 64-bit environments platforms, click EhsSyncSetup_AMD64.exe.
2. Click Run to begin the installation and configuration process. Or, click Save to save a copy of the file to your local computer.

For users have previously deployed the 6.0 version of the Directory Synchronization Tool:
If you have previously installed the 6.0 version of the Directory Synchronization Tool in your environment, you will need to upgrade your system to the new version. Use the following instructions to upgrade from Directory Synchronization Tool 6.0 to Directory Synchronization Tool 7.3:

1. Do one of the following:
   • For i386 environments, click EhsSync_i386.msi.
   • For 64-bit environments, click EhsSync_AMD64.msi.
2. Click Run to begin the installation and configuration process. Or, click Save to save a copy of the file to your local computer.

HP published an interesting white paper about Backup and recovery best practices for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Here’s a small excerpt from the TOC:

• Testing objectives
  • NTBackup with Exchange ESE streaming backup API
  • Backing up using 4 concurrent streams to 4 disks
  • Backing up using 4 concurrent streams to 4 tape drives
  • Backing up using 16 concurrent streams to 16 disks
  • Backing up using 16 concurrent streams to 4 disks
  • Backing up using 32 concurrent streams to 32 disks
  • Backing up using 10 concurrent streams to 10 tape drives
  • Testing summary
• Exchange 2007 backups and VSS
  • Exchange 2007 continuous replication and backups
    • Incremental backups
    • Passive database backups
    • Off-host database backups
  • VSS and streaming backups

And here are some of the conclusions:

This paper presented results and best practices derived from online streaming backup and recovery testing, and reported VSS backup testing observations. Both online and VSS backups can have a valid place in Exchange 2007 backup design.
The specific recommendations resulting from this work demonstrate that early planning can have a large impact on the ability to perform efficient, timely, and effective backup and restorations.
Planning considerations:

• Server workload is important to monitor. If the workload is low, consider reconfiguring your backup jobs for more concurrency, leading to better performance.
• Larger database sizes might not be better. Mailbox size needs to be manageable for faster restoration and decreased workload.
• Leverage storage groups to maximize concurrency, configuring storage groups on dedicated LUNs.

Findings:

• Based on four storage groups (the limit for Exchange 2003), no performance improvement was observed for disk-to-disk backup between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007. Disk-to-tape showed an approximate 15% performance improvement.
• By taking advantage of the new Exchange 2007 storage group limits, users can increase concurrent streams

The Microsoft Exchange Team has released a new video demonstrating how to upgrade a CCR cluster from Exchange 2007 RTM to SP1.

“To demonstrate upgrading a CCR cluster from Exchange 2007 RTM to SP1, I have created a video demo that takes you through the process of upgrading the passive node followed by upgrading the CMS to SP1 and finally upgrading the active node. This demo also demonstrates “Managing Clustered Mailbox Server” via the Exchange 2007 SP1 Exchange Management Console.

I also want to make a few points clear. The demo is actually for upgrading the entire CCR environment to SP1, not just the CMS.  It is important that both nodes be upgraded for the entire environment to work properly. I would also like to clarify that at some point in the video, I mention that before you do the upgrade, all resources on CCR-NodeA need to be taken offline or moved to the other node.  You should move the resources to the other node and NOT take them offline. This is because one of the groups should be the default Cluster Group, and if you take that offline, the cluster shuts down.”

The Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 Release Notes are available for download.

Overview
This download contains a standalone version of the Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 Release Notes. This release notes document includes information about how to install and configure this management pack. It also describes known issues about the product and suggested resolutions.
To correctly install and configure the Exchange 2007 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007, you must be familiar with the information specified in these release notes.

Related Resources

1. Management Pack Catalog
2. System Center Operations Manager 2007 Product Documentation
3. Exchange Server TechCenter
4. Operations Management and Monitoring of an Exchange Server 2007 Organization