Microsoft released Antigen 9.0 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007.

Brief Description
This Antigen 9.0 management pack for Operations Manager 2007 supports the 9.0 versions of Microsoft Antigen for Exchange or Microsoft Antigen for SMTP Gateways. Requires OpsMgr 2007 MOM 2005 Backward Compatibility MP Update 6.0.5000.16.

Overview
This management pack is designed to monitor Antigen for Exchange and Antigen for SMTP Gateways events, collecting component-specific performance counters in one central location, and raising alerts for operator intervention as necessary. By detecting, sending alerts, and automatically responding to critical events, this MP helps indicate, correct, and prevent possible service outages or configuration problems, allowing you to proactively manage Antigen and identify issues before they become critical.

If you live in the UK, you may want to attend the Exchange 2007 Migration Workshop, delivered by the Microsoft Partner Readiness Team.

Dates currently scheduled are:

• 7/3/2008 – Reading
• 14/3/2008 – London
• 28/3/2008 – Manchester

Gold and Certified partners will be charged £100 to attend, Registered will be charged £150.

“Two Exchange 2007 migration scenarios will be addressed; migration and coexistence within a native Exchange 200x organisation and migration from Exchange 200x to a new Exchange 2007 organisation. The sessions consist of presentations, demonstrations and Q and A. The sessions assume good knowledge of Exchange 200x design and administration and some familiarity with Exchange 2007. Migration from Exchange 5.5 or other mail systems will not be covered.“

Read more at source: Exchange 2007 Migration Workshop

In case you read my latest article - Continuous Backup for Exchange Server with DPM 2007 (Part 1) -  and you are interested in System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007, you’ll be glad to know there is a small update on the DPM 2007 Operations Guide (v1.1).

Overview
Provides targeted practical guidance for performing the most frequent and critical administrative tasks in DPM 2007.

Abstract
This guide provides recommendations for monitoring and managing DPM servers, tape libraries, protected file servers and workstations, and protected servers running SQL Server, Exchange Server, and Windows SharePoint Services. The guide also provides instructions for disaster recovery.

Microsoft Transporter Suite version 08.02.0012.005 is now available to download. This is just a small update since the last release.

Make sure you also read Microsoft Transporter Suite Release Notes.

Brief Description
Microsoft Transporter Suite is a set of interoperability and migration tools to migrate content from Lotus Domino servers or Generic POP/IMAP servers. 

Overview
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 or 7 and Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server 2003 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 or 7 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.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003

32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft Windows XP with latest updates, 32-bit or 64-bit Windows Vista with latest updates, or 32-bit or 64-bit Windows Server 2003 with latest updates, Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Management Console 2007 are required to migrate users and/or mail, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is required to migrate applications.

If you want additional information about the migration process, I wrote some notes from the field on my other blog.

Microsoft has just released the February 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

If you want to know the latest updates, the cool webcasts and any other information related to Exchange 2007 and Unified Communications, I’ve gathered a couple of links that might be useful.

From the You Had Me At EHLO blog, we get to know the latest documentation updates and downloads:

• Mobile Device Security and Exchange 2007
• White Paper: Configuring Virtual Organizations and Address List Segregation in Exchange 2007
• White Paper: Integrating Exchange 2003 in a Complex X.400 Infrastructure
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Help
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Shell Help

Then, from the Technical RollUp blog, we get:

• February 2008 - Technical Rollup Mail - Unified Communications

Finally, Paul has the usual monthly post which gathers all kind of information:

• A Month in Exchange: February 2008

Microsoft finally published official information about “shared hosting” with Exchange 2007. If you read my articles about Shared Hosting with Exchange 2007, you probably noticed the disclaimers stating that Microsoft would soon publish related documentation.

Well, the wait is over, you can now read the White Paper: Configuring Virtual Organizations and Address List Segregation in Exchange 2007.

The described procedures are more or less the same I wrote about, although Microsoft provides scripts for most of the tasks, which is really good, since it makes more difficult to mess up your environment.

And remember, these procedures are not for the faint-of-the-heart. Here’s a small excerpt from the document:

“The configuration described in this document is complex in nature, and while it can be effective in smaller environments or in limited scope, it can become very challenging to manage such a configuration as the scope of the deployment increases if automation steps are not implemented.“

And I leave you with a final note from Dave Goldman’s Blog (the main author of the document):

“This document is *not* a replacement solution for a HMC (Hosted Solution). This document is meant to be used for companies that need to separate out their internal support structure. If you are going to be hosting other companies or organizations you will want to go towards a Hosted Solution and this document is *not* for you.“

Microsoft reviewed some of its DPM 2007 technical documents. Here’s the list and the links of the updated documents:

• System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Frequently Asked Questions v1.1 - Provides answers to frequently asked questions about System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.
• Deploying System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 v1.4 - 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.
• Planning a Data Protection Manager 2007 Deployment v1.2 - This document explains the features of DPM 2007 and how DPM works. It also provides the information that you need to plan a DPM deployment, including protection group and DPM server configuration.
• System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Troubleshooting Guide v1.1 - Provides troubleshooting guidance for DPM 2007 issues such as performance, tape library management, and data recovery.
• System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 System Requirements v1.4 - DPM 2007 System Requirements provides information that you use to ensure that the DPM server and the computers and applications it is going to protect meet network and security requirements. This topic also lists the DPM supported operating systems and the recommended hardware and software requirements.
• System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Getting Started Guide v1.2 - 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.

There are 2 new eBooks from Realtime Publishers available to download at no charge.

• Messaging and Web Security Volume II By Dan Sullivan - Volume Two of The Essentials Series: Messaging and Web Security examines new challenges to combating the growing proliferation of online threats that includes spam, phishing, malware and spyware. This expert series includes twenty-seven articles in total, each authored by security veteran Dan Sullivan. The Essentials Series: Messaging and Web Security - Volume II will be especially useful to small and mid-sized organizations that face the same challenges as larger enterprises, but are limited by their level of resources.
• The Definitive Guide to Converged Network Management By Ken Camp - The Definitive Guide to Converged Network Management highlights the overall service management challenges facing enterprise and identify common industry best practices for effectively managing an integrated, unified communications environment using VoIP. It offers a series of systematic and holistic techniques for managing the total integrated network to ensure a consistent service delivery and support for ongoing business operations.

With the release of the Office Communications Server 2007 Visio stencil, we can all now draw great OCS diagrams.

Brief Description
The Office Communications Server 2007 Visio stencil contains icons for Office Communications Server 2007 server roles and components.

Overview
Use the Office Communications Server 2007 Visio stencil to create your own diagrams of Office Communications Server topologies using Visio.

Instructions
To install this download:

1. Download the file by clicking the Download button (above) and saving the file to your hard disk.
2. Open a file in Visio.
3. Click File, point to Open and then navigate to the .vss file to open it