Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool just got an update to check so you can now check for Exchange 2007 readiness. At this point you cannot download it from the ExBPA website, but it will be probably be posted next week. For now the ExBPA automatic update gets this new type of scan.

For more information:

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/07/28/428506.aspx

If you’re anxious to catch a glimpse of the upcoming Exchange version and can’t install it yet, you can view screenshots at this blog:

http://www.blackdigital.co.uk/professional/

As promised, though slightly later than I expected, the release notes is out, soon to be followed by the real deal, Exchange 2007 Beta 2 itself.

 Get it here:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/d/c/8dc5a...es.htm

Though this feature that you can now add to Exchange 2003 SP2 sounds great, to me it looks half baked, seeing that it depends on you knowing the MAPI process name and such. Also why does it say “This feature requires the connecting program to use the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 MAPI client version. “? I wonder.

I guess this feature will be much improved in Exchange 2003 SP3 and Exchange 2007 to provide a mini-application level firewall where you could decide which type of client can access Exchange from where.

For more information about thi hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920185/en-us

You’ve probably already read my articles on creating Exchange users with Excel so you would know how usefull that can be. However, if you are more into pre-packaged add-ins you can download the MEMM 2.1 here:

http://bink.nu/files/Bink.nu_MEMM_2.1.zip
It’s a Microsoft Excel Add-In with a collection of functions which can be useful in an Enterprise environment based on Microsoft Windows operating systems. The main functions are based on retrieving information from Active Directory, modifying Active Directory and getting information from computers through WMI.  Although there are more free tools available nowadays (like ADModify), it can be quite convenient to perform certain tasks directly in Excel. 

REQUIREMENTS
This Add-In is build with Excel 2003. It will also work with Excel XP and maybe with previous versions (not tested). You will need a Windows 2000 pro or Windows XP pro workstation to run it on (WMI and ADSI). Some functions use objects that are only available on Windows XP or Windows 2003. With this version you can perform active directory actions on different domains, but it does not have the option to supply alternate credentials when performing an action. So you have to make sure your current logged in account has the required permissions (or you can create a secure context to a domain with different credentials)

INSTALLATION
You will have to set Macro security to Medium or Low (Tools - Macro - Security).  You can just open the file MEMM.XLA or you can install it as an add-in so it will be loaded every time you start Excel. To install it as an add-in go to the Tools menu, click Add-ins, click Browse and select the file MEMM.XLA. When MEMM.XLA is loaded it will add a button named MEMM to the standard toolbar. Make sure you have acquired the file from a trustworthy source (in case someone added ‘unwanted’ functionality to this macro).

HOW TO USE
Click the MEMM button on the standard toolbar to start the macro. Select an action you want to perform and click Next to display the Action form. Select a range or a destination cell in the worksheet (depending on the type off action).  Fill in the required parameters for this action and click Execute to start the action. You can save the parameters for an action (in the registry) for later use. When an action is executing you can open and view other worksheets or workbooks but don’t edit cells because Excel macros can’t run in edit mode.  While executing you can minimize the windows with the Minimize button, this will leave a smaller window in the lower right corner. Click on it to restore the previous windows. Information and examples are provided for every action through the HELP button.

INFO
Most Active Directory queries (for example “Get active directory property”) use the Domain partition as the base search (DefaultNamingContext). I don’t think there is a need to use other naming contexts with these functions. Only with the “Active Directory query” action you can specify the Base DN search to query other naming contexts.
What’s new in 2.1
—————-Additions —————-

–> Added and improved some query examples.

–> “Get MS Exchange mailbox info” action:
With this action you can retrieve mailbox information from user accounts using the WMI Exchange_Mailbox class.

–> “Get mailbox count on MS Exchange server” action:
With this action you can query the number of mailboxes on a list of Exchange servers.

–> “Get IP hostrange from subnet” action:
This action generates a list of possible IP host addresses in a subnet.

–> Added parameter history. In the Action window you can browse through the history of parameters. The number of actions to keep is configured in the options window.

–> Added the “Query objects from WinNT provider” action. (came across a situation where I still needed to get objects from NT4 domains).

–> Added the “WMI Search” functionality for the WMI actions. With this function you can search for (remote) WMI classes by keyword.

—————–Changes —————-

–> “Query group members” action: Removed backslash character from the member name.

–> “Query WMI class instances on host” action: Also converts UTC date values (when this option is selected).

–> Changed the “Query WMI class instances on host” class: Now you can perform the query on a list of hosts.

——————- Fixes ——————

–> A small bug with the options window.

–> UTC Date values with trailing “***” were not recognized as UTC Date values in WMI queries

–> Array values in WMI values are now returned properly (comma separated).

–> Null values were not returned properly in WMI call method actions.

–> With the “Get file or folder ACL” action, unknown accounts caused a problem. No data was returned.

The Microsoft Exchange Team has published a nice tutorial on SMTP commands. If you ever wondered how the SMTP protocol really looks like or wanted to perform SMTP checks using Telnet, here is your chance to learn this suff:

 http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/07/14/428324.aspx

The URLScan is intended as a security tool to protect the IIS core of Exchange. It allows only certain commands to access IIS components.

In blocking IIS attacks it is more efficient than Firewalls because it is more specific. However, unfortunately, it can also cause problems. Microsoft now releases an updated and comperhensive article which explains the Exchange 2003 URLScan templates. The KB article can also serve third party developers and security specialists in designing other security mechanisms to protect Exchange servers.

Read all about it here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823175/en-us

URLScan V2.5 can be downloaded here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?di...1c902a

Expect to be able to download Exchange 2007 by the end of the month.  As Exchange is a very popular product I expect download speed to be slow at first, at least until the release is moved around in E-mule and Bittorent circles.

A hint about the upcoming rlease can be found at the release notes page:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa...ang=en

As might tell by now the Exchange documentation team is a busy one. See below Technet article updates for Exchange Server.

The following topics are new: 

-      Welcome to Exchange Server 2007

-      Exchange Server Analyzer articles (102 topics)

-      Microsoft Exchange Server Intelligent Message Filter v2 Operations Guide (7 topics)

-      Exchange Server 2003 Coexistence and Migration for Lotus Domino Mail (5 topics)

The following topics have had major updates (for example: procedures changed, support policies changed, best practices guidance changed): 

-      Exchange Server 2003 Coexistence and Migration for Lotus Domino Mail (23 topics)

-      Migrating from Lotus Notes to the Microsoft Collaboration Platform (5 topics)

The following topics have had minor updates (for example: spelling errors corrected, URLs updated): 

-      Exchange Server Analyzer articles (11 topics)

-      Application Analysis Envisioning Process (1 topic)