Exchange 2003 soon end of support

Using Microsoft Exchange 2003 ?

Better hurry to change to new version.

Soon you will be left without any support from Microsoft. If you want to still have support for your Exchange Server you need to migrate to new version in 6 months.

With 04/08/2014 support for Microsoft Exchange 2003 will end.

 

Products Released Lifecycle Start Date Mainstream Support End Date Extended Support End Date Service Pack Support End Date
Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition 09/28/2003 04/14/2009 08/14/2014 05/25/2005
Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 05/25/2004 Not Applicable Not Applicable 01/08/2008
Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 10/19/2005
Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition 09/28/2003 04/14/2009 04/08/2014 05/25/2005

Exchange 2010 hide distribution list members

In Microsoft Exchange 2003, hiding the membership of a distribution list was very easy, just right click Exchange Tasks>Hide Membership in the Exchange System Management console

Unfortunately this feature is not available in Exchange 2010.

To hide members of distribution group you can use dynamic distribution group, which enumerate the group membership based on an LDAP query for a particular attribute being set on the user object.

But if you don’t want to use dynamic distribution group or members of this group can’t be connected by any attribute, then you can modify distribution group object using ADSIEDIT to modify hideDLMembership attribute.

Open ADSIEDIT console, find distribution group, open properties and find hideDLMembership then set value of this attribute to True.

 

DLHide

 

This modification will prevent the expansion of groups in Outlook and OWA

 

DLHideOutlook

 

 

Core Solutions of Exchange Server 2013 Jump Start free webinar

You can register to free Microsoft Virtual Academy Life Event about Microsoft Exchange Server 2013.

Exchange 2013 Jump Start webinarium

This online event Core Solutions of Exchange Server 2013 Jump Start will take place on October 8th 2013 at 9 am PDT

As a instructor team we will see :

  • Mike Pfeiffer – Microsoft Certified Master and Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft. He’s a big fan of automation and scripting, and he is the author of the PowerShell cookbooks for Exchange Server 2010 and 2013
  • Jason Helmick – Jason is a 25-year IT veteran and Senior Technologist at Concentrated Technology. He’s an avid supporter of the PowerShell community as board member and CFO of PowerShell.Org. He is the author of ‘‘Learn Windows IIS in a Month of Lunches’’ and contributing author to

 

During this session they will talk about below issues:.

– Deployment of the new Exchange roles
– Planning and managing the mailbox role
– Managing users and mailbox environments
– Managing address lists and policies
– Managing client access
– Managing mobile devices for email
– Troubleshooting message delivery
– Messaging compliance with transport rules
– Disaster mitigation and high availability

If you want to register for this session click on link below

Core Solutions of Exchange Server 2013 Jump Start – Microsoft Virtual Academy Live Event

To register you need to have MVA account, but if you don’t you can easily create it.

This session will take 8h, 9am – 5pm (PDT)

 

Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals free ebook from MS Press

MS Press blog announced new free ebook about Windows Azure.IntroducingWindowsAzure

Whether you’re new to the Windows Azure platform or are already using it in your business, this book has something that should interest you. Most Windows Azure services are described in some detail, with screenshots used to demonstrate some of the multitude of capabilities of the platform. And for the experienced we have lots of under-the-hood insights and expert tips written by Microsoft insiders who develop, test, and use the Windows Azure platform.

Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals can be downloaded here: PDF

What’s inside:

Chapter 1 Understanding Windows Azure
What is Windows Azure?
Why use the cloud?
Resisting the cloud
Windows Azure under the hood
Windows Azure services
Windows Azure components
Windows Azure solutions
Infrastructure
Mobile
Web
Media

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Lync Server determine version

How to determine Lync Server version ?

Below we present few methods to do this.

Microsoft releases updates to Lync components periodically and only updates the version level of the components that actually get the update.

So Microsoft released tool which will help you to keep the Lync Server components at the latest versions.

If you download and run the LyncServerUpdateInstaller.exe, this will check your Lync server and install the updated components that are needed.

But remember to download this tool periodically with the latest version of the installer.

You can check Lync Server build numbers on our site:

Lync Server build numbers

 

When you run this tool you will get all informations about versions you have installed and latest available versions like below:

 

LyncServerUpdateInstaller

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Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013 and Lync 2013 – virtual machines from Microsoft

Microsoft has published a complete set of virtual machines ready to use with Exchange 2013, Lync 2013 and SharePoint 2013.

You can use these virtual machines as a Lab for 180 days.

You can use all or part of these VM’s depending of the scenario you want to evaluate, including unified messaging.

If you want to run the full environment, you need to host the VM’s on a server which has 24 Gb of RAM and 150 Gb of disk space.

 

Download the VM’s here:

 

Lync 2013 client update KB2825630 – lync status in system tray

 

Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Lync 2013.

 

This update provides the latest fixes for Lync 2013.

 

This KB2825630 update fixes the issue that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

  • 2880161 You can’t drag a contact from Lync 2013 to another application
  • 2880163 Proxy authentication dialog box appears when you sign in to Lync 2013
  • 2880164 Instant message sent from Lync Web App displays wrong symbols in Lync 2013
  • 2880167 Can’t sign in to Lync 2013 when a user logs on to a computer by using an account from a different AD forest
  • 2882812 A proxy authentication dialog box appears when you upload a PowerPoint presentation in Lync 2013
  • 2882813 Can’t sign in to Lync 2013 on a computer that is running Windows 7
  • 2882814 Extended character is displayed incorrectly in a disclaimer in Lync 2013
  • 2854650 You cannot start a collaboration application that is integrated with Lync 2013

 

Also it fixes system tray icon for Lync 2013 client.

With update we can again have Lync Client system tray icon which shows client status.

he following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

32-bit Download the 32-bit Lyncloc update package now.

64-bit Download the 64-bit Lyncloc update package now.

 

Get-MessageTrackingLog expand all recipients

When you run Get-MessageTrackingLog to find emails send by someone or with some subject, then you will get list of recipients.

Recipients are returned as SystemObject to you can’t save them to file because you will get in file only string SystemObject[]

Also in Exchange Mamangement Shell you will get recipients list which ends with

So to display all recipients in EMS you need to modify Get-MessageTrackingLog using function join.

With join we will create string with all recipients separated by comma.

[string]::join(",",$_.recipients)

 

 

Now you need to add join to Get-MessageTrackingLog like this example, where you will get all emails sent by john@domain.com :

Get-TransportServer | Get-MessageTrackingLog -resultsize unlimited-eventid receive | ? {$_.sender -like "john@domain.com"  -and $_.source -eq "STOREDRIVER"} | Select-Object timestamp, sender, messagesubject, @{label="recipients";expression={[string]::join(",",$_.recipients)}} | sort timestamp | ft -auto

 

As a result we will get timestamp, sender address, message subject, and recipients in one line separated by comma.

But if you will get many recipients then EMS will display only few and will end by …

To get all recipinets in one line and save them in to a file you can use operator > and Out-String like below:

Out-String -Width 4096 > D:\logs\emails_sent.txt

 

Now your command will look like below:

Get-TransportServer | Get-MessageTrackingLog -resultsize unlimited-eventid receive | ? {$_.sender -like "john@domain.com"  -and $_.source -eq "STOREDRIVER"} | Select-Object timestamp, sender, messagesubject, @{label="recipients";expression={[string]::join(",",$_.recipients)}} | sort timestamp | ft -auto | Out-String -Width 4096 > D:\logs\emails_sent.txt

 

Cecurity update KB2817630 removes Outlook folder pane

After installing the non-security update KB2817630 many people reports to Microsoft that they lost Folder Pane in Outlook 2013.

Microsoft pulled out this update in 3h of its release.

This patch couses desappearing Folder Pane in Outlook 2013 when you using Office 2013 Standard or Professional Plus.

How to resolve this problem:

Two updates can get a user into this state. Installing the September Public Update delivers an updated version of mso.dll without updating outlook.exe, resulting in the incorrect user interface.

  • If you have Automatic Updates enabled, visit the Add Remove Programs feature of your Windows Installation, and uninstall KB2817630. Close Outlook and restart.
  • If you have installed the August Cumulative update (which you must do manually), removing KB2817347 will correct the issue. From the Add Remove Programs feature, select KB2817347 from the list and select “Uninstall.” Close Outlook and restart.
  • If you have BOTH Updates installed, the problem is not evident. The issue only manifests when one of the updates has been installed. If you have updated to the September Public Update and you want to roll forward, install the August Cumulative update, KB2817347.

Office 365 donation program for nonprofits

Microsoft on Wednesday announced the global availability of Office 365 for Nonprofits for qualifying nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) through its software donation program. The donation is available immediately in 41 countries around the world and for up to 90 countries by July 2014.

 

Office 365 for Nonprofits provides nonprofits and NGOs with access to Microsoft’s always up-to-date Office cloud service, tailored to the needs of nonprofits through the following benefits:

  • Ability to access information from virtually anywhere. Office 365 for Nonprofits increases an organization’s ability to work from virtually anywhere with access to documents and files from Office applications optimized for use across PCs, smartphones and tablets.
  • Easy collaboration. Nonprofits are able to work together easily across an organization by using familiar Office applications with email, shared calendar, document sharing and videoconferencing.
  • Easy IT implementation. Office 365 for Nonprofits includes access to easy-to-use administrative controls and the ability to install Office without uninstalling previous versions.
  • Reliability and up-to-date technology. Office 365 for Nonprofits allows organizations to spend less time on IT maintenance, while providing access to always up-to-date technology that is simple and easy to use. And Office 365 for Nonprofits is backed by industry-leading security features and a 99.9 percent financially backed uptime guarantee.

 

Below you can find table with available Office 365 Nonprofits:

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