Aaron Tiensivu's Blog

Lync 2010 Technology Adoption Program (TAP) award

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:45:39 -0500

Sometimes there are pleasant surprises in the mail.

Yesterday, I received this in the mail:

It was pretty neat to deploy early and offer feedback that could potentially change the end result.
Neat!

Lync 2010 hotfixes cumulative update - January 2011 (CU1)

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:08:04 -0500

Client side updates
Lync Attendee (system-level install) - KB 2467760 - download
Lync Attendee (user-level install) - KB 2467762 - download
Lync 2010 (Communicator) - KB 2467763 - download x86 / download x64
Group Chat - KB 2467765 - download

Server side updates
Lync Server 2010 - KB 2493736 - download
Group Chat Admin - KB 2467764 - download

Holiday lights changing color based on Lync / Communicator 2010 presence

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:49:38 -0500

Very cool proof of concept / festive geek-out project. Take advantage of the Lync 2010 SDK, Micro .NET Framework and some parts to make the holiday lights change color based on Communicator 2010 / Lync presence information.

Watch the video here and get the background information about the setup on the forum located here.

Thanks to @DrRez for posting this very cool use of technology on Twitter.

Reminds me of some of the projects over at Hack-a-Day.

Update: I guess I should check my RSS feeds more often - this was posted on Hack-A-Day this morning before I ever posted this entry. Oh well!

Outlook 2007 Cumulative Update to support Exchange 2010 RTM/SP1 archive mailboxes now available!

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:29:08 -0500

The wait is over and native support for Exchange 2010 RTM/SP1's archive mailbox inside Outlook 2007 is here!

Hopefully, you'll soon be able to download the binaries for the December 2010 cumulative update from this link.

Notable limitations about the Outlook update:
1. Working with Archive policies
2. Independent searches of the archive and the primary mailbox

The following Office editions are supported for archival support with this update:
Office Ultimate (retail), ProPlus (volume license), Office Enterprise (volume license), and Outlook Standalone (retail/volume license)

Thanks for the announcement, Ankur Kothari!

Update: You can request the binaries from this link here. It looks like the KB release notes have not hit the web caches yet but you'll be able to view the release notes for the Outlook portion here.

Update 2 - 12/20/2010: Sounds like there are some known issues with this update so I would hold off using it for now. You can read more about the issues here.

OCS 2007 R2 CU7 released

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:47:18 -0500

Apparently the updated binaries from the last release were just an update/fix for CU6's RGS problem. What I originally called CU7 was actually something along the lines of CU6a.

This time around though, is the real Cumulative Update 7.

Server side:
OCS 2007 R2 CU7 - KB 968802 - download
XMPP Gateway CU7 - KB 2404570 - download

Client side:
Communicator 2007 R2 CU7 - KB 2291452 - download
Communicator Phone Edition 2007 R2 CU7 - KB 2466291 - download
LiveMeeting 2007 - November 2010 update - KB 2433231 - download
Conferencing Add-In for Outlook - November 2010 update - KB 2433228 - download

There are many Lync-specific fixes so if you are planning on deploying Lync and will have a coexistence period, I would install these on your OCS 2007 R2 server setup before installing Lync. This is only a personal opinion but it looks like it would avoid some known gotchas.

The phone edition reports 6907.222 instead of 6907.221 like the rest of the updated components. I suspect it was a last minute bug fix/issue check-in after the other builds.

Thank to Richard for pointing out there were new updates for Live Meeting and the Conferencing Add-in.

Verizon Novatel USB 760 EVDO Reg A 3G firmware upgrade eliminates the dreaded coma issue

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:53:27 -0500

Although it wasn't funny at the time, my original Verizon Novatel USB 720 adapter was stolen by raccoons that raided our chicken coop where the home wireless setup lived. They killed all the chickens but they also took the 3G modem because it had blinking lights.

That back story might seem extraneous but it relates to this blog entry. The replacement 3G adapter was a Novatel 760. The 720 never locked up. The 760 would about once a week or once a month depending on usage.

The telltale signs were a solid light on and even powering off the unit through the VZW software would not work. I eventually just got used to unplugging it and plugging it back in after a while. It effectively would go into a coma on any computer it was used on.

Recently, there were 2 firmware updates released inside of the VZW access software. You can grab the latest software and firmware update from here.

With the new firmware, I can no longer make the device lock up and it seems to have better receive sensitivity. Either way, I recommend anyone using this device to perform the firmware update.

Quest Groupwise migration to Exchange 2010 SP1 requires elevated throttling

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:55:23 -0500

If you are migrating mailboxes from Groupwise to on-premise Exchange 2010 SP1, you will want to setup a throttling policy on Exchange 2010 SP1 that is almost identical to the typical throttling settings used for Blackberry and/or Cisco Unity.

I typically recommend not setting any of the throttling values to unlimited. This is a bit more restrictive than the suggestions made by the Blackberry and/or Cisco Unity settings.

The most important throttling value we need to increase for Quest's Groupwise Migrator is the RCAPercentTimeInAD. The telltale sign are throttling event logs on the Exchange server and see-saw network/cpu usage on the migration workstation. The Address Book service seems to receive quite a bit of traffic from the Groupwise migration tools due to user account look ups.

On most of my migrations, I ended up using a value of 200 for RCAPercentTimeInAD. I have yet to encounter a server that required value higher than 200.

Thankfully, you can apply this new policy on the user account that acts as the go-between Exchange and Groupwise. Typically, it is called something like GWMigrate.

Additionally, you can also apply this new policy on the migration workstation's computer account. Typically, it is called something like GWMigrateServer.

Using that server name and user name as an example, this is what you would execute with Powershell on the Exchange server:

New-ThrottlingPolicy "Groupwise Throttling Policy" -RCAPercentTimeInAD 200

$b = Get-ThrottlingPolicy "Groupwise Throttling Policy";
Set-Mailbox GWMigrateServer$ -ThrottlingPolicy $b;
Set-Mailbox GWMigrate -ThrottlingPolicy $b;

After setting those values, you will need to stop and restart the Exchange Throttling services for the updated settings to take effect.

Using Outlook 2010 with Communicator 2007 R1 - avoiding Outlook integration errors

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:41:42 -0500

Although not listed as a fix in the May 2010 Communicator 2007 R1 update (KB 974599), it does seem to solve the Outlook integration/MAPI errors that occur when used with Outlook 2010.

This update brings the Communicator 2007 R1 client up to build 2.0.6362.189.

I am guessing this is probably one of the last updates that will come out for Communicator 2007 R1, unless there is security fix that needs to be addressed.

If you are by chance still using build 2.0.6362.0 (OCS 2007 R1 RTM), I would highly suggest upgrading your desktop clients to use this version.

The best course of action, of course, is to go straight to Lync 2010, but I am quite biased on this, I must admit.

OCS 2007 R1 and OCS 2007 R2 in environment cannot upgrade to Lync

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:22:11 -0500

Many organizations have OCS 2007 R2 servers installed and one lone OCS 2007 R1 CWA server installed, specifically for the Blackberry client support that relies on APIs that are only available on OCS 2007 R1's CWA server.

This typically isn't a problem until you are upgrading to Lync.

If you have all OCS 2007 R1 servers in your environment, you're fine.
If you have all OCS 2007 R2 servers in your environment, you're fine.

The deployment blocker is a mixed OCS 2007 R1 and OCS 2007 R2 environment.

BlackBerry has promised an OCS 2007 R2 CWA compatible version for a few years now but I have yet to see it materialize.

The easiest workaround, which I haven't tried yet due to lack of time and lack of a lab environment with OCS 2007 R1 CWA, is to remove the R1 CWA server, install Lync, and then re-introduce the R1 CWA server into the environment. I'd be curious to hear if people have been able to do this or not.

The other noteworthy item, which is much like the limitation of newer Exchange versions, is to make sure to install OCS 2007 R1/OCS 2007 R2 servers into your environment before installing Lync, if you ever want or need to use OCS 2007 R1/R2 servers in your environment.

Lync launch day - an interesting look at Lync online meetings

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:15:00 -0500

Lync 2010 launched today and with it a flurry of activity and press. It is an exciting piece of software, and my MVP award now changes name from "Communications Server" to "Lync".

As an example of some of the subtle integration that occurs with Lync, I'll show you two screenshots.

Regular meeting

Lync-a-fied meeting

Subtle difference but very convenient.

I'm pressed for time but I will be posting a few Lync in-depth entries in the coming weeks.

Bad Zelda joke: Does this mean OCS 2007 R2 is a Lync to the Past?

Lync Attendee RTM (build 7577.0) download links - the "new" Live Meeting client

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:00:00 -0400

I say "new" because it is a completely different code base from the older PlaceWare Live Meeting client code. If you wondered where the "pw" from "pwconsole.exe" came from, it was originally from a company called PlaceWare.

If you want to host Lync online meetings and not have the users/attendees use the web based client, you can download the Admin installed version here or the User installed version here.

What is the difference between the two?

The user installed client lives in the user's profile since most organizations are moving away from users having administrative rights on the local PCs.
The admin installed client lives in the %ProgramFiles% (or %ProgramFiles(x86)% if on a 64-bit OS) like most older style programs

There is one other popular application that uses the same type of differentiation and installs into the local profile - Google Chrome.
It is good to see more applications adopt this trend since it makes LUA (Least User Access) / UAC easier to adopt.

Creative use of the location services with Lync / Communicator 2010

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:00:16 -0400

Many times I am on the road with questionable Internet connectivity. Many times my EVDO 3G card is faster than the oversubscribed hotel internet access and I'll use that card in a pinch.

In those situations, I might want or need to log into Lync to Lync up with people.

Due to the limited bandwidth, I don't necessarily want people to try to do a video conference with me, but as long as my RSSI is -90 to -80 (3 "bars" to 4 "bars"), I can actually do a decent Communicator call or call thru the mediation server.

I have needed to do this in certain situations when I have a malfunctioning or dying cell phone. Combined with a Bluetooth headset, and the 3g card, I've been able to make calls I'd otherwise would need to find a pay phone. Pay phones are becoming as rare as a Sony Walkman.

With all that in mind, if you allow end users to set the location in their Communicator, you can advertise that you are on a bandwidth limited connection:

Not necessarily the original intent of that section of the Lync client, but it is an easy indicator to coworkers that you are on a bandwidth starved connection.

I personally can't wait until the LTE networks are deployed nationwide. With that, in theory, this 'workaround' for advertising a limited bandwidth connection goes away.

Lync 2010 has gone gold/RTM.

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:20:08 -0400

Read about it here. I am planning on this release to keep me busy for a few years. I'm still getting used to the new name.

Update: If you happened to catch an earlier version of this post, I called it Lync 2001 on accident. Whoops!

Exchange 2010 SP1 with Unity Cisco 5.0(1), 7.0(2), and 8.0(3) integration

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:00:00 -0400

The official Cisco certified version of Exchange 2010 for use with Unity is 2010 RTM RU3, as of today (10-27-2010).
Exchange 2010 RTM RU4, Exchange 2010 SP1 and Exchange 2010 SP1 RU1 have all come out since Exchange 2010 RTM RU3.
Many enterprises have already upgraded to Exchange 2010 SP1 and SP1 RU1.
Cisco is working on getting Exchange 2010 SP1 certified but it hasn’t been yet with no ETA.

Updates on Cisco Unity support will most likely end up here. It contains the most up to date instructions on how to update the Unity servers to interop with Exchange 2010.

On a good note, a new version of the Exchange 2007/2010 MAPI CDO was posted on Microsoft's website here a few days ago, which seems to fix the issues noted here on Cisco's website and noted here on Microsoft's website.

Known gotchas with Exchange 2010 SP1:
By default, the Unity 7.0(2) ES train patches try to use old Exchange 2010 RTM Powershell commands to create the Unity mailboxes if you are trying to partner with the Exchange 2010 server in a brand new Unity install. The workaround is to partner with an Exchange 2003 server during this process or manually create the mailboxes before applying the Unity patch.

If the Unity service mailboxes already live in the Exchange 2003 environment, and/or Unity is already partnered with an Exchange 2003 server, it can modify the accounts it needs, assuming you’ve given those accounts the right permissions.

If they are using Unity 7.0(2) ES36 in a fail-over environment, you need a database fix-up utility from Cisco TAC to prevent failed fail-over of Unity servers, called CiscoUnity_7.02_Patch11e.exe. Telltale sign of the issue: 0x80040e37 - Failed to verify SQL Configuration Table

Fun times on the bleeding edge, right?

Update: Cisco has updated their site and has support for Unity 5, Unity 7, and and Unity 8 with Exchange 2010 SP1.

Server 2008 R1 service deadlock bug hotfix - stuck at "Applying User Settings"

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

In the past I blogged about an issue that typically surfaced during an OCS 2007 R2 install on Server 2008 R1.

Due to a operating system deadlock condition, on some but not all servers, the server would stall at "Applying User Settings" until all services that would depend on http.sys or crypto time out. It was especially painful on OCS Front End servers because almost every OCS service would have to hang and timeout before a usable desktop would appear.

The good news is that you no longer have to use the workaround that changes service dependencies.

Trust me, it was an extremely annoying issue to debug when it first occurred at an on-site install.

The networking stack would not start up when this issue triggered, which meant using a remote management console or direct console access.

To be clear, it wasn't an OCS 2007 R2 issue, it was a Server 2008 R1 issue that could deadlock in certain scenarios. The most common scenario was OCS 2007 R2.

You can just apply the Server 2008 R1 hotfix from here and never worry about it again.

OCS 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 6a (CU6a) has been released

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:05:00 -0400

Only a few modules/parts were updated from CU6 to CU6a, mainly:

Admin Tools
Core Components
Response Group Service
Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Redist
Web Components

It looks like the main fixes are related to the RGS bug in CU6, and the 16+ CPU core issue.

This is mainly a re-release to fix the RGS bug and is not considered to be CU7. CU7 came out around 11-22-2010.

Read about and download the updated bits from here.

Bytes on TechNet - Keith Combs interviews me at TechEd 2010 about Windows 7

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:57:07 -0400

This video was a one-take wonder that had a skeleton of topics we were going to use. Thankfully, it went pretty smooth overall. This wasn't scripted and has a feel of just two IT guys hanging out and talking about technology, because that's exactly what it was. The fact that the video cameras were there didn't really faze us.

You can check out my video streaming on Microsoft's Bytes on TechNet site.

You can also subscribe to the Bytes by TechNet RSS feed.

This is the official description of "Bytes on TechNet":
Listen or watch the latest series of Bytes by TN as 24 influential community and Microsoft IT Professionals interviewed at Tech·Ed 2010 talk about Windows 7, SharePoint 2010, Windows Azure and a variety of additional topics that they are passionate about.

Exchange 2010 SP1 prerequisites for Server 2008 R1/R2 and Windows 7 - all in one download area

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:27:58 -0400

One stop shop for avoiding the confusing maze of Microsoft support links to get all the required hot fixes and updates to install Exchange 2010 SP1.

I typically download all the updates and divide them into 3 different ZIP files. 2008-R1.zip for all Server 2008 R1 hot fixes. 2008-R2.zip for all Server 2008 R2 hot fixes. Shared.zip for all the updates that are shared on both platforms. Very handy to keep on a USB thumb drive.

Contents of Shared:
FilterPack64bit.exe
UcmaRedist.msp (August 2010 - 3.5.6907.210)

Contents of 2008-R1:
KB 973136 - request
KB 977592 - request
KB 977624-v2 - request
KB 979099 - request
KB 979744 - request
KB 979917 - request
KB 982867-v2 - request

Contents of 2008-R2:
KB 977020-v2 - request
KB 977357 - request
KB 979099 - request
KB 979744 - request
KB 979917 - request
KB 981314 - request
KB 982867-v2 - request
KB 983440 - request

Contents of W7:
KB 977020-v2 - request
KB 982867-v2 - request

The only updates in the list that are not a deployment blocker by the Exchange 2010 SP1 setup program are the Server 2008 R2 WMI memory leak hot fixes - KB 977357 and 981314. If you monitor your Exchange servers with System Center Operations Manager or anything that repeatedly polls the WMI Win32_Service class, this hot fix is recommended.

From time to time, Microsoft updates the hot fixes. You can see that a few of the hot fixes are already on v2.

The upcoming service packs for Windows and .NET Framework will reduce the importance of these updates and will render the collection obsolete.

Exchange 2010 SP1 released - prereq hotfixes needed for Server 2008 R2

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:01:00 -0400

Exchange 2010 SP1 has been released to the public here.

Assuming you are installing on a server that has all the Exchange roles enabled, these are the hot fixes you need before you can complete installation:

Updates needed for Server 2008 R2:

KB 977020 - .NET Framework 2.0 hotfix
KB 979099 - AD RMS hotfix
KB 979744 - .NET Framework 2.0 hotfix
KB 979917 - ASP.NET 2.0 hotfix
KB 2282949 - UCMA hotfix - August 2010 - 3.5.6907.210
KB 982867 - .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 hotfix
KB 983440 - ASP.NET 2.0 hotfix rollup
Office 2010 Filter Pack

You might wonder why I am pointing out what technology the hot fix is related to. The reason is, the updates are not made by the Exchange team, and cannot be included in the SP1 download binaries.

I will be providing a list of Server 2008 R1 updates required for Exchange 2010 SP1. Since it is based on the older OS, there are more updates needed than the list above.

If you have trouble finding download links for the above, you can always request them with Hotfixr.

Update: Looks like Technet has the full list now for all operating systems.

Installing OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat Server on Server 2008 R2

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:18:00 -0400

To begin, follow the instructions here for the usual Server 2008 R2 workaround/fixes for Server 2008 R2 and OCS 2007 R2.

1. From an elevated PowerShell prompt: Import-Module ServerManager [Enter]
2. Install the prerequisites for Group Chat Server with: Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,FS-FileServer,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS,WAS-Process-Model,WAS-Config-APIs,Web-HTTP-Logging,Web-Mgmt-Compat,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-Static-Content,Web-Windows-Auth [Enter]
3. Install KB 975858 so certificate based authentication works properly.
4. Install the OCS Group Chat Server as you normally would on any other operating system. Elan's guide is helpful for this (Part 1 / Part 2).
5. Install the OCS Core update from here and the UC API update from here. (If those links are outdated, go to KB 968802 for the latest links or use the ServerUpdateInstaller.exe)
6. Install the OCS 2007 R2 CU6 Group Server update from here. It is also a good idea to grab the Admin tools update from here and updated client from here.
7. At this point, if you try to start the OCS Group Chat Server services, they will stop without anything useful in the Event Logs. I'll save you time debugging this by pointing you to this older KB article here. You need to run %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2\Group Chat Server\ServerConfigTool.exe so that the tool will update the Group Chat database schema to the QFE1 level.
8. After running the ServerConfigTool.exe, you'll be able to start the update OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat services.

Celebrate, at this point you'll have a working Group Chat install on Server 2008 R2.

Hold off installing OCS 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 6 and .NET 4.0 gotchas

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

I've heard of numerous reports of the CU6's SQL back-end update having version mismatch problems with the front-end update.

One cause I can speculate on is that the web caches that Microsoft uses publish the updated bits are lagging behind. Unfortunately, due to the updates always having the same filename from Cumulative Update to Cumulative Update, it is hard to determine what version you have downloaded without looking at the file dates stored in each individual update.

If the front-end is updated without the proper back-end update, the front-end will complain about version mismatches in the SQL stored procedures.

Update: A tip from Tom Pacyk - install the OCS2009-DBUpgrade.msi before the other CU6 updates.

I talked a little about the .NET 4.0 issue here a few days ago but now that .NET 4.0 is on Windows/Microsoft Update as a recommended update, it is hitting more users during OCS installation.

If you install .NET 4.0 Framework before installing any OCS server role, the OCS setup program will complain that .NET 3.5x is not installed, even if you have .NET 3.5x installed (x being equal to 0 or 1, meaning .NET 3.50 or .NET 3.51).

Solution? Uninstall .NET 4.0 Framework, install OCS server roles, and then install .NET 4.0 if necessary. The OCS product team is working with the Windows product team to get a hotfix/update out for this.

Ideally, I wish there was a service pack for OCS 2007 R2 that had updated install bits for the ASN fix and the Server 2008 R2 gotchas.

OCS 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 6 (CU6) has been released

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:56:53 -0400

OCS 2007 R2 Server:
Office Communications Server 2007 R2 - KB 968802 - Download
Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Back-end database update - KB 2032834 - Download

OCS 2007 R2 Client:
Office Communicator 2007 R2 - KB 2028888 - Download
Office Communicator Phone Edition 2007 R2 - KB 2267962 - Download

Group Chat:
Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Group Chat Server - KB 2032881 - Download
Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Group Chat Client - KB 2032922 - Download
Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Group Chat Admin Tool - KB 2032949 - Download

Outlook 2003 update for Exchange 2010 released!

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:33:16 -0400

As a follow-up to my blog entry about the Outlook 2007 update for Exchange 2010, we have an update released for Outlook 2003 for Exchange 2010! I didn't really expect to see this show up but it will help users when the Exchange 2010 SP1 calendar repair agent kicks in.

There is only one fix mentioned in this update for Outlook 2003:

When you use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 environment, the body of the meeting request may be changed to the following text: One or more problems with your meeting were detected and fixed.

I'm expecting to see an update for Outlook 2007 sometime soon to add support for Exchange 2010's personal mailbox archives. Outlook 2010 supports them out of the box, and Exchange 2010 SP1 allows you to store the archive mailbox in a different information store (i.e. slower SAN or drives).

Hotfix Rollup 1 for Microsoft Forefront Protection for Exchange - v11.0.689.0

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:13:40 -0400

A hotfix rollup is available for Forefront Protection for Exchange with some noteworthy fixes. This rollup will bring the build version to 11.0.689.0.

The following fixes are issues I've personally seen with the RTM version of FPE:

1. A Forefront Protection for Exchange scan engine update fails and generates Application Log errors
2. Forefront Protection for Exchange replacing legitimate attachments with text files and quarantining legitimate mail
3. The Forefront Protection for Exchange client crashes when adding an IP address, or range, to either the IP Allow/Block List
4. Spam Reports may take an excessive amount of time to retrieve in Forefront Protection for Exchange
5. Forefront Protection for Exchange generates more Realtime Scan Timeout notifications than expected

There are more fixes than what I listed, and you can review them here.

You can request the hotfix rollup here.

Server 2008 R2 Add-WindowsFeature one-liners for OCS 2007 R2 prerequisites

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:35:51 -0400

Open a PowerShell instance with elevated rights.
In the PowerShell window, type: Import-Module ServerManager and hit [Enter].
When that completes, enter the command below for the OCS server role(s) needed:

Archiving Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS

Communicator Web Access Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS,WAS-Process-Model,WAS-Config-APIs,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Common-HTTP,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-HTTP-Logging,Web-HTTP-Redirect,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-HTTP-Logging,Web-Mgmt-Compat,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-Request-Monitor,Web-Windows-Auth

Edge Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,NET-Framework-Core

Front-End (Standard Edition) Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,FS-FileServer,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS,WAS-Process-Model,WAS-Config-APIs,Web-HTTP-Logging,Web-Mgmt-Compat,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-Static-Content,Web-Windows-Auth

Front-End (Enterprise Edition) Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS,WAS-Process-Model,WAS-Config-APIs,Web-HTTP-Logging,Web-Mgmt-Compat,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-Static-Content,Web-Windows-Auth

Mediation Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS

Monitoring Server:
Add-WindowsFeature AS-NET-Framework,Desktop-Experience,NET-Framework-Core,MSMQ-Server,MSMQ-Directory,RSAT-ADDS

These commands are largely based on the Server 2008 R1 blog entries here and here.

If my blog software shows the Add-WindowsFeature items on multiple lines, cut and paste the commands together onto one line inside PowerShell.

Note: If you install .NET Framework 4.0 before installing OCS, the OCS setup program will complain that .NET Framework 3.5 is missing, even if .NET Framework 3.5 has been installed. Thankfully, you can uninstall .NET Framework 4.0 if you bump into this issue and the setup program will behave normally. Thanks go out to Mark Rineck for discovering this.

Note 2: As mentioned on other sites, Web-HTTP-Logging is technically optional, but makes debugging IIS and OCS much easier if available.

June 2010 Outlook 2007 cumulative update - does Outlook 2007 crash after moving to Exchange 2010?

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:44:07 -0400

I tend to keep an eye on the Office Cumulative Updates site (the link is on the right side of my website) and the June 2010 update for Outlook 2007 caught my eye.

In particular, there seem to be a few Exchange 2010 fixes directly related to Outlook 2007 crashing.

The issues fixed that caught my eye include:

1. This hotfix provides a design change. After you install this hotfix, the Secure Temp folder for Office Outlook 2007 is automatically cleared when you exit Office Outlook 2007.

2. After the Outlook mailboxes are moved a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Office Outlook 2007 crashes intermittently.

3. In Office Outlook 2007, all received email messages are stored incorrectly in the Deleted Items folder. (Unfortunately, I've had clients keep very important e-mail in Deleted Items and then wonder where the messages went when they empty the Deleted Items folder.)

4. You may have data loss on meeting update when you use Office Outlook 2007 against Exchange Server 2010. When this issue occurs, the body of the meeting request is replaced by the following text: One or more problems with your meeting were detected and fixed.

5. After you install the Office Live Meeting Add-in for Microsoft Outlook, Office Outlook 2007 crashes during startup.

You can read more about the update here, and as general rule of thumb, it is good to keep the MSO.DLL updated as well, from here.

MVP again for 4th year running!

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:06:33 -0400

I always get nervous on the morning of July 1st ever since 2006. Thankfully I received this in email:
"Dear Aaron Tiensivu, Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2010 Microsoft® MVP Award!"

I haven't posted much lately but that will change as some of these newer products get out the door. W7 SP1 and OCS/CS "Wave 14" in particular. Can't neglect Exchange 2010 SP1 either, but the public beta is already out for that.

Woohoo!

Come visit me at the Windows Springboard booth at TechEd North America next week!

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:34:06 -0400

I will be mostly talking about the Springboard site at the booth and how it can help you plan/adopt/migrate to Windows 7.

I'll be there with a few other fellow MVPs and Stephen Rose. Last year, we had Mark Russinovich stop by for a while. So, look for me in the Windows Client area!

Also, I will be on a panel for OCS 2007 R2 voice deployment 'war stories' during the Wednesday morning "UNC06-INT - Microsoft Communications Server "14": Voice Post Deployment" session with Francois Doremieux.

It is bound to be a great learning session, so try to stop by and say hi! I am amazed at the new feature sets and advancements that have been made with CS 2010 "Wave 14" aka OCS v.Next.

See you there!

2 new recently discovered issues with Server 2008 R2 and OCS 2007 R2 - ABServer errors and moving users

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:17:00 -0400

Issue #1: Using the OCS 2007 R2 Administration tools on Server 2008 R2 has shown to be problematic for moving users from LCS and OCS 2007 R1/R2 to other OCS servers. For now, it is best to use a non-Server 2008 R2 workstation or server to move users to and from OCS servers. You can 'force' the users to move, but it doesn't always result in a good move. So, avoid it if possible.

Issue #2: If you are trying to run "ABServer.exe -SyncNow" on an OCS 2007 R2 server running on Server 2008 R2, you will need to create a new DWORD registry entry at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\DisableLoopbackCheck set to the value of 1.

Due to .NET 3.5 SP1 on Server 2008 R2, if this registry value is not set, you will receive an error message of "Triggering Address Book Server synchronization pass - function not available when RTCSRV service is not running. Start the RTCSRV service." A reboot may be required for the new registry setting to take effect.

Usually, manual regeneration of the address book is not required since the front end will refresh the contents every night by default. It is only the manual run of ABServer.exe that is affected on Server 2008 R2. It is normally best to leave DisableLoopbackCheck disabled (set to 0) if possible for security reasons.

Thankfully, OCS seems to perform very well on Server 2008 R2 once the known issues are worked around.

Microsoft keeps an updated KB article about these issues, which do not have these documented yet, here.

I also have my original guidance for OCS 2007 R2 on Server 2008 R2 here. I will work on getting these incorporated into the original post when I have a free moment.

Firefox Alpha (Minefield) now has an official Windows x64 build available - with working Java x64 and Office 2010 x64 plugins

atiensivu@gmail.com (Aaron Tiensivu) — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:21:40 -0400

I tend to run bleeding edge software everywhere and when I can, I run the most native applications I can. This is why I'm running Office 2010 x64 on my x64 laptop. Primary reason is that most of the annoying Office plugins I don't want do not have a x64 counterpart yet. This includes the annoying iPhone plugin that iTunes installs that can make Outlook stall/crash on exit. Bad plugins can cause bad behavior.

Of course, there isn't a lot of 'gee-whiz-wow' aspects of running Office 2010 x64 other than it being a native app and not going thru the WOW64 emulation. You also get some of the security protection features that are not available with x86 applications.

Anyway, if you are daring and want to feel like an Apple Mac users for a while (No working Flash support), grab one of the FireFox nightly builds here.

If the Tinderbox directory seems to be empty (sometimes the build process gets broken and stale files removed), you can always check the trunk builds for x64 here. The x64 installer can be found here at the trunk location and the zip can be found here at the trunk location. Many times, the .zip file is newer than the x64 installer version.

Of course, those filenames will change once Firefox/Minefield advances from version 3.7a5pre. If you get 'file not found' from those links, check the http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/ location for the new filenames.

To be able to use the executables, you will need the Visual Studio Runtimes for x64 which you can download here.

What I did was take the zip file, unzip it into "%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla FireFox" (NOT "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Mozilla FireFox", unblock the executable since it was downloaded from the internet (oh no!), and launched the application. It does seem to run relatively faster overall and use less memory but maybe that it due to the lack of Flash.

You can always check the jemalloc stats by pulling up "about:memory" and seeing just how bad something might be leaking.

Other cool things to try out in the daily builds:

Turn on Direct2D & DirectWrite for Windows 7 and Windows Vista SP2 (With Platform Update):

With "about:config", add "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" (boolean) and set this to 'True'. Add "mozilla.widget.render-mode" (integer) and set this to '6'.

A noteworthy Windows 7 hotfix related to Direct2d and DirectWrite can be downloaded from here. It seems to make behavior more consistent for applications outside of just Visual Studio 2010. I have personally been running this hotfix with Firefox with DirectWrite enabled for a long time now with no major issues.

After restarting Firefox, the fonts on the page and browser should be anti-aliased. Websites with large images should load faster, and any SVG examples should be much faster.

If you run into problems with Direct2d and DirectWrite, check out this thread here.

If you run into Add-On Manager problems, unrelated to 64-bit but with the new AOM framework, check out this thread here.