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Shijaz Abdulla on 19.08.2008 at 17:02
I am done with the setting up of the Exchange 2007 messaging transport infrastructure and moved all the mailboxes at the main site to Exchange 2007. Now I finally can focus on the real charm of Exchange Server 2007 — Unified Messaging!
To start off, one needs to set up servers that run the Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging role. I’ve got two of these installed – running on Windows Server 2008 x64. I then configured the following:
- UM Dial Plans (with subscriber access numbers)
- UM Mailbox Policy
Next you need a client machine (PC with a sound card) to run the Exchange UM Test Phone application. Here’s the catch: If you’re running 64-bit version of Exchange Server 2007 (which you would, if it’s a production environment), you need a client machine running a 64-bit OS to run the test phone application. No, chances are that you cannot use one of your 64-bit servers, because they don’t usually have sound cards in them. If you try to run the test phone from the 32-bit OS or without all the files I mention below, the application crashes.
So, I set up the Windows Server 2008 x64 OS on a Dell Optiplex 755 and then installed drivers for the sound card. I disabled the Windows Firewall as well. I also disabled all unnecessary network cards. Next, I copied the whole \Exchange\Bin folder directly off the Exchange 2007 UM server and pasted it in a new folder on my test PC. Then I copied the contents of the \Exchange\Public folder too in the same folder. The \Exchange\Bin folder contains the test phone application (ExchangeUMTestPhone.exe file).
Then I ran the following commands in the command prompt, to enable the desktop experience:
ServerManagerCmd -i Desktop-Experience
A server restart ensued and then I opened the test phone application (ExchangeUMTestPhone.exe file). It started happily.
Let’s get back to the UM Server. On the UM server, you need to create a UM IP Gateway. Normally this should be your hardware VOIP gateway IP, but if you want to test with the UM Test phone, you need to set this to the IP of the test phone computer. Next, you create a UM hunt group, in which you specify the same gateway you created in the previous step.
- In the setup window, I entered the IP address of my UM server in the Server Address field
- SIP Port is 5060 (default)
- Call security is Unsecured in my case
- Logging options: Both
To test the Outlook Voice Access, simply click on the Call button (green handset icon) on the test phone. Exchange 2007 will answer your call, greet you and ask you if you want to open your mailbox or just reach another user by voice. Outlook Voice Access is so cool! It is an exciting experience.
Now that the Exchange UM server is tested and working fine, I will wait for our VOIP guys to create a hunt group for the subscriber access number so that calls made to our subscriber access number (a.k.a Exchange’s phone number) gets forwarded to the IP address of the Exchange UM server and we can go-live!
See the Call Reference Guide to know the Voice navigation options.
Related posts
Configuring Outlook Voice Access
Setting up the Exchange UM Test Phone
Preparing for Unified Messaging – Part 1
Preparing for Unified Messaging, Part 2
Preparing for Unified Messaging, Part 3
Preparing for Unified Messaging, Part 4
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Shijaz Abdulla on 17.08.2008 at 07:39
A free e-learning course is now available on the Microsoft Learning portal for those interested in learning about Hyper-V, the new virtualization technology that comes with Windows Server 2008.
The course is titled Clinic 5935: Introducing Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and is available for free, probably for a limited time.
Click here to activate the e-learning content.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 21.07.2008 at 21:31
Starting with Windows Vista, Volume License Keys (VLKs) have been replaced by the Key Management Service (KMS). A KMS Server is deployed in the organization, which will respond to activation requests from client machines. Hosts activated via a KMS have to report back to that KMS key server once every 180 days.
At the place where I work, a Key Management Server was already in place and it was used for activating Windows Vista. With release of Windows Server 2008 earlier this year, we started deploying/migrating some of the workloads to the new server OS.
Windows Server 2008 also uses the KMS activation system. However, the KMS server refused to activate Windows Server 2008 computers, while Vista was OK. Upon closer examination and long discussions with Microsoft, it was discovered that the KMS key installed on our KMS server was only for Windows Vista. Microsoft calls this a "Class A" key.
In order for the KMS server to be able to activate BOTH Windows Server 2008 AND Windows Vista, we should remove the "Class A" key, replace it with a "Class B" key and then activate the KMS server. Here, the "Class B" key is nothing but the Windows Server 2008 Std/Ent – KMS key on the MVLS website. This key can not only activate WS08, it can also activate Vista!
This is how its done (from the Command Prompt):
slmgr -upk
uninstalls our "Class A" KMS key.
slmgr -ipk <insert Windows 2008 KMS key here>
installs the "Class B" KMS key.
slmgr -ato
activates the KMS server
While using slmgr, it is important to wait 5-10 seconds after each command to get the confirmation popup box, even though command prompt will return as though nothing happened.
Once the server has successfully activated, type the following command to verify that you have a "Class B" KMS key.
slmgr -dlv
Notice that it says KMS_B channel, indicating a "Class B" KMS key that will activate both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 30.06.2008 at 09:05
On Thursday, June 26th, Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. You can now download Hyper-V and it will be available via Windows Update on July 8.
Virtualization can help companies maximize the value of IT investments; from decreasing the server hardware footprint, energy consumption and the cost and complexity of managing today’s IT systems, to increasing the flexibility of the overall environment. Microsoft’s strategy and investments in virtualization, which span from the desktop to the datacenter, help IT professionals and developers move toward Microsoft’s Dynamic IT initiative whereby they can build systems with the flexibility and intelligence to automatically adjust to changing business conditions by aligning computing resources with strategic objectives.
Hyper-V offers customers a reliable and scalable virtualization platform with high performance, that plugs into customers’ existing IT infrastructures and enables customers to consolidate some of the most demanding workloads. In addition, the System Center product family provides customers with a single set of integrated tools to manage both physical and virtual resources, enabling customers to create a more agile and dynamic datacenter .
PS: I am back.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 15.05.2008 at 14:53
Ever wondered why a brand new installation of Windows Server 2008 RTM shows that it already has Service Pack 1 installed?
The director of project management for Windows Server, Ian McDonald, mentions in his blog, the story behind this.
Here’s the long story shortened: Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are supposed to share the same codebases which means service packs and patches get released at the same time and both server and client will have a common set of patches, depending on the installed components, i.e. a patch for Active Directory will not get installed on a Vista machine and a patch for Media Player will not get installed on Windows Server 2008 (unless you have the desktop-experience installed).
Windows Vista got released early. Windows Vista SP1 is already out. Then came the release Windows Server 2008, which also has the same codebase. Hence Windows Server 2008 got released ‘with SP1′.
The first service pack to be publicly (separately) released for Windows Server 2008 will be Service Pack 2.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 07.05.2008 at 16:25
In this post, I explain how you can use System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 (hereafter DPM) to recover a single Exchange Server 2007 mailbox to a Recovery Storage Group (hereafter RSG) and ‘merge’ the restore with the actual mailbox.
On our production environment, we have Exchange Server 2007 SP1 SCC running on a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster.
Before continuing, make sure you have created a Recovery Storage Group on your Exchange 2007 mailbox server for the mailbox database that you want to restore to. This can be done via GUI (Toolbox > Database Recovery Management) or via Powershell.
new-storagegroup -Server <Server_Name> -LogFolderPath path_to_Logfiles> -Name <RSG_Name> -SystemFolderPath <Database_Path> -Recovery
On the DPM server, click on the Recovery tab, and navigate through the hierarchy and locate the storage group that contains the mailbox that you want to recover. Double clicking on the mailbox database, shows a list of mailboxes. Right click on the mailbox you want to restore and click Recover. You can also select a date and time of the recovery point from which you would like to restore.
In the Recovery Wizard, review the recovery information click Next and select the recovery type. Click browse to select your mailbox server. You will have to manually type the Storage Group Name (specify your Recovery Storage Group name here) and your Database Name (the mailbox database name inside your RSG). 
Click Next, review the options and begin the restoration process.
Once the recovery process is complete, go back to the Exchange 2007 mailbox server. Open Exchange Management Console –> Toolbox –> Database Recovery Management.
Mount the Mailbox database that you just restored in the Recovery Storage Group. This shouldn’t require more explanation.
After mounting the database, come back to the above menu and select Merge or copy mailbox contents.
Select the mailbox database that contains the mailbox you want to recover and click Gather Merge information. On the next screen, review the merge options and click Perform pre-merge tasks.
Select your mailbox and click Perform Merge actions. Once the process completes, review the result.
The restored mailbox on the RSG database is now merged with the production database.
***Lighten your load. Store, Backup and Access Important Files Online using ElephantDrive – Free Trial.***
by
Shijaz Abdulla on 07.05.2008 at 10:38
See also: Data Protection Manager 2007 with Exchange Server 2007 SP1 – Part 1
I’ve just managed to get Data Protection Manager 2007 to protect my production Exchange Server 2007 SP1 mailbox servers running in a Single Copy Cluster (SCC) configuration on Windows Server 2008.
The configuration process is fairly simple. Once I have installed the DPM agents on all cluster nodes, I created a protection group for my SCC cluster as follows:
Since I will not be using a tape drive, I just chose a short-term recovery goal to back up to a storage device. You can choose to have a synchronization done every 15 minutes so that you will be able to restore your database to the latest 15 minute recovery point and then automatically apply the any logs remaining on your production servers.
It’s also important to configure your Express Full backup at least once a day. This also takes care of truncating the committed transaction log files, which tend to grow over time and fill up disk space on your log drives.
See also: Recovering a single Exchange 2007 mailbox using DPM 2007
***Lighten your load. Store, Backup and Access Important Files Online using ElephantDrive – Free Trial.***
by
Shijaz Abdulla on 06.05.2008 at 19:09
There are a few things to keep in mind while installing Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager.
One thing worth noting is that Data Protection Manager 2007 (‘DPM’ from now on) does not support being installed on Windows Server 2008 at the time of this writing. You will need to prepare a Windows Server 2003 machine. I’m using a Windows Server 2003 x64 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 2 for this purpose.
Another important thing if you are installing DPM to protect Exchange Server 2007 SP1 running on Windows Server 2008 – you need a DPM hotfix to be installed for it to work correctly. The hotfix is KB950082 and it’s available from Microsoft Product Support. At the time of this writing, this hotfix has not been released in a rollup yet, but I’ve been told that it is a supported hotfix.
I installed this hotfix on my DPM server and successfully pushed the DPM agent on all nodes of my Exchange Server 2007 Single Copy Cluster running on Windows Server 2008 Failover clustering.
More updates on my adventures with DPM will follow. 
by
Shijaz Abdulla on 05.05.2008 at 17:11
I’ve managed to pull up a two node Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Single Copy Cluster (SCC) running on Windows Server 2008 failover cluster. Moved in a few mailboxes (mostly belonging to my colleagues, who have so graciously consented to being guinea pigs.. um err.. volunteers for this project). So far so good, there weren’t any major surprises.
Until when I started thinking about Backup.
Here’s the shocker for those of you who don’t know: Windows Server Backup (the all-new ‘NTBACKUP’ that ships with Windows Server 2008) does not support backing up Exchange Server 2007 mailbox stores!
Other major backup vendors like Veritas/Symantec Netbackup do not support Windows Server 2008 yet. Well, what can you do whilst you wait for the vendors to come up with Windows Server 2008 support?
You can use System Center Data Protection Manager 2007! I am currently evaluating this possibility, and will post my experiences on this blog.
***Lighten your load. Store, Backup and Access Important Files Online using ElephantDrive – Free Trial.***
by
Shijaz Abdulla on 30.04.2008 at 14:13
If you have two separate Exchange Server 2007 mailbox servers, and users in one mailbox server can login to Outlook Web Access using your Client Access Server, while the users on the second mailbox server cannot log in to Outlook Web Access using the same Client Access Servers, the following might help.
This issue is seen if the mailbox server is running Exchange Server 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. From Server Manager, open Web Server (IIS). Make sure the following Role services are added:
Under Application Development, select the following:
- ASP.NET
- .Net Extensibility
- ASP
- ISAPI Extensions
- ISAPI Filters
- Server Side Includes
- .NET environment
Under Security, select the following:
- Basic authentication
- Windows Authentication
Do an IISRESET /noforce.
You should be able to login now. If you can’t try logging in using the domain\username format, even if you chose the option for ‘user name only’ on your Client Access Server. If you are able to log in with domain\username and not just username, and you have enabled ‘username’ only option under Forms based Authentication on your Client Access Servers, try the following.
On the IIS of your Exchange Server 2007 mailbox server, navigate to the /exchange virtual directory, open Authentication, and change the properties for Basic Authentication and enter a "\" without the quotes for the Default Domain.
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