Hi all – it is traditional to start this with “it’s been a while”…
Contents:
Rollups and cumulative updates
Hot news…
FREE exchange 2016 online training course provided by Microsoft on edX, complete with exams and hands on labs (but no videos- it’s all reading, by the look). There are three pretty cheap ones there as well as the initial infrastructure course. It looks like about 20 hours of free stuff (they reckon…). Given the lack of 2016 material on MVA at the moment (all MVA exchange stuff), it’ll have to do, I guess. Give it a go. It’s free.
Rollups
First up – We appear to be falling behind a bit with our rollup rollouts, so it is likely there will be a new Exchange Stabilisation project shortly. For the avoidance of doubt, I’ll restate the Microsoft support policies:
Exchange 2013/2016 – you are supported by Microsoft on the latest and next latest CU only.
Exchange 2010 – if you are on service pack 3 you are in extended support until November 2020
Exchange 2007 – if you are on service pack 3 you are in extended support until November 2017
Exchange 2003 – you are unsupported. No, really.
With 2007/2010, while you may be supported on sp3 rollup1, it is my experience that unless the problem is a simple configuration issue you will be asked to update to the latest rollup as part of the troubleshooting process. They hate analysing old code.
the latest rollups were released March 15th, and are here:
- Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 1 (KB3134844), Download, UM Lang Packs
- Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 12 (KB3108023), Download, UM Lang Packs
- Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 Update Rollup 13 (KB3141339), Download
- Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 Update Rollup 19 (KB3141352), Download
As part of an investigation last week, I came across a highly useful article that references loadbalancer settings for exchange 2013 – they are the same as for 2010, but it’s nice to have that stated explicitly – it also suggests a great list of other useful and exciting things to do to stave off ever having to log a support call. I know I sent it out earlier, but it bears repeating.
Our colleague Mark Bodley has hunted out a number of extremely useful links:
Database corruption and dirty shutdown decigeons* tree on Exchange server pro. There’s a picture. It’s great. print it out and stick it over your desk.
He emailed a reminder of how to upgrade the CU on Exchange 2013 and 2016, along with some extremely useful links to scripts written by our friend and colleague, Michael Van Hybrid (yes, he’s on the GAL!):
Not sure if you are aware that the recommend steps for installing CU updates on E2013/2016 are a bit different to what we may have gotten used to with Exchange 2010 – assuming that your local
hostileSDM ever agreed to an update!!There’s an article on the steps required for Exchange
2013 SP22016 at http://exchangeserverpro.com/installing-cumulative-updates-on-exchange-server-2016/ with 2013 being quite similar. Confusingly though Exchange continues to ship with the StartDAGServerMaintenance.ps1 scripts, these appear really to be for 2010 and should not be used on 2013 or later.Michael van Horenbeeck has written 2 scripts for starting and stopping maintenance mode on Exchange 2013 and as they support a multi-role deployment they should work for 2016. Certainly looking at the above article, the steps for 2016 are the same as for an E2013 Multi-role server.
The scripts are at :-
· Stop-ExchanegServerMaintenanceMode.ps1 : https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Exchange-Server-2013-77a71eb2
· Start-ExchanegServerMaintenanceMode.ps1 : https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Exchange-Server-2013-ff6c942f
The exchange 2010 search troubleshooting guide – invaluable. Note this is for exchange search, not instant search – outlook uses exchange search in online mode, and instant search in cached mode – instant search is based on windows search, and searches the .ost file, not the server. Shall I bore you with exchange store search…? No? ok. Be aware that exchange 2013 has a different search engine again – Microsoft search foundation. try this article.
Understanding the Outlook Connection Status window. Recently (slightly) updated.
The latest guided walkthroughs for Office servers – lync, exchange online, office 365 etc – are here. Some of them are brand shiny and new, others are a little long in the tooth. PF repl for 2003? Wow.
Rhoderick Milne explains why Network Location Profiles are giving you neckache – I’ve come across this myself, it stops Exchange working properly, and is tricky to spot.
The PFE Exchange 2013 tips and tweaks post (also Mr Milne). The 2010 article was a standard. You need to read this if you look after 2013, or are about to. CSAs should read it also…
Anyone looking at moving from 2007 to 2013 should review the links from this 2013 upgrade workshop.
My friend Ingo has an update to his activesync user script here: Get-ActiveExchangeUsers 2.0
Released: March 2016 Quarterly Exchange Updates on the official “you had me at EHLO…” blog.
Deferred Lagged Copy playdown in Exchange 2016
Messing around with how powershell proxying works causes headaches. Read this to make sure you are aware of how cu11/cu12 will affect you.
Exmon is finally available for Exchange 2013 and 2016
Outlook
May 3, 2016, update for Outlook 2016 (KB3115101)
Office 2016 Applications crash or cannot start
Lync 2013 (Skype for Business) or Outlook 2013 Crash after installing the april 2016 upates
Performance problems when you try to access folders in a secondary mailbox in Outlook –I know at least one account is struggling with this.
Exchange
Can’t open a shared folder in Outlook on the web in Exchange Server
Users in your Exchange 2013-based hybrid deployment experience mail issues after April 15, 2016
"Nullable object must have a value" error when you run the Hybrid Configuration wizard
"The user isn’t assigned to any management roles" error when you run the Hybrid Configuration wizard
"The SMTP address template is invalid" error when you run the Hybrid Configuration wizard
Can’t reserve a resource for a meeting after the resource mailbox is migrated to Exchange Online
Users in a hybrid deployment can’t access a shared mailbox that was created in Exchange Online
Slow mail delivery in an Exchange environment that has transport rules configured – I’m particularly keen that you understand this article – I’ve been asked a few times lately about transport rules, so anyone thinking of implementing them needs to understand that they can have a performance impact.
Information about the Calendar Checking Tool for Outlook (CalCheck)
Feedback is of course welcome.
Roderick, by John Sladek. Probably my favouritest book about robots ever.
