MVP Summit, aqui vou eu!

É já amanhã, 28-Set, que parto para Redmond, EUA, para participar no MVP Global Summit 2005.
Para mim é uma estreia e as expectativas são altas: conhecer outros MVP's, ter acesso a alguma informação extra sobre Exchange e, claro, ver uma apresentação do Steve Ballmer.
O mais cansativo vai ser a viagem: partida de Portugal às 10:35 e chegada a Seattle às 20:22, hora local (GMT -8).
Aqui ficam os dados dos meus voos:

Continental Airlines:
1. CO 65 N 28SEP LISEWR HK1 1035 1330
2. CO 1881 N 28SEP EWRSEA HK1 1725 2022
3. CO 1580 V 02OCT SEAEWR HK1 0805 1611
4. CO 64 V 02OCT EWRLIS HK1 2025 0815

Vou tentar colocar aqui alguma informação que não esteja sujeita ao NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).

Actualização do filtro Junk-Email do Outlook

Já está disponível a actualização de Setembro para o filtro Junk-Email do Outlook 2003.

"This update provides the Junk E-mail Filter in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 with a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail."

O download está disponível aqui. Como é habitual, será acompanhado pelo respectivo artigo da Knowledge Base (ainda não disponível à hora deste post):

• Description of the Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB904631)

Leitura de fim-de-semana

Desculpem o atraso. Queiram por favor alterar o título deste post para "leitura para as horas livres da semana".

• Microsoft Beefs Up Exchange Support In Mac Office
• Microsoft Partners With Qwest On VoIP
• Top 10 Web sites for Exchange admins
• First Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone in US
• Red Hat still mulling over possible Exchange competitor
• Exchange 2003 SP2: SenderID
• Microsoft Enhances Entourage 2004 for the Enterprise
• Exchange Free / Busy message size
• Importing Vcards from vcf files to Outlook Contacts and Vcard conversion Event sink
• Dual or Pass-Through Authentication in an Exchange 2003 Front-End/Back-End Setup
• Tips for disaster recovery readiness

KB bug: corrigido!

Num post anterior mencionei um artigo da Knowledge Base que continha uma incorrecção. Pois bem, o referido artigo foi alvo de uma revisão e está agora, até prova em contrário, isento de erros.
Aqui fica o link da revisão 2.0:

• You cannot add users to a private address book in Outlook when the forest functional level is set to Windows Server 2003

Download de webcasts

A propósito do meu último post (webcasts em Outubro), não seria muito mais cómodo se pudéssemos fazer download dos webcasts e vê-los à medida do nosso tempo livre? Pois bem, alguém já publicou os procedimentos necessários e publicou-os no seu blog.
Aqui fica a reprodução das instruções:

Requisitos:

• IE6 SP1
• NeTransport 1.94 (disponível em www.xi-soft.com)

Instruções:

1. Abra a página de um webcast, por exemplo:
   http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032244882&Culture=en-US.
2. Quando chegar à janela do Live Meeting, clique com o botão do lado direito do rato nessa janela e seleccione a opção para ver o código. Procure no Notepad o seguinte código:
   var WMFileName = "mms://streaming.placeware.com/aa4/SCG/web/r/mseventsbmo/
   b9v47bjd0g8wsm5k/wmm-11657/placeware.wmv";
3. Copie o URL (mms://streaming.placeware.com/aa4/SCG/web/r/mseventsbmo/
   b9v47bjd0g8wsm5k/wmm-11657/placeware.wmv)
4. Corra o NeTransport, inicie um novo job e faça paste do URL copiado anteriormente! Se tiver um firewall, certifique-se que as portas necessárias não estão bloqueadas.
5. Aguarde que o NeTransport faça o download e já está!

Webcasts de messaging em Outubro

Aqui estão os webcasts de messaging e colaboração para Outubro. Obrigado mais uma vez Eileen.

• Microsoft Webcast: Unlock Lotus Notes Using Microsoft Collaboration Technologies
  Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
  Cliff Reeves, General Manager, Microsoft Corporation Gary Devendorf, Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation Jim Bernardo, Enterprise Technical Strategist, Microsoft Corporation
  With advancements in technology, and major new software releases on the horizon from Microsoft and IBM, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino customers are re-examining their readiness for collaboration. In this webcast we discuss how customers can extend their Notes and Domino investments with Microsoft technologies, and why now is the right time to evaluate solutions for integrating your Notes applications within the Microsoft collaboration platform.


• TechNet Webcast: Overview of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Administration Features (Level 300)
  Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
  Malvin M. Seale, Technical Lead, Microsoft Corporation Get an overview of the new administration features for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). This webcast covers changes to the 16GB limit and database size management, Public Folder management enhancements, and improvements to the Offline Address Book in Exchange Server 2003 SP2.


• TechNet Webcast: Accessing Exchange Server from Your Mobile Device Using SP2 (Level 300)
  Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
  Max Ciccotosto, Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
  Does your organization have all the mobile access it could use in the areas of security, flexibility, and affordability? This webcast discusses and demonstrates how Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 provides secure and affordable remote and mobile access to e-mail and Personal Information Manager information across a range of mobile devices. Explore the new mobility enhancements in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2, including the new always-up-to-date functionality, configuring personal identification number lock settings, remotely wiping a device, configuring soft certificates to access Exchange, and other new mobility enhancements.


• TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2003 In Depth (Part 1 of 14): Deployment Planning (Level 200)
  Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
  Harold Wong, Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
  How do you effectively plan and deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2003? Start with this first webcast of the Exchange Server 2003 Series, where we examine the planning phase of any Exchange deployment. Learn the basic consideration for deployment, including hardware and software required to support one or more Exchange servers. From there we examine the infrastructure requirements, covering basic services such as Domain Name System, Microsoft Internet Information Services and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Finally, we explain the biggest infrastructure requirement, Active Directory directory service. Covering integration and deployment paths, the presentation shows how Exchange and Active Directory are linked and how to deploy this critical service.


• TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2003 In Depth (Part 2 of 14): Coexistence and Migration (Level 200)
  Friday, October 28, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
  Harold Wong, Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
  Does migration have to be a headache? Not if you create a clear path and follow it. This webcast examines coexistence and migration scenarios when moving from Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. Connecting a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 environment to Active Directory as a starting point, the webcast shows how to connect the two directory services and troubleshoot them if they stop performing. With the Active Directory service established, learn how to integrate Exchange Server 2003 into this environment. The webcast concludes with a look at the upgrade path for Exchange Server 2000 deployments to Exchange Server 2003.


• Momentum Webcast: Exchange Server Sizing (Level 100)
  Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
  Steve Tramack, Senior Engineering Manager, HP Solution Alliances, HP
  Successful Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 deployments depend upon properly sizing and configuring your server environment and storage subsystem. A solid understanding of the business needs and technical constraints of these systems is critical to providing a configuration that offers performance at the service levels demanded by your organization. This webcast outlines a six-step methodology for performance planning that provides best practices related to the key sizing resources for sizing Exchange 2003 back-end servers. We identify available tools and resources from Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft for planning a successful messaging environment.


• TechNet Webcast: A Comprehensive Look at Anti-Spam Technologies in Exchange 2003 SP2 (Level 300)
  Monday, October 17, 2005 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
  Mihai Costea, Program Manager, Exchange Server, Microsoft Corporation Alexander Nikolayev, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
  To keep your information technology infrastructure safe, you must be up-to-date on the latest threats and the countermeasures to block or mitigate them. This webcast presents the complete view of the anti-spam techniques in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2. It includes descriptions and technical drill-downs for features that originally shipped in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, plus the additions in Service Pack 2. The webcast concludes with tips and tricks for fighting spam.


• TechNet Webcast: E-mail Authentication: Importance in Your E-mail Hygiene Strategy (Level 300)
  Friday, October 21, 2005 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
  Craig Spiezle, Director, Microsoft Corporation Harry Katz, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
  E-mail authentication is as essential to e-mail hygiene strategy as it is to building online trust. This webcast outlines the myths and realities of Sender ID, an industry-wide approach to dealing with the problem of e-mail spoofing and phishing. In this webcast we show how the results of Sender ID must be included in the overall e-mail trustworthiness score. Learn the importance of adding reputation to identity, and see how this improves deliverability of legitimate mail, detection of phishing exploits and reduces the occurrence of false positives. This presentation includes a review of industry momentum and progress around anti-spam and anti-phishing efforts. The webcast also shows examples of creating records, and discusses various complementary e-mail authentication approaches.

Updates para Exchange 2000 & 2003

A Microsoft disponibilizou recentemente um update para o Exchange Server (2000 e 2003) que corrige uma falha na implementação DAV:

• Update for Exchange 2003 (KB 888619)
• Update for Exchange 2000 (KB 892986)

Cada um dos updates é acompanhado pelo respectivo artigo da Knowledge Base:

• The value for the PR_ACCESS property that is returned from the DAV PROPFIND method is always read-only in Exchange Server 2003
• The value for the PR_ACCESS property that is returned from a WebDAV PROPFIND method is always MAPI_ACCESS_READ (read-only) in Exchange 2000

Leitura de fim-de-semana

Julgo que a lista desta semana estabelece um novo recorde. São nada mais, nada menos do que 17 (!) artigos.

• Make the MTA Go Away
• A Religious Debate: Upgrade in Place vs. Reinstall
• Messaging and Hurricane Katrina
• Exchange event sink offers selective journaling options
• Customising Exchange 2003 OWA FBA
• Copying your SMTP relay list to another computer
• EXBPA May Incorrectly Report Low Free PTEs
• Read the Release Notes for Exchange 2003 SP2 CTP
• Creating a new folder in a mailbox if one doesn't exist in WebDav
• Add a Picture to Contact in Outlook 2003 via Script
• Error in Active Directory Users and Computers when updating e-mail addresses
• Offline Address Book Integrity (OABInteg) Utility Explained
• Free/Busy Folders in Exchange Server 2003 in Depth
• On Digital Photos, Overseas Travel, and Outlook Web Access
• More details on Standard DB limit size increase in Exchange 2003 SP2
• E12 Developer Roadmap
• Overcoming Recovery Storage Group limitations

KB bug

You cannot add users to a private address book in Outlook when the forest functional level is set to Windows Server 2003, este é um artigo da Knowledge Base da Microsoft que saíu recentemente.
Andava o fellow MVP Alexandre Janeiro a ler este artigo quando se deparou com uma imprecisão (no mínimo!). O artigo diz assim:

SYMPTOMS
Consider the following scenario:
• You install Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server or Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer.

Ora, da última vez que eu verifiquei o Exchange 2000 Server não podia ser instalado no Windows Server 2003! Para quem tem dúvidas:

• You Cannot Install Exchange 2000 on a Computer That Is Running Windows Server 2003

Agora resta esperar pela versão 1.1 do artigo. O Alexandre já enviou feedback.

Application Layer Firewall protection for Exchange Server 2003 with ISA Server 2004

Application Layer Firewall protection for Exchange Server 2003 with ISA Server 2004 é um novo documento recentemente publicado pela Microsoft, que contém instruções para proteger o Exchange recorrendo aos serviços do ISA Server 2004.

"The purpose of this document is to detail how to more effectively use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) filtering capabilities to secure a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 environment connected to the Internet by using ISA Server 2004."

Leitura de fim-de-semana

Devido a algumas dificuldades técnicas, só agora consegui publicar a habitual lista de leitura para o fim-de-semana. Bem, nalgum ponto do planeta ainda deve ser Sexta-Feira ;-)

• Email Security - What Are The Issues?
• Overcoming Recovery Storage Group limitations
• OMA's missing logout function
• Keeping e-mail organized in Outlook 2003
• Checklist: Top 10 best practices for securing e-mail clients
• Move your Autocomplete entries to another machine
• Supportability Change on Disabling the Exchange 2003 MTA
• Large Exchange 2003 clusters and disabling the MTA
• Clustered Exchange setup tidbit
• Exchange clusters and the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator
• Public Folder Replication Troubleshooting Basics
• Migrating from Notes Domino to Exchange 2003 using the Exchange Notes Connector
• Exchange 12 will ship on DVD

Exchange Server 2003 Folder Listing DoS

A Secunia publicou recentemente um alerta relativamente a uma vulnerabilidade do Exchange Server 2003, que possibilita um ataque do tipo Denial of Service (DoS):

Description:
A vulnerability has been reported in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, which can be exploited by malicious users to cause a DoS (Denial of Service).The vulnerability is caused due to an unspecified error in the handling of requests to list public folders, and can be exploited to crash the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service (Store.exe) via an IMAP4 request.Successful exploitation requires that the following conditions are met:
* User tries to list public folders using IMAP4 version 4rev1
* Exchange server does not allow IMAP4 users to list public folders.
* User does not have a private mailbox on the server.

Solution:
The vendor has issued a hotfix, which can be obtained by contacting Microsoft Product Support Services.

IBM lança Lotus Notes/Domino 7

A IBM lançou recentemente a última versão do seu software de messaging e colaboração, com o qual vai tentar ganhar alguma quota de mercado ao líder actual, o Microsoft Exchange.
Para quem precisar de ser convencido, a IBM até disponibiliza uma página de comparação competitiva.
Links relacionados:

• IBM Delivers Notes And Domino 7
• What's new in Lotus Domino 7
• What's new in Lotus Notes 7

Intermedia.Net oferece serviços

Lembram-se da empresa que eu falei no post Factos curiosos sobre email?
A Intermedia.NET anunciou que vai oferecer os serviços a todas as organizações que tenham sido afectadas pelo furacão Katrina. Além do serviço de hosting, a Intermedia.NET oferece ainda um serviço de Fax, redireccionando os faxes recebidos como attachs de email.
Uma iniciativa verdadeiramente cool!
A notícia completa pode ser lida neste link.

[UPDATE]
Mais uma empresa a seguir este bom exemplo:

• Mi8 Corporation Offers Free Email Service to Companies Affected by Hurricane Katrina

Leitura de fim-de-semana

Vejamos se Setembro vai ser um bom mês para a "Leitura de fim-de-semana". Parece-me que a primeira colheita não está nada mal.

• Testing Exchange 2003 SP2
• Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 BETA (build 7623.0) Exposed
• Freeware tools change Exchange mailbox language settings
• Trend Micro(TM) ScanMail(TM) for Microsoft(TM) Exchange Named 2005 Readers' Choice Award Winner by Windows IT Pro
• What days do spammers take off?
• Troubleshooting RPC/HTTP
• Deploying the Offline Address book (OAB) with SMS
• SSL Enabling OWA 2003 Using a Free 3rd Party Certificate
• Overview of E12 Features
• Exchange 2003 SP2 Database Header changes

[UPDATE]

• Permissions required to install the first Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) in the Org

Factos curiosos sobre email

Andava eu a navegar pela Internet, quando acabei por seguir um link que me levou até uma empresa de hosting de Exchange, a Intermedia.NET (já agora, não tenho qualquer ligação a esta empresa) . Mas o que me chamou a atenção foi uma lista de factos e estatísticas sobre email e sistemas de correio electrónico que passa no rodapé do site desta empresa. Sendo assim, e esperando não estar a violar um qualquer acordo de copyright, aqui vos deixo essa lista de factos curiosos:

• “O Microsoft Exchange é o servidor de email dominante para as empresas de média dimensão”
• "Uma semana sem email é mais traumática e gera mais stress do que um pequeno acidente de automóvel ou um divórcio", CFO.com, John McPartin, CFO IT June 22, 2004
• "Os administradores de sistemas de email gastam em média 2 dias/semana a gerir os backups, 1 dia/semana a recuperar mensagens e anexos arquivados para os utilizadores"
• "31% dos consumidores utilizam software anti-spam", E-Quad News
• "60% da propriedade intelectual das empresas está no sistema de email", StorageInc. Magazine, Greg Arnette September 2003
• "O utilizador típico guarda mais de metade da sua informação crítica de negócio no sistema de messaging", Osterman Research
• "A quantidade de informação a nível mundial que obedece a requisitos de compliance vai aumentar de 376 petabytes em 2003 para mais de 1.600 petabytes em 2006"
• "Um utilizador de email corporativo envia e recebe em média cerca de 10 megabytes de informação por dia", CFO.com, John McPartin, CFO IT June 22, 2004
• "Custo estimado para recuperar email de 823 tapes de backup: $1.1 milhões - $1.7 milhões”, NewGov Solutions, Christopher Mauldin, 2003
• "São gastos 77 minutos por semana para um empregado gerir a sua caixa de correio, em tarefas como limpar mensagens antigas, arquivo de mensagens e anexos, etc"
• "62% das empresas Fortune 1000 utilizam ou estão a migrar para Exchange.”
• "Um utilizador demora 27 minutos a apagar ou arquivar mensagens por forma a podes utilizar o sistema de correio electrónico novamente depois de atingir um limite de quota"
• "8,2 minutos é quanto demora um utilizador a encontrar uma mensagem com mais de 2 semanas"
• "Em 2001, o utilizador corporativo gastou em média 2,6 horas por dia a ler e gerir o email", Ferris Research
• "Em 2003 o spam custou às empresas americanas $10 - $87 biliões de dólares", Ferris Research/Nucleus Research
• "60% da informação crítica de negócio está guardada nos sistemas de email corporativos, em 1999 era apenas 33%", StorageTek Survey
• "O utilizador corporativo recebe em média 25 mensagens por dia, com um crescimento de 10% ao ano", IDC, Worldwide Email Usage Forecast 2002-2006
• "O tráfego de email está a crescer a um ritmo de 10%-25%", IDC, Worldwide Email Usage Forecast 2002-2006
• "Um sistema de correio electrónico típico com 3000 utilizadores movimenta mais de 1 terabyte de tráfego de mensagens anualmente", IDC, Worldwide Email Usage Forecast 2002-2006
• "Gerir um típico sistema de correio electrónico para uma empresa de 100 pessoas ocupa 85% de um técnico sénior"