Exchange 2010 Microsoft Certified Masters (MCM) Training & Certification Overview

Are you interested in becoming an Exchange Microsoft Certified Master?  You think you have what it takes?  Join Exchange MCM Program Manager David Bjurman-Birr for a detailed online overview of the program for potential candidates and their sponsors.

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Session Objectives:

• Understand the goals and offerings of the Exchange 2010 MCM program
• Understand the program value proposition
• Plan preparation for Exchange 2010 MCM

Agenda:

• Program Mission & Vision
• Program Contents
• Training Experience
• Application & Preparation Process
• Pricing Model
• Value Proposition
• Q&A

For additional information:

• Microsoft Certified Master Programs
• Exchange 2010 MCM
• Email Us

Exchange 2010 support for host-based failover clustering and migration

Some Exchange-supported virtualization platforms, such as Hyper-V and VMware include features that support the clustering or portability of guest virtual machines across multiple physical root machines.  Examples of host-based failover clustering and migration include Hyper-V Live Migration and VMware ESX vMotion.

Microsoft support for host-based failover clustering and migration virtualization with Database Availability Groups (DAGs) depends on the Exchange 2010 service pack level.  Per the Exchange 2010 System Requirements:

With Exchange 2010 RTM:

Microsoft doesn't support combining Exchange high availability solutions (such as DAGs) with hypervisor-based clustering, high availability, or migration solutions that will move or automatically failover mailbox servers that are members of a DAG between clustered root servers. DAGs are supported in hardware virtualization environments, provided the virtualization environment doesn't employ clustered root servers, or the clustered root servers have been configured to never failover or automatically move mailbox servers that are members of a DAG to another root server.

With Exchange 2010 SP1 (or later) deployed:

Exchange server virtual machines (including Exchange Mailbox virtual machines that are part of a DAG), may be combined with host-based failover clustering and migration technology, as long as the virtual machines are configured such that they will not save and restore state on disk when moved, or taken offline. All failover activity must result in a cold boot when the virtual machine is activated on the target node. All planned migration must either result in shutdown and cold boot, or an online migration that makes use of a technology like Hyper-V Live Migration. Hypervisor migration of virtual machines is supported by the hypervisor vendor; therefore, you must ensure that your hypervisor vendor has tested and supports migration of Exchange virtual machines. Microsoft supports Hyper-V Live Migration of these virtual machines.

In summary, Exchange 2010 SP1 or better supports hypervisor migrations such as Hyper-V Live Migration and VMware ESX vMotion for DAG member servers.  Host-based failover cluster migrations, such as Hyper-V Quick Migration, is supported only if the virtual Exchange DAG server is restarted immediately after the quick migration completes.  Exchange 2010 RTM is not supported with either migration technology.  RTM only supports the native Exchange high availability features present in DAGs.

Other Exchange Server 2010 roles (CAS, Hub Transport, Edge Transport, and Unified Messaging) fully support host-based failover clustering and migration because they do not employ native Exchange high-availability solutions.

For a list of the virtualization platforms supported by Exchange, visit the Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program website.

First look at the TechEd 2012 Backpack

Here's a first look at the backpack being designed for TechEd North America 2012.  This photo of a prototype bag comes courtesy of the TechEd North America Facebook page.

It has an interesting non-canvas look to it and the logo gets a little lost on the back.  Comfortable looking shoulder straps for hours of huffing swag around, but the handle looks a little lightweight.

TechEd 2012 is THE Microsoft technology event of the year.  It's held worldwide throughout the year in North America, Europe, Australia, India and Africa.  This year TechEd North America will be held in Orlando, FL from June 11-14, 2012.  Register now for $200 savings!



Who are the Exchange MVPs and MCMs?

Legendary Exchange guru Tony Redmond wrote an article on Windows IT Pro magazine about Exchange MVPs.  You can read his article here.

Tony is also an active Exchange MVP and has been for many years.  He discusses the number of MVPs (Exchange and others), demographics, and what it takes to be an MVP.  It's an interesting read.  I knew that the number of Exchange MVPs was shrinking (used to be around 300 at it's peak I've been told), but didn't know it's down to 106.

If you're interested in seeing who my fellow Exchange MCMs are, visit the Meet the Microsoft Certified Masters and Microsoft Certified Architects site.

How to Reset Exchange 2010 MWI

Exchange 2010 has native message waiting indicator (MWI) support.  This feature enables the MWI light on your business phone when you receive a new voicemail in Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging (UM).  When a voicemail is received by the UM server it sends a SIP command to the PBX to tell it to turn the MWI on.  MSExchange Unified Messaging event 1343 is logged if diagnostic logging is turned up on the Exchange 2010 UM server:

(BTW, have I ever mentioned how much I hate typos in event logs?  Succesfully?  Really?)

Exchange 2010 reads the Voice Mail search folder to know if there are any unread voicemail messages.  If there are, it sends the SIP message above.  Simply marking a voicemail as unread should enable the MWI and cause the event to be logged.

The Voice Mail search folder is created when you UM enable a mailbox.  Exchange Web Services (EWS) is responsible for creating this search folder.

Sometimes Exchange 2010 is unable to read the Voice Mail search folder due to corruption.  I've seen this happen when mailboxes are migrated from Exchange 2007, which has no native MWI support, and third-party MWI software is used, such as Geomant MWI for Microsoft Unified Messaging.  In this case you need to delete and recreate the Voice Mail search folder from Outlook.

Note: You cannot delete the Voice Mail search folder using OWA since it treats it as a protected folder.  You must delete it using Outlook 2007 or 2010.

But what happens if you delete the Voice Mail search folder?  Well, bad things happen in MWI land.  You'll notice that there are no 1343 events logged for that user anymore and the MWI light will not change.  If it was on, it stays on.  If it was off, it stays off.  The fix is to have EWS recreate the folder.  You cannot create this special search folder manually, you need EWS to do it.

David Sterling, a Senior Software Development Engineer on the Microsoft Exchange Web Services Team, wrote an excellent post about the Voice Mail search folder and how to recreate it.  Fellow MCM Keif Machado and I spent quite a while trying to get it to work at a customer before we discovered that it only works in Exchange online mode.

Here are the steps to delete and recreate the Voice Mail search folder to fix MWI:

1. Make sure that Outlook is running in online mode (Not Cached Exchange Mode).  In online mode Outlook will say "Online with Microsoft Exchange" in the status bar, not "Connected with Microsoft Exchange".
2. Delete the Voice Mail search folder in Outlook.  This only deletes the search folder, not the messages.
3. Dial into Outlook Voice Access to access your old voicemails.  You need to enter the "voice mail" command, even if OVA says you have no new voicemails.  When you do this, EWS will recreate the Voice Mail search folder in Outlook.  Hang up.
4. Reconfigure Outlook to use Cached Exchange Mode again and restart Outlook.  Since the OST header still matches the mailbox database header, Outlook will use the same OST and will resync your emails quickly and easily.

Now test MWI functionality by marking voicemails as unread in the Voice Mail search folder and by leaving a new voicemail.

How to Force Using the Lync Web App

If you have the Lync 2010 client installed it will automatically launch when you click to join a meeting using the meeting URL.  If you don't have Lync 2010 installed you will see a Microsoft Lync 2010 join page similar to the following:

From this web page you can join the meeting using your browser (Lync Web App), download the thick Lync 2010 Attendee client, or use your OCS 2007 Communicator (with reduced functionality) if it's installed.

Lync Web App is supported on multiple Windows and Mac platforms (see Lync Web App Supported Platforms for details).  It also requires the Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in version 4.0 or better installed.  Lync Web App will download various ActiveX components as needed to add functionality, such as screen sharing.  Previously, Lync Web App used to be called the reach client.

The Lync 2010 Attendee client is a thick client (it must be downloaded and installed), so it requires rights to install software.  The Lync 2010 Attendee is very similar to the Lync 2010 client, but it does not allow you to create buddy lists or create meetings.  Both Lync Web App and Lync 2010 Attendee allow you to join as guests or with your corporate credentials.

As mentioned earlier, the Lync 2010 client will automatically launch if it is installed when you click the "Join Online Meeting" URL.  However, you may find that you need to use Lync Web App instead.  Maybe your want to demo the web join page, above, or you're in an environment where the firewall blocks access using the Lync 2010 client.  To do this, simply add ?sl= to the meeting URL.  For example:

https://meet.extrateam.com/jeff/3MK1BW1F?sl=

Viola!  The Lync Client will not launch and you can choose to run Lync Web App.

I'm now an MCITP:Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Administrator

Over the past week I've completed the exams needed to attain the MCITP:Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Administrator certification.

This is my fifth Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) credential, the others being Enterprise Messaging Administrator (Exchange 2010 and 2007),
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Administrator, and Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2.  Booyah!