Shared calendar items are shown incorrectly in Exchange 2007 (Fixed in SP3 RU1)

Sumatra enterprise clients use shared calendars to allow Managers to look at employee calendars, employees to access common calendars (e.g., the 'vacation' calendar, or to look at conference rooms (when free/busy doesn't contain enough information.)

Unfortunately, the calendar events are often shown at the wrong time.

Microsoft KB 976100 offered a hotfix for this issue. It was also included in the Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 1 (KB 2279665)

For clients who share calendars -- apply this rollup.

Exchange 2010 Calendar Permissions Using PowerShell

One of the Microsoft blogs did a great article on setting calendar permissions using PowerShell in Exchange 2010.
Their earlier article on setting Outlook Delegate permissions with RBACs is also worth reading for sites migrating into 2010.
Many thanks!

Dilbert on the importance of Conference Rooms

Dilbert from Sunday September 12, 2010 had an excellent strip on the importance of conference room scheduling.

We normally see this as the attempted "great conference room land rush" during migrations, which you can avoid by hiding your resources in the GAL for the migration period.

Circumvent Outlook Rules in Exchange 2010

We just completed an Exchange 2007 migration this past weekend. After each migration we review what worked and what didn't. One of the problems we faced - clients setup delegate forwarding rules, so the "bosses" and their delegates had copies of the meeting invites in their inboxes. The client used Redemption to write a MAPI script to disable those rules, but it didn't work as planned. The good news-- the Sumatra process correctly built the bosses calendars! The bad news - delegate had a bunch of meeting requests in their inbox that they had to delete (Not a show stopper -- just tedious!)

Had they migrated to Exchange 2010, this would not have been necessary because Exchange 2010 allows you to manage rules using these six commandlets: Get-InboxRule, Set-InboxRule, Remove-InboxRule, Disable-InboxRule, Enable-InboxRule and New-InboxRule.

One approach is to use "Get-InboxRule" to find all enabled, server-side rules. Disable those rules (remember which rules you disabled so you can re-enable them after the migration.)

We came up with another approach: Add a new rule that has the "highest" priority, have that rule do nothing, then say "stop processing rules." After the migration, remove that rule.

Here's how we approached it for one user, say, Zyg:

• New-inboxrule -mailbox:zyg@mailbox.sumatra.com -name:"_sumatraHiPriorityRule" -Priority "0" -StopprocessingRules:$true -Confirm:$false

and then to remove:
• Remove-inboxrule -mailbox zyg@cod.sumatra.local -Identity:"_sumatraHiPriorityRule" -Confirm:$False

Caveats:

• Note the priority zero (0) makes this rule the highest-priority rule. All others drop down one.
• We are ignoring the power-rule-user scenario: the user exceeds Exchange's inbox rule memory size buffer limit (it's 32KB) (or about 40-50 rules.) Obviously when you're at the limit you can't add any more rules. We don't have a suggestion except to say "look" for disabled rules and ask the end user if a few could be removed.
• The "-force" parameter - removes disabled rules AND all Outlook client-side rules.
• new-InboxRules doesn't accept pipelined userlist from "get-mailbox -filter {isResource -eq $false}". What happens if you have 5,000 accounts? Stay tuned ---

Sumatra Utilities - Holidays for the remainder of 2010

Since the year is drawing to a close, we're going to put up the Sumatra Utilities for 2010 for no charge for the rest of 2010.

So Exchange Admins in the USA can server-side insert Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and Canadian users can do Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day, and UK users can do bank holidays from now until the end of the year and... OK OK you get the idea.

This version will only insert data up to January 2011. This version works with both Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010, and will not work for hosted Exchange (i.e., Live @ Edu). Hosted sites working with us on migrations already have versions that will insert holidays.

To download the ZIP file just click here. If you want to read through the documentation first, please do.

Look for an update from us in October about what we'll do with server-side Exchange holidays in 2011.

If you are looking to private label or distribute and support the Utilities holiday insertion tool we'd be happy to discuss that.

Exchange 2010 SP1 - ErrorRecord: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox error

We planned to upgrade our Exchange 2010 servers to SP1 this labor day weekend to take advantage of these calendar-related improvements:

• Outlook Web App Improvements
• Calendar Repair Assistant supports more scenarios than were available in Exchange 2010 RTM.
• Mailbox Assistants are now all throttle-based (changed from time-based in Exchange 2010 RTM).
• Internet calendar publishing allows users in your Exchange organization to share their Outlook calendars with a broad Internet audience.
• Importing and exporting .pst files now uses the Mailbox Replication service and doesn't require Outlook.

(fyi be prepared to install hotfixes before installing SP1!)

But what happens when it fails on the mailbox role with these two errors?

1. ErrorRecord: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox. Property Name: Database



2. Microsoft.Exchange.Data.DataValidationException: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox. Property Name: Database

It seems we had to upgrade active directory (i.e, run setup.com /ps, then /p, and then /pad)

But that threw an error "Setup previously failed while performing the action "BuildToBuildUpgrade"

There are two fixes to this problem. The FIRST Fix - edit the registry (seems like that's always part of a fix), and SECOND remove a few system mailboxes:

Edit the registry. Under the key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\MailboxRole you will find two keys - Watermark and Action. Export the mailbox role settings, then delete the two keys. Now re-run setup.com /ps, then /p, and then /pad. )I tried running the setup GUI, but it didn't completely upgrade AD.)

The SECOND fix: Now we're back to the initial "Database is mandatory on UserMailbox" problem. Launch AD Users & Computers, and delete the discovery mailbox, system mailbox(es)

Finally, if you are deploying Exchange 2010 for the first time, Exchange 2010 SP1 is a full install package. Pat Richard's Exchange2010Prereqs.ps1 script simplifies installation.

>>Update After I brought the servers back online and started writing this post, I found Brian Day's post in Technet (...wish I had found it earlier!)

--Russ

Migrating from Exchange to Live@Edu - NOT a no-brainer

We've been getting a lot of email from people who are weighing the decision between on-premises Exchange and Live @ Edu. We got worried when we started picking up on two assumptions that a lot of them are making: that both Live @ Edu and on-premises Exchange 2010 are functionally equivalent and that should you decide to move between them it is a simple, no-brainer activity to shift from on-premises Exchange 2010 to cloud-hosted Exchange later on.

Disillusionment Time!

There are two things you need to be aware of at the outset:

1. Live @ Edu has limits compared to on-premises hardware (and this affects migrations disproportionately)
2. Going from on-premises hardware to Live @ Edu is just as major a migration as going from (say) Oracle Calendar Server to Live @ Edu.

We've dealt with the first issue already in this blog, including some differences from a coding perspective.
Now let's talk about going from on-premises to Live @ Edu:
First the voice of experience, in this case a user going from E2K7 to Live @ Edu:
http://nzschooltech.blogspot.com/2010/04/migrating-from-exchange-2007-to-liveedu.html
Yes, you CAN devise and execute your own migration process. But but do not plan on it being either simple or fast.
Second, we have the voice of authority, Microsoft, warning about this:
http://outlookliveanswers.com/forums/p/519/4961.aspx#4961
So Microsoft is working the IMAP mail migration angle (be sure to test how long it takes), but calendars, contacts, tasks are not included.

Third, we have the voice of Sumatra:
If someone is moving your calendars, ask if the meetings come over live with guest lists and responses intact.
Our general recommendation: If you're looking at migrating from a legacy system and considering going into Live @ Edu sometime down the road -- all indications are that it is better to make your end-point decision FIRST. It will save you tons of work down the road.

Disable Meeting Forward Notifications

Gentle reader,
When migrating calendars and re-creating their state, Ms. Calendars finds it very useful to disable meeting forward notifications. Otherwise, Ms. Calendars does not know where the heck the darned invitations are or what has happened to them and has no reasonable way in this level of reality to respond to them appropriately.
To do so:
Disable External Meeting Forward Notifications for a Single User
Set-RemoteDomain -MeetingForwardNotificationEnabled $false

Disable Internal Meeting Forward Notifications for a Single User
Set-MailboxCalendarSettings -Identity user email@yourdomain.com
-RemoveForwardMeetingNotifications $true

Google Wave is gone?

Google Wave is gone?
Darn -- now I'll never be able to figure out what it's good for.

Outlook Live: Bulk E-Mail and Daily Recipient Rate Limits

Folks looking to go into Outlook Live should check this out:

Bulk E-Mail and Daily Recipient Rate Limits

Because when you re-create calendaring state as we do in a migration you are very likely to find some people who are hitting into this limit.

We sometimes do get the question: Why do you need to send messages if you are migrating calendars?

(We do, oh we really do!)

The answer: because calendaring in Exchange is a message-based protocol (Duh). Single appointments do not fall under this limit, but meetings DO. And remember, with meetings there's the invitation AND the response.

Outlook Live and Outlook On-Premises Differences

You know.... there's a bunch of these differences between Outlook live and Exchange on-premises.
And like discovering land mines you're only going to know when you step on one of them.
Such is the case with Throttling Policies and the EWSFindCountLimit.
What does this have to do with calendar migrations? Just in our UNDO function (a prudent safeguard which many of you seem to find comforting).
Our QA team discovered weird behavior in Live @ Edu that does not exist in on-premises Exchange when we were trying to UNDO several test insertions at once. The default limit in ESWFindCOuntLimit is 1000 items (and this in our case includes things in the Deleted folder).
So some of our higher-end users were not being UNDO-ne.
We're fixing that and preparing for the next landmine.
Stay tuned.

Inserting into Live @ Edu vs. inserting into on premises hardware

We were working with a client doing a migration into Live @ Edu and wanted to get some absolute data on calendar migration performance on their machines versus everyone else. So in true Sumatra fashion we created a test database of 20 users and had them insert it in their test environment. It took 19 minutes.

And we then inserted the same database into our Exchange environment. That took 12 minutes (not surprising, we have good hardware and not an enterprise-level load)

Then we inserted the same data into Outlook Live @ Edu. It took 71 minutes.

Just to be sure we were not doing something really wrong we ran it twice and got the same manatee-like languid pace. We're used to measuring migrations with a clock, not a calendar.

We're sure we're not processor bound on our client system. The question is whether we're processor-bound on the server (likely) or network-bound (not as likely). The results are in any event troubling for anyone wanting to do a bulk calendar migration.

But wait -- there's even MORE BAD NEWS FOR calendar migrations!

According to Message, Mailbox, and Recipient Limits (tip 'o the hat to Duncan in London), there are limits of 30 messages per minute and 500 recipients per day. And the logs from London's test runs indicate they are already hitting this limit.

Taking calendar data over in a full-state method we re-create all of these and it is not unusual for the even moderately-scheduled user to hit these limits.

Stay tuned. We're working on creative solutions.
There is a ray of hope, though. This thread indicates others are running into the same absurd limits and Microsoft MAY be willing to make exceptions (check out the procedure at the end).

We suggest you folks who want to do a full-state calendar migration contact your Microsoft Rep and ask them if they can get these limits removed for the duration of your migration.

International characters going into Live at Edu migrations

Because we're nutcases about accuracy and dependability we checked international characters going into Live @ Edu migrations and found no problems.

So umlauts, acutes, cedillas, and various other characters should come out fine.

Setting Permissions for a Live @ Edu Migration

OKAY, you are serious about getting out of Oracle Calendar and into the Exchange Cloud. So you need to know how to set up your permissions on your Live @ EDU Admin account so that the migration application has access to all accounts to do what it needs.

 

You only need to do this once and you can remove these (rather generous but necessary) permissions after you have verified the integrity of your data and removed the Keyword.

 

1. Setup live@edu:
   
   1. Your domain must be Org-owned (you'll be setting RBACs….)
      
   2. Create a service account, e.g. deleg8@livetest.YOURDOMAIN.com
      
2. On your PC, connect your local instance of Windows PowerShell to Outlook Live
   
   1. Prerequisites:
      
      1. You'll need Windows PowerShell 2.0.
         
         1. Get it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929
            
         2. If you have windows XP x86 must upgrade to SP3+; 
            
         3. If you have windows XP x64 use the windows server 2003 x64 version
            
      2. Launch PowerShell: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows PowerShell > Windows PowerShell right-hand click and "Run-As administrator"
         
   2. Set the credentials for your Windows Live ID and Password for your Outlook Live account, then define a session
      
      1. $LiveCred = Get-Credential 
         
      2. $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
         
         1. If it fails to execute, then:
            
            1. Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned 
               
            2. …. Or unrestricted if you are brave
               
      3. Start a session to import the Outlook Live commands into your session.
         
         1. Import-PSSession $Session
            
         2. Setup RBAC impersonation using built-in role "ApplicationImpersonation"
            
3. Define RBAC impersonation in Powershell:
   
   1. New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Name EWSImpersonation -Role ApplicationImpersonation -User deleg8@livetest.YOURDOMAIN.com
      
   2. After you are done, disconnect Windows PowerShell from Outlook Live:
      
      1. Remove-PSSession $Session
         

Oracle Calendar to Exchange Live at Edu - the Video

We got a request for a video showing data migration from Oracle Calendar to Live @ Edu.

We put together an ad hoc committee to create the clearing for the conversation for possibility..... ah heck.... we just put some software up and did it.

Michael Moore has nothing to be afraid of.

You can also view it off our main site at http://www.sumatra.com/ocs-to-exchange.wmv

The melodious voice you hear is Zyg (whose role in Sumatra is the moody "Ben Affleck" character in contrast to Russ's "Matt Damon" persona).

Interested in trying it out? Our contact page is here.

Migrating Oracle Calendar Server into the Microsoft Exchange Cloud

The calendar gnomes have been busy.

We have gotten some requests to take Oracle Calendar Server into this Microsoft "cloud" thing (which last time I looked had a couple of different names).  Of course we started with Live @ Edu because that's where the first money is.

So if we look at Jimi's calendar in Oracle Calendar we see:

and if we look at his calendar in Sumatra's LIVE@ edu test system we see the exact same thing (minus the color which you cannot port anyway).

Some of you will notice the one appointment that's not there, which led us into looking at timing issues in Live @ Edu.  We found that changing our CAS and EWS URLs for the insertion to remove the "PSH" part removed the issue.

If your Outlook.com server is something like
PODnnnnnnPSH.outlook.com

use:
PODnnnnnn.outlook.com

instead on insertion.

... and Jimi's calendar comes out fine everywhere.  So in case you find yourself missing some data, check the URL you're pointing to.  We obviously don't have as much control over timing and performance in this scenario as we do in a native Exchange environment.  So the first few who go live with our tech are going to be taking the earliest risks for timing and the eternal X-Factor.

Oh yeah, this would work for Meeting Maker, Zimbra, Sun Java Calendar, anything else we can migrate.  But let's face it, Oracle Calendar Server is the one everyone is currently looking to drop ASAP.

This all involved minor changes to the SuExchange interface, mainly to specify Credentials to your CAS server.  Your Live admin account is the one to use:

This also means there's no need to "Run as..." with the Service Account.  Your  CAS credentials effectively ARE the Service Account.

There's also good news on conference rooms, which are looking like we can Accept and Decline them under our control but as always we want more field tests to make sure we're not drinking our own Kool-Aid: 

Keep in mind: our distinction is that we re-create meetings with guest lists and responses and re-create recurrence patterns in moving from OCS to Exchange, and that is the same whether going to the cloud or a native Exchange server.

So from the perspective of your end users it's a migration with results that make it act as though you've been using Exchange all along.

From the trenches: Exchange to Gmail

Ran into this and thought I'd pass it along.

CEO Of Company With 500 Employees: Here's Why We're Ditching Microsoft Outlook For Gmail

This is a corporation with only 500 users.  The number of companies we've seen with enterprise size considering ditching Google is easy to summarize: Zero.  There was one pathetic case we know of a company adopting Google then getting bought and having to drop it just as quickly, but my schadenfreude account is overdrawn this week.

Where we see a lot of Google Mail and Calendaring is in education and mainly for schools without a lot of endowment.  Note to readers: yes, that word has two meanings.

Updated May 26 to add this link:

Microsoft has a blog posting: Why are Businesses Leaving Google Apps?

Pick your Kool-Aid.

Add2Calendar Example from Facebook

It amazes me that Add2Calendar works when I least expect it.

In my Facebook updates I had the following:

I highlighted it and right clicked the IE8 Accelerator and this is what was immediately populated into Outlook:

Which I consider to be very cool.

Macintosh and Exchange: maybe no longer the horror it has been

If you've ever worked with us you know we want to deal with the Macintosh about as much as we want to spend our vacation at Chernobyl where we consider the radioactive waste level lower.

However, anecdotal evidence from some of our calendar buddies (Hi, Vince!) has given us indication of light at the end of the tunnel. Herewith is what we learned:

• If you want to use Apple mail, you should upgrade to OS X 10.6. Earlier versions were not all that good in terms of calendaring and mail. 10.6 has MUCH better mail handling.
• If you want to stay with Entourage, adopt the mantra "patch Entourage to the max" (12.2.3) then install the EWS patch: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/itpros/entourage-ews.mspx
• Go to Exchange 2010 (NOT 2007). OWA is MUCH better for Macintosh users in Exchange 2010. http://www.macworld.com/article/140257/2009/04/exchange2010_mac.html
• Finally, check out this link to the Mac 2011 Road Show: https://microsoft.crgevents.com/OfficeMac2011/Content/Home.aspx

This gets us as giddy with excitement as is possible given that we want to suffocate the whole Macintosh platform in the first place.

There's a few other places migrating Exchange Admins should check out if your Windows-phobic execs conform to Jobsian non-conformity.

Exchange 2010: OWA has a good summary of Outlook Web Access via Safari on a Mac.

Entourage Mac for Exchange Servers: Tips and Reports has the most comprehensive list of Entourage / Exchange issues I've seen (and while there are a LOT of them most are for previous versions).

ResourceWatch Error: The Service cannot be activated due to an exception during compilation

A client called after their ResourceWatch installation started to fail with this error:

Exception: System.ServiceModel.ServiceActivationException: The service '/ResourceDataService.svc' cannot be activated due to an exception during compilation. The exception message is: Could not load file or assembly 'App_Web_aza-n8ud, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies......

How odd----it's been running without issue for months.

There were two possible reasons for the failure:

1. The virtual directory was renamed, or
2. .Net Framework 3.5 was not installed

"Virtual Directory Renamed" When Sumatra The “Publish Web Site” deployment model in Microsoft’s Visual Studio hinges on the name of the web application mapping directly to the virtual directory name. Renaming the virtual directory without changing the ".compiled" directive causes the application to crash. If you don't have to rename the directory, don't. If you do, and it crashes, read Tom Fuller's post where he solves his 'Issue deploying WCF service to IIS 6 in non-updateable mode.'

".Net Framework 3.5" The other reason this fails is because .Net Framework 3.5 is not installed. (This is easily checked, and if you didn't rename the virtual directory, this is likely the problem.)

In this case, the app was moved to a different box, the virtual directories remained the same, BUT, .Net framework was not installed.