Thursday, July 31, 2008

More WSS stuff: alerts, workspaces, etc. in SBS 2003

Hiho- I continue my journey ofposting up pages from Window Small Buiness Server 2003 Best Practices - we are in chapter seven and this is more document management talk about Windows SharePoint Services in SBS 2003.
enjoy...harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford
ceo at smb nation, www.smbnation.com
micosoft small business specialist (SBSC)
More Document Management
Had enough in the document management realm? No? Good. Let’s do more. In this section, you’ll explore alerts, adding a discussion item and creating a document workspace plus more! It all starts with a deftly placed click on the Breeder1.doc drop-down context menu (remember Figure 7-5) under Jones Family.
• Alert Me. Select this menu option. View the suggested settings on the New Alert: Clients: Breeder1.doc that appears (Figure 7-10). Click OK to implement this cool functionality.
Notes:
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 7-10
Implementing alerts should be considered a powerful component of the basic document management capability of WSS.
• Discuss. This is similar to the “yellow stickies” you might have used with Adobe Acrobat. It’s actually based on the discussion object in Internet Explorer. Click on the Discuss option and then click Open on the File Download dialog box that appears. The document opens. Observe the Discussion tool bar that appears at the bottom. With the icons on this toolbar, you only have the option to have a discussion about a document (and not make the discussion part of the document). The ability to insert a discussion item into the actual document is dis­abled. Complete the Discussion subject and Discussion text fields and click OK. Your screen should look similar to Figure 7-11. Select the Home icon in Internet Explorer to return to the WSS home page for SPRINGERS.
Figure 7-11
Having a document discussion is another great way to use WSS for document management.
• Create Document Workspace. Navigate back to Jones Family and select Create Document Workspace from the drop-down context menu for Breeder1.doc. Click OK on the Create Document Workspace page. The result will appear similar to Figure 7-12. So why would you want a document workspace? The idea is that you’re creating a new site where you can create a collaboration area separate from the main site (say for managing a project). You can also apply unique permissions to the Document Workspace.
Notes:
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 7-12
Using the document workspace capability in WSS.
• New Document Creation. Click on Up to Springer Spaniels Lim­ited. Return to the Jones Family folder and select New Document. Click OK. Type in some text and close the document. You will be pro­moted to save it and be presented with a Save As dialog box that will place the document in WSS, as seen in Figure 7-13. Click Save to save the document. This new document will appear in the same list as Breeder1.doc.
Notes:
Figure 7-13
Creating a new document the WSS way!

Get Your Geek On WEBINAR TODAY at 1600 hours with Dana and Harry

Hey gang - today at 4pm PDT (UTC-7), Dana Epp and I chat about getting your geek on...

Sign up: http://www.smbnation.com/events_listpage.asp?Category=Webinars&Cat=Category

see you there...harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford
ceo at smb nation and fellow Small Business Specialist

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Document Storage Structures: WSS in SBS 2003

hello-hello
harrybbbb here - the author of Windows Small Buisness Server 2003 Best PRactices (the purple book). I like to upload a few pages per day of my book and today we discuss document storage structures and uploading a document in Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) in SBS 2003.
enjoy...harrybbbb
Harry Brlesford, CEO at SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC), MBA, MCSE, MCP,CNE , CLSE and even CNP
###
Document Storage Structure
As promised, you’ll first create the document storage structure.

1. Log on as NormH on PRESIDENT with the password Purple3300.

2. Launch Internet Explorer from Start, Internet. The Springer Span­iels Limited Home page will appear (which is the WSS default portal).

3. Select Documents and Lists.

4. Click on the Create button and the Create Page will be displayed.

5. Select Document Library.

6. The New Document Library page will appear. Type Clients in the Name field. In the Description field, type This is a data storage area for clients of Springer Spaniels Limited. Verify your screen looks similar to Figure 7-3.

7. Make sure the Yes radio button is selected beneath Display this docu­ment library on the Quick Launch bar in the Navigation field.

8. In Document Versions, please CAREFULLY read the description text and then select Yes beneath Create a version each time you edit a file in this document library. Go ahead and accept the default settings under Document Templates.

9. Click on Create to create the document library. The document li­brary has been created.

10. Click on the Home button on the right-side of the WSS tool bar.

Notes:
Figure 7-3
Creating the document library for SPRINGERS.
Next, you’ll create the folder structure for some SPRINGERS customers. I assume you are still on the PRESIDENT computer and at the WSS Home page.
1 Select Documents and Lists.
2 Select Clients under Documents and Lists.
3 Select New Folder. Name the folder: Walters Kennels. Click Save and Close. Repeat this step to create another folder for Jones Family.
4 Minimize Internet Explorer (keep it open) but stay on the Clients page (where you should be at this point).

Create and Upload a Business Document
You will now create a business document on the PRESIDENT machine that you’ll then upload into the WSS document management system. Note that I assume you have installed Microsoft Office 2003 on this workstation (as per the discussion in a prior chapter in the context of Business Contact Manager). If such isn’t the case, you should install Office 2003 now before proceeding. You need Office XP or
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Office 2003 to exploit all WSS functionality. You could sorta follow this example using WordPad to create the document, but it won’t be the same.
1 Still logged on as NormH on PRESIDENT, click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Word 2003.
2 Create a business document (type in a sample business agreement, etc.). Then save the file to the My Documents folder as Breeder1.doc. Close Microsoft Office Word 2003.
3 Maximize Internet Explorer and click on the Jones Family folder visible on the Clients page.
4 Click Upload Document.

BEST PRACTICE: There is an even cooler way to upload the document that I’d encourage at this juncture. While in Word 2003, select File, Save As. Then select My Network Places on the lower left. Observe the SharePoint folders that have been published (General Documents on companyweb, Jones Family on
companyweb). Drill down into the Jones Family folder and save the document (perhaps as Breeder2.doc). This method exploits SharePoint’s deeper integration with Office 2003 and more nifty features are enabled. This would be the preferred way to add a document.
5. Click Browse, select Breeder1.doc, and click Open. Then click Save and Close. Your screen should look similar to Figure 7-4.
BEST PRACTICE: So you want to upload multiple documents at once, not one at a time as this example would suggest. It’s easy! Notice below in Figure 7-4 that there is a select on the far left column titled Explorer View. Simply click that and you’ll see the document corpus presented in a traditional Windows Explorer-like view. You can now drag and drop multiple documents from another Windows Explorer session into this window to upload multiple documents at once. Cool!
So time for something even cooler. Use the Import Files Wizard
(select from Server Management, Standard Management, Internal
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
Web Site, Import Files) to not only import in bulk but also import deep file structures. Pretend you had a folder named Ralston that had many sub folders beneath it (project, accounts, training, etc.). Each sub folder has many documents. You would use the Import Files Wizard and point to Ralston (the parent folder) to import everything at once (all sub folders and files). This is very efficient and the ultimate preferred approach in a migration.
Figure 7-4
You’ve successfully created and uploaded the document in WSS at this point.
BEST PRACTICE: Taking a second to discuss the storage mechanism in WSS, you should know that the data files, such as Breeder1.doc, are being stored in a SQL Server-type database file. That effectively negates the coolness of Volume Shadow Copy Restore in Windows Server 2003 to individually recover a single file (such as Breeder1.doc). Rather, you’ll have to access said file via WSS (where
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
you could argue the cool versioning capability effectively acts like
Volume Shadow Copy Restore for all practical purposes).
Speaking of recovering an individual document in WSS, you need to assume, too, that predecessor applications, such as Internet Information Server (IIS), are also running for WSS to function correctly. But don’t let that discourage you from using WSS because, as you’ll see in a moment, the versioning capabilities of WSS outweigh such minor concerns (in my humble opinion). And many document management systems on the market have similar dependencies, so this isn’t just a WSS issue. I discuss WSS backup and restore later in the Advanced WSS Topics section.
Another take on the embedded object in the database matter worth discussing here. Students in the SBS 2003 hands-on labs have in the past asked, “Where is the document stored?” and “Let me use Windows Explorer to go find the document.” The thing is that you can’t go find the individual document using Windows Explorer after you’ve uploaded it into WSS. Case sorta closed.
The exception to the “law” I just laid out above is that you can use My Network Places to navigate to the Web folders (also known as a “network place”) like Jones Family and retrieve your documents from a Windows Explorer-like interface. The enabling technology for this is Webdav.
You also need to consider the following storage fact. When you uploaded the document in the above procedure, it copied the document into the WSS database. It did not really move this file but rather kinda copied it. The risk is this: Users, accustomed to seeing the file at its original location (and still new to WSS), might inadvertently bypass WSS and open the original file. This would negate your good efforts to get everyone to use WSS. Ergo - once you upload the file into the WSS system (e.g., into the Jones Family), you need to move the original file (in the procedure above, it was in
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
the My Documents folder) to another folder so those rascal users can’t find it. You need to force them to use WSS!
Go ahead and delete Breeder1.doc from the My Documents folder before proceeding.
6. Now, carefully select the drop-down context menu for Breeder1.doc in the Jones Family folder. This is shown in Figure 7-5 (the reason for this screenshot is that many students had difficulty finding the drop-down context menu in the fall 2003 SBS 2003 hands-on labs that toured the US).
Figure 7-5
Viewing the drop-down context menu for the Breeder1.doc document.
7. Select Check Out from the drop-down context menu shown above in Figure 7-5. The name Norm Hasborn now appears in the Checked Out To column.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
BEST PRACTICE: You have now checked out the document, and any other user attempting to access the document will only have a read-only copy (they would know you have the edit version). This is the essence of the document management system in WSS: VERSION CONTROL, baby! It is akin to how programming code is managed using the library function in Microsoft Visual Source Safe (VSS) in the developer’s world. Think long and hard about this BEST PRACTICE the next time you’re in a quandary about which document is “most current” (like when you’re writing an SBS book and managing chapter revisions - let me tell ya!).
1 Now select Edit in Microsoft Office Word from the drop-down menu seen in Figure 7-5 above to open the document. Note this edit menu option is only available with Office XP or higher. Click OK when warned by the Internet Explorer dialog box that some files can harm your computer, etc.
2 Modify the document with a few sentences such as that seen in Fig­ure 7-6.

Figure 7-6
Note the WSS specific stuff in the right column of the Word document (this is the Shared Workspace area I discuss later in the WSS and Office 2003 section). This is a great example of how Office 2003 better exploits the full capabilities of WSS.


10. In the far right column, click Check-in under Status for NormH. Complete the Check-in Comments screen similar to Figure 7-7 and click OK.

11. Close the document in Microsoft Word.

Figure 7-7
The Office 2003 check process is much more elegant than using an older application where different steps would be required for checking in a document.
BEST PRACTICE: I know what you’re likely thinking here. It’s kinda weird that you could check in the document yet the document remained open and could be edited. I find it odd as well. Consider also that a document can be opened in WSS without being checked out. Sadly, I’ve confirmed with Microsoft in doing my book research that out of the SBS 2003 box, there is no way to enforce that a check-out must occur before a document is opened.
The above observations present two challenges. First, there will be a huge training opportunity for SBSers implementing WSS in an organization to get them to use it properly and consistently (that’s aptly called a management consulting opportunity). Second, these observations are why I call WSS a basic document management package, something that Microsoft wouldn’t dispute. It may well be that WSS will ultimately sell a lot of real document management
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
systems like the SBS version of DocumentLocator from Columbia Soft (www.documentlocator.com).
Still want to talk through these limitations? Okay. Consider a discussion I had with a SharePoint expert in doing research for my book. On the one hand, you can argue that WSS can’t be everything to all people. Two examples of a couple of limitations are:
• Access Control List (ACL) limitations. WSS doesn’t use ACLs but rather uses permission controls at the document library level.
• Offline Access limitations. This is simple. There is no offline access in WSS.

But on the other hand, WSS has alerts that aren’t present in the NTFS file system. And Microsoft found that in the SMB space, using the Web browser interface to manage files was more intuitive than Windows Explorer or My Computers.
The lesson learned is that there are always two stories to each side.
Notes:
12. Return to Internet Explorer where you should be in the Jones Family data storage area. Click on Breeder1.doc so that the drop-down menu appears. Select Version History. Your screen should look similar to Figure 7-8.
Figure 7-8
This is the screen that would allow you to roll back to a prior version of a document. This is VERY POWERFUL stuff!
13. For more fun, click the Modify versioning settings on the left (under Actions) on the Versions saved for Breeder1.doc to page to learn about more settings. Select Yes under Content Approval so that a user with the Manage Lists right has to approve items submit­ted to this list. Click OK.
Notice that after you select the content approval setting above, there is a new option in the left column titled Approve/reject items.
BEST PRACTICE: So does Norm Hasborn have the Manage Lists permission? Let’s find out by clicking Site Settings on the WSS tool bar. Then click Manage Users under Administration. Note on the
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
list that appears, Norm Hasborn and Bob Easter are Administrators and the remaining users are simply Web Designers.
So how did those two users get to be members of the Administrator site group in WSS? It’s simple. Back in Chapter 2 in the User List (just after Table 2-2), you’ll recall that Norm and Bob were added with the Power User Template. That’s what did it!
But I haven’t answered the basic question. Prove that user NormH has the Manage Lists permission. Click on Site Administration, click Go to Site Administration under Administration. Click Manage site groups under Users and Permissions. Click on Administrator under Manage Site Groups. You will now see an Administrator membership list (with Norm and Bob on the list). Then click Edit Site Permissions. Notice that in Figure 7-9, they have the Manage Lists authority.
So, one more twist. Hit the Cancel button at the bottom of the page. Then select Go Back to Manage Site Groups. Then click on Web Designer (the site group everyone else belongs to) followed by a click on Edit Site Group Permissions. Notice that the Web Designer site group also has the authority to manage lists. So everyone you added from the user list in Chapter 2 (you actually added them in Chapter 4) could have the Content Approval permission!
Notes:
Figure 7-9
Administrators have the Manage Lists right.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 Launch!

Somepress release action here folks:


SMB Nation 2008: Small Business Server 2008 and EBS 2008 LAUNCH PARTY!

Don’t miss the boat! Be there when Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS) AND Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS) are front and center at our event! Right in Microsoft's home town, you can ride the leading edge of this new era with EBS 2008 and SBS 2008!
This is a special time in the SMB technology as Microsoft will be releasing the new EBS 2008 product this fall along with an update to the popular SBS 2008 product family! Join SMB and SBS author Harry Brelsford and over 600 SMB resellers, consultants, and trusted business advisors at this long-standing popular professional conference as you seize this opportunity to master these product releases from both business and technical vantage points.
Over three days you will take it all in:
Meet fellow SMB technology professionals. We call it “peer-to-peer networking” or “Hallway 101”!
Attend non-commercial, academic-content tracks.
BusinessSpeak: Your weekend pocket MBA curriculum for increasing your success as an SMB channel partner. Led by well-respected SBSers.
GeekSpeak: Hosted by acclaimed technical MVPs and other technical gurus – do a DEEP DIVE and go on to THRIVE!
How To: Bona fide, tactile, hands-on knowledge you can use the next day, such as how to hire your first salesperson!
Learn more about Microsoft SMB product stack components, Microsoft Response Point (SMB telephony) and the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC).
Witness major third-party ISV and sponsor launches and updates: hardware, threat management, security, managed services, virtualization...

SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 Launch Party on Saturday night, including christening the M.V. SBS 2008!

Everyone knows getting a JUMP on new technologies is essential to your successful career as a channel partner. SMB Nation 2008 is UNIQUELY positioned to give you that OPPORTUNITY!
See you in Seattle in early October.

WSS Deployment Steps in SBS 2003 (book excerpt)

Installing Windows SharePoint Services
Take a bow. By this point, following the SPRINGERS methodology, you’ve already installed WSS. It was all part of the SBS 2003 setup process. But there are a few interesting things to share with you.
During the SBS setup phase, there are two areas in which you make decisions that affect WSS. Revisit Figure 3-20 at this time and observe the second line entry under Component Name column.
BEST PRACTICE: First things first. The WSS problem is solved and the fix is in. I’m talking about the infamous late November 2003 WSS hiccup in SBS 2003 (details on the five o’clock news and in the paragraph below). What occurred was a critical WSS-related component, a dynamic link library (DLL), failed if the installation occurred after November 24, 2003 (WSS failed to correctly install as a result).
So your solution can be simply stated: implement the fix as per
Kbase article 832880 (see at Microsoft TechNet at
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
www.microsoft.com/technet and search on the article number). If you’re reading this book and have acquired SBS 2003 after February 1, 2004, the fix has likely been imbedded on Disc 3. If you ordered the SBS 2003 product previous to February 1, 2004, you’d be advised to order the updated Disc 3 at https://microsoft.order-4.com/ sbsrtmcd. More information on the WSS matter and fix at Microsoft’s SBS site: www.microsoft.com/sbs.
Also - the fix is “in” on the Windows Automatic Update site as of mid-December 2003, so when you correctly update your system on a regular basis, this fix will be incorporated. NOW WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO RUN THE AUTOMATIC UPDATE PROCESS WE DISCUSSED IN CHAPTER FOUR!
Hmmm. I guess an original dynamic link library (DLL) that WSS relied on didn’t want to work past the end of Ramadan or had some problem with the pending Thanksgiving holiday in the US or who knows what? Anyway, please read the above referenced article if you have this problem in order to cure it.
So back to Figure 3-20 and the Component Name column, the entry, titled Intranet, relates to the installation and configuration of WSS. Revisit Figure 3­21 from the SBS setup chapter to see how you could redirect the location of the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE).
BEST PRACTICE: What is really occurring is you are installing the SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows), which is technically known as WMSDE. WMSDE does not have the 2GB data storage limitation or the five user logon limit of MSDE.
Clearly another WSS setup issue relates to some stuff in Chapter 4. Go back and look at Figure 4-10. You’ll recall that, as part of the SPRINGERS methodology, you select the lower radio button to select all Web services and allow complete access. That effectively configured WSS to be accessible from the Remote Web Workplace portal (which I discuss Chapter 8) across the Internet. Then there is the issue about setting the default home page for Internet Explorer
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
(IE) browser to the WSS intranet page. On the server, revisit the discussion surrounding Figures 4-17 and 4-18 to learn how to set the browser default home page (basically prior to running the EICW you won’t see the WSS Home page). On a client computer, the default home page is set in (IE) when you run the Setup Computer Wizard (SCW). You typically encounter the SCW when you add a user (via the Add User Wizard) because the SCW is chained to the end of the add-user process. Specifically, in the SCW, there is an advanced screen found by clicking the Advanced button in Figure 4-24 that results in the Advanced Client Computer Settings dialog box seen in Figure 7-2. It is here you can see where the first entry, titled Internet Explorer Settings, will set the default home page to CompanyWeb (which is the default WSS portal in SBS 2003).
Figure 7-2
This is where the WSS intranet settings for http://CompanyWeb are constructed. Click More Information on this dialog box to learn more.
Document Management
Because I’m in charge here, we’ll start with the document management definition followed by getting our hands dirty with WSS document management functionality (I’ll get to the intranet stuff a little later). Specific to defining document management, here are common needs, concerns, and characteristics any organization will encounter:

• Organizing the documents used in the business. The methods used to establish storage locations can differ from one group to another within an organization, introducing unwanted complexity.
• Finding documents in the business. It can be very difficult to locate the documents you need.
• Workers collaborating on documents. Gathering and merging in­formation from several coworkers into a single document can be a challenge.
• Updating and tracking notifications. It is difficult and very time-consuming to keep track of updates to content sources you are using.
• Implementing approval processes. It can be difficult to accommo­date different approval scenarios and receive sign-off on documents in a timely manner.
• Securing documents in the business. It can be difficult to control ac­cess to documents and important content can be lost when documents are overwritten.
• Accessing documents.Accessing content from more than one local source can be difficult, making large amounts of information unavailable.
• Providing scalability and the ability to grow. When companies and knowledge bases are growing rapidly, it can be difficult to keep serv­ers responding quickly and to ensure enough disk space exists for documents.

BEST PRACTICE: That last point on storage requirements is an important one. You should look at the excellent SMB storage guidance as part of a series of Microsoft Partner IT Solutions Guides for SMB. Read Mary Jo Foley’s take on it at www.microsoft­watch.com/article2/0,4248,1399877,00.asp and the posting at the Microsoft Partner site at http://members.microsoft.com/partner/
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
solutions/additional/ITinfrastructure.aspx. I discuss this great resource
more at the end of Chapter 11.
Now it is time to march forth, using the SPRINGERS methodology, to learn the document management capabilities of WSS at the keystroke level. You will first create a document storage structure, upload a document, perform check-in and check-out of the document, apply some settings to the document management function, and so on. Let’s get going.

Monday, July 28, 2008

SBS 2003 and SharePoint (WSS)

Hello there - I am the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices and I am posting a few pages in the WILD each day until SBS 2008 SHIPS!
Today we start chapter seven(7) which focuses on WSS (SharePoint to you buddy boy) in the SBS 2003 product.
cheers...harrybbbbb
harry brelsford, ceo at smb nation, http://www.smbnation.com/ and your fellow Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC)
###
Chapter 7 Collaboration with Windows SharePoint Services
Perhaps you’re seeing the other side of 40 and you remember a popular band called “Tower of Power” from the 1970s. This funky band had a well-received song called “What Is Hip?” That had jive, man! So one thing that’s hip in SBS 2003 with tons of jive is Windows SharePoint Services (WSS). Thus, it gets its own chapter and my guarantee (or I’ll eat a floppy disk) that you’ll find this one of the coolest things in SBS 2003. Get out your boogie shoes and get ready to do the WSS dance.
BEST PRACTICE: Expectation management time again! Remember that this SBS 2003 volume, dedicated to introductory and intermediate readers, is covering one heck of a lot of ground. And it’s doing so at a specific point in time (current as of the book print date). For that reason, I show you appropriate (and cool) uses of WSS in SBS 2003. But the footer on the bottom of each page points you to the SMB Nation and the Microsoft TechNet for updates to any SBS feature that have occurred since this book was penned. I also think that the resources section at the end of the chapter sends you forth with more resources to dig deeper into WSS than I have the page count to do here.
What Is Windows SharePoint Services?
I’ll start the WSS definition at the 50,000-foot level and descend to sea level (where you perform some procedures). At the broadest level, you could say WSS means different things to different people. It’s a “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” thang. This section will divide the discussion between technical and business.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Technical Definition
The official party line is that WSS is a collaboration application. You’ll see this “message” by observing the collaboration language (along with team hugs) in Figure 7-1. Note that collaboration in this context primarily means an intranet portal page.
Figure 7-1
An overriding theme on Microsoft’s public SharePoint site is collaboration, collaboration, collaboration!
BEST PRACTICE: I wouldn’t accuse Microsoft of speaking with forked tongue, but it currently refers to other robust applications as supporting collaboration: Exchange public folders, Microsoft Project Server’s Project Central, bCentral’s Web Collaboration (www.bcentral.com), and previously Outlook Team Folders. Your challenge here is to separate the wheat from the chaff and decide what collaborative solution best meets your needs. In the SBS 2003 space, clearly WSS is going to be the most efficient and effective collaborative environment to deploy.
So one term you didn’t observe in Figure 7-1 above was “document management.” When I was teaching SharePoint as part of the Spring 2003 Go To Market hands-on labs, the emphasis was on collaboration (much like the language on the Microsoft site) and not on document management. But, just because Microsoft publicly deemphasizes document management doesn’t prevent me, as a third-party author, from doing just the opposite. The one thing getting me and my small business customers JAZZED on WSS is, in fact, the document management capabilities.
Why? you ask.. In Fall 2003, as I showed off the SBS 2003 Release Candidate to clients, they thought having an intranet page was cute, such as in announcing the annual company picnic. But they were sold on SBS 2003 when they saw the document management capability with their very own eyes! Finally, these small business owners believed they could bring order to the abyss of document management in their little fiefdoms. WSS presented an opportunity to extract themselves from the quagmire of mismanaged information. In short, my client, Mr. Wallace, could finally organize all of the existing real estate leases in his realty company. He’s been wanting to do that for years!
Business Purpose
WSS is an MBA’s dream come true. It represents, better than any other component in SBS 2003, the marriage of bits and bucks. It’s the intersection of income and interface, accounting and ActiveX. You get the picture. But, just in case you didn’t: WSS IS WHERE YOU WILLADD REAL BUSINESS VALUE ON THE SBS 2003 NETWORK.
BEST PRACTICE: I’m not going to repeat 625 pages of business stuff from my SMB Consulting Best Practices book here. I’m just planting seeds that WSS has a technical and business dimension to it and you’ll want to read that other book for more of the business discussion.
You should also take in Microsoft’s top 10 reasons to use Windows SharePoint Services at www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/ techinfo/sharepoint/top10.mspx. I’ll save some “timber” and not rewrite those reasons here, so you’ll need to surf over to read ‘em.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Acquiring WSS
The logical follow-up question to defining WSS is how to acquire it. There are four ways to acquire WSS:
• SBS 2003. Relax and take a deep breath. You already have WSS in SBS 2003.
• Windows SharePoint Services site. You can simply download WSS from www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/sharepoint/ wss.mspx (if for some reason this link changes, simply select Down­loads from the WSS site at Microsoft).
• SharePoint Portal Server (SPS). Fact of the matter is WSS is buried on the SPS media.
• bCentral. Using an application service provider (ASP) model, you can use WSS via the Web at bCentral (www.bcentral.com).

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Extending Outlook in SBS 2003: IMAP, PDA [book excerpt]

Good Sunday to you! Today we continue the posting up of pages from Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices (book excerpt). The topic herein is extending Outlook in the Exchange application in SBS 2003. You will ready about PDA synchronization, IMAP and other nonsense :)
cheers...harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford - ceo of smb nation - www.smbnation.com and your fellow Microsoft Small Business Specialists (SBSC).
PS - smb nation fall confernce is merely 75+ days away and we are holding a gnarly SBS 2008\EBS 2008 LAUNCH PARTY!
###
Extending Outlook
In this section, you will learn a few ways to further extend your use of Outlook 2003 in an SBS 2003 environment. These approaches are taken directly from the real world and reflect the reality you’re likely to confront and embrace! Let’s start with Outlook PDA synchronization, followed by using Outlook Express with IMAP and ending with a totally cool add-on called Outlook Business Contact Manager.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Outlook PDA Synchronization
You might recall the Mobile Client and Offline Use page when you ran the Add User Wizard/Set Up Computer Wizard late in Chapter 4 (this page is shown below in Figure 6-27). It was here you elected to install ActiveSync 3.7 on the client computer. This is a required application to synchronize Outlook 2003 between a personal digital assistant (PDA) and the client computer machine.
Figure 6-27
This is the critical path step to install ActiveSync 3.7 on the client computer.
This is a VERY POPULAR SOLUTION with business people who want to carry Outlook information with them such as e-mail, contacts, and appointments on their PDA. This is how people work in the real world and they demand that this type of information be at their finger tips at any time. The way in which Outlook 2003 on the client computer will synchronize with the PDA using ActiveSync 3.7 is as follows.
ActiveSync 3.7 is installed on the client computer and ready for use. Assuming you use the Compaq/HP iPAQ PDA, you attach the cradle to the USB port on
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
the client computer. You place the iPAQ in the cradle and launch ActiveSync
3.7 from Start, All Programs, Microsoft ActiveSync on the client computer. You complete the wizard to create a partnership and elect what Outlook 2003 objects/data you want to synchronize. You then proceed to actually synchronize the data and resolve any conflicts (e.g., double bookings on your calendar with the exact same appointment). The process is shown in Figure 6-28.
Figure 6-28
An early and assured win with business customers and SBS users is to deploy ActiveSync 3.7 to synchronize Outlook 2003 data with a PDA, such as the IPAQ shown here.
BEST PRACTICE: The whole Outlook 2003/PDA synchronization matter exposes a weakness in SBS 2003 that you’ll need to utilize a third-party tool to correct: public folder synchronization. The problem is this. The SBS 2003 team is rightfully proud about creating the company-related public folder object discussed earlier in this chapter. For example, the contact list can be used as a company-wide contact list that eliminates duplicate lists of customers circulating
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
about the firm. But how would you get this great contact list to your IPAQ PDA? Not natively, but with some of the third-party synchronization tools reviewed at SlipStick: www.slipstick.com/ addins/olpda.htm#wince. You’ll learn about products such as Pocket Lookout that performs this important function.
You can also use a Microsoft tool, the Outlook 2002 Add-in: Pocket Contact Synchronizer 1.2, which will take the contact information in the company contact folder and synchronize it to your mailbox-based Contacts, which would then synchronize to your PDA via ActiveSync 3.7. Granted - it’s an additional step, but this shoe may well fit.
BEST PRACTICE: I just love late breaking news. The wonderful Susan Bradley, an MVP in the SBS and security areas, recently shared that Infoware - Team Contacts for Outlook at http://www.infoware.ca/ content/tcon.asp and http://www.infoware.ca/content/ infoframe.htm?tcon.asp synchronizes user contact lists with a central contact list in an Exchange public folder. This automatically merges changes when two users update the same contact in their personal Contacts folder.
Ride the Outlook Express With IMAP
I have a client who travels extensively for business and pleasure. Back in the SBS 2000 era, she complained that using Outlook Web Access (OWA, which I discuss in Chapter 8) was too bulky, slow, and awkward. Now granted, in just a few chapters I’ll show you why OWA has improved and should be the remote e-mail access mechanism of choice. But for some, there will still be a chance to use Outlook Express with the IMAP protocol to access e-mail. As you know, Outlook Express is typically installed when Internet Explorer is installed, making it a near universally available e-mail client (in Internet cafés in Spain and so on).
When you launch Outlook Express, you’ll need to configure the client machine to connect back to the SBS 2003 server, be authenticated, and use the IMAP protocol. This is accomplished by running the Outlook Express Internet
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
Connection wizard. This third page (E-mail Server Names) is the tricky one. You need to drop down the protocol list and select IMAP and then complete the server connection information (Incoming, Outgoing) with either an IP address or a fully qualified domain name. You provide logon authentication information on the Internet Mail Logon page (this would be your user account and password on the SBS 2003 network). And then all that is left would be to click Finish.
So why IMAP? Haven’t we been throwing around the word POP3 in this chapter? SBS 2003 configures Exchange Server 2003 to support the SMTP, POP3, IMAP, and HTTP mail protocols. But IMAP offers the opportunity to efficiently download just the e-mail headers (but not the full e-mail). That would allow my client to scan the e-mails she wants to read and delete less worthy e-mails. The point is that the full e-mail isn’t downloaded until the e-mail is opened. This is a nice touch when working from an Internet café! Note that POP3 is going to download the entire e-mail to the client.
BEST PRACTICE: While Exchange Server 2003 installs and supports IMAP and POP3 natively, you’ll need to start these protocols in Exchange. For example, to turn on the IMAP protocol, you would drill down into the Exchange System Manager under Advanced Management in the Server Management console. Expand Servers, Protocols and open the IMAP4 protocol folder. On the right pane, right click Default IMAP4 Virtual Server and select Start. You’re now ready to use the IMAP-based e-mail in Exchange Server 2003 (and ergo, SBS 2003).
Notes:
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
This is an IMAP security setting that you need to make. If the RRAS NAT/ Basic Firewall method is your Internet security method (as per SBS 2003 standard edition), you would select the Internet Mail Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4) as seen in Figure 6-29 on the Services and Ports tab in the Network Connection Properties dailog box. This will allow IMAP-related traffic to flow baby!
Figure 6-29
Selecting the IMAP4 port opening on your SBS 2003 server. When asked which private IP address to map to, enter 127.0.0.1 (a dialog box will ask this when you select this service).
If ISA Server is your Internet security method (as per SBS 2003 premium edition), you would create a packet filter. You will do exactly that in Chapter 13, so hang on to your hat!
Outlook Business Contact Manager
This is known in some circles as customer relationship management (CRM) for da’ little guy, whereas Microsoft’s full CRM product is positioned for the firms between 25 and 500 employees with at least of $5 million in sales. Outlook Business Contact Manager is an Outlook 2003 add-on to help small business
people improve sales management. A comparison between Business Contact Manager and CRM is shown in Figure 6-30.
BEST PRACTICE: Be well aware that Business Contact Manager is SINGLE USER ONLY. That’s some good old expectation management up front and in your face because you might conclude that restriction will limit the functionality of this cool tool. Whereas the business public folders created by SBS 2003 would seem to promote hugging and sharing, Business Contact Manager would tend to do just the opposite and create an island of information in the small business. These two strategies are at odds.
Figure 6-30
Comparing Business Contact Manager and Microsoft CRM at a glance.
BEST PRACTICE: As of this writing, Microsoft is launching a promotion that bundles SBS 2003 and CRM 1.2. The details are found in a CRN article at: http://crn.channelsupersearch.com/news/
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
crn/45066.asp. The good news is that Microsoft is looking for ways to extend SBS with tools such as CRM 1.2 (and I’ll cover this pairing in my future advanced SBS 2003 book).
You acquire Business Contact Manager from Office 2003 (enterprise, professional, and small business editions). I’m not going to delve much deeper into the definition of Business Contract Manager but rather encourage you to take a short pause here and read more at www.microsoft.com/outlook. When you return, we’ll start the step by step to install Business Contact Manager and make a couple of entries as part of the SPRINGERS methodology.
Note that I assume you’ve already installed Office 2003 on the PRESIDENT workstation. If not, do so now with the normal or most common components installed.
BEST PRACTICE: Late breaking news again! Please run an update that allows BCM to function properly with Exchange e-mail profiles on SBS 2003 by visiting the Microsoft download center at www.microsoft.com/downloads and searching under Office Outlook and the keyword Business. There is a quick fix you’ll run prior to performing the procedure below.
1 Log on as NormH with the password Purple3300 on PRESIDENT.
2 Put the Outlook Business Contact Manager Disc in the CD drive of the PRESIDENT and launch Setup.exe.
3 Click OK when the Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 Setup dialog box asks for permission to detect and install the .Net framework 1.1.
4 Agree to the Microsoft .Net license by selecting I agree on the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Setup screen and click Install. This setup can take several minutes. Click OK when the .NET Frame­work 1.1 is complete.
5 Click Next on the welcome page for Business Contact Manager.
6 On the End-User License Agreement page, select I accept the terms in the licenses agreement and click Next.
7 Accept the default destination on C: drive on the Destination Folder page and click Next.

Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.

1 On the Ready to Install the Program page, click Install. You will be advised of the installation progress on the status bar.
2 Click Finish on the Wizard Completed page. You’ve now com­

pleted the installation of Business Contact Manager. In the following procedure, you’ll launch Outlook and use Business Contract Manager.
1 Launch Outlook from Start, E-mail.
2 Observe and read the Welcome to Microsoft Outlook with Busi­ness Contact Manager e-mail. I’m counting on you to read this to learn more about the product as I won’t repeat it here.
3 Select Business Contacts from the Business Tools menu. Complete the screen, similar to Figure 6-31, for a fictional customer (e.g., Mrs. Jones). Click Save and Close to close the record.

Figure 6-31
Adding a business contact.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
4. Select Accounts from Business Tools and complete the screen simi­lar to Figure 6-32 with fictitious information. Be sure to add a busi­ness note and link Sally Jones. Click Save and Close.
Figure 6-32
Creating an account in BCM. You’re putting the pieces in place for a CRM system.
5. Next up, explore the other Business Tools menu options and create an Opportunity, Product List and, if connected to the Internet to launch a Web browser, select the Business Tools link that will take you to the BCM page at Microsoft for the latest updates.
Notes:
6. Finally, play around with the Reports option under the Business Tools menu. One such report is shown in Figure 6-33.
Figure 6-33
The fictitious information is shown in the Account List with Business Contact report.
Note that my intent isn’t to teach mastery of BCM but rather turn you on to this cool tool. Perhaps a full chapter in a future book will be dedicated to this tool for your reading pleasure.
BEST PRACTICE: BCM is a great start at delivering CRM to the “rest of us.” I encourage you to learn it, use it and provide feedback on it to Microsoft (the Outlook newsgroups are sufficient to do this). However, it’s necessary to understand that there are a couple of limitations for this, including that the BCM data doesn’t really play well with native Exchange mailbox data. That is, a contact record format in BCM is different than the traditional Exchange contact record format. Also, BCM kinda has this “island of information” mentality and this isn’t shared information. Rather, you should picture it as each salesperson in a company keeping their own CRM system
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
that is separate from everyone else’s. That is bothersome to me and at odds with attempts to centralize business information for the benefit (and profitability) of all.
I personally look for this limitation to be satisfied in a future BCM release, which is why I highly recommend you play with it today in anticipation of a better tomorrow.
Next Steps!
There are some next steps you can take that go above and beyond this chapter on Exchange and Outlook.

• Visit Microsoft Web Sites: Exchange and Outlook. Your very next step is to visit the sites at Microsoft for Exchange (www.microsoft.com/ exchange) and Outlook (www.microsoft.com/office and select the Out­look link). Microsoft posts much of its technical resources to its sites

and has created this treasure chest of current information on their prod­ucts that this book can’t hope to keep up with!
• Read Exchange and Outlook Books. While this book covers the full suite of products in SBS 2003, there are many excellent (and thick) books dedicated to Outlook and Exchange. I can recommend the Out­look and Exchange Administrator’s Smart Pak (TechRepublic) with more information at https://techrepublic-secure.com.com/5106-6242­26-12333.html?part=tr&subj=12333.
• Use Microsoft TechNet to learn Exchange command line utilities. The second disc of the SBS 2003 media contains Exchange command-line utilities that help manage and recover the database. You should visit www.microsoft.com/technet and search on “Exchange” to learn more about these.
• Sign up for Sue Mosher’s RSS feed for Exchange and Outlook issues: http://www.slipstick.com/rssnews/rssnews.aspx.


• Read current articles on Exchange and Outlook. There is an interesting InfoWorld article on the role of Outlook 2003 and SBS 2003 (Enter­prise Windows: Oliver Rist, November 7, 2003, www.infoworld.com).
• Learn more cool Outlook features. This chapter is only the start, not the end of your time with Outlook. Please go forward and educate yourself on the vCard capability to mail your contact record to others, the mail merge capability, and the automatic meeting planning tool.
• Read Chapter 8 of this book. I’ve not forgotten OWA and other remote Outlook connectivity approaches (such as Outlook Mobile Access, Outlook over RDP, etc.). These are covered in the remote connectivity chapter.

Late Breaking News!EICW Support Matter
Just when you thought it was safe to go out in the neighborhood again, Karen Christian of the North County Technology Group (www.nctg.com) sent in this nugget for your consumption. This involves both the EICW (which Karen calls the CEICW below) and remote access. As such, it serves as a great transition to the remote connectivity chapter you’ll read soon (Chapter 8).
11/11/2003
Here are the results of a couple calls to MS support and a couple TS sessions to my server in the last 24 hours. We could not connect via HTTPS from the Internet for OWA or Remote Web
Workplace and wanted to get this resolved. This server was SBS2000 w/ISA upgraded to SBS 2003 Basic/Premium. (Still have to install SQL via the Premium CD......think I’ll take a breather first.)
MS tried rerunning CEICW and did not get the desired results. They manually configured DNS, ISA and IIS and got it working late last night. Today they wanted to get the wizard to do its job the way it was intended. It required some
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
manual cleanup first which was not expected on their part. Guess this is another ’feature’ we have to keep in the back of our minds. Steps Performed:
1 Removed the Web Server Cert.
2 Removed the ISA Incoming Web Listener Cert
3 Removed the Web Publishing Rules
4 Removed the Destination Sets
5 Reran CEICW, and waited for services to restart. Services take a few minutes to restart, so ISA does not immediately show the changes. We are now able to connect as expected.

The expectation is that CEICW would have done all the updates and repair work needed but it didn’t work as anticipated.
BEST PRACTICE: When you run the CEICW that comes with SBS2003 Standard edition (Premium edition is just another CD and we didn’t have to install ISA as it was there from SBS2K already), you are given an opportunity to create a certificate if desired. You enter the Internet name (ie: servername.domainname.com). I found out today that the wizard process creates two certificates in the process. On my server it created one for nctgdc1.nctg.com and one for publishing.nctg.local. One is for the SSL session to ISA from the Internet and the other is for the SSL session from ISA to IIS. This problem originated when I created a certificate called nctgdc1.nctg.local which is incorrect. Still one would expect that rerunning CEICW would take care of this when you enter the correct certificate name.
Karen Christian
Thanks Karen!
Notes:
Summary
I end how I started. You know more about Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook 2003 than you’ve likely given yourself credit for in the past. You probably know about 80 percent of the functionality of the programs and it’s the remaining 20 percent that’ll take much longer to master. And, hopefully, after reading this chapter that dug deep in Exchange and Outlook, you feel you know much more than prior to reading all this stuff (of course I’ve left out some other advanced Exchange and Outlook topics that I’ll address in a future book down the road - keep reading!).

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Webinar this Tuesday: Webinar: The Automation Revelation: A Webcast Designed for IT Service Providers

July, 29, 2008 10am PST-11am PST
You have done your research on the benefits of managed services, and are well on your way to becoming a managed service provider (MSP) – but what is missing? It’s time to take a closer look what it takes to be a successful MSP – what services to deliver, how to price them and how to migrate customers to SLAs.
In this Webcast, IT service providers will discover the deeper benefits of moving into the MSP arena – benefits like becoming a part of your customers’ problem-solving team rather than just being an option for a quick remedy, plus the ultimate goal of ‘recurring revenue’. You will learn about market trends, including the tremendous ground swell within the channel of establishing MSP initiatives. Join SMB Nation, Jim Alves, EVP of Product Marketing for Kaseya, and Jay Tipton, CEO for Technology Specialists as they take your questions in real time
Sign up at www.smbnation.com - Events - Webinars.....

More Outlook stuff inSBS 2003 [book excerpt]

Thanks for reading this weekend! Just posting up heaps of Outlook in SBS 2003 from my Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices book. Lots of stuff today:
Public folder procedures, sending Outlok e-mails to yourmobile telephone, using theJunk Mail and attachment blocking features inside Outlook, deleted item recovery - whew!
Enjoy the read...I am posting up a few pages per day until SBS 2008 ships (SBS 2008 is part of the new Essential Business Solutions family from Microsoft)
cheers...harrybbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO at SMB NAtion www.smbnation.com and your fellow Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC),MBA, MCSE, MCT, CNE and smb consultant!
PS - our SMB Nation fall confernece is right around the corner - we are looking to host a community-basedSBS 2008 and EBS launch party on the Saturday night!
###
Public Folder Procedure
Before we go too much further, I need you to create a public folder called “fax” so that we can direct the faxes to this public folder a few chapters down the road. Because your screen should show the public folders at this point (from the completion of the procedure above), please right-click All Public Folders and select New Folder. Make the folder configured for Mail and Post Items. Click OK to complete the setup. You’ve just created something we both need in the faxing chapter to complete an example.
By the way, that “fax” public folder object you just created is SMTP mail enabled as fax@springersltd.com automatically. Very cool.
Attachment Blocking
Something folks love and curse is the native attachment blocking in Outlook 2003. They love it because it protects them from harmful e-mail attachments. They curse it because, in the heat of business battle, you can’t get to your darn tootin’ attachment that is mission-critical. But let’s fight fire with facts here.
There are two levels of attachment blocking in Outlook 2003. Level 1 is fixed, can’t be changed, and includes the following attachments (these are the file extensions): ade, adp, app, bas, bat, chm, cmd, com, cpl, crt, csh, exe, fxp, hlp, hta, inf, ins, isp, js, jse, ksh, lnk, mda, mdb, mde, mdt, mdw, mdz, msc, msi, msp, mst, ops, pcd, pif, prf, prg, reg, scf, scr, sct, shb, shs, url, vb, vbe, vbs, wsc, wsf, wsh, xsl.
BEST PRACTICE: These file types are defined when you type
“attachment blocking” in the Outlook 2003 help system and select
the Attachment file types blocked by Outlook link.
Level 2 is more liberal and prompts the user to save the file type to a hard disk. An Exchange administrator can allow a file type to be moved from Level 1 to Level 2 to allow this saving (the Exchange administrator can also modify the above list of Level 1 files). Note that the native SBS 2003 attachment blocking capability discussed earlier in this chapter will come into play interacting with Outlook on the network and the most conservative attachment blocking list will win between Outlook and SBS 2003.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
BEST PRACTICE: You can get an offending attachment around the blockade by simply renaming it to an acceptable file format, such as *.doc (for a Word document). Then rename the file type back to its original name once you’ve saved it to your C: drive. This is commonly done with file attachments ending in *.exe because this attachment type might be a legitimate business program that need to be received.
Junk E-mail
Microsoft has one of the largest research and development (R&D) budgets in the corporate world. Sometimes, shareholders get a little fussy with billions being spent on R&D because they want to see things that immediately contribute to current earnings. One positive R&D payoff is the sophisticated junk e-mail management approach built in to Outlook 2003 (this was actually spelled out as one of the points in the Outlook 2003 welcome e-mail you were asked to read earlier). Since I won’t sit here and retype the online help system in Outlook 2003, if you’d like to learn more about the Junk E-mail capability at a deep level, simply search on the term “Junk e-mail” in Outlook 2003 Help and select the About the Junk E-mail Filer link.
Back to the real world. You’re probably interested in knowing how to configure the Junk E-mail capabilities in Outlook 2003. It’s simple. Just select Tools, Options, Junk E-mail in Outlook 2003. The Junk E-mail Options dialog box will appear, as seen in Figure 6-23. You can then change the default setting (Low) to a different level.
Notes:
Figure 6-23
This figure shows all of the settings on Junk E-mail Options. But, equally important, look over to the left and observe the Junk E-mail folder under the Folder List. This is where e-mails are moved.
So if you’re a Microsoft shareholder, now you know how your R&D dollars are being spent!
BEST PRACTICE: You simply must read this white paper/analysis on the internals of Outlook spam blocking. I first learned of this from the W2KNews newsletter (www.w2knews.com) that goes out to about a half-million readers (as an author, I can tell you that is a very large number of readers!). So click over to http://www.mapilab.com/articles/ outlook_spam_filter.html and see the report from MAPI Lab. Excellent!
Junk Users
Maybe you can relate to the following situation. I’m on an e-mail list that has some annoying and verbose members. For business purposes, I can’t leave the list, but I often become frustrated with the quantity of e-mails (often of a soap
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
opera nature) that clog my Inbox. Because I’m committed to staying focused on core business operations, and I’d rather review these distracting e-mails at a future decade (I mean date), I use a rule to move them to a folder titled “Much Later, Dude.”
If you’d like to implement a similar approach in the management of your e-mails (or perhaps your SBS users would like to do this), then select Rules and Actions from the Tools menu in Outlook 2003. Then select New Rule and click Move messages from someone to a folder under Stay Organized (Figure 6-24).
Figure 6-24
This is the first step to bringing better management to many of the e-mails you receive from known babblers!
You would then click Next and complete the Rules Wizard where you’ll configure e-mails from certain people to be moved to a folder and out of your Inbox (for example, you’ll enter the e-mail address of folks whose e-mail you want moved).
BEST PRACTICE: Perhaps you’re just discovering this cool capability later in life and you’ve got an Inbox full of distracting e-mails you want to move. On the final page of the Rules Wizard, you have an option called Run this rule now on messages already in “Inbox” so that, post-hoc, you can improve the quality of your Inbox life.
Recovery Movement
No, this isn’t about a battle with the bottle. Rather, this is how to recover deleted e-mail and move it back into the Inbox or the folder of your choice. To learn this capability using Exchange’s delete item recovery capability (set to retain e-mails for 30-days by default in SBS 2003), complete the following procedure:
1 If necessary, have NormH log on to PRESIDENT with the pass­word Purple3300.
2 In Outlook 2003, delete the e-mail from Norm Hasborn by dragging it to the Deleted Items folder.
3 Right-click the Deleted Items folder and select Empty “Deleted Items” Folder. Select Yes when asked in the Microsoft Office Out­look dialog box if you really want to delete the item. Observe the Deleted Items folder is now empty and would appear you’ve lost this e-mail forever.
4 Now you will recover the deleted e-mail by selecting the Deleted Items folder and then selecting the Recover Deleted Items menu option under the Tools menu.
5 NormH’s e-mail appears in the Recover Deleted Items from Deleted Items dialog box that appears (Figure 6-25). Make sure this e-mail is highlighted and click the Recover Selected Items button. The e-mail will be returned to the Deleted Items folder.
6 Move the e-mail from Deleted Items back to Inbox.

Notes:
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 6-25
E-mails that have been deleted within the retention period (30-days by default in SBS 2003) will appear here.
Forwarding E-mail to Your Mobile Telephone
Something that is increasingly popular is the ability to forward e-mails to your telephone. That’s because numerous technologies are converging and breaking down functional and feature barriers. Heck - many brands of mobile telephone now include cameras, so why not e-mail too?
The key would be to forward the e-mails to your telephone. Of course, you’d want to keep a copy of it in your server-based mailbox, because telephones aren’t a good permanent repository and reading a large attachment on a telephone is darn near impossible! So here are the steps you’d take to forward e-mails to your mobile telephone (using the SPRINGERS methodology of course).
1. If necessary, have NormH log on to PRESIDENT with the pass­
word Purple3300.
2. In Outlook 2003, select Rules and Alerts from the Tools menu.
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.

1 Select Send an alert to my mobile device when I get a message from someone and click Next.
2 Under the Step 1: Select conditions list, deselect the default selec­tion of “from people or distribution list” and select “where my name is in the To or Cc box” and then click Next. This will effec­tively forward all e-mail sent to you.
3 On the following Select actions page, keep the default selection of “forward it to people or distribution list” and click Next. On the lower part of this page, click the people or distribution list hyperlink
4 The Rule Address dialog box appears. Type the e-mail address of your mobile telephone in the To -> field. For example, you might type something like 2065551212@tmobile.com. Click OK.
5 Click Finish followed by OK to close Rules and Alerts.

BEST PRACTICE: Related to the forwarding concept, note that I’ve used the Active Directory contact object forwarding capability when a customer has a remote office that uses (and will continue to use) POP3 e-mail. The good folks at the home office, seeking to create a uniform e-mail organization/image, will create an Active Directory user for the employee at the remote site. That allows the internal employees to e-mail the remote employee directly from the GAL in Exchange and so on. But this remote employee also has an associated Active Directory contact object that is really the e-mail address for their POP3 account. And voila, the forwarding occurs from the Active Directory user to the Active Directory contact object. How? On the property sheet for an Active Directory user (let’s say Norm), click the Exchange General tab, click the Delivery Options button, and complete the Forwarding address box. Be sure to leave a copy on the server!
Cached Exchange Mode
Something you’ll readily appreciate in Outlook 2003 will be Cached Exchange Mode that is set by default for all SBS 2003 users. This allows you to work offline with Outlook 2003 when Exchange is down for maintenance, you are traveling, or you have a slow link (56K modem) connection back to the server. What’s cool is that this is implemented by default and removes a task that you
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
and I performed manually at each user machine in the past: configuring offline storage (OST files). Bottom line: You can work with Outlook 2003 very effectively while on a plane, train, automobile, or “no-tell” motel room full of swimsuit models!
Microsoft does a dandy job of explaining Cached Exchange Mode at http:// office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?AssetID=HP052516521033 &CTT=98 (this can also be found by drilling down into Outlook from www.microsoft.com/office and then clicking the Assistance link). I encourage you to read more about this.
It’s Client, Not Server!
If you completed the initial online SBS 2003 hands-on lab offered at www.microsoft.granitepillar.com/partners in the early fall of 2003, you would recall that the Part #3 of that courseware had you run Outlook 2003 on the SBS 2003 server machine and click past an important warning message. The point I want to make is that you should not run Outlook 2003 on the SBS 2003 server machine, and that warning message you receive, seen in Figure 6-26, is to be honored. Bottom line: Run Outlook 2003 on the client computer, not the SBS 2003 server machine.
Notes:
Figure 6-26
This message discusses why Outlook 2003 should not be run on the SBS 2003 server machine. There are TechNet KBase articles that also discuss this issue you might want to read.
BEST PRACTICE: Some of you will recall that, in my Small Business Server 2000 Best Practices book, I had you run Outlook 2000 on the SBS 2000 server machine to save time. I was wrong, and I didn’t do it again!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Outlook in SBS 2003 (book excerpt)

TGIF! Today I am posting up some pages from Chapter 6 of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices on how to utilize Outlook in SBS 2003. As you know - I hope to post up pages each day from my "purple book" until SBS 2008 ships!
enjoy theread...harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO at SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC), MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, CLSE and MBA (whew - whipping out the initials today - I am feeling rather randy!)
###
Outlook 2003
Now for the good stuff. Whereas I touted you might not confront server-side Exchange management issues daily, you will likely use Outlook each and every day (and perhaps all day!). This section starts by revisiting the SPRINGERS methodology where you will send an e-mail, enter contact records, and perform other such tasks.
Sending an E-mail
Time for some step-by-step to have NormH send an e-mail to all employees at SPRINGERS.
1 Have NormH log on to PRESIDENT with the password Purple3300.
2 Click Start, E-mail. This will launch Outlook 2003. Because this is the first time that you’ve launched Outlook 2003, you’ll see a dialog

box titled Configuring Outlook that automatically completes the con­figuration of Outlook accounts and generates the Welcome message.
BEST PRACTICE: You will also see a notice in the lower right that Outlook is setting up a local copy of your mailbox. Why is this occurring? Because back in Chapter 4 you might recall a BEST PRACTICE that displayed the advanced client computer settings, one of which related to the Outlook profile creation. This profile also configured local caching so you can use Outlook offline when you’re not attached to the network.
By the way, if you want another way to see the Outlook profile setting configuration option (post-setup), go to SPRINGERS1 and log on as Administrator (password is Husky9999!), select Client Computers under Standard Management on the Server Management console, then select PRESIDENT in the right pane. Click the View Computer Settings link and expand PRESIDENT in the View or Change Client Computer Settings dialog box that appears. Expand Client Setup Configuration Options. Observe the Configure Outlook Profile Information entry. This is where the Outlook profile configuration settings reside that relate to the setup of this computer.
1 You should have two e-mails in your Inbox. One will welcome you to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. The other will welcome you to Windows Small Business Server 2003. Please open and read each of these as they contain important information on Outlook and SBS 2003 features and functionality that I won’t repeat here. An example: The Outlook 2003 welcome message discusses the Junk E-mail filter (very cool and spooky smart).
2 Click the New Mail Message button on the Outlook toolbar to create a new message.
3 In the To: field, type Springers (in a moment, this entry will automati­cally resolve to Springer Spaniels Limited distribution list entry which is basically sending out a message to everyone in the company). In the Subject: field, type Ideas for forthcoming Dog Shows!

Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
6. Click in the text body portion of the message and type the following message: G’day folks! I need your input on which dog shows we should attend this year with which dogs. Thanks! Your screen should look similar to Figure 6-18.
Figure 6-18
Your sample message should look similar to this figure. This is how you create an e-mail message.
Notes:
7. Click Send on the message toolbar to send the message. The mes­sage should now appear in your Inbox (Figure 6-19).
Figure 6-19
Congratulations! You’ve sent your first e-mail message as part of the SPRINGERS methodology.
Creating an Appointment
Now you will create an appointment in NormH’s calendar. It concerns the very important matter of Brisker’s mental health (you’ll recall from Chapter 2 and the photo section of this book that Brisker is one of the lead dogs at SPRINGERS).
1 Assuming you are logged on as NormH on PRESIDENT with Out­look 2003 open, select Calendar in the left pane.
2 Click the New Appointment button on the left of the upper toolbar.
3 An Untitled - Appointment windows appears. Type Take Brisker To Therapist in the Subject: line. Type Dog Psychiatrist in the Location field. Select Must Attend under Label. Select a Start time of October 9, 2004 1:00pm and an End time of October 9, 2004 3:00pm. In the text field, type Report on Brisker’s hypnosis progress. Your screen should look similar to Figure 6-20.

Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
4. Click Save and Close. Figure 6-20
Again - congratulations! You’ve created your first appointment.
Creating Contacts
You will now use one of the coolest capabilities in SBS 2003: the built-in company public folder contacts. By creating these public folders objects, this information will appear in everyone’s Outlook 2003 client computer-side application and with this increased visibility, hopefully be used more than prior SBS releases. Let’s start the procedure to enter SPRINGERS stakeholders as contact records.
1 If necessary, have NormH log on to PRESIDENT with the pass­word Purple3300. This, of course, shouldn’t be necessary, because you should still be in Outlook on PRESIDENT as NormH from the last procedure.
2 Click the Folder List icon on the bottom left toolbar (it looks like a yellow folder). Alternatively, you could click Ctrl-6.

Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.

1 The center under All Folders, scroll down and expand Public Fold­ers. Then expand All Public Folders. Notice two SBS 2003-specific objects in the SPRINGERS story line: Springer Spaniels Limited Archive and Springer Spaniels Limited Contacts.
2 Select Springer Spaniels Limited Contacts.
3 Click the New Contact button on the upper toolbar, far left.
4 You will enter all of the SPRINGERS stakeholders that are listed in Chapter 2, Table 2-2. The entry of a single contact record should look similar to Figure 6-21 and the complete list of stakeholders should look like Figure 6-22. Remember that you click Save and Close after each contact record is populated and then repeat Step #5 above.

BEST PRACTICE: You might see the Location Information screen for a modem connection appear as you enter this information on PRESIDENT. Why would that be? Because you’re entering telephony information on a machine that hasn’t previously been configured for such.
Figure 6-21
A record has been entered.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 6-22
All records have been entered and are displayed here.
Now proceed to enter each employee in the company as per some prior discussion in the book whereby the company contact would include SPRINGERS employees to be meaningful. All SPRINGERS employees are listed in Chapter 2 under the section titled User List.
BEST PRACTICE: If the two company public folder objects, Springer Spaniels Limited Archive and Springer Spaniels Limited Contacts don’t appear, it reflects an incomplete SBS 2003 setup. This can occur if for some reason you stopped the SBS 2003 setup at mid­point and then restarted. The problem is that the “restarted” setup didn’t complete the script to create those company-related public folder objects. You can easily cure this by manually creating these objects. And exactly how do I know this? On one of the builds of the SBS 2003 hands-on lab master, the setup routine was stopped at mid-point, and I learned all about it.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Exchange MX records, migrations, IM in SBS 2003

Today's book excerpt (Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices) has a messaging buffet:
Multiple MX records
Instant Message
Exchange Migrations
Extending Exchange
Whew -enjoy the read....there is a lot here!
cheers...harrybbbb (your fellow Microsoft Small Business Specialist - SBSC)
Harry Brelsford, CEO of SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
###
Mail Bagging and Multiple MX Records
No, this isn’t a paragraph that will replay a tale of sassy Samantha (a lead character on HBO’s popular program Sex in the City) having a racy encounter with a postal worker. Rather, this is about having a backup location for your e-mail to flow to when your SBS 2003 server machine (properly running Exchange for SMTP e-mail) is offline. Instead of the senders in the “offline SBS 2003 server machine” situation receiving an NDR or bounced e-mail
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
message, these incoming e-mails can temporarily reside on another mail server. Later on, you would retrieve and properly distribute these e-mails using a tool such as the POP3 Connector in SBS 2003 that was discussed above.
BEST PRACTICE: If you think you might like to have this form of messaging redundancy, consult with your ISP to arrange it. Your ISP, who I assume is holding your DNS records, will need to enter a second MX record with a lower priority that points to a backup mail server (typically maintained by the ISP).
I’ll cover this topic more, including more procedural steps, in my
forthcoming advanced SBS 2003 book due in mid-2004.
Exchange Migrations
This topic, another one way outside the SPRINGERS story line, merits mention nonetheless. You might find yourself in a situation where you need to move Exchange data because of an upgrade or migration. While I discuss upgrades and migrations more in Appendix B, the point is that you’ll possibly encounter such a scenario and you need at least some basic guidance.
The tools that you’ll use to migrate Exchange data is the ExMerge tool. For the latest discussion on the use of ExMerge, visit www.microsoft.com/technet and search on the “exmerge” term. You’ll see the page in Figure 6-13 that advises you to download the Exchange 2003: Mailbox Merge Wizard (ExMerge) tool.
BEST PRACTICE: Yes - you read correctly. The ExMerge tool is now downloaded. In the SBS 2000 time frame, it was found on the SBS setup disc that contained the Exchange application. Such is not the case in the SBS 2003 time frame.
Notes:
Figure 6-13
Go here for the ExMerge tool to migrate your all-important Exchange data.
So a few pointers to send you forward with respect to Exchange’s ExMerge tool:
• This version of ExMerge requires an “ExMerge” user account with administrator-level permissions to function correctly. This wasn’t the case in the SBS 2000 timeframe.
• ExMerge can be run against older versions of Exchange (5.5, 2000) and thus serves as an effective migration tool.
• ExMerge interacts with mailboxes, not public folders or Internet favor­ites. This interaction is basically import and export capabilities. You will need to manually import and export the content of public folders using the Import and Export option on the File menu in Outlook. Internet favorites, accessible from Outlook and considered by some to be part of the messaging migration mix, can be either manually migrated or migrated by using the profile migration capabilities of the Add User Wizard that was explored in Chapter 4.

Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
BEST PRACTICE: There is a key, public folders point to make about that bullet above. As you’ll learn later, the SBS development team has dramatically increased the visibility of public folder usage by creating company-related objects in SBS 2003. So it’s a reasonable assumption that you will put important data in the company-related public folder objects (such as maintaining a company-wide customer contacts). Given that, you will need to manually migrate such data.
• If ExMerge fails with a mailbox (this can happen when a PST file you’re working with has been flagged to read-only and would occur if you moved a PST file by writing it to a CD disc), then you can always revert back to the manual import/export capability in Outlook as described in the bullet above.
BEST PRACTICE: Microsoft has posted additional migration guidance at www.microsoft.com/exchange. As of this writing, there is a scenario for migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003.
Instant Messaging - NOT!
It’s unfortunate but true in SBS 2003 that the Exchange Server 2003 component has removed the instant messaging capability that many of us enjoyed in the SBS 2000 time frame. Many readers will recall that my prior book, Small Business Server 2000 Best Practices, provided the procedures for configuring this wonderful cool tool.
In the SBS 2003 time frame, you will now need to supply Instant Messaging functionality differently. You can purchase Microsoft’s new Live Communications Server, starting at $1,059 with five CALs (your rich SBS CALs do not cover this server application). Live Communication Server information is shown in Figure 6-14.
BEST PRACTICE: A member of the SBS development team has confirmed that Live Communications Server does install and function for internal messaging in SBS 2003. However, users will need to logon to the instant messaging client with their internal name (e.g. Normh@springersltd.local). There will be a white paper out that
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
will teach you how to intregrate SBS 2003 and Live Communications Server (no publication date available at my press deadline).
Figure 6-14
Those SBS legacy sites that utilize Instant Messaging will need to strongly consider Live Communications Server to deliver the same functionality in the SBS2003 time frame.
BEST PRACTICE: There is a poor man’s way to deliver instant messaging on an SBS 2003 network: Use MSN. That’s right! The Internet-based MSN instant messaging capability, described in Figure 6-15, may be just the cheapo ticket you’re looking for. Visit www.msn.com/people, but be advised one drawback of this approach is that your chat traffic will result in increased Internet traffic, and there is a huge assumption that you have Internet connectivity!
Note that some readers have reported that they prefer the instant messaging solution from Yahoo! at www.yahoo.com.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 6-15
Consider MSN to restore basic instant messaging (called IM by some folks) to SBS 2003.
Extending Exchange
Some topics fit better under a heading about extending Exchange, rather than peeking under the hood as the last section did. In this section, I’ll share some thoughts about implementing Exchange in SBS 2003 on a storage area network (SAN), support for multiple Exchange servers, and use of Exchange Conferencing Server.
Storage Area Networks
The consultants and trainers in the readership of this book will appreciate the following sentiment. Because of your numerous customers, you see and hear a lot of things you might not otherwise think of yourself. Such was the case recently in Phoenix (the city, not the bird) where a keen student attending the SBS 2003 hands-on labs asked about redirecting the Exchange Store database to a SAN during the setup of SBS 2003. The answer is that this is supported. On
the SBS 2003 Setup page that speaks towards data folder redirection (see Figure 3-21), you would redirect the Exchange Store to a SAN via a Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path such as \\server2\storage\exchange.
Multiple Exchange Servers
This is the type of paragraph I like to insert in a book such as this for the SBS gurus out there who aren’t happy with a text until the find something they don’t know. Then these same gurus are your friends for life. So here is such an opportunity. You CAN have multiple Exchange servers on the same SBS 2003 network. You might want do this to shoehorn SBS 2003 into a multiple office scenario or to gain some form of messaging database redundancy. This would be accomplished by purchasing a second copy of Exchange Server 2003 (standard edition) and installing it on a second server running Windows Server 2003 (which you would also need to purchase). You would then link the Exchange servers together as part of the Exchange Server site.
The bottom line for introducing another Exchange server machine into your SBS 2003 network? You’d be out the following “hard costs”:
• Exchange Server 2003 standard edition: $699 USD
• Exchange 2003 User CAL: $67 USD/each user
• Windows Server 2003: $999 USD
• HP ML 350 Server Machine (adequately equipped): $1,500

If you total the above figures, you’ll see that you’ll pay a handsome price to introduce a second Exchange server machine in the small business. But it can be done.
BEST PRACTICE: Having a need to discuss the use of multiple Exchange servers might really be a customer’s cry for more information about whether SBS with its Exchange Server 2003 SKU is really the best fit. Consider visiting the comparison chart of all Exchange Server 2003 SKUs (including SBS 2003) at www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/Mail_compare.asp as
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
seen in Figure 6-16 below to answer your own Exchange right­
sizing questions.
Figure 6-16
Use this page to, at a glance, line up Exchange features and better understand what the capabilities and limitations are in SBS 2003.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Exchange server POP3, Queue management in SBS 2003 (book excerpt)

POP3 Connector
It’s with great pride that the SBS development team created the POP3 Connector that allows external POP3 e-mail to be downloaded on a schedule and “mapped” to an Exchange SMTP account. Translation: You’re using POP3-based e-mail at your ISP today (say my POP3 account of harryb@nwlink.com) and you want that mail delivered seamlessly to your SBS network e-mail (in my case, harryb@nethealthmon.com). It’s the POP3 Connector that facilitates this mapping between disparate e-mail accounts (and account types) and performs the download delivery function.
Configuring the POP3 Connector in SBS 2003 is much simpler than prior SBS 2000 releases, because it’s now got a direct link in the Server Management console! In the Server Management console, click Internet and E-mail under Standard Management. Then select Manage POP3 E-mail followed by a click on the Open POP3 Connector Manager link. The result is displayed in Figure 6-8.
Notes:
Figure 6-8
The POP3 Connector is configured on this property sheet via the Mailboxes and Scheduling. Because it’s not really part of the SPRINGERS storyline, this figure is a simple “look and see.”
BEST PRACTICE: In its heart of hearts, the POP3 Connector is best used as a transition tool to help you migrate your POP3-based e-mail (and associated Internet identity, such as harryb@nwlink.com) to your SBS-based Exchange SMTP e-mail and Internet identity (e.g., harryb@nethealthmon.com). There is much power in having an Internet identity that closely relates to the name of your organization and isn’t a generic e-mail domain name (e.g., JUNO and other large ISP identities). In fact, one of the slides in the Microsoft Partner PPT in late 2003 widely circulated in the public SBS 2003 hands-on labs and other venues cites hosting your own SMTP e-mail as a true benefit to SBS 2003. It’s the POP3 Connector that can help facilitate this transition.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
But hey - that’s not to say that some folks don’t use the POP3 Connector on a permanent basis to maintain POP3 e-mail on an on-going basis. This can be done without harm, without foul.
I know across this book I sound like a broken record, but I’ll delve deeper into the POP3 Connector in my advanced SBS 2003 book.
BEST PRACTICE: Oops. I almost forgot a late-breaking discovery regarding the POP3 Connector. There I was in late 2003 teaching a bunch of attentive and smart Microsoft Partners in Bangalore, India, when I was asked the following question: Can the POP3 Connector be configured to leave a copy of the e-mail on the e-mail server at the ISP? After horsing around with it, the answer appears to be no.
Queue Management
While I’ll go into more detail on Exchange queue management in my forthcoming Advanced SBS 2003 book, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least pay lip service to this matter in this more introductory text. Inbound and outbound e-mails awaiting processing live in queues. A point of failure in Exchange can occur at the queue, and it’s not uncommon for someone to post to the newsgroups that e-mail is “stuck in the queue.”
BEST PRACTICE: As an example, when outbound e-mail gets stuck in the queue, it can slow down the entire SBS server machine. One cause for this can be that spammers have sent e-mail into your Exchange organization to a nonexistent e-mail account (say superuser@springersltd.com) and you have somehow configured Exchange to send a nondeliverable report (NDR) back to the spammer (over the Internet) that basically says said user doesn’t exist in your organization. Well, when the spammers return e-mail address is itself fake, Exchange will try and try again to deliver the NDR and queue blockage will result.
Pardon me while I shout, but NDRs are ENABLED BY DEFAULT IN SBS 2003! This could create the above situation out of the box on your SBS 2003 network. So, clearly the point of the above story and
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
shouting is to turn off NDR delivery that will go out over the Internet. This occurs by deselecting the Allow non-delivery reports checkbox on the Default Properties dialog box (this is the property sheet for the Default object under Internet Message Formats under Global Settings in the Exchange System Manager under Advanced Management in the Server Management console). This is shown in Figure 6-9 after the correction has been made.
Figure 6-9
Please promise you’ll turn off the Allow non-delivery reports checkbox here to prevent queue build-up.
Possibly you’re a reader from Missouri (the “Show Me” state) and you need to see e-mails in the queue to better understand what we’re talking about here. Or perhaps you’re sinister and want to see to whom users are e-mailing messages (this is SPYING and could be considered bad behavior). That is accomplished by drilling down from Server Management, Advanced Management, selecting the Exchange System Manager, selecting the SPRINGERS1 domain object, and clicking Queues. Then select the queue of your choice, such as Messages
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
queued for deferred delivery followed by clicking the Find Messages button. You’ll see the messages that exist in that queue.
BEST PRACTICE: One last point about Figure 6-9 above. Did you know that SBS 2003 and Exchange are contributing by default to the health, welfare, and safety of your home? That is accomplished by an ounce of prevention. What? Look closely at Figure 6-9 and notice that Allow Out of Office responses are disabled by default. That way, if one of your users utilizes the Out of Office response capability in Outlook 2003 when he travels for business or pleasure, the bad guys who spam said user don’t receive notification that the user is out of town and his home is wide open for theft! Seriously, an Out of Office response that is sent over the Internet is an open invitation for bad guys to rip you off! If you think that’s bad, it could be worse, as a woman real estate agent once pointed out to me. What if you were using your vacation time at home and the bad guys, having received your Out of Office reply, decided to come by for a quick burgle. Her point was that she’d rather get ripped off while not at home than to risk personal harm when the bad guys appear. A valid point!
16GB Store Limit
Something that really freaks out some SBSers is the fact that Exchange Server 2003 standard edition, which is the SKU placed in SBS 2003 (both standard and premium edition) has a 16GB data storage limit for all stores combined. In the old days, 16GB was a ton of space, but now with a mailbox approaching 1 GB or more per user, you can easily see how you might overtax Exchange’s storage limitation at the information store level. Why have mailbox sizes increased so much in the early 21st century? Well, a generation ago, the Church Lady (played by Dana Carvey) on Saturday Night Live (a popular US comedy show that won’t die) would have blamed...SATAN! I’d rather put my faith in the fact that folks are using their Exchange-based mailboxes as filing systems to manage their business information. In this case, the Outlook application accessing the Exchange-based mailbox has replaced traditional NTFS-folders viewed from Windows Explorer as the information repository of choice. Yours
truly is truly guilty as seen in Figure 6-10, where the offline data storage file for Outlook (OST file), which is representative of my Exchange mailbox, is approaching 1.2 GB in size!
Figure 6-10
All you would need is 16 users like Harry (that’s me) in your organization with SBS 2003 to exceed the information store-level storage limit in Exchange. Ouch!
BEST PRACTICE: Did ya’ catch my point in passing above? Multiple Exchange stores are allowed in SBS 2003. That question came up during the SBS 2003 hands-on lab tour by a bright student in Phoenix, Arizona. The reason you might create multiple stores relates back to another hands-on lab tour titled “Go To Market” in early 2003. The example the student completed in the Exchange section related to creating a second Exchange store titled “executives” that allowed a restoration, performed at the store-level, to be first accomplished for the executives whilst the proletariat waited and ate cake.
Respecting the Dearly Departed
A network administration trick as old as the origins of NetWare and ArcNet (some of you probably join me going back to the early days of local area networks) is the idea that you disable but not delete user accounts when someone departs from a organization (such as leaving a job). Later, at a future date when you’re convinced the individual won’t return, you can delete the user account that you’ve previously placed on disabled status.
So here is the dilemma. One day, I received a call from a client complaining that an employee who had been terminated recently still appeared when the To: button in a new Outlook e-mail message was selected and the GAL was
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
displayed. I was accused of not addressing a client request to “eliminate” this user. Further investigation revealed that a user account, once disabled, still appears in the GAL. To hide a dearly departed but disabled user from the GAL, you would need to select the Hide from Exchange address lists checkbox on the Exchange Advanced tab on a user’s property sheet, as seen in Figure 6-11.
Figure 6-11
This figure suggests that Norm Hasborn, the owner of SPRINGERS, has been terminated. This is highly unlikely, of course, but does allow you to see how to hide a user from the Exchange GAL.
BEST PRACTICE: Why on earth did my telephone ring again from this client accusing me a second time of not terminating the terminated employee from the system? I had correctly selected the checkbox listed above. It turns out the secretary at this client site had double-checked my work very shortly after I reported I’d fixed the situation. The lesson learned is this. If you hide a user from the GAL, there is a propagation period before the change takes effect.
But there is a way to accelerate the propagation period. Figure 6-12 displays the Update Now secondary menu option on the Recipient Update Service (SPRINGERSLTD). Selecting this would make the change take effect immediately and you would then escape the wrath of the somber secretary I’ve shared with you here.
Figure 6-12
If you look closely at this figure, especially on the left, you can see where Recipient Update Services is located under the Advanced Management part of the Server Management console.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

FACT: SBS 2008 RC1 rleased to beta testers

Hey gang - its true - SBS 2008 RC1 released to beta testers...if u are one...check your INBOX for the e-mail announcement

harrybbbb
harry brelsford, ceo at smb nation, www.smbnation.com

Wanna attend SMB Nation 2008 fall conference complimentary?

Hey gang - one of our sponsors is giving away a unique prize - the ability to attend SMB Nation complimentary...this is a HUGE WIN for you (albeit, you must win the sweepstakes) because the fall conference (early October) is RIGHT IN THE ZONE for the RTM date for SBS 2008 and EBS 2008....BE THERE!
Join the contest here: http://www.calyptix.com/reg-smbnation2008fall.php
cheers...harrybbbbHArry Brelsfordceo, smb nation, www.smbnation.com

Exchange server interaction with SBS 2003 backup program (book excerpt)

We continue our journey into chapter five of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices! I am the author of this *purple book* and I am posting up a few pages a days for your reading pleasure....let me know what you thinking. I believe giving is a good thing!
cheers...harrybbb
Harry Brelsford
CEO at smb nation, www.smbnation.com and a fellow Microsoft Small Business Specialists (SBSC)
###
Exchange Interaction With SBS Backup
Later in this book in Chapter 11, you’ll complete the Backup Configuration Wizard to configure the backup capabilities in SBS 2003. So while I’m jumping the gun a little, let me share with you that you’ll affirm Exchange’s deleted item retention capability to store deleted e-mail. The default setting, which is actually in place before you run the Backup Configuration Wizard, is 30 days. (I’ll have you increase it to 60 days just to be extra safe.) This is a very useful approach for quickly retrieving a piece of e-mail that a user might have deleted (later in the chapter in the Outlook discussion I’ll share with you the procedure for this). The setting for deleted item retention is shown on the Limits tab of the Mailbox Store Properties screen (seen in Figure 6-7).
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 6-7
Observe that the ability to recover deleted e-mails is much more “foreground” in SBS 2003 with its Exchange Server 2003 application. In the SBS 2000 era, this capability wasn’t as widely known and utilized.
BEST PRATICE: Interestingly, the deleted item retention setting that you can set via the Backup Configuration Wizard only applies to the Mailbox Store and not the Public Folder Store. The Public Folder Store is set automatically to seven days to retain deleted items. I recommend you set this to 60 days on the Limits tab of the Public Folder Store Properties screen. And why do I recommend that? Later in the chapter when we look more closely at Outlook 2003, you’ll see the crack SBS development team implemented two public folder objects based on the organization name you inputted during the SBS setup phase. Translation: You are being encouraged to use public folders for storing important information.
The backup store gets even more interesting when discussing Exchange interaction with the native backup program in SBS 2003. Essentially, what occurs
Visit www.smbnation.com for additional SMB and SBS book, newsletter and conference resources.
is that the Shadow Volume Copy Restore capability in the SBS 2003 backup approach takes a two-second snapshot of the Exchange information store and then makes its backup from said snapshot. That allows Exchange to function without noticeable interruption.
BEST PRACTICE: Note that the SBS 2003 backup approach is not backing up Exchange at the “bricks” or mailbox level. For that form of backup, you might need some of the third-party backup software (provided by Veritas, Computer Associates), which I’ll discuss in Chapter 11. By the way, this whole discussion area of whether to use the native SBS 2003 backup program versus a third-party backup solution was asked in each city in the late 2003 SBS 2003 hands-on lab USA tour (a very common question).
But note that you can effectively simulate a really low-level backup capability (even lower than bricks level) by taking full advantage of the deleted item retention capability in Exchange to recover an individual piece of e-mail some 60 days out as discussed in the prior section.
A final point related to Exchange backup activity concerns Exchange transaction log growth. Without fail, I have client whom I hear from only when something goes wrong (and usually at all the wrong times like when I’m enjoying a sunny summer day off). One case related to Exchange shutting down and not allowing e-mails to be sent or received. Upon close examination, the culprit was excessive Exchange transaction log growth. What occurred was this el cheapo client wasn’t getting successfully backed up (and wouldn’t pay us for monitoring to know whether they were getting sufficiently backed up, etc.). When Exchange isn’t successfully backed up, it continues to build transaction logs that are basically 5MB in size each as a form of self-preservation. Not surprisingly, over the course of 300 days, with the logs growing in multiples of 5MB at a time, the system drive was consumed and it ran out of room. When Exchange tries to operate on a drive with less than 10MB free space, it shuts down. And that’s how this client learned they weren’t getting good backups: All of the disk space had been consumed by excessive Exchange transaction log growth.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
BEST PRACTICE: Don’t forget that you had the option to direct where the Exchange transaction logs should be stored when you initially ran the SBS 2003 Setup Wizard and viewed the Data Folders Redirection screen. But simply placing the Exchange transaction logs on a huge hard disk to let them grow like weeds is no substitution for having beautiful bona fide backups!