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Exchange June 2018 Updates

June 19, 2018 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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Today was a big day for Exchange updates. Not only did we get Cumulative Update 10 for Exchange 2016, but we also got Cumulative Update 21 for Exchange 2013. Exchange 2010 also receives a critical update in rollup 22.

As always, test these updates in a lab first! I recommend checking out this 7-part guide on configuring Exchange in your lab. It doesn’t take much to get one going.

The updates are as follows:

Exchange 2016 Cumulative Update 10 | KB4099852 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 21 | KB4099855 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 22 | KB4295699

Exchange 2013 enters extended support

In case you missed it Exchange 2013 entered into extended support on April 10th. Cumulative Update 21 is the last planned update for Exchange 2013 and no further product development is expected. Any cumulative update after 21 is at Microsoft’s discretion. However, security and timezone updates will continue to be available until April 11th, 2023, delivered primarily through the Windows Update Catalog.

As a reminder, Exchange 2010 has less than 18 months of extended support remaining. After January 10th 2020, no further technical support or updates will be available. This includes security, bug and time zone updates. If you are still on 2010, I would recommend planning a migration to Exchange 2016 or Office 365 as soon as possible.

So, what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

One prerequisite change is the need to install Visual C++ 2013. This is required for a third party software component–that manages WebReady document viewing and data loss prevention–which ships in these updates. Visual C++ 2012 was the previous requirement for older cumulative updates. However, Visual C++ 2012 was installed automatically by the Unified Communication Management Agent (another Exchange prerequisite), so it never required administrator intervention. This means Visual C++ 2013 will also be a requirement for new server installations.

Exchange 2010 received a significant update in this release, which is the ability to leverage Windows 2016 domain controllers and global catalog servers. While 2016 DCs could exist in an Exchange 2010 environment, Exchange 2010 would simply not use them. With this update, 2010 will now leverage 2016 domain controllers and allow for the domain and forest functional levels to be raised to Windows Server 2016. This will allow you to eliminate all older domain controllers.

These updates contain a lot of security and bug fixes. Aside from the May 8th security update each cumulative update includes time zone updates and a dozen bug fixes. Check the appropriate KB article above for a list of issues each update resolves. [Read more…] about Exchange June 2018 Updates

Nullable object must have a value (when migrating mailboxes)

June 16, 2018 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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When migrating mailboxes between Exchange versions using the Exchange Admin Center you may receive the error:

Nullable object must have a value.

This error will appear when you navigate to the Recipient > Migration tab and click View Details on a migration batch. In the screenshot below we are examining a migration batch named “Test Migration to Exchange 2016” which contains two users. We are attempting to move these two users from Exchange 2013 to Exchange 2016.

From this screenshot, you will notice the Status column reports both users as successfully migrated. However, the Data Migrated and Migration Rate attributes in the right-hand pane are missing values. For an executed migration batch these attributes should contain metrics. [Read more…] about Nullable object must have a value (when migrating mailboxes)

RunAs Radio #588 – Exchange Updates with Gareth Gudger

June 13, 2018 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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On May 4th I had the great pleasure of being a guest on the RunAs Radio podcast. I joined host Richard Campbell to discuss the latest in Exchange and Office 365. We also discuss the deciding factors and roadblocks companies face when exploring the cloud.

It was great to be back on Richard’s show. We couldn’t believe our last recording together was one and half years ago. Boy–time flies!

Listen to the podcast

(Originally posted at http://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/588)

Exchange Server – There was a problem loading your options (“add-ins”)

May 18, 2018 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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When upgrading to Exchange 2016 you may receive the errors, “There was a problem loading your options” & “Exchange Server doesn’t support the requested version”.

Both of these errors are centered around the add-ins feature.

What are add-ins?

First introduced in Exchange 2013, add-ins are apps that you can globally distribute to all your Outlook clients, whether they be the full Outlook client, Outlook Web App, or, Outlook for iOS and Android.

Add-ins include features such as Bing Maps, which will identify an address in an email and automatically load a web-part displaying a map. Or, simply the ability to identify action items within an email.

Exchange ships with a few add-ins out of the box. Additional add-ins can be downloaded through the Microsoft store or uploaded via a custom XML file.

The real beauty of an add-in is that you can centrally manage it via the Exchange Admin Center. Much easier than deploying Outlook add-ins with traditional endpoint management software. Plus it ensures everyone is always using the latest version of an app.

There was a problem loading your options (“add-ins”)

While in coexistence with an older version of Exchange your users may receive the error “There was a problem loading your options”. They receive this error when trying to manage their add-ins via Outlook Web App. This error prevents the users from seeing or managing their add-ins.

#MVPbuzzChat – Data residency, Hybrid Modern Authentication & Exchange 2019

March 29, 2018 By Gareth Gudger 2 Comments

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On March 24th I had the great pleasure of being a guest on #MVPBuzzChat. I joined host Christian Buckley to discuss data residency, hybrid modern authentication and new products shipping in 2018. We also discussed the importance of TAP, Windows Insider program and participating on UserVoice.

[Read more…]

Exchange March 2018 Updates

March 20, 2018 By Gareth Gudger 1 Comment

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Today was a big day for Exchange updates. Not only did we get Cumulative Update 9 for Exchange 2016, but we also got Cumulative Update 20 for Exchange 2013. Exchange 2010 also receives a critical security update in rollup 20.

As always, test these updates in a lab first! I recommend checking out this 7-part guide on configuring Exchange in your lab. It doesn’t take much to get one going.

The updates are as follows:

Exchange 2016 Cumulative Update 9 | KB4055222 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 20 | KB4055221 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 20 | KB4073537

So, what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

The March 2018 updates introduces full support for TLS 1.2. This is critical because in future updates Exchange will disable support for the older TLS protocols. TLS 1.2 boasts significantly stronger ciphers than its predecessors by introducing SHA-256. For a great comparison on the differences between each version of the protocol I recommend the article TLS 1.2 vs TLS 1.1 by KeyCDN.

Disabling the older TLS protocols does present some challenges. As mentioned in my article Disabling TLS 1.0 may cause Outlook to crash, older operating systems such as Windows 7, will require additional registry hacks and tweaks to work in a pure TLS 1.2 environment. Before disabling TLS 1.0 in your environment you may want to look at the state of your client operating systems as a whole and determine if a project to upgrade to Windows 10 should be tackled first. TLS support is based on what the operating system can do and not the Outlook client.

I highly recommend checking out Brian Day’s series on transitioning an Exchange organization to TLS 1.2.

These updates also contain security and bug fixes. Check the appropriate KB article above for a list of issues each update resolves. [Read more…] about Exchange March 2018 Updates

131 funny, geeky and creepy questions to ask Alexa

March 16, 2018 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

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A couple of years ago we published a post titled 131 funny, geeky and creepy questions to ask Cortana. That post had fantastic engagement. Despite the original 131 questions, the community discovered hundreds more. In fact, you are still finding new questions even today. Be sure to check out the comments on that article.

With that in mind we thought it would be really cool to figure out what questions we could ask Alexa. We wondered if we could ask her the some of the funny, geeky and, creepy questions we asked Cortana. But we also went looking for plenty of new questions.

We don’t want to show her responses. That’s for you to enjoy. Besides, who likes spoilers anyway?

Okay, in the name of science, just one spoiler. Plus, it’s a great excuse to quote some Monty Python.

“Alexa, what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

Funny, geeky and, creepy questions to ask Alexa

Pro Tip: Be sure to ask Alexa, “Give me the Five-Nine”. This command actually starts an interactive skill with Alexa and is reminiscent of the old choose your own adventure novels (affiliate). The Alexa adventure is set in the world of one of my favorite TV shows, Mr. Robot (affiliate). If you haven’t seen that show I highly recommend it. It takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. It’s a lot of fun.

Let’s smash the 400 questions you found for Cortana! Let us know if we missed any good ones in the comments below. [Read more…] about 131 funny, geeky and creepy questions to ask Alexa

MVPs Talk Microsoft 365 podcast – What’s new in Exchange & Office 365

February 20, 2018 By Gareth Gudger 1 Comment

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On January 13th I had the great pleasure of being a guest on the MVPs Talk Microsoft 365 podcast. I joined host Neil McDonnell to discuss what’s new in Exchange and Office 365.

Listen to “Gareth Gudger | Blue Chip Consulting Group | MVPs Talk Microsoft 365 | Episode 8” on Spreaker.

[Read more…]

SuperTekBoy

Exchange June 2018 Updates

Exchange 2013 enters extended support

So, what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

Nullable object must have a value (when migrating mailboxes)

RunAs Radio #588 – Exchange Updates with Gareth Gudger

Listen to the podcast

Exchange Server – There was a problem loading your options (“add-ins”)

What are add-ins?

There was a problem loading your options (“add-ins”)

#MVPbuzzChat – Data residency, Hybrid Modern Authentication & Exchange 2019

Exchange March 2018 Updates

So, what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

131 funny, geeky and creepy questions to ask Alexa

MVPs Talk Microsoft 365 podcast – What’s new in Exchange & Office 365

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Exchange 2013 enters extended support

So, what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

Listen to the podcast

What are add-ins?

There was a problem loading your options (“add-ins”)

So, what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

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