SuperTekBoy

Exchange September 2016 Updates

September 20, 2016 By Gareth Gudger 2 Comments

38 Shares

Today was a big day for Exchange updates. Not only did we get Cumulative Update 14 for Exchange 2013, but we also got our third update for Exchange 2016.

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 Mini Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 3 | KB3152589 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 9 Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 14 | KB3177670 | UM Language Pack

Exchange 2010 Mini Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 15 | KB3184728

Exchange 2007 Mini Exchange Server 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 21 | KB3184711

So what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

Quite a lot actually. Namely Exchange 2016 can now be deployed on Windows Server 2016. Keep in mind that you must deploy Cumulative Update 3 to Windows Server 2016. Older Cumulative Updates will not work. Exchange 2013 is not supported on Windows Server 2016. It is unlikely support will ever be added.

Exchange will also work with Server 2016 domain controllers. However, this will require raising the domain and forest functional levels to a minimum of Server 2008 R2.

Another amazing addition to Cumulative Update 3 is the ability for search indexes to read from their local database copies. In prior versions search indexes would reach across the network to read from the active database copy. With search indexes using their local copies network utilization can drop by a staggering 40%.

This is great news for a company that stretches their DAG (database availability group) across geographic sites as this will drop WAN utilization. This change also reduces database failover times by up to 33%. For more information check out this great video from Greg Taylor.

Windows Server 2016 ships with .NET Framework 4.6.2. That said Exchange Server 2016 CU3 on Windows Server 2016 will be the only supported scenario for .NET Framework 4.6.2. The Exchange Team plans to support .NET 4.6.2 for older releases in the December update. Until then keep .NET 4.6.2 blocked from your 2012 servers.

The Exchange Team has also changed how servers are placed into server-wide offline mode during upgrades. In previous versions, when applying a cumulative update, Exchange 2013 and 2016 would be placed into offline mode during pre-requisite analysis. If a server were to fail analysis it could remain offline despite no changes being made. Starting with the September releases server-wide offline is not set until after analysis completes and the installation is ready to make changes. [Read more…] about Exchange September 2016 Updates

Call That Girl’s Office 365 podcast – Episode 64

September 12, 2016 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

11 Shares

On September 7th I had the great pleasure of being a guest on Call That Girl’s Office 365 podcast. I joined host Lisa Hendrickson to discuss consulting in the IT field.

Listen to the podcast

(Originally posted at https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-ymr3m-1b59a7e)

What is Call That Girl’s Office 365 Show?

To quote Lisa;

Call That Girl’s Office 365 Show is about Lisa’s weekly jobs and updates covering Microsoft Outlook, Exchange and Office 365.Lisa Hendrickson

Subscribe to Lisa Hendrickson at Podbean and YouTube.

Be sure to follow Lisa on Twitter and Facebook.

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise blocks outbound SMTP on Exchange

August 29, 2016 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

46 Shares

If you install McAfee VirusScan Enterprise on an Exchange Server you will find that your outbound mail is being blocked. By default McAfee only allows certain processes to send out on port 25. Exchange isn’t one of them.

The block is caused by the Access Protection component. Disabling this component entirely would allow your mail to flow again. However, disabling an entire protection component may not be ideal. Instead we list a couple of options below to allow Exchange through without sacrificing security.

Tip: Microsoft documents all the mandatory Exchange exclusions here. In addition, McAfee also details Exchange exclusions in this article.

Option 1

Right click on the McAfee taskbar icon and select VirusScan console from the context menu.

The UC Architects – Episode 59

August 17, 2016 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

61 Shares

On August 7th I had the great pleasure of being a guest on The UC Architects podcast. I joined hosts Steve Goodman and Dave Stork to discuss the latest on Unified Communications.

Listen to the podcast

(Originally posted at http://www.theucarchitects.com/1612)

What is The UC Architects podcast?

To quote their Facebook page;

The world’s leading Microsoft Exchange, Skype for Business and Office 365 podcast hosted by Steve Goodman, Pat Richard + world leading MVPs, MCMs and bloggers.The UC Architects

Subscribe to the The UC Architects at iTunes, or, via The UC Architects Windows Phone app. You can also stream all podcasts directly from their website. In addition, you can download Episode 59 as an MP3.

Be sure to follow The UC Architects on Twitter and Facebook.

Internal 500 server error after fresh Exchange 2016 install

August 15, 2016 By Gareth Gudger 4 Comments

66 Shares

Ran into a strange problem recently. I installed Exchange 2016 CU2 onto a brand new machine. This was the first Exchange 2016 server in the environment. Exchange 2010 SP3 RU14 was in coexistence. I could access the Exchange Control Panel fine. But when I accessed Outlook on the Web (formerly Outlook Web App) I received an Internal 500 server error. Not good. Especially on a brand new install.

Checking the application log revealed a ton of ASP.NET warnings. The warning had a source ASP.NET with Event ID 1310. Inside each warning was internal code 3008 with event message, A configuration error has occurred. The specifics are below.

ASP.NET Event ID 1310 Event Code 3008
Event code: 3008
Event message: A configuration error has occurred.
Event time: 9/1/2016 7:00:00 PM
Event time (UTC): 9/1/2016 11:00:00 PM
Event ID: 33cf7da9abe544e8b562fe0ab5437b57
Event sequence: 1
Event occurrence: 1
Event detail code: 0

We quickly found our answer in the exception message. In many instances the Microsoft.Exchange.Security assembly was missing. Other missing assemblies were referenced in separate warnings as well. [Read more…] about Internal 500 server error after fresh Exchange 2016 install

Renew a Certificate in Exchange 2016

August 2, 2016 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

90 Shares

In this article we explore the process of renewing a certificate in Exchange 2016. We demonstrate how to accomplish this using the Exchange Admin Center and PowerShell.

If you are looking to renew a certificate then this article is for you. If this is your first time requesting a certificate I recommend checking these articles instead.

Let’s get started!

These steps will also work for Exchange 2013.

Renew a Certificate with Exchange Admin Center

Log into the Exchange Admin Center (EAC). Select the Servers tab and Certificates sub tab.

This page displays all currently installed Exchange certificates. In our example we see four self-signed certificates. We also see our certificate that we acquired from a trusted certificate authority. This certificate is named webmail.exchangeservergeek.com. This is the certificate we will be renewing.

Select the certificate to be renewed (in our case webmail.exchangeservergeek.com) and click the Renew link in the task pane to the right.

The renewal process will create a new certificate request to submit to our certificate authority. Specify a location to save this certificate request. This location must be in the form of a UNC path. In our example we specify a file called certreq.txt at the path \\ex16-01\c$\users\supertekboy\desktop\. This will create a text file on our server’s desktop. Click Ok.

How to apply an Exchange product key

July 26, 2016 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

37 Shares

In this article we explore applying the Exchange product key. We will illustrate this process through both the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and PowerShell. We will also look at how to license multiple servers at once and how to locate all unlicensed servers in your environment. This process is the same for both Exchange 2013 and 2016.

Apply the product key with Exchange Admin Center

To apply the product key through the Exchange Admin Center follow these steps.

Log into the Exchange Admin Center (EAC). Navigate to the Servers tab and then the Servers sub-tab at the top.

Select the server you wish to apply the key and click the Edit () button.

From the General tab enter your 25-character product key into the 5 boxes under Enter a valid product key section.

My first Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award

July 4, 2016 By Gareth Gudger Leave a Comment

17 Shares

On July 1st I had the great pleasure of receiving my first ever Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award. It is truly a great honor. I am humbled that I was nominated.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs, are community leaders who’ve demonstrated an exemplary commitment to helping others get the most out of their experience with Microsoft technologies. They share their exceptional passion, real-world knowledge, and technical expertise with the community and with Microsoft.Microsoft

I want to offer a big thank you to everyone who has helped me get here. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.

I also want to thank Microsoft for choosing to bestow this great honor upon me. I am truly ecstatic and beyond joy.

I want to give a special shout out to everyone who supports this blog. Your comments, your follows, your likes and your shares–they have all got me to this point. Thank you.

I would like to offer special thanks to my family, friends, colleagues and employer. Thank you for your continued support and challenging me to the best I can be.

For more information on the Microsoft MVP program check out this link. To nominate someone for the MVP award, check this link.

You can find my MVP profile here.

Skip links

Main navigation

So what’s new in these Cumulative Updates?

Listen to the podcast

What is Call That Girl’s Office 365 Show?

Option 1

Listen to the podcast

What is The UC Architects podcast?

Renew a Certificate with Exchange Admin Center

Apply the product key with Exchange Admin Center

Footer

Site Navigation

Join the conversation