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 in UserVoice.
[Read more…] about #MVPbuzzChat – Data residency, Hybrid Modern Authentication & Exchange 2019Exchange News
Exchange March 2018 Updates
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 introduce full support for TLS 1.2. This is critical because in future updates Exchange will end 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
MVPs Talk Microsoft 365 podcast – What’s new in Exchange & Office 365
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.
[Read more…] about MVPs Talk Microsoft 365 podcast – What’s new in Exchange & Office 365Exchange December 2017 Updates
Last week was a big week for Exchange updates. Not only did we get Cumulative Update 8 for Exchange 2016, but we also got Cumulative Update 19 for Exchange 2013. Exchange 2010 also receives a critical security update in rollup 19.
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 8 | KB4035145 | UM Language Pack
Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 19 | KB4037224 | UM Language Pack
Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 19 | KB4035162
Critical security update for Exchange 2010
Rollup 19 for Exchange 2010 fixes a massive security issue for EWS connections proxied from an Exchange 2016 server. To quote Microsoft Support.
In a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2016 coexistence environment, when EWS connections are proxied from Exchange Server 2016 to Exchange Server 2010, all mailboxes of Exchange Server 2010 can be accessed without any permission.Microsoft Support
That is a significant security hole. For those on Exchange 2010, I highly recommend testing and upgrading to this roll-up as soon as possible.
15 Microsoft Ignite sessions every Exchange admin should see (2017)
Microsoft hosted its annual Ignite conference in Orlando this September. Ignite was massive at 1695 sessions. Almost 300 sessions more than last year. That is a lot of sessions! Many are posted at the Ignite channel on YouTube or through the Microsoft Ignite On Demand portal. Here are the top 15 sessions I think every Exchange admin should watch.
Tip: I have included notes for each session and the time each topic starts. You can expand the session notes under each video by clicking “Show more session notes”
[Read more…] about 15 Microsoft Ignite sessions every Exchange admin should see (2017)
Exchange September 2017 Updates
Today was a big day for Exchange updates. Not only did we get Cumulative Update 7 for Exchange 2016, but we also got Cumulative Update 18 for Exchange 2013.
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 7 | KB4018115 | UM Language Pack
Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 18 | KB4022631 | UM Language Pack
No roll-up for Exchange 2010 this quarter
A quick word on Exchange 2007
It’s time to update. Exchange 2007 went end of life as of April 11th, 2017. You will receive no further patches and will be unable to acquire telephone support. Published back in March 2017, Rollup 23 is the final update for Exchange 2007.
Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 23 | KB4011325 (final update for 2007)
If the lack of security updates from Microsoft isn’t convincing enough, check this article for a list of cool things Exchange 2013 can do. (P.S. Like the fact Exchange 2013 uses fewer IOPS per mailbox than 2007…say whaaat) [Read more…] about Exchange September 2017 Updates
Exchange June 2017 Updates
Last week was a big week for Exchange updates. Not only did we get Cumulative Update 6 for Exchange 2016, but we also got Cumulative Update 17 for Exchange 2013.
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 6 | KB4012108 | UM Language Pack
Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 17 | KB4012114 | UM Language Pack
Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 18 | KB4018588
A quick word on Exchange 2007
It’s time to update. Exchange 2007 went end of life as of April 11th, 2017. You will receive no further patches and will be unable to acquire telephone support. Published back in March 2017, Rollup 23 is the final update for Exchange 2007.
Exchange 2007 SP3 Rollup 23 | KB4011325 (final update for 2007)
If the lack of security updates from Microsoft isn’t convincing enough, check this article for a list of cool things Exchange 2013 can do. (P.S. Like the fact Exchange 2013 uses fewer IOPS per mailbox than 2007…say whaaat) [Read more…] about Exchange June 2017 Updates
Don’t install .NET Framework 4.7 on Exchange Servers
T
he Exchange Team posted a quick note Tuesday addressing the release of .NET Framework 4.7 and Exchange. As of right now (June 2017) .NET 4.7 is not supported. While the Exchange team has not documented any known compatibility issues (like we saw when previous releases first shipped) they report the update has not been fully tested with Exchange and recommend all customers block the update until further notice.
As with any series of patching it is always critical to review all updates against the Exchange Supportability Matrix. If you want support from Microsoft you must be within the boundaries of that matrix. At the time of writing .NET 4.6.2 is the latest version supported by Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2016, provided you are on the latest cumulative updates. Older cumulative updates only support older versions of .NET. The Exchange Supportability matrix states that any version of .NET not listed on that site should be considered unsupported.
If you have already applied .NET 4.7 to your Exchange servers the product group recommends rolling back. They have identified this process in their latest blog post.
For an environment that uses patch management software such as WSUS or System Center, it is always a good idea to put Exchange servers in their own update group. This allows you to isolate Exchange into its own update cycle. If you don’t have a patch management system you can temporarily block .NET through the registry. Although this registry change will need to be performed against each Exchange server.
With future cumulative updates .NET Framework 4.7 will eventually be supported. We will update this space when this occurs.
Do you think Exchange should have day one support for the .NET Framework? Join the conversation on Twitter @SuperTekBoy.