The current version of Exchange can, and in most cases should, be installed on Windows Server Core. Windows Server Core is a version of the Windows Server operating system that does not have a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Since “windows” are well ingrained into the administrative habits of most of us Windows Server administrators, it’s reasonable to expect that most Exchange administrators are going to be a bit hesitant to go down this route.
Many companies use old-style public folders, known as legacy public folders, on Exchange Server 2010. Often, the public folder hierarchical structures have grown uncontrollably for years. And not only in terms of data volume but also in the number of folders and the folder depth in the public folder hierarchy. For these reasons, many companies fear legacy public folder migration to modern public folders.
On February 12, 2019, Microsoft released its quarterly updates for Exchange server, and in this case Microsoft has released Exchange 2019 CU1, Exchange 2016 CU12, Exchange 2013 CU22 and Exchange 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 26 (although the latter is not really a quarterly update).
In October of last year Microsoft released a new version of on-premises Exchange server. Here at the ENow's Solution Engine blog, we realized we had a lot we could cover. Normally I focus mostly on writing about Office 365 and Azure features and updates, but I think there is still room in the blog-o-sphere for a post about on-premises software too.
Autodiscover was first introduced in Exchange 2007 and Outlook 2007 to quickly configure Outlook profiles, based on only the username and password. Outlook connects to the Exchange server, you enter your email address and password, and the Exchange server returns an XML package that Outlook uses to create or change its profile. The first implementation of Autodiscover was in Exchange 2007, but it is still used in Exchange 2019. Of course, there have been some improvements over the years, both in Exchange server as well as in Outlook, but overall the mechanism is the same.
On July 24, 2018, the Exchange Product Group released the preview version of Exchange Server 2019. This version is the third version of modern Exchange Server. Like the previous versions, Exchange Server 2019 benefits from the product developments tested and implemented in Exchange Online. But not all features available in Exchange Online are available in the on-premises version of Exchange Server. Additionally, not all features that are announced for the new release will be available when the RTM build is released. That is something that we have learned with previous releases of the product.
Outbound messages to the Internet are routed from the Exchange Online organization through your on-premises organization. With the exception of messages sent to other recipients in the same Exchange Online organization, all messages sent from recipients in the Exchange Online organization are sent through the on-premises organization.
Securing mobile devices access to an on-premises Exchange Server infrastructure without a hybrid setup is not complicated when using a single-vendor strategy. You simply implement a Mobile Device Management Solution and you are done. Enterprises doing business in the high security industry tend to follow a multi-vendor strategy to reduce the risks due to security flaws in third-party devices.
Any seasoned Exchange administrator has at one time needed to deal with a massive storm of “reply all” emails circulating the organization. It’s a chaotic situation, and not much fun to deal with, although you may enjoy telling the story to friends for years afterward.
Recently, one of my customers reached out to me stating they were having trouble delivering emails due to SPF failures. While it’s not uncommon for SPF checks to fail (you don’t want to know how many organizations struggle implementing SPF records correctly!), I was a little surprised. After all, the customer had successfully implemented SPF records for quite some time now, and rarely ran into issues with it.