Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP2

As promised, Microsoft released SP2 for Exchange Server 2010 on 2011-12-12, and the SP brings with it a number of features and fixes:

• Incorporates all the changes from Update Rollup 1 through 6 for SP1
• Adds Hybrid Configuration Wizard for ease of managing a deployment between your on site Exchange and your Office 365 Exchange
• Introduces Address Book Policies, which determine the GAL, OAB, room list and address lists that are visible to the mailbox user that is assigned that policy
• New Cross-Site Silent Redirection for Outlook Web App can pass off requests to another server in another Active Directory site, and also permit a single sign-on
• Adds Mini Version of Outlook Web App suited for mobile users (tablets, pads, smart phones, basically anything with a browser)
• Mailbox Replication Service changes permit you to move mailboxes from on-premises to another forest or Outlook.com
• Mailbox Auto-Mapping changes allow you to disable Auto-Mapping to save on resources
• Added five Multi-Valued Custom Attributes which allow you to store additional information for your mail recipient objects
• Litigation Hold prohibits you from disabling or deleting a mailbox that has been placed on “litigation hold”

If you are running an Exchange Server 2010 without the current rollups applied to SP1, updating to SP2 today is a great idea as you can kill multiple birds with one stone!

Should you require assistance in the Greenville or Upstate, SC area please call 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

The Microsoft issue today that prevented millions and millions (over 300 million) of people from getting to their email for several hours serves as a reminder that “The Cloud” is not perfect yet.

While most businesses who have a typical Microsoft Exchange Server might experience an outage that affects their users, when a cloud provider has a glitch, it affects a massive number of individuals and businesses. Keep in mind that it is not limited to just Microsoft, large providers such as Amazon and Google have both had similar issues recently.

The Microsoft outage was blamed on a DNS problem and affected the users of Hotmail, Office 365, SkyDrive and many other “Live” systems.

If you manage a business and are thinking about a switch to the cloud, this type of issue should be taken into consideration.

Should you want to discuss how to, or if you should move your business from a localized mail solution to a cloud based solution, a cloud solution to a localized solution, or how blending the two technologies can work for you, please give us a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We offer Microsoft, Google and other cloud solutions in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area!

I’ve said this before, but I think I will say it again. Should you leave a job and have personal files on your system, sure, by all means, delete your PERSONAL files, that’s okay, right?

Maybe…  In fact, laws on the books that state that everything you do at work is property of the employer, however, I am not a lawyer, so I won’t get into that.  What I WILL harp on is that if you do decide to delete a folder containing *your* personal files, not files belonging to the soon-to-be-ex-employer, then everything should be okay, but when you cross the line and either delete *everything* you can, including important system files, or possibly use a “secure wipe” application to write 1s and 0s to the drive, or even attempt to format a drive, then you have moved from protecting your privacy to destruction of property, malicious mischief, and a whole plethora of laws that cover this.

There is an entire field dedicated to recovering data intentionally deleted or destroyed. These “forensic” technicians are very good at it and also come with a hefty price tag. So, if you should happen to delete files, and it causes your former employer to enlist the assistance of an expert in recovery, then you can expect the associated costs to be passed on to you.

My advice is as follows:

If you are at work, why not work? Try to keep your personal files and emails totally off the business network. Use your Android or iPhone to read emails, or optionally web based email (gmail) if your company policy allows accessing external email accounts via the web on work computers.

Failing that, keep all your non-work email in a folder named something like “John’s Personal Email”, and personal files in a similarly named folder. Upon leaving, delete those and ONLY those folders.

What about your browser cache, all those cookies, auto-logged on sites, etc? Well, if your personal life did not intertwine with work, then you wouldn’t have this problem, but now you do, so what to do?  You COULD empty the cache, or you could use a tool like “CCleaner”, but those will remove legit work-related data too. Of course you could have enabled privacy mode and attempted to browse without leaving a trace, but you didn’t.

Okay, so just what CAN be recovered should you decide to delete your files and email before you leave?

Depending on how the Exchange server is configured, your mail may be backed up, possibly archived, forever, so even if you delete your mail today, last night’s backup got it all up until it ran.

Your desktop may be backed up as well, and it is possible that you do not even know it is happening. More and more businesses are opting for nightly, weekly or monthly imaging of all PCs.  Some computers are set to sync the documents folders to a centralized server.

And there’s always the chance that an employee will FEEL you did something bad, even if you had no intent to defraud them of their data and they will hire someone like me and my company, Homeland Secure IT to retrieve data from the hard drive. As I write this post, I am doing that for a new client in a similar situation.

Just what can we recover? Most everything. A “DELETE” doesn’t get it. Actually, we have successfully recovered files from a hard drive that had a “secure wipe” performed on it.

If your business needs data recovery services, please contact us in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com – If it’s there, we’ll get it.

Is your business currently using Symantec, McAfee, Microsoft or Kaspersky for corporate anti-virus protection?

If so, and you are unhappy with the current level of protection and would be interested in trying Trend Micro but the cost has been prohibitive, then maybe the Competitive Upgrade offer will encourage you to make the move!

Trend calls their program “Competitive Displacement”, and should you be using one of the aforementioned security suites, then you qualify for the discounted price. How much of a discount? A large one,  over 10 dollars per seat on Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Standard!

These updates apply to the following Trend Micro products: Worry Free Business Security (both Standard & Advanced),  Worry-Free Business Security Services, Hosted Email Security, Hosted Email Security-Inbound Filtering, Scanmail Suite for Microsoft Exchange (SMEX Suite), Scanmail for MS Exchange Suite with Email Reputation Services, Scanmail Suite for Lotus Domino, Enterprise Security for Endpoints (Advanced), Enterprise Security for Communication and Collaboration Suite, Enterprise Security for Endpoints and Mail Servers, and Trend Micro Enterprise Security Suite.

If you would like more information about Trend Micro anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spam products, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

We are a Trend Micro Partner and offer complete sales & licensing for a single workstation, notebook or server to thousands! We also offer installation and support in the Greenville / Upstate SC area.

Word travels fast on Twitter!  And word was that there were outages affecting some Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite customers over the past few weeks…  In light of that, Microsoft has stepped up to the plate with their Online Services Health Dashboard and made it available to all customers and partners in all regions.

This is direct from their newsletter:

Introducing the Microsoft Online Services Health Dashboard
Microsoft Online Services is pleased to make the new Microsoft Online Services Health Dashboard available to all customers and partners in all regions.

The Health Dashboard is a step forward in our efforts to continuously improve our ability to provide customers and partners with up-to-date, accurate, and complete information about our dynamic services. It provides a greater level of transparency into the status of all Microsoft Online services and tools with detailed current and historical information for our three regions: Americas, serving customers in North America and Latin America (NOAM); Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC).

For more information on the Health Dashboard, please refer to the Public Announcement on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog.

If you would like to see what all the hubbub is about regarding Software As A Service (SaaS), In-The-Cloud, or Cloud Computing, you can try Microsoft BPOS for free with a no obligation trial.

You get a virtual Microsoft Exchange server which you can use with Outlook Web Access, or your own Outlook, shared calendars, Microsoft SharePoint, and more!

Homeland Secure IT offers both Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS and can help you decide which is best for your application. Please email info@homelandsecureit.com, call 864.990.4748 or visit HERE for more information….

Hyperactive filters can be cause for a headache!

About a week ago, a network administrator that our company provides assistance to contacted us with an oddball issue…

All mail seemed to be working well, both in and out, except for mail coming into her domain from one company. The obvious was checked, such as the other company’s IP against all known block lists (RBLS), logs for blocked spam from the origin, and then it got even more odd. SOME mail from that domain was making it in, such as from their generic “info@somecompany.com”: address, then another address was able to send mail, but it was narrowed down to 3 addresses that could not send mail. Such as lisa@somecompany.com and art@somecompany.com.

At this point, the network administrator was at her wits end and we checked it out for her, having the company try to send a few mails, and sure enough, some were coming in, and others were not, but it was dependent upon the email address. We checked filters for those email addresses and none existed.

Everything was checked at the Exchange server, full logging was enabled, to watch for mail as it came in, and sure enough, nothing came in to the Exchange server from those email addies. Not even a connection. After ruling out the Exchange server, we went back to the Alt-N MDaemon server, which is a gateway that handles all incoming email, checks it against RBLs, content, viruses, whitelists, blacklists, attachments, etc, then if it thinks the mail is good, it sends it on to Exchange. We watched the logs as mail came in from lisa@somecompany.com and MDaemon reported it was totally happy.

Just to make sure, we added lisa@somecompany.com to the whitelists, and then *@somecompany.com was added. Still MDaemon reported it was happy and nothing was being filtered.

Still, the issue remained.  Info@somecompany.com could send email, lisa@somecompany.com could not. The logs in MDaemon read the same, kind of placing the blame back on Exchange, however, Exchange was never seeing a connection.

Long story short, after several emails being sent back and forth with the wonderfully patient people at somecompany.com, MDaemon’s support was enlisted to find the issue. Which took many emails back and forth between our network administrator friend and them, and several days…   In the end, the problem was a content filter inside MDaemon. A filter for certain phrases had been added, such as “Breast Enhancement”, “Penis Enlargement”, “Viagra” and “Cialis”…  This filter was to blame, even though no logs indicated this was the case.

Just what was triggering the content filter? It was the word “Cialis”…   Each individual at Somecompany.com who could not email in, had content in their email that contained the word “Specialist”, and MDaemon was most interested in “Specialist…

The lesson to be learned from this is that careful selection of your content filtering keywords is crucial to a smooth flowing mail system. We have seen content filters block mail in Trend Micro’s CSM (now Worry Free Business Security Advanced) and Scan Mail, but usually there is a log filled with the results that you can use to find an issue quickly.

In this case, “Cialis” was found in the word “Specialist”, but others have been as simple as filtering profanity such as the word “dick”, which happens to be some people’s first name… Even the word “Fanny” was someone’s given name.

More about MDaemon:

In MDaemon, this is what the logs look like when it encounters content:

Wed 2010-09-22 10:47:31: Start Content Filter results

Wed 2010-09-22 10:47:31: * Message matched rule: Penis <- this was the name of the rule

Wed 2010-09-22 10:47:31: * Matched 1 of 14 active rules <- this shows that there are 14 rules and 1 matched

Wed 2010-09-22 10:47:31: End of Content Filter results

Keep in mind this does NOT show up in the MDaemon GUI, you have to find the log on the machine and examine it….

Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 With BPOS Goodness

So you are setup with a FREE trial of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite and are enjoying all the online apps but something is missing, you don’t want to use web apps, you want to use all the features of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or 2010 that you have already paid for and know your way around.

Well it is possible to have your cake and eat it too! *IF* you signed up for the BPOS Standard trial instead of the “Deskless Worker” trial, then you can configure your Outlook to view the same Exchange data you see with Outlook Web Access. You will see the same emails, the same contacts, the same tasks, folders, public folders, calendars etc!

Wait, you didn’t get the Standard version of the BPOS demo? That’s okay, you can log back into the portal and activate the Standard version, then deactivate the Deskless Worker product and not even lose your configuration. YOU MAY lose your emails though and have to start over, but hey, it’s just a demo, you didn’t have that much anyway!

Okay, so back to task at hand, getting Outlook configured. It’s EASY, relatively speaking to accomplish this. First you log into your online mail app (OWA) at http://mail.microsoft.com and once in there, click on OPTIONS at the upper right hand corner, then, select ABOUT from the left hand menu. You will see something that looks like this:

Data to gather from OWA to setup Outlook

The important information for you to gather will be the “Outlook Web Access host name”, and the “Mailbox server name”.

Now, close out Outlook on your desktop and go to START/Control Panel and select Mail (If using Win 7 64 bit, once you open Control Panel, type “mail” in the Search Control Panel input at the top right hand side and select “Mail (32-Bit)”).

Select “Show Profiles” and add a new one… Let’s call it “BPOS”.  Next, select the checkbox for “Manually configure server settings or additional server types” then hit “Next >”. Select “Microsoft Exchange or compatible service” and hit “Next >”.

In the “Server:” field, put the information you gathered from Outlook Web Access for the Mailbox Server Name… (Ex: A3DIAXVS251.RED001.local). For “User Name:” enter your email address, then select “More Settings”. Don’t bother hitting “Check Name” as it will not function (yet)…

Select the “Connection” tab, at the bottom, select “Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP” and then hit the button “Exchange Proxy Settings…”, for “Use this URL to connect to my proxy server for Exchange:”, you need to enter the Outlook Web Access hostname from OWA (Ex: red001.mail.microsoftonline.com) and do not include the “https://” or the “/owa” here, just the hostname.

You can select to “Only connect to proxy servers that have this principal name in their certificate” if you wish, but not necessary.

DO select both of the checkboxes at the bottom for “On xxxx networks, connect using HTTP first, then connect using TCP/IP”, and set the proxy authentication settings to “NTLM Authentication”.

Click OKAY and apply those settings and now try to open Outlook… You should be prompted with a login.

Sounds complicated? Kinda-sorta, but it works well, and you only have to do it once. You can also use the Microsoft single signon client if you wish, which will remember your login and password and allow you to open Outlook without any issue, but some company policies may not allow you to install additional software, or automatic login applications so the above should work for you.

If you get stuck, please reply here or shoot me an email at info@homelandsecureit.com and I will try to give you a hand.

Microsoft BPOS

Are you tired of dealing with POP3 or IMAP mail from your ISP? Tired of SLOW email? Do you want to share calendars between coworkers? Do you want to see the same contacts, calendar entries and emails on your phone as you do in your Outlook on your desktop and also via a web interface? Do you want your mobile workforce to have access to the same resources you do, including public / shared calendars & contacts? Want support for your Mac, Apple iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry?

Then Microsoft Exchange is the way to go, however, there are costs associated with hosting your own Exchange server that are unattractive to many smaller businesses.

Fortunately there are Hosted / In-The-Cloud alternatives, such as Microsoft’s Own BPOS, the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite which features a Hosted Exchange server, SharePoint, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. Using BPOS can eliminate the need to purchase, deploy, maintain, backup and eventually upgrade a Microsoft Windows Server with Microsoft Exchange Server. The services are hosted “in the cloud”, in a data center, where all maintenance and upgrades are maintained FOR you. No need to worry with backups either.

This solution isn’t right for everybody, but it could be the answer to your problems if you have a smaller office, a large mobile workforce, a small budget or possibly no central location to place a server at. Would you like more information? Please call us at 864-990-4748 ext 201 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to arrange for a free, no obligation consultation.

Free 30 Day BPOS Trial

Optionally, you can sign up for a FREE 30 day trial of BPOS - Business Productivity Online Standard Suite - This trial includes 20 user licenses for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online.

Homeland Secure IT offers Hosted Microsoft Online Services including the full BPOS / Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting & Office Communications Online) as well as the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite (Exchange Online & SharePoint Online), and each service individually.

If you are in the Upstate / Greenville SC area, we can assist you with configuring your Outlook to work with the Hosted Exchange Online service at your location or ours.

We also offer full remote support and phone support to clients anywhere in the United States.

The next time your business needs to purchase new or renewal Cisco SMARTnet services, Trend Micro Anti-Virus, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Server, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Office, Microsoft User / Server CALs, or Microsoft Software Assurance, please remember Homeland Secure IT…

We offer sales of licensing and renewals for these and many other great companies…  Just call 864-990-4748 ext 201 or email info@homelandsecureit.com – We serve Greenville and the Upstate of SC, as well as nationwide licensing sales

Mailing List Mayhem

Let’s assume you are managing a mail distribution list with more than 50 people on it for a church or business and currently you are handling it in Outlook. Why not assume it is for a newsletter or bulletin…

Some of the problems you face are as follows: ( AKA the Top 10 Reasons to Switch to Email Marketing)

10. This is just too confusing and time consuming (see reasons 9 through 1 below)

9. Sending large emails with pictures or PDF attachments to dozens of people can slow your mail server to a crawl and take all day to send.

8. You have to manually add and remove each recipient, which is time consuming and is prone to human error (typos, accidental deletion of the wrong people).

7. You have no way for people to add themselves via a link on your website.

6. Subscribers are not verified, they have not opted-in. (Read more about the CAN-SPAM Act).

5. You have no way to see if your email was actually OPENED, or see which links were clicked on in your email.

4. Your mail distribution list likely has only the email address of each person and no idea of who happygirl1977@gmail.com really is.

3. You do not have a list of which addresses are bouncing, unless you compile  it yourself from the actual bounced messages.

2. If you are sending newsletters, you may be just constructing your email inside Outlook and it may be text based, with no real consistency in appearance.

And the number one issue faced by those using Outlook to manage a mailing list/newsletter: You are sending a large number of emails from your account, which may appear to recipients and mail servers to be junk mail, which could ultimately result in your mail ending up in the spam folder, or worse, certain mail servers could see traffic from you as unsolicited email and flag your IP address as suspicious, resulting in the inability to send to that domain again until it is cleared up. In some cases, you could be blacklisted and placed on a real-time block list (RBL) and that would affect all mail sent from everyone at your business or organization to many mail servers around the world. (Those types of problems can take a while to get cleared up, and some RBLs hold you hostage and make you pay a fee before removing you).

The solution to these nightmares is to make a small monthly investment and use one of the many mailing list managers that are designed for email marketing and newsletters. They address all of the issues above, and give you an easy template based interface which allows you to create well structured newsletters, and send them to your subscribers without fear of blacklisting, and without the hassles of manually editing distribution lists. You can place a signup button and form on your website, and anyone who is interested can subscribe themselves to your list!

As an added bonus, you can see how many of the emails went out, how many were opened, which links were clicked on and other analytic information that will assist you in determining what content is “interesting” to your subscriber base. You also see how many bounced, without having a dozen bounce messages in your inbox!

You are probably thinking that this must be expensive and there is no way you can afford it. Quite the contrary, you can get started for FREE by signing up for an evaluation. After the trial period, you can then subscribe for a few dollars per month. I personally opted for MadMimi (see link below) because it is the most affordable, however,  any of the three are awesome!

If you would like to subscribe to our mailing lists, or see what the subscription form looks like, click here:

Subscribe to our mailing lists

Try these out for free:

Constant Contact

iContact

One last thing – Using these solutions you do not have to have a Publisher, or even Office loaded. It does not matter if you are on a Microsoft Windows machine, Apple Mac, a netbook or even a tablet or pad computer, you can create your newsletter with just about any computer with a web browser!

If you have questions or need some assistance, just let me know, I will do what I can to help!