Exchange & Outlook UPDATE, Exchange Edition, May 23, 2003

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(Below COMMENTARY)

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1. Commentary - Consolidation with Exchange 2003 2. News and Views - Major Spammer Arrested - Fizzer Worm Spreads 3. Announcements - Get Windows 2003 Active Directory Answers in a New eBook! - Guide to Securing Your Web Site for Business - Attention 2003 TechEd Attendees - Invitation to Underground "MEC ED List Event" 4. Resources - XCON: The Sender Field Is Empty When You Send Messages to an Exchange 2000 Recipient - Featured Thread: Exchange 2000 Cluster 5. Events - Security 2003 Road Show 6. New and Improved - Migrate PABs Between Applications - Submit Top Product Ideas 7. Contact Us - See this section for a list of ways to contact us.

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==== 1. Commentary: Consolidation with Exchange 2003 ==== by Paul Robichaux, News Editor, [email protected] Server and site consolidation have been on my mind a lot as the release of Exchange Server 2003 gets closer. Exchange Server 5.5 administrators might be wondering whether Exchange 2003 can help them reduce their site and server counts; Exchange 2000 Server administrators might wonder whether another upgrade would mean any real consolidation benefit. This week, I want to lay out a consolidation scenario that might help illustrate the answers to these questions. Server consolidation means moving workload to fewer, more powerful servers. Site consolidation reduces the number of physical sites that host servers (presumably equipping the sites with better connectivity and more powerful servers). Both methods offer potentially large savings, which is part of what makes them so attractive. Even though the initial cost of buying new servers or relocating facilities might be high, the cost savings in reduced overhead, easier management, and better recoverability can more than pay for the consolidation. Microsoft and a variety of IT consulting firms have conclusively demonstrated that server or site consolidation involving Windows 2000 and Windows NT file servers is often too good a deal to pass up--but what about consolidation involving Exchange servers? The answer, as usual, is "It depends." First let's examine a large Exchange 5.5 organization. Because Exchange 5.5 sites function as both message-routing and security boundaries, most Exchange 5.5 organizations tend to have at least several sites to accomodate multiple routing groups--large organizations typically have 40 to 100 sites. That's a lot of overhead, both in terms of replication bandwidth and administration time. Consider what the organization might look like if it migrates to Exchange 2000. Exchange 2000 supports routing and administrative groups, so the organization can consolidate sites into a few administrative groups with routing groups added in to break the organization up into islands of connectivity. Because Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server supports multiple large databases per machine and takes full advantage of multiprocessor servers, the organization can easily consolidate servers to host 1500 to 2000 users per machine (although a good disaster-recovery plan had better be in place). Sites that ran an Exchange 5.5 server just to support a few local users can be removed, and users can access a front-end server running Outlook Web Access (OWA) 2000, with little loss of functionality. Now what about moving on to Exchange 2003? From a server-consolidation standpoint, Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2000 are largely identical, although Exchange 2003 offers a few benefits. The Information Store (IS) in Exchange 2003 is more efficient at allocating RAM, the added support for four- or eight-node N+1 clusters means that you can consolidate servers onto clusters instead of onto standalone servers, and the new /USERVA switch provides better scalability on systems with more than 1GB of RAM. The true benefit, however, lies in Exchange 2003's site-consolidation-friendly features. Sites that maintain local servers for Messaging API (MAPI) clients who have resisted moving to OWA can use remote procedure calls (RPCs) over HTTP to give clients full Outlook functionality from a centrally managed set of servers. Improvements in MAPI bandwidth utilization (not to mention OWA's compression capabilities when teamed with compatible browsers) help make site consolidation even more compelling because more efficient bandwidth usage translates into getting more clients to the server across one connection. When used together, Outlook 2003 (running in cached mode) and Exchange 2003 are tuned to optimize bandwidth usage and request patterns, so deploying them together further improves performance and scalability. There's a lot more to the Exchange 2003 consolidation story, including several back-end features that can let you build larger mailbox servers without raising the degree of risk that a server failure will affect users. Next week, I'll take a look at some of these features and explain what you can do with them. In the meantime, think about how consolidation might benefit you. Let me know whether you think it makes sense in your environment.

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==== 2. News and Views ==== Major Spammer Arrested by Paul Thurrott, [email protected] The so-called "Buffalo Spammer" was arrested this week in New York following a year of investigative work by EarthLink's anti-fraud department and law enforcement. For more information, go to http://www.wininformant.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=39029 Fizzer Worm Spreads by Mark Joseph Edwards, [email protected] A new worm, dubbed Fizzer, is spreading around the Internet through email and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Fizzer carries quite a hostile payload compared with past worms. When Fizzer runs on a computer, it copies itself in the Windows system directory and modifies the registry so that it runs every time Windows boots. For details, go to http://www.wininformant.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=39016 ==== 3. Announcements ==== (from Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners) Get Windows 2003 Active Directory Answers in a New eBook! The first chapter of Windows & .NET Magazine's latest eBook, "Windows 2003: Active Directory Administration Essentials," is now available at no charge! Chapter 1 delves into Windows Server 2003 and focuses on what's new and improved with Active Directory. Expert Jeremy Moskowitz discusses which AD features might be important to you (and why). Download it now! http://list.winnetmag.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eA0GwOeX0CCG0BALs0Av Guide to Securing Your Web Site for Business Download VeriSign's new whitepaper, "Guide to Securing Your Web Site For Business," and discover the practical business benefits of securing your Web site. You'll also learn more about the innovative processes and technologies VeriSign uses to address Internet security issues. Download your free copy now! http://list.winnetmag.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eA0GwOeX0CCG0BAMg0Ak Attention 2003 TechEd Attendees - Invitation to Underground "MEC ED List Event" MessageOne announces the "List Party" at TechEd 2003. This is an invitation-only event for Exchange and Outlook admins! Join us at SpeedZone for unlimited beer, food, and the chance to test your driving skills in 300 horsepower dragsters or grand prix-style race cars. This event will be held on June 1, 2003 from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. Space is limited, so get your chance to attend this event using reservation code TE-M1EMS-WN. http://list.winnetmag.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eA0GwOeX0CCG0BAMh0Al ==== 4. Resources ==== XCON: The Sender Field Is Empty When You Send Messages to an Exchange 2000 Recipient Each week, Microsoft posts several Exchange Server how-to articles to its Knowledge Base. This week, learn why messages sent through Telnet might appear to have incorrect sender information. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=814765 Featured Thread: Exchange 2000 Cluster A forum reader is having trouble running both Trend Micro's ScanMail 6.1 and Symantec's Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition (NAVCE) 7.5 on a two-node Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) active/passive cluster. To offer your advice or join the discussion, go to the following URL: http://www.winnetmag.com/forums/rd.cfm?cid=40&tid=59079 ==== 5. Events ==== (brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine) Security 2003 Road Show Join Mark Minasi and Paul Thurrott as they deliver sound security advice at our popular Security 2003 Road Show event. http://list.winnetmag.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eA0GwOeX0CCG07Kz0Al ==== 6. New and Improved ==== by Carolyn Mader, [email protected] Migrate PABs Between Applications Connected Software released Address Magic Enterprise Edition, software that can migrate Personal Address Books (PABs) between Outlook, Netscape 4.0, GroupWise, and Lotus Notes. You can copy users' personal addresses from an old application to a new application, even if the user changes machines. The software converts names, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, categories, and distribution lists (DLs). Pricing starts at $400 for 100 users. Contact Connected Software at [email protected]. http://www.connectedsw.com Submit Top Product Ideas Have you used a product that changed your IT experience by saving you time or easing your daily burden? Do you know of a terrific product that others should know about? Tell us! We want to write about the product in a future Windows & .NET Magazine What's Hot column. Send your product suggestions to [email protected]. ==== 7. Contact Us ==== About the newsletter -- [email protected] About technical questions -- http://www.winnetmag.com/forums About product news -- [email protected] About your subscription -- [email protected] About sponsoring [email protected]

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