Exchange & Outlook UPDATE, Exchange Edition, March 10, 2004

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Email Management, Compliance and Archiving

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10 Ways to Effectively Secure Active Directory

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Managing and Securing IM in the Enterprise: Why It Should Be a Top Priority

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1. Commentary - Microsoft Launches Communicator 2005 2. Peer to Peer - Featured Thread: Mapping Mailboxes - Outlook Tip: Using the /cleanviews Switch 3. New and Improved - Track Time Spent on Activities

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Editor's note: Share Your Exchange Discoveries and Get $100 Share your Exchange Server and Outlook discoveries, comments, or problems and solutions for use in the Exchange & Outlook Administrator print newsletter's Reader to Reader column. Email your contributions (500 words or less) to [email protected]. We edit submissions for style, grammar, and length. If we print your submission, you'll get $100.

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==== 1. Commentary: Microsoft Launches Communicator 2005 ==== by Paul Robichaux, Exchange Editor, [email protected] Editor's note: In last week's column (http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/45566), I asked you what's on your Exchange servers. The question garnered a lot of responses, but I can always use more. If you haven't written to tell me what mix of server software you're using, please do. I've loved science fiction since I was a little kid. I grew up in the 1970s and have many fond memories of stories and films that featured technologies that today we consider mundane. One technology that hasn't quite reached that status, though, is ubiquitous personal communications. On a typical day, I use a computer (for email, Voice over IP--VoIP, and three different Instant Messaging--IM--services), cell phone (email and voice), and landline phone (voice). Each of these devices has its own operational mode and capabilities, as do the services I use on the devices. I often think how great it would be to have a single, high-function client that condensed these communications modes into one. Microsoft apparently thinks so, too. With Tuesday's launch of Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 (formerly code-named Istanbul), the company is making a play to offer a unified communications experience that ties together call control, IM, presence, and telephony. The benefits of this unification are obvious to anyone who's ever missed an important phone call from someone who didn't have the right cell phone number or who's struggled to get VoIP softphone software working properly. Some of Communicator 2005's features are pretty cool:
- You can make phone calls to and receive them from users in your organization using either a compatible PBX system (Microsoft says it's hooked up with major PBX vendors including Avaya, Cisco, and Lucent) or your computer. With compatible gateway software, you can also make computer-to-telephone calls.
- Presence information is much richer than that in today's IM clients. Communicator 2005 lets you see your contacts' free/busy data (which comes, naturally enough, from Exchange), and you can set up custom presence messages that work like the Outlook/Exchange Out of Office message model. In fact, if you set up an Out of Office message with Outlook or Outlook Web Access (OWA), your IM contacts will see it. This capability is extremely useful because traditional IM presence data indicates only that a contact is offline. - You can initiate calls from within Office applications and from Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server sites.
- You can search the Global Address List (GAL) to find people. If you've used Microsoft Office Live Communications Server with Windows Messenger, you're probably used to the annoying requirement of having to know your correspondents' email addresses before you can add them to your contact list, but no more. Communicator 2005 depends on and was announced in conjunction with Live Communications Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1). SP1 includes some welcome new features, including the ability to restrict spam over IM, a better interface for setting up federated connections among organizations, and support for public IM connectivity with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger users. PIC support comes from a separately licensed component that you don't have to buy unless you actually need it. What does this all have to do with Exchange? Apart from the obvious (like the use of Exchange free/busy data in the Communicator 2005 client), you might remember Microsoft's announcement that Exchange 12 will support unified messaging. The Live Communications Server 2005 launch indicates that Microsoft plans to use its Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) capabilities and PBX connectivity as the backbone of its telephony integration strategy. The Exchange announcement tells us something about the capabilities Exchange 12 will probably have (i.e., the ability to store and originate voice mail messages and make them available to clients). With the advent of Communicator 2005, we now know something about what the client interface to this functionality might look like and how it will work when the pieces are all available.

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==== Events and Resources ==== (A complete Web and live events directory brought to you by Windows IT Pro: http://www.windowsitpro.com/events ) Sensible Best Practices for Exchange Availability On-Demand Web Seminar If you're discouraged about not having piles of money for improving the availability of your Exchange server, join Exchange MVP Paul Robichaux for this free Web seminar and learn how to maximize your existing configuration. Survive unexpected outages, plan for the unplannable, and evaluate what your real business requirements are without great expense. Register now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/seminars/exchangeavailability/index.cfm?code=0309emailannc Get Ready for SQL Server 2005 Roadshow in a City Near You Get the facts about migrating to SQL Server 2005. SQL Server experts will present real-world information about administration, development, and business intelligence to help you implement a best-practices migration to SQL Server 2005 and improve your database-computing environment. Receive a 1-year membership to PASS and 1-year subscription to SQL Server Magazine. Register now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/sqlserverusa/index.cfm?code=0307emailanncs Workplace Instant Messaging, March 29-31, 2005, Marriott Eastside Hotel, NY Attend IQPC's Workplace Instant Messaging taking place March 29-31, 2005, in New York, and find out how you can implement and utilize enterprise and corporate Instant Messaging (IM) to reduce costs, improve employee productivity and increase organizational efficiency. For more information, call 800-882-8684 or click here: http://www.iqpc.com/na-2274-01/w970ba Exchange Specialist Troubleshooting Course The 3-day hands-on Exchange Troubleshooting Specialist Course, formerly offered only to internal Microsoft employees, is now being offered at Windows Connections 2005 Conference held April 17-20, 2005, at the Hyatt Regency, San Francisco. Register now, as seats limited, and don't miss your chance to win a 7-night Caribbean Cruise! http://www.winconnections.com The Essential Guide to Active Directory Management Migrating from NDS and/or eDirectory to AD means changes in the way you manage your network, users, and network resources. Download this Essential Guide to Active Directory Management and learn hands-on approaches that reduce management complexity, IT workload, and costs and improve security--all with minimal impact on your organization. Download this guide today. http://www.windowsitpro.com/essential/index.cfm?code=0309emailannc Event Log Chat Randy Franklin Smith is one of the foremost authorities on the Windows Security Event Log and a respected trainer who teaches Monterey technology Group's Security Log Secrets course. In his article in the March issue of Windows IT Pro, Randy shines a light on this dark and mysterious corner of cryptic event IDs and codes and inaccurate Microsoft documentation. Here's your chance to ask Randy your questions about the Event Log and get answers Microsoft doesn't provide. Join the chat on March 16 at 4:00 P.M. Eastern time. http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx#050316_TN_SecEv ==== 2. Peer to Peer ==== Featured Thread: Mapping Mailboxes Our forum readers are having a conversation about mapping user mailboxes to the correct Exchange server. To join the discussion, visit http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=130426 Outlook Tip: Using the /cleanviews Switch by Sue Mosher, [email protected] Q: The Microsoft article "OL2000: Additional Command-Line Switches" ( http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=197180 ) describes a /cleanviews command-line switch that removes view customizations. Does it clean up views in public folders as well as in my mailbox? Find the answer (and links to more great tips) at http://www.windowsitpro.com/MicrosoftExchangeOutlook/Article/ArticleID/43607/43607.html ==== Hot Release ==== With instant messaging virtually in all corporate environments, and expected to be as prevalent as email in the near future, it has rapidly become an indispensable business communication tool. Yet, IM growth within the enterprise brings an associated increase in security risks to both public and enterprise IM networks. In this free white paper, learn how you can take control of IM use on your network to ensure security and compliance. You'll learn how to protect yourself from Virus & worms attacks, Identity theft, Leakage of confidential information and more. Download now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/whitepapers/akonix/securingim/index.cfm?code=exch310 ==== Announcement ==== (from Windows IT Pro and its partners) Get Windows IT Pro at 44 Percent Off! Windows & .NET Magazine is now Windows IT Pro. Act now to get an entire year for just $39.95--that's 44 percent off the cover price! Our March issue shows you what you need to know about Windows Server 2003 SP1, how to get the best out of your IT staff, and how to fight spyware. Plus, we review the top 10 features of Mozilla Firefox 1.0. This is a limited-time, risk-free offer, so click here now: http://www.windowsitpro.com/rd.cfm?code=theu2052up ==== 3. New and Improved ==== by Angie Brew, [email protected] Track Time Spent on Activities MileHi Software released WorkCentrics for Microsoft Office 3.2, a program that lets you track and manage the time you spend on contacts and activities by using the Outlook personal information manager (PIM). WorkCentrics lets you set up individual timecards for each of your contacts and activities, classify the work performed using multiple levels of categories, and enter the time you spend on each contact or activity. At a glance, you can see all your tasks, appointments, messages, documents, and expenses associated with the time you've spent on a particular contact or activity. WorkCentrics is available in lite, pro, and enterprise versions. Pricing for the lite version is $49.95 for a single-user license. Contact MileHi Software at [email protected]. http://www.workcentrics.com

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