Why would you bring up an Exchange Server offline?

The Exchange Team Blog recently posted an article on how to help speed up the time certain Exchange Server services take to start when the server isn’t connected to the Internet.  You can read the article via this link. The question I’ve been hearing after this article showed up was “Why would I bring up an Exchange Server that isn’t net connected?  Isn’t the point of Exchange to send/receive mail?”  Valid question, but I can think of a few instances where this article can really help folks.

1 – You aren’t sure what’s broken

This is a pretty common one, believe it or not.  When troubleshooting Exchange, sometimes servers can appear to be connected to the Internet, but are not.  They may also require several reboots to properly correct whatever went wrong with the network connection once you figure out what broke.  In both cases, having a way to speed up the Exchange service startup can make troubleshooting faster and more efficient.

2 – You’re testing something out

Many times, administrators will want to see how certain changes impact Exchange Servers without allowing them to receive new mail (just in case they have to revert to a previous version of the database).  This is typically done by disconnecting the server from the network, as that will ensure no mail is transferred in any direction.  If a reboot is required for the testing, shortening service start times makes life easier.

3 – Secured environments

The article specifically mentions this one.  If Exchange Server is used for internal mail routing ONLY, and never expected to send/receive anything on the public Internet, then it may not be connected to the public Internet at all.  Under these specific circumstances, there’s no reason for things like public certificate updates to happen, since the Exchange Server will never use them.  Be very careful with this one, though. You’d be amazed how many times I have found so-called “isolated” Exchange Servers that are chattering away with the outside world.

As you can see, there are reasons why you would bring an Exchange Server up without a connection to the Internet.  In those circumstances, the guidance in the article can help speed up the process of getting your Exchange services started.  Just be careful to follow all the warnings in the articles, as a wrong move could either break Exchange or create a whopping security hole in your email architecture.

Blackberry still rules the Smartphone roost

As reported in BetaNews, Google’s Android Smartphone OS has taken over the second place slot in market share, surpassing the iPhone. However, while just about every media outlet has started shouting that the Android phones will kill the iPhone market and own the Smartphone space, many are glossing over the fact that neither of those two Smartphone OS’s was in the top slot.

Research in Motion (RIM) still dominates the Smartphone market in most regions.  They’re above both Android and iPhone here in the US by about 8% above Android’s market share (as per NPD Group and their Wireless Markets Report).  So what does that say about the Smartphone market in general?

First, Smartphones are still the domain of the corporate user.  Google and Apple both tried to bridge the gap and bring the Smartphone to the general market, but it would appear that the majority of users are still corporate folks who are using devices to access email and Messaging and Collaboration Platforms, like Exchange Server.  Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) gives the Blackberry handhelds a strong advantage here, as most mid-sized to large enterprises have BES servers already in place. 

Secondly, administrators like control.  While the Android and iPhone OS’s both use Exchange ActiveSync and/or Outlook Anywhere (natively or via 3rd-Party tools), they do not have the ability to centrally manage devices to the level that the Blackberry handhelds do.  Sure, I love Good Technologies and everything they’re doing to offer centralized management for Android, Windows Mobile, iPhone, etc. The problem is that a lack of cross-platform interoperability, and the sheer number of OS versions, updates, vendors, carriers, etc. makes things difficult to keep on top of.  BES offers a unified platform as all of their updates, software and versions are controlled by a single entity (RIM) even though they go through many different carriers.

Finally, change takes time.  I have no doubt that as Windows System 7 Phone platforms grow, and as Android and iPhone stabilize a bit and allow for more serious centralized control, that these platforms will offer a serious threat to the Blackberry dominance of the corporate marketplace, and the Smartphone marketplace overall. Compared to BES and Blackberry handhelds, these other devices are downright young, and there is something to be said for waiting for maturity before passing judgment.

In the end, this battle is far from over.  Eventually the Smartphone will indeed begin to become truly popular with non-corporate users.  Eventually other Smartphones besides Blackberries will begin to allow administrators much more control than they do today.  Once the playing field is leveled, RIM will have a very real challenge on their hands.  For now, though, read past the hype and realize that Android and iPhone are fighting for second place, not first.

Exchange Server Deployment Assistant is a great tool!

Just a quick post today, as I’ve missed most of this week and didn’t want you readers to go into withdrawal =)

Microsoft apparently agrees with me that trying to figure out what steps to take in installation of Exchange 2010 can drive you batty.  In response, they’ve created the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant (ESDA) to help you know what to do when.

The tool is web based, and simple to use.  You tell the tool if you’re planning on upgrading from a previous version of Exchange or a net-new install of 2010.  You also tell it what components of the Exchange Server 2010 system you’ll be using – Disjointed namespaces, POP/IMAP, Unified Messaging, etc.

Once you give it this info, it walks you through all the steps required to properly install and configure the services you chose.  This includes pre-requisites for the OS and Features and Roles, and the installation and basic configuration of the Exchange software itself.  A great tool for those who want an idea of what needs to be done, start to finish.

You can find the ESDA tool here. Note, you’ll need Silverlight to use the tool, which is freely available from this link.

See you next week!