Exchange 2013 CU7 Released

Exchange 2013 CU7 has been released to the Microsoft download centre!  Exchange 2013 has a different servicing strategy than Exchange 2007/2010 and utilises Cumulative Updates (CUs) rather than the Rollup Updates (RU/UR) which were used previously.    CUs are a complete installation of Exchange 2013 and can be used to install a fresh server or to update a previously installed one.  Exchange 2013 SP1 was in effect CU4, and CU7 is the third post SP1 release.  CU7 contains AD DS schema changes so please test and plan accordingly!

One aspect to note is that CU7 does contain the security fix for the issues described in security bulletin MS14-075.  To address these security issues in pre CU7 builds of Exchange 2013, there are separate updates available.  While not directly applicable to CU7, it is worth noting should you wish to implement the security fix prior to upgrading to CU7.

• MS14-075 Security Update For Exchange Server 2013 SP1
• MS14-075 Security Update For Exchange Server 2013 CU6

Update 10-12-2014: Corrected CU7 security update wording.

CU7 provides support for Public Folder Hierarchies in Exchange Server 2013 which contain 250,000 public folders.  Yay!!!!  CU7 also resolves backup and restore issues.  The Exchange product group recommend upgrading to Exchange 2013 CU7 and then taking a full backup.

Please take the time to review these additional posts:

• On-Premises Legacy Public Folder Coexistence for Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 7 and Beyond
• OAB distribution in large Exchange Server 2013 environments

For those co-existing with Exchange 2007 there were some issues with CU6, that should all be resolved in CU7.  For example if you are deploying into a mixed environment with Exchange 2007, you need to review KB2997209 Exchange Server 2013 databases unexpectedly fail over in a co-existence environment with Exchange Server 2007.  Customer with Exchange 2007 and 2013 also had to review KB 2997847 You cannot route ActiveSync traffic to Exchange 2007 mailboxes after you upgrade to Exchange 2013 CU6.  There were some issues with the post CU6 IU that was released to correct these issues as it did not always copy all the OWA files.   CU6 also had an issue which affected Hybrid mailboxes.

This is build 15.00.1044.025 of Exchange 2013 and the update is helpfully named Exchange2013-x64-cu7.exe.  Which is a great improvement over the initial CUs that all had the same file name!  Details for the release are contained in KB2986485.

Updates Of Particular Note

• CU7 addresses the security issues described in MS14-065.  To address these issues in pre CU7 builds of Exchange 2013 there are separate updates available for:

• • MS14-075 Security Update For Exchange Server 2013 SP1
  • MS14-075 Security Update For Exchange Server 2013 CU6

• 2999031 A cross-forest mailbox move from Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange Server 2013 finishes with CompletedWithWarnings status

• 3008438 User who is trying to Log on to Exchange Admin Console is logged in to OWA instead

• 3006672 Move request fails if the IsExcludedFromProvisioning option is true in Exchange Server 2013

• 3005391 Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 5 breaks free/busy lookup from Exchange Online to Exchange Server 2007

• 3001217 TLS 1.0 is hardcoded for SMTP traffic encryption in Exchange Server 2013

• 3003580 Event ID 4999 and 4401 when the Microsoft Exchange Replication service crashes in Exchange Server 2013

• 3000944 Subfolders under the Deleted Items folder are not visible in Outlook in an Exchange Server 2013 environment
• 2997847 You cannot route ActiveSync traffic to Exchange 2007 mailboxes after you upgrade to Exchange 2013 CU6
• 2997355 Exchange Online mailboxes cannot be managed by using EAC after you deploy Exchange Server 2013 CU6
• 2997209 Exchange Server 2013 databases unexpectedly fail over in a co-existence environment with Exchange Server 2007

Issues Resolved

• 3004235 Exchange Server meetings in Russian time zones as well as names of time zones are incorrect after October 26, 2014

• 3012655 New-MailboxImportRequest causes unreadable characters when you import an ANSI format .pst file of Russian language

• 3012652 CalendarProcessing cmdlet does not generate delegate permissions to universal security groups in Exchange Server 2013

• 3009631 Advanced Find against the Sent Items folder in Outlook returns no result in Exchange Server 2013

• 3009612 Outlook Web App shows organization details on the contact card beyond the scope of user ABP in Exchange Server 2013

• 3009291 Shared mailbox cannot be opened in Outlook in an Exchange Server 2013 environment that has multiple domains

• 3008453 Cannot edit or delete forms from the organizational forms library in Exchange Server 2013

• 3008438 User who is trying to Log on to Exchange Admin Console is logged in to OWA instead

• 3006672 Move request fails if the IsExcludedFromProvisioning option is true in Exchange Server 2013

• 3005391 Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 5 breaks free/busy lookup from Exchange Online to Exchange Server 2007

• 3003986 RejectMessageReasonText in transport rule appears in the user section of a DSN in Exchange Server 2013

• 3001217 TLS 1.0 is hardcoded for SMTP traffic encryption in Exchange Server 2013

• 3001037 Distribution group cannot send email messages to a mail enabled public folder in an Exchange Server 2013 environment

• 2999031 A cross-forest mailbox move from Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange Server 2013 finishes with CompletedWithWarnings status

• 2998144 New-MoveRequest cmdlet with RemoteLegacy parameter cannot perform a cross-forest mailbox move

• 2988553 Add-ADPermission and Remove-ADPermission can be run outside the management scope in Exchange Server 2013

• 2981538 Exchange Control Panel crashes when you proxy from Exchange 2013 to Exchange 2010

• 3014051 Cannot migrate mailboxes in a multiple domains environment in Exchange Server 2013

• 3012986 ContentIndexRetryQueueSize value for a passive node never drops to zero in Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 6

• 3004011 Sound alerts do not work in Outlook Web App when new email or calendar notification is received in Exchange Server 2013

• 3003580 Event ID 4999 and 4401 when the Microsoft Exchange Replication service crashes in Exchange Server 2013

• 3003518 "550 5.7.1" NDR when you send messages to external recipients in an Exchange Server 2013 hybrid environment

• 3003068 Cannot see online archive mailbox after you upgrade to Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 6

• 3000944 Subfolders under the Deleted Items folder are not visible in Outlook in an Exchange Server 2013 environment

• 2997847 You cannot route ActiveSync traffic to Exchange 2007 mailboxes after you upgrade to Exchange 2013 CU6

• 2997355 Exchange Online mailboxes cannot be managed by using EAC after you deploy Exchange Server 2013 CU6

• 2997209 Exchange Server 2013 databases unexpectedly fail over in a co-existence environment with Exchange Server 2007

• 2995263 OAB cannot be rebuilt if the .flt file is larger than two GB in Exchange Server 2013

• 2994216 PublicFolderMoveRequest deletes all read or unread state in target mailbox for each user in Exchange Server 2013

• 2993871 Resource Booking Assistant crashes after you upgrade to Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 5

• 2983216 Category setting on an item in Outlook jumps the selection to the top of the list in an Exchange Server 2013 environment

• 2931223 MAPI virtual directory is missing from Default Web Site node

Some Items For Consideration

As with previous CUs, CU7 follows the new servicing paradigm which was previously discussed on the blog.  The CU7 package can be used to perform a new installation, or to upgrade an existing Exchange Server 2013 installation to CU7.  You do not need to install Cumulative Update 1 or 2 for Exchange Server 2013 when you are installing CU7.  Cumulative Updates are well, cumulative.  What else can I say…

After you install this cumulative update package, you cannot uninstall the cumulative update package to revert to an earlier version of Exchange 2013. If you uninstall this cumulative update package, Exchange 2013 is removed from the server.

Note that customised configuration files are overwritten on installation.  Make sure you have any changes fully documented!

CU7 contains AD Schema updates – please test and plan accordingly!

Please enjoy the update responsibly!

What do I mean by that?  Well, you need to ensure that you are fully informed about the caveats with the CU  and are aware of all of the changes that it will make within your environment.  Additionally you will need to test the CU your lab which is representative of your production environment.

Cheers,

Rhoderick