Exchange 2013 SP1

Perhaps the best thing to come to Exchange over the last 10 years was the Hybrid Configuration Wizard (HCW).  While many take this feature for granted, if you had to manually deploy Exchange 2010 SP1 hybrid to Exchange Online you will shudder at the mention of the Service domain.  But let’s not dredge up those memories…

Recently an update was released to the HCW, and initially the update looke… Read the rest “Beware the Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard Doppelganger”

For various reasons, the aforementioned Remove-HybridConfiguration cmdlet has been something that has been something I've had to review recently.

This cmdlet is not present in Exchange 2010, it is only available in newer versions of Exchange.  For example if we try to find this cmdlet on an Exchange 2010 server, it is not present.

Only the Get, New, Set and Update-HybridConfiguration cmdlets are avai… Read the rest “Remove-HybridConfiguration Cmdlet”

When reviewing a customer’s Exchange server to appraise the current state of their certificates, they saw an "unexpected" certificate on the Exchange server.

The below is an Exchange 2010 SP3 RU24 server with a repro of the issue.  There was nothing wrong, but the reason for seeing the additional certificate was not readily apparent to them.

Background

The customer was looking in Exchange Manag… Read the rest ““Unexpected” Exchange Certificate”

Managing and maintaining an Exchange server requires multiple actions.  Not only do the Exchange CU and security updates need to be installed along with the Windows OS updates, it is also required to update and maintain the .NET Framework.  This is not a new requirement, and has been a required task for many years now.  With that being said, there is now a tighter requirement and is enforced by Ex… Read the rest “Expediting NET Framework Install For Exchange”

Exchange 2013 CU23 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 … Read the rest “Exchange 2013 CU23 Released”

After installing Exchange 2013 CU22, you might notice that there is a cosmetic issue with how the update is listed in Add/Remove programs. In the screenshot below, note that Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 20 is listed, but the version number is not the CU20 version number.

For reference the versions of the relevant CUs are shown below.  Note that the above screenshot shows the CU22 version, but th… Read the rest “Exchange 2013 CU22 Shows Incorrect Name In Add/Remove Programs”

When looking at the details of objects in Exchange Management Shell, it is often useful to know when an object was created or modified.  In a recent Office 365 engagement, the customer was convinced that one of the other administrators had made an unauthorised change to their environment as there was an apparent recent change to the Exchange Hybrid Object.

The details of the this object can be view… Read the rest “Incorrect or Misleading Exchange Attribute Date”

Many enterprises are moving forward with their digital transformation plans, and as part of this and server updates Domain Controllers are being updated to newer versions.  The Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 end of support in January 2020 is also a business driver.

DC upgrades can happen independently of the Exchange team.  In many cases the Exchange admins are not notified of the p… Read the rest “Exchange Not Using New Domain Controller”