RE: Contact Management add-on for Exchange ?
Have you tried making the .exe run as a service? There are several tools out there that will help you accomplish this, including tools packaged in the NT Resource Kit and 2000 Reskits. That might help you if you can get something you are already comfortable with to run as a service. Bob Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- From: Clare Preston [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, July 05, 2002 07:56 To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Contact Management add-on for Exchange ? Hi, We are currently looking for a Contact Management system for our Sales Department that can interface directly with Exchange (5.5) and Outlook. We have a small number of remote users that need to dial in over a phone line and access the system. So far we have only trialled GoldMine but had many issues with the product, mainly the fact that it does not run as a service. Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with any other Contact Management products ? Many thanks for your time. Regards, Clare Preston Webmaster Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
DR hardware CPU failure (was RE: Question)
Brien: Direct Answer: yes...but it depends on your manufacturer, their RAID or SCSI controller card, where the RAID/SCSI information is stored, etc. However, if your CPU takes a dive, the data that you move over might not be any good! It depends on why it died. We did just similar things for a former employer I used to work for. We had identical equipment at corporate and our DR location for Exchange and our Domain Controllers. Prior to that I actually flew a server in an twin airplane one time as well!Cool, huh? I quit flying personally...and would never trust the airlines with server hardware. Our natural disaster DR process worked out well. In case of an emergency we could move our Exchange and BDC server hard drives with one employee and our last set of backup tapes and a quick incremental with another. We did not entrust either to any of the commercial carriers during an evac. We had great Cisco engineers that cutover our NATting quickly so we could promote the server over the WAN and get the Exchange box up. We could cutover the mail scanner/forwarder IP as well. DR is a long process...I won't bore you with any more details. Bob Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Brien Mayer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]=20 Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 10:23 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Question A co-worker I were discussing what IF's the other day. One of the question that came up was.=20 What if the win2k Exchange 2k server had a hardware failure like the cpu burned up,but the drives were still ok. Could we move the drives out of that server into another server (same model hardware) We went around around on this. We still don't have a 100% yes or no. What do you all think? Brien Mayer=20 Senior Network Administrator Merchant's Tire (703)393-4416 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Filtering based on extra header info
You could always create a rule to check messages when they arrive with specific words in the header and filter for X-Spam-Flag: YES, moving it to a SPAM folder or sending it to Deleted Items. Spam Assassin is pretty good. I use Trend's eManager to filter SPAM along with some rules I have created. It results in blocking around 90% of the SPAM and gives me around 0.10% of filtered messages that are legit. They all forward to a mailbox and I review the to/from addresses to make sure they are not to/from clients. Trend's product is good (8 out of 10 *s), but it does have a few bugs that they have hotfixed and it has some shortcomings in that it can't import/export wordlists. Though it is hard to beat Spam Assassin (free) (10 out of 10 *s)! It is a great product. Any chance you can forward your ISP information? I have a friend with a hosted site that would like to get on with an ISP that has something in place, such as Spam Assassin. Regards, Bob Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: NAV for Exchange
I have to add my $0.02. I now use Trend products for e-mail, both on the DMZ and on the Exchange box. We used all NAV solutions for desktops, servers, and e-messaging products internally a few years back. Symantec's products are pretty easy to manage and practically manage themselves once they are setup. I love them on the user workstations and non-database servers. We have had to cleanup after a bad definition download a few times, but I now have all of that scripted. It literally filled up about 1/2 of our users' hard drives. If you run into the problem, drop me a note. That was from a 04/18/01 definitions update...but it could happen again. Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus Corporate Edition (NAVCE) is reliable, it works well, and the pricing is good. The E-mail filter/relay product they had was difficult to implement and manage, so we used McAfee WebShield SMTP on the DMZ. We talked about going to one vendor, McAfee, and abandoning NAVCE. Our McAfee WebShield SMTP server shutdown for no reason during the middle of the day a few weeks after that conversation. Apparently we either got a bad definition file or our system only partially downloaded the virus definition files. McAfee's support policy was horrible. McAfee took 2 weeks to answer the web quesiton, refused to answer it on the phone because we (Livewire/H.O. Systems at the time) did not buy the phone support contract, and finally got us a patch after 3 weeks from our initial web request (and 3 subsequent requests). We had to have a reliable solution scanning inbound/outbound on our DMZ. We needed something easier to manage than NAV e-messaging products. Something easy to manage like NAV desktop and server products. We tested the updated NAV product and several of Trend's product and fell in love with Trend. We brought up our WebShield with a patch they sent and had it up long enough for the Trend P.O. to be approved (4 hours after the LoveLetter virus got by McAfee). At the time McAfee did not block specific extensions and atachment types. Trend did. We had the P.O. declined once...but the LoveLetter sealed the approval. We went to Trend's ScanMail for Exchange on the Exchange server and Trend's InterScan VirusWall SMTP on the DMZ. We have not had a problem since. The products both are wonderful, the upgrades were free for 1 year, they answered questions via telephone (unlike McAfee) both before and after the purchase, they are quick to release definitions, etc. Symantec is also very similar in their support, but not quite near the level of support that Trend gives. At the time we were 250 users...and they treated us like any other customer. Trend's products reliably blocked specific attachment types and even removed attachments types on old messages, effectively cleaning up our message store and keeping it clean. I deployed an updated NAV Corporate Edition on all of our non-database internal servers and workstations. Symantec's end products are great. However, due to my past experiences with McAfee, I did not want to standardize with one vendor. As for my new parent corporation, I can't speak for them. These are my personal words and experiences as a former LiveWire / H.O. Systems employee. That's my $20.00 worth...I went a bit over 2 cents! Regards, Bob Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: How much time should I be allowing for Exchange 5.5 SP3 ---SP4
I had nearly 11 Gig at that time and it took me around 1/2 hour to make the upgrade, test it, etc. I follwed the instructions from MS and had tested it on a workstation. If you have the time and space, I would suggest setting up a test domain and Exchange Organization/Site that mirrors yours on a few workstations/test servers and testing it. It would also give you good experience on restoring your domain and Exchange organization. Optionally you can create a BDC and split it off the network, remove the old BDC from your domain and promote the mirror. Under any circumstances, NEVER EVER ever put those machines on your network. Don't even put them on a separate subnet/segment. It is about a 8-10 hour investment to get a workstation ghosted and 2 servers setup and restored with enough of the bells and whistles...but I did it and was able to pass some great experience onto one of my techs as well as learn a few things myself. If, like most of us, time is a constraint...do the upgrade late at night when the users are all asleep. SP3 to SP4 is pretty smooth and does not take a lot of time. Bob -Original Message- From: Christopher Barr [ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 16:40 To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: How much time should I be allowing for Exchange 5.5 SP3 ---SP4 The Exchange Database is approx. 4 GB, does anyone know how long or where I can find out how long it could possibly take to go from SP3 -- SP4. I'm trying to decide the best time to perform this upgrade to keep down time to the absolute minimum. Also if anyone has a tips or suggestion for making this go smoothly I'm all ears (or text), whichever... Thanks everybody in advance Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Terminal Question
You have to install it and the licensing from the W2K CD. Options, but less secure, are items like VNC from ATT (free, but with a few security flaws), Timbuktu Pro, PCAnywhere (*shudder*), Carbon Copy, Remote Desktop, Remotely ?(Possible)?. I would suggest installing the applicaiton and using NTFS securities to restrict the DBA's login. Bob -Original Message- From: Brien Mayer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 12:59 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Terminal Question Hey does anyone know how to install just the administor Terminal Services only. I know I can install it with the admin pack on the server 2000 CD, but I don't want to install all the other administrator tools. I just need the Terminal services client. What I am trying to do. I have a DB coming in next week that needs access to a server. I want to give this DB access through Terminal Services But not to all servers just one I don't want the entire admin tools on her computer. If you check out Q253831 I can do that. Brien Mayer Senior Network Administrator Merchant's Tire (703)393-4416 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: RE: Terminal Question
I forgot to add this: http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWS2000/downloads/recommended/TSAC/tsac.asp That is a follow-up to the Advanced PC solutions post. You still have to install the terminal services product from the CD. -Original Message- From: Bob Christian Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 10:56 AM To: Admin Issues digest (E-mail) Subject: RE: Terminal Question You have to install it and the licensing from the W2K CD. Options, but less secure, are items like VNC from ATT (free, but with a few security flaws), Timbuktu Pro, PCAnywhere (*shudder*), Carbon Copy, Remote Desktop, Remotely ?(Possible)?. I would suggest installing the applicaiton and using NTFS securities to restrict the DBA's login. Bob -Original Message- From: Brien Mayer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 12:59 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Terminal Question Hey does anyone know how to install just the administor Terminal Services only. I know I can install it with the admin pack on the server 2000 CD, but I don't want to install all the other administrator tools. I just need the Terminal services client. What I am trying to do. I have a DB coming in next week that needs access to a server. I want to give this DB access through Terminal Services But not to all servers just one I don't want the entire admin tools on her computer. If you check out Q253831 I can do that. Brien Mayer Senior Network Administrator Merchant's Tire (703)393-4416 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
KVS Enterprise Vault
Has your firm taken the time to talk to Veritas or IBM? Both have products that are similar to KVS's product. Since they are mainstream, it may be less expensive...or it may give you a pricing base to compare with KVS. I have never used KVS nor do I have any familiarity with the prodcut beyond the website advertising. Bob Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: KVS Enterprise Vault From: Vigar, Damien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 12:55:35 +1000 X-Message-Number: 8 Hi all, my Institute is looking at implementing KVS Enterprise Vault. Has anyone had any experience with this product? Regards, Damien Vigar Computer Systems Officer - Operations Dubbo Institute Office NSW TAFE - Western Institute Phone: (02) 6885 7520 Fax: (02) 6884 3610 List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Exchange 2000 book recommendation
RE: Exchange 2000 book recommendation (and shameless plug) I would recommend the Exchange 2000 training kit books and Admin pocket consultant. Both are from MS press. If you have a solid understanding of TCP/IP, DNS, and Active Directory you should be fine. All three should set you back just under #100. I would recommend purchasing stuff from www.bookpool.com. They sell @ a 40%+ discount most of the time. Their pricing is better than most eBay or half.com auctions after shipping is calculated. Bob Bobby J. Christian II VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.527.4396 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: harshang shah [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 10 April 2002 17:04 To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Exchange 2000 book recommendation Hi , Can anyone outhere give some recommendation on a book for Exchange 2000 that would help for practically working Excahnge 2000 and also for the Exam . I had used the Sybex Exchange 5.5 study guide which was really gr8 both for practical as well as Exam point of view , but i dont have any idea as which book should i use for E2k can anyone guide me . Thanks, Harshang Shah (MCSE,CCNA) List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: MAPI over T1
I did something similar for a remote office at a former employer. At the time it was an Exchange 5.5 solution. The main thing was limiting the size of the attachments. Second most important was teaching users how to move messages to subfolders, either by rule or manually. Outlook comes up a lot quicker when it has to enumerate only 50-100 headers instead of 2000. We also implemented Trend's ScanMail product and blocked all non work-related attachments. Granted, users could still zip up a .mpg file and send it..but once we got wind of it, we reminded users to cut it out. All users were encouraged to zip large documents and send them, particularly if it were to a colleague. Exchange 2000 Enterprise really simplifies things for remote offices if you set the permissions and limits for Storage Groups and Mail Stores. Fortunately you also have a more robust OWA tool available. Something else you may want to consider is a Citrix or Terminal Services solution. Those users would TS to a server @ the home office. All of your servers would be located at that site, thus limiting file transfers over the VPN and limiting messaging traffic. It would keep the workstations thin and make them easy to administer. However, thin clients, IM(NS)HO, are too darned expensive for the little box and Windows CE. Another benefit is not having to run backups over those VPN links. Cisco makes a lot of good solutions for remote offices, including VPN and IP telephony. This solution, along with properly secured network infrastructure, SSL security, TS Web Access, and a properly configured server would allow people to work from home. Granted, there are all those HR and FLSA laws that you have to check with HR before even considering opening it up to the DMZ. These are my opinions and experiences and in no way reflect endorsement, approval, or responsibility for and/or of my comments by my employer. Regards, Bob Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA Carrier Division 912.527.4396 -Original Message- From: Benjamin Zachary [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 5:56 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: MAPI over T1 I have two offices running Exchange 2000/Windows 2000. Right now they are connected via a VPN over the T1 pipes. We are preparing to open two new offices each with a vpn to corporate via the T1. There are about 30 users at site A and site B each with exchange site connected. I was thinking the two new locations would have enough bandwidth to use MAPI instead of POP over the t1 vpn. Probably 15-20 users from remote to connect to either siteA or siteB. Overall users is about 75. Any suggestions on bandwidth requirements? I dont think I need an e2k server at each location for 15-20 users. Thanks Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA Carrier Division 912.527.4396 List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
Re: BackupExec 8.6 rev. 3878
I assume you are on Exchange 5.5. I also assume you have created a backup user and put it in the administrator and backup operators group. If som re-create the job. When you click on the Exchange server, right-click on it and select connect as. Enter the DOMAIN\BackupAccountName and the password. That cleared it up for us. We had similar issues, but it would just not work at all sometimes. The error was cryptic. A lot of errors cleared up with the label scanning when we upgraded the firmware for our Compaq TL891 drives. If you can update any firmware, do that as well. I think when they hit you to purchase BENT 8.6 upgrades they also throw the maintenance fee in there. I am glad that Microsoft does not act like Veritas with regards to those upgrades. Our guy from Insight keeps us up to date with that type of stuff (Paul rocks...shameless plug). Maintenance is supposed to tack on only ~15% to the price. It is supposed to come with full phone support and upgrades for one year if memory serves me correctly. You can renew at the end of the year for another ~15% or 18%. If you don't have it, I would suggest contacting your vendor and adding it on...it's cheap once you have to make that first call. Within (90, I think) days of purchasing the product you should be able to add on the maintenance. If you need contacts @ Insight or @ Veritas, call me. I will get back with you when I get home. Otherwise, call their 800 numbers. Note: I don't work or accept commissions for any of the aforementioned companies...just a geek doing a job and trying to share some knowledge. Bob Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA Carrier Division 912.527.4396 -Original Message- From: Allen Crawford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 5:47 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: BackupExec 8.6 rev. 3878 Ok, has anyone that uses BENT 8.6 with the Exchange Server agent received the following error? Unable to attach to \\NOELANI\Microsoft Exchange Directory. The device cannot be found. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Unable to attach to \\NOELANI\Microsoft Exchange Directory. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Unable to attach to \\NOELANI\Microsoft Exchange Information Store. The device cannot be found. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Unable to attach to \\NOELANI\Microsoft Exchange Information Store. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ It seems to happen to me about 50% of the time (nightly full backups). I started with BENT 8.5, upgraded to 8.6 when we decided to get the Exchange Agent (since they wouldn't sell it for 8.5 at that time) and then later upgraded to 8.6 rev. 3878 to correct the stupid time zone issue (it would show completed jobs with a start time of 9pm when the job really started at 8pm and it only affected Indiana, Arizona and probably Hawaii users). Anyway, I had this issue prior to the new rev, so I don't think that is related. I can't find any good answers on Veritas support site, although I plan on just calling them next or checking out their newsgroup. Thought I'd check here first though. Thanks, Allen FYI, I've also upgraded the remote server agent on the Exchange Server, I exclude the EDB and log file directories from file-based backups and I've reinstalled the Exchange Agent with the new rev. Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA Carrier Division 912.527.4396 List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Applying Mailbox Limits....After the Fact
It depends on your goals. Most companies use POP3 and a Flavor if Linux or FreeBSD. This is primarily because of the low hardware and software cost of implementing such a solution. You can also use something like IMHO* to give webmail access to messages stored on the server. There are positives and negatives with Exchange hosting. The negative is the licensing cost and equipment required to run Exchange as an ASP. The positive, IMHO, has to be the ability to keep the data reposed on the server and use OWA 2002 to access it! Microsoft's technet site has several articles on hosting Exchange. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/exchange Bob Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer VeriSign, Inc. Savannah, GA Carrier Division 912.527.4396 -Original Message- From: Ray Zorz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]=20 Posted At: 20 February 2002 03:44 Posted To: Sunbelt Exchange List Conversation: Applying Mailbox LimitsAfter the Fact Subject: RE: Applying Mailbox LimitsAfter the Fact Is e2k a good solution for an ASP-type model? Somebody I know wants to try to host an exchange solution for multiple small companies. BIG SNIP List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Exporting GAL
You can create recipient policies in Exchange. The other thing you can do with Exchange 5.5 is import a .csv. I have an Excel Spreadsheet that I use to use do this. It has the concatenate strings and everything. I won't send it to the list, ye I be hung and De-Exchanged by Bill, Ed, and Stu. Send me mail and I will bounce out a trimmed down version to you. Bob Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer H.O. Systems, Inc. Savannah, GA 912.898.8887 -Original Message- From: Rick Ward - HQ [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 3:48 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: exporting gal Start ADMIN in RAW mode (-r) and look at the Raw properties of the Email Address screen. The headers you need should show up there. Just add that to the top(header row) of your source spreadsheet .CSV file you're using to export the data with. -Original Message- From: Eldridge, Dave [ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 2:24 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: exporting gal I am trying to export the gal so that i can add an additional internet email address for everyone. We are changing from a .com to a .org. When i export the list i only get one smtp address listed. I have 4 alias that i use. I don't want to get rid of the old .com just yet. How can i get all of them to show? Is there an easier way to add a new address for all of my users? thanks in advance dave List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
Subject: RE: Exchange over a SAN
I can not say whether Exchange on a SAN is supported or not...not my position. IBM Global Services salespeople have mentioned Exchange being used on a SAN and using Tivoli to back it up. I would expect it to be able to handle it. I have had Exchange 5.5 servers operating off a Compaq Fibre Array 4100 for external storage...100 MBPS links and an external Gateway array, but never a SAN. If it looks like a drive to the server and performance is good, it should work. Someone had mentioned on here about having to down Exchange, the server, etc to expand space if it were on a SAN. While this may be true for 5.5, one can always add another Storage Group or possibly even another Mailbox Store and move messages with Exchange 2000. HOWEVER, the SAN person did mention the Performance Optimizer...therefore not yet E2K and still on 5.5. My suggestion is to seriously consider Exchange 2000 and Active Directory. It will make your life a whole lot easier when it comes to expansion and also policies on mailboxes (students 20MB, faculty 500 MB (students mailing projects instead of putting them on a shared drive, etc).) Exchange 2000 is great. I am looking forward to Kodiak (Exchange .Net or whatever). It is supposedly going to leave the Jet database in favor of RDBMS...SQL .Net. Technology has really advanced going from 5.5 to 2000. Who knows, with .Net, it may actually be supported on a SAN...but it may require the SAN vendor to certify it and all that stuff. Bob List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
Eric and M2Web: List Questions not getting answered
I have not found a formula on how I answer questions. I think it all is based on the time that I have to write, at the time. I assume that we are all alike...sometimes we are all swamped and the messages to the list are small. Today's was 533K. That is about 1/2 the size I normally get. Other times someone gets Ed's ear and he gives them the pertinet information and usually a comment or two that everyone laughs over. Exchange adminning is a tough job some of the time. This list is not much of a social club as it is a hobby to some of us. No one on the list gets paid to answer the questions. I can tell you one thing...Microsoft PSS would be more than happy to take your question. Granted they also take ~$300 US with that question. I doubt that it is not even the freaking long .disclaimer with both French and English. That thing is longer than this e-mail is going to be. Oh, never ever ever scan the M: drive on an E2K server and never ever ever ever scan the Exchange databases with a file level scanner. Bob List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Anti-virus software for Exchange
Trend ScanMail for Exchange, or Trend's Interscan Viruswall. Both are great products and definitely lifesavers. Trend also lets you update your software for up to 1 year free. We had 8 days left on our software purchase and they sent us a new license for the new version without a problem. We purchased Interscan VirusWall a few months later because of issues with McAfee. McAfee Webshield SMTP is not 1/2 bad, but it is not 1/2 good either. Their tech support sucks unless you buy the phone support...and then it is still not that great. It took them 2 weeks to get me an answer when I filed a question on their web support page one time and 1 week the next. During that 2 weeks I had to install a completely new server. Norton's mail proxy product is not very user friendly. I have heard wonderful things about Antigen. Of course they are all expensive! Look at what the program does, look at the hourly work that their definitions programmers conduct. Think of the QA testing of a new virus def. Compare that to the consequences, AV scanners are actually cheap insurance. To bring it to light: We all HATE that car insurance bill...until we get in an accident and see $20k going out that we would have lost. Some executives I have worked for up north thought that IT/IS was a money hole...until one called me on a Sunday morning to help out their kid in college on a computer project. I am going to bet that you are not aware of Microsoft's best security practices located @ Microsoft's Technet site. Most people make desktop and anti-virus the first step. Secure the machines as well, particularly your servers. Example of a small cost analysis: Precursor to this: At least present a P.O. for one of the Anti-virus products. If the CEO/President denies the P.O. and you get a virus, present the P.O. again and ask for it to be signed. Software is expensive...but not having it is more expensive. Check with Paul Christiansen @ Insight. They have pretty good pricing. Corporate Structure: 500 user engineering software development and support firm with a annual payroll of $22.5 million (Average of 45k/person). (or, for that matter a 500 person law firm) Employees work 7 hours with a 1 hour paid lunch. 75% of its business and written communication conducted via e-mail. There is 1 fax machine per floor and one in the executive suite. Client e-mails are in address books and are custom recipients. Full T-1/DS-1. Non-destructive worm: A worm comes through e-mail and propogates. This is a nice worm like the Love ya virus and not bad like the nimda virus. Exchange server has to be shut down for the day to prevent propogation until you can get a trial version of Trend installed. You call Trend for support, even during the 30-day trial, and they do their best to help and may even offer suggestions on what file types to block. I follwed ICSA.net's guidelines. Internet activity is slowed to a crawl because of the worm sending out messages. Consequences: Wasted time alone is $19,687.50 based on 7 hours of 500 users @ 22.5mm year @ 2000 hours paid with a 25% loss in productivity. I can guarantee that 1 day of downtime will more than offset for the software in a company that can afford the Exchange box, CALs, and infrastructure Employee effectiveness is reduced by 25% Clients are pissed. A client may get the worm. Their charismatic, but otherwise barely technically competent sysadmin blames your company. Their CEO calls your CEO and blames your company. Your company eats 10% as a customer satisfaction discount on the new engineering software. Getting chewed out wastes 1/2 hour of your time. You work to fix the problems. Clear out the IMS/IMC...accidentally wipe important e-mail from the President of the company to a board member overseas. Your boss is more than unhappy. Three weeks later they hire another admin that you get to supervise and train over the next month. The end of the next month, for no reason, you get the chance to wait in line to learn new resume writing skills at the unemployment office. Solution: Install 30-day trial to get you out of the fine mess you have gotten yourself into. If the software trial runs out and you do not purchase the product...guess WHAT? You get to go through this again and again until some destructive virus, such as nimda comes in and wipes out important corporate data and servers. You find yourself prepping a resume. Bob -Original Message- From: Tony Flannery [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, 25 November 2001 2:42 a.m. To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Anti-virus software for Exchange Hi, Has anybody got any opinions/recommendations on anti-virus software for Exchange 5.5 ? I've come across MailMarshal, Antigen, and GFI MailEssentials, but they all seem quite expensive. Thanks for any input. Tony. List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
RE: Is it possible to open the edb file and recover a users
This is pretty simple. You have to open up Exchange Admin in raw mode. There is a setting for the server in there that you change. I strongly suggest calling PSS and spending the $295...or $245 and have them walk you through it so that you do not lose data or mailboxes!!! Chances are that you may have already caused problems by creating the new mailboxes, exporting out and importing. It may no longer be as simple as changing the information in raw mode due to the new mailboxes that were created. Chances are you are also seeing routing hell or you may soon start seeing routing problems and bounced messages. Fortunately, Exchange 2000 prevents this to an extent. Moving mailboxes to a new server is also easier and done through Active Directory. I also use Terminal Services to connect to my server remotely. Call PSS and open a support call...they are well worth it. I spent over 20 hours on the phone with MS PSS and I only had to pay for the call...they lost $$ on that one! Bob Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer Exchange Systems Backup H.O. Systems, Inc. 912.527.4396 List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
Saving e-mails (follow-up)
I saw the original answer from the RMicciche. That works (adding boxes to your outlook and exporting)...however, you may want to try EXMerge if you are looking at pulling all of the messages for review for a group of mailboxes. EXMerge is a tool from Microsoft. Last I remember, it came as part of the Exchange install...but I think I had a newer version in the BORK. Of course, you could purchase Microdata's CAMEO and do some mail scanning, sending questionable messages to a mailbox for review. Regards, Bob -Original Message- From: MHR(Michael Ross) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 12:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: saving emails anyone know a way to automatically save the emails in the inbox, outbox, sent items, and delted items to an arhived area for review without the user knowing? Bobby J. Christian II NT Systems Engineer Exchange Systems Backup H.O. Systems, Inc. 912.527.4396 List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
