The other interesting item we discussed was their significant under-utilization of the software assurance and Enterprise Agreement perks. While there are 15 different types of benefits available to them, they have only minimally taken advantage of these benefits with only 2 months left on their existing agreement. Some of these benefits, such as Home Use program and TechNet subscriptions, will carry over to their next agreement.  Others, however, are “use it or lose it” and will expire when the current agreement expires.

The value of these benefits is still there, however, and I have encouraged the client to focus on taking advantage of them over the next 2 months.  For example, they have a bunch of e-learning and training voucher options available, and they are entitled to 9 days of Planning Services.  Planning Services are are $1000/day vouchers that can be used to offset the cost of a qualified consulting firm to assist in planning a desktop deployment project, Exchange project or a SharePoint project.  As these benefits are “use it or lose it,” they have only 2 months remaining to take advantage of the days before they expire. With their next agreement, of course, they will receive approximately another 9 days of Planning Services to use, but unless they are able to take advantage of their current vouchers, they will have failed to take full advantage of the benefits to which they are entitled under their Microsoft agreement.

I encourage you to take the time to understand your license agreements and the benefits they offer.  If you need assistance, talk to your LAR, VAR, purchasing group or the vendor.

While there are a number of hotfixes and other items included, there is also some key new functionality being introduced as well:

1. Cross-Site Silent Redirection for OWA – This is a tremendous improvement over current functionality where, if a firm leverages redirection between Client Access Servers in different sites (the preferred approach for optimal performance and implementation flexibility), users are prompted with a link and second authentication prompt if they login to a CAS server in a different site than where their mailbox is currently hosted.  With this new functionality, Exchange can be configured silently to redirect users to the correct CAS server in this situation (without reauthentication or prompting).
2. Address Book Policies – Address Book Policies provide the long-awaited native functionality support for what is typically referred to as GAL segmentation.  Previously, if firms wanted selectively to exclude some users or contacts from the GAL for specific subsets of users, the firm would need to create and manage security ACLs directly within ADSI.  This was unsupported in Exchange 2003 and 2010 and only narrowly supported for Exchange 2007 (with Dave Goldman’s specific whitepaper).  Address Book Policies will provide an object and policy based method for providing this functionality.
3. OWA Mini – This will be a lightweight, text-only version of OWA targeted for use on mobile devices or in low bandwidth/resolution scenarios.
4. Hybrid Configuration Wizard – This wizard will significantly reduce the number of steps required to streamline the process for establishing rich coexistence between an on-premises Exchange 2010 environment and Office 365 (formerly BPOS).

Due to the nature of the new features included, there is an Active Directory schema update required for SP2.

Shortly after the synchronization process started we started to receive the following error messages:

Error 012: Unable to update this object in Microsoft Online Services because the proxy address associated with this object in the local Active Directory is already associated with another object. Fix this in your local Active Directory.

This was happening with a number of the distribution groups associated with our Cisco Unity implementation like unaddressedmessages@kkl.com and unaddressedmessages@kraftkennedy.com.   After searching through our domain for identical ProxyAddresses (there weren’t any), it was time to bring Microsoft Online Service Tech Support in to troubleshoot the problem.

A knowledgeable support engineer answered the phone and we started looking into the normal solutions to this problem which have already been covered elsewhere.    We eventually narrowed down the problem to the length of the SMTP email addresses.  It appears that something in the Directory Sync process only looks at the first 20 characters of an email address (at least for the distribution groups that we were synchronizing).   For example, the email addresses were unaddressedmessages@kkl.com and unaddressedmessages@kraftkennedy.com, so both of these email addresses appeared to be identical in the first 20 characters “unaddressedmessages@” as far as Directory Sync is concerned.  Not until we turned off the RUS for these email addresses and removed the duplicates in the first 20 characters of the email addresses did the Error 012 error messages go away.

Also during our testing we were seeing some issues with similar duplication in the Display Name as well, so if you are continuing to get Error 012 messages you may also want to make sure the Display Name is unique in the first 20 characters.

Unfortunately the Microsoft Support Engineer wasn’t able to confirm that Directory Sync and BPOS actually worked this way, but hopefully this will help you resolve your own Error 012 messages going forward.

This was a welcome addition that provides an easy way to create a Sysprep’d WIM of an existing machine.  The problem, unfortunately, is if you try to PXE boot and run the “Sysprep and Capture” task sequence it fails at the Execute Sysprep action and returns a series of errors, including  “Unhandled error returned by LTIsysprep: The system cannot find the file specified.”

This happens because the “Sysprep and Capture” task sequence wasn’t designed to be run from Windows PE.  To run this task sequence:

1. Boot the machine into Windows and log in with an account that has access to the deployment share.
2. Connect to the deployment share, i.e. \\NYDEPLOY01\Deploy$, and launch LiteTouch.vbs in the Scripts folder.

This initiates the deployment process just as it would from PE, but now grants the “Sysprep and Capture” task sequence access to the files it needs and allows it to complete successfully.

The requirements to participate in the Microsoft Partner Program have recently evolved to help differentiate technical and business capabilities among participants; Kraft Kennedy has risen to the challenge by quickly exceeding the goals set forth by the program.

Each competency requires specific individuals with deep technical skills, Microsoft verified customer references, and challenging certification exams to be completed.  This commitment demonstrates our breadth, deep specialization, and proven expertise across a range of Microsoft technologies.

About Kraft Kennedy

Kraft Kennedy provides business and technology-related consulting services to the legal community. By combining outstanding technical skills with an intimate knowledge of our clients’ business and information needs we tailor solutions that enhance attorney productivity, effectiveness, and client value.

We focus on the business needs of the client and ensure that technology is used to enhance, not inhibit their business. KK’s talented staff of strategic consultants, project managers, and network consultants have years of experience with hundreds of projects for firms from small to large. Our services portfolio includes advanced infrastructure projects, business continuity and data center consolidation, desktop deployment, network design and implementation, storage design and replication, and messaging systems migration among others. Our Microsoft specialties include: Desktop, Server Platform, Unified Communications, Portals and Collaboration, Search, Systems Management, Virtualization, and Small Business Specialist Community.

My journey technically began in early 2010, when I discussed the possibility of attending MCM training with my firm’s management.  Later in 2010, I was informed that my firm would like to send me to this training and I began the application process.  Acceptance into the MCM program as a candidate occurs only after you apply and provide a few key documents for review by the program’s team.  Specifically, you must hold an MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator certification and provide a current resume or CV, an outline of a recent project describing your specific roles and responsibilities, and a technical architecture document that you’ve written for a recent project.  You may be asked to participate in a phone interview to clarify any of your materials, although I was not.  Once all required materials have been submitted, you wait to hear back from the program team regarding their decision.

Once accepted, you must choose a three week rotation date (all are on-site in Redmond at Microsoft’s headquarters) and pay the rotation training fee ($18,500 as of the writing of this article).  As you approach your rotation date, you are provided with a substantial pre-reading list that includes a large portion of Exchange TechNet content and a number of recommended lab tasks to complete.  I strongly recommend that you build a lab environment and work through as many of these recommended lab tasks as you can.  They are extremely helpful in getting you familiar with concepts you may not have worked with previously (e.g. domain secure transport, cross-forest availability sharing, etc.) and will give you a head start on some labs that you may need to work through during your rotation.

My rotation began on January 17, 2011 and it included a diverse group of 22 individuals (plus an additional classmate completing some week 1 requirements from a previous rotation) from around the world.  Microsoft Premier Field Engineering and Microsoft Consulting Services had very strong representation in the rotation with approximately half of the candidates.

Week 1

Week 1 starts slow for the first couple of hours as everyone gets situated, receives an introduction to the program, and learns about the logistics for the next three weeks.  After that, it’s full-steam ahead for the entire week.  Class begins at 8:00am sharp each day and, on average, class ran until about 10:00pm each day during week 1.  In addition, a number of lab exercises were assigned throughout the course of each day and, as a result, most candidates remained in the lab well past midnight to complete all of the labs.  While you could certainly leave earlier, I wouldn’t recommend it since you would quickly fall behind on your labs if you did so.

Week 1 covers Client Access and Transport and is, in my opinion, the most difficult and intense content that is covered during the program.  You learn the deep technical details of AutoDiscover, proxying and redirection, namespace planning, RPC Proxy, secure Exchange publishing, Exchange routing, all phases of transport categorization, transport high availability, secured transport, and much more from two excellent instructors.  There is a ton of content to learn but I can honestly say that our instructors did an amazing job of reviewing all of the key details so that I came out with a clear understanding.  Discussing RPC Proxy concepts through analogies to elephants and shadow redundancy with paper plates certainly made for a memorable learning experience.

I spent my entire weekend studying for the week 1 written exam, proctored on the second Monday.  I split my weekend between studying all classroom content and my copious notes on Saturday and then in the lab reviewing key concepts with my fellow candidates on Sunday.  That strategy worked well for me but I know others in my class spent more and less time in the lab.  My rotation was very collaborative and working together in the lab was a great learning experience.  However, if you study better on your own, you may want to tailor your own schedule accordingly.

In total, I believe we reviewed about 1,000 slides of content and spent over 110 hours in the classroom in week 1.

Week 2

Week 2 began with our week 1 written exam, bright and early at 8:00am sharp on Monday.  The format is similar to most other MCP exams but the content is, as expected, significantly more difficult.  No matter how well you feel you understand the content of week 1, do not underestimate the difficultly of this exam.  The instructors are trying to gauge if you truly understand the underlying content and, as a result, this exam is extremely difficult.  According to many, the week 1 exam is easily the hardest of the three written exams due to both the difficulty and sheer amount of associated content.  If you don’t pass on the first try, don’t be discouraged.  Brush yourself off, prepare for week 2’s training, and worry about retaking the exam later.

Week 2 covers Mailbox and Database Internals, Storage, Database Availability Groups, and High Availability.  Again, the quality of material and instructors was outstanding.  While instruction didn’t go as late as week 1 (although we had instruction until about 9:30pm on the Monday of our week 1 exam), the amount of content covered was about the same.  Paper plates made a repeat appearance when reviewing Datacenter Activation Coordination concepts and, in general, I thoroughly enjoyed the content.  In week 2, you will learn the deep technical details of ESE, Jet, retention and archiving, performance and scalability validation, Mailbox Server role sizing, storage design and sizing, storage validation, and everything you could possibly want to know about DAGs and HA.

I took a similar approach to studying on the weekend (slide and note review plus collaborative studying in the lab) but spent a little more time in the lab than for week 1.  Again, it was a great experience to study with my fellow candidates.

In total, we reviewed about 1,000 slides and spent about 60 hours in the classroom for instruction and probably another 30-40 hours studying.

Week 3

Week 3 began with our week 2 written exam, again at 8:00am sharp on Monday.  The format is the same as week 1 although, again, much more difficult than any other Microsoft exam you’ve taken before.  Once the exam is over, you can take a quick break and then dive right back into content.

Week 3 covers a number of diverse topics and is designed to tie a number of concepts together.  In week 3, you’ll cover Unified Messaging, Operations, Virtualization, RBAC, Migration and Coexistence, Load Balancing, Federation, and Multi-Forest Deployments.  A good portion of the week 3 content is consultative in nature, specifically that around migration and coexistence and multi-forest deployments.  Many of the instructors for week 3 are Solution Architects at Microsoft, who focus heavily on the consultative side of Exchange.

Due to the course’s timing, you don’t have your third weekend for studying.  The week 3 written exam was held on Friday afternoon and, while you are taking the exam, your lab environment is being rebuilt in preparation for the final qualification lab exam, which is proctored on Saturday.  As a result, you need to be very careful with budgeting your in-week studying time during week 3.  You need to prepare for the week 3 written exam but, simultaneously, you need to be preparing for the qualification lab as well.

Qualification Lab

The qualification lab is the culmination of your three weeks of training and was a truly humbling experience.  While I cannot divulge a lot of information about the exam due to NDA restrictions on MCM candidates, the basic format is that you are given a number of seemingly simple tasks to complete but that have a number of items broken that prevent those tasks from completing normally.  Your goal is to fix as many tasks as possible in the 6 hours allotted to you for the lab.  The exam is not designed to be completely finished, so don’t be overwhelmed when you start working on it.  Given that, don’t spend too much time on any single task.  If you find yourself getting stuck, switch to another task and come back later.

Many of the instructors recommended working collaboratively with fellow candidates to prepare for the qualification lab and I couldn’t agree with that more.  Each candidate has had a different set of experiences that led him or her to this course and each may have seen or troubleshot different types of issues.  Pooling your shared knowledge and helping each other not only increases your chances of passing the qualification lab but also helps strengthen your understanding of topics on which you feel confident.

Once the qualification lab is over, take the time to unwind and celebrate with your class.  My class and I arranged an excellent steak dinner at Metropolitan Grill in Seattle and had a great time celebrating the completion of our rotation.  We even saw Bill and Melinda Gates at a table right outside of our private room!

You must wait about a week to learn the results of your qualification lab but, when you finally receive that email with your results, it is truly an amazing feeling.  It is great to see all of your hard work and dedication translate into something that not many other people in the world have been able to accomplish.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this program is truly an amazing experience and one that I strongly recommend pursuing if you have interest and are able.  However, make no mistake that this is an extremely difficult course and requires a tremendous amount of personal sacrifice.  Being away from my wife for three straight weeks and, on top of that, having limited time each night to talk on the phone due to the sheer volume of work and studying in addition to the 3 hour time difference was extremely difficult.  I am very grateful to have such a supportive and encouraging wife, family, and friends to help me through the course.

To give yourself the best chance for success, complete each and every lab exercise assigned to you, including the optional ones.  While no one will be checking that you’ve completed them, anything that is covered in class is a potential topic for written exams and the qualification lab.  While it involves a lot of effort, completing all of the lab exercises will put you in the best position to succeed in the course.

Get to know your fellow candidates.  Each rotation is a diverse group of extremely intelligent and talented individuals, each with different experiences.  I am honored to have worked with such great people in my rotation and am looking forward to staying in touch for years to come.

For more information about the MCM program, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/master.aspx.  I’m also happy to answer any questions that I can but please understand that I may not be able to disclose some details.

Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) represents the highest technical certification that Microsoft offers and is awarded based upon successful completion of an intensive three week training course on-site at Microsoft’s headquarters along with three written exams and a final qualification lab exam.  Joe joins an elite group of  approximately 19 MCMs on Exchange 2010 worldwide to date. The Microsoft Certified Master program provides access to an exclusive community of other MCMs, members of the Exchange Server product group, as well as other valuable resources that can be leveraged at any time.

According to Microsoft, “a Microsoft Certified Master can help [an] organization assess its current messaging optimization level; map major initiatives and projects; rate the impact of identified gaps (value, cost, level of effort); and prioritize IT assets for maximum impact and return on investment.”

Joe has worked for Kraft Kennedy since 2004 and is a member of the Kraft Kennedy’s Infrastructure and Enterprise Systems practice group. He has advised numerous organizations on Exchange 2010 ranging from small firms to leading members of the AmLaw 100. Joe is also an active contributor to the Kraft Kennedy Technology Blog and has spoken at a number of ILTA events.

“When working with Joe, it is immediately clear that you have found someone with a deep understanding of the technology and also a keen awareness of the business requirements and best path to achieve them”, says David Carlson, Practice Leader at Kraft Kennedy. “This is a very exciting accomplishment and we are fortunate to have his talents as part of our team.”

You can read more about Joe and Exchange 2010 on the Kraft Kennedy Technology Blog.

We don’t know where this is going, but if any of these were to actually happen, it could be huge in the ECM space.    If Microsoft acquires Autonomy, which would die — FAST or IDOL?   If Oracle acquires Autonomy, will I have to become more knowledgeable of Oracle SQL server/database infrastructure?  If Autonomy acquires Open Text, will they take advantage of a near monopoly on the DMS legal vertical?

What do you think?

2423776 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2423776/) The Exchange Information Store service crashes frequently during a public folder replication process on an Exchange Server 2010 public folder

———–

Microsoft has confirmed a bug with Exchange 2010 SP1 where the Information Store services will continuously restart itself every minute or possibly more frequently.

This issue is evidenced by the presence of Event ID 7031 in the System Event Log.

The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 5000 milliseconds: Restart the service.

This will be immediately followed by Event ID 7036

The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service entered the running state.

Rinse. Repeat.

I have only found this to be an issue with servers running the Mailbox Role which host Public Folder Replicas. If you increase logging for the Information Store, you will likely notice Event ID 3093 in the Application Event Log.

Increase Information Store Logging
Get-EventLogLevel MSExchangeIS |Set-EventLoglevel -Level High

Error -2147221233 reading property 0×67010003 on object type tbtReplication from database “PF_DATABASE_NAME”.

If you are experiencing this issue, you have two options:

1. Contact Microsoft Support or your TAM to obtain bug fix KB2423776. This bug fix is a temporary patch and will be included in the release of Exchange 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 2.
2. Wait for Exchange 2010 SP1 Update Rollup 2. The ETA is currently unknown, however I am expecting it to be released in the next few weeks.

The interim hotfix installs cleanly and does resolve the issue. If you choose to go this route, the following steps are required to implement the fix. Note: This update will need to be removed using these same steps before installing UR2.

Steps to apply the Interim Update:

1. Run sn.exe -Vr * to disable strong name verification.
2. Run sn.exe -Vl to verify that strong name verification is disabled.
3. Run the MSP file to install the Interim Update on the system.
4. Run sn.exe -Vu * to enable strong name verification.

Steps to remove the Interim Update:

1. Run sn.exe -Vr * to disable strong name verification.
2. Uninstall Interim Update for Exchange 2010 from Add/Remove programs.
3. Run sn.exe -Vu * to enable strong name verification.
4. Run sn.exe –Vl to verify that strong name verification is enabled.

Additional information about Strong Name Verification can be found here.

Good luck!

Dave Carlson David Carlson ILTA Kraft Kennedy KKL