Office 365 Servie Descriptions & Package This

These days I work almost exclusively with Office 365 and an essential tool in my bag are the service descriptions. These keep me honest, so as not to get confused or blur the line, and are essential reading for anyone undertaking an Office 365 deployment.
 
With "the new Office 365" Microsoft has shifted away from Word documents to publishing them directly on TechNet. This is great because never again will I have out of date information, but not so great for taking it with me (offline) or including a copy with a business document.
 

Office 365 Service Descriptions on TechNet:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj819284.aspx

 

The problem comes when I want to read these offline (in bed, on the train) or bundle them in to a report or proposal. Searching on TechNet isn't really that focussed and results can vary.

 

So, how to resolve this? You could print/save to PDF or OneNote, which is ok but I find Pack This on CodePlex particularly useful.

 

"Package This is a GUI tool written in C# for creating help files (.chm and .hxs) from the content obtained from the MSDN Library or the TechNet Library via the MSDN Content Service. You select the content you want from the table of contents, build a help file, and use the content offline. You are making personalized ebooks of MSDN or TechNet content. Both help file formats also give full text search and keyword search."

 
With Package This I can export to CHM or HXS for offline viewing and searching. An XML file can be saved targeting the specific content on TechNet or MSDN for easy updating in the future.

Package This on CodePlex: http://packagethis.codeplex.com/

PST Capture 2.0 Available Now

With PST Capture 2.0 released there are a few useful updates.

Support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

Fix profile generation code to use "RPC over HTTP".

The UI is no longer limited to 1000 users when performing an online import.

Fix issue in which online import fails when PST Capture is not installed on Exchange server.

Download the tool:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36789

KB Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2815301/en-us?sd=rss&spid=13965

TechNet Guidance/Documentation:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh781036(EXCHG.141).aspx

Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Released

I was pretty excited to see, among other things, Exchange Server 2010 SP3 has been released in to the wild. At 6am today Laura didn't seem all that interested in hearing about it, so I thought I had better update this blog.

 

So what does this mean?

Well SP3 is a corner stone of any coexistence transition with Exchange 2013 (CU1) or indeed hybrid with coming release (Wave 15) of Exchange Online on 27 February. It is also going to be important for those Public Folder fans out there wanting to move to the modern/new versions which reside within the DAG.

 

As well as coexistence/hybrid the SP contains the usual updates, fixes and enables installation on Windows Server 2012. There are Schema updates to review, but should not present a blocker.

 

Handy links:

 

SP3 download - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36768

Exchange 2010 SP3 - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj965774(v=exchg.141).aspx

Exchange Team blog - http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/02/12/released-exchange-server-2010-sp3.aspx

 

Happy testing.