Outlook 2011 for Mac

Having played with Outlook 2011 and the rest Office for Mac I must say I am impressed over the 2008 editions. There is not the seamless feel between Windows and Mac I had hoped for.

I have already come across one slight niggle when setting up Outlook 2011 with Exchange Server, this has already caused a number of support cases. The User Name section suggests entering DOMAIN\SOMEONE, however depending on Exchange Server configuration this my need to be someone@emaildomain.com as it is with Cobweb.

I really like the delegation section, which is very simple and clear.

If you would like to test it with Exchange  Server contact Cobweb and we can help you out with a mailbox.

Easy Migration from Google Apps to Hosted Exchange

We use Migrationwiz.com almost exclusively for on-boarding (and when the need arises off-boarding) mailboxes to the Cobweb Hosted Exchange service. I have previously blogged about this, but it makes everything a lot simpler and overcomes a number of hurdles traditional on premise or PST migrations will encounter. Our customers have noticed and often comment on how smooth the whole process is.

A sticking point has been migrating from non-Exchange servers such as Google Apps where user credentials must be supplied for each mailbox. They have a fantastic password gathering service, which although secure has raised questions about sending users to a “new” web site requesting passwords. Well, this is no more thanks to a new addition on Migrationwiz.com enabling use of the Google Apps OAUTH domain key and secret to access mailbox data.

For more information on visit the Migrationwiz.com wiki, How do I migrate from Google using administrative credentials?

If you want someone to manage the migration for you and are looking for a Hosted Exchange provider head over to http://www.cobweb.com. If you fancy migrating yourself we all Cobweb Hosted Exchange settings are already loaded in to provider list on Migrationwiz.com.

Feel free to drop me a message if you need any other advice.

Entourage 2008 Autodiscover.xml and SSL Error

The Mac OS X operating system with Entourage 2008 messaging client may exhibit the following behaviour if the client Autodiscover lookup for https://domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml can be resolved, but is not an Exchange Server Autodiscover file.

Unable to establish a secure connection to domain.com because the correct root certificate is not installed

 

This seems to occur when the web server hosting https://domain.com/ has an untrusted or incorrect SSL certificate and the file https://domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml is accessible, but not in the correct format for Exchange Server Autodiscover.

 

The following solutions could be used to work around this:

· On the web server prevent resolution of https://domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml to a file.

· On the web server hosting https://domain.com/ install a valid SSL certificate from a public CA. Set a redirect on https://domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml to https://autodiscover.domain.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml hosted on the Exchange Server CAS role.

 

Where the above is not possible the following could be used:

· Set local hosts entry in the Mac OS X operating system for domain.com to resolve to 127.0.0.1 (Note: this will prevent browsing to http://domain.com  from the computer)

ASP.NET Vulnerability, and Exchange Server - Microsoft Security Advisory 2416728

An new security notification regarding the ASP.NET vulnerability has been posted, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-sep.mspx.

The Exchange team are recommending that you test and deploy this fix for affected servers, http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/09/27/456453.aspx.

Hosted Exchange 2010 Migration Guidance

In August I blogged about the Hosting Deployment Guide for Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Beta, which was really just an incomplete CHM file.

The Microsoft Hosting Partner Technical Advisor Blog has a new post, Hosted Exchange 2010 Migration Guide. Download the ZIP file to get conceptual architecture, migration overview, migration guidance, HMC specific migration guidance and sample scripts to support your move to an Exchange 2010 SP1 Hosting forest.

You have a few standard requirements and limitations, but you will have to upgrade your control panel or services behind it. You may choose in house development, or join the increasing numbers of hosting providers outsourcing control panels to Ensim or Parallels.