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The MS Exchange team has released an update to their popular storage calculator.

Bug Fixes / Enhancements

• The changes introduced in v15.6 in the Storage Design worksheet introduced a logic error where the recommended RAID Configuration / Server would recommend a null configuration when you selected "–" for the database disk type in Configuration 3.  This has been corrected to ensure that only enabled disk configurations are considered when making a recommendation.
• Validation logic was added to the custom database size input factor to remind you that you need to enter in a value greater than 0.
• Fixed various input factor comments.
• Fixed RAID-0 calculations for the database and log configuration options 2 and 3.  In previous releases, the RAID-0 values for these configurations were utilizing the RAID-1/0 data points.
• Updated the backup and restore rate input factors to indicate that these only apply for steaming backup calculations.  Also added validation logic to disable the input options when VSS backup methodologies are chosen.
• Fixed the streaming backup rate calculations to include all transaction logs generated in a day (user generation + move mailbox).  Previous releases only considered user log generation.
• Updated the text and note for the "Additional I/O Requirement" field to indicate that the input value is per mailbox server.
• Added streaming restore calculations for both full database restore and incremental / differential backup restore to the Backup requirements worksheet.
• Added the following note to the Storage Design worksheet - Important: This tool should only be used for storage modeling purposes.  Please consult with the storage vendor regarding storage design and follow recommended storage design testing processes.  The example configuration provided within this calculator is just that, an example, and as such, each input option needs to be evaluated as to how it will affect your design.

Click here to read about the storage calculator…

Click here to read the updates tracking page…

Click here to download the calculator…

For anyone who has ever called MPS to troubleshoot an issue you will know these tools.  For those that haven’t this is a must to bookmark.  These tools are used by MPS to gather configuration data from a server for troubleshooting purposes.  You can run the tool to gather critical data BEFORE you call MPS.  Having this critical data ready will greatly help to speed things up with MPS and get your issue resolved much quicker.  Though these tools are old (2004) they are still quite useful.

MPS Reporting come in a variety of flavors

(Please review the included readme file included with each reporting tool for more information on usage)

• Alliance
• Cluster
• Active Directory (DirSvc)
• Exchange
• MDAC
• Network
• Base Setup (SetupPerf)
• SQL
• SUS

Overview

The Microsoft Product Support Reporting Tool facilitates the gathering of critical system and logging information used in troubleshooting support issues. The reporting tool DOES NOT make any registry changes or modifications to the operating system. There are 8 specialty versions, one for each of the following support scenario categories: Alliance, Directory Services (not for Windows NT 4.0), Networking, Clustering, SQL, Software Update Services, MDAC and Base/Setup/Storage/Print/Performance. Each version gathers some of the same basic information but there are specific reports unique to each of the support scenario categories. Please read the readme.txt files for more details about each version.

• Click here to download the MPS tools…

Microsoft Premier Services Reporting Utility

Another useful tool is the Premier Services Reporting Utility.  (PFE Version)  This version is newer and also supports x64 bit Windows platforms.  This one is not as specialized as the tools listed above but useful to gather detailed system status and configuration information when the above tools don’t fit your needs.  This utility will also gather limited information on SQL and Exchange.

The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Management Pack for SCOM 2007 monitors the health of computers running Office Communications Server 2007 on Windows Server 2003 and alerts IT administrators about critical health conditions that indicate degraded performance.

Feature Bullet Summary:

The management pack monitors and provides alerts for:

• Automatic notification of events indicating service outages
• Performance degradation
• Health monitoring
• Centralized management

Click here to download…

A new article was just published by the ASKCORE team on the topic of the WinSXS folder and just what it is, why it is so big and why it keeps getting bigger.

An excerpt:

“The only way to safely reduce the size of the WinSxS folder is to reduce the set of possible actions that the system can take – the easiest way to do that is to remove the packages that installed the components in the first place.  This can be done by uninstalling superseded versions of packages that are on your system.  Service Pack 1 contains a binary called VSP1CLN.EXE, a tool that will make the Service Pack package permanent (not removable) on your system,  and remove the RTM versions of all superseded components.  This can only be done because by making the Service Pack permanent we can guarantee that we won’t ever need the RTM versions.”

Click here to read the entire article…

To learn a bit more about WinSxS, disk space and Windows 7 click here…

Network Monitor 3.2 is a protocol analyzer. It allows you to capture network traffic, view and analyze it. Version 3.2 is an update and replaces Network Monitor 3.1. Network Monitor 3.x is a complete overhaul of the previous Network Monitor 2.x version.

What’s New

• Process tracking: Categorize network traffic based on the name and ID of the owning process.
• Extensive parser set: For over 300 public and Microsoft proprietary protocols.
• Improved capture rate: Drop fewer frames on high-speed networks.
• ContainsBin plug-in: Search frames for strings or arbitrary byte sequences.
• Find conversations: Quickly isolate related frames.
• Network Monitor 3.2 API:  Create your own applications that capture, parse, and analyze network traffic.
• Support for frame truncation.
• Indication of the number of dropped frames.
• Streamlined UI toolbar

Click here to download…

Read about the release on the TechNet: Netmon blog…

Having trouble finding out where to get the Live Meeting 2007 client and conferencing add-in for Outlook?

Download the Office Live Meeting 2007 client here…

Download the Conferencing Add-in for Outlook here…

Bookmark these links and check back every few months for updates.

This is a good news for those companies that use Blackberry and have deployed (or are looking to deploy) OCS 2007.

Click here to learn more and download the Blackberry client…

Features

• Initiate and manage group chat sessions of three or more participants from your smartphone
• View the presence status of contacts, such as online, busy, do not disturb, be right back, away or appear offline and set your own status to inform others of your availability
• Enjoy a synchronized contact list, with the same contacts available on your BlackBerry smartphone and your computer
• Find contacts quickly with the quick find function and picture association
• Receive alerts when team members become available
• Communicate more effectively with emoticons
• And more

Integrates with other BlackBerry Apps

• Set your presence status from your home screen icon
• View the presence status of contacts directly from your address book
• Check your spelling and edit autotext on your instant messages
• Initiate phone calls or browser sessions directly from phone numbers or URLs embedded in instant messages
• Voice integration with ‘Click to Call’

Click here to read some lessons learned from Matt McGillen’s deployement…

Originally spotted this post via the LCSKid.

Updated 9/10/2008: Updated download link and added bullet lists on features and integration.

Congratulations to VMWare for being the first to be validated under Microsoft’s new Microsoft Server Virtualization Program (SVVP).

“VMware Lays Foundation for Broader Market Penetration by Giving Customers Access to Support for Software For All Major Microsoft Applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Server and others across Virtualized Environments

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Sept 3, 2008 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, today announced it has qualified its industry-leading VMware ESX hypervisor under the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP). VMware ESX 3.5 update 2 (ESX 3.5u2) is the first hypervisor to be listed under the program, providing VMware customers who run Windows Server and Microsoft applications with access to cooperative support from Microsoft and VMware. “

Click here to read the rest of the news release…

Updated 9/10/2008:   VMware has only achieved support for Windows Server 2008 x86.  There is not 64-bit support as of yet.  However if you read the fine print under Additional Information, products that have passed SVVP requirements for Windows Server 2008 are considered supported on Windows Server 2000 SP4 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 and later.  Good news.

Click here for more information…

Brought to my eyes by Paul Robichaux and written by Jason Sherry this script will capture a plethora of useful Exchange data.  Very helpful for planning an upgrade strategy or if you just want to know how your current Exchange environment is running.  To get the most accurate and useful data Jason recommends running the script as a scheduled task every day for three days.

The script will capture the following by default:

1. Exchange server in the forest

2. Version of all servers

3. Current size of all EDB and STM files, per storage group (SG)

4. Total mailbox size per SG

5. Total item count per SG

6. Current number of TLOGs sitting in the log directory for each SG

7. Total size difference based on mailbox size per SG from the last run

8. Total item count difference per SG from the last run

9. Mailbox count difference per SG from the last run

10. Size of each StoreDB EDB & STM, only collected on 1st run by default

Click here to get the script…

Overview

This download contains the PBX configuration note (preview) for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging with:

• PBX Vendor: Avaya
• PBX model: Communication Manager 5.0
• PBX software: Build 731.2 (R014x.00.1.731.2)
• Protocol: Direct SIP Connection

Click here to download…