I talk to people all the time about hosting SharePoint and Exchange together for them. Often times I get that blank look… You know the same one I got when I asked the best looking girl in my college marketing class to go out with me. For some reason people think that Exchange is some convoluted program that they don’t need or have the ability to comprehend. It is email, contacts, calendars – personal information management – most often used for businesses.

What’s the big deal? What does Exchange have that Hotmail doesn’t?

Why use hosted Exchange? Why do businesses need a whole server just for email? Because it’s part of the Microsoft Suite of server software, it syncs up with Outlook, SharePoint (WSS and MOSS), CRM and mobile devices like the Apple iPhone.
Personally, I would be lost without the Exchange Server we use at Fpweb.net. I currently use Exchange on Outlook and SharePoint to handle internal project management, manage sales leads and important contact information. I store sales quotes and diagrams in SharePoint and then use Outlook to sync up to my SharePoint document library. I can preview documents that are stored within our MOSS 2007 Portal within Microsoft Outlook. Without the help of our MS Exchange Server, none of this is possible.

Ok, but what is the advantage to having it hosted instead of on-premise?

So why use hosted Exchange? Well, while using Exchange within the Microsoft Outlook client is as simple as using Gmail, the actual installation, setup and administration of a Microsoft Exchange Server is typically a nightmare for most internal I.T. departments. You definitely have to know what you’re doing. Fortunately, at Fpweb.net, we have a bunch of super geeks who know Exchange better than their favorite video game.

So that’s it – I’m keeping this one short. If you want to know more about hosted Exchange: Bing it. (Yes, I’m drinking the kool-aid and I’m switching to Bing for a while to see how this thing performs.)

Another interesting note is that Microsoft is encouraging Fpweb.net to put forth a BPOS offering of our own incorporating fully functional SharePoint (WSS v3). I think you will see a fully functional SharePoint Hosting / BPOS on steroids offering in Q3 from the friendly folks at Fpweb.net.

So, before you get too far down the road, pause and add this list to your due diligence.
WARNING – failure to read and think through the following may cost you and your team hundreds of man-hours and lots of moola.

Features NOT Available in Microsoft BPOS:

1. Anonymous users supported
2. UI enhancements
3. Server control
4. Customization / Code Deployment
5. 3rd party web parts installation
6. Unlimited user account creation with no additional fees
7. Daily site backups
8. Custom domain names supported
9. Dedicated solution for any number of users

And yes, if you’ve just finished reading that list – those are all features that are supported by WSS v3, MOSS 2007 and SharePoint Server 2010 from SharePoint Hosting Provider Fpweb.net.

For the full list visit:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=960384.

Some more information regarding these updates:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/03/18/450863.aspx

3 critical SCR issues

KB 961281 Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 introduced an issue where you receive an error when attempting to enable SCR on a storage group if the environment has a parent domain/child domain active directory structure.

KB 957834 Network shares are deleted and created intermittently by the replication service on an Exchange SCC cluster when SCR is enabled on the Exchange server

KB 958331 Restore-StorageGroupCopy command may fail in an Exchange Server 2007 SCR environment

2 IMAP issues

KB 957504 and KB 960292

DCR to handle address encapsulation

KB 956069 Design change to address encapsulation and the way it is handled by Exchange Server 2007.

DCR to preserve custom properties in calendar items processed by the calendar assistant

KB 949464 This will improve interoperability of Exchange 2007 with products implementing Outlook add-ins and using custom properties

The past couple weeks there has been some news on the spats and quibbles between IBM and Microsoft over the popularity of Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange 2007.  With dedicated e-mail servers and Enterprise business email appeal growing at an increasingly faster pace, the stakes are high to grab as much of the market as possible.

With the current popularity of dedicated Exchange hosting and a new version on the horizon with 3.5 million Exchange 14 beta testers, it’s not too surprising to me if Microsoft has the larger reach.

Get Your Exchange Migration On

So, are you one of those who are contemplating a migration from Lotus Notes to MS Exchange 2007?  Moving software is always a hassle, often raising concerns and confusion with backups, data integrity, and the learning curve of new software.

Lucky for us, Microsoft has made these migrations much easier to do with the Microsoft Transporter Suite.  The MS Transporter Suite is an easy to use migration tool specifically designed from moving content from Lotus Domino servers or a generic POP/IMAP server into Exchange Server 2007.  There are both 32-bit and 64-bit formats for installation available for free download.

How to Avoid E-mail Migration Nightmares

Migrating computer data is sort of like planning a camping trip.  No matter how prepared you think you are, you to realize you’ve forgotten something.  Hopefully it’s something only mildly important like a hair dryer or nail clippers, but if you’ve forgotten the tent stakes, beer, or matches….. you can expect a long, restless night.

A few simple steps that should ALWAYS be handled in a migration scenario:

Always Back Up Your Data

If your business depends on this data to run, handle it only with the finest velvet gloves. Always, always keep a good copy of your data around and test it by importing it back into the current software you’re migrating from. If it goes smoothly, back it up in two places, preferably with one on hard media (CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray Disc) if it will fit – label it, and stash it somewhere safe and secure at least until you’ve got it running on a server with full backup capabilities. You really can’t be too safe with business-critical data.

Prepare Your Users

Let your staff know up front that they can expect software changes. Nothing is worse than coming into work with a plate full of projects, only realize you have no idea how to use the new software that just replaced their e-mail program by surprise. Prepare your users with proper training on the new systems, ensure their PCs have all the tools and configurations to use it, and ensure everyone has instructions, names, passwords required to access. If you’re not sure, at least give them a heads up on when they can expect it so they can plan accordingly. Advance notice also lessens impromptu knocks at your office door, either asking how to use the software or when they can expect their email to work again.

Install and Test the New Software

Leave the original software running if possible while you install and prepare Microsoft Exchange. Import the data, test it all, make any custom configurations, and make sure it’s all there. If possible, launch them side by side before you take down the original e-mail service.

Support your Users

Ask your users to check their data first thing in the morning to be sure all of their data has moved successfully. There’s always someone in the office who can’t seem to configure things properly or use the software….always expect these issues to pop up and be prepared to address them as quickly as possible. Again, having a system in place for Inter-office Support requests relieves a lot of stress for everyone, snuffs out the Office Doomsayers and lessens impromptu office visits!