CodeTwo Blog

Fixed issue with Exchange 2010 SP3 RU1 update in Exchange Rules 2010/PRO

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We have just released updated versions of our two products:

CodeTwo Exchange Rules PRO (1.4.8) and CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2010 (2.4.0).

The update contains a fix that addresses the issue with Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP3RU1 update – when it was applied on the Exchange 2010 server it crippled signature insertion in our software.

This problem is now solved – simply update the existing installation.

The update is free for all owners of licenses for CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2010 2.x and CodeTwo Exchange Rules PRO. If you have any additional questions, give our Support team a call or send them an email – we are open 24 hours Monday through Friday.

CodeTwo Email Signatures 1.2.7 available now!

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CodeTwo Email Signatures version 1.2.7 - out now!The new version of CodeTwo Email Signatures, our server-less Outlook, Office 365, OWA and Google Apps central signature manager, is already available for download on our website. The update contains 3 minor fixes related to problems reported by users – as always, we are very grateful for your feedback! For more on the update make sure to visit the CodeTwo Email Signatures version history page.

We recommend that users update their CodeTwo Email Signatures versions by installing the new version (which can be downloaded directly here) on top of their pervious installations. For more on how to update CodeTwo products go to this article. The update is free of charge for all CodeTwo Email Signatures license owners and will not affect their settings or license status.

In case of any questions related to the update or software, contact us anytime during the work week – we are open 24 hours, from Monday through Friday.

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Issue with Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP3 RU1 update

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To CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2010 and Exchange Rules PRO users! Be warned that installing the Service Pack 3 Roll Up 1 update on MS Exchange 2010 stops signatures from working.
The only workaround is to uninstall SP3 RU1. We are currently working with Microsoft on this issue, as it is caused by one of the update’s libraries.

Stay tuned and check our blog for news on this matter.

Meet CodeTwo at TechEd Europe 2013

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teched2013europe-codetwoThis year we’re going to be exhibiting at some great events in Europe. We’re almost ready to head to Madrid for Microsoft TechEd Europe 2013, so if you’re attending this amazing conference, it would be great to meet up and talk!

You will have a chance to talk directly to our dev and sales teams, and to see our new applications in action. We’re going to be presenting a bunch of tools for Exchange 2013, Office 365 and Outlook 2013, as well as for mobile devices.

We would really love to meet you in-person and to hear your product questions, remarks and feedback. Just visit Booth 12 (CodeTwo) anytime you want, and hang out with us during the Welcome Reception on Tuesday, 25 June. If you want to schedule a meeting, just drop me a line at simon.s [att] codetwo.com.

Ohh.. and make sure to grab one of our 100% bug free T-shirts when you get there!

tomek-set

This is what it looks like if one of us tries it on. Sorry, but I couldn’t find anyone slimmer in CodeTwo!

Ok, these guys somehow pulled it off to draw their bellies in for 5 seconds!

codetwo-sales-dev-teched

And that’s us – meet us at TechEd! See you there!

Migrating MS Exchange Server – what to be aware of

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karibu

The word “Migration” changes its connotation. Nowadays, instead of bringing the image of caribou or wild geese traveling vast areas, it brings the image of moving data from one system to another. When the server administrator hears “Migration”, he usually thinks “Exchange”.

Exchange Server is one of (if not the most) important systems in today’s company. Without it the business operation stands still – no messages are sent or received, collaboration tools, such as Public Folders, are not working, chaos is growing. That is why system administrators are so cautious with any programmatic changes made on their servers. Each Microsoft update installation, each configuration change is performed with maximum caution to minimize the risk.

 “The more complex the system, the bigger chance of its failure and the harder way of fixing it”
- from Murphy’s law

One would think that Exchange migration is nothing more than copying mailboxes and users from one server to another. Well, it is far from it. The built in features of the Microsoft program make the process complex and multi-staged. E.g. migrating from Exchange 2003 to 2010 takes a number of steps, and each is quite a process all by its own:

  • Enable Exchange Native Mode for your exchange organization.
  • If not yet performed – install Service Pack 2 on all machines with Exchange 2003.
  • Raise the functional level of the AD forest/domains to Windows Server 2003.
  • On the machine that will contain Exchange 2010 install Windows Server 2008 R2 x64.
  • Install any necessary prerequisites (e.g. LDIFDE tools for schema upgrade).
  • Launch Exchange 2010 setup and upgrade the schema, prepare the forest and domains.
  • Install CAS server role.
  • Move traffic from OWA, ActiveSync etc. to new CAS server.
  • Hub Transport role installation.
  • Redirect all mail traffic to the new Hub Transport.
  • Install Mailbox server roles and configure Databases.
  • Prepare public folder structure on Exchange 2010 to accommodate current 2003 public folder structure.
  • Move mailboxes to the new Exchange Server 2010 using Powershell.
  • Designate Exchange Server 2010 as Offline Address Book base.
  • Designate Exchange Server 2010 as Public Folders base.
  • Transfer Public Folder to Exchange Server 2010.

Of course the above list is not the end of the story – administrator also has to plan how long the old 2003 setup is left as a backup structure, in case the new system fails, when and how to decommission the old server, what to do with 2003 databases backups etc.

Additionally, when moving between two different forests, the process is even more troublesome and requires enabling the trust between two structures, which is not always possible. Without the trust enabled the migration complicates significantly – the mailbox database has to be exported and imported as raw data. The export tool used for mailboxes does not work for public folders so they need to be moved via PST between Outlooks, which just adds the trouble. Moreover, all the permissions from 2003 are also lost, so they need rejiggering on the target system.

Since the 2013 version of Exchange Server is the latest, now many organizations are considering it as the migration target. However, the process for Exchange 2003 users is painful – it is called Staged Migration. Behind a nice name, it is nothing more than a two-step task: first migrate from 2003 to Exchange 2010. Then move from 2010 to 2013. Considering the list mentioned above the sheer amount of work required and the risks of servers going awry makes administrator want to migrate to some “happy place” without any computers in sight.

Luckily, there are solutions provided by third party companies that help to minimize the risk, straighten the process, and avoid any two-stage-because-MS-engineered-so scenarios.
CodeTwo Exchange Migration can transfer your mailboxes and public folders between different versions of Exchange, cross-forest and cross-domain wise and without Staged Migration when jumping from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013. Additionally there is also a 365 version of the program if the need to move to the cloud arises – check up on CodeTwo Office 365 Migration for more info.

CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2013/2010/2007 – minor update

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CodeTwo Exchange Rules updateOur central signature management products for Exchange Server – CodeTwo Exchange Rules – have recently been updated. The updates contain 3 fixes for minor issues reported by users – thank you for your feedback! The 3 issues were:

  1. Editor: Copy/cut/paste options did not work for the selected text in RTF format.
  2. Fixes in the image conversion mechanism between HTML and RTF formats.
  3. Update of disclaimers/signatures in messages not containing TNEF part in the Sent Items folder.

We recommend that users update their respective Exchange Rules versions by downloading the latest free setup file and re-installing the program on the server. All settings and licensing information will remain intact. The setup files are available on the below pages:

The update is free for all owners of licenses for CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2007 3.x, CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2010 2.x and CodeTwo Exchange Rules 2013 1.x. For more info on updating CodeTwo products make sure to visit this page. If you have any additional questions, give our Support team a call or send them an email – we are open 24 hours Monday through Friday (more working hours details here).

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CodeTwo Office 365 Migration – Migrate Exchange to Office 365 easily

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As Microsoft Cloud services are becoming more and more popular these days, many companies consider moving their employees’ mailboxes to Office 365. Although Microsoft has provided server administrators with some basic tools and documentation, Exchange to Office 365 migration is still not an easy thing to do. Things can get a lot easier when you are equipped with a proper migration tool. If you are right about to move your Exchange Server organization to the Cloud, CodeTwo Office 365 Migration will help you make the entire operation faster, less complicated and much cheaper than you initially thought.

CodeTwo Office 365 Migration - new tool out now!

Seamless migration from Exchange Server to Office 365

The primary task of CodeTwo Office 365 Migration is to simplify the process of migrating users from on-premises Exchange Server to Office 365. The program was designed to be as simple to use as possible and to reduce the amount of pre-configuration tasks to minimum. Thanks to the smooth and clear user’s interface every necessary option is easily accessible directly from the program’s windows – no PowerShell commands are needed anymore.

After installing the application and connecting it to the source Active Directory domain, the mailboxes are displayed along with connection settings and status indicators. Every option is easily reachable.

The main window of the program

Migrating from Exchange to Office 365 with CodeTwo Office 365 Migration is really simple. Before starting the migration process, you need to establish a connection with the target Office 365 organization and choose the target mailbox in the Cloud for each user you are going to move.

Connecting to Office 365

When the location for each user’s mailbox is chosen you can launch your migration. While migrating your Exchange Server to Office 365 the program will carry out a maximum of 4 processes at a time. The total time of your migration is dependent on the quality of the Internet connection you use.

Migrating Exchange to Office 365

Data security and detailed reporting

With CodeTwo Office 365 Migration there’s no risk of losing any sort of data during the migration. The program doesn’t actually move the mailbox from the source server but creates an exact copy of it in the Cloud. The administrator can verify the result of the migration in detail before the final transition is made. No data is deleted by the program at any point. What’s more, each mailbox migration can be reviewed by checking the log files that are generated immediately after the migration finishes. Every problem can be easily identified and solved.

Migrate from Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010

CodeTwo Office 365 Migration allows for migrating from Exchange Server 2003, 2007 and 2010. At the same time the program keeps the entire process equally simple, no matter which Exchange Server edition is used as the source of your Office 365 migration. The program also fully supports direct migrations from Exchange 2003.

Get it completely free!

All the benefits of using CodeTwo Office 365 Migration are available completely at no cost, provided that you have an active Office 365 subscription and are willing to perform a few simple steps described here. Participating in this program won’t cost you anything and will let us get paid for our work by Microsoft, as your Partner of Record.

Before you make a decision you can also try out the trial version of CodeTwo Office 365 Migration. Simply download the installer and test the program completely free of charge. The trial version has some limitations though. During the trial period you are only allowed to migrate 10 items per given folder. The trial version remains active for 30 days.

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5 CodeTwo products get Certified for Windows Server 2012!

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Just a few weeks after releasing a few new products for server administration we have another great news to share. Last Friday 5 CodeTwo applications for Exchange Server and Office 365 administrators successfully passed Microsoft Platform Ready tests and received the prestigious Certified for Windows Server 2012 logo. The logo confirms that our software meets the high compatibility standards Microsoft sets for applications operating on Windows Server 2012 and was created in accordance to recommended practices. The test also certifies that the products listed below fully support Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V environments. Thumbs up!

CodeTwo products certified for Windows Server 2012

Here’s the full list of our newly certified apps:

The family of CodeTwo products designed for Windows Server, Exchange and Office 365 keeps constantly growing. Two weeks ago we launched a new professional tool for Exchange-to-Exchange migrations and there’s more to come very soon. Keep checking on us here on the blog and on our Facebook page. We’ll keep you posted!

Mailbox backup options across available Office 365 plans

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Moving to the Cloud environment is no more sci-fi, it is reality. When more and more companies are transferring to Office 365, more administrators are asking the question “Are we safe there? Do we still need to do a backup of our critical data?” Others do not even bother asking, trusting that globally dispersed MS datacenters are ensuring full safety of company’s data.

In the following blog post, I’ll try to answer these questions and check the native data backup and preservation options available in MS Office 365 plans.

Let’s get it straight right from the start – there is no backup option available in Office 365. At least not in the form administrators could remember from the on-premises environments. Microsoft concluded that since all information is stored in their datacenters, which provide super-safe environment, there is no need for such a functionality. Period.

On the other hand, MS is not a charity organization and storage room on their servers comes with a price, which changes across different Office 365 plans. Additionally, each plan has its own limits of storage, data preservation time-span, etc.

So how exactly Office/Exchange 365 stores my data? What happens when storage is up?

All mailboxes across all plans have storage limit of 25 GB, which seems to be quite enough. However, a message itself, even very small, can carry something that really pumps up the size of the inbox –  it is email’s attachment. Therefore, 25 GB might be an ocean of storage for text, but not necessarily for those numerous PDF, zip and BMP attachments.

So when the amount of data stored in the mailbox reaches the 24.5 GB threshold, the mailbox user receives a warning message about that. This should blink an amber light to start cleaning things up.

Next, when the user does not try slimming the mailbox down, and brings it to the 24.75 GB level, he or she receives a notification that no email sending is possible, until some stuff is deleted.

Lastly, when the final frontier (25 GB) is reached, the notification reads: “No sending, no receiving emails possible – clean up your mailbox finally!” (or something similar along these words).

Additionally the 365 server itself helps keeping the mailbox small by automatically cleaning the Deleted items folder (which is in the same 25 GB limit as the whole mailbox) with the Retention policy.

365 retention

It is an automatic service that removes items from the mailbox after a specified amount of time. In other words, the retention service checks the “age” of each item in the mailbox, and depending on the specified limit removes it from the mailbox storage. It can be configured to proceed with the retention in steps, e.g. item placed in the Deleted items folder stays there for 30 days, after that period the retention service moves the item to another folder, Recoverable items (Dumpster), where it stays for another 14 days. After that the item is permanently removed.

I don’t want to delete anything – I want to archive!

Archiving items from the mailbox is a good method of trimming your data down and freeing some space up. Luckily, this feature is also available in Office 365. Check the table below to see how it works across different plans.

Office 365 Midsize Business Office 365 Midsize Business Office 365 Midsize Business Office 365 Enterprise E1 Office 365 Enterprise E3 Office 365 Enterprise E4 Office 365 Enterprise K1 (Kiosk)

Archiving Exchange Online-based Mailboxes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Archive storage quota
* storage is shared with user’s primary mailbox

25 GB*

25 GB*

25 GB*

25 GB*

No limit
(100 GB by default with possible increase)
No limit
(100 GB by default with possible increase)

NA

Recoverable Items folder quota (the folder where items from Deleted Items are moved by retention policy or by hard deleting the item)

30 GB

30 GB

30 GB

30 GB

30 GB

30 GB

30 GB

Litigation Hold (legal hold)

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Retention tags/policies

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Default retention periods:

- Deleted items (days)

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

- Recoverable items (days)

14
(max 30)

14
(max 30)

14
(max 30)

14
(max 30)

14
(max 30)

14
(max 30)

14
(max 30)

- All, not deleted items (e.g. from Inbox) move to archive after:

2 years

2 years

2 years

2 years

2 years

2 years

NA

Terms used in the table:

  • Storage quota – the available storage room on the server assigned to a specific organizational unit.
    E.g. quota of 25 GB per mailbox means that this is available room for all items and folders within one mailbox. Quota of 25 GB per archive means the storage room for all items included in the archive folder of the mailbox.
  • Archiving – with this feature enabled for the 365 mailbox, the default retention policy moves messages older than 2 years to the special archive mailbox for preservation.
  • Retention policy –an automatic service that removes items from the mailbox after a specified amount of time. It applies to different folders, including archive mailbox, dumpster etc.
  • Litigation hold – also called legal hold. If your company is involved in any legal actions, and they require preserving unaltered data from the specific mailbox, you can put that mailbox on litigation hold. When enabled this feature stores all items indefinitely including deleted items and dumpster. Additionally dumpster also keeps all changed items from the primary mailbox (versioning of items).

It is not a surprise that only the two most expensive plans give you the largest storage space and the longest retention periods.

For example – the mailbox on 365 E1 plan has a storage limit of 25 GB. One would think “Ok – let’s enable archiving to save room”, but it won’t work. In E1 you are just pushing messages from one pile to another without freeing space in your mailbox, as your precious 25 gigs are shared between primary mailbox and archive.

Only E3 and E4 plans give you a real archive. It is separate from your primary mailbox storage quota, and it has virtually unlimited capacity. Well, not “unlimited” but “just” 100 GB, which should suit most users well. Plus it can be extended by MS team with no hassle. Simply pay more for higher tiered plan, which is 10 000 USD per month for 500 users in E3 (compared to 4000 USD per month for 500 users in E1 plan).

What else can I do?

The other idea to preserve data would be to extend all our retention policies! No luck here either. The retention policies applied to the recoverable folder (dumpster) can be max 30 days long, plus the dumpster also has its own stiff storage quota (30 GB).

“Ok, no big archive, no 20 years long retention policy – maybe a litigation hold?” This would be quite a solution – when a mailbox is on the litigation hold it keeps all data in a dumpster permanently (no retention time limit) and without a storage limit (no quota). However, this option has been created solely for the legal actions in your company, and it requires a designated person responsible for putting a mailbox on such hold (discovery manager, lawyer, or other authorized official). And it is available only in plans E3 and E4.

You can always create additional mailboxes in lower plans, to store data, but that comes with an additional license monthly fee. The same happens with mailboxes for employees that are no longer in your company – you still need to pay for their mailbox license. If you decide to reassign that license to another person, then you have 30 days to save old mailbox somewhere. After that time – it is removed forever with all the important emails in it.

There is a last resort, which is saving an Office 365 mailbox to local PST file. Good ol’ Outlook comes in handy again! But (there are always “buts”…) you can do only one mailbox at a time and you can’t use OWA. There are no fancy Power Shell commandlets for that purpose, so if you need to save 50 mailboxes, get ready to do some overtime.

Need to back up your data to your own on premises server ?

Microsoft says that with 365 and with the dawn of the cloud computing, regular backups on these dusty DLT tapes are things of the past, but if you ask me – I sleep much better when I know, that my business data is safe, with not all eggs in one basket.

For those companies who for security, legal or other reasons need to back up their 365 data to their own servers we are preparing a smart archiving tool. Click here if you’d like to find out more.

 

Easy cross-forest migrations on Exchange Server – CodeTwo Exchange Migration out now!

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Moving Exchange Server mailboxes to another Active Directory forest is always a critical moment and a difficult task to perform. The key to a successful Exchange migration lies mainly in making a good plan and choosing a tool that will do the job for you. Although Exchange allows for moving user mailboxes between servers internally in an organization, migrating a large number of users to another Exchange Server forest is still a big challenge. Microsoft simply didn’t make it possible for administrators to move mailboxes between two different Exchange Server organizations using a convenient built-in feature in Exchange.

This is where our new program, CodeTwo Exchange Migration comes in. With this brand new tool, migrating between different Exchange Server organizations is easier than ever before.

CodeTwo Exchange Migration - new tool out now

Easy Exchange-to-Exchange cross-forest migrations

CodeTwo Exchange Migration has been designed to give you the maximum comfort and control over Exchange-to-Exchange migrations. The configuration of the program is really simple and doesn’t require running any Power Shell scripts in order to get started. Every necessary option is easily accessible directly from the user’s interface.

The program must be installed in the source Active Directory domain. After providing the Domain Admin’s credentials at startup, the list of source mailboxes is displayed in the chart.

The main window of CodeTwo Exchange Migration

Before starting your migration you need to establish a connection with the target Exchange Server organization. The program uses the Exchange Web Services (EWS) address for that. If your target server is located within the same Active Directory domain as the source, you can also use the Autodiscover option for setting your connections.

Establishing a connection in CodeTwo Exchange Migration

You now need to set the target mailbox for each of the source mailboxes. The list of target users is displayed in the connection settings. Choose the appropriate mailbox for each user that you wish to migrate.

The list of target mailboxes in CodeTwo Exchange Migration

After establishing a connection and choosing the target mailboxes you are ready to set off! You can now launch your migration right away and observe how data is transferred to another Exchange Server. It’s as simple as that.

Migrate from Exchange 2003 to 2010, or 2013

One of the most important benefits you gain with CodeTwo Exchange Migration is the ability of moving users’ mailboxes from an older version of Exchange, e.g. 2003 directly to Exchange 2010, or 2013. No special configuration, or staged migration process is required in this scenario.

Status reports and log files

The migration status of each mailbox can be easily checked during and after the migration. The program displays status reports directly in the main window and the administrator can also review the details of each migrated folder by checking the detailed log files.

The status reports displayed in CodeTwo Exchange Migration

Reduced time and resources

Simplicity, reliability and competitive price are the biggest values of CodeTwo Exchange Migration. The program contains absolutely no spare options and that’s what makes it so practical. Thanks to this easy-to-use migration tool you will be able to perform your migration without engaging any additional consultants and studying large amounts of technical documentation.

Easily accessible trial / Test for free!

CodeTwo Exchange Migration can be tested easily before buying the license. The trial version is available for download on the product page. You don’t need to fill out any forms and wait for us to send you the setup file. During the 30-day trial period the program will let you migrate only 10 items per folder. To unlock this limitation, purchase the license for the needed number of mailboxes and activate your application.

Ready to test the tool in your environment? Navigate to the program’s page and download the free trial. Should you need any assistance, simply contact us!

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