When I was recently arranging a routine service appointment for my automobile, I was struck by the fact that, for once, the shoe was on the other foot. I’m used to being the expert who has to explain a complicated technical issue to a nontechnical customer. When it comes to repairing cars, I know just enough to make myself sound stupid. Suddenly, I find myself in the position where I have to have things explained to me, often more than once.

I have a great mechanic, so when I work with him, I’m seeing customer service done really well. My visit to the garage got me thinking about some of the practices of good auto service professionals, and I realized that the techniques that produce a positive car repair experience could serve as a guide for creating a positive support experience for my users. Here’s the list I jotted down while waiting for my car to come down off the lift.

Triage effectively. My mechanic, Jim, is great about making sure that emergency situations are given special attention. Engine threw a cylinder on the highway? He’ll immediately send a wrecker to pick you up. Just need your oil changed? If there are more pressing tasks, Jim will gracefully let you know he’s too busy and will ask you to drop off your car in a day or two. The takeaway here is that most customers don’t mind waiting for nonemergency service, as long as they’re given a firm date when they can expect attention.

Provide an estimate. When I work with Jim, his estimates usually have two parts: the cost and the timeframe in which the work will be done. Cost may not always be a factor when the help desk is serving a user, but there are other things to take into account. It may be necessary to order replacement parts, for instance. Providing your customers with estimates of what the work will entail and when it will be completed will manage their expectations and lower their stress level.

Offer alternate arrangements. In the auto-service industry, this takes the form of the courtesy car. Consider keeping a couple of serviceable machines on hand as cold spares that you can loan to users whose regular workstations may need significant repair. With a “courtesy computer,” at least the client can continue his or her work.

Update the customer. Mechanics revise their estimates; sometimes it’s necessary because the work required is more extensive. This can happen when a machine is on the repair bench, too. If the situation has changed — for the worse or for the better — make sure that the customer is informed.

Explain things clearly. Think of it this way: your customers won’t appreciate your work if they don’t understand your description of it. Avoid jargon as much as possible. Put the situation in terms that are easily understood, and contextualize things for the users. If they have an understanding of how you’ve helped, they’ll feel better about the experience.

Suggest future maintenance. Lots of car trouble can be avoided if the owner takes care of the vehicle. The same holds true for computers. If there’s a way that the user can avoid the inconvenience of future problems, share that knowledge with them.

I recommend my mechanic to anyone I overhear complaining about the last time their car had to be serviced. There may be a guy out there with more qualifications than Jim, but his work is solid, and his customer service is second-to-none. When I’m in a situation where I’m out of my depth, I appreciate working with a professional who is concerned about the quality of my experience. Your users will, too.

First there was Ethernet. Then, there was IP over Ethernet. Next came the mixed use of Ethernet, IP, and the SCSI command set (iSCSI) to simplify storage and to bring down the cost and complexity of storage. Today, iSCSI and Fibre Channel are fighting it out in all but the largest enterprises, and both have their pros and cons. Even though these are the two primary contenders in today’s block-level shared storage market, there are some other alternatives. The line is continuing to blur between these solutions as new initiatives are brought to market. Let’s take a look at some new developments in storage infrastructure solutions.

Faster Fibre ChannelTwo Gbps and 4 Gbps Fibre Channel are very common in the marketplace, and manufacturers are just now beginning to demonstrate 8 Gbps Fibre Channel gear. There are also standards in the works for Fibre Channel running at 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps. This venerable technology continues to improve to meet the increasingly robust storage needs demanded by the enterprise. In some cases, Fibre Channel solutions on the market rival iSCSI solutions from a price perspective (i.e., Dell/EMC AX150) for simple solutions. However, faster Fibre Channel still has the same skill set hurdles to overcome. Just about every network administrator knows IP, but Fibre Channel skills are a different matter.

iSCSI over 10G EthernetiSCSI has become a technology that deserves short-list status… and at a gigabit per second, no less. Many iSCSI naysayers point to its slower interlink speed as a reason that it won’t stack up to Fibre Channel. However, iSCSI solutions are now on the cusp of moving to 10 Gbps Ethernet, meaning that iSCSI’s link speed could surpass even the fastest Fibre Channel solutions on the market. Of course, iSCSI still has IP’s overhead and latency, so we’ll see how well 10 Gbps Ethernet performs in real-world scenarios when compared to 8 Gbps Fibre Channel.

Further, 10 Gbps Ethernet gear is still extremely expensive, so, for the foreseeable future, 10 Gbps-based iSCSI solutions probably won’t fit the budgets of many organizations considering iSCSI as a primary storage solution. All this said, interlink speed is not necessarily the primary driver for replacement storage infrastructure in the enterprise. Performance boosts are often achieved by adding more disk spindles to the infrastructure or by moving to faster disk drives (i.e., SATA to 15K RPM SAS or Fibre Channel).

Fibre channel-over-IP (FCIP)Fibre Channel-over-IP (FCIP) is a method by which geographically distributed Fibre Channel-based SANs can be interconnected with one another. In short, FCIP is designed to extend the reach of Fibre Channel networks over wide distances.

Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP)Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP) is an effort to bring an IP-based infrastructure to the Fibre Channel world. Much of the cost of Fibre Channel is necessary infrastructure, such as dedicated host bus adapters (HBAs) and switches. These components can, on a per-port basis, add thousands of dollars to connect a server to the storage infrastructure. In contrast, transmitting Fibre Channel commands over an IP network would drive down infrastructure costs in a major way, requiring only gigabit Ethernet connections, which are already found on most servers. Further, even high-density Gigabit Ethernet switches cost only a couple thousand dollars. The main drawback to this proposal is the limitation to 1 Gbps Ethernet; although 10 Gbps gear is available, it would negate some of the cost benefit. On the plus side, iFCP (even on 10 Gbps Ethernet) would open Fibre Channel solutions to administrators that have IP-based skill sets. iFCP was ratified by the Internet Engineering Task Force in late 2002/early 2003.

ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE)ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE) hasn’t enjoyed the popularity of iSCSI, but this isn’t due to any technical hurdles. The AoE specification is completely open and only eight pages in length. AoE doesn’t have the overhead of IP as does iSCSI since it runs right on top of Ethernet. Of course, this does limit AoE’s use to single locations, generally, since raw Ethernet can’t be routed. You can find more about AoE in one of my previous posts.

SummaryThe future of storage is wide open. Between iSCSI, Fibre Channel ,and even AoE, solutions abound for organizations of any size and as the lines blur between some of these technologies, cost becomes less of an issue across the board.

Introduction
Many Exchange Server administrators know how to use features from Exchange Server 2003 which will not be available by default, if they do not use Exchange Server 2007 Edge Server Role as message hygiene server in the DMZ. This feature is only available within that role by default but can be enabled on each Exchange Server 2007 running Hub Transport Role. In this article we will have a look how to enable and configure this feature.

Activating AntiSpamAgent Feature
Adding this functionality to your Hub Transport servers is a pretty simple process. First, launch the Exchange Management Shell. In the Scripts folder that was created, you will find a PowerShell script to install the Anti-spam agents. After you run this command, you will need to restart your transport service and restart the Exchange Management Console. The script we need to run is called install-AntiSpamAgents.ps1.



Figure 1: Activating AntiSpamAgent Feature

After restarting the Exchange Transport Service, we have a new tab in Exchange Management Console available which will look like this:


Figure 2: The Anti-Spam Tab of Exchange Management Console

Note:

We will now take a closer look into each feature of Anti-Spam:

Content Filtering
IP Allow List
IP Allow List Providers
IP Block List
IP Block List Providers
Recipient Filtering
Sender Filtering
Sender ID
Sender Reputation
Content Filtering
The Content Filter agents works with spam confidence level rating. This rating is a number from 0-9 for each message; a high SCL will mean that it is most likely spam. You can configure the agent according to the message ratings to:

Delete the message
Reject the message
Quarantine the message
You can also customize this filter using your own custom words and configure exceptions if you wish.

IP Allow List
With this feature you are able to configure which IP addresses are allowed to successfully connect to your Exchange Server. So, if you probably have a dedicated mail relay server in your DMZ, you can add its IP addresses so that your server will not accept connections from other servers anymore.

IP Allow List Providers
In general, you are unable to configure your own “IP Allow Lists” without making mistakes that will lead to problems receiving emails from your customers or any other business partners. Therefore, you should contact a public IP allow list provider which does the work for you. This would mean that you will have more quality in this service and a higher business value.

IP Block Lists
This feature gives you the possibility to configure IP addresses that are not allowed to connect to your server. Contrary to “IP Allow Lists”, this feature provides a black list and not a white one.

IP Block List Providers
“IP Block List Providers” have been known in the past as “Blacklist Providers” too. Their task is to publish lists from servers / IP addresses that are spamming.

Recipient Filtering
If you need to block emails to specific internal users or domains, this feature is the one you will need. You can configure this feature and then add the appropriate addresses or SMTP domains to your black list. Another interesting feature is that it allows you to set up the configuration so that only you will accept emails from recipients that are included in your global address lists.

Sender Filtering
If you need to block specific domains or external email addresses, you will have to use this feature. You can configure a black list of what sender addresses or domains you will accept or not.

Sender ID
The Sender ID agent relies on the RECEIVED Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) header and a query to the sending system's domain name system (DNS) service to determine what action, if any, to take on an inbound message. This feature is relatively new and relies on the need of a specific DNS setting.

Sender ID is intended to combat the impersonation of sender and domain also called spoofing. A spoofed mail is an e-mail message that has a sending address that was modified to appear as if it originates from a sender other than the actual sender of the message. Spoofed mails typically contain a FROM in the header of a message that claims to originate from a dedicated organization.

The Sender ID evaluation process generates a Sender ID status for each message. The Sender ID status is used to evaluate the SCL rating for that message. This status can have one of the following settings:

Pass - IP address is included the permitted set
Neutral - Published Sender ID data is explicitly inconclusive.
Soft fail - IP address may be in the not permitted set.
Fail - IP address is in the not permitted set.
None - No published data in DNS.
TempError - transient error occurred, such as an unavailable DNS server
PermError - unrecoverable error occured, such as the record format error
The Sender ID status is added to email metadata and is then converted to a MAPI property. The Junk E-mail filter in Microsoft Office Outlook uses the MAPI property during the generation of the spam confidence level (SCL) value.

You can configure this feature to act as the following:

Stamp the status
Reject
Delete

Sender Reputation
Sender Reputation is a new Exchange Server 2007 anti-spam functionality that is intended to block messages based on many characteristics.

The calculation of the Sender Reputation Level is based on the following information:

HELO/EHLO analysis
Reverse DNS lookup
Analysis of SCL
Sender open proxy test
Sender reputation weighs each of these statistics and calculates an SRL for each sender. The SRL is a number between 0 and 9. You can then configure what to do with the message in one of the following ways:

Reject
Delete and archive
Accept and mark as blocked sender
Conclusion
As you have seen in this article, Exchange Server 2007 provides a lot of features to increase anti-spam functionality on each Exchange Server box. If you do not use a dedicated Exchange Edge Server, you can add this functionality to Exchange Server 2007 Hub Transport as described above. If you define a configuration for your specific server design, you will not have to add third party software to meet your basic business needs.

If you decide to have more than the described functions above, you should think of implementing Microsoft ForeFront Security for Exchange Servers.

Exchange Server 2007 allows an administrator to manage the default managed folders and also the managed custom folders which are used by the Message Records Management (MRM) feature. My fellow MVP Neil Hobson created an article series about Messaging Records Management and you can check this out at: Exchange 2007 Messaging Records Management (part 1).

In this article we are going to validate how an Exchange admin is able to improve the end-user experience with some features available in the Managed Folders. By using such features, we can educate the users to use these new resources properly.

Configuring a personalized display page for Managed Folders

First of all, let us pick a server with IIS installed. We will then create a virtual directory on this server to host a page that will instruct the users on how to use Managed Folders. This page will be accessed when a user clicks on the “Managed folder” item in their Outlook 2007 client. You can use your current CAS server to host this webpage or any other IIS in your environment.

Now that we are logged onto the chosen server we can follow these steps:

1. Open IIS Manager.
2. Expand Web Site.
3. Right click on Default Web Site and click on New and then on Virtual Directory.
4. In the first page of Virtual Directory wizard, click Next.
5. Virtual Directory Alias. Type in ManagedFolderHP and click on Next. (Figure 01)



Figure 01

6. Web Site Content Directory. Choose the local path where all pages related to the Managed Folder HP virtual directory will be kept and click on Next.
7. Virtual Directory Access Permissions. You can leave the default settings and click Next.
8. Final wizard page, click on Finish.

Note:
If you are using a IIS/CAS Server in NLB make sure that you copy and update the content of the Managed Folder page in both servers and also that the Exchange configuration that we are going to see next is using the NLB name.

Now, create a set of pages demonstrating how to use Managed Folders and instruct the users to use this resource step by step. By the way, you can use multiple pages and create a link between them (use pictures and so forth). Before testing the page, let us validate these points:

- Validate if you can access using http or https. If you website is configured to require SSL you will be able to access only using SSL unless you check that option.
- Make sure that in the properties of the Virtual Directory on Documents tab the main page that you created is listed.
- Try to access from any client computer the page that you have just created, if you are able to access it we are ready to go to the Exchange Server 2007 organization configuration.

Next step, Open Exchange Management Shell, and let’s set the page that we have just tested configuring the ManagedFolderHomePage attribute, as shown in Figure 02. The following cmdlet can be used:

Set-OrganizationConfig –ManagedFolderHomePage:http:///ManagedFolderHP

You can also run Get-OrganizationConfig cmdlet afterwards to validate the current organization parameter.



Figure 02

The Exchange Server configuration and website configuration are done, now we have to test the solution on the client side. In order to test it, just click on Managed Folders item under Mailbox and on the right side the page that we have configured, as shown in Figure 03.



Figure 03

If you have clients using Outlook Anywhere you should consider using a public URL instead of a local one, and also publishing it on your Firewall for external access. Besides that, the URL configured must be accessible from both locations: internal and external. In some cases you may have to play with DNS resolution.

Managing Folder description

Using Exchange Server 2007 we can configure comments for Managed Default Folders (like Inbox, Calendar, Outbox and so forth) and also Managed Custom Folders (those folders created by the Administrator and they are located under Managed Folders in the Outlook client). A comment can be seen in OWA, Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 SP2 or superior (In Outlook 2003 or higher, the comment does not appear like in the new versions, the user must click on View menu and Policy to see the comments).

In order to manage comments in a folder you can use either Exchange Management Console or Exchange Management Shell, we can follow these steps to manage comments:

1. Open Exchange Management Console.
2. Expand Organization Configuration.
3. Click on Mailbox.
4. Click on Managed Default Folders or Managed Custom Folders tab. In this article we are going to add a comment on Inbox folder, then let’s click on Managed Default Folders tab.
5. Double click on Inbox.
6. Inbox Properties. We can enter the comment that will be displayed for all users and we have a check box that enable or disable the user to minimize this comment. (Figure 04).



Figure 04

We can do the same using Exchange Management Shell using the following syntax:

"Set-ManagedFolder -Comment: " -"MustDisplayCommentEnabled:<$true/$false>"

We can take advantage of Exchange Management Shell and use pipeline to retrieve extra information that we cannot get from Exchange Management Console, such as:

Getting all the information about Managed Folder object
Get-ManagedFolder | FL
Getting all Managed Folders that have Comment associated
Get-ManagedFolder | where { $_.Comment –ne ‘’ }
Getting all Managed Folders that have Comment
Get-ManagedFolder | where { $_.MustDisplayCommentEnabled –eq 1 }

Now, we can go back to the Outlook Client and click on Inbox item and we will have the comment created before showing up on the right, as shown in Figure 05.



Figure 05

The comment configuration is also displayed in an Outlook Web Access session, as shown in Figure 06.



Figure 06

If you have done all the process described previously and the Folder Comment is not showing, we can use the following steps to troubleshoot the process:

1. Validate the Managed Default Folders and/or Managed Custom Folders

Validate which folders you have configured to use comments. In this article we are going to troubleshoot the Inbox folder.
Validate the Policy

2. Open Exchange Management Console.
3. Expand Organization Configuration.
4. Click on Mailbox.
5. Click on Managed Folder Mailbox Policies tab.
6. Double click on the desired policy and make sure that the folder that we have changed is listed, as shown in Figure 07.



Figure 07

Validate the user configuration

7. Open Exchange Management Console.
8. Expand Recipient Configuration.
9. Double click on the desired mailbox.
10. Click on Mailbox Settings tab.
11. Select Message Records Management.
12. Click on Properties button.
13. Make sure that Managed folder mailbox policy is checked and you are using the same policy that we have just seen in the previous step. (Figure 08).



Figure 08

Force the updates

14. You can force at server level or user level, these two cmdlets will do the trick:
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant –Mailbox
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant –Identity
15. Finally, you can go back to the client and the Folder’s comment will be there.

Conclusion

In this article we have seen how to manage Exchange Server 2007 to display information to an end-user using the Folder’s comments. We have also seen how to use a personalized page and utilize it with the Managed Folder features.

Posted by Anti-Google at 4:45 AM 0 comments

Automated offsite backup services are all the rage. Remote Data Backups, and Online Backup are among some of the best-known contenders.

Unlike online storage services, offsite backup providers offer not only gigabytes of offsite file storage but also automated backup software designed to automatically back up the data you specify. That’s a critical difference that should be noted: Online storage services don’t provide automated backup functionality. Sure, online storage services are cheaper. But they’re useless in protecting your data if you forget to manually back up files every day as they change or as new files are created.

Unfortunately, not all offsite backup services are created equal. Some of the services work better than others, and pricing varies, as does the quality of the automated backup software. Here are some things to keep in mind as you evaluate offsite backup providers.

#1: Reliable software

Backup firms, like any other service provider, will promise the world. But actually delivering on all the promises (simple backup configuration, HIPAA-compliant security, easy recovery, seamless integration in Windows, etc.) is another matter altogether.

I’ve sampled and deployed automated backup services from a number of providers. Some that propose to provide easy 1-2-3 backup operations fail to run, prove incompatible on server platforms, or generate cryptic errors.

Backups are too important to trust to chance. Make sure that the backup software you deploy works well on the OS platforms you require. Many automated offsite backup services run best on Windows XP, while others perform well on Windows Vista and Windows server OSes. The only way to really know is to test a service’s application before rolling it out on production systems. That’s why item #8 (free trials) is so important, but more on that in a moment.

#2: Storage plans that meet your needs
Some offsite backup services bill by the gigabyte. That’s fine. There’s no trouble there, other than the fact that the fee structure makes budgeting backup costs more difficult.

Other service providers, though, sell accounts with specific storage limits (100MB, 4GB, 10GB, etc.) and flat fees. Those plans work well and simplify budgeting, at least until organizations unexpectedly exceed their storage limits.

Look for service providers with storage limits or pricing plans that meet your organization’s needs while also proving flexible. Remote Data Backups, for example, makes it easy (just a few clicks) to upgrade from a 4GB account to a 10GB plan (or from a 10GB to a 30GB account). Clients need only pay the difference between the two storage plans (not start from scratch).

#3: Stellar reporting tools
A leading benefit of automated backup services is peace of mind. Knowing critical data is automatically being backed up offsite is more than just a relief. With critical data safely secured, you can move on to addressing other tasks.

IT professionals, though, are typically (and rightfully so) a skeptical crowd. So they want, or require, more than just a promise that critical data is being backed up; they need confirmation.

Only with detailed and accurate backup reporting (Figure A) can you be sure that systems and data are being properly backed up. Insist on file-level reporting with any backup service provider. In addition to a daily list of every file that’s backed up, look for reporting tools that list file sizes, time of transfer, and any error details.

Figure A



Remote Data Backups creates log files that track numerous details about each file that’s backed up.
#4: An approachable backup application
The backup application itself must be easy to use and as close to foolproof as possible. Many leverage Windows Explorer-like interfaces (Figure B), where you just need to check boxes for those files and folders that require backing up.

Take advantage of a trial period. Work first hand with the software. Confirm the service’s backup application and interface are sufficiently simple to avoid confusion but flexible enough to meet the organization’s needs.

Figure B



The Mozy Backup tool features a simple Explorer-like interface for specifying which files/folders should be backed up.
In most cases, backup software isn’t Microsoft Exchange aware (or can’t properly back up active databases). In such circumstances, confirm that you can automate an Exchange or database backup (using Windows’ built-in or another locally installed backup program) and have the alternative backup program park copies of the backups it creates in folders the backup provider’s software can accommodate. Better yet, seek backup applications that can manage active database and e-mail systems’ data (but be prepared to pay handsomely for the privilege — I’ve yet to find one that justifies the cost).

#5: Simple recovery
When hard disks fail, users accidentally delete files, or other systems errors occur, IT professionals need to be able to recover files quickly. Conduct tests of backup providers’ recovery functions to confirm that file recovery is simple, fast, and secure.

In other words, make sure it’s easy for you to recover data that’s been backed up offsite but that unauthorized parties won’t be able to do the same.

#6: Secure file transfer
Security has always been an issue with backups. Whether strategies involved giving one set of IT pros backup rights and another set restoration privileges, organizations have always struggled for a reasonable balance between security and operational efficiency when addressing backup issues.

Security remains a concern when selecting an automated offsite backup provider. Insist on deploying a service that meets HIPAA and SOX/Accounting security requirements. Most backup providers support at least 128-bit AES encryption and SSL security. Don’t work with a provider offering anything less.

Further, when creating automated offsite backup accounts, protect the account information (and recovery hashes or passwords) carefully. Distribute such keys sparingly and change them whenever technology employees leave the organization.

#7: 24/7 support
Disk failures and other data loss episodes don’t always occur during office hours, and they almost always require repair and recovery operations after hours (to minimize disruption to other users). Thus, you should confirm that your backup service provider’s technicians will be available when you need them most. Many backup providers boast 24/7 support. Before signing any contracts or purchasing service, make sure you’ll be able to reach its support personnel during odd hours should troubleshooting assistance ever be required.

#8: Free trials
The best way to determine whether an offsite backup provider works well for your organization is to sample its wares. Not only should you test the backup software application, support procedures, and reporting tools, but you should conduct a test recovery as well.

Only by walking through the process (creating an account, installing the backup client application, running backup operations, contacting technical support, reviewing report files, and performing a data restore) can you accurately determine whether a backup service provider offers an approachable backup program, quality support, and reliable reporting and recovery processes. Also, potential incompatibilities (between data files, databases, Windows, and the actual backup software itself) are too numerous to ever reasonably forecast, so the process of testing online backup tools on systems with similar configurations to those running in production environments will help eliminate any surprises and potential downtime when the time for real-world deployment arrives.

#9: Version tracking
Several backup providers support the ability to maintain multiple file versions. The ability to go back and reference several versions of a particular file can prove quite valuable.

When simple backup operations run, files from the previous backup (such as those backed up the night before) are written over. Most organizations back up data daily (at night). With such backup schedules, little time exists to discover errors (such as an accountant realizing he or she entered incorrect data in a budget file). If such errors aren’t caught within a day, of course, the budget file with the correct data will be written over by the file containing errors that night. With versioning file systems, several versions (or historical copies) of the same file can be maintained to recover from just such mistakes.

Look for this feature. It can bail out harried users who mistakenly corrupt good data.

#10: E-mail alerts
Numerous distractions demand IT professionals’ attention. Whether failed routers, nonfunctioning remote connections, new user accounts, or other common break/fix issues arrest your workday, backup operations must still be monitored. Unfortunately, in the heat of putting out fires and attending other crises, it’s easy to overlook backup issues until it’s too late.

Some offsite backup providers support sending alerts, bringing your attention to problems via e-mail. Without this feature, you might remain unaware that backups are failing or larger issues exist. By insisting on selecting a backup provider that supports forwarding e-mail alerts when backups fail or encounter errors, organizations can ensure their IT staff stays on top of backup operations and receive SOS messages when troubles do arise.