Thoughtsofanidlemind's Blog

  • Moving a database between DAGs

    A recent email discussion between MVPs focused on a topic that I totally missed in my Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Inside Out book (also available at Amazon.co.uk), so think of this as an update to chapter 7. The problem arises after you set up a Database Availability Group (DAG) with mailbox servers and…

  • On PST ingestion: Microsoft brings a new tool to the table but…

    Today’s announcement that the Microsoft Exchange development group plans to release a tool to allow administrators to discover Personal Storage (PST) files on a network and then import the data into Exchange 2010 on-premises servers or Exchange Online (Office 365) left a couple of unanswered questions floating. Don’t get me…

  • A day walking the Somme battlefields

    I’ve been interested in the battles that flowed across France in both World Wars for many years. My interest was partially awakened by spending time close to the D-Day beaches in Normandy but I also had the chance to live with a French family in Verdun in 1973 for a…

  • European Office 365 datacenters exposed to U.S. authorities?

    After the razzmatazz of the corporate Office 365 launch in NYC faded, local Microsoft subsidiaries around the world did their own thing to brief journalists and introduce details of local offerings, such as link-ups with telcos to deliver Office 365 packaged with voice and other services. I doubt that any Microsoft…

  • Ballmer launches Office 365

    For the fun of it and because I had some spare time, I tuned into the Microsoft launch of Office 365 in NYC via the web. The content was pretty much as you’d expect from a Microsoft event: Marketing person welcomes everyone Steve Ballmer comes on and makes some introductory…

  • Interesting price differences for Office 365 accounts

    Due to be formally launched in NYC on Tuesday, June 28, there’s no doubt that Microsoft has had enormous success with its Office 365 beta program. Depending on whom you talk to, tens of millions of people signed up to use Office 365 to have the opportunity of trying out…

  • Generating Exchange 2010 reports with PowerShell

    From time to time, someone in the Exchange community outside the Exchange development group comes up with a contribution that adds an enormous amount to many different deployments. I think that the PowerShell script posted by Steve Goodman on his blog may just be in that category. For years, I have…

  • “The Register” runs ESEUTIL to rescue an Exchange 2003 server

    It’s nice to see that “The Register” continues to support Exchange 2003 administrators with advice such as that offered in the article “Help my Exchange server just rebooted” posted on June 18, 2011.I’m assuming that the article was about Exchange 2003 because the screen shot displayed system files dated from…

  • Measuring Outlook 2010 network latency

    One of the truths often overlooked by those who wish to rush into the cloud is that the characteristics of their network will change dramatically. Some of the traffic that is currently processed internally will have to be channeled out across the Internet to the selected cloud provider. For example,…

  • Quick but important survey about Exchange 2010 licensing

    Paul Robichaux caused some ripples in the calm waters of Microsoft licensing when he wrote about a question that he had received from a Windows IT Pro Magazine reader. The reader was upgrading an Exchange 2003 deployment to Exchange 2010 gradually by introducing a new Client Access Server (CAS) only…