When you’re going to upgrade your Micrososft Exchange 2007 CCR cluster environment to an Service Pack (in my example it is an Microsoft Exchange 2007 CCR cluster with Service Pack 2), but all these steps are the same in that case.

1.) First upgrade the CAS server(s)
2.) Then upgrade the HUB Transport server(s)
3.) Logon to the passive node
4.) Upgrade the passive node to Service Pack 3
 setup.com /mode:Upgrade
6.) Restart the server after the setup is completed succesfully
7.) Stop the CMS (Clustered Mailbox Server) on the active node (DOWNTIME!!)
 Stop-ClusteredMailboxServer MAILCLUSTER01 –StopReason “SP3 Upgrade”
8.) Move the CMS (Clustered Mailbox Server) to the passive node (DOWNTIME!!)
 Move-ClusteredMailboxServer MAILCLUSTER01 –TargetMachine CCR2 –MoveComment “SP3 Upgrade”
9.) On the passive node upgrade the CMS (Clustered Mailbox Server)
 setup.com /UpgradeCMS
10.) Bring the CCR cluster back online
 Start-ClusteredMailboxServer MAILCLUSTER01
11.) Upgrade the initial active node to Service Pack 3
 setup.com /mode:Upgrade
12.) Restart the server after the setup is completed succesfully
13.) Now you have an Exchange 2007 CCR cluster with Serivce Pack 3

Exchange admins who have been in the field for a while will have come across the end user difficulties of not being able to change their passwords using OWA when either the password has expired or the admin has forced for a password reset at login. Though there were workarounds in previous versions of Exchange, no work was done by the product group to make it an Exchange feature which can be turned on or off.

Exchange 2007 SP3 brings this feature to the table. The option is disabled by default and can be turned on with a registry edit on the CAS server.

To enable the password reset feature,

1.) Log on to the CAS server with an admin account.
2.) In registry editor, navigate to HLKM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA
3.) Create the following DWORD value if it does not already exist. DWORD Name – ChangeExpiredPasswordEnabled, type – REG_DWORD and data set to 1.
4.) If the DWORD already exists, change the value from zero to one.
5.) Reset IIS from command prompt with the command iisreset /noforce

Yesterday Microsoft has released service pack 3 for Microsoft Exchange 2007!! Finally there’s support now for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2….YEAH!!!

For the full release notes, you can browse to the following URL

Download Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Exchange 2007 here

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is available.

Download details Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (KB972076)

Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2007 SP2 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2007 SP2 customers.
For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB971534.

This update rollup does not apply to Exchange Server 2007 Release To Manufacturing (RTM) or Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1). For a list of update rollups applicable to Exchange Server 2007 RTM or Exchange Server 2007 SP1, refer to the Knowledge Base article KB937052.

Download details Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (KB971534)

This week, Kevin Allison posted a hopefull article on the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog. Let’s have a look on that…

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We always talk about listening to customers and sometimes this is written off by many as ‘marketing speak’.  In fact, we do take feedback seriously and no input is more important to our engineering processes than your voice.

Earlier this year we made a decision in one direction, and due to the feedback we have received on this blog and elsewhere, we have reconsidered. In the coming calendar year we will issue an update for Exchange 2007 enabling full support of Windows Server 2008 R2. We heard from many customers that this was important for streamlining their operations and reducing administrative challenges, so we have changed course and will add R2 support.  We are still working through the specifics and will let you know once we have more to share on the timing of this update.

So, keep the feedback coming.  We are listening.

Kevin Allison
GM Exchange Customer Experience
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So within a copple of months, there will be proberly full support for Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 R2! This will be a great start of the new year 2010

With the release of Exchange 2007 SP2, the Microsoft Exchange Team has published a supportability matrix that identifies the various supported configurations of Exchange Server (operating system, Active Directory, Clients, .Net Framework, etc). You can find this document here.  Here are some notable guidelines from the article:

• Exchange Server 2003 is not supported in Active Directory environments whose domain/forest functional levels have been raised beyond Windows Server 2003. However, Exchange Server 2003 SP2 can function against Windows Server 2008 Active Directory servers.
• Exchange Server 2007 is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2. However, Exchange 2007 SP1 RU9 and SP2 are supported against Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory servers. In addition, Exchange 2007 SP1 RU9 and SP2 are supported in Active Directory environments whose domain/forest functional levels have been raised to Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Exchange 2007 SP2 is supported with PowerShell 2.0.

All of you know that Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 will be available in the end of this year! When you want to migrate to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, there’s no support anymore for Exchang 2007!!

“Stand alone DC/GC can be Windows Server 2008 R2 and it is supported to have Exchange Server 2007 SP2 work against these DC/GCs.
There is NO support for any Exchange Server 2007 SP2 components (any roles, including admin tools) installed on Windows Server 2008 R2. Exchange Server 2007 SP2 will not even install on it – the pre-req check will fail during installation.”

So when you’re planning to upgrade to Microsoft Windows 2008 R2, keep in mind that you not upgrade your Exchange 2007 environment!