I have started the long process of reviewing every page in the Exchange and Outlook sections of my technical site amset.info for Exchange 2007 compatibility. While for some articles this is quite easy, as the principles remain the same, others require a completely new article - such as the Mobile Access setup guide (original: http://www.amset.info/exchange/mobile-setup.asp)
and the spam cleanup guide (http://www.amset.info/exchange/spam-cleanup.asp)
The articles that have been reviewed and updated are here http://www.amset.info/exchange/exchange-2007.asp and I will keep that list up to date until all articles are updated. It will then contain a list of Exchange 2007 specific articles.
The compatibility table on every page is being updated as I review the articles. If I haven't touched the page then the table says "Maybe" for Exchange 2007 compatibility.
Waiting for my Exchange 2007 Migration Guide? - Sorry, you will have to keep waiting.
If you are waiting for an Exchange 2007 of my migration guide (Exchange 2003 version here: http://www.amset.info/exchange/migration.asp) then you will have to wait a big longer. I have done a few migrations now, but keep changing my mind on the best way to do it. At the moment the "guide" consists of notes in Microsoft One Note, which increases in size with every subsequent migration.
However, if you are migrating off Exchange 2003/2000 to Exchange 2007, then the current guide will help a great deal. The principles still apply, you still need to replicate public and system folders and the order of work are still valid. The Exchange 2007 version, when I get round to writing my notes will almost certainly be based on that just with additional notes for Exchange 2007. I was also waiting for Exchange 2007 as Service Pack 1 introduced GUI for public folder management which makes the migration process much easier and now wish to do a few migrations using that version to hammer down the best way to do it.
Last year I was playing around with Google Custom Search, to try and improve the search functionality on amset.info.
While I was experimenting, I built custom search engines for the knowledgebase's of Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee, Palm, Apple, Adobe and a few others.
Rather than waste the work I had done, I put them in to some rough web code I use for basic web sites, registered a domain name and put it on its own virtual server on the same server that hosts amset.info and this site.
The link initially appeared in one place only, on this site. You will find it in the side bar. I have subsequently added it to my profile on Experts Exchange. It will most likely appear linked to from amset.info when I eventually get round to a design refresh for that site.
It will now appear in a third place, here: http://www.kbsearch.info/
If you look at the site you will see that it isn't the prettiest of code. It was built on some standard asp that I use if I need to throw together something very quickly. I use most of the asp as place holders for a real design to be done at a later date.
I did some basic meta tags, put in the Google Adsense code and left it at that.
Came as a bit of a surprise then to look at the logs for the web site a few weeks later to find that not only has Google indexed it, but it was for a time also at the top of the results (at least on Google UK) for a certain keyword - Symantec KB. It now seems to vary between 1 and 3.
If you believe some of the hype around the Search Engine Optimisation community (SEO) what has happened should not have happened. I should have had lots of links to the site, monitored my keyword density, done the research, crafted my meta tags, used the keywords in the title etc. I also shouldn't have the site name in the title.
I did none of the above. I have probably got lucky with what I did use, but it was just luck. I am not aware of any inbound links (except from here) and the pages are not optimised in any way.
I am not saying that SEO is a waste of time and money, just that it in this scenario it was not required to get the site in to the search engines in a good position.
For the third year in a row, I am expert of the year at Experts Exchange. I also answered the most questions during the year - 5798 - which is an average of just over 16 questions a day.
I also picked up most points from assists.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/expertAwards2008.jsp
In other Experts Exchange news, I have decided to take a break from it for a while, so that I can concentrate on my business. You will still see me posting on other sites, but the traffic through EE is so high that it was taking up too much of my time to keep on top of it. I haven't posted in a new question on that site since Jan 1st, but I am still getting questions that I worked on before coming through, and have earned 250,000 points without even trying.
On the 21st June 2007 a UK based Exchange User group called MMMUG (http://www.mmmug.co.uk/) held a community event hosted by Microsoft. This was also attended by some of the other UK user groups.
I attended and assisted with a the breakout sessions for Exchange 2007 along with Nathan Winters of the MMMUG.
During and after the breakout presentations I was asked the same couple of questions more than once. In case you were there and didn't get to ask me those questions, here they are along with the answers.
Q: Where can I get SSL certificates for US$30?
A: This was in relation to the section of our presentation about the SSL issues with Exchange 2007 (discussed elsewhere on this blog: http://blog.sembee.co.uk/archive/2007/01/21/34.aspx).
There are two main sources that I suggest.
1. Go Daddy. http://www.certificatesforexchange.com/
Their certificates are US$20 a year and are compatible with Windows Mobile 5 with the MSFP update and later.
However their certificates are a little more complex to install server side, but it isn't that bad. They also aren't good for .co.uk domains as their authorisation process seems to fail.
2. RapidSSL. http://www.rapidssl.com/
Their certificates are US$60 a year, but if you look around for their resellers you can find them as low as US$30.
RapidSSL also do 30 day trial certificates, which are good to get to grips with the process. If you have a trial certificate and then upgrade you get a discount.
Good for co.uk domains.
However their certificates are not trusted by Windows Mobile, so you have to import the root certificate yourself (http://www.amset.info/pocketpc/certificates.asp).
Q: I would like to test Unified Messaging with Exchange 2007.
A: If you would like to use actual hardware then you need to get a cheap gateway device.
Last year Microsoft ran a trial kit with some partners (http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/09/25/428984.aspx)
The device that they used is readily available - if you can get someone to sell it to you without expensive consultancy.
The device is you need is an AudioCodes MediaPack 114 FXO VoIP gateway. It is an analogue device, so you can plug it in to a standard telephone line. http://www.audiocodes.com/
Q: What is your blog address?
A: In case you are reading this elsewhere, it is http://blog.sembee.co.uk/
I also author content on my company web site at http://www.amset.info/
Q: Can we hire you?
A: Yes of course. Email contact @ amset.co.uk
You may well have noticed that this blog disappeared yesterday (8th March).
The web server it was hosted on suffered a hard disk failure - the second in eight months (see here for last time: http://blog.sembee.co.uk/archive/2006/08/26/13.aspx).
The disk was replaced, but everything had to be reinstalled. Setting Community Server to how I prefer takes a little while, but here it is.
I am slowly repopulating the articles. If you read this site by RSS, then I apologise for a lot of "new" articles appearing as I put them back.
However due to the nature of Community Server, I cannot get the URLs to be identical to what they were before. Therefore I have adjusted one of the error pages which will send you to be root of the blog, where you can find the article that you are looking for. They will all return - eventually.
