I was getting this on a SBS 2008 server running the SBS BPA. From the error message, it’s pretty clear that the SBSMonitoring database is too large to work normally. There is a fix for this and it turns out the same SQL script that is used for an SBS problem where the Console displays too slowly is part of the solution. To shrink the database, Please follow these steps:

Step 1: Download the following file to the server you are going to be working on:

1. http://cid-d5fe25afb6c3615f.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/updateSBSMonitoring.sql

2. I recommend you save the file to an easy to access path, such as c:\windows\temp.

Step 2: Complete a backup of the SBSMonitoring Databases

1.Open Services from Administrative Tools, Services

2.Accept the UAC prompt

3.Find and stop the SQL Server (SBSMONITORING) service.

4.Make a copy of the files in the following folder:

1.C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data

5.Once the file backup is completed, start the SQL Server (SBSMONITORING) service.

Step 3: Proceed to run the following set of commands to implement the improvements

1.Open an Administrative Command Prompt (Run As Admin)

2.Type the following command, substitute the path to the updateSBSMonitoring.sql file as needed (We recommend that you do NOT copy & paste this command directly from the blog post):

1.Sqlcmd -S %computername%\SBSMonitoring -E  -i c:\windows\temp\updateSBSMonitoring.sql

2.Success will show an output like this:

Changed database context to ‘SBSMonitoring’

(1 rows affected)

If your database is completely filled up, then you can replace it with a clean empty one, to install your new clean database, please follow these steps:

1. Run services.msc.

2. Stop the Datacollectorsvc service(Windows SBS Manger Service), SQL Server(SBSMONITORING) service (To be able to unlock monitoring database files)

3. Change the name of those 2 files in case you will use them in the future:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\SBSMonitoring.mdf

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\SBSMonitoring_log.ldf

to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\SBSMonitoring-bak.mdf

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\SBSMonitoring_log-bak.ldf

4. Download http://cid-6ca40dd0d4c9caa6.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/sbsmonitoring.zip file.

5. Unzip the zip file and copy those two files to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\ folder

Note: you don’t need to do detach or attach database in SQL Management Studio. And that database has already been tuned by the SQL command above.

6. Start the SQL Server(SBSMONITORING) service

7. Start the Datacollectorsvc service(Windows SBS Manger Service)

For more information on the beginning part of this article, you can refer to this article:

SBS 2008 Console May Take Too Long to Display Alerts and Security Statuses, Display Not Available, or Crash.

Nothing found:

Taking a deeper dive to see what was going on, I cracked out my trusty NirSoft CurrPorts software to see the ports. I found out that LanSafe Power Monitor uses ports 3068 and port 3069. Upon looking at the ports, I noticed Microsoft DNS was using port 3068. This would cause LanSafe Power Monitor not able to bind with that port since it was in use. What was tricky was it still showed the service as running which I would have expected it to fail since it could not bind.

Here is how I fixed it.

Since DNS randomly selects the ports it wishes to use, I stopped the Microsoft DNS service. I then restarted the LanSafe Power Monitor services and checked to ensure it was bound to port 3068 and 3069. I then restarted the DNS service, and ensured it didn’t bind to port 3068 as it was before. Now launching LanSafe, I am able to see the server

and am able to login to manage my UPS device.

Help unblock OS deployments by redelivering blocking users’ old Windows environments, applications and browsers seamlessly in Windows 7 using automated physical-to-virtual migration

P2V Migration for Software Assurance uses the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Sysinternals Disk2VHD to convert a user’s existing Windows XP or newer client environment to a virtual hard disk then automates the delivery of an updated and personalized Windows 7 operating system containing a virtual machine with the user’s previous Windows environment, applications and Web browser. The user’s previous virtual desktop retains its existing management components, domain membership and policies. The process also publishes applications and the browser for the user to access them seamlessly within Windows 7′s start menu.

How it Works

Starting Windows environment with Windows XP SP3 or newer. Environment is personalized with applications not compatible with Windows 7.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 initiates fully-automated migration to Windows 7. Process includes P2V conversion of the running OS using Sysinternals Disk2VHD.

Windows 7 migration complete. Windows 7 contains the previous operating system in its entirety within a virtual machine.

Standalone application and Internet Explorer links published from virtual machine to native Windows 7 start menu.

Incompatible application from previous operating system is launched seamlessly within Windows 7 using RemoteApp integration and Virtual PC.

Even the most skilled IT shops, with resources to work through application compatibility challenges, often find a few users blocking roll-outs to entire sites or larger numbers of users due to:

• Compatibility of specialized, region or user-specific applications, browser customizations or USB device drivers.
• Missing installation files or media to install applications or drivers for testing or redelivery.
• Critical users who cannot risk losing any functionality of their current desktop environments and require a working backup before moving to Windows 7.

These types of issues make it difficult to completely replace existing systems with Windows 7 without causing user disruption. Allowing users to retain their current desktop environments while moving to Windows 7 can smooth the transition while mitigating or delaying investments required for making applications and hardware natively compatible with Windows 7.

Download P2V Migration for Software Assurance now:
P2V Migration for Software Assurance beta (https://connect.microsoft.com/site14/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=30989)

Note: Physical-to-virtual hard drive migration of a Windows installation is a valid operation for customers with Software Assurance and full retail copies of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Software Assurance provides users valuable benefits. Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 installed by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) using OEM versions of these products may not be transferred to a virtual hard drive in accordance with Microsoft licensing terms.

Customer Benefits

Help Reduce Windows 7 Deployment Times: The ability to perform P2V conversion of Windows XP or newer 32-bit systems as part of Windows 7 and/or 64-bit deployment means that IT organizations do not need to wait as long to get value from Windows 7. IT organizations will deliver the new Windows 7 operating system builds while preserving the old environments of a limited set of users that would otherwise delay production deployment.
Extend the Timeframe to Mitigate Application Compatibility: Using this solution, targeted users can have access to their previous set of applications, just in case something was not provisioned as part of the Windows 7 deployment. Accessing previous applications is also easy for end users, as those applications are published to the Windows 7 start menu.

Users can Access Incompatible Legacy OS Applications: Using this solution, targeted users can have access to their previous set of applications, just in case something was not provisioned as part of the Windows 7 deployment. Accessing previous applications is also easy for end users, as those applications are published to the Windows 7 start menu.

How does P2V Migration compare to Windows XP Mode or MED-V?

Windows XP Mode: Windows XP Mode is not optimized for managed desktop environments. The operating system included in Windows XP Mode cannot be customized easily without manual effort. The time spent recreating a user’s previous environment can easily take several hours per computer and it is not guaranteed that software installation media exists for every application on the previous system.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V): Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) removes the barriers to Windows upgrades by resolving application incompatibility with Windows Vista or Windows 7. MED-V enables administrative control over the distribution and management of Virtual PC images, thereby ensuring that those images are up-to-date and compliant with regulations. P2V Migration is targeted at specific deployment-blocking users with specialized requirements or conditions where a standardized virtual environment delivered with MED-V will not suffice.

Download P2V Migration (https://connect.microsoft.com/site14/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=30989)

Tell us what you think! Send your feedback and questions to the SAT team.

For If you are not already a member of the MDT beta program, click link below to join:

http://connect.microsoft.com/site14/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=1646&InvitationID=P2VM-C49K-PQHR

MDT Team

If you have not tried out the new Office 2010, you are missing some really great new software.  One new product that I enjoy using is the Office 2010 Web Apps. With this, you can create and edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents without having the application installed on your computer. More info is at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps/.  Along with this integration with SharePoint, add Exchange Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 becomes even more integrated with great features.

Oh, and if you want to download a free trail of Office 2010, browse on over to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ and download yourself a copy!

The reason for this is Microsoft has two different product lines. One is for Small Business/Home, and the other is Enterprise. If you take a look at the enterprise lineup at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/professional-plus/professional-plus-version-comparison-FX101871482.aspx you will see it comes with Office Web Apps 2010 and SharePoint Workspace, which becomes the offline client for SharePoint, allowing end-users the ability to access documents posted on SharePoint even when they are offline.. if you look at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-2010-which-suite-is-right-for-you-FX101825640.aspx which is for Small Business, you will not see Office Web Apps mentioned at all.

I see the confusion here. Microsoft seems to think that Small business’s don’t want products like Office Web Apps, but nothing could be farther than the truth. As there is no longer an upgrade SKU from Office 2007 or below, you now will purchase a full version of the product.

The enterprise line up is as follows:

My suggestion, if you want Office Web Apps, and be able to use SharePoint 2010 Foundation Server, which is FREE, then don’t buy the OEM/Retail version of the product. Instead, get the Volume License version of Office 2010 Professional Plus, which comes with Office Web Apps.

Microsoft has removed the virtualization-enabled processor requirement for Windows XP Mode on Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate. Windows XP Mode continues to use hardware virtualization such as Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or the AMD-V chipset when available but it no longer requires them.

Microsoft has released an update that enables PCs without hardware virtualization to also take advantage of Windows XP Mode. The software update provides support for Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode on machines with non-Hardware-Assisted Virtualization (HAV) processors. This software will:

• Update Windows Virtual PC to run on non-HAV CPUs.
• Install integration components into the Windows XP Mode VM to run on non-HAV platforms.

Read more about the XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC Software Update on the Windows team blog.

As we prepare to begin shipping the newest release of Microsoft Office 2010 on our PC’s, we wanted to point out some of the new licensing changes in this version. This does not apply to software assurance customers or volume licensing, only OEM (on Pre-built computers by us or other OEM’s/system builders).

With Office 2010, system builders can offer two different license types: new Product Key Cards (PKCs) and Traditional Discs. Both of these license types are available on all three Office suites.

Office Home and Student 2010:

As the name implies, this suite, which is licensed for noncommercial use, is perfect for everyday household projects, from doing homework to managing home finances. Also, depending on which licensing option is used, this suite can be installed on up to three devices within the same household (Traditional Disc is up to three devices; Product Key Card is one device only).

Office Home and Business 2010:

With Office Home and Business 2010, we are introducing a brand-new, entry-level commercial suite that replaces Office Basic 2007, Office Standard 2007, and Office Small Business Edition 2007 with a single suite. It contains all of our most popular business applications-Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook-along with OneNote.

Office Professional 2010:

Office Professional 2010 provides the best of Office 2010 with premium customer support and top-of-the-line tools that help your customers make the most of their time and business. Power your business with Microsoft Office Professional, comprehensive software and support to help you stay organized, connected, and competitive. As your company grows, so do your needs. The tools in Office Professional help you run your business now and down the road, including powerful e-mail and scheduling tools in Outlook, information and data management with Excel and Access, and the professional-caliber marketing and design tools in Publisher. The package comes complete with one year of technical support that’s there when you need it.

Product Key Cards (PKC):

Product Key Cards are similar in many ways to the Office 2007 Medialess License Kits (MLKs).They are designed for use with new PCs preloaded with Office 2010, and include a 25-character Product Key that can be used by the end user to activate one PC preloaded with Office 2010. Product Key Cards do not include a disc; however, a backup download is available until January 2011 for reinstallation on the same PC. The Product Key Card license type is not transferable to another computer.

Traditional Disc:

This license type, often referred to as Full Packaged Product (FPP) in the past, includes a DVD, a 25-character Product Key, and a Quick Start Guide. Similar to the way Product Key Cards work, the 25-character Product Key will activate an Office 2010 preloaded PC. However, unlike the Product Key Card, the DVD may also be used to install Office on a new PC that has not been preloaded with the Office 2010 or on an existing PC. The number of installations and users depends on the specific Office suite purchased. For example, Office Home and Student 2010 can be used on up to three PCs in a single household, but may not be used for any commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities. However, Office Home and Business 2010 and Office Professional 2010 are licensed for one user’s PC and on the same user’s portable device. A Traditional Disc product license can be transferred to a different PC if the user upgrades to a new PC.

Complete table of Office versions:

Office 2010 new and improved features

NEW
Co-Authoring
Breakthrough technology that connects team members on a single project.
Allows multiple people to update and share a notebook simultaneously. Each person on the team can see who is working on the document online and start a conversation with that person in real time. And edits are highlighted, so you can see what’s been changed.
NEW
Conversation View
Get control of your e-mail.
Improves the tracking and managing of related e-mails while saving valuable inbox space, letting you manage large amounts of e-mail with ease. It also hides entire conversations you don’t care about and condenses them with just a few clicks.
NEW
Broadcast Slide Show
Instantly broadcast presentations to clients and team members who are not in your office.
Instantly broadcast your slides to a remote audience, who can view your presentation online and on any device that has a Web browser, even if they don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.
NEW
Video Editing and Formatting
Create professional materials that set you apart.
Allows you to edit videos right in PowerPoint 2010, no additional software required. You can even insert a video link from the Internet into your presentation to create rich, dynamic work but keep your file size manageable. And video controls let you pause, rewind, fast-forward, and stop audio and video content without leaving slide-show mode during your presentation.
NEW
Microsoft Excel 2010 Sparklines
Make quicker and better-informed business decisions.
Sparklines are small charts in a worksheet cell that provide a clear and compact visual representation of your data. You can use them to show trends in a series of values, such as seasonal increases or your monthly expenditures, or to highlight maximum or minimum values.
NEW
Microsoft Office BackstageTM view
Helps you quickly get to the commands you use the most and complete your work more efficiently.
Provides a single location for essential information about your document, such as permissions and version information-and increases sharing options for print, online, and e-mail. And printing is faster and easier than ever with the new Live Preview. Now you can see your document and settings automatically before you print, without multiple clicks.
IMPROVED
Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010
Keep productive on the go with a seamless offline and online experience.
Allows you to work on a document offline in SharePoint Workspace 2010, and when you connect back online, your edits are automatically synchronized so your content remains consistent and you can keep your team up-to-date instantly.
IMPROVED
Microsoft Office Web Applications
Respond faster and better, even when you are away from the office.
Provides high-fidelity browser-based viewing and allows you to do lightweight editing of Microsoft Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, and OneNote 2010 files.
IMPROVED
Microsoft Office Mobile 2010
Do more than just read e-mail on your phone.
Office Mobile 2010 enables coworkers in different locations to share, edit, and comment on documents with their Microsoft Smartphones, without losing content or formatting, all within a familiar Office experience.
IMPROVED
OneNote 2010
Stay organized and on top of your work.
Jump to anywhere in your notebooks with OneNote Search. Improved search navigation provides quick access to your information with a single click. See search results as you type to quickly narrow the selection.
NEW
Linked Notes
No more searching for your notes and important information.
As you take notes, you can automatically link to the application that you referenced, including Windows Internet Explorer 8, Word 2010, or PowerPoint 2010. An icon is placed in-line to indicate the referencing application.
IMPROVED
The Ribbon
All the tasks you need are right at your fingertips for enhanced productivity.
Every application in Office 2010 now has the Ribbon. The Ribbon brings new features such as Microsoft Outlook 2010 Quick Steps to your attention. Through the Options menu in Backstage view, you can easily create new tabs that bring together your favorite commands and groups, or customize existing tabs to fit your needs.

Office now comes in 64 bit as well. To determine which version is appropriate for your installation, refer to http://blogs.technet.com/office_resource_kit/archive/2009/12/10/office-2010-introduces-64-bit-editions.aspx . By default, the 32 bit version is installed for compatibility of 3rd party add-on’s.

If you would like a FREE copy of the Office 2010 Ebook, click here

Site folder server deleted

The site-wide public folder database for administrative group ‘first administrative group’ has been deleted. Current public folder store: CN=Public Folder Store (OLDSBS03SERVER)\0ADEL:73d46e40-79b1-42c1-b3aa-535c97646ebd,CN=Deleted Objects,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local.

If you clicked on the link to tell you more about it, it would direct you to an article that was last updated in March 2006 that is for Exchange 2003. When I followed this article, the siteFolderServer attribute it indicated was wrong, was in this case correct at both locations. Further, the public folder store it was referencing was the old SBS 2003 /Exchange 2003 server.

So what happened? This issue occurs because the siteFolderServer attribute represents the Distinguished Name (DN) of the old Public Folder store, (i.e. the one on the old SBS 2003 server) which didn’t get replicated properly, in the scenario of migration from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008, the public folders replication occurs between source server and destination server, if there is any error in this process, the replication may fail and cause this issue.

Here’s how to fix it:

1. Open the ADSIEidt.msc and locate to CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local > CN=Services > CN=Microsoft Exchange > CN=First Organization > CN=Administrative Groups.

2. Delete the CN=first administrative group (Kind of scary to delete this, but is not needed in a pure Exchange 2007 environment)

3. Restart the Exchange Information Store and the Exchange System Attendant. 

4. Now open up the Exchange Management Console and run the BPA to check the health again.

5. Now open up the Exchange Management Console and go to Server Configuration, Mailbox.

Do you now get the following error:

——————————————————–
Microsoft Exchange Warning
——————————————————–
The following warning(s) were reported while loading topology information:

get-PublicFolderDatabase
Completed

Warning:
Object SERVER\Second Storage Group\Public Folder Database has been corrupted and it is in an inconsistent state. The following validation errors have occurred:

Warning:
PublicFolderHierarchy is mandatory.

Warning:
PublicFolderHierarchy is mandatory.

——————————————————–
OK
——————————————————–

If so, read on, we have a few more things to do to bring this server back to a healthy state.

This error indicates the public folder database hierarchies have been corrupted and cannot retrieve the necessary information from the active directory, and the possible cause is the msExchOwningPFTree attribute has a null value so the EMC cannot retrieve the information from it.

1. Open up ADSIEidt.msc and locate to CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local > CN=Services > CN=Microsoft Exchange > CN=First Organization > CN=Administrative Groups > CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT) > CN=Servers > CN=Server > CN=InformationStore > CN=Second Storage Group.

2. Right-click the CN=Public Folder Database and select Properties, then find the msExchOwningPFTree, and check if the value is point to the correct DN, for example, in this case, it should be:
CN=Public Folders,CN=Folder Hierarchies,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=First Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=Services, CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local

3. If the value is null or pointed to an incorrect DN, check if the Folder Hierarchies object is lost in AD. Chances are it is missing.

4. If the Folder Hierarchies object is present, go to CN=Administrative Groups,CN=First Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=Services, CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local, and check if CN=Folder Hierarchies object. Double-click CN=Public Folders and find the distinguishedName and copy the value then paste it to the msExchOwningPFTree according to above steps.

5. If the CN=Folder Hierarchies object is missing, follow the steps below to recreate it.

Re-create public folder hierarchy using the following steps:
====================
Create the "Folder Hierarchies" under the Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)

a. Right click on Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)
b. Select New Object
c. Select msExchPublicFolderTreeContainer for the class and click Next
d. Enter “Folder Hierarchies”, click Next
e. Click Finish

Create Public Folder Tree Object

a. Right click CN=Folder Hierarchies -> New Object
b. Select msExchPFTree for the class
c. For the value enter, "Public Folders" and click next
d. Click on the "More Attributes" button, select msExchPFTreeType and set the value to 1.
Note: This is very important that this value is set to a value of 1 as this tells Exchange that this is a MAPI Tree
e. Click Ok and then finish

Populate msExchOwningPFTree attribute object of the PF Stores in the organization

1. Get properties of the newly created "Public Folders" Tree object in ADSIEdit.
2. Copy the distinguishedname value to the clipboard and then click cancel.
3. Navigate to CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local > CN=Services > CN=Microsoft Exchange > CN=First Organization > CN=Administrative Groups > CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT) > CN=Servers > CN=Server > CN=InformationStore > CN=Second Storage Group. Right-click the CN=Public Folder Database and select Properties

4. Locate the msExchOwningPFTree attribute and paste in the value that was copied to the clipboard in step 2. Click OK.

5. Restart the Information Store Service.

If this is a SBS 2008 server, do the following:

Rerun the following wizards to fix the related settings.

1. Open the Windows SBS Console, re-run the Connect to the Internet and Setup your Internet Address.
2. After that, Navigate to Network > Connectivity.
3. In the Tasks pane, click “Fix my network” to check and fix any related networking issues.
4. Restart all Exchange services, including the Information Store and System Attendant service.

Now open up the Exchange Management Console and again, go to Server Configuration, Mailbox.

The stores should now be mounted and working correctly.

Ok, so you think we are done now and everything is fixed? In my case, I had two more errors in the Application log that needed to get fixed from this.

I had Event ID: 107 , MSExchange Search Indexer, with the following message:

Exchange Search Indexer has temporarily disabled indexing of the Mailbox Database First Storage Group\Database-new (GUID = adb30473-006a-4393-8156-1f2b45d2932b) due to an error (Microsoft.Mapi.MapiExceptionNetworkError: MapiExceptionNetworkError: Unable to read events. (hr=0×80040115, ec=-2147221227)

and

Event ID: 112, Microsoft Exchange OLEDB was unable to register OnSyncSave event for Schema propagation on MDB startup HRESULT = 0x8000ffff.

Well, these look pretty bad to me. The first error, Event ID 107, can  be safely ignored and Exchange Search will try to index the database when the store is back online or is mounted.

The second error indicates there is a duplicate system folder "schema-root" exists in Exchange, and the error is caused by removal of the first administrative group from ADSIEDIT.MSC in the beginning of this posting, but understand this issue is caused by Exchange 2003 not being decommissioned properly, thus resulting in multiple schema root folders in the System Folders of the Public Folders.

So for the second error, more steps need to correct this issue:

1. Generate a random GUID

a. Download GUID Generator from Microsoft Download Center
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=94551f58-484f-4a8c-bb39-adb270833afc&displaylang=en
b. Extract the package and run guidgen.exe.
c. Select Registry Format and click Copy to get the GUID.
e.g. {50D52661-131C-47cf-9803-856F25DC790E}
d. Remove the brackets and hyphens in the GUID, separate every two characters with a space.
e.g. 50 D5 26 61 13 1C 47 cf 98 03 85 6F 25 DC 79 0E

2. Update the GUID of System Folders

a. Load ADSI Edit by running adsiedit.msc.
b. Expand nodes to locate the AD object CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=local > CN=Services > CN=Microsoft Exchange > CN=First Organization > CN=Administrative Groups.
c. On  the right pane, right click the CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT) folder and select Properties.
d. On tab Attribute Editor, double-click attribute siteFolderGUID, paste the formatted GUID in step 1 to the textbox Value and click OK.

3. Restart Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service.

Now check your event logs. Mine are now clean!  I hope this helps others who run into this issue as I was unable to find appropriate answers on the net.

Yesterday, Microsoft made the first public announcement about Exchange Server 2010 SP1. Besides some bug fixes, it adds a ton of extremely valuable new features to what is already the most significant release of Exchange in some time.

The first major SP1 change I want to talk about involves the way that the Personal Archive feature works. In Exchange 2010 RTM, Personal Archive mailboxes must be in the same mailbox database as the primary mailbox they support. This requirement prevents you from using the Personal Archive functionality with less-expensive, slower storage, and it puts limits on how you provision mailbox databases for users. This situation alone has slowed down Exchange 2010 deployments because the utility of Personal Archives is limited by not being able to move them to alternate storage.

SP1 removes this limitation so that a Personal Archive mailbox can be created in any mailbox database in the organization. It’s essentially treated as any other mailbox would be except that it’s linked to its primary mailbox. In keeping with the idea that it’s much like a regular mailbox, SP1 also lets you grant delegate access to users’ Personal Archives.

SP1 includes a bunch of very welcome improvements to the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Control Panel (ECP). The biggest items here are support for Role Based Access Control (RBAC) and full support for retention tags and policies.

OWA and Exchange ActiveSync get some great new features as well, notably a series of interface tweaks that make OWA look more like a web app and less like a desktop app. OWA in SP1 will finally support themes again because they provide a very useful, and supported, way to brand and customize the appearance of OWA for companies that want to do so.

The Exchange Team Blog has an expanded list of SP1 features available in the post "Yes Virginia, there is an Exchange Server 2010 SP1,"

Now we wait for the announcement for SBS 2008 R2, which should include Exchange 2010 among other things. Keep your eye’s open!