Exchange 2007 Transport Rules

An Exchange 2007 administrator recently asked if there was way to prevent file attachments from being sent to internal users. They have a file share set up but users send the files to each other by email instead. The administrator wants force users to send links to the files while allowing attachments to be sent to outside contacts.

This is possible using Transport rules. In Exchange 2007, open the Exchange Management Console. Go to Organizational Configuration and New transport rule from the Actions pane. There are a number conditions you can apply to messages. While many of the conditions are identical to the conditions available in Outlook's Rules wizard, many of the actions are available only in transport rules, including the ability to add or remove message headers, add disclaimers, log an event, or send a bounce message.

In your case, you'll want to select the Condition 'sent to users inside or outside the organization' (near the top) and 'when the size of any attachment is greater than or equal to limit' (near the bottom). Click on the underlined fields if you need to change the values. Click Next and select the Actions to perform. You'll want the bounce action near the bottom of the list. Click Next and set any necessary exceptions before creating the rule.

For admins who prefer to use the Management Shell, you'll use the New-TransportRule cmdlet. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125136.aspx for more information. 

Exchange 2007 SP2 Setup failure

Exchange 2007 SP2 installation can fail during the prerequisite check stage with the Exchange Setup log showing the setup fails with the following error:

[ERROR] Cannot find at least one domain controller running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later in domain 'DC=DCName,DC=com,DC=DCName'. This could be the result of moving domain controller objects in Active Directory. Check that at least one domain controller running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later is located in the 'Domain Controllers' organizational unit (OU) and rerun setup.

This happens if either of these conditions are true:

• Installing or upgrading to Exchange 2007 SP2 in an Active Directory forest that has only Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers
• Installing or upgrading the Exchange 2007 SP2 in an Active Directory forest that has windows server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers as well Windows Server 2003 domain controllers that are not updated to at least Windows Server 2003 SP1.

Once Windows Server 2008 R2 is widely available, the Exchange team will release an update for the Exchange server 2007 SP2 Setup prerequisite XML files, adding Windows Server 2008 R2 as a supported Active Directory Domain Controller. Until this update is available, Microsoft suggests that administrators bring up a domain controller that has either Windows Server W2003 SP1+ or Windows Server 2008 installed.

For more information and other possible solutions, see
Exchange 2007 SP2 Setup fails if all domain controllers are running Windows Server 2008 R2
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/02/452284.aspx 

Outlook & Hotmail/MSN: Access Denied

There are apparently a large number of users who missed the monthly notifications that access to Hotmail and MSN accounts using the HTTP protocol would be turned off effective September 1. From this date on, users will need to use either the Outlook Connector or POP3/SMTP to read Hotmail in Outlook.

The Outlook Connector works with Outlook 2003/2007only, but all versions of Outlook (and any email program that supports POP3) can use POP3. if you choose POP3, you'll need to set Outlook to leave mail on the server if you also use the web interface to view mail or it will be removed from the server once Outlook downloads it.

If you (or someone you know) receives an error similar to the following error, the HTTP account needs to be removed from Outlook and either the Connector installed or an account configured for POP3 access.

Task 'Hotmail: Folder:Inbox Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC33) : 'Access to the account was denied. Verify that your username and password are correct. The server responded 'Forbidden'.

Download the Outlook Connector from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9A2279B1-DF0A-46E1-AA93-7D4870871ECF&displaylang=en 

For those familiar with account creation in Outlook, the basic information for configuring POP/SMTP is as follows:

Incoming server name: pop3.live.com
Outgoing server: smtp.live.com
Incoming mail (POP3): port 995.
Outgoing mail (SMTP): port 587.

Don't forget to configure the account to authenticate with the outgoing server, use SSL, and leave mail on the server.

For the complete instructions, see http://www.slipstick.com/problems/msn_denied.asp 

For those who don't want to use POP3 and don't have Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007, the Live Mail client is free (and includes a calendar). Download it from http://download.live.com/wlmail.

Outlook Quick Tip: Support for the Outlook Connector

Several people who switched to the Outlook Connector after HTTP access for Hotmail and MSN accounts was cut off are having issues with the connector.

If uninstall, reboot then reinstall doesn't help and you want to contact Microsoft for support, you need to go to https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?&ln=en-us&c1=505&gprid=6998&st=1. If you are asked for the PID (product id) use your Outlook PID, not the one in the connector's help, about dialog.