Archive for November, 2008

Moving iCal Calendars to Entourage using Sync Services, iCal export/import and Categories

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac on 2008/11/28

Recently we have been working with a Mac based client who has chosen Microsoft Exchange for email, calendaring and team collaboration.

Prior to hiring WIGITAL to unify their mail services on Exchange, the company’s users managed their email services (on a variety of POP platforms) and kept their own appointments in iCal. Since the entire environment is dispersed on individual Macs and MacBooks, individual users have “multiple iCal calendars” in which they have organized and color coded their own appointments.

To help our client transition from separate individual Personal Information Management solutions onto a team platform, the use of Microsoft Entourage 2008 (part of Office for Mac) has been chosen for the users. This means WIGITAL also has the job of transitioning each “individual” users data from Apple’s Address Book, iCal and MacMail applications onto Microsoft Exchange where it is then available to “all of the users” through Entourage.

This article is dedicated to the Calendar portion of the data transition.

Migrating Calendar Data – the challenge:

Because Entourage does not implicitly provide an import tool for iCal (.ics) calendars, the client needs a work around to transfer their multiple iCal Calendars into Entourage. The goal is to retain the organization of appointments while avoiding a lot of manual click-click-click work for the users. Each user wants to keep their current separation of appointments by type and color coding.

Here is how to import “multiple” Calendars from iCal into Entourage while assigning Categories and Colors to the Calendars “in-bulk” and retaining the seperation as it previously existed in iCal.

Verify Sync Settings are enabled in Entourage

open Entourage
go to the menu bar above, click Entourage | click Preferences
under General Preferences | click Sync Services
check the box Synchronize events and tasks with iCal and .mac
confirm that iCal maps to your Calendar in Entourage (in our case it must be the “Exchange account” calendar)
click OK
a node for Entourage should now appear in iCal in the form of a Calendar named “Entourage”

Export Calendars from iCal and import back into the iCal Entourage sync’d calendar

open iCal
go to menu bar above, click View | confirm Show Calendar List is enabled
- This enables the entire list of Calendars to show on the left side of iCal (it may already be enabled)
in iCal – clear all check boxes from individual Calendars “except the specific one you want to work with” (we’re going to export the last remaining “checked” Calendar)
click on the Calendar you want to export (example – click the “Work” calendar… it highlights in BLUE)
go to the menu bar above: click File | click Export
- you can export the entire Calendar (in our example the highlighted “Work” calendar) to a file location (Desktop, Finder, etc…)
- in the Save As: name the Calendar
- click the Export button
once that specific Calendar has been exported, return to iCal
in iCal, click and highlight the “Entourage” calendar (remember Sync Services must be “enabled” to view Entourage in iCal – see above)
in the menu bar above, click File | click Import
- the Import window will pop up
select import an iCal file and click the Import button
select the “Work” iCal calendar you previously exported to a file location
click the Import button

* This “Work” calendar has now been imported back into iCal (but this time, into the Entourage sync’d calendar inside iCal that is synchronizing with Entourage). The data will now appear in both iCal and Entourage.

Assigning the iCal calendar items to Entourage Categories after import

If you are new to Entourage, the Entourage equivalent of separating Appointments, Events and Tasks into identifiable groupings is to use Categories in Entourage.

Click here for a video on how to create and edit Categories in Entourage

The fundamental principal here in exporting/importing iCal calendars is to create and then assign an Entourage Category for each set of iCal Calendar appointments that exist and are being imported into the Entourage sync’d calendar node in iCal. Exporting/importing a single calendar at a time gives us the opportunity to assign one Category at a time after each import.

To explain: for the multiple Calendars in iCal ( such as “work, personal, training, meetings” ), we are creating a Category in Entourage to represent each of these divisions. If a “Calendar” exists in iCal for “work”, we will create a corresponding “Category” in Entourage for “work”.

The key to discerning which Appointments and Events already existed and which ones are newly imported is to “only import one Calendar at a time”. By switching to Entourage immediately after each import from iCal, we have the ability to assign the newest items to a Category. Once imported items are assigned to a Category, they take on the “name and color” of the Category and can then be easily distinguished from the next set of imports (which by default have the category of “None” and use “no color at all”).

To see all calendar items (and Categories) “at once” we use the Views feature of Entourage. This method of viewing and sorting Entourage Calendar information is simple and allows to see every appointment at once. Using the All Events view also enables us to assign multiple items to a Category. This is accomplished through simple keyboard concepts like “holding down the Shift key when selecting multiple items”. Here is how it works:

use the iCal method above to export/import a single Calendar
- Observe the “name” and “color” of each calender you are exporting/importing
Now open Entourage
click the Calendar toolbar in Entourage
- NOTE: the toolbar is the row of buttons directly above the Folder List
- NOTE: toolbar buttons are named Mail, Address Book, Calendar, Notes, Task, Project Center
- clicking the Calendar button provides a “different view” of the Folder List
expand the Calendar View (i.e. click the triangle – Calendar toolbar must be active to see Calendar View)
select All Events from the Calendar View
- Note: all the Calendar items appear in the All Events View
- Note: items assigned to a category appear in different colors
- COLUMN HEADERS appear at the top of the rows of data
look for the Column Header named Categories
CLICK on the Column Header named Categories – this “sorts the Categories” by name thereby grouping similarly named Categories together
- Note: unassigned Categories are named “None” and have “no color“
- Note: the “None” category will now be grouped together in the list
- “IF” you have imported only one iCal calendar into Entourage at a time, these “newest” items are in the Category of “None”.
To assign the newest imports to the category of your choice - Hold down the Shift key, click the first item and then the last item with the Category of “None”
- Holding down the shift key selects all list items between the first and last item you choose.
- All selected items can then be assigned “in-bulk” to a Category
with items highlighted, click the Categories “button” in the toolbar above
assign your Category from the list
- each Calendar item will turn the “color” of the Category you have selected
- remember “if” multiple Categories are assigned to a Calendar item, the item reflects the “color” of the last Category to be assigned to it
You are done…!
Return to iCal and repeat this procedure
Assign all the “None” items after each import into a Category.
- With each new import, newly imported items always appear under the Category of “None“
Repeat this process as many times as needed to re-assign imported iCal Calendar items to Entourage Categories

Once imported, Appointments and Events appear in Microsoft Entourage as well as the Entourage sync’d calendar in iCal. Categories however will only appear in Entourage.

SUGGESTIONS

using the same “colors” in Entourage your Users previously used in iCal may help keep things familiar and make it easier to find things
using the same “names” for Entourage Categories that your Users previously chose to name the Calendars in iCal may also help keep things familiar
remind your users to no longer use the multiple Calendars in iCal and that if they insist on using iCal, entries must be made to iCals sync’d Entourage calendar if they want them to appear in Entourage
Entourage Help and Learning Tools are available online

Happy Thanksgiving,

Mark Raborn
WIGITAL

Categories, Entourage, Exchange, Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, export, iCal, import, Sync Services

1 Comment

Entourage Account Settings for Microsoft Exchange

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac on 2008/11/22

Using Entourage for mail, calendar, tasks and contacts can provide business users with an enterprise quality personal information manager on the Mac. The capabilities of Entourage are greatly expanded when connecting to Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003 or 2007. Users on Exchange are able to query and interact with other users in their environment. This includes sharing email, calendar and contact folders and even completely delegating folders to other employees from within Entourage.

Entourage is included in Microsoft’s Office 2008 for Mac and is the equivalent of Microsoft Outlook on the PC. We’ve written this article about setting up Entourage for non-techy people and for those new to Office for Mac. For an extensive technical walk through, please see Amir Haque’s blog entry on How Entourage Works.

This article is dedicated to helping beginners get connected.

Entourage Technologies Under the Hood

Yes…. Entourage is different than Microsoft Outlook for PC

Because Entourage runs on Mac OS X , the underlying technologies are web standards based and the differences can be significant, especially in earlier versions of Entourage and Exchange. This article will touch on the following protocols and services:

Outlook for PC also relies on standards based technologies (in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003). It differs primarily in it’s specific implementation of Remote Procedure Call to connect to Exchange over HTTPS. This is a different implementation than Mac because Entourage relies primarily on WebDAV and LDAP to provide secure connection, authentication and directory services while Outlook relies on RPC.

by-the-way, this all changes in Exchange 2007 SP1 which transitioned certain key functions to web services

Here’s a non-normative comparison prior to Exchange 2007 SP1:

function:	Entourage	Outlook
Connect and Authenticate	HTTP SSL LDAP	HTTP SSL Basic Authentication
Retrieve Data Share Data Delegate	WebDAV LDAP	RPC / HTTP Active Directory
find other Users	LDAP	Active Directory

For anyone familiar with Outlook but unfamiliar with Entourage, it’s important to understand the differences not only between PC and Mac but between setting up the different Mac versions of Entourage (2001, 2004, 2008) with the different versions of Exchange Server (2000, 2003, 2007).

Setting up Entourage Account Settings and connecting to Microsoft Exchange

We’re going to setup Entourage with Exchange (prior to the Exchange 2007 SP1 version)

open Entourage
on the menu bar above, go to Entourage | Account Settings
in the “Accounts” window, click New
the following window will appear to enter the Account Settings

Entourage Exchange Account Settings

Explanation of Account Settings

Account Name: your personal description of your account on the Exchange Server
Name: your name as you want it to appear in Email
Email Address: the full email address associated with your Exchange account
Account ID: your UserID on the Exchange Server (this is NOT your email address but is your user logon name in Active Directory and may be different from your email “alias”)
- ask your administrator for this information
Domain: this is the internal DOMAIN-NAME of the network on which the Exchange Server authenticates
- it is most often the NETBIOS DOMAIN-NAME
- it will be a string of characters with no periods (.)
- it may be different than the website domain you access your email on
- ask your administrator for this information
Password: your password for email access
Exchange Server: the web facing internet address of your exchange server
- most often the same internet address as the Outlook Web Access site
- may be in a form similar to:
  - mailserver.com/exchange (PC)
  - mailserver.com/exchange/mark@mailserver.com (Mac)
  - owa.mailserver.com (PC)
  - owa.mailserver.com/mark@mailserver.com (Mac)
  - etc…
  - use this article to Troubleshoot Entourage Connections to Exchange
- ask your administrator for your mail server information
usually check the box – This DAV service requires a secure connection (SSL)
- most administrators require SSL which encrypts the User/Password credentials when logging on
- Please confirm with you administrator about this requirement

The last entry is the first in which we view Entourage using DAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning) over SSL. This is one of the differences between the way Outlook on PC and Entourage for Mac access the Exchange Server.

ALSO: It is possible to Override default DAV port of 443 but do not check this box or alter this this setting unless specifically instructed to do so by your administrator.

NOTES:

Account ID

Your Account ID is most often your email address name without the @mailserver.com

EX: if your email address is mark@mailserver.com then your Account ID is generally mark

However, email addresses may also be an alias of the actual Account ID. This means that while your Account ID may be “mark”, your default email address could be mark.raborn, markr, mraborn OR any number of variants called an “alias”. Ask your administrator for this information.

Domain

The Domain “name” you are accessing may be a name you literally have never heard of. While the website for accessing your company mail over the internet may be something familiar like owa.mailserver.com/exchange your internal Domain may be something like OURCOMPANY and may not resemble the internet address of your mail server at all. Internal DomainNames when used in Entourage (such as OURCOMPANY), are not fully qualified domains. This meansthey will not be in the form of a typical internet address “separated . by . periods”. This means not OURCOMPANY.COM or OURCOMPANY.NET but more likely a single name like OURCOMPANY

Ask your administrator for this information.

Exchange Server

Your Exchange Server address should be entered as the same web address which allows access to Outlook Web Access over the internet WITH ONE EXCEPTION, in Entourage the Exchange Server address should be appended with your default SMTP email address. This would take the form of ( example owa.mailserver.com/exchange/mark@mailserver.com )

The Exchange Server “Outlook Web Access” address enables you to log on, send email, view contact and calendar information and perform most tasks you expect to perform in Entourage or Outlook. It is part of accessing Microsoft Exchang over the web. The address you enter here (i.e. owa.mailserver.com/exchange ) should give you direct access to Exchange from a either a Browser (which is a good way to test the address by the way) or Entourage. Just be sure that when you enter it in Entourage, you append your email address to the end as in the example above as in owa.mailserver.com/exchange/mark@mailserver.com

Setting Up Advanced Settings for Entourage with Exchange Server

With basic Exchange Server “Account Settings” now in place, there are two more major components that that can increase the functionality of Entourage. They are:

Public Folders
Directory Services

To understand the Public Folder and Directory settings in Entourage, lets go to Microsoft.

Public Folders in Exchange (quoting Microsoft)

Public folders, introduced in the first version of Microsoft Exchange, are designed for shared access and provide an easy and effective way to collect, organize, and share information with other people in your workgroup or organization. Public folders are hierarchically organized, stored in dedicated databases, and can be replicated between Exchange servers.

This excerpt explains why an organization would want to provide these additional services to it’s Entourage Users. The next step is to connect to them.

PUBLIC FOLDERS

Let’s setup Public Folders using the Advanced settings for Exchange

open Entourage
on the menu bar above, go to Entourage | Account Settings
in the “Accounts” window, double click the Entourage for Exchange account you created earlier
the Edit Account window appears
click the Advanced tab
enter your Advanced Public Folder Settings here

Public Folders - Advanced settings in Entourage

Explanation of Public Folder Settings

Public folders server: this is the full web address from which Public Folders are accessible from the internet (prior to Exchange 2007 SP1). – - Please ask your administrator for your information
- usually a variant of the Outlook Web Access website address (ex. owa.mailserver.com/public )
- you can view public folders from the Internet in an internet browser using the full address (ex. https://owa.mailserver.com/public ).
- Logging onto Public Folders over the Internet is a good way to test for the correct Public Folder address as well as test your logon and view the folders you have permission to access. Seeing Public Folders through your browser enables you to verify that the same information appears in your Entourage Public Folders once you have connected Entourage.
check the box – This DAV service requires a secure connection (SSL)
- most administrators require SSL to encrypt the User/Password credentials between Entourage and Exchange. Please confirm with you administrator about this requirement.

This again is an example of Entourage using DAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning) over SSL. Note that It is possible to Override default DAV port of 443. Do not override or alter this this setting unless specifically instructed to do so by your administrator.

DIRECTORY SERVICES

The second section of Advanced settings in Entourage is the Directory Settings. To familiarize ourselves with Directory Settings let’s once again turn to Microsoft.

Directory Services – using the Global Address List through Exchange (quoting Microsoft)

A global address list (GAL) is a directory that contains entries for every group, user, and contact within an organization’s implementation of Microsoft Exchange Server. GALs are displayed in the Microsoft Outlook Address Book on a client computer. Address lists are a subset of the GAL and can be used to further organize the recipients in your organization

With directory services explained, let’s go back and compare a picture of a typical Public Folder entry and it’s corresponding Directory Settings entry together…. (again, this is prior to Exchange 2007 SP1)

Directory settings in Entourage - LDAP

Notice how “different” they are! There is a completely different “name” used in the LDAP server entry. So, why the difference?

Accessing users, groups and internal company address book data in Entourage is accomplished by accessing something called the Global Catalog (a part of Active Directory). The Global Catalog itself is accessed (when using Entourage on Mac) by use of the web standard LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). Here are some basics about LDAP and why we may want to use it in connecting to the Microsoft Exchange server.

LDAP provides the company’s User data from the Global Catalog to Mac users
For LDAP to query the Global Catalog it is necessary to oepn firewall ports other than the typical internet ports of HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443). NOTE: this is prior to Exchange 2007 SP1
because accessing LDAP from the outside of a network requires making “holes” through your firewall, LDAP may not be implemented OR ALLOWED in your environment (it may be turned off from access by the outside world)
the reason the Global Catalog may be DISALLOWED is because it offers information your administrator does not want to expose on the internet

About the Ports and/or Web Services used to access the Global Catalog

As Exchange has continually developed, the methods used to access the Global Catalog have developed as well. LDAP based Directory Access is different today than it was on the last version of Exchange and how it is accessed literally “varies” on the version of Exchange Server (2007, 2003 or 2000) in use at your organization. Some key points are:

“IF” Directory Services are open for LDAP based access from the Internet, the likely ports are
- “unsecured” LDAP port = 368 and 3268
- “secured” LDAP ports = 636 and 3269
The LDAP Server name under Directory Settings is likely to be completely different than the Exchange Server or Public Folders names.
If Entourage 2008 and Exchange 2007 SP1 are present, Directory Services are actually accessed via web services through the same Internet Address as the public facing Outlook Web Access server on the internet. This basically means – - all the above stuff changes!

This all of a sudden very technical way of explaining LDAP hints at why establishing the Directory Settings is much different than other aspects of Entourage. One final point is that LDAP access from your Entourage mail client may be available while “on the local network” but that same access may not be available from “outside” the local network… meaning anywhere on the open Internet.

Fortunately, advances have been made in the most recent release of Exchange Server to help this circumstance. Please confirm with you administrator about your exact settings and the availability of the Global Catalog through LDAP in your environment.

Changes to Entourage connectivity in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1

The final caveat about everything we have discussed so far is that it all changes significantly with the release of Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1. In short, Client Access has been made accessible through Web Services with the release of SP1 for Exchange 2007. This means the complex explanation of ports, protocols and different types of access inside versus outside goes away.

Here is a list of the features now available (post 2007 SP1) using plain HTTPS (port 443) via Web Services:

Public folder access – You can access and manipulate public folders.
Delegate Management – You can manage delegates by using Exchange Web Services.
Improved Delegate Access - Delegates can do the following:
- Open folders based on folder-level permissions
- Create, send, receive, forward, and respond to meeting requests
- Open shared mailboxes and act as the owner
- Create notification subscriptions on folders in the mailbox of the principal owner
Folder Level Permissions - Users and client applications can query and configure permissions on folders.
Identifier Translation - You can now translate Exchange item identifier formats.

In closing, let’s offer some additional reading.

Please read:

New Client Access Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
As well as these two articles which explain the newest capabilities of of Entourage 2008 and Exchange Server 2007 SP1 in tandem

Talk to your Administrator

The best thing in all circumstances is to consult your administrator for the specific information necessary to connect your version of Entourage (2001, 2004, 2008) to your version of Exchange (2000, 2003, 2007). Please remember Amir Haque’s excellent blog entry on TechNet for a deep dive on HOW ENTOURAGE WORKS . It is a great explanation of how Entourage and Exchange work together to connect the dots.

I hope this helps get you started. Entourage is a great tool and Exchange is one of the most successful and highly deployed of all mail platforms in the enterprise. Mac users can benefit from it’s features along with all those PC users. Who knows, with a little practice, maybe you too can get even more out of Entourage than just your email.

Thanks,
Mark Raborn
WIGITAL

Account Settings, DAV, Directory Services, Entourage, Entourage 2004, Entourage 2008, Exchange, Exchange Server, LDAP, WebDav

2 Comments

Networking Windows .local and Apple Macintosh

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac on 2008/11/13

What to do if .local has been used in Windows Network as the first level domain name of the Internal domain and you are deploying in an “Apple Mac centric” network with older Mac’s in the environment?

To help Mac DNS resolve .local Please read KB836413 – You receive an “unexpected error occurred” error message when you try to access resources on a Windows-based network from your Macintosh computer

content of KB Article

.local Preferences adjustment: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2385?viewlocale=en_US
Updating Mac OSX: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1338?viewlocale=en_US
Apple Support: http://www.apple.com/support/

To connect Mac OS X to SBS please read Connecting Mac OS X 10.3 and Higher Clients to a Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network

.local, Mac, networking

No Comments

(the Chihuahua) comments on SBSanswerfile.xml and OOBE in SBS 2008

Posted by Mark Raborn in SBS on 2008/11/13

A LESSON LEARNED FROM SEAN DANIELS - SBS PM

The sbsanswerfile.xml can be used, when setting up Small Business Server 2008, to define setup parameters via text string entries. These same parameters may also be defined using a different tool, the OOBE wizard. To reach the OOBE wizard, the sbsanswerfile.xml is bypassed (never placed into the machine) and Small Business Server 2008 setup reaches OOBE (Out of Box Experience wizard) because it doesn’t see the sbsanswerfile.xml during boot/setup.

In the OOBE wizard, the level of specificity is not as detailed as using the sbsanswerfile.xml. A more important difference is that the OOBE wizard “hard codes” certain defaults and predefines certain assumptions about the installation. One of the most important of these entries is the DOMAIN-NAME for the SBS2008 environment.

The “domain name” parameter has brought us to write this article today.

DEFINING PARAMETERS BEFORE BEGINNING SETUP

The SBS Team developed Small Business Server 2008 so that “IF and WHEN” the admin wants to change the default parameters, then an answer file (a text file called sbsanswerfile.xml) must be defined prior to beginning setup. The xml file is then written to a USB drive (or other media) and placed in the machine before placing the SBS setup disk into the server. The OOBE wizard is not used in this case.

In the real world: VAR’s, IT Consultants, MS Partners, etc… often receive OEM boxes with Small Business Server 2008 already partially installed. This creates a quandry because the opportunity to define the answer file and then point SBS setup to sbsanswerfile.xml has already passed.

this circumstance raises the following question?:

How do we still define these settings once setup has already begun and the binaries have already been installed on the drive?

In our scenario (and In the case of most OEM boxes), the first stages of the SBS2008 installation are accomplished by the manufacturer. Therefore, the system launches straight into OOBE and and ultimately the wizard that defines the core SBS settings (text strings).

Since an sbsanswerfile cannot possibly be defined “with our answers” at the manufacturer, and pressing Power ON boots us straight into OOBE, how do we offer the machine the more “flexible and definitive parameter set using sbsanswerfile.xml”?

Sean Daniels emailed the response today:

As long as you

DO NOT go past the first screen in OOBE
DO NOT enter any data whatsoever in OOBE (i.e. the SERVER NAME /DOMAIN NAME / etc…)
SHUT DOWN THE MACHINE immediately

You can still define the sbsanswerfile.xml and still have the machine call it when booting from a powered off state.

This gives you the ability to define specific settings (i.e. SERVERNAME / FULL DOMAIN NAME / etc… ) even though a partial install has already been accomplished at the factory.

How?

Just grab the SBS Setup disk
define and save your sbsanswerfile.xml to USB or other media
place the media in the machine (prior to booting from powered off state)
boot and wait for SBS setup to locate the sbsanswerfile.xml , enumerate the text strings, and commit your settings automatically

REPEATING “THE VERY IMPORTANT POINT”: do not launch an OEM box into OOBE without first defining the answer file.

What happens if you do start OOBE on an OEM SBS2008 box?

If you continue a SBS2008 install on an OEM Small Business Server 2008 box from OOBE you will irrevocably turn off the only method to explicitly define the setup parameters. Even if you partially begin OOBE and then bail out without writing or saving any data …a complete re-install will be required to change the SBS settings using an sbsanswerfile.xml. Why, because the method that calls to the sbsanswerfile.xml is irrevocably “turned off” (by design) If OOBE is entered or defined on any level.

So what happened in our case?

So there we were, installing a machine on-site that had a partially completed Small Business Server 2008 installation. We didn’t know (yet) the information contained in this article (duh!). Upon receipt of the machine we started the unit and were taken directly into OOBE. Upon arrival at the setup screens for SERVER NAME, DOMAIN NAME, etc… we realized we did not want to accept the defaults and thought “Hey, what about the sbsanswerfile.xml?” So we bailed out and in doing so, turned off the method available to call sbsanswefile.xml. We could no longer make certain changes to the OOBE based install using the sbsanswerfile.xml

You might be wondering: Why did we not move forward with the default OOBE install in the first place?

In our case, we bailed out because…. the FULL INTERNAL DOMAIN can not be defined in OOBE and we did not want to use the SBS Development Team’s “default OOBE choice of .local as the top level domain”. Why… because we had a network full of Macs.

If you are not aware: Small Business Server defines .local as the top level domain (by default) when using the OOBE wizard and their is “NO WAY” to alter a top-level domain in SBS setup except by using the sbsanswerfile.xml

To sum up our story, we irrevocably entered OOBE and clicked next before abandoning the OOBE wizard.

Because we had a “time constraint” on delivery to this client, we needed to finish this install quickly, so we went ahead with the .local top level domain. Alas for our own choice for the full domain name (sigh). We then had to deal with the .local top-level domain issue on Mac.

By the way, about Mac on SBS:

Remember, exit OOBE immediately when setting up an SBS 2008 machine from an OEM and you can still define the environment using the sbsanswerfile.xml. Restart clean with the sbsanswerfile.xml on USB . In doing so, you can still have it “your way”.

Thanks seanda

install, installation, OOBE, SBS2008, sbsanswerfile.xml, setup, Small Business Server 2008

2 Comments

Open Source Tools in Linux supporting Microsoft Core Server Technologies

Posted by Mark Raborn in Heterogeneous on 2008/11/11

Every once in a while I clarify to clients that the Open Source community has provided excellent tools and components to accomplish work in the Windows Enterprise.

Big name companies and their projects earn a lot of the business press, like Sun with Open Solaris and Novell with SuSE. However, you can download Debian, Gentoo, Ubuntu, and install powerful and free Open Source software and still get the job done in working together with Windows while retaining your presense (and preference) for Linux.

These are resources I often suggest to our clients. Please try them out. They’re open source, high quality code and completely free.

Linux distros

Any quality GNOME Desktop distribution of Linux

view popular Linux distros here

Web Browser

eMail Client – Microsoft Exchange capable

Evolution
view Evolution manual and FAQ
Evolution provides integrated mail, addressbook and calendaring functionality to users of the GNOME desktop

Terminal Services Remote Desktop Protocol Client

Office Suite

OpenOffice
OpenOffice.org’s Mission Statement is…
To create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format

Heterogeneous, Interoperable, Linux, Windows

No Comments

iPhone and Microsoft Exchange

Posted by Mark Raborn in Exchange on 2008/11/09

How To Setup:

iPhone 2.1 software: Exchange ActiveSync Account Quick Setup Guide

About iPhone and Exchange

Connecting iPhone and Microsoft Exchange reveals two primary connectivity relationships.

IMAP (possible with iPhone 1.0 and 2.0)
Exchange Active Sync employing Direct Push (iPhone 2.0 and newer)

Exchange has two major releases that support iPhone

The service packs for Exchange also support different functionality.

The key turning point for iPhone in relation to Exchange has been Apple’s support for Direct Push technology and Exchange Active Sync (achieved in iPhone 2.0 release). Microsoft has placed the emphasis on Direct Push since Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 released in June 2005, and now Apple is on-board. H

Prior to 2.0 release, Apple offered only IMAP as a supported method of connecting iPhone to Exchange.

Here are some great articles on setting up IMAP in your Exchange environment

Followed by Apple’s own articles on connecting iPhone to Exchange using Exchange Active Sync. First is Apples definitive guide (.pdf) on deploying iPhone in the Enterprise . There are also Apple specific articles including:

This is what iPhone 2.0 looks like from the Exchange 2007 administrator’s perspective if connected using Exchange Active Sync.

POP3 and IMAP are still supported in the latest release of Exchange 2007 SP1. Therefore iPhone can support both methods. One question that may also be asked prior to selecting the method is whether you require support for Public Folders from Exchange to be supported in the iPhone. At this time only IMAP connectivity will provide iPhone users any view of Public Folders in Exchange.

To learn more about the differences between IMAP and EAS, please read Mobile Device Connectivity to Exchange using IMAP vs Exchange ActiveSync .

Finally, the follow table examines iPhone on Exchange 2003 and 2007 in light of Public Folders

	Exchange 2003 SP2 Direct Push	Exchange 2003 SP2 IMAP	Exchange 2007 SP1 Direct Push	Exchange 2007 SP1 IMAP
iPhone 1.0 CONTACTS/CALENDAR/EMAIL	N	Y	N	Y
iPhone 1.0 w/PUBLIC FOLDERS	N	Y	N	Y
iPhone 2.0 CONTACTS/CALENDAR/EMAIL	Y	Y	Y	Y
iPhone 2.0 w/PUBLIC FOLDERS	N	Y	N	Y

Why the emphasis on Public Folders? Clients are often interested in the Public Folder concept of Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft however has recently “de-emphazied” Public folders… making them essentially an endangered species in reference to future support and expansion of the concept.

TO BE CONTINUED

Direct Push, EAS, Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, Exchange Active Synce, IMAP, iPhone, Microsoft Exchange

No Comments

Using Apple Macintosh File Systems with Windows Services for Mac

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac on 2008/11/08

File Systems tools for interoperability between Windows, Apple Macintosh, and Linux

Useful free tools (and good reading) for use in a heterogeneous [ Windows / Mac / Linux ] File System environment

Windows File System tools serving Mac

Services For Macintosh (SFM)

SFM was an effort by Microsoft supporting Mac integration into the Windows Network. SFM is available in Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003 Server (but has been dropped from Windows 2008 Server). Services For Mac includes these three key Server services:

File Server for Mac – KB147438

File Server for Macintosh (FSM), which is part of SFM, allows Windows and Macintosh clients to create and open files on the same share by presenting the files to the clients with the naming conventions used by their operating systems.

Macintosh and Windows Server Integration – TechFAQ

The folks at TechFAQ have written an excellent article on Mac and Windows Server Integration. The article includes detail walkthroughs about activiting and administering verious Services For Macintosh features.

Also, here are genrally helpful tips on Performance Tuning Guidelines for Microsoft Services for Network File System

File System Tools from the Open Source Community

NTFS-3G

An NTFS driver for Mac OS X and Linux is NTFS-3G – ( also read the NTFS-3G FAQ )

The NTFS-3G driver is a freely and commercially available and supported read/write NTFS driver for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, NetBSD, Solaris, Haiku, and other operating systems. It provides safe and fast handling of the Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista file systems. POSIX file system operations are supported, and full file ownership and permission support is available as well.

Mac File System software serving Windows

HFSExplorer – by Erik Larsson – erik82 [at] kth (dot) se
Mac OS X: About file system journaling – Apple Support

Linux File System software serving Windows and Apple Macintosh

Explore2fs – Explore2fs for Windows is a WIN32 explorer for Linux ext2fs partitions. Full URL here http://www.chrysocome.net/explore2fs
Ext2fxc – Ext2fxc for Apple Macintosh is an implementation of the Ext2 (Linux) file system for Mac OS X. Full URL here http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsx/

User Space File System software

Linux – FUSE - http://fuse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/OperatingSystems
Mac – MacFUSE – http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/
Windows – WinFUSE – http://www.suchwerk.net/sodcms_FUSE_for_WINDOWS.htm
Windows – UniversalFUSE – http://www.eldos.com/cbfs/

Experiment with these File System resources in your heterogeneous environments. Please comment if you have more, better, or mo-better solutions.

Thanks.

Apple, file system, Linux, Mac, Macintosh, NTFS, Services for Mac, Windows

No Comments

no choice but .local on OEM Small Business Server 2008 installs

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac on 2008/11/06

Today I’m installing Small Business Server 2008 for a client that has a bunch of Macs.

THE PROBLEM

The Small Business Server was delivered with a “partial install” of SBS2008 already complete. The challenge right now is that I cannot use the sbsanswerfile.xml to control the FULL INTERNAL DOMAIN name. My opinion: “this is either an oversight or mistake in SBS 2008 setup design”. The oversight being that the answer file cannot be called upon when “continuing setup” if a partial install has already been completed (this is even though the internal domain name has not yet been defined by the wizard).

The wizards allow the admin to define “only the secondary level domain name” (the vanity domain) and not the top level domain. The default top level domain in SBS, as a result of using the wizard, must then be .local . My opinion: “It would have been much better to allow the sbsanswerfile.xml to be called from the setup wizard upon continuation of an OEM based install.” This could provide more flexibility and be a 2nd option in addition to clean installs that call the sbsanswerfile.xml from the very beginning.

Anyone who does VAR based work for a living experiences these “partial complete installs” as common place when working with an SBS box from an OEM manufacturer (i.e. Dell, HP, etc…). So why kill all other possibilities on these boxes than .local for the top level of the FULL INTERNAL DOMAIN. Doing so leaves admins in the “real world” with no other option than the requirement of a complete re-install?

To review: use of the sbsanswerfile.xml is the only resource from which “the FULL INTERNAL DOMAIN (which includes the “top level domain) can be defined. The sbsanswerfile must be called from the very first stages of an SBS 2008 install or .local will be the top level domain internally.

THE CLIENT

So getting back to my client: It appears that we have no choice. A (.local) top level domain will “have to” be used for the internal domain because we’ve got an OEM partial install. Since we are installing for a client that has Macs, I would have far rather used the answer file and altered the internal domain name to companyname.pri . The reason is in relation to Rendevous (now called Bonjour) and Mac’s design that treats any request relating to a .local first level domain in the context of Rendevous (Bonjour).

Networking Windows .local and Apple Macintosh

content of KB Article

.local Preferences adjustment: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2385?viewlocale=en_US
Updating Mac OSX: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1338?viewlocale=en_US
Apple Support: http://www.apple.com/support/

To connect Mac OS X to SBS please read Connecting Mac OS X 10.3 and Higher Clients to a Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network

TO BE CONTINUED…

.local, internal domain, Mac

No Comments

Wintivity

Archive for November, 2008

Moving iCal Calendars to Entourage using Sync Services, iCal export/import and Categories

Verify Sync Settings are enabled in Entourage

Export Calendars from iCal and import back into the iCal Entourage sync’d calendar

Assigning the iCal calendar items to Entourage Categories after import

Entourage Account Settings for Microsoft Exchange

Entourage Technologies Under the Hood

Setting up Entourage Account Settings and connecting to Microsoft Exchange

Setting Up Advanced Settings for Entourage with Exchange Server

Changes to Entourage connectivity in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1

Talk to your Administrator

Networking Windows .local and Apple Macintosh

(the Chihuahua) comments on SBSanswerfile.xml and OOBE in SBS 2008

Open Source Tools in Linux supporting Microsoft Core Server Technologies

iPhone and Microsoft Exchange

Using Apple Macintosh File Systems with Windows Services for Mac

File Systems tools for interoperability between Windows, Apple Macintosh, and Linux

Windows File System tools serving Mac

File System Tools from the Open Source Community

NTFS-3G

Mac File System software serving Windows

Linux File System software serving Windows and Apple Macintosh

User Space File System software

no choice but .local on OEM Small Business Server 2008 installs

Networking Windows .local and Apple Macintosh

Blogroll

Archives

Meta