Session Abstracts

Exchange Pre-Conference Workshop:

CAS – The Thinking Man’s Exchange Role Workshop
Presenter: Nicolas Blank

The only decent way to explore, document or fix your or someone else’s CAS server(s) is via PowerShell. In this workshop were going to explore and correct a typical Enterprise CAS setup and build the kind of CAS focused Exchange and scripting knowledge which may save your administrative bacon someday. All equipment will be provided.

Exchange Sessions:

Dealing with Those Pesky PSTs: A Look at Archiving and Discovery in Exchange 2010 and Office 365
Speaker: Nathan Winters

A growing number of businesses face regulatory pressures to retain and retrieve business data. This session will look at the features available in Exchange 2010 to manage, maintain and retrieve large quantities of data. You will learn about your options for storing data either in large mailboxes, using the archive functionality of Exchange on premises or through archiving to Office 365. We will discuss where and when the different approaches make sense and cover what your options are if you already have a vast amount of data stored in an existing archiving platform. Finally we will take a look at the new PST Capture tool from Microsoft which gives a solution to the problem of locating and importing PSTs from across your network.

Does CAS stand for Confused and Struggling or Client Access Server?
Speaker: Greg Taylor

Are you still confused by proxy and redirection? Struggling with namespace and certificate requirements? Wondering how to do that whole site resilience, cross AD site thing you have going on? Find yourself wondering how an elephant’s posterior can help you understand Outlook Anywhere? If any or all of those are true then come and talk to someone who can help you decode the complexity, un-riddle the mystery and set you free. This session will be run as a discussion rather than a presentation, so bring your problems and don’t be afraid to speak up!

Exchange 2010 SP2 – Multi-Tenancy and Hosting
Speaker: Greg Taylor

With the release of Exchange Server 2010 SP2, several changes were announced with respect to multi-tenancy support and hosting. Come and learn about these changes, understand the challenges with using the on-prem version of Exchange to build a multi-tenancy platform and learn more about the guidance we are providing to our customers, partners and field to help them build their solutions. 

Exchange 2003/2007/2010/Office 365 Free Busy lookups cross-premises
Speaker: Timothy Heeney

This is a great topic because it dives into the Free/busy features for coexistence with Office 365, which is the most used feature. In this topic I discuss the way federation is configured, the way the organization relationships are configured, and the way the legacy (Exchange 2003 and 2007) versions interact with this federated free/busy feature. I also discuss the improvements that were made in this area in Exchange 2010 sp2 with the new Hybrid Configuration Wizard.

Exchange Native Data Protection
Speaker: Tim McMichael

This session will focus on Exchange Native Data Protection. We will discuss the prerequisites for native data protection and the enablers in Exchange 2010 that make a backup less environment feasible. For those that choose to backup, we will also discuss the implementation of Volume Shadow Services with Exchange 2010. Throughout the session we will incorporate experiences gained and look at issues received through support for these technologies.

Exchange Server 2010 High Availability Concepts
Speaker: Scott Schnoll

This session covers the basics of the new technologies, concepts, terms and methods used to plan, design, manage and troubleshoot Exchange high availability. Learn how settings like AutoDatabaseMountDial, Activation Preference, Replay Lag and Truncation Lag work. Get an understanding of the basic functions of Active Manager, learn the difference between the Witness Server and the Alternate Witness Server, the importance of quorum, and more!

Exchange Server 2010 High Availability Deep Dive
Speaker: Scott Schnoll

How can I separate my log replication traffic from my client traffic?  When a Mailbox server in a database availability group (DAG) fails, how does the system choose which database copy to activate? Go beyond the basics of Exchange High Availability and learn what’s really going on under the hood in an Exchange 2010 DAG. This session covers the inner workings of DAGs, including a deep dive discussion on database availability group networks, Active Manager, Best Copy Selection and Datacenter Activation Coordination Mode.

Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) – What Is It and Why Should You Care?
Speaker: Nathan Winters

Outsourcing your mail filtering is nothing new, however that doesn’t mean it isn’t a complex area which needs careful consideration and configuration. In this session we will introduce the capabilities of FOPE before diving into a demo based walk through of its configuration including coverage of Exchange Hosted Encryption (EHE). We will cover standalone FOPE used to protect an on premises deployment of a messaging platform and then cover the differences when using FOPE with Office 365. Finally we will get into the detail of routing topologies covering how mail flows in different scenarios from standalone, to Office 365 passing through Hybrid on the way.

Implementation, Management and Use of an Exchange 2010 Mailbox Role Site Resilient solution
Speaker: Tim McMichael

We will take a look at the implementation, management and use of an Exchange 2010 Mailbox Role Site Resilient solution. We will look at the concept of Datacenter Activation Coordination and explain how this is utilized in this implementation. We will also review activation steps for multiple implementations. Throughout the session we will incorporate experiences gained and look at issues received through support for these technologies.

Lync Server 2010 – Integration with the Cisco Telephony platform
Speaker: Anthony Vitnell

To achieve Unified Communications with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Cisco Unified Communications Manager produces countless integration scenarios that each provide different capabilities and benefits. Achieving telephony integration with Cisco Unified CallManager is a complex task, dependent on the versions implemented and additional Cisco/ 3rd party software is often required. We will walk you through what level of integration can be achieved for each version of Cisco Unified CallManager, discuss the configuration requirements, and creative strategies to remove some of the limitations with older versions. This session will provide you with the information to determine the appropriate solution for your organization, and successfully integrate Lync Server 2010 with your Cisco Telephony environment. A basic understanding of Cisco Telephony components is highly recommended for this session.

Lync Server 2010 – Video Integration , the Final Frontier
Speaker: Anthony Vitnell

Many Organization stop at telephony integration with Lync Server 2010. Integration of standards based video conferencing endpoints such as room based systems and telepresence units provide a platform that can re-shape the way an organizations does business. This session will cover the key video integration scenarios, design and architecture requirements and best practice notes from the field.  This in-depth technical session equips you with the key information you will need to prepare for Visual Communications, choose the right topologies and develop implementation architectures. A basic knowledge of Video solutions and protocols is recommended for attendees to this session.

Notes from the field – Implementing Office 365 Hybrid Mode
Speaker: Nicolas Blank

When you’re doing Hybrid mode for the first time, quite a few things could go wrong, to the path of co-existence.  In this session learn about some of the gotchas as Microsoft Certified Master and Exchange MVP Nicolas Blank takes you through the typical Hybrid mode deployment as well as what could go wrong getting there.

Office 365 Mythbusters
Speaker: Ilse Van Criekinge

In this session the myths that surround Office365 will be busted (loss of control, no compliancy, no administrators requires, lack of extensibility, ….). After attending this session, you will know what’s possible, and what isn’t. You will see what is true, and what is false.

Operating Exchange at Scale – From Design Through Runstate: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Speaker: Konstantin Ryvkin

Drawing from tremendous experiences of running messaging service at MS IT and Office 365 this talk focuses on best practices and lessons of operating Exchange at scale.  This session goes beyond product features and functionality and highlights many design and runstate aspects that make Exchange deployments operationally sustainable, service friendly, and optimized to deliver quality messaging experience to end users at scale.  Come and discuss Exchange capacity management, load balancing and workload distribution strategies, availability and reliability management techniques, Exchange/network interoperability and optimization, Client and Cloud connectivity challenges, and more. This talk summarizes design, operational and service experiences from dozens of enterprise Exchange 2010 deployments totaling millions of mailboxes and makes available in a single session where you will have an opportunity to compare and contrast it to your own Exchange deployment!

The Changing World of Exchange & Office 365
Speaker: Kevin Allison

Microsoft understands that the IT world is changing and the requirements you have and demands you place on Exchange are evolving with it. We listen and learn lessons from you every day, and  those lessons directly impact engineering decisions. Kevin Allison, General Manager of the Exchange team, will take you into the changing world of Exchange and Office 365 and what you can expect down the road.

The New Hybrid Configuration Wizard in Exchange 2010 SP2
Speaker: Timothy Heeney

This Hybrid Configuration Wizard feature was created to make the Federation Trust Configuration a lot easier. Come learn how this wizard will configure the Federation, Organization Relationships, and all of the other hybrid coexistence things for you (OWA Redirect/Mail Flow/Free busy/Move Mailbox….).

Unified Communications and Collaboration: Lync’ing IT All Together
Speakers: Ilse Van Criekinge

In this session we will dive into the different ways there is interaction between Exchange,  SharePoint and Lync. We will show you how you can configure these interactions, and we will also highlight how the interactions can happen in a hybrid environment.

Unified Communications, Why Do I Care?
Speaker: Lee Mackey

In today’s IT world budgets and resources are few and far between.  In this session we go through how MSFT Lync can help you in your UC Journey to do more with less.  We’ll go through the conversation on how to get started, or recognize where you are with your current environment and leverage current investments while implementing new features and functionality that directly tie to the business needs.  We’ll also discuss different strategies from mobile, Consumerization of IT and various ideas on tying your UC infrastructure to your business processes.  At the end of this session, you’ll have a really good idea on where to start your UC Journey.

Unified Communications, Why Do I Care?
Speaker: Lee Mackey

In today’s IT world budgets and resources are few and far between.  In this session we go through how MSFT Lync can help you in your UC Journey to do more with less.  We’ll go through the conversation on how to get started, or recognize where you are with your current environment and leverage current investments while implementing new features and functionality that directly tie to the business needs.  We’ll also discuss different strategies from mobile, Consumerization of IT and various ideas on tying your UC infrastructure to your business processes.  At the end of this session, you’ll have a really good idea on where to start your UC Journey.

Why Microsoft’s Head is in the Cloud and What This Means to You
Speaker: Tony Redmond

The Microsoft Exchange Development group takes care of both on-premises (Exchange 2010) and cloud (Office 365) versions of Exchange. Given all the hype around the announcement of Office 365, there’s some reasonable concern that Microsoft might be focused on developing its cloud software to the detriment of the traditional on-premises version. This session will explore why Microsoft has a focus on the cloud and what this means for future versions of Exchange, how the role of an administrator might change in the future, and what positive and productive steps you can take to prepare for a world when organizations can choose between on-premises, cloud, or hybrid deployments.

Writing Your Own Extensible Storage Engine (ESE / JET Blue) Application
Speaker: Brett Shirley

This presentation will be for people who know a programming language and are interested in writing an application using Microsoft’s most utilized NoSQL database engine (and the only database engine currently available in the Windows Modern SDK for Metro applications).  We will cover the basics of ESE engine configuration, initialization, safely attaching a database read-only, schema design, basic DML/data operations, and as time allows performance optimization.  Several code samples will be provided.