Chris Leckness

Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 has just been released to the web for Download.   It even made the front page of the latest Technet Magazine which is quite surprising for a Service Pack.

There are many key enhancements in Service Pack 1 however from a mobile perspective there are some very important additions.

With Service Pack 1 we have added 30+ new policies for Exchange Activesync.  These new policies will require a future version of Windows Mobile (similar to System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008) however they can be implemented within your Exchange 2007 environment now ready for when that version becomes available. 

There are 2 different categories of policies - the first set control the Sync, Authentication and Encryption settings.  The second set are really focused on controlling functions on the device.

Sync- Within the Synchronisation setup we have the ability to configure many of the synchronisation options on the device:

• Configure message formats (HTML or plain txt)
• Include past email items
• Email body truncation size
• HTML email body truncation size
• Include past calendar items (Duration)
• Require manual sync while roaming

Authentication - With the device password we can enforce more complexity as well as setting a password expiration and remembering password history

• Minimum number of complex characters
• Enable password recovery
• Allow simple password
• Password Expiration (Days)
• Enforce password history
• Allow Windows file share access
• Allow Windows SharePoint access

Encryption - From a security perspective we can control the use of SMIME as well as whether Device Encryption is enforced

• Require signed SMIME messages
• Require encrypted SMIME messages
• Require Signed SMIME algorithm
• Require encrypted SMIME algorithm
• Allow SMIME encrypted algorithm negotiation
• Allow SMIME SoftCerts
• Enforce Device encryption

The second set of policies control much of the device, network and application functionality.

Device Control

• Disable desktop ActiveSync
• Disable removable storage
• Disable camera
• Disable SMS and any MMS text messaging

Network Control

• Disable Wi-Fi
• Disable Bluetooth
• Disable IrDA
• Allow internet sharing from device
• Allow desktop sharing from device

Application Control

• Disable POP3/IMAP4 email
• Allow consumer email
• Allow browser
• Allow unsigned applications
• Allow unsigned CABs
• Application allow list
• Application block list

All of the NEW Exchange Activesync policies are described on the Technet Website in detail HERE

There is also a whole host of documentation for Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 available:

• What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1
• Standby Continuous Replication
• Upgrading Clustered Mailbox Servers to Exchange 2007 SP1
• Monitoring Continuous Replication
• New High Availability Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
• How to Install Exchange 2007 SP1 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008
• Installing Cluster Continuous Replication on Windows Server 2008
• Installing Single Copy Clusters on Windows Server 2008
• New Client Access Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
• New Transport Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
• New Mailbox Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
• New Unified Messaging Features in Exchange 2007 SP1
• IPv6 Support in Exchange 2007 SP1

Source: Jason Langridge's weblog

View Original Blog Post

SteveGavJR

Wow! Being a network administrator, group policy is very important. Being able to control mobile devices the same way you can control domain users is awesome in a corporate environment.

I can't tell you how many times group policy has saved me.
Them: 'Hey I keep getting this message saying contact your administrator?'.
Me: 'What are you doing to cause this?'.
Them: 'I'm trying to install limewire and it won't let me...'.

And I'm not even making this up! I'd much rather have someone complain that they can't install whatever they want opposed to constantly fighting viruses because of all the crap they let into the network.


The same goes for mobile devices. We've had problems people with charging up their phone bills with text messages, data charges, and other miscellaneous things. It would be nice to finally take hold of everything.