Exchange 2010 SP1 Beta this June

Service Pack 1 of Microsoft’s flagship collaboration product, Exchange Server 2010, will be available to beta-testers this June, and the general public later this summer. Based on the quick release of Exchange Server 2010 Rollup Pack 1 and Rollup Pack 2, it is not surprising that Microsoft will roll-out this service pack less than a year after its original RTM.

From the Exchange Team Blog:

SP1 will include fixes and tweaks in areas you’ve helped us identify, including a roll-up of the roll-ups we’ve released to date. I also wanted to flag some of the feature enhancements we’re excited to bring to you with SP1 including: archiving and discovery enhancements, Outlook Web App (OWA) improvements, mobile user and management improvements, and some highly sought after additional UI for management tasks

Although a comprehensive list of changes hasn’t been released, making admins lives simpler, there a number of GUI updates, both to the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and Exchange Control Panel (ECP.)


In the EMC, you’ll now be able to:

  • Create/configure Retention Tags + Retention Policies
  • Configure Database Availability Group (DAG) IP Addresses and Alternate Witness Server in EMC
  • Recursive public folder settings management (including permissions) in EMC
  • Configure Litigation Hold

The IP and Alternate Witness Config being added to EMC are a real benefit: In production, for some reason, DAG’s have a habit of getting assigned an in-use DHCP address and causing admins to start their “very simple” clustering operation with a series of cataclysmic error messages. Entering an IP for the cluster to use just makes good sense–it is almost never a best-practice to use DHCP to assign cluster IP addresses.

For ECP fans, there are a number of great upgrades. Administrators will now be able to:

  • Configure Allow/Block/Quarantine mobile device policies
  • RBAC role management
  • Configure Transport Rules
  • Configure Journal Rules
  • Configure MailTips
  • Provision and configure the Personal Archive

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