No More M Drive
The ability to map Exchange mailbox data as a DOS drive using the Server Message
Block (SMB) protocol through the Exchange Installable File System (ExIFS) was
another feature that received much hype when Microsoft launched Exchange 2000.
On the surface, it seemed great that you could navigate through your mailbox
as if you were moving through DOS folders.
Unfortunately, the feature turned out to be useless in production, and it even
created a host of problems when administrators thought they could virus-scan
messages and attachments through the M drive, or when they attempted to take
file-level backups of Exchange data through the M drive! Of course, these backups
were useless because they didn't contain all the necessary data (such as MAPI
properties) that Exchange required, but no one discovered the problem until
a server outage occurred and the backup was needed. Microsoft took the first
step to eliminate the problem by hiding drive M by default in Exchange 2003
and now has completed the process by removing ExIFS from Exchange 2007.
Public Folders
Sometimes it seems Microsoft doesn't quite know what to do about public folders.
At first, Microsoft deprecated their use in Exchange 2007 with an eye on eventually
phasing out public folders completely in the next major release of Exchange.
Although public folders aren't the most useful storage mechanism and have never
realized the potential Microsoft promised when they appeared in Exchange 4.0,
there's no doubt that there are millions of public folders in daily use across
the Exchange installed base. Customer push back and the harsh realization that
there's no good migration path for public folder data or the applications that
depend on public folders forced Microsoft to rethink its decision. The company's
latest position is that it will support public folders until 2016 at least.
Having nine years to think about what to do with your public folders is great,
but don't expect to see much development around them in the future. You need
to start developing an exit strategy. Microsoft will point you to SharePoint,
and that's certainly one option, albeit one that requires a lot of manual effort
because Microsoft has no automated migration utilities. Quest Software shipped
Public Folder Migrator for SharePoint (http://www.quest.com/public-folder-migrator-for-sharepoint),
and you can expect other companies to provide utilities over time.
Exchange 2007 includes no GUI to manage public folders, nor does Outlook Web
Access (OWA) 2007 include a GUI to access public folders. However, Microsoft
will fix these omissions in Exchange 2007 SP1, and you can keep Exchange System
Manager around to manage public folders until SP1 appears. Alternatively, you
can learn the PowerShell commands to manage public folders and forget about
the GUI.
Enhancing the Heart of Exchange
Administrators should find the Exchange 2007 Store changes an improvement. The
move to 64-bit Windows improves stability and performance, log shipping increases
resilience, and some obsolete components are gone. You can manage the Store
by using commands through Exchange Management Shell. There are some outstanding
issues, such as the lack of support for public folders in the GUI and OWA, but
Microsoft is working to fix these problems in SP1. Features such as log shipping
will take time for administrators to learn how to deploy and use effectively,
but they're a good step forward. Overall, Microsoft has done a nice job of enhancing
the heart of Exchange 2007.
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