Common Mail Server Configuration Mistakes

1. Installation on Unsupported Hardware

Unless there is a very good reason not to, always install Exchange on hardware supported by Microsoft.  Consult Microsoft’s Windows Server Catalog (formerly the “Hardware Compatibility List,” or HCL) for a complete list of compatible, supported hardware.  In order for a system to be considered supported, it must be listed in the Windows Server Catalog.  Systems containing some supported and some unsuported software are considered unsupported by Microsoft.  In addition to ensuring a smoother installation or upgrade, using supported hardware also means you will receive better technical support from Microsoft or other vendors should the need arise in the future.  Using unsupported hardware can cause problems ranging from intermittent mail outages to total and complete loss of data.

• Exchange Server 2008 requires both 64-bit hardware and 64-bit Windows.  See “Exchange 2007: Frequently Asked Questions” for more information.
• Exchange Server 2003 cannot run on 64-bit Windows.  See “Choosing Exchange Server 2003 Hardware for Reuse with Exchange Server 2007“ for recommendations from Microsoft on choosing the best hardware for Exchange.
• See “Microsoft support policy on hardware not in the Windows Catalog (Windows HCL)” (KB142865) for more information on Microsoft position on unsupported hardware.

2. Misconfigured DNS

Because Exchange relies heavily on both Active Directory and DNS, a simple configuration problem in either one will cause major headaches for your new or upgraded Exchange environment.  Here are a few of the common configuration mistakes when it comes to DNS and your Exchange environment:

• All Windows 2000 Servers must be on Service Pack 3 or Windows Server 2003, including Global Catalogs (GCs).  It is also Microsoft’s recommendation that at least one GC be placed in each site containing an Exchange mail server.
• Verify your Mail Exchanger (MX) records are correct and that no MX record points to the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of an Exchange server.  See “How to Verify that MX Records Do Not Point to the FQDN of an Exchange Server.”
• If it exists, remove the root zone under Forwarded Lookup Zones in the DNS management console, as it will prevent Exchange from sending mail (outbound mail).  See “How To Remove the Root Zone (Dot Zone)“ (KB298148) and “‘Host Unknown’ message when sending outbound Internet mail” (KB289045) for information on removing the root (AKA “dot”) zone.
• See “Exchange Server 2003: Verifying DNS Design and Configuration“ for more information on verifying your DNS configuration.

3. Misconfigured Active Directory

Active Directory (AD) plays a crucial role in the configuration, performance, administration, and security of Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2008.  There are several “gotchas” to watch out for when configuring Active Directory for use with Exchange.

• Be certain that Active Directory Connector (ADC) is installed, and that you are using the version appropriate to your installation or upgrade.  The ADC is responsible for replicating Exchange information to and from AD, and must be upgraded to the version included in Exchange 2003 prior to upgrading Exchange itself.
• Check your domain level(s).  Exchange Server 2003 is supported in 5 AD domain levels which basically break down into 2000/2003 mixed or native and mixed 2000 and 2003 domains.
• See “Overview of operating system and Active Directory requirements for Exchange Server 2003”(KB822179) for a complete list of requirements.

4. Disabled Message Tracking

Message Tracking is one of Exchange’s best features for troubleshooting mail delivery problems.  Microsoft describes Message Tracking as follows: “Message Tracking Center, when it is enabled, logs information about the sender, the mail message, and the message recipients. Specifically, you can review statistics such as the time the message was sent or received, the message size and priority, and the list of message recipients. You can also log the subject line of e-mail messages. The Message Tracking Center searches for messages such as system messages, public folder messages, and e-mail messages.” ¹  Unfortunately, Message Tracking is not enabled by default on Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003.  If you are running Exchange Server 2007, and the system has the Hub Transport server role, the Mailbox server role, or the Edge Transport server role Message Tracking is enabled by default.

See: “How to enable message tracking in Exchange 2000 Server and in Exchange Server 2003“ (KB246856) for more information.

5. Misconfigured Anti-Virus Software

It should go without saying that any Windows mail server should have a properly configured and up-to-date anti-virus solution.  One has only to look at the abundance of viruses to be convinced the effort of maintaining anti-virus software is well worth the time, effort, and expense.  Misconfigured anti-virus software, however, especially on such highly-visible and highly-used systems as mail servers, can affect problems from minor performance issues to major catastrophic failures.  Properly configuring the parameters of your anti-virus software can be an art as much as a science.  On the one hand, if your anti-virus configuration is too inclusive, or too stringent, it may cause a severe performance penalty on the system.  If, on the other hand, the configuration excludes too many processes, services, directories or files, or its policies are too lax, it may be vulnerable to attack.  In many cases, this second case is the worse possible scenario a system can be in, simply because an anti-virus solution is installed and configured, therefore it is assumed that the sysem is safeguarded against such attacks.

Top 10 Spam Stories of 2008

source:http://blogs.msdn.com/tzink/archive/2008/12/31/top-10-spam-stories-of-2008.aspx

Well, it's a yearly tradition in the western hemisphere that at the end of the year, we compose a top 10 list of the 10 most .  So, I thought that I would create my own list of the top 10 spam stories of 2008.  Now, not all of these will be universally applicable to everyone, they are the top 10 stories as seen by me.

1. Backscatter makes the news. Backscatter spam is a scourge on the internet, and it made big headlines this year, so much so that even the USA Today covered it.  Even bigger coverage?  I blogged about it in an 18-part series.  Take that, USA Today!
   
   
2. Sanford Wallace gets a huge fine, Soloway convincted.  Dubbed the original Spam King, Sanford Wallace (I think it was this guy) lived life large in downtown Seattle.  But in May of 2008, he was hit with a $230 million dollar fine for spamming MySpace.  He should have held out a few more months and then asked the government for a bailout.
   
   On a similar note, Seattle Spammer Robert Soloway was convicted on three charges and faces up to 27 years in prison.  I considered going down to the court house and watching the sentencing; I never got around to it.  Probably a good thing I couldn't engage in a little schadenfreude. 
   
   
3. Eddie Davidson escapes from jail, commits suicide. Certainly a big news story in the spam world, if not tragic, convicted spammer Eddie Davidson escaped from a minimum security prison.  He then went and killed his family.  A very sad ending to this story.
   
   
4. Spammers spoof CNN news outbreaks.  Spammers spoofing news organizations is nothing new, and spoofing in general is a technique almost as old as spam itself. However, in August of this year, spammers released a new outbreak of spam that looked exactly like a CNN breaking news report.  What set this one apart was how legitimate it looked and the size of the spam outbreak.  The payload led users to get their computers infected with malware; the spammers did their homework on this one.
   
   
5. V3: Rise of the Viruses.  Viruses attached to emails have always been around.  They certainly aren't anything new, that's for sure.  But 2008 saw a huge increase in the number of viruses attached to email.  We saw over a 5x increase.  Are your antivirus definitions up-to-date?
   
   
6. Outbound filtering now in vogue.  This is not a story that affects everyone in the anti-spam world (or maybe it is).  However, we have spent an entire year working on cutting down the amount of spam that passes through our outbound servers.  I used to concern myself with inbound traffic; now, I realize that my responsibilities (and time and energy) flow in both directions.  Outbound filtering has caused me more (figurative) headaches than any other spam issue.
   
   
7. David Ritz has his case ruled against him.  In a case that upset pretty much everyone in the antispam community, a judge in North Dakota ruled in favor of e360 in their case against him that he unlawfully broke into their servers.  The anti-spam community pointed out that the tools he used are available to pretty much anyone.
   
   
8. e360 sues Comcast, gets it's case tossed out.  e360 got a little bolder when it decided to take on Comcast and sue them for preventing their business from operating as normal.  Comcast counterfiled and the judge agreed; e360's case was tossed out and the judge wasn't particularly ambiguous about it.  To quote the judge"Plaintiff e360Insight, LLC is a marketer. It refers to itself as an Internet marketing company. Some, perhaps even a majority of people in this country, would call it a spammer."  Hmm, you think?
   
   
9. Now we know why spammers keep at it - people keep buying their stuff. An article earlier this year on Directmag reported on a study that (apparently) 29% of people have purchased goods from their email spam.  Everyone I know reacted with skepticism but the point was made, even if this is out by a factor of 100, 0.3% of users buying stuff from their spam makes it really easy for spammers to make money with their economic model.  Send out tons of messages, get people to respond.  It's easy to reach that many people by using email.  Will people never learn?
   
   
10. McColo goes offline, spam plummets 50% overnight.  This is, by far, the number one news story of spam this year.  A reporter for the Washington Post pestered some ISPs to shut down California-based McColo, considered by many to be a spam hosting operation. When they finally did, global spam levels plummeted that same day.  The reprieve was short-lived and they are coming back up but the point is made - if somebody has the will to do it, spam can suffer serious setbacks. I enjoyed some schadenfreude on this one, too.

Well, that's the way I saw the world this year.  From everyone here at Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services, have a very happy new year and we'll see you in 2009!