Released: Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1

Posted on 02/03/2014 by

Security and Compliance

SP1 provides enhancements improving security and compliance capabilities in Exchange Server 2013. This includes improvements in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) feature and the return of S/MIME encryption for Outlook Web App users.

  • DLP Policy Tips in Outlook Web App – DLP Policy Tips are now enabled for Outlook Web App (OWA) and OWA for Devices. These are the same Policy Tips available in Outlook 2013. DLP Policy Tips appear when a user attempts to send a message containing sensitive data that matches a DLP policy. Learn more about DLP Policy Tips.
  • DLP Document Fingerprinting – DLP policies already allow you to detect sensitive information such as financial or personal data. DLP Document Fingerprinting expands this capability to detect forms used in your organization. For example, you can create a document fingerprint based on your organization’s patent request form to identify when users are sending that form, and then use DLP actions to properly control dissemination of the content. Learn more about DLP Document Fingerprinting.
  • DLP sensitive information types for new regions – SP1 provides an expanded set of standard DLP sensitive information types covering an increased set of regions. SP1 adds region support for Poland, Finland and Taiwan. Learn more about the DLP sensitive information types available.
  • S/MIME support for OWA – SP1 also reintroduces the S/MIME feature in OWA, enabling OWA users to send and receive signed and encrypted email. Signed messages allow the recipient to verify that the message came from the specified sender and contains the only the content from the sender. This capability is supported when using OWA with Internet Explorer 9 or later. Learn more about S/MIME in Exchange 2013.

Architecture & Administration

These improvements help Exchange meet our customer requirements and stay in step with the latest platforms.

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 support – Exchange 2013 SP1 adds Windows Server 2012 R2 as a supported operating system and Active Directory environment for both domain and forest functional levels. For the complete configuration support information refer to the Exchange Server Supportability Matrix. This matrix includes details regarding Windows Server 2012 R2 support information about earlier versions of Exchange.
  • Exchange Admin Center Cmdlet Logging – The Exchange 2010 Management Console includes PowerShell cmdlet logging functionality. Listening to your feedback, we’re happy to announce that this functionality is now included in the Exchange Admin Center (EAC). The logging feature enables you to capture and review the recent (up to 500) commands executed in the EAC user interface while the logging window is open. Logging is invoked from the EAC help menu and continues logging while the logging window remains open.

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  • ADFS for OWA – Also new for Outlook Web App in SP1 is claims-based authentication for organizations using Active Directory Federation Services. Learn more about the scenario.
  • Edge Transport server role – SP1 also reintroduces the Edge Transport server role. If you have deployed Exchange 2013 with a supported legacy Exchange Edge Transport role, you don’t need to upgrade. That configuration is still supported. But we do recommend that future deployments use the Exchange 2013 Edge Transport role. Learn more about Edge Transport in Exchange 2013.
  • New communication method for Exchange and Outlook – SP1 introduces a new communication method for Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook called MAPI over HTTP(MAPI/HTTP). This communication method simplifies connectivity troubleshooting and improves the user connection experience with resuming from hibernate or switching networks. MAPI/HTTP is disabled by default, allowing you to decide when to enable it for your organization. MAPI/HTTP can be used in place of RPC/HTTP (Outlook Anywhere) for your Outlook 2013 SP1 clients while Outlook 2013 RTM and older clients continue to use RPC/HTTP. Learn more about deploying MAPI/HTTP.
  • DAGs without Cluster Administrative Access Points – Windows Server 2012 R2 introduces failover clusters that can operate without an administrative access point: no IP addresses or IP address resource, no network name resource, and no cluster name object. SP1 enables you to create a DAG without an administrative access point on Windows Server 2012 R2 from EAC or PowerShell. This is an optional DAG configuration for SP1 and requires Windows Server 2012 R2. DAGs with administrative access points continue to be supported. Learn more about creating a DAG without an administrative access point here and here.
  • SSL offloading – SP1 now supports SSL offloading, allowing you to terminate incoming SSL connections in front of your CAS servers and move the SSL workload (encryption & decryption tasks) to a load balancer device. Learn how to configure SSL offloading in Exchange 2013.

User Experience

We know the user experience is crucial to running a great messaging platform. SP1 provides continued enhancements to help your users work smarter.

  • Enhanced text editor for OWA – OWA now uses the same rich text editor as SharePoint, thereby improving the user experience, and enabling several new formatting and composition capabilities that you expect from modern Web application – more pasting options, rich previews to linked content, and the ability to create and modify tables.
  • image_1B765A94Apps for Office in Compose – Mail apps are now available for use during the creation of new mail messages. This allows developers to build and users to leverage apps that can help them while they are composing mails. The compose apps leverage the Apps for Office platform and can be added via the existing Office store or corporate catalogs. Learn more about Apps for Office.

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Upgrading to SP1/Deploying SP1

As with all cumulative updates (CUs), SP1 is a full build of Exchange, and the deployment of SP1 is just like the deployment of a cumulative update.

Active Directory Preparation

Prior to or concurrent with upgrading or deploying SP1 onto a server, you must update Active Directory. These are the required actions to perform prior to installing SP1 on a server.

1. Exchange 2013 SP1 includes schema changes. Therefore, you will need to execute the following command to apply the schema changes.

setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

2. Exchange 2013 SP1 includes enterprise Active Directory changes (e.g., RBAC roles have been updated to support new cmdlets and/or properties). Therefore, you will need to execute the following command.

setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Server Deployment

Once the above preparatory steps are completed, you can install SP1 on your servers. Of course, as always, if you don’t separately perform the above steps, they will be performed by Setup when you install your first Exchange 2013 SP1 server. If this is your first Exchange 2013 server deployment, you will need to deploy both Client Access Server and Mailbox Server roles in your organization.

If you already deployed Exchange 2013 RTM code and want to upgrade to SP1, you will run the following command from a command line.

setup.exe /m:upgrade /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Alternatively you can start the installation through the GUI installer.

Hybrid deployments and EOA

Customers in hybrid deployments where Exchange is deployed on-premises and in the cloud, or who are using Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) with their on-premises Exchange deployment are required to maintain currency on Cumulative Update/Service Pack releases.

Looking Ahead

Our next update for Exchange 2013 will be released as Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 5. This CU release will continue the Exchange Server 2013 release process.

Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »

MAPI over HTTP

Posted on 02/03/2014 by

Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) over HTTP is a new transport protocol implemented in Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Microsoft Outlook 2013 SP1. MAPI over HTTP improves the reliability and stability of the Outlook and Exchange connections by moving the transport layer to the industry-standard HTTP model. This allows a higher level of visibility of transport errors and enhanced recoverability. Additional functionality includes support for an explicit pause-and-resume function. This enables supported clients to change networks or resume from hibernation while maintaining the same server context.

Implementing MAPI over HTTP does not mean that it is the only protocol that can be used for Outlook to access Exchange. Outlook clients that are not MAPI over HTTP capable can still use Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) to access Exchange through a MAPI-enabled Client Access server.

MAPI over HTTP offers the following benefits to clients that use Outlook 2013 SP1:

  • Enables future innovation in authentication by using an HTTP based protocol.
  • Provides faster reconnection times after a communications break because only TCP connections—not RPC connections—need to be rebuilt. Examples of a communication break include:
    • Device hibernation
    • Changing from a wired network to a wireless or cellular network
  • Offers a session context that is not dependent on the connection. The server maintains the session context for a configurable period of time—even if the user changes networks.

Consider the following requirements to enable MAPI over HTTP.

  • Supportability   Verify that your intended configuration versions are supported.
  • Prerequisites   Verify that your environment has been upgraded and prepared for MAPI over HTTP.
  • Configuration   Configure the virtual directories, and enable MAPI for your organization.

Use the following matrix to verify that your clients and servers support MAPI over HTTP.

Product Exchange 2013 SP1 Exchange 2013 RTM Exchange 2010 SP3 Exchange 2007 SP3
Outlook 2013 SP1
  • MAPI over HTTP
  • Outlook Anywhere
 Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
Outlook 2013 RTM Outlook Anywhere Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
Outlook 2010 Outlook Anywhere Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
Outlook 2007 Outlook Anywhere Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere
  • RPC
  • Outlook Anywhere

Complete the following steps to prepare the clients and servers to support MAPI over HTTP.

  1. Upgrade Outlook clients to Outlook 2013 SP1.
  2. Upgrade Client Access and Mailbox servers to Exchange 2013 SP1. For information about how to upgrade, see Upgrade Exchange 2013 to the Latest Cumulative Update or Service Pack.
    NoteNote:
    All Client Access servers must be upgraded to Exchange 2013 SP1 before enabling MAPI over HTTP. Otherwise, Outlook can fail to connect to mailboxes.
    Failure to upgrade the all the Mailbox servers in a Database Availability Group (DAG) can result in email delays and a client requirement to restart Outlook in case of a database failover.

Complete the following steps to configure MAPI over HTTP for your organization.

  1. Virtual directory configuration   By default, Exchange 2013 SP1 creates a virtual directory for MAPI over HTTP. You use the Set-MapiVirtualDirectory  cmdlet to configure the virtual directory. You must configure an internal URL, an external URL, or both. For more information see, Set-MapiVirtualDirectory .

    For example, to configure the default MAPI virtual directory on the local Exchange server by setting the internal URL value to https://contoso.com/mapi, and the authentication method to Negotiate, run the following command:

    Set-MapiVirtualDirectory -Identity "Contoso\mapi (Default Web Site)" -InternalUrl https://Contoso.com/mapi -IISAuthenticationMethods Negotiate
  2. Certificate configuration   The digital certificate used by your Exchange environment must include the same InternalURL and ExternalURL values that are defined on the MAPI virtual directory. For more information on Exchange 2013 certificate management, see Digital Certificates and SSL. Make sure the Exchange certificate is trusted on the Outlook client workstation and that there are no certificate errors, especially when you access the URLs configured on the MAPI virtual directory.
  3. Update server rules   Verify that your load balancers, reverse proxies, and firewalls are configured to allow access to the MAPI over HTTP virtual directory.
  4. Enable MAPI over HTTP in your Exchange Organization
    NoteNote:
    If you enable MAPI over HTTP in your organization, Outlook 2013 SP1 clients that connect through Exchange 2013 SP1 Client Access servers might not be able to access public folders in the same forest on Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2007 servers. Don’t enable MAPI over HTTP in your organization until the public folders have been migrated to Exchange 2013 servers. For more information, see the Release Notes for Exchange 2013.
    After running the command below, clients using Outlook 2013 SP1 with MAPI over HTTP enabled will see a message to restart Outlook to use MAPI over HTTP.

    Run the following command:

    Set-OrganizationConfig -MapiHttpEnabled $true

You can test the end-to-end MAPI over HTTP connection by using the Test-OutlookConnectivity  cmdlet. To use the Test-OutlookConnectivity  cmdlet, the Microsoft Exchange Health Manager (MSExchangeHM) service must be started.

The following example tests the MAPI over HTTP connection from the Exchange server named ContosoMail.

Test-OutlookConnectivity -RunFromServerId ContosoMail -ProbeIdentity OutlookMapiHttpSelfTestProbe

A successful test returns output that’s similar to the following example:

MonitorIdentity                                          StartTime              EndTime                Result      Error     Exception
---------------                                          ---------              -------                ------      -----     ---------
OutlookMapiHttp.Protocol\OutlookMapiHttpSelfTestProbe    2/14/2014 7:15:00 AM   2/14/2014 7:15:10 AM   Succeeded

For more information, see Test-OutlookConnectivity.

Logs for MAPI over HTTP activity are at the following locations:

  • %ExchangeInstallPath%Logging\MAPI Address Book Service\
  • %ExchangeInstallPath%Logging\MAPI Client Access\
  • %ExchangeInstallPath%Logging\HttpProxy\Mapi\

You can manage the configuration of MAPI over HTTP by using the following cmdlets:

Posted in Exchange 2013 SP1 | No Comments »

Prerequisites for Integrating Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

Posted on 01/03/2014 by

Before you can integrate Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 you must ensure that all the prerequisite steps have been completed. As you might expect, integration cannot take place until both Exchange 2013 and Lync Server 2013 are fully installed and up and running. For details about installing Exchange, see the Exchange 2013 Planning and Deployment documentation at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=268539. For details about installing Lync Server 2013, see the planning and deployment documentation at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=254806.

After the servers are up and running you must assign server-to-server authentication certificates to both Lync Server 2013 and Exchange 2013; these certificates allow Lync Server and Exchange to exchange information and to communicate with one another. When you install Exchange 2013, a self-signed certificate with the name Microsoft Exchange Server Auth Certificate is created for you. This certificate, which can be found in the local computer certificate store, should be used for server-to-server authentication on Exchange 2013. For details about assigning certificates in Exchange 2013, see “Configure Mail Flow and Client Access” at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=268540.

For Lync Server 2013 you can use an existing Lync Server certificate as your server-to-server authentication certificate; for example, your default certificate can also be used as the OAuthTokenIssuer certificate. Lync Server 2013 allows you to use any Web server certificate as the certificate for server-to-server authentication provided that:

  • The certificate includes the name of your SIP domain in the Subject field.
  • The same certificate is configured as the OAuthTokenIssuer certificate on all of your Front End Servers.
  • The certificate has a length of at least 2048 bits.

For details about server-to-server authentication certificates for Microsoft Lync Server 2013, see Assigning a Server-to-Server Authentication Certificate to Microsoft Lync Server 2013.

After the certificates have been assigned you must then configure the autodiscover service on Exchange 2013. In Exchange 2013, the autodiscover service configures user profiles and provides access to Exchange services when users log on to the system. Users present the autodiscover service with their email address and password; in turn, the services provide the user with information such as:

  • Connection information for both internal and external connectivity to Exchange 2013.
  • The location of the user’s Mailbox server.
  • URLs for Outlook features such as free/busy information, Unified Messaging, and the offline address book.
  • Outlook Anywhere server settings.

The autodiscover service must be configured before you can integrate Lync Server 2013 and Exchange 2013. You can verify whether or not the autodiscover service has been configured by running the following command from the Exchange Management Shell and checking the value of the AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri property:

Get-ClientAccessServer | Select-Object Name, AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri | Format-List

If this value is blank, you must assign a URI to the autodiscover service. Typically this URI will look similar to this:

https://autodiscover.litwareinc.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml

You can assign the autodiscover URI by running a command similar to this:

Get-ClientAccessServer | Set-ClientAccessServer -AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri "https://autodiscover.litwareinc.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml"

For details about the autodiscover service, see “Understanding the Autodiscover Service” at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=268542.

After the autodiscover service has been configured you must then modify the Lync Server OAuth configuration settings; this ensures that that Lync Server knows where to find the autodiscover service. To modify the OAuth configuration settings in Lync Server 2013, run the following command from within the Lync Server Management Shell. When running this command, be sure that you specify the URI to the autodiscover service running on your Exchange server, and that you use autodiscover.svc to point to the service location instead of autodiscover.xml (which points to the XML file used by the service):

Set-CsOAuthConfiguration -Identity global -ExchangeAutodiscoverUrl "https://autodiscover.litwareinc.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.svc
noteNote:
The Identity parameter in the preceding command is optional; that’s because Lync Server only allows you to have a single, global collection of OAuth configuration settings. Among other things, that means that you can configure the autodiscover URL by using this slightly-simpler command:
Set-CsOAuthConfiguration–ExchangeAutodiscoverUrl “https://autodiscover.litwareinc.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.svc”
If you are unfamiliar with the technology, OAuth is a standard authorization protocol used by a number of major websites. With OAuth, user credentials and passwords are not passed from one computer to another. Instead, authentication and authorization is based on the exchange of security tokens; these tokens grant access to a specific set of resources for a specific amount of time.

In addition to configuring the autodiscover service, you must also create a DNS record for the service that points to your Exchange server. For example, if your autodiscover service is located at autodiscover.litwareinc.com you will need to create a DNS record for autodiscover.litwareinc.com that resolves to the fully qualified domain name of your Exchange server (for example, atl-exchange-001.litwareinc.com).

Posted in Lync Server 2013 | No Comments »

Integrating Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

Posted on 01/03/2014 by

Exchange and Lync Server have a long history of integration and compatibility. This integration is most noticeable within their respective client application. For example, Lync presence information can be reported in Microsoft Outlook; likewise, Lync can use Outlook calendar to automatically update that presence information. (For example, Lync can change your status to Busy any time your calendar shows that you have a meeting scheduled.) Although you do not have to run Exchange in order to run Lync Server (or vice-versa) there’s little doubt that using the two products together epitomizes the very definition of the term “better together.”

This is especially true with the release of Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. In addition to features, such as unified messaging and IM and presence, that are found in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010, the 2013 releases of the server products include a number of new capabilities. These capabilities include such things as:

  • Lync Archiving Integration. In Lync Server 2013 administrators still have the option of having instant messaging and Web conferencing transcripts archived to SQL Server (the same way these transcripts were archived in Lync Server 2010). Alternatively, however, administrators can choose to have transcripts archived to Exchange 2013, storing those transcripts in the individual user mailboxes in the same way in which Exchange archives communications. That means a single repository for all your electronic communications (from both Exchange and Lync Server), which makes it much easier to search for and retrieve those archived communications should the need arise.

 

  • Unified Contact Store. In Lync Server 2010, users had to maintain separate contact lists in Outlook and Lync; in fact, to ensure that you had the same contacts available in both products you had to maintain duplicate contact lists, one for Outlook and one for Lync. With Lync Server 2013, however, user contacts can be stored in Exchange 2013 and the unified contact store. Using a single contact store enables users to maintain just one set of contacts, with that same set of contacts being available in Lync 2013, Outlook 2013, and Outlook Web Access 2013.

 

  • Lync Meeting Scheduling from OWA. With Lync Server 2013 and Exchange 2013 integration, users can schedule Lync meetings from Outlook Web Access 2013.

 

  • High resolution photos. Lync 2010 could only display small photos of your contacts; that’s because those photos were stored in Active Directory, and Active Directory imposes a 48 pixel by 48 pixel size limitation on stored photos. With Lync Server 2013, however, photos can be stored in Microsoft Exchange; that allows for high-resolution photos as large as 648 pixels by 648 pixels. As you might expect, Lync 2013 has been upgraded to allow for the display of these high-resolution photographs.

Keep in mind that these new features require the use of both Lync Server 2013 and Exchange 2013. In addition to that, users who hope to take full advantage of these new capabilities must have accounts on Lync Server 2013 and Exchange 2013, and must be using the latest versions of the client software (e.g., Lync 2013). For example, the unified contact store is not available to users who have been homed on Lync Server 2010; likewise, high-resolution photos cannot be displayed in Lync 2010.

In This Section

Posted in Lync Server 2013 | No Comments »

Integrating Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and Microsoft Outlook Web App 2013

Posted on 22/02/2014 by

In addition to integrating with Microsoft Outlook 2013, Microsoft Lync Server 2013 can be fully integrated with Microsoft Outlook Web App 2013; among other things, this adds instant messaging and presence to Outlook Web App, and enables your unified contact list to be shared between Outlook Web App and Microsoft Lync 2013. In order to integrate Lync Server 2013 and Outlook Web App, you must first verify that the Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 Runtime has been installed in your Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 backend server. You can do this by looking for the existence of the following registry value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA\InstantMessaging\ImplementationDLLPath

The ImplementationDLLPath should point to the folder location for the file Microsoft.Rtc.Internal.Ucweb.dll. If it does not, or if the registry value does not exist, then you should download and install the UCMA Runtime setup program from the Microsoft Download Center. Information on how to install the UCMA Runtime can be found on that same web page.

Backward Compatibility

Lync Server 2013 can be integrated with the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 versions of both unified messaging and Outlook Web App. For more information, see the article Deploying On-Premises Exchange UM to Provide Lync Server 2010 Voice Mail. If you integrate with Exchange 2010 you will not have Lync Server specific features such as the unified contact store and Lync-to-Exchange archiving.

Microsoft Lync 2013 can also be used in conjunction with Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010. Once again, however, new functionality such as the unified contact store and high-resolution photos will not be available to Lync 2013 users. These new capabilities require both Lync Server 2013 and Exchange 2013.

Creating a Trusted Application Pool for Outlook Web App

If you have installed the Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging Call Router service and the Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging service on the same computer then there is no need to create a trusted application pool for Outlook Web App. (This assumes that the server in question is hosting a SipName UM dial plan.) If you are using a single computer to host both of these services then you can skip to the section of this document titled Enabling Instant Messaging on Outlook Web App.

Lync Server 2013 can autodiscover any Exchange servers that host a SipName UM dial plan; these servers are automatically added to the Lync Server Known Servers List. There is no need to create a trusted application pool and add these servers to the Known Servers List. In fact, doing so will cause Outlook Web App integration to stop working.

noteNote:
This is due to the fact that the Lync Server topology will now have two entries for the same computer: the autodiscovered entry, and the manually-added entry. To fix the problem, and to get Outlook Web App working again, use Windows PowerShell to remove the trusted pool and trusted application entries for the server. See the help topics for the Remove-CsTrustedApplicationPool  and Remove-CsTrustedApplication  cmdlets for more information.

If these two services are running on separate computers then, after you have verified that the Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 Runtime has been installed, you must create a Lync Server trusted application pool and a trusted application associated with Outlook Web App; that will add the server to the Known Servers List. To do that, first run a command similar to this from within the Lync Server Management Shell:

New-CsTrustedApplicationPool -Identity atl-owa-001.litwareinc.com -Registrar atl-cs-001.litwareinc.com -Site Redmond -RequiresReplication $False

In the preceding command, atl-owa-001.litwareinc.com is the fully qualified domain name of the Outlook Web App pool; this must be the same name that appears in the Subject Name and Subject Alternative Name (SAN) fields of the certificate that provides access to Outlook Web App. Likewise, atl-cs-001.litwareinc.com is the fully qualified domain name of the Lync Server 2013 pool that will host the new trusted application pool. Note, too that the specified site, Redmond, represents the SiteID of the Lync Server site. The SiteID is not necessarily the same as the site’s DisplayName; you can retrieve SiteIDs for your Lync Server sites by running the following command from the Lync Server Management Shell:

Get-CsSite | Select-Object DisplayName, SiteID

After creating the trusted application pool, use a command similar to the following to configure an application Identity and a port for Outlook Web App:

New-CsTrustedApplication -ApplicationId OutlookWebApp -TrustedApplicationPoolFqdn atl-owa-001.litwareinc.com  -Port 5199

In the preceding command, the ApplicationID is simply a friendly identifier used to distinguish trusted applications. The ApplicationID can be any text string that does not include blank spaces or other prohibited characters. (To ensure that you create a valid identifier, it is recommended that you use only letters and numbers when specifying an ApplicationId.) The value assigned to the Port parameter is also left to the administrator’s discretion: this can be any available network port.

After creating the trusted application you must run the following command to enable the changes to your Lync Server topology:

Enable-CsTopology

Note that you must also add your Exchange client access and mailbox server to all of your SIP Uri dial plans. In turn, this will configure the servers as trusted SIP peers with the ExUmRouting topology for Lync Server.

Enabling Instant Messaging on Outlook Web App

With Lync Server correctly configured you can then begin to configure Outlook Web App. The first step in that process is to enable instant messaging on all your Outlook Web App virtual directories on your front end servers. (There is no need to enable instant messaging for the virtual directories on your backend servers. In fact, it is recommended that you do not enable instant messaging on your backend servers.) Instant messaging can be enabled on the client access servers by running the following command from within the Exchange Management Shell:

Get-OwaVirtualDirectory | Set-OwaVirtualDirectory -InstantMessagingEnabled $True -InstantMessagingType OCS
noteNote:
By default, instant messaging is enabled when you install Outlook Web App; that is, the InstantMessagingEnabled property is set to True. However, you must still run the preceding command in order to set the instant messaging type to OCS. By default, InstantMessagingType is set to None.

Next you must add the following two lines to Outlook Web App Web.config file (this file is typically located in the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\Owa). These two lines should be added under the <AppSettings> node in the Web.config file, and this procedure should be carried out only on the backend servers where Outlook Web App has been installed:

<add key="IMCertificateThumbprint" value="EA5A332496CC05DA69B75B66111C0F78A110D22d"/>
<add key="IMServerName" value="atl-cs-001.litwareinc.com"/>

In the preceding example, the value for IMCertificateThumbprint must be the thumbprint for the Exchange 2013 certificate that is installed on your backend servers. You can retrieve that information by running the following command from the Exchange Management Shell:

Get-ExchangeCertificate

Note, too that the value assigned to IMServerName is the fully qualified domain name of the Lync Server pool where you created the trusted application pool for Outlook Web App.

The certificate that you use for Outlook Web App must be a certificate that is trusted by Lync Server. One way to ensure that the certificate will be trusted by both Lync Server and Exchange is to use your internal certificate authority to create a certificate on the mailbox server, making sure that the server FQDN is used for the subject name and that this FQDN appears in the certificate alternate name field. After the certificate has been created it can then be imported to your backend servers. The net result is that the same certificate is used for two purposes: 1) communication between Exchange unified messaging and Lync Server; and, 2) the integration between Outlook Web App and Lync Server.

After you have updated the Web.config file you should then run the following command on the Exchange backend server in order to recycle the Outlook Web App pool:

C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\Appcmd.exe recycle apppool /apppool.name:"MSExchangeOWAAppPool"

If the recycle operation succeeds you will see the following message in the Exchange Management Shell:

"MSExchangeOWAAppPool" successfully recycled

Configuring Outlook Web App Mailbox Policies

At this point you can use the following command to configure instant messaging on the appropriate Outlook Web App mailbox policy (or policies). For example, this command, run on one of your mailbox servers, enables instant messaging on the Default policy:

Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity "Default" -InstantMessagingEnabled $True -InstantMessagingType "OCS"

And this command enables instant messaging for all your Outlook Web App mailbox policies:

Get-OwaMailboxPolicy | Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -InstantMessagingEnabled $True -InstantMessagingType "OCS"

After the mailbox policy has been enabled then all users managed by that policy will have full integration between Lync Server and Outlook Web App, provided that:

  • The user has a mailbox on Exchange 2013.
  • The user has been enabled for Lync Server 2013.
  • The user has a valid SIP proxy address.

Disabling Instant Messaging in Outlook Web App

As noted previously, instant messaging is enabled by default in Outlook Web App. That means that, if you do not integrate Outlook Web App with Lync Server, users will see blank presence icons and an error message each time they log on to Outlook Web App. To prevent this problem, use the following Exchange Management Shell command to disable instant messaging in Outlook web App:

Get-OwaVirtualDirectory | Set-OwaVirtualDirectory -InstantMessagingEnabled $False

Verifying Integration With Outlook Web App

To verify that instant messaging and presence have been integrated with Outlook Web App, sign on to Outlook Web App 2013. In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, you will see your Exchange display name. If there is a presence icon next to your name (for example, a green icon indicating that your current status is Available) that indicates that you have successfully integrated Lync Server and Outlook Web App.

After the initial sign-on to Outlook Web App, check to see if an event with the Event ID 112 (and the source MSExchange OWA) has been written to the event log on the mailbox server. This event indicates that the Instant Messaging Endpoint Manager was successfully initialized. If instant messaging does not appear to be working then, on the mailbox server, look for log files in the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange server\V15\Logging\OWA\InstantMessaging. If either the Logging or the InstantMessaging folders do not exist that indicates that integration has failed. In that case, you can use SIPStack tracing on Lync Server (All Levels and All Flags) to try and determine why integration failed.

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Loop skripta za provjeru Exchange 2013 MailboxMove Requesta

Posted on 19/02/2014 by

Ako pokrenemo MailboxMove request na Exchangeu 2013 jako je teško doci do postotka koliko je podataka prebačeno za pojedinog korisnika. Navedeni postotak je moguće vidjeti putem ECP GUI-a ali se postotak sam ne refresha. Skripta u nastavku povlači sve poslove koji imaju status “InProgress” te za njih ispisuje postotak koji je obavljen.

Ispis se filtrira po poljima DisplayName,StatusDetail,PercentComplete.

Kako bi ispravno skripta radila potrebnu ju je pomenuti na Exchange 2013 poslužitelju.

Skripta izgleda ovako i automatski se izvršava u loop-u svakih 5 sekundi:

 

add-pssnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.SnapIn #Enable Exchange cmdlets
do 
{
    $jobs = Get-MoveRequest | where {$_.Status -eq "InProgress"} | select DisplayName;

    foreach ($job in $jobs)
    {
        Get-MoveRequestStatistics $job.DisplayName | select DisplayName,StatusDetail,PercentComplete;
    }

    Start-Sleep -s 5;

    Write-Host "***********************************`r`n";

} while ($True)

 

Posted in PowerShell 3.0 | No Comments »

Skripta za provjeru Exchange Servisa

Posted on 17/02/2014 by

Imao sam čudno iskustvo s Exchange 2013 poslužiteljom da su mi se znali zaustaviti neki servisi te bi prestali dolazni mailovi. Problem je sto se tako nešto ne uoči odmah. Jednostavno rješenje je skripta koja ih provjerava, starta i šalje obavijest na email o statusu servisa.

Prvo smo napisali funkciju koja se poziva da bi se poslao E-mail korisniku o statusu servisa. Funkcija izgleda ovako:

 

function sendMail($subject, $body) {

     Write-Host "Sending Email"

     #SMTP server name
     $smtpServer = "FQDN ili IP mail posluzitelja"

     #Creating a Mail object
     $msg = new-object Net.Mail.MailMessage

     #Creating SMTP server object
     $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer, 25)

     #Email structure
     $msg.From = "Mail FROM Adresa"
     $msg.ReplyTo = "Mail ReplyTO Adresa"
     $msg.To.Add("Mail TO Adresa")
     $msg.subject = $subject
     $msg.body = $body

     #Sending email
     $smtp.Send($msg)

}

Zatim je potrebno kreirati datoteku CSV formata. U navedenoj datoteci se u prvom polju nalazi “Name“, a u nastavku nabrojimo imena windows servisa koje želimo provjeravati.

Dio skripte koji nam sluzi za dohvat popisa servisa iz datoteke, npr. Services.txt:

 

# Get service details from a file
# Name
$FileLocation = "D:\Temp\Services.txt" #Change to Service.txt location
$services = Import-CSV $FileLocation
$date = Get-Date

Primjer datoteke za Microsoft Exchange 2013 servise:

Name
MSExchangeADTopology
MSExchangeDagMgmt
MSExchangeDiagnostics
MSExchangeEdgeSync
MSExchangeFrontEndTransport
MSExchangeHM
MSExchangeIS
MSExchangeMailboxAssistants
MSExchangeMailboxReplication
MSExchangeDelivery
MSExchangeSubmission
MSExchangeRepl
MSExchangeRPC
MSExchangeFastSearch
HostControllerService
MSExchangeServiceHost
MSExchangeThrottling
MSExchangeTransport
MSExchangeTransportLogSearch
MSExchangeUM
MSExchangeUMCR

Zatim slijedi skripta koja se pokreće automatski putem Task Scheduler-a. Skripta izgleda ovako:

foreach ($service in $services)
{
       $srv = Get-Service -Name $service.Name | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "running"}
       IF ($srv -eq $NULL) 
       {
              Write-Host "SERVICE STOPPED; TRYING TO START " $service.Name " ..."
              sendMail -subject "SERVICE ALERT - " $service.Name " !!" -body "Service " $service.Name " stopped; trying to start `r`n`r`nTIME OF SERVICE RESTART: $date" #Calling Function
              Start-Service -Name $service.Name

              $srv = Get-Service -Name $service.Name | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "running"}
              IF ($srv -eq $NULL) 
              {
                     Write-Host "FAILED TO START " $service.Name " SERVICE"
                     sendMail -subject "SERVICE ALERT - " $service.Name " !!" -body "FAILED TO START " $service.Name " SERVICE `r`n`r`nTIME OF FAILURE: $date" #Calling Function        
              }
              ELSE
              {
                     Write-Host "Service " $service.Name " started"
                     sendMail -subject "SERVICE ALERT " - $service.Name " !!" -body "Service " $service.Name " started `r`n`r`nTIME OF SERVICE RESTART: $date" #Calling Function
              }
       }
       ELSE
       {
              Write-Host "SERVICE " $service.Name " ALREADY RUNNING"
       }
}

 

Ovdije mozete Copy/Paste cijelu skriptu:

function sendMail($subject, $body) {

     Write-Host "Sending Email"

     #SMTP server name
     $smtpServer = "FQDN ili IP mail posluzitelja"

     #Creating a Mail object
     $msg = new-object Net.Mail.MailMessage

     #Creating SMTP server object
     $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer, 25)

     #Email structure
     $msg.From = "Mail FROM Adresa"
     $msg.ReplyTo = "Mail ReplyTO Adresa"
     $msg.To.Add("Mail TO Adresa")
     $msg.subject = $subject
     $msg.body = $body

     #Sending email
     $smtp.Send($msg)

}

# Get service details from a file
# Name
$FileLocation = "D:\Temp\Services.txt" #Change to Service.txt location
$services = Import-CSV $FileLocation
$date = Get-Date

foreach ($service in $services)
{
       $srv = Get-Service -Name $service.Name | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "running"}
       IF ($srv -eq $NULL) 
       {
              Write-Host "SERVICE STOPPED; TRYING TO START " $service.Name " ..."
              sendMail -subject "SERVICE ALERT - " $service.Name " !!" -body "Service " $service.Name " stopped; trying to start `r`n`r`nTIME OF SERVICE RESTART: $date" #Calling Function
              Start-Service -Name $service.Name

              $srv = Get-Service -Name $service.Name | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "running"}
              IF ($srv -eq $NULL) 
              {
                     Write-Host "FAILED TO START " $service.Name " SERVICE"
                     sendMail -subject "SERVICE ALERT - " $service.Name " !!" -body "FAILED TO START " $service.Name " SERVICE `r`n`r`nTIME OF FAILURE: $date" #Calling Function        
              }
              ELSE
              {
                     Write-Host "Service " $service.Name " started"
                     sendMail -subject "SERVICE ALERT " - $service.Name " !!" -body "Service " $service.Name " started `r`n`r`nTIME OF SERVICE RESTART: $date" #Calling Function
              }
       }
       ELSE
       {
              Write-Host "SERVICE " $service.Name " ALREADY RUNNING"
       }
}

 

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Upgrading Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2012 R2

Posted on 17/02/2014 by

Ok, not really an upgrade, but more of “replacement”.  Smile

With the release of Windows Server 2012 R2 to MSDN which was recently announced HERE, it is time for me to upgrade my lab domain controllers to Windows Server 2012 R2.

I started by first “upgrading” my Hyper-V hosts to Windows Server 2012 R2.  This would allow me to take full advantage of all the new benefits of 2012 R2 for Hyper-V.  That was pretty simple, just shut down the OS, unplug all my additional storage in the machine which contains all my VM’s, and boot from my USB key that contained WS2012R2.  Then, once I added the Hyper-V role back, I simply connect my storage back to the system, and import the previous VM’s I was running.

My next step in upgrading my VM’s is targeting the domain controllers.  I have two DC’s, each running AD services, certificate services, DHCP, DNS, etc.  Since I don’t want to risk messing up the complex configuration of each service, I choose to deploy two NEW VM’s for additional DC’s, and I will migrate these additional roles to the new DC’s later.

My first step is to deploy the two new VM’s.  First decision I need to make is whether to use Gen1 or Gen2 VM’s:

8765.image_150BAFC1Gen2 VM’s are a new feature of Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2, and offer significant advantages over Gen1 VM’s, such as secure boot, discarding the emulated devices like IDE and using SCSI disks event for the boot volumes, PXE capability on a standard NIC, etc.  Read more about Gen2 VM’s here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn282285.aspx

Installing Windows Server 2012 R2 is just like any other OS install.  When it stops on the Activation Key screen, I decided to leverage another new feature for Windows Server 2012 R2 – Automatic VM Activation.  You can use these new keys to activate servers when they are running on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V.  Read more about Automatic VM Activation here:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303421.aspx

I rename the VM’s with the correct server names, and join them to my domain.

The first step in promoting these new VM’s to Domain Controllers is to add that role, which you can perform from Server Manager. A walkthrough of the process is described here:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj574134.aspx

5148.image_5B889FC91351.image_2924CC4A

When the role is added – you will see a post-deployment task warning, to run the promotion:

6646.image_56A5EC0D

The wizard will run AD forest prep, schema update, and domain prep for 2012 R2 when you promote the first DC on Windows Server 2012 R2.

When it is complete, you will see your new DC’s added to the domain controllers OU in Active Directory.

The next step in the process is to migrate the AD Operations Master roles.  The simplest way to move these roles is via PowerShell.  On Server 2012 AD PowerShell modules, this can be done from anywhere.  Simply run the following command to view you current configuration, and change them:

PS C:\> netdom query FSMO
Schema master               DC1.opsmgr.net
Domain naming master        DC1.opsmgr.net
PDC                         DC1.opsmgr.net
RID pool manager            DC1.opsmgr.net
Infrastructure master       DC1.opsmgr.net

Then use the Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole cmdlets to move them.  You can do this with a simple one liner!

Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -identity "DC01" -OperationMasterRole 0,1,2,3,4

The identity is the server you want to transfer these roles to, and the 0-4 numeric represents each role to move.  Read more about this cmdlets here:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee617229.aspx

When complete, you can run a “netdom query FSMO” again and ensure that your master roles have been moved successfully.

Then, you simply need to migrate any other roles or services running on the DC’s, then demote them when complete.  To demote the domain controller on Server 2012, simply begin by removing the Active Directory Services role, which will prompt you to demote first with a task link.  Once demoted, you can remove the server from the domain.

Posted in Windows Server 2012 R2 | No Comments »

Synchronize time with external NTP server on Windows Server 2008 R2 / Windows Server Core/Full 2012

Posted on 23/01/2014 by

Time synchronization is an important aspect for all computers on the network. By default, the clients computers get their time from a Domain Controller and the Domain Controller gets his time from the domain’s PDC Operation Master. Therefore the PDC must synchronize his time from an external source. I usually use the servers listed at the NTP Pool Project website. Before you begin, don’t forget to open the default UDP 123 port (in- and outbound) on your (corporate) firewall.

  1. First, locate your PDC Server. Open the command prompt and type: C:\>netdom /query fsmo
  2. Log in to your PDC Server and open the command prompt.
  3. Stop the W32Time service: C:\>net stop w32time
  4. Configure the external time sources, type: C:\> w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:”0.pool.ntp.org, 1.pool.ntp.org, 2.pool.ntp.org”
  5. Make your PDC a reliable time source for the clients. Type: C:\>w32tm /config /reliable:yes
  6. Start the w32time service: C:\>net start w32time
  7. The windows time service should begin synchronizing the time. You can check the external NTP servers in the time configuration by typing: C:\>w32tm /query /configuration
  8. Check the Event Viewer for any errors.

Tested on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Sever Core 2012

Posted in Windows 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 | No Comments »

Tech Terms

Posted on 21/01/2014 by

3DES Triple Data Encryption Standard: A method of encryption (168 bit).
AAA Authentication, Authorisation, and Accounting: Security system Authentication proves who you are, Authorisation says what you can do, and Accounting logs what you have done.
AAC Advanced Audio Codec: A file format for storing music in ‘lossless’ quality. Used heavily by Apple.
ACE 1. Access Control entry: One element of an ACL

2. RSA ACE Server is the old name for RSA Authentication Manager.
ACL Access Control List:Rules applied on a network device that allow communication over numbered ports to and from certain IP addresses.
AD Active Directory: Introduces with Windows Server 2000, this is Microsoft’s domain directory services role.
ADAM Active Directory Application Mode: This was replaced in Server 2008 with LDS
ADK Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit: A suite of tools for customising and deploying Windows operating systems, has replaced the WAIK.
ADMX A file extension used for files that can be imported into Microsoft Group Policy Objects.
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line: An internet connection ran over copper wire (usually a telephone line). It tends to have faster download than upload speed.
AES Advanced Encryption Standard 128,192, or 256bit.
AH Authentication Header: A member of the IPSec suite of protocols provides integrity and authentication of data packets.
AMD Advanced Micro Devices: A company that makes microprocessors and CPU’s. Main rival to Intel.
AP See WAP
API Application Programming Interface: Allows software to talk to other software.
ARP Address Resolution Protocol: A network protocol used to translate physical addresses to IP addresses, and vice versa using RARP (Reverse ARP).
ASA Adaptive Security appliance: Range of Cisco firewalls.
ASDM Adaptive Security Device Manager: Web management console for Cisco firewalls running OS 7 and above.
ATA Advanced Technology Attachment: Used to connect drives to a computer.
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode: Used to move computer data, video, or audio over a network. It embeds the data in ‘cells’ which all travel along a fixed path to their destination. This differs from TCP/IP ‘packets’ which can travel over many different routed to their destination.
AV Anti Virus.
AVI Audio Video Interleave: A File format used for video files.
BBWC Battery Backed Write Cache: A small power source that lived on a hardware RAID controller, the battery supplies power to the cache so in the event of power loss, information that is about to written to disk is not lost.
BIND Berkeley Internet Name Daemon: DNS software commonly used in Unix and Linux distributions.
BIOS Basic Input Output system: This is bootable firmware that live on most modern PC’s and Servers you access this before the OS loads usually by pressing F1, F2, F10, or Esc.
BITS Background Intelligent Transfer Service: A system that uses idle bandwidth to download data (usually updates).
BSOD Blue Screen Of Death: Seen on a Windows Machine after a crash, if it has not been set to reboot in the event of a crash, it takes it name from the blue background and white text. (Also see PSOD).
BSSID Basic Service Set Identifier: A unique name that specifies a wireless access point or router. Used in an Infrastructure wireless network *See SSID and ESSID)
BT British Telecom, the largest ISP in the UK,
BT Syndrome You have an Internet problem, so you ring BT, they tell you they cant see anything wrong, and magically it starts working while you are on the phone.
CA Certification Authority: An entity that produces digital certificates.
CAL Client Access Licence: A Licence used to access server services, used a lot on Microsoft Networks where licenses are “per seat”, “per user”, or “per device”.
CAS Client Access Server: A role used by Microsoft Exchange server. A CAS server typically runs OWA and ActiveSync
CCNA Certified Cisco Network Associate: Entry level Cisco networking qualification.
CCMP Counter Mode/CBC-MAC Protocol: Security system that uses a 128 bit key for encryption. Seen on HP Wireless controllers.
CCO Cisco Connection Online: You can create a login free at Cisco to log into this service, once set up you can add valid support agreements to you account to enable you to get support and download updates.
CCP Cisco Configuration Professional: A Java based graphical management software tool for deploying and configuring Cisco Routers, and wireless access points etc.
CCR Cluster Continuous Replication: Introduced in Exchange 2007, this provides a second copy of the exchange database that can be used in a disaster recovery situation.
CD Compact Disk
CGI Common Gateway Interface: A method use to both generate dynamic web content, and pass information between a web server and a browser or application a visitor is using.
CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol: Used to authenticate a remote user or hot.
CIFS Common Internet File system: A Microsoft system for sharing files on a network that was developed from SMB.
CLI Command Line Interface: The command interface for various network devices, usually accessed by a console cable SSH or Telnet.
CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor: this is actually a technology used in integrated circuits, but some people still refer to a machines BIOS/RBSU as CMOS
CN 1. Common Name: {digital certificates} When a digital certificate is signed by a CA, this proves the common name (the name presented on the certificate) is correct.

2. Common Name: {Active Directory AD} The name of an object in active directory i.e. “CN=Fred Bloggs”.
CODEC COder-DECoder (or Compressor-DECompressor). A small piece of software that lets a computer “Understand” a particular video/audio encoding.
cPanel cPanel is a suite of tools that a company hosting your website can provide you access to, to manage your own website. It is used on Apache web servers
CPU Central Processing Unit: The “Brain” and main chip that provides a machines number crunching capability.
CRL Certificate Revocation List: Is a list published by a CA for certificates that have been cancelled or revoked. It uses OCSP.
CRM Customer Relationship Management: A system used primarily by sales marketing, and customer services. It’s usually a database of customers and potential customers.
CSC Content and Security Control: A Plug in module for ASA 5510 and above platforms that provides scanning and anti spam facilities from an embedded Trend Micro Server.
CSE Client Side Extensions: A set of extra GPP settings built into Windows 7, (need to be manually installed on older versions of Windows)
CSR Certificate Signing Request: A request sent to a CA to apply foe a digital certificate
CSV Comma Separated Values: A common file format that can be opened by Microsoft Excel. Also used for importing and exporting bulk data.
CSVDE Comma Separated Value Data Export: A method of bulk importing or exporting data from a CSV file to perform a task – commonly used for bulk import/export of users or computers with AD
DAG Database Availability Group: A system used by Microsoft Exchange to maintain database availability by keeping copies of the mail database(s) on different mail servers.
DC Domain Controller: The logon server that’s present in Microsoft Server domains.
DES Data Encryption Standard: A method of encryption (56 bit) is considered very weak for modern communication – in 1999 it was broken in 22 hours and 15 minutes by the EFF
DH Diffie Hellman: A system used to swap keys securely over a public network.
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol: A method used to lease an IP address to a device so it can communicate on a network.
DMZ De-Militarised Zone: A network segment attached usually to a less secure network, traditionally the home of web servers and edge servers.
DNS Domain Name system: The system that translates network names into IP addresses.
DNSBL DNS based Block List (or Black-hole List depending on what documentation you read) Is dynamic list of known email spammers.
DS Directory Services: Using a central repository of network assets for management
DSL Digital Subscriber Line: A network connection, usually to the internet, the speed of traffic “down” is usually fast, and the speed of traffic “up” is slow, this makes it ideal for home internet connections.
DSN Data Source Name: Usually used with ODBC connections these refer to a data source (usually a database).
DVD Digital Versatile Disk or Digital Video Disk
DVDROM Digital Versatile Disk or Digital Video Disk Read Only Memory
EAP Extensible Authentication Protocol: Used with both wireless protocols like WPA, it’s part of the PPP suite of protocols
ECC Error-Correcting Code Memory: Typically more expensive than normal RAM, it uses a parity system to error check corruption in the data it holds.
ECP Exchange Control Panel: Web based administrative console for Exchange, it was brought in with Exchange 2010. With Exchange 2013 the Exchange Administrative Center runs form the same location.
EDNS Extension mechanisms for DNS: Essentially DNS but in network packets greater than 512KB
EFF Electronic Frontier Foundation: Non profit US organisation.
EMC Exchange Management Console: The Graphical user management console for Microsoft Exchange.
ePO e Policy Orchestrator: McAfee’s product for managing deployment and updates to its anti virus products.
EPT Extended Page Tables: A technology used by Intel VT-x for CPU virtualization.
ESMTP Extended Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) As users wanted to send extra data attached to their emails, this system was developed to let that happen. It lets a client and mail server negotiate what capabilities it can use.
ESP Encapsulation Security Payload: A member of the IPsec suite of protocols provides authenticity integrity and confidentiality of data packets.
ESSID Extended Service Set Identifier is an SSID used in ad-hoc networks
ESX Originally Stood for Elastic Sky, ESX is Vmware’s hypervisor virtualisation server platform developed from GSX

the i in ESXi is is for “Integrated” and can be ran from a flash drive or chip on a PC/Server.
EULA End User Licence Agreement: the legal contract between the user and the person/company who has produced some software. Typically the EULA is the section in an install where you tick “I Agree..”.
FEP Forefront Endpoint Protection: Microsoft’s Client AV solution released 2010
FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name, usually a PC or servername followed by the domain DNS name i.e. server1.petenetlive.com
FSMO Flexible Single Master Operation: pronounced “Fiz-mo” These are 5 roles held by Active Directory domain controllers.
FSRM File System Resource Manager: Introduced with Server 2008 R2, this server role handles file quotas and screening rules.
FTP File Transfer Protocol: As the name suggests, a protocol for transferring files over a network uses TCP Port 21.
FTTC Fibre to the Cabinet: An internet connection that provides a fibre optic cable from either a telephone exchange (Or Comms distribution point), to the cabinets that are in the street. From the cabinet to the home/business will usually be standard copper (POTS) cable.
FTTH Fibre to the Home: An internet connection that provides a fibre optic cable from either a telephone exchange (Or Comms distribution point), directly to a consumers home or place of business.
GAL Global Address List: Used on a Microsoft Exchange server a list of email addresses generated by the server that clients can search.
GB Gig a Byte: Giga means 10 to the power 9, or 1,000,000,000 bytes, however in computing terms we work in binary so it worked out as 2 to the power 30, which equals 1,073,741,824 bytes.
Gbps Giga bits per second 9 a bit is one binary digit (0 or 1) there are 8 bits in one Byte.
GSX From its development name GSX is Vmware’s Ground Storm Virtualisation platform, was replaced by ESX
GPO Group Policy Object: This is a template used to lock down or enforce a policy on a computer or a user.
GPP Group Policy Preference: Brought in with Windows Server 2008 designed to compliment GPO network management.
GRE Generic Routing Encapsulation: A Cisco protocol for encapsulating other protocols over a network.
GRT Granular Recovery Technology: A term used by Symantec to describe their backup technology, that lets you restore a single item from a large backup job, e.g. one email from and Exchange backup, or one user from Active Directory.
GUI Graphical User Interface.
GUID Global Unique Identifier: Used to identify active directory objects, and also a hard coded serial number built into computers so they can be identified on a network when they pXe boot.
HA High Availability: An attribute given to a VMware cluster so that if any ESX host fails, it’s guest machines automatically get migrated to another host. Also the term used to describe multiple exchange databases deployed for failover.
HDD Hard Disk Drive.
HTML Hyper Text Markup Language: Is a language used to create documents on the world wide web.
HTPC Home Theatre Personal Computer.
HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol: Traditionally the protocol of web pages, runs over TCP port 80, however multiple vendors abuse this by trying to get their software to run on the same port as this port is usually open on corporate firewalls.
HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure: This is web traffic that is secured, using SSL
IAS Internet Authentication Server: Microsoft Implementation of RADIUS
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol: Part of the IP suite of protocols, ICMP is used to send errors and connection states.
IE Internet Explorer: Microsoft’s web browser.
IESC Internet Enhanced Security Configuration: A Tighter set of browser stings applicable to a Windows Server.
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force: Develops and promotes Internet Standards
IIS Internet Information Server: The Microsoft web server platform, included with Windows server systems.
IKE Internet Key Exchange: A protocol used to set up SA’s in the IPsec protocol
iLO Integrated Lights Out: Let you connect to the console of a HP Proliant Server, even if its powered off, the iLO is presented as a standard RJ45 network socket on the back of the server.
IMAP Instant Message Access Protocol: Method of retrieving messages from a mail server, runt over TCP port 143
IOS Internetwork Operating System: OS used by Cisco devices and Apple Devices.
IP Internet Protocol: A protocol for communicating across a switched network (like the Internet).
IPSEC Internet Protocol Security: A suite of protocols for securing IP communications.
IPv6 IP Version 6: Replacing IPv4 (current version which can have  2 to the power 32 (4,294,967,296) possible addresses, IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, for an address space of 2 to the power 128 (approximately 340 undecillion or 3.4×10 to the power 38).
ISA Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server: replaced MS Proxy 2.0, it provides web proxy services and Enterprise Firewall capabilities.
ISAKMP Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol: A system for establishing Security Association and secure keys, usually used for VPN communication.
iSCSI Internet Small Computer System Interface: System used to carry SCSI commands over an IP network, used for small SAN infrastructures.
ISO A type of file format that’s used for storing CD/DVD Images, it takes its name from the International Organization for Standardization.
ISP Internet Service Provider: The Person or company that provides a link to an external network (usually the Internet).
ISR Integrated Services Router: A series of Cisco Routers.
IV Initialization Vector: Used in cryptography, its a ‘fixed size’ input.
IWSS Inter Scan Web Security Suite: A suite of products by Trend Micro, for AV and URL filtering.
JNLP Java Network Launching Protocol: Used to deliver “Java Web Start” and run an application from a web server.
KB Kilo means 10 to the power 3, or 1,000 bytes, however in computing terms we work in binary so it worked out as 2 to the power 10, which equals 1,024 bytes.
KMS Key Management Server/Service: With the release of Windows Vista/2008 Microsoft changed their software licence method. Previous VLK keys were replaced by both MAK and KMS Keys. Software with a KMS key must get its activation from a KMS server (installed on its local network) every 180 days.
L2TP Layer Two Tunnelling Protocol: Developed from PPTP used to authenticate remote VPN clients
LACP Link Aggregation Control Protocol: A protocol that allows you to bundle together more than one network link and treat it as it id is one link.
LAN Local Area Network: A computer network that connects multiple PC’s to each other and local resources. Also the inside port on a router or firewall.
LBFO Load Balancing and Fail Over: New with Server 2012, this provides NIC teaming/aggregation and standby NIC support.
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol: Designed for accessing and editing directories over an IP network, Microsoft LDAP commonly runs over TCP port 389
LDS Lightweight directory Services: A small subset of AD that’s used for applications, (on versions of Windows before 2008 it was called ADAM)
LTO Linear Tape Open: A standard of magnetic tape storage, developed by Quantum/Seagate. Commonly used by HP, IBM and Certance
LUN Logical Unit Number: used in SAN storage, each piece of “storage” is represented by a LUN that’s presented to other devices on the storage network/fabric.
MAC Media Access Control: The “Burned in” hardware address used on all Ethernet network devices.
MAK Multiple Activation Key: A Microsoft software unlock code, designed to be used multiple times. Took over from a VLK key, its either entered manually, from a script or unattended file, or using the VAMT tool.
MAPI Messaging Application Programming Interface: A Set of standards and instructions that allow programs to talk to Microsoft Mail applications like Exchange Server.
MB Megabyte: Mega means 10 to the power 6, or 1,000,000 bytes, however in computing terms we work in binary so it worked out as 2 to the power 20, which equals 1,048,576 bytes.
MD5 Message digest algorithm 5: Produces a fixed 128 bit hash commonly used to check integrity of files
MKV Matroska Files: these are video files, similar to AVI files, but with extra features.
MMC Microsoft Management Console: A front end that accepts various “Snap ins” for managing items in a windows environment.
MP3 MPEG-1 Audio Level 3: A popular format for storing and playing digital music.
MPEG Moving Picture Expert Group
MPF Modular Policy Framework: A system for applying policies on a Cisco Firewall they can be applied globally or per interface.
MSA Modular Storage Array: A range of SAN devices by Hewlett Packard
MSCHAP The Microsoft Implementation of CHAP
MSDE Microsoft SQL Desktop Edition: A cut down version of Microsoft SQL Server,that is free. Has now been replaced by SQL Express.
MSDN Microsoft Developer Network (here).
MSI Microsoft Installer File: A type of file extension that denotes a piece of setup software for an application, the advantage of .msi files is that they can be installed on clients via GPO
MTU Maximum Transmission Unit: The maximum size (in bytes) that a single packet can be, for transmission over a network.
MX Mail exchanger record: Is a DNS record that it used so that someone can query a domain to find the name/address of its mail server.
NAP Network Access Protection: A Microsoft technology for controlling network access based on policies.
NAS Network Attached Storage: Hard drive storage that’s presented to a network with its own address.
NAT Network Address Translation: Translating many IP addresses to few IP addresses.
NDR Non Delivery Report: Produced by a mail server, and sent to the sender, when an email cannot be delivered.
NetBIOS Network Basic Input/Output System: Is NOT a networking protocol its an API, can be likened to DNS insofar at it maps names to IP addresses.
NFS Network File system: Developed by Sun Microsytems this is a protocol for allowing a client to access files on a shared datastore/system, currently at version 4 and is defined in RFC 3530.
NIC Network Interface Card: The device that connects a PC/Server to a network this can be wired or wireless.
NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol: An old protocol used for posting usenet articles runs on TCP port 119
NSEL NetFlow Secure Event Logging
NTFS New Technology File system: Introduced with Windows NT4, a method of securing files on storage media.
NT New Technology: Released as Windows NT 3.1 (1993). The most well known is Windows NT4 (1996). Its still a system in use today (Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 is denoted as NT 6.1).
NTLM NT LAN Manager: A Microsoft suite of protocols that provide authentication, integrity and confidentiality.
NTP Network Time Protocol: Used to synchronise system clocks on network devices. It runs over UDP port 123.
NVRAM Non-Volatile RAM: A term usually used with routers to describe RAM that contains information that will not be lost when the device is powered off, these days we would call it flash memory. But you will still see this term used in router documentation.
OAB Offline Address Book: Generated by Microsoft Exchange Server and downloaded to Microsoft Outlook clients for use in cached mode.
OCSP Online Certificate Status Protocol: Used by a CA to publish a CRL.
ODBC Open Database Connectivity: A standard method of accessing a database. Usually configured on a client that has software that needs a database ‘back-end’ on another server or machine,
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer: Someone who produces computer equipment that comes pre-bundled with a Windows operating system. Note: A Windows OEM code will NOT work on Volume Licensed Software
OOBE Out Of Box Experience: The name Microsoft gives to the process you go through when you first setup a copy of Windows.
OS Operating System: The software between the hardware and you, on a PC it would be Windows or Linux, on a Hardware device it is probably vendor specific i.e. Cisco ASA OS 7.2(2)
OTP One Time Password: Used in cryptography to obtain a certificate.
OU Organisational Unit: This is a container used in Directories like Active Directory or Novell Directory Services, can be used to hold directory objects like users, servers or printers etc. They can also be used to apply GPO
OVF Open Virtualisation Format: A method of “Transporting” virtual machines, used so that they can be made “Portable”.
OWA Outlook Web Access: The web front end to Microsoft Exchange. After Exchange 2010 this is now called Outlook Web App.
P2V Physical to Virtual: The act of converting a real machine top a virtual one.
PAK Product Activation Key: a License key used by Cisco, to enable/add features to a Cisco device.
PAP Password Authentication Protocol: Used to authenticate users before network access is allowed.
PAT Port Address Translation: Translating many IP addresses to a single IP address (Used on Cisco firewalls for port forwarding).
PCL Printer Control Language: Is a command language that is used with printer drivers so that applications can send data to a printer.
PCoIP Created by a firm called Teradici, it is a similar protocol to RDP, insofar as it lets you view the desktop of a remote machine and interact with it. It’s the preferred protocol to use with VMware View (after version 4.6).
PDC Primary Domain Controller: Used in Windows NT4 environments, though now in new Active Directory you will still have a domain controller that holds the PDC Emulator FSMO role.
PDF Portable Document Format: Usually opened with Adobe Acrobat (Though other pdf readers exist).
PDM PIX Device Manager: Web management console for Cisco firewalls running OS 6 and below.
PEM Privacy Enhanced Mail: A format for showing a digital certificate, can be sent via email or pasted into a devices configuration looks like this.
PERC PowerEdge Expandable RAID card: Dell’s name for its server RAID cards.
PFS Perfect Forward Secrecy is a method by which new keys are generated, each new key is mathematically linked to the key that came before it, the prior key being a “Grandfather” key. With PFS enabled this link is broken so a key can not be forward/reverse engineered to guess a previous/new key value). Every new negotiation produces a new fresh key.
PHP PHP:Hypertext Processor (confusing eh? The first word of the acronym is the acronym, this is called a recursive acronym). Its an embedded scripting language commonly used in HTML.
PID Process Identifier: The number allocated to processes on a computer running an OS like windows or UNIX.
PING Ping is a command utility that uses the “echo request” part of the ICMP suite of communications protocols, it is used to test network connectivity and the “round trip” time packets take over a network.
PIX Packet Internet eXchange: Cisco’s firewall platform before the ASA was released.
PKI Public Key Infrastructure: A system that uses public and private keys for cryptography. Commonly used for digital certificates.
POE Power Over Ethernet: A method of delivering electric power over a network cable. Used to power devices like IP Phones and Wireless Access Points
POP Post Office Protocol: Method for retrieving mail from a public mail server runs over TCP port 110
POTS Plain Old Telephone System.
PPP Point to Point Protocol: This is a communication protocol that is designed to establish a link between two places, it provides authentication, encryption and compression.
PPPoA Point to Point Protocol over ATM: This is a communication protocol that uses PPP and places , it’s commonly used with ADSL routers.
PPPoE Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet: This is a communication protocol that uses PPP and places that information into normal ethernet frames, it’s commonly used with DSL and FTTC connections.
PPTP Point to Point Tunnelling Protocol: Used to establish a VPN tunnel it runs in IP protocol 47 and TCP port 1723.
PSOD Pink Screen Of Death: Seen on VMware servers after a crash (like a Windows BSOD only the screen background is pink).
PST A Microsoft Personal Folder File: Usually used by Microsoft Outlook to store mail locally in a file. These can go corrupt/get deleted and cause loss of data, which unlike the data in your email server may not be backed up!
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network: Old fashioned phone system sometimes referred to as POTS
PXE Pre eXecute Environment: A system in modern PC’s that enable them to be booted from their NIC.
R2 Release 2 (or Second Release), used by Microsoft for major OS releases e.g. Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2
RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks (or Inexpensive Disks depending on who you are talking to). This is a blanket term, for any method of presenting multiple physical disks, and making them appear as a single piece of storage.
RADIUS Remote access Dial In User System: A method of authenticating access to a network.
RAM Random Access Memory: Or volatile memory, provides a PC/server with short term high speed memory.
RARP See ARP
RBAC Role Based Access Control: Used with Exchange 2010, makes delegating Exchange tasks easier.
RBL Relay Block List / Reatlime Blackhole List: A dynamic list of IP addresses and host-names that have been suspected/reported as being either an open relay, or are generating spam.
RBSU ROM Based Setup Utility: Typically found on HP Servers the RBSU is a small BIOS chip for holding the system settings.
RC4 Is a cypher developed by RSA it is easily broken by modern computers thus considered insecure.
RD Remote Desktop, See RDP
RDP Remote Desktop Protocol: A Microsoft protocol that allows the desktop of one machine, to be shown on another machine over a network, can be used for remote assistance, remote administration, or Terminal Services. Runs over TCP port 3389
RDS Remote Desktop Services the new name in Windows 2008 for Terminal Services (TS).
RDX Removable Disk Storage/Backup System (No I don’t know why it has an X!) a Hard Drive based backup solution that behaves like a tape drive.
RFC Request For Comments: These are a collection of memorandums published by the IETF as a method of trying to standardise communication standards and protocols.
RIS Remote Installation Services: Introduced in Windows 2000, system for deploying (imaging) PC’s and Servers from a central Windows Server (Replaced by WDS).
RJ45 Registered Jack 45: Is a standard 8 pin network connection.
RODC Read Only Domain Controller (Server 2008 only). A domain controller with a “Read Only” database it caches credentials rather than storing then in case it is stolen.
ROM Read Only Memory: Memory that can not (normally) be written to i.e. CD ROM.
ROMMON ROM Monitor, is a low level bootstrap program used on Cisco devices to check and initialise the hardware then load the operating system.
RPC Remote Procedure Call: A system used on random communication ports to let systems talk to each other.
RRAS Routing and Remote Access: Is a Windows server role, that provides the following, Remote access, Dial up, VPN, NAT, Routing, and Demand Dial services.
RSA Rivest, Shamir and Adleman: An algorithm for public key cryptography.
RSAT Remote Server Administration Tools: Suite of Microsoft MMC consoles for managing servers and domains.
RSS Really Simple Syndication: A web based news feed system.
RTFM Read the F***ing Manual!
RTFQ Read the F***ing Question!
RTM Released To Manufacturing
SA Security Association: a secured peer in a site to site VPN
SAN Storage area Network: A Network of storage/disks that is presented as central storage to many devices.

Subject Alternative Name: These are additional names added to a digital certificate, they are used on web server certificates, and unified communications certificates.
SAS Serial attached SCSI used for connecting computer peripherals, currently runs at about 3 Gbps but can run up to 10 Gbps.
SATA Serial ATA: A Standard for connection drives, (Hard Drives and optical drives) its a seven pin socket that connects them to the computers motherboard.
SBS Small Business Server: A Microsoft Server platform that includes Exchange (and with some flavours ISA and SQL Server) as the name suggests, for small corporate deployments with less than 75 users/devices
SCCM System Center Configuration Manager: Formally (SMS) Systems Management Server this is a tool for managing large numbers of Windows Machines.
SCCP Skinny Client Control Protocol: A Cisco proprietary telephony protocol.
SCP Secure Copy: Is a system the relies on SSH and runs over TCP Port 22 to move files from/to a machine securely
SCSI Small Computer System Interface: A set of commands for transferring data between hardware devices, traditionally 8 or 16 devices can be attached to a SCSI bus.
SD Secure Digital: A memory card format developed by Panasonic .Basically a small flash memory card also comes as miniSD and microSD. In addition you can also get SDHC and SDXC.
SDHC SD High Capacity – up to 32 GB capacity.
SDM Security Device Manager: A web based management tool for Cisco Routers.
SDXC SD Extended Capacity – up to 2 TB capacity.
SHA Secure Hashing algorithm: Produces a fixed 160 bit hash commonly used to check integrity of files
SID Security Identifier: A string of letters and numbers assigned to a windows client as it joins a domain. with older machines there was much panic about needing to strip the SID fro cloned or imaged machines. These days its less of a problem (click here.)
SIM System Image Manager: Is both part of the ADK and the WAIK and used to produce unattended XML answer files for Windows deployment
SIP Session Initiation Protocol: Used for video, voice, and chat networking.
SMB 1. Small to Medium sized Business: Also a Cisco Partner Level.

2. Server Message Block: An old Microsoft file sharing protocol, now renamed CIFS
SMS Systems Management Server: this is a tool for managing large numbers of Windows Machines, it’s now been replaced with SCCM.
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol: Common protocol used for email runs on TCP port 25
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol A widely used network monitoring and control protocol. Uses UDP ports 162 and 161.
SOHO Small Office / Home Office
SPAP Shiva Password Authentication Protocol: A simple password encryption protocol, used with Windows Server 2003 onwards.
SPF Sender Policy Framework:
SPx Service Pack x: Usually written as SP1 for Service Pack 1, SP2 for Service Pack 2 etc.
SPI Security Parameter Index: Label used by IPsec for the end of a VPN tunnel in phase 2 of IKE 2 unidirectional tunnels are created each will have its own SPI number.
SQL Structured Query Language: Typically a Database system/server, most well known is Microsoft SQL server, or the free MySQL alternative.
SRV Service Locator: A type of DNS record that lets clients on a network, know where services are, and how to access them.
SSH Secure Sockets Handshake: A secure method of console access, think of it as secure telnet.
SSID Service Set Identifier: Then name of a Wi-Fi network. can be set to either broadcast (visible), or be hidden. But it is still visible in the wireless packets that can be ‘sniffed’ so even a half determined attacker will be able to get it.
SSL Secure Socket Layer: A cryptographic system that used public and private keys to transmit data over a network securely.
SSTP Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol: This essentially allows the use of L2TP and PPP protocols, but does it over TCP port 443 (usually for https). This means it is usually an open port at remote/home locations.
SLA Service Level Agreement: An agreement between an IT support organisation and a user of its/their services. OR a command used in Cisco IOS to set up a monitor.
STP Spanning Tree Protocol: A system used on network switches to avoid “loops”
TAC Technical Assistance Center: Cisco’s third line support, be sure to have a valid support agreement before you ring.
TAR Tape Archive: A file extension for compressed files common formats are .tgz .gzip, or .bzip2
TB Terabyte: Tera means 10 to the power 12, or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, however in computing terms we work in binary so it worked out as 2 to the power 40, which equals 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.
TCP Transmission Control Protocol: Connection oriented protocol for data transfer, uses a “3 way handshake” to make sure the traffic gets where its supposed to go.
TELNET Terminal NETwork: A TCP protocol that allows remote users to enter commands on a device runs over TCP port 23.
TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol: A Little like FTP, but uses UDP Port 69, commonly used for updating firmware on network devices.
TKIP Temporal Key Integrity Protocol: Used on Wi-Fi networks, usually with WPA to improve the security of the earlier WEP protocol.
TLS Transport Layer Security:Similar to SSL provides encrypted data transfer
TS Terminal Services: Microsoft’s “Thin Client” solution for sharing applications. Now called Remote Desktop Services on Server 2008.
UAC User Account Control: Introduced with Windows Vista, a system designed to stop you running normally with an administrative account
UCS Universal Character Set: A method of encoding characters so thay can be sent digitally.
UDP User Datagram Protocol: This is a a transport protocol which operates at the same layer as TCP but unlike TCP it is not connection based, it’s a “Fire and forget” protocol if it does not get to the other end its not important.
UNC Universal Naming Convention: Used to map network drives and resources e.g. \\server_name\share_name\file_name
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply: A device that provides battery backup power when the electrical power fails or drops to an unacceptable level.
URL Uniform Resource Locator: a Web address like www.petenetlive.com
USB Universal Serial Bus: A Method of connecting computer peripherals (up to a maximum of 127 devices). USB 1.0 is 1.5Mbps, USB 1.1 is 12Mbps, USB 2 is 480 Mbps and USB 3.0 is 4800 Mbps.
UTC Universal Time Coordinated (Commonly Coordinated Universal Time) is the time taken from Greenwich this can also be called “Zulu Time”.
UTF-8 UCS Trasformational Format (8bit) A system for encoding characters so they can be sent digitally
VAMT Volume Activation Management Tool: A Microsoft tool for managing MAK software licence keys. This can also change KMS keys to MAK keys.
VB Visual Basic: A Microsoft programming language. Also used with VBScripting, which uses files with a .vbs extension to run scripts
VC Virtual Center: A Server that manages your VMware ESX hosts
VI3 Vmware virtual infrastructure version 3
VI Virtual Infrastructure.
VIB VMware installation bundle: software and driver packages needed for installing ESX5
VIM Virtual Infrastructure Manager: or VMware vCenter
VLAN Virtual LAN: A group of network devices that appear to be on a separate network segment, also called a broadcast domain.
VLK Volume Licence Key: Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 (And earlier) used these keys for multiple activations, they have been replaced with MAK and KMS Keys
VLSC The Microsoft Volume Licence Service Center, formally called eOpen (here)
VM Virtual Machine: A group of files that when read by some software like VMware, VirtualPC, Hyper-V, or XenServer looks and behaves like a real physical machine.
VMDK Virtual Machine Disk: VMware format for storing hard drives for virtual machines.
VMFS Vmware file system: Used so that multiple hosts can access the same storage at the same time, it uses a system of “Locks” on each file so only one host access the data at any one time.
Vmotion A Vmware system for moving a running virtual machine from one ESX host to another ESX host. You can also use “Storage Vmotion” to move a running virtual machine’s files and hard disks to another piece of storage.
VPN Virtual Private Network: A secure link that carries sensitive data over a public network, the data is protected by encryption.
VPS Virtual Private Server: A VM that provided for you for a monthly or yearly fee.
vSphere VMware’s cloud operating system formally called VI3
VSC Virtual Service Community: Used on HP wireless networks this is a collection of network settings.
VSS Windows Volume Shadow Services: System used by Microsoft for backing up data.
VT-x Intels processor Visualization technology, Originally code named “Vanderpool” it needs to be enabled on some machines in their BIOS/RBSU/CMOS
WAIK Windows Automated Installation Kit: A suite of tools from Microsoft for imaging and deploying Windows systems. With Windows 8 this has now been replaced with the ADK
WAN Wide Area Network: A network that connects geographically distributed LANs. Also the external port on a router or firewall.
WAP Wireless Access Point,: A Device for connecting wireless network hosts to a wired network, or for ‘bridging’ them onto another network.
WCF Windows Communication Framework: This is a Windows Server 2008 feature that runs under .net
WDS Windows Deployment Services: A system for deploying (imaging) PC’s and Servers from a central Windows Server (Replacement for RIS).
WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy: A security protocol used by Wi-Fi networks. Its not considered as secure as WPA, because of an inherent fault in the way it uses RC4 to generate keys. Its easily defeated and should NOT be used to protect sensitive data.
Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity: A term used to describe various net worked devices on a WLAN connected wirelessly.
WindowsPE Windows Pre-Execution Environment: A cut down version of Windows that can be run from USB drive, CD, or deployed from WDS.
WINS Windows Internet Naming Service: A legacy Microsoft method of resolving computer NETBIOS names on a network.
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network (See LAN)
WMI Windows Management Instrumentation: Is a system that programmers can use to talk to and get information from Windows systems. And also to remotely manage those systems.
WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access: A security protocol used to secure wireless networks, its considered more secure than its predecessor WEP, because WPA uses TKIP integrity to change the secure key used. It can also use EAP.
WSUS Windows Server Update Services: Free update and patch management system for Windows servers and applications.
WWW World Wide Web: A collection of text and graphics displayed in a web browser, what most people would call the internet.

www is also the Cisco reference to TCP Port 80 (http)
XBMC XBOX Media Center: Software originally developed for the XBox, but now available for install to Windows and Linux as a Media Center Suite.
XML eXtensible Markup Language:A structured way of presenting information, that uses tags much like HTML
ZAK Zero Administration Kit: Introduced with Windows NT4.
ZIP A term used to describe the process of compressing many files/folders and putting then in a compressed “Archive” folder. “.zip” is a file extension for an archive though there are more archive types, e.g. .RAR, .CAB, and .TAR are common examples.

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