Good news today from the Microsoft Exchange Server team: Exchange Server 2010 SP1 is now available for download. Announced today via the Exchange Team Blog, the final code is available in the Microsoft Download Center. You can find a list of everything that's new in SP1 on Microsoft's website, but here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights:
Improvements to the Personal Archive feature, including the ability to provision the archive on a separate database and use tiered storage; look for a feature article about implementing Personal Archives in Windows IT Pro in the near future.- Improvements to Outlook Web App (OWA; formerly Outlook Web Access), including easier navigation and the ability for users to apply themes; you can read more about OWA improvements in Tony Redmond's article "Exchange 2010 SP1: More Than a Simple Upgrade."
- Easier management of Role Based Access Control (RBAC) in Exchange Control Panel (ECP).
- Easier management for retention policies and tags added through Exchange Management Console (EMS).
Many additional management features and new PowerShell cmdlets are here as well. There are also a number of enhancements, such as support for multi-tenancy, aimed at making Exchange 2010 SP1 easier to deploy in hosted environments—so maybe Microsoft can finally get Exchange 2010 into its own hosted environment!
You can find some information about installing Exchange 2010 SP1 on Tony Redmond's blog—including some possible scenarios to watch out for. In the meantime, have fun upgrading, and I'd be happy to hear how it goes. You can leave a comment here, email me, or follow me on Twitter.
Related Reading:
- Exchange 2010 SP1: More Than a Simple Upgrade
- What You Need to Know About New Windows and Exchange Service Packs and More
- Exchange 2010 SP1 On the Way
- Microsoft Exchange Team Opens Its Bag of Tricks for 2010 SP1
- Manipulating Mailbox Contents in Exchange 2010
