Exchange FAQs
How can I modify the Exchange Server 2003 Outlook Web Access (OWA) timeout that's
applied when OWA has forms-based authentication enabled?
By default, when OWA has forms-based authentication enabled, sessions have a
15-minute inactivity timeout for public or shared computers and 24 hours for
a private computer. If you're using a public computer to compose a long email
message that takes more than 15 minutes to write, the session will time out
and you won't be able to send the message. You can change this timeout value
(which is the cookie lifetime) by using this procedure:
- Log on to the Exchange server as an Administrator.
- Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
- Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL _MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeWEB\OWA
subkey.
- From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD value.
- Enter a name of "PublicClient Timeout" and press Enter.
- Double-click the new entry and set it to the desired number of minutes before
a timeout (1 to 4320), set the type to decimal, and click OK.
- To set the timeout period for a private client, repeat the process of creating
a DWORD value, but this time enter a name of "TrustedClient Timeout" and again
set the value to the number of minutes before a timeout. (The value for private
computers should be significantly higher than for public computers.)
- Stop and restart the World Wide Web (WWW) Publishing service by using these
commands at the command line:
net stop w3svc net start w3svc
John Savill
What does the Microsoft Antigen product family do?
The first round of Microsoft-branded Sybari products—Microsoft Forefront
Security for Exchange Server, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Antigen Spam Manager,
and Antigen Enterprise Manager—are ready to hit the market. Eventually,
all these products will be included in the Microsoft Forefront line of security
products, but the current versions offer a compelling solution for Microsoft
Exchange Server email infrastructures. Here's what you need to know about the
Antigen family of products.
Spam protection at the server level. The Antigen products are designed
to protect Exchange email servers, although Antigen for SMTP Gateways also supports
the SMTP server function in Windows servers. (Microsoft is also working on Antigen
products for Windows SharePoint Services and IM.) An Antigen for Exchange product
has existed for roughly 10 years, and it has always focused solely on managed
enterprise servers, not consumer or desktop products. Customers have always
applauded Antigen because it only minimally affects performance and easily integrates
with Microsoft's management technologies.
Unlike some antivirus solutions, Antigen doesn't rely on just one antivirus engine. Instead, administrators can install and enable multiple antivirus engines, as the situation demands, to obtain the best antivirus protection possible. Sybari never saw itself as an antivirus engine lab, so it partnered with several antivirus engine companies, and Microsoft continues to benefit from these established relationships. Antigen also includes a new antivirus engine designed by Microsoft that's based on its experience protecting millions of MSN and Hotmail accounts.
The Antigen email-protection products come with five antivirus scanning engines:
Microsoft, Sophos, CA Vet, CA InoculateIT, and Norman. If you buy the Antigen
Messaging Security Suite, which includes Forefront Security for Exchange Server,
Antigen for SMTP Gateways, and Antigen Spam Manager, you also get Kaspersky,
AhnLab, Authentium, and VirusBuster engines. You can use any combination of
engines to get the best protection, but Microsoft recommends activating no more
than five antivirus scanning engines per installation.
Why would you need multiple engines? When a virus appears, companies that make antivirus scanning engines race to be the first to market with new signatures. By using multiple engines, you're more likely to quickly receive signatures for all new viruses than you are if you rely on just one vendor.
What's new in Antigen. Antigen underwent Microsoft's grueling Security
Development Lifecycle code review to ensure that it uses the lowest possible
security privileges and ships with the most secure out-of-the-box configuration.
These precautions are important because hackers often use antivirus products
as an attack vector. Antigen also provides greatly enhanced support for Exchange
clusters.
Recommendations. If you're already a Sybari customer, there probably
aren't enough improvements in Antigen to warrant an upgrade. But if you're still
looking for an antivirus solution that offers superior protection and deep integration
with Active Directory (AD) and other Microsoft management tools, consider Antigen.
Future versions will benefit from integration with other Forefront solutions
and Exchange Server 2007's roles-based infrastructure.
Paul Thurrott