CHAPTER 8
MICROSOFT OUTLOOK 2000 DEPLOYMENT
Microsoft Outlook is currently the preferred messaging and collaboration client in Microsoft
Exchange Server environments.
Lesson 1:
Microsoft Outlook 2000 Installation Types
Microsoft Office 2000 includes Outlook 2000, but this application is also available as a separate
product for Exchange 2000 Server, so you are not forces to fully deploy Office to benefit from
Outlook’s messaging and information management capabilities.
The Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit Tools and Utilities can help facilitate Outlook and Office
rollouts.
Installation Overview
You can install Outlook 2000 with no e-mail support, with only Internet support, or with support
for corporate and workgroup environments.
Outlook 2000 Requirements
Outlook 2000 requires at least an Intel Pentium-compliant processor and 8MB of RAM on
Microsoft Windows 95/98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000. To get better performance,
however, consider doubling the minimum requirements. Remember that up to 160MB of disk
space is necessary, depending on the selected installation options.
If you are planning to deploy Outlook 2000 on workstations running Windows NT 4.0, make
sure at least Service Pack 3 is installed on these computers.
Windows Installer
Unlike previous versions of Outlook that required procedural scripts to control the setup process,
Outlook 2000 takes full advantage of Windows Installer technology. This new technology relies
primarily on .msi package files, which are databases that describe the relationships between the
features and components for a given product, such as Outlook 2000.
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NOTE: Windows Installer facilities the deployment and maintenance of Windows based
software and is available to independent software vendors (ISVs) as a universal installation technology.
Setup Command-Line Properties
A complete reference about all the available switches and options, customizable properties,
and their formats is available in a spreadsheet called SETUPEF.XLS, which you can find in the
Office Information program group. This is found off the main menu in resource kit.
Customizing Installation Packages
You have the option to use the Custom Installation Wizard to further customize the Outlook
installation process.
Windows 2000 Group
Policies
If you are running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional on your client computers, deployment
of Outlook 2000 becomes remarkably easy. Take advantage of the software installation and
maintenance feature provided by Active Directory group policies. You can manage group
policies for all or a subset of your Windows 2000 users, which includes central management
of software settings. Either assign Outlook 2000 to your users (or computers) or publish the
application.
Local Installation
Outlook offers two different local installation options for this purpose, Install Now and
Customize.
Starting the Setup Process
To perform a local installation, you need to start SETUP.EXE from the installation CD or from
a network share.
Installation Process
To perform the actual Outlook installation, Setup launches MSIEXEC.EXE, a component of
Windows Installer. MSIEXEC.EXE utilizes a DLL called MSI.DLL to retrieve information
about available components and selections from the .msi database.
Further command-line properties specified for Setup via SETUP.INI or command line are
taken in last.
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Create an Administrative Installation Point
The administrative installation point is the shared access point for a customized network
installation, which must be created explicitly by running the Setup program with the /A
option. Within the installation point, you can edit SETUP.INI or create a transform file
and then deploy Outlook over the network.
Exercise Summary:
installation point on a network server. You need to provide the CD key and company name
that you want to assign to all Outlook installations from this location and accept the licensing
agreement.
Customer Installation Wizard
The Custom Installation Wizard allows you to modify the setup process extensively, including
modifications that you cannot specify in the command line or SETUP.INI.
Conflicting Options
This clearly leads to a conflict, which Windows Installer handles accordingly to the following rule:
The transform file has lowest priority, followed by SETUP.INI which is superseded by the
command-line options.
Unattended Installation
The unattended Setup mode, which is launched using the /Q command-line parameter, is the
basis for installing Outlook on numerous workstations automatically. If you want to use SMS
to distribute the client software, you must use SMS package file (.pdf). The Microsoft Office
2000 Resource Kit contains more information about Setup command-line parameters and the
deployment of Outlook and other Office programs using SMS.
Exercise Summary:
You can facilitate the deployment of Outlook 2000 when preparing an administrative installation
point and configuring the Setup using the Custom Installation Wizard.
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Default Messaging Profile Generation
A messaging profile, sometimes also called a MAPI profile, describes the set of those information
services that should be activated during a particular session.
Profile Wizard
Immediately after the installation of Outlook on a new computer, no messaging profile exists.
However, the client is unable to operate without it, and therefore, Outlook automatically
prompts for all the required information to create a valid messaging profile when you start the
client for the very first time.
OUTLOOK.PRF
One option is to create a file called OUTLOOK.PRF and place it in the administrative
installation point. This file will then be copied to the Windows directory (\Winnt) during the
installation. When Outlook starts for the very first time on a new computer, it looks for
OUTLOOK.PRF in the Windows directory.
Exercise Summary:
deploying Outlook 2000 to end users with limited knowledge about MAPI-based
information services.
Adding or Removing Program Features
Users who are new to Outlook 2000 may be overwhelmed by the set of features that this client
application offers. In fact, this is one good reason why many organizations decide to split the
deployment into stages, loading only the essential Outlook features first, then the advanced
features, and finally the full Microsoft Office 2000 suite.
Adding Features. To add features to an installation at a later time, you may run the Outlook
Setup in maintenance mode, which is launched automatically when an Outlook installation is
detected on the local computer. You could use the Setup command-line properties
ADDLOCAL, ADDSOURCE, ADVERTISE, and REMOVE to change the installation state
of any feature including hidden components (but hidden features remain hidden in the Setup
window).
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Redeploying Outlook 2000. For instance, if you have included an ActiveX control, such as
OUTLCTLX.DLL, in your installation and a user deletes this file from his or her computer
accidentally, simply reinstalling Outlook in maintenance mode doesn’t do the job.
Even uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook 2000 does not fix this problem. OUTLCTLX.DLL
will not be copied again during subsequent installations using your transform file.
Delete the keys that correspond to the GUIDs from your revision number, and then repeat
the installation.
Lesson 2:
Configuring the Exchange Transport
The Exchange Server transport is the most important MAPI component that Outlook must
use to connect to a server running Exchange 2000 Server.
Exchange Transport Components
The Exchange transport relies on RPCs for client/server communication. RPCs are used
whenever the client interacts with the server, including when setting up the Exchange transport
service itself.
RPC Methods
RPCs are high-level mechanism for interprocess communication. RPCs are used whenever
the client interacts with the server, including when setting up the Exchange transport service itself.
RPC Methods
RPCs are a high-level mechamism for interprocess communication (application layer of the OSI).
Software components that communicate using RPCs can build their connection on a vast
variety of network protocols. Including local procedure calls or RPCs, TCP/IP, SPX/IPX, Banyan
Vines protocol, named pipes, and NetBIOS.
Banyan Vines Protocol. For communication with Exchange 2000 Server in Banyan
Vines networks.
LPCs. Used when the client and server are installed on the same machine.
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Named pipes. Connects to the server using the NetBIOS-based named pipes protocol.
NetBIOS. Connects to the server using NetBIOS over NetBEUI, SPX/IPX, or TCP/IP.
SPX/IPX. Supports native Novell Netware workstations via SPX/IPX over Winsock.
TCP/IP. Uses Winsock or TCP/IP.
Transport Components
The Exchange transport service is implemented in three DLLs called EMSABP32.DLL,
EMSMDB32.DLL, and EMSUI32.DLL.
Testing Server Connectivity during Manual Configuration
You can configure the transport through the Mai applet, which will be added to the Control
Panel during Outlook 2000 installation. If both server name and the mailbox name can be
resolved as indicated by an underline, the RPC communication was successful.
Connection Configuration Settings
The transport service is able to detect the state of the server connection automatically, and
start offline, for instance, when you work disconnected from the network.
The Exchange transport service provides the following property sheets and configuration
options:
General. To specify and check the names of server and mailbox and to determine whether
the connection state should be detected automatically during setup.
Advanced. To open additional mailboxes in Outlook, which will be displayed along with the
primary mailbox in the folder tree.
Dial-up Networking. To select a configured dial-up connection to be used when connecting
to Exchange 2000 Server remotely or use an existing connection, and specify an appropriate
Windows 2000 account to log on to the remote Windows 2000 domain. The dial-up
account can be different from your Exchange 2000 account.
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Remote Mail. To specify options regarding the message transfer when using the remote
mail options of Outlook 2000, which will be introduced in Chapter 9.
Client Connection Order
Outlook 2000 will attempt to connect to the server using all available communication methods
in a sequential order it can either connect successfully or until all methods have failed.
Modifying the Connection Order
You can modify the client connection order prior to the actual client installation via the Custom
Installation Wizard by setting an appropriate custom Registry key.
If you want, you can rearrange or delete entries to speed up the client startup process.
Exercise Summary:
mailbox. This check can help to avoid unsuccessful client startups.
Lesson 3:
Messaging-Related Outlook Options
also combined calendar, task, contact management, and workgroup application.
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E-Mail Options
Most of the configuration settings can be reached on the Tools menu through the Options
command.
Turn off “Reminder” calendar, some user find this to be annoying.
You can multiple zones but there are only 2 available, takes up a lot of screen space.
Journal, if the profile is too large it will take a long time to log on. You may want to deselect
this feature.
Mail Services (TAB): Prompt for profile, may be more than one person using the same
machine.
Mail Format (TAB): Mailoutlook Rich Text (problems), HTML (but some browsers do
not use this option, and Plain Text (unable to handle attachments, may garbled.
Signature Picker: Picker of the boss’s signature. This can save a lot of time, but it can be
a large security problem. RUDE to send e-mails with all CAPS locks on, it is referred to
as shouting.!!!!!!!!!!Give the users the choice of their dictionary, English Canadian.
Custom Forms. Put a Logo on the screen.
.pst to Auto Archive E-Mails.
Delegates TAB cannot use yourself for delegation.
Microsoft Word-E-Mail Editor
Because Outlook is tightly integrated with Office, you can use the Use Microsoft Word To
Edit E-mail Messages option. When this option is selected, Word is used every time you
compose a message. This has a number of advantages, such as advanced spell checker
and grammar check functionality, but Word is a slow e-mail editor that consumes a lot of
computer resources.
HTML Mail
Outlook 2000 is able to format e-mail messages in plain text, in rich text (the default) or in
HTML. You can select the appropriate option from the Send In This Message Format List
NOTE: Outlook 2000 provides basic HTML editing features. Use Microsoft Word as
HTML mail editor instead if you want to author rich HTML mail.
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Outlook 2000 Security
With Outlook 2000 you have the option to use Exchange 2000 Server’s Advanced Security
features or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) security to exchange
secure e-mail messages with others in your organization and over the Internet.
Deleting Items
When you delete messages in Outlook 2000 either manually or automatically (for instance,
through the Inbox rule), those messages are moved to the Deleted Item folder first.
Ask them to launch the Options dialog box, switch to the Other tab, and select the Empty
The deleted items every time Outlook is closed.
Additional Features:
Exercise Summary:
Outlook 2000 in conjunction with Exchange 2000 Server can handle two types of delegates:
delegates with Send On Behalf of and delegates are indicated in the From line when they
send messages on behalf of their delegating users, whereas messages from Send As
delegates appear as messages from the delegating users directly.
Outlook Client extensions
Client extensions have existed since the first release of Microsoft Exchange Client 4.0 and
Outlook 2000 supports this technology as well.
COM Add-Ins and Visual Basic for Applications
Outlook 2000 supports new technologies based on COM add-ins and Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) that facilitate extending Outlook for developers.
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VBA in Outlook
VBA has been available since Office 95, but not for Exchange Client or Outlook 97/98.
The good news for any VBA programmer is that Outlook 2000 supports macros and
VBA and provides access to the Visual Basic Editor, as do all other Office applications.
Chapter
Summary:
Server environments, providing numerous features for messaging, collaboration,
and information management.
and transform files.
reaching control over the individual features to be installed.
service to communicate with an Exchange 2000 server over RPCs.
checker settings, and client extensions, can be reached on the Tools menu via the Options
command.