Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 Released

Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2013.

From the Exchange team blog:

Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available for download! Please make sure to read the release notes before installing SP1. The final build number for Exchange Server 2013 SP1 is 15.00.0847.032.

SP1 has already been deployed to thousands of production mailboxes in customer environments via the Exchange Server Technology Adoption Program (TAP). In addition to including fixes, SP1 provides enhancements to improve the Exchange 2013 experience. These include enhancements in security and compliance, architecture and administration, and user experiences. These key enhancements are introduced below.

Architecture and Administration:

• Windows Server 2012 R2 support – both as the operating system that Exchange 2013 SP1 is installed on, and as the Active Directory environment. Note that it is still unsupported to upgrade the operating system on an existing Exchange server installation.
• Exchange Admin Center Cmdlet Logging
• ADFS for OWA – claims-based authentication
• Edge Transport server role – existing Exchange 2013 deployments that have Exchange 2007/2010 Edge Transport servers configured are also still supported, though new deployments are recommended to use the Exchange 2013 SP1 Edge Transport server
• MAPI over HTTP – an optional client communication method supported in Outlook 2013 SP1 and above. There are some caveats though, so don’t rush to enable this.
• DAGs without Cluster Administrative Access Points – in effect this means you can deploy a DAG without a cluster name object (CNO) and DAG IP address, thanks to changes in Windows Server 2012 R2 clustering. However this is optional, and is not the default, and may impact third party integration such as backups.
• SSL offloading – it is now supported to terminate SSL connections on a load balancer device

Security and Compliance:

• DLP Policy Tips in OWA – previously only available in Outlook 2013, DLP policy tips will now appear in OWA and OWA for Devices.
• DLP Document Fingerprinting – enables you to match documents that are derived from the same template
• DLP sensitive information types for new regions
• S/MIME support for OWA

User Experience:

• Enhanced text editor for OWA
• Apps for Office in Compose
• Browser support for AppCache – now includes IE10 or later, Google Chrome 24 or later, Firefox 23 or later, and Safari 6 or later (for OSX and iOS)

Release Notes and Downloads

Full release notes for Exchange Server 2013 SP1 are available here. More information on what’s new in Exchange Server 2013 SP1 is here. The SP1 installer can be downloaded here.

More Information

Other coverage of the release of Exchange Server 2013 SP1:

• Exchange 2013 SP1 – mixture of new and completed fixtures by Tony Redmond
• Data Loss Prevention in Exchange Just Got Better by the Exchange Team
• Windows Server 2012 R2 and Database Availability Groups by Scott Schnoll
• What’s new in Exchange Server 2013 SP1 (CU4)? by Michael Van Horenbeeck
• Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 by Michel de Rooij
• Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 by Jaap Wesselius