Hosted E-mail

• How does a Hosted Microsoft Exchange Solution work?

  Hosted Microsoft Exchange offered by Chinook Hosting allows customers access to Microsoft's newest business-class messaging platform without the purchase, implementation, or maintenance headaches of an in-sourced solution. Chinook Hosting deploys Microsoft Exchange Server in our redundant, carrier-grade data center, and offers business-class e-mail as a hosted service via Microsoft Outlook 2007, the Web, or a mobile device.

• What version of Exchange do you host?

  Hosted Exchange 2007.

• What if I use Microsoft Outlook today? Why would I switch to Chinook's hosted Exchange?

  Microsoft Outlook is the e-mail client that works with Microsoft Exchange, so a "switch" is not really required. Outlook is the client software that works with the Exchange e-mail server. Your users can take advantage of the familiar user interface of Outlook and now gain all the benefits of shared calendars, mobile e-mail, Outlook Web Access, continuous backups of the system, and more with Exchange Server.

• Can our customers access their e-mail with Outlook as well as POP3 clients?

  Yes. Chinook Hosting supports access to Exchange accounts via the following technologies:

  • Outlook Anywhere using Outlook 2007 with automatic configuration (installation media available via download)
  • Entourage
  • Secure POP3
  • Secure IMAP
  • Exchange ActiveSync on Windows Mobile, Palm, and iPhone devices
  • Outlook Web Access
  • Blackberry Enterprise Services (at an additional per-user charge)

• Because of security concerns, I have traditionally run Exchange on-premise. How secure is Chinook Hosting's Hosted Exchange?

  Chinook Hosting's Hosted Exchange Service is based on Exchange Server 2007, which offers a number of security enhancements over previous versions. Chinook Hosting's hosted Exchange also provides a steady stream of updates to virus and spam defenses to proactively defend against e-mail-borne threats.

• I have a lot of e-mail in my current system that I would like to maintain and use moving forward. Can you import old POP3-based e-mail?

  Yes. Chinook Hosting can import your existing e-mail files-from POP3 systems, internal Exchange implementations, and even other hosted Exchange services.

• E-mail migrations have traditionally been very painful. What is involved in switching to your service? Do you have documentation for the migration?

  Chinook Hosting understands the transition issues associated with Microsoft Exchange. We have developed a structured, proven migration process, and we provide detailed migration documentation. For most customers, the service can be implemented internally by walking through a few simple steps. For customers who would like help with the migration, Chinook Hosting can provide professional services upon request. Click here to request more information.

• Does Chinook Hosting's Hosted Exchange Service work with my Palm Treo, iPhone 2.0, or Blackberry device?

  Yes, Chinook Hosting supports mobile device synchronization through Microsoft ActiveSync. ActiveSync is automatically shipped with Windows Mobile devices; some versions of the Palm OS might need to be updated to include ActiveSync (click here for a link to the update). Blackberry devices are supported by Exchange Server 2007 for an additional monthly fee.

• How do you enforce global policy on Exchange mailboxes for items such as junk e-mail exclusions, archive settings, and send and receive intervals?

  Chinook Hosting provides a variety of mechanisms to enforce different kinds of policies:

  • Policies that can be controlled such as mailbox quota, whether or not a user has access to Outlook are controlled through the "Exchange Plan" chosen for each user in the "User Info" page of the self-service portal.
  • Archive settings of Outlook cannot be centrally controlled. For customers interested in enforcing archiving (such as for the purpose of regulatory compliance), Chinook Hosting offers Microsoft's Exchange Hosted Archive service. Click here for more information on Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services.
  • With the exception of POP, IMAP, and Entourage, all Exchange access methods we support send and retrieve new mail immediately. There is no need to set send/receive intervals. For POP, IMAP, and Entourage, we do not provide any means of centrally managing send/receive intervals.

• What are your send and receive intervals?

  With the exception of POP, IMAP, and Entourage, all Exchange access methods Chinook Hosting supports send and retrieve new mail immediately; there is no need to set send/receive intervals. For POP, IMAP, and Entourage, Chinook Hosting does not provide any means of centrally managing send/receive intervals.

• Why do I need a separate company GAL and not simply just look at the system GAL that is updated real time?

  When connected, Outlook users can look up recipients in either their private Global Access List (GAL) which is labeled "Global Address List," which is updated in near-real-time, or the Offline Address Book, which is updated once per day and is identified as the customer's name. The Offline Address Book is also available offline, and is the default address book displayed by Outlook.

• Can I prevent duplication of Blackberry contacts?

  Yes. Blackberry devices can be configured in two different ways: to either replace Blackberry contacts, or add to Blackberry contacts.

  You may experience duplicate contact information if this setting is set to add to. Similar behavior can be caused through the use of Blackberry desktop software.

• The download process for the local address book does not always work. Even when I clear the "Download changes since last send and receive" option.

  Distribution of Exchange Address Books depends on the Exchange e-mail autoconfiguration system. This system can be tested by using the procedure described in the following Microsoft TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397225(EXCHG.80,printer).aspx. If this test fails, you should contact support.

• Is there an interface to view quarantine or other settings of the spam filtering services?

  Yes. Chinook Hosting offers a service called "Customized Spam and Virus Filtering" for $2/user/month wholesale, which provides spam/virus/content filters and offers reports that can be customized on a self-service basis.

  If customers do not subscribe to this service, they will have antivirus and antispam protection, but no whitelists, blacklists, or other customizations.

• Are spam and virus filtering included in your hosted e-mail services?

  Yes. All Chinook Hosting e-mail solutions include antivirus mechanisms on both the hub servers and mailbox servers, addressing spam whether it arrives from the outside world or from someone internally.

  We also employ retroactive virus scanning in the mailbox servers in order to catch items that may have been infected in the brief period between when a virus comes into existence and when signatures are available for it.

  All mail solutions also include antispam mechanisms on our firewall and on the hub servers. In addition, Outlook and Entourage users enjoy the benefits of their built-in antispam mechanisms.

• What happens to e-mail that has been spam filtered? Does it deliver it all anyway but mark it as spam in some way?

  Approximately 90% of the time e-mail that has been spam filtered is rejected prior to being allowed into our system. Therefore, most messages associated with suspicious attempted connections are not available for retrieval because they are rejected by our systems. Messages flagged as spam and routed to users' junk mail folders are retrievable by those users.

  Subscribers of our "Customized Spam and Virus Filtering" service can create rules that compliment and/or override the standard measures that are built into our mail solutions.

• What happens when a real e-mail message is identified as spam and is blocked? Can users configure safe senders in Outlook to prevent incoming messages from being blocked by the spam filters?

  Yes. Chinook Hosting offers a service called "Customized Spam and Virus Filtering" for $2/user/month wholesale, which provides spam/virus/content filters and offers reports that can be customized on a self-service basis.

  If customers do not subscribe to this service, they will have basic antivirus and antispam protection, but no whitelists, blacklists, or other customizations.

• What backup and restore services for Exchange do you provide in your basic price? Is the restore capable at a file level?

  All services are backed up by continuous backup systems that provide the ability to restore to within the last 15 minutes.

  In addition to Exchange and SharePoint backups, Chinook Hosting provides three week deleted item retention, which can be accessed by users on a self-service basis.

• Can I sell additional backup services?

  Yes. Chinook Hosting offers an Exchange Hosted Archiving service, which maintains an indefinite, on-line journaled archive that is suitable for corporate legal discovery requirements.

• What support do you provide for provisioning Exchange?

  Exchange can be provisioned on a self-service basis by the reseller or customer administrators through our automated self-service Web portal. The portal's Graphical User Interface and high level of automation greatly simplifies the provisioning process. Chinook Hosting can also provide deployment and migration support on a time and materials basis.

• When I send meeting requests, they only list my name, but no meeting or comment details. Can this be fixed?

  Yes. By default, the details and comments listed in the meeting request are deleted when the resource accepts the request. Please note that this is a feature you can enable through the Outlook Web Access (OWA) interface (http://webmail.seaservers.net):

  1. Log in to OWA using an account that belongs to the "Managers" group (that is, the group with full access to the resource mailboxes).
  2. Use the "Open Other Mailbox" feature to open the Resource Mailbox:

  To open another mailbox:
  1.   Click your name in the upper-right corner of the window to open the Open Other Mailbox dialog box.
  2.   Enter the name or alias of the mailbox that you want to open.

  3.   If more than one match is found, Outlook Web Access displays a list of possible matches.

  4.   Click the name of the mailbox that you want to open.

  5.   When the mailbox opens in a new window, Select Options, Resource Settings.

  6.   Under the Resource Privacy options section, you will find several options to configure under the       subsection "Always delete the following when sent to this resource." Deselect the items that are       currently stripped from your meeting invitations.

• How do you ensure security of hosted documents? What procedures are in place to assure prospects that documents cannot be accessed by others?

  Like each of our hosted products, SharePoint takes advantage of an Active Directory structure shared at the end customer level. Members of the directory are each assigned a role and SharePoint automatically provides role-based security and single sign-on authentication. In addition, individual files and directories can be given specific security attributes.

  In addition, Chinook Hosting's data center is protected by four layers of card-access barriers, 24x7 video surveillance at all entry points and on each isle of the raised floor area, plus 24x7 professional physical security staff. Individual equipment cabinets are locked and not accessible to maintenance staff.

• Is provisioning of new clients a manual or automated process? If manual, who performs this task?

  Automated. Chinook Hosting provides a self-service Web portal that allows resellers and/or customer administrators to provision new services.

• What backup and restore services for SharePoint sites do you provide in your basic price?

  All services are backed up by continuous backup systems that provide the ability to restore to within the last 15 minutes.

  In addition to Exchange and SharePoint backups, Chinook Hosting provide three week deleted item retention, which can be accessed by users on a self-service basis.

• Will my SharePoint development team have sufficient access to create and deploy custom Web parts?

  Yes. Custom Web parts can be uploaded to a site collection's Web Part Gallery through the "Site Settings" user interface built into SharePoint. In addition, all of the following SharePoint Web services can be accessed, with designated customer users granted Site Administrator access:

  • Administration Web Service (This Web service is used for creating and configuring new site collections. For customers with private SharePoint servers, this Web service can be made directly accessible. For customers using the shared Windows SharePoint Services infrastructure, Chinook Hosting provides alternative APIs that provide equivalent functionality without bypassing our provisioning infrastructure. The self-service portal also provides a UI for these functions.)
  • Alerts Web Service
  • Authentication Web Service
  • Copy Web Service
  • Document Workspace Web Service
  • Forms Web Service
  • Imaging Web Service
  • List Data Retrieval Web Service
  • Lists Web Service
  • Meetings Web Service
  • People Web Service
  • Permissions Web Service
  • SharePoint Directory Management Web Service
  • Site Data Web Service
  • Sites Web Service
  • Search Web Service
  • Users and Groups Web Service
  • Versions Web Service
  • Views Web Service
  • Web Part Pages Web Service
  • Webs Web Service

• What controls, if any, can be managed for the SharePoint clients?

  Chinook Hosting's self-service Web portal allows reseller and customer administrators to control how many site collections customers create, their overall storage quota, and which users have access to SharePoint site collections.

  Access can be controlled on a more granular basis through SharePoint.

• Is there a free trial that we can offer our customers without incurring any additional charges?

  Yes. Our standard multi-tenant services such as Exchange, customer relationship management (CRM), and SharePoint all provide a free trial period that covers:

  • The first partial month (if any)
  • The first full month

  Chinook Hosting begins invoicing at the start of the second full month of service.

• How do you ensure uptime?

  Ensuring uptime begins with working closely with Microsoft to develop best practices for hosting Microsoft applications, and then applying those best practices in production.

  Our production systems are comprised exclusively of premium manufacturer hardware and software with extensive use of redundancy. All systems are monitored 24x7 for performance, load, and reliability by individuals with extensive experience hosting Microsoft-based technology.

• Do you provide multiple distributed servers over diverse data centers?

  Yes. Business continuance solutions are available with services distributed across data centers throughout North America. All solutions utilize data centers with redundant commercial power and network connections, as well as redundant power generation and distribution systems internally.

• Do you provide data backup?

  Yes. Chinook Hosting provides continuous data backup with recovery points every 15 minutes. Exchange and SharePoint solutions provide for two weeks of user-initiated restores of deleted files.

• What's your guaranteed uptime?

  Chinook Hosting guarantees 99.99% uptime.

• What's the penalty if you don't meet your uptime?

  Chinook Hosting provides service credits prorating three (3) times the total number of outage minutes on a monthly basis.

• How do you resolve performance issues?

  Performance issues are resolved before becoming apparent to customers whenever possible. Unanticipated performance issues can be addressed immediately through the deployment of additional hardware from on-site inventory, and/or reconfiguration by on-staff engineers. Our team has hundreds of years of combined experience and works closely with Microsoft Premier Support.

• During outages, what's your guarantee for restoring services?

  Outages, like performance issues, are resolved quickly and effectively through the deployment of additional hardware from on-site inventory, and/or reconfiguration by on-staff engineers with hundreds of years of combined experience, and/or consultation with Microsoft Premier Support.

• When are your maintenance windows?

  From 22:00 to 24:00 Pacific Time on the second Tuesday of every month. By conducting this regular maintenance, Chinook Hosting is typically able to apply Microsoft security patches within 24 hours of their release.

• How do you ensure data privacy?

  Chinook Hosting's solutions scrupulously follow the guidance provided by the manufacturer to ensure data privacy in hosted configurations. This guidance varies from application to application.

• What's your policy for data and server security?

  All solutions are hosted in facilities with entrances and computer rooms visually monitored on a 24x7 basis. Physical access to the data center requires passing through two secure entryways, and access to equipment requires passage through an additional secure barrier.

• What encryption strength can we use for our data transmission and storage?

  All hosted solutions require access through a minimum of 128-bit encryption.

• Do you provide dedicated or shared servers for each service?

  Yes. Dedicated servers and hybrid solutions are also available depending on client requirements. Unless otherwise specified, Chinook Hosting's solutions are deployed on shared servers according to the software manufacturers' guidelines.

• If a client wants a dedicated server, is there an upgrade path for them?

  Yes. Dedicated servers can be quoted on a custom basis.

• Do you provide 24x7x365 support?

  Yes.

• If in the future we needed to, how would we migrate off of Chinook's system?

  Chinook Hosting's agreements specifically guarantee your ownership and access to your data, regardless of the circumstance. The same techniques that can be used to easily migrate data to our service can be used in reverse if customers choose to discontinue service.

• What's our recourse if you go out of business? What happens to our data and the application we were renting?

  Chinook Hosting's agreements specifically guarantee your ownership and access to your data, regardless of the circumstance. The same techniques that can be used to easily migrate data to our service can be used in reverse if for any reason Chinook Hosting is unable to continue offering services. All application software is either owned by customers or provided on a monthly rental basis by us. Unless otherwise stated in a specific service description, this rental software is always a currently-supported and commercially available version of the application that can be purchased independently, or rented through another hosting company.

• Do you integrate with the Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for vendors X, Y, and Z? If so, how much do the interfaces cost? If not, how much to get that integration developed?

  Chinook Hosting is always looking for ways to broaden our service portfolio. If you have questions about a specific application, please contact our sales department at sales@chinookhosting.com or call 800-949-9957.

• If we need customization of the application as a service, can we do that?

  Yes. Customization varies from application to application. In cases such as Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 where customization can be performed directly through the application's user interface, there is no additional charge for such customization.

• Can I or must I obtain certificates through Chinook Hosting for use with Chinook Hosting services?

  Chinook Hosting doesn't "sell" certificates in the retail sense. Instead, we obtain certificates on our reseller's behalf so that services we sell can be brought online quickly and cost-effectively. These site certificates are known to work well with our application and firewall architectures, as well as the client devices supported by our services. Because relatively few certificate vendors were well-established by the time Microsoft started shipping Windows Mobile 5.0—still the most common mobile device operating system used by our customers—and because using other vendors can involve error-prone installations of chained certificates, our choice of certificate vendors is very limited. We have chosen Entrust because their certificates are easy to install across all the types of server and network devices we employ, and because we have never experienced a problem with them being recognized by all of the client devices we support.

• How do I contact you for more information?

  sales@chinookhosting.com
  Phone: (800) 494-9957
  Fax: (866) 906-1597

• What is Chinook Hosting's URL?

  www.chinookhosting.com

• What is Chinook Hosting's mailing address?

  Chinook Hosting Corp
  701 N. 36th St.
  Suite 320
  Seattle, WA 98103

• Why is there no logout button on the admin client?

  A logout button is on the list of new features planned for the self-service portal. In the meantime, users can log out by closing the browser in which the self-service portal is running.

• I could not add Support@[customerdomain].com because apparently that ID is created automatically when the account is set up. What e-mail address is configured to that ID?

  The self-service Web portal provides for automatic distribution of service-related messages. This facility is not currently in use, but it does automatically add "support@*customerdomain+" to an internal, hidden group. Chinook Hosting plans to eliminate or change this feature in future releases.

• Every time I delete an alias it automatically logs me out of the admin client.

  This is a known bug and will be resolved in a future release of the self-service portal.

• I want to be able to add multiple e-mail addresses to one contact instead of creating a group and then adding multiple contacts. Can I do this?

  No. This is a limitation of Exchange Server 2007.

• The Outlook 2007 configuration wizard does not always create the account correctly. Are there any FAQ's for this process?

  Configuration of Outlook 2007 depends on the Exchange e-mail auto-configuration system. This system can be tested by using the procedure described in the following Microsoft TechNet article:
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397225(EXCHG.80,printer).aspx

  If this test fails, you should contact support.