Microsoft just released the long-anticipated release of Service Pack 3 for Exchange 2010. Many of you have been waiting impatiently for this Service Pack as it brings you one step closer to deploying Exchange 2013!

Yes, you read it well: one step closer. As a matter of fact. Exchange 2010 SP3 will allow you to coexist with Exchange 2013 Cummulative Update 1. Given that CU1 isn’t available just yet, you’ll have to be a little more patient… If you want more information, have a look at this article for the Exchange Product Group > http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/02/12/released-exchange-server-2010-sp3.aspx

You can download the Service Pack from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36768

A word of caution!

It seems that Service Pack 3 will also update the database schema of your databases. Once a database schema has been updated to SP3 you can no longer mount them on a pre-SP3 Mailbox Server. This means that you have to be particularly careful when updating Mailbox server that are part of a Database Availability Group!

Make sure to review the release notes before upgrading in your production environment:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj965774(v=exchg.141).aspx

If you’re looking for more information on what’s new in Service Pack 3, have a look here:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj965775(v=exchg.141).aspx

Have fun!

Michael