IMF Release notes updated with new information

I was reading through http://jameswho.blogspot.com and noticed that he referred to an update of the Release notes for IMF.  After reading the updates, they seemed significant enough to point out here as well.

The full updated release notes are here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/2/C/22CCB3FB-CE5F-4E23-810B-1A4AC5540C97/IntelligentMessageFilterReadmejune2004.htm

Here are the highlights quoted directly from Microsoft's notes:

"How Intelligent Message Filter works with Outlook filtering features needs clarification

In the "How Intelligent Message Filter Works with Exchange 2003 and Outlook Filtering Features" section, the following statements are made: "If a user is running an earlier version of Outlook, the safe senders and blocked senders lists are not available. Any message marked as spam is delivered directly to the user’s Inbox."

Following is text that provides further clarification about this interaction: "If a user is running an earlier version of Outlook than 2003, the Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists cannot be modified from that e-mail client, however, these lists can be modified using Outlook Web Access 2003. If Outlook Web Access 2003 is used in this way to enable junk e-mail filtering, messages whose sender is on the Blocked Senders list or are marked as spam will be delivered to the user's Junk E-mail folder. Messages marked as spam whose sender is on the Safe Senders list will be delivered to the user’s Inbox. If Outlook Web Access 2003 has not been used to enable junk e-mail filtering, every message, including those marked as spam, is delivered directly to the user's Inbox.""

"All Internet messages are being moved into the Outlook Junk E-mail folder even though the threshold has been set to a number higher than 0

After installing Intelligent Message Filter, Active Directory is updated with the gateway and store threshold values. The MSExchangeIS service must be restarted so that changes to these values are registered with the store. This applies to any application that is installed that uses the SCL infrastructure within Exchange Server 2003."

"Exchange Intelligent Message Filter performance counters do not appear in System Monitor

The Intelligent Message Filter System Monitor counters only appear in System Monitor after a message has been processed by Intelligent Message Filter."

"The UI contains incorrect SCL rating text for the store threshold

The "Store Junk E-Mail Configuration" section of the UI incorrectly states "Move messages with an SCL rating greater than or equal to." The correct text should be the following (corrected text in bold): "Move messages with an SCL rating greater than." "

"Do I have to install Intelligent Message Filter on all Exchange 2003 servers?

No, Intelligent Message Filter only needs to be installed on Internet-facing servers. These are the servers within your Exchange topology that are the first to receive mail from the Internet."

"Do exception addresses under connection filtering affect Intelligent Message Filter behavior?

Exception e-mail addresses under connection filtering have no effect on Intelligent Message Filter behavior."

"Does Allow Address under connection filtering affect Intelligent Message Filter behavior?

IP Allow addresses under connection filtering allows mail to bypass Intelligent Message Filter, which results in messages that have no SCL value stamped on them. These messages can be filtered by Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail rules. Intelligent Message Filter does not specify an SCL by design because content scanning was actually bypassed. In this case, setting an SCL of 0 would not be an accurate value from Intelligent Message Filter."

"Why do some messages get a SCL rating of -1?

Messages submitted to Exchange using authenticated credentials receive an SCL value of -1. All users that submit messages from authenticated clients such as Outlook or Outlook Web Access will receive an SCL stamp of -1. This ensures that authenticated messages will not be moved to the Junk E-mail folder.

Internal applications should submit mail using authentication to prevent the messages from being treated as junk e-mail, which would occur if the messages either (1) don’t go through Intelligent Message Filter and do not receive an SCL value, or (2) they go through Intelligent Message Filter and get a value that is high enough that an action is taken on the message that either prevents it from being delivered to the recipient or moves it to the user's Junk E-mail folder.

For more information about connection filtering and controlling spam, see the Exchange Server 2003 Transport and Routing Guide at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=26041."

I hope that clears some of the confusion up.