With the release to manufacturing of Exchange 2007 and the availability of the evaluation editions, I am now spending more time with Exchange 2007 than previously.
As such there will probably be a spate of blog postings on the topic over the next couple of weeks.
Exchange 2007 Setup Observations
I have decided to spend this week working with, and blogging on Exchange 2007.
To get things started, I thought I would start with some observations I made during the setup process.
Pre-Installation.
This version needs a lot of things to be installed before you start.
I was using Windows 2003 SP1 (NOT R2) as that was the only media I had access to at the time.
First thing is make sure that the machine has been fully patched before you even start. Otherwise the setup procedure fails by asking for updates to be applied.
I got caught on a .net framework update.
To get the Installation to start, I had to install:
.net Framework 2.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&DisplayLang=en
And an update: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=926776
MMC 3.0 for Windows 2003 (as this was not R2)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=907265
PowerShell 1.0
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=926139
If you are installing an Edge server (workgroup machine if going in the DMZ) then you need additional installations:
ADAM - Active Directory Application Mode
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=902838 which leads to this location:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9688f8b9-1034-4ef6-a3e5-2a2a57b5c8e4&displaylang=en
The application components required are on the auto play menu, but unlike Exchange 2003 you don't get the list of IIS Components required.
Therefore you have to install some of the IIS components - but they are not the same as the components required for Exchange 2000/2003. I selected the default options for IIS by selecting Web Services and the RPC over HTTP Proxy.
You do not need to install SMTP, NNTP or POP3, as Exchange 2007 has its own versions of those
Finally, make sure that the domain is at least native Windows 2000. I got caught on this as I built a new domain and by default new domains and forests are mixed. I simply switched the forest to Windows 2003.
Application Installation
After getting through all of that lot, the installation itself is pretty straight forward.
For your first installation, choose typical. That will get you started with everything that you need.
The only thing to watch for is the second question it asks, about whether you have any older versions of Outlook on the network. At this time, most people would probably say Yes. However if you are reading this article in a couple of years, you might actually consider saying no. If you say no, then you don't get Public Folders.
Post Installation
When you first start the Exchange console, and each time you start it with an evaluation edition, you will get a prompt about licensing and turning the evaluation edition in to a real version.
As you probably know, Exchange 2007 is 64 bit only.
So while they have provided a 32 bit evaluation, what Microsoft have done is ensure that there is no way to turn that evaluation copy in to a live copy. The licensing wizard has been removed.
If you have built a lab system on 32 bit hardware or 32 bit virtual machines, then you will have to rebuild it at frequent intervals.
Once you are in to the console, a list of post installation tasks comes up. This is worth stepping through, as it provides you with a good introduction to the console and the new Exchange Management shell. You will be working in both. No need to worry about getting things wrong, as the commands are all there for you, but oddly enough you cannot copy and paste them. You have to type them out yourself which I found a little odd.
Public and System Folder Replication
If you are coming across from Exchange 2003 and are still supporting Outlook 2003 or older clients, then you will have to replicate public and system folders. The management console in Exchange 2007 has no management of Public Folders at all, so everything has to be done from ESM on Exchange 2003. The folders to replicate are the same as Exchange 2003.
User Creation
With everything in place, you are now ready to setup users, groups etc. Unlike Exchange 2003, this needs to be done from the Exchange Management Console. You cannot use Active Directory Users and Computers. You use EMC for email tasks, and ADUC for account tasks that are not email related (password reset, login script settings etc). That will take a little getting used to.
Still to Come...
That will do for now... later in the week I am planning to have a post on setting up a single Exchange 2007 server, how to get round an annoying SSL certificate prompt when using Exchange 2007, Outlook 2007 and a commercial certificate, greylisting with Exchange 2007 and a few other bits.
