Lesson 2: Microsoft Exchange 2010, before deployment

Lesson 2: Microsoft Exchange 2010, before deployment


In first lesson, we talk about an Exchange Overview, History, Licenses and Editions. You can check in the following link:

In lesson 2, we will talk about Exchange 2010 roles and system requirements. This lesson is important to deploy Exchange 2010 in the right way. Let’s start.
Exchange 2010 Roles


A server role is a unit that logically groups the features and components that are required to perform a specific function in the messaging environment.
Each server role includes features that support its function together with related configuration and security settings and a list of predefined tasks for managing and configuring those features.
Exchange 2010 provides five server roles, in the following a list of all roles and a brief of each one:

1- Client Access Server (CAS): Client Access server role supports OWA, ActiveSync POP3 and IMAP4 clients. The CAS role also supports services, such as the Autodiscover service and Web services.

2- Hub Transport Server: Hub Transport server role handles all mail flow inside and outside the organization, applies transport rules, applies journaling policies, and delivers messages to a recipient's mailbox. If you don’t have Edge Transport server, you can install and configure the Edge Transport server agents on the Hub Transport server to provide anti-spam and antivirus protection inside the organization.

3- Mailbox Server: The Mailbox server role hosts mailbox and public folder databases. It also generates the offline address book (OAB). Mailbox servers provide services that calculate e-mail address policies and address lists for recipients, and enforce managed folders.

4- Edge Transport server: Exchange 2010, the Edge Transport server role is deployed in your organization's perimeter network. Designed to minimize the attack surface, the Edge Transport server handles all Internet-facing mail flow, which provides Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) relay and smart host services for the Exchange organization.

5- Unified Messaging (UM): Unified Messaging combines voice messaging and e-mail into one Inbox, which can be accessed from the telephone and the computer.


Exchange Role Notes:
1- You should have CAS, HUB and Mailbox at least in your Exchange Environment.
2- Edge server should be installing in DMZ as a workgroup.
3- All roles except Edge can be installed in one server.
4- Edge Transport role always installed alone, you can’t add any role with edge in the same server.
5- Combined or separated of roles could be happen, it’s always depending in your requirements.

System Requirements

Before you start install Microsoft Exchange 2010, you should make sure that you review all of Exchange 2010 system requirements such as network, hardware, software, clients. In the following, we are going to list all requirements of Exchange 2010:


1- Operating System: You can install Exchange 2010 in a 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise with SP2.

2- Domain & Forest Functional Level: Exchange 2010 requires Domain and Forest (both) Functional Levels to be at least Windows 2003. In another worlds; all domain controller in your environment they should be installed at least by windows 2003.

3- Global Catalog: You should implement a Global Catalog Server in each site that you need to install Exchange 2010 on it.

4- Hardware: To run Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Beta on x64 platforms, you need:
· x64 architecture-based computer
· Minimum of 4 GB of RAM.
· At least 1.2 GB on the drive used for installation and additional 500 MB for each Unified Messaging (UM) and language pack that you plan to install plus 200 MB of available disk space on the system drive
· Drive―DVD-ROM drive.
· Disk partitions formatted as NTFS file system

Note: It’s recommended to install Exchange 2010 in member server. Installing Exchange 2010 in a domain controller is not recommended. Changing the server role to be a Domain controller or vice-versa after installing exchange 2010 is not supported.

Second lesson is done, in the next lesson; we will start installing Exchange Prerequisites and preparing the active directory to install Exchange 2010.

Regards,
AYUB KHAN