Introduction


Before you can do much with Exchange, you'll have to install it. The installation process differs slightly from Exchange 2000 to Exchange Server 2003, but they're similar enough that we can cover them in the same set of recipes. There are also several infrastructure-related tasks that you may need to perform incident to installing Exchange, such as verifying that modifications to Active Directory (AD) have propagated to all domain controllers (DCs) in the domain and enumerating the Exchange servers and connectors that exist. One thing to remember is that Exchange 2000 Server cannot run on Windows Server 2003and that Exchange Server 5.5 and above can all run on Windows 2000.

The Exchange installation process is fairly straightforward; it can be summarized into a few fairly simple operations:

  • Before Exchange can be installed into a previously Exchange-free Active Directory forest, the Active Directory schema must be extended. A standard Windows Server 2003 Active Directory schema contains around 1,200 object classes and attribute definitions; Exchange Server 2003 adds almost 1,100 more! This process of schema extension is known as forestprep , after the setup command-line switch used to trigger it. Exchange's setup utility will automatically perform the forestprep if it's needed (provided your account has the necessary permissions, as described in Recipe 2.6).

  • Each domain that will contain an Exchange server or user account used to access Exchange must likewise be prepared, a process known as domainprep. As with forestprep, Exchange Setup will do this for you if you haven't already done it manually (provided your account has the necessary permissions, as described in Recipe 2.7).

  • If you're installing the first Exchange 2000 or 2003 server in a forest, the Exchange organization object and some of its children (including the first administrative group, or AG) must be created in Active Directory. Again, this happens automatically when you run Exchange Setup.

  • Setup must check the Windows server you're installing on to ensure that all the prerequisite components are there and configured, as described in Recipes Recipe 2.1 and Recipe 2.2Recipe 1.1Recipe 1.1. Note, however, that Setup doesn't check to make sure those configuration settings are correct, merely that they exist. For example, if your server's DNS configuration is wrong, Exchange may install but fail to work properly when you start the Exchange services.

  • You have to choose which specific Exchange components you want to install on the server. By default, you get the Exchange binaries and management tools, although you can choose to install one or the other separately.

  • As part of the binary installation process, Exchange Setup registers the new server in Active Directory. Obviously, you don't want to do this if you're recovering a crashed server, which is why you have to use the /disasterrecovery switch.

AGs are used in Exchange Server 2000 and Exchange Server 2003 Server organizations when organizations need to isolate administrative privileges for different servers. If your organization is highly distributed, and different groups of administrators are responsible for administering different servers, AGs can be useful to ensure that administrators are managing only the Exchange server computers that they are tasked with managing. Organizations with few servers, or centralized Exchange services, probably don't need to deploy multiple AGs. The KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle comes into play with AGsif you don't have a need for them, don't make your environment more complex than it needs to be.



Exchange Server Cookbook
Exchange Server Cookbook: For Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2000 Server
ISBN: 0596007175
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 235

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