What You Need to Run Exchange Server

Exchange Server 2007 is a complex product, but the user interface has been completely revamped to make it easier to administer. All of this complexity and parallel ease of use requires an industrial-strength computer. The minimum server requirements suggested here are for testing, learning about, and evaluating the product. It's also enough for a small, noncritical installation. However, as we discuss in the book, when the server moves into critical production environments where it will be accessed by large numbers of users, you'll need to beef up its hardware and add a number of fault-tolerance capabilities. On the client side, with the broad range of clients available for Exchange, the machines in most organizations should be more than adequate.

At a minimum, to test, learn about, and evaluate Exchange Server, you need the following:

• Either Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 or Windows 2003 R2 or Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2007 Enterprise or Datacenter Edition.

• An AMD x64- or Intel x64-compatible processor with 2GB of RAM and two 9GB disk drives. This allows you to complete exercises involving a single Exchange server.

• A minimum of three additional computers in the class just described. This allows you to complete exercises involving multiple computers in multiple administrative groups and Windows Server 2003 domains.

• Tape backup hardware or at least one independent disk drive for backup.

• A local area network (preferably connected to the Internet).

• At least one 800MHz Pentium III or 4 or equivalent computer with 128MB of memory running Windows XP Professional for testing Outlook and other client-side functions.

During the development of this book, we used a combination of Dell Xeon-based servers, HP Athlon-based servers, and lots and lots of virtual machines using VMWare. During the development, we did not have access to 64-bit versions of VMWare, so we used the 32-bit version of Exchange Server 2007 for testing. The 32-bit version of Exchange Server 2007 can be downloaded for evaluation, classroom, lab, and testing purposes, but it is not to be used in public.