New Features in Exchange Server 2003

Exchange Server 2003 provides a number of new features and enhancements to existing features in the areas of reliability, management, and security. This section takes a look at the important enhancements to Exchange Server 2003.

Deployment Tools

The new Deployment Tools feature consists of a help-based document and a group of utilities (including the Exchange setup program) designed to make installation, migration, and upgrading easier. The document walks you through the planning, preparation, and deployment of an Exchange environment. You can even perform actions such as launching the forestprep and domainprep tools, installing the Active Directory Connector, and launching the installation of Exchange right from the document. Deployment tools are covered in Chapter 7, “Installing Exchange Server 2003.”

Active Directory Connector Tools

The Active Directory Connector (ADC) is a tool designed to allow Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 to exist within the same organization. The ADC lets administrators replicate directory information between the Exchange Server 5.5 directory and Active Directory. It allows for multiple- master, bidirectional replication. New enhancements improve deployment and migration by analyzing an existing Exchange 5.5 configuration, automatically preparing the Exchange 5.5 directory, and automatically creating connection agreements. Active Directory Connector tools are covered in Part IV, “Upgrading and Migrating.”

Security

Most modern network operating systems and services emphasize security as a major concern, and Exchange Server 2003 is no exception. Exchange Server 2003 is more tightly integrated with Windows Server security than its predecessors. The Key Management feature in prior versions of Exchange has been removed; instead, Exchange Server 2003 takes advantage of the Windows Server 2003 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to create a secure messaging environment. You can learn more about Exchange Server and messaging security in Part VII, “Security.”

A number of other security enhancements are also featured in Exchange Server 2003, such as the ability to filter connections based on external real-time blacklists of known senders of unsolicited e-mail. You can also filter incoming e-mail so that messages to invalid recipients are blocked. Another feature enables you to restrict the relaying of SMTP mail based on membership in Windows security groups (in addition to the existing ability to restrict based on IP address, domain, or subnet).

Cross-Forest Authentication

If Exchange Server 2003 is running on a Windows Server 2003 network, cross- forest authentication allows users to access services in a trusted forest. This means that Exchange users do not have to be in the same forest to access and take advantage of Exchange servers.

Outlook 2003

Although the introduction of the latest version of the Outlook mail client, Outlook 2003, is not strictly considered part of Exchange Server 2003, numerous enhancements to both products make them work very well together. For example, Outlook 2003 supports a new cached mode (enabled by default) in which Outlook downloads a local copy of the user’s Exchange mailbox. Users work primarily from this cached copy, reducing the network traffic between client and server and allowing the users to continue working during periods when the Exchange server is unavailable.

Exchange Server 2003 now allows Outlook (and Outlook Web Access) clients to authenticate with an Exchange server using Kerberos authentication. Outlook 2003 can also connect to an Exchange server using remote procedure call (RPC) over HTTP. This allows the connection of clients to the Exchange server over the Internet without having to use Virtual Private Network (VPN) access. You can learn more about Outlook 2003 in Chapter 18, “Deploying Outlook 2003.”

Outlook Web Access

Outlook Web Access (OWA) has been significantly enhanced in Exchange Server 2003. OWA now comes in two versions: Rich Experience Outlook Web Access and Basic Outlook Web Access. Rich Experience Outlook Web Access takes advantage of features in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (or later) to provide features such as secure messaging, rules, spell-checking, and reminders. Basic Outlook Web Access can be used with any Web browser but does not support all the features of the Rich Experience Outlook Web Access. You’ll learn more about Outlook Web Access in Chapter 19, “Supporting Outlook Web Access.”

Wireless Access

Wireless access to network services is growing more popular, providing a unique opportunity for knowledge workers and IT personnel to have instant access to company information no matter where they are. Exchange Server 2003 supports wireless access through the introduction of two new features: Wireless Synchronization Access and Outlook Mobile Access.

Wireless Synchronization Access lets users of Pocket PC and Smartphone devices synchronize information directly with an Exchange server using the Microsoft ActiveSync application. Users can access and manipulate information while disconnected from the Exchange server and use a wireless carrier or a network connection to synchronize data.

Outlook Mobile Access provides real-time access to Exchange data for users with mobile devices such as Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Outlook Mobile Access allows access only while connected.

Mailbox Recovery Center

The new Mailbox Recovery Center allows you to recover multiple disconnected mailboxes (i.e., mailboxes no longer associated with a user) simultaneously. This improves on the Exchange 2000 Server requirement that each mailbox had to be recovered one at a time.

New Mail-Enabled Objects

Mail-enabled objects are Active Directory objects that are given an e-mail address but are not associated with an Exchange mailbox. Users, contacts, groups, and public folders can be mail-enabled. In addition, Exchange Server 2003 adds two new mail-enabled objects: InetOrgPerson and query-based distribution groups.

The InetOrgPerson object is a general-purpose object class that defines attributes for people. InetOrgPerson is used in LDAP and X.500 directories other than Active Directory. It is now featured as a mail-enabled object in Exchange Server 2003, mainly for the purpose of migrating users from other LDAP directory services to Active Directory.

Query-based distribution lists function like regular distribution lists, except that their membership changes based on queries. Regular distribution lists have a static membership. An example of a query-based distribution list would be one that includes all members of a particular department, based on the properties defined for the user object. Query-based distribution lists can include users, groups, contacts, and public folders.

Volume Shadow Copy Backup

Exchange Server 2003 supports the new Windows Server 2003 shadow copy backup technology, which creates a snapshot of a drive just before the backup process. The backup then uses the snapshot instead of the original information. This allows normal operation of the original drive to proceed so that users won’t be interrupted by the backup process and files currently in use can be backed up while open.

Recovery Storage Group

A recovery storage group is an additional storage group (i.e., one that can be created in addition to the maximum number of storage groups allowed by the server) that is used as an intermediary storage group for recovering data. You can recover data to the recovery storage group and then use the Merge Mailbox tool to transfer that data from the recovery storage group to the original storage group. You can find more information on recovery storage groups in Chapter 27, “Disaster Recovery of an Exchange Server 2003 Database.”

Internet Mail Wizard

The Internet Mail Wizard walks you through the process of setting up basic Internet e-mail connectivity for users. The wizard creates an SMTP connector for outgoing messages and an SMTP virtual server for incoming messages. You’ll learn more about using the Internet Mail Wizard in Chapter 20, “Supporting Internet Protocols and SMTP.”