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Chapter Summary

Exchange 2000 Server is a complex, component-oriented client/server messaging and collaboration system that includes active Windows 2000 services. These services communicate with each other using LRPCs, RPCs, Windows Sockets, ExIPC, regular files, and e-mail messages. With the exception of the Event Service, all components have to communicate with Active Directory.

Information Store and SMTP service, in conjunction with SA, Active Directory, and IIS Admin Service, are required to provide basic messaging functionality to Outlook users. Exchange 2000 Server maintains mailboxes and public folders in the information store and always requires message processing through the SMTP transport. Active Directory hosts the address books and provides recipient information to clients and system components. The SA, again, takes care of the Exchange 2000 Server system and the IIS Admin Service controls the SMTP transport. When Information Store and Active Directory are in operational states, users can gain access to their messages and other data stored in mailboxes and public folders, but without the SMTP service, there is no message transfer.

The Exchange 2000 Server-specific SMTP and NNTP service extensions, as well as the Exchange Routing Engine, IMAP4, and POP3, use ExIPC to rapidly exchange data directly with the Information Store through memory rather than through RPCs or other communication methods . This provides the best performance and reduces overhead required for interprocess communication. Exchange 2000 Server implements an advanced queuing engine for the SMTP transport, which processes every message sent through the server and determines how to reach each recipient.

Review

The following review questions can help you determine if you have sufficiently familiarized yourself with the material covered in this chapter. You can find the answers to these questions at the end of this book in Appendix A, "Questions and Answers."

What are the essential Exchange 2000 Server components required to deliver messages in a single-server environment?
To perform an offline backup, you want to shut down the IIS and the Exchange 2000 Server services without rebooting the entire server. Which of the components must be stopped directly to stop all other server components as well?
You have stopped the MTA service. How does this affect the behavior of connected Outlook clients ?
As an administrator you have stopped the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. How does this affect Outlook clients?
To satisfy growing messaging demand, you decide to install a second Exchange 2000 server. Which components communicate directly with each other between servers?
List the two general types of information stores an Exchange 2000 server can maintain.
How many storage groups can you configure on a particular Exchange 2000 server, and how many information store databases can each storage group contain?
As a user using Outlook 2000, you can happily send messages to all other users in your environment. After lunch , however, the situation changes. All of a sudden, your messages don't seem to leave the Outbox anymore. Other users with mailboxes on your server report the same problem. What is most likely the cause of this dilemma?

Chapter 4

Planning the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Installation

About This Chapter

The installation of Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server on a single computer is not a very complex task. After a few mouse clicks and some configuration parameters, the first server is running. You just did this to prepare your test environment. Unfortunately, many Exchange environments begin their evolution this way. They are meant to be test environments, then the administrator puts on some test mailboxes, and soon the test users discover the benefits of the new system, get excited, and immediately start using the test installation as their production environment. At this stage, it is often too late for a fresh and more optimal implementation or major structural changes, so the test environment manifests itself irreversibly as the production system. With the benefit of hindsight the administrator looks back, wishing the environment had a better design.

It is generally advisable to put some thought into planning before embarking on the task of implementing Exchange 2000 Server. Even if you are only responsible for a handful of people, you're doing more than just installing a server; you're launching a new messaging and collaboration network. Several irrevocable decisions regarding the network configuration must be made at this point. This becomes especially clear as you add new resources to the network, as you will need to install them in a context that has been predefined by that time. Thus, if you need to change the fundamental parameters of your network at a later date, you will have to engage in a much more complex task than it would have been in the beginning. Forethought can help avoid unnecessary work and costs during the rollout and afterward.

This chapter explains the prerequisites and some of the most important aspects you might want to consider to ensure a successful deployment of Exchange 2000 Server. You will read about various deployment considerations, necessary preparations of Microsoft Windows 2000 and the Active Directory directory service, the hardware and software requirements, and security and maintenance. Lesson 1 is focused primarily on theoretical aspects. Lesson 2 then addresses the installation preparation from a more practical point of view.

Before You Begin

To complete this chapter:

Prepare your test environment according to the descriptions given in the "Getting Started" section of "About This Book."
Have a general understanding of Windows 2000 networking technologies, Active Directory, and the delegation of administrative permissions in an Active Directory forest.
Have an understanding of the essential Exchange 2000 components , as covered in Chapter 3, "Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Architecture."

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Chapter Summary

Review

Planning the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Installation

About This Chapter

Before You Begin