Getting the Most Out of Exchange Server 2003 Functionality

Designing Exchange Server used to be a fairly simple task. When an organization needed email and the decision was made to go with Exchange Server, the only real decision to make was how many Exchange servers were needed. Primarily, organizations really needed only email and eschewed any " bells and whistles."

Exchange Server 2003, on the other hand, takes messaging to a whole new level. No longer do organizations require only an email system, but other messaging functionality as well. After the productivity capabilities of an enterprise email platform have been demonstrated, the need for more productivity improvements arises. Consequently, it is wise to understand the integral design components of Exchange before beginning a design project.

Significant Changes in Exchange Server 2003

There have been two major areas of improvement in Exchange Server 2003. The first is in the realm of user access and connectivity. The needs of many organizations have changed and they are no longer content with slow remote access to email and limited functionality when on the road. Consequently, many of the improvements in Exchange focus on various approaches to email access and connectivity. The improvements in this group focus on the following areas:

• Outlook Web Access (OWA) The Outlook Web Access (OWA) client is now almost completely indistinguishable from the one that debuted in Exchange 5.5. Improvements over the Exchange 2000 OWA client are also impressive, with support for nearly all functionality that exists in the standard Outlook client. In fact, from first glance, there are no distinguishable differences between the two clients .

• Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) was developed to fill the vast, growing niche of mobile phone, pager, and PDA Internet access to email. Because the screen sizes on these clients are much smaller and the connection requirements so different, a mail client more suited for these conditions was created. OMA simplifies and streamlines Exchange mail access from these clients and adds an additional access option to Exchange.

• Outlook 2003 Offline Improvements One major improvement in client access for Exchange 2000 comes in the form of improvements to the "heavy" Outlook client. In addition to improved MAPI compression, Outlook 2003 dramatically improves offline and slow-link connections to make it more feasible to access Exchange from remote locations. In addition, the concept of "RPC over HTTP" enables Outlook 2003 access to Exchange data across the HTTP or HTTPS ports, reducing the need for cumbersome VPN connections.

The second major area of improvement in Exchange Server 2003 has been in the area of back-end improvements. End-users are not aware of these improvements, but they make the Exchange Administrator's job much easier. These improvements include the following:

• New Deployment Tools One of the major problems that Microsoft had with Exchange 2000 was the steep learning curve associated with its deployment. In general, Microsoft products had always been easy to set up, with wizards showing the way. With Exchange 2000, however, the complexity of deployment required command-line forestprep and domainprep commands; manual Active Directory Connector ADC setup; and confusing concepts, such as Config_CAs, the Site Replication Service, and schema extensions. With Exchange Server 2003, all of these requirements are still present, but the means with which they are accomplished have been streamlined. A step-by-step process known as the Exchange Deployment Wizard leads an administrator through the installation process, reducing the potential for error or major directory issues.

• Administrative Tool Improvements The development team for Exchange Server 2003 listened to Exchange administrator feedback and drastically improved the functionality and capabilities of the Exchange System Manager administrative toolset. Enhanced queue viewing capabilities, move mailbox tool enhancements, dynamic distribution list functionality, and (drum-roll please ) the ability to run Exchange System Manager on Windows XP have greatly simplified the job of the Exchange Administrator.

• Database Backup and Restore Capabilities The overall backup and restore functionality of Exchange has been improved in Exchange Server 2003. New Enhancements, such as the Volume Shadow Copy Service, the Mailbox Recovery Center, and the Recovery Storage Group concept help position Exchange Server 2003 for simplified and enhanced backup and restore capabilities.

It is important to incorporate the concepts of these improvements into any Exchange design project, because their principles often drive the design process.

Exchange and Operating System Requirements

Exchange Server 2003 has some specific requirements, both hardware and software, that must be taken into account when designing. These requirements fall into several categories:

• Hardware requirements

• Operating system

• Active Directory

• Exchange version

Each requirement must be addressed before Exchange Server 2003 can be deployed.

Hardware Requirements

Design your Exchange hardware to scale out to the user load, which is expected for up to three years from the date of implementation. This helps retain the value of the investment put into Exchange. Specific hardware configuration advice is offered in later sections of this chapter.

Operating System

Exchange Server 2003 is optimized for installation on Windows Server 2003. The increases in security and the fundamental changes to Internet Information Services (IIS) in Windows Server 2003 provide the basis for many of the improvements in Exchange Server 2003. However, Exchange Server 2003 also can be installed on Windows 2000. The specific compatibility matrix, which indicates compatibility between Exchange versions and operating systems, is illustrated in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1. Exchange Version Compatibility

Version	Windows NT 4.0	Windows 2000	Windows 2003
Exchange 5.5	Yes	Yes	No
Exchange 2000	No	Yes	No
Exchange 2003	No	Yes	Yes

Active Directory

Exchange originally maintained its own directory. With the advent of Exchange 2000, however, the directory for Exchange was moved to the Microsoft Active Directory, the enterprise directory system for Windows. This gave greater flexibility and consolidated directories, but at the same time increased the complexity and dependencies for Exchange. Exchange Server 2003 uses the same model, with either Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 Active Directory as its directory component.

NOTE

Active Directory is loosely modeled on the original Exchange 5.5 Directory. Administrators familiar with the Exchange 5.5 Directory will notice similarities between the environments, particularly in the replication engines.

Exchange Version

As with previous versions of Exchange, there are separate Enterprise and Standard versions of the Exchange Server 2003 product. The Standard version supports all Exchange Server 2003 functionality with the exception of the following key components:

• Greater than 16GB Mailbox Store The standard version of Exchange Server 2003 can support only a single database of up to 16GB in size . Organizations with small numbers of users or strict storage limits can use this version of Exchange without problems, but larger organizations require the Enterprise version because databases may increase to larger than 16GB.

  NOTE

  There is no direct upgrade path from the Exchange Standard version to the Enterprise version. Only a mailbox migration procedure that can transfer mailboxes from a Standard version server to an Enterprise version server will be able to accomplish an upgrade. Consequently, it is important to make an accurate determination of whether the Enterprise version of the software is needed.

  
  

• Multiple Mailbox Database Stores One of the key features of Exchange Server 2003 is the capability of the server to support multiple databases and storage groups with the Enterprise version of the software. This capability is not supported with the Standard version of the product.

• Clustering Support Exchange Server 2003 clustering is available only when using the Enterprise version of the software. Support for up to an 8-way active-active or active-passive cluster on Windows Server 2003 is available.

• X.400 Connectors Although becoming increasingly less common, the ability to install and configure X.400 Connectors for remote site connectivity is available only in the Enterprise version of the software.

Scaling Exchange Server 2003

The days of the Exchange server "rabbit farm" are gone. No longer is it necessary to set up multiple Exchange server implementations across an organization. Exchange 2000 originally provided the basis for servers that could easily scale out to thousands of users in a single site, if necessary. Exchange Server 2003 enables even more users to be placed on fewer servers through the concept of site consolidation.

Site consolidation enables organizations that might have previously deployed Exchange servers in remote locations to have those clients access their mailboxes across WAN links or dial-up connections by using the enhanced Outlook 2003 or Outlook Web Access clients. This solves the problem that previously existed of having to deploy Exchange servers and Global Catalog (GC) servers in remote locations, with only a handful of users, and greatly reduces the infrastructure costs of setting up Exchange.

Having Exchange Server 2003 Coexist with an Existing Network Infrastructure

Exchange is built upon a standards-based model, which incorporates many industry-wide compatible protocols and services. Internet standards ”such as DNS, IMAP, SMTP, LDAP, and POP3 ”are built in to the product to provide coexistence with existing network infrastructure.

In a design scenario, it is necessary to identify any systems that require access to email data or services. For example, it might be necessary to enable a third-party monitoring application to relay mail-off of the SMTP engine of Exchange so that alerts can be sent. Identifying these needs during the design portion of a project is subsequently important.

Identifying Third-Party Product Functionality

Microsoft built specific hooks into Exchange Server 2003 to enable third-party applications to improve upon the built-in functionality provided by the system. For example, built-in support for antivirus scanning, backups , and spam filtering exist right out of the box, although functionality is limited without the addition of third-party software. The most common additions to Exchange implementation are

• Antivirus

• Backup

• Spam filtering

• Fax software