Preface

Preface
Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
by Mike Daugherty
Digital Press 2001

Several excellent books describe the best practices used during the planning, design, and implementation phase of Exchange deployment projects. However, these books do not focus on the best practices for managing the environment after Exchange has been deployed. They devote too few pages to planning for the critical need for system management, administration, and monitoring. Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server can be viewed as the continuation and completion of these existing Exchange deployment books.

Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server focuses on what to do after Exchange has been deployedhow to design and implement the support infrastructure, how to monitor and manage messaging traffic, and how to avoid disaster through proactive planning and management. Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server is designed for Exchange system managers, administrators, and other IT professionals, consultants , and technology integrators who need to define the critical implementation strategies needed to effectively and efficiently help support their Exchange environment.

In this book, IT professionals will find information to effectively monitor, manage, and troubleshoot an Exchange environment. It covers such topics as server resources, messaging connections, interoperability with foreign mail systems, and Windows 2000 integration. System managers will learn to effectively use monitoring to detect problems in the early stages, to track historical trends, to document service-level compliance, and to observe system availability and behavior. They will learn how other large enterprises perform proper monitoring, management, and administration to intelligently manage Exchange.

Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server provides unique real-world insight into monitoring and managing enterprise deployments of Exchange. It focuses on what needs to be done in specific support scenarios and provides a hands-on reference to monitor, manage, administrate, and troubleshoot Exchange. The text balances concepts, systematic procedures, tables, checklists, and examples to help set up procedures for administration, maintenance, disaster recovery, and other crucial system areas.

Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server provides advice derived from the broad field experience Compaq consultants have gained from leading enterprise-wide Exchange installations supporting well over five million users. It organizes the extensive expertise of Compaqs consultants, offers the wisdom of their real-world experiences, and reviews the management procedures that have been successfully implemented in large deployments. Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server is like having Compaq consultants available to help make the critical decisions required to successfully manage Exchange.

Acknowledgments

No project succeeds on the efforts of one person, and this book could not have been written without help from many people. Some people actively helped, and some helped without even realizing they were doing it. During my three decades as a software engineer, engineering manager, and consultant, I have had the privilege of meeting, working with, and being influenced by thousands of people. It would be impossible to personally thank everyone for their contributions, but I would like to acknowledge a number of people who played important roles. To them, I owe a debt of gratitude.

I am grateful to many people for their contributions to this book, but none more so than those who have diligently reviewed the manuscripts and offered astute and articulate commentary . I would like to thank David Anderson, Steve Atkins, Brian Carter, Allen Curle, Mark Dunlop, Tim Garrett, Carole Halbig, Glenn Harm, John Johnson, Ryan Koftan, Paul Kulessa, Donald Livengood, Hal Pryor, Steve Shaw, and Mark Wurden for the time they spent reviewing the draft and providing excellent comments. Compaqs Professional Services group has more than 850 messaging consultants, and they are some of the best. They have helped many companies implement Exchange, and in doing so have accumulated a considerable depth and breadth of practical knowledge about Exchange. Because of their expertise, their consulting services are always in high demand. I feel fortunate that they made the time to review the pages of this book. To all of my colleagues at Compaq, I want to say thank you.

I would like to thank Microsoft for producing a quality product and for executing an effective marketing plan to ensure its success. Microsofts product success creates a fertile environment for Exchange consultants and Exchange books. Other equally good messaging products have failed to achieve market success because their marketing departments were not up to the challenge. If these companies had Microsofts marketing expertise, there might never have been a need for Exchange.

I would also like to thank my employer, Compaq Computer Corporation, and especially Compaqs Professional Services organization, for providing a productive environment to learn and share technical information and for the opportunity to work with some of the industrys most knowledgeable experts. COMPAQ has more than 14,000 consulting experts, 3,500 of whom are Microsoft certified, with 850 dedicated messaging consultants who have successfully completed hundreds of projects around the world and implemented more than six million seats in the Exchange arena. We have installed more than 22,000 Windows NT and Windows 2000 servers, and delivered solutions in more than 50 countries .

Compaq consultants have led projects for some of the worlds largest Exchange implementations and freely share their experience in planning, designing, implementing, and supporting Exchange with the entire Compaq consulting community, so that all of our consultants have access to and benefit from the collective wisdom and experiences of the whole group. Although the words in this book are mine, the foundation for this book comes from the collective wisdom of Compaqs consultants.

I would like to thank Tony Redmond for his assistance and support, especially for putting me in contact with Phil Sutherland, who was the publisher at Digital Press at the time.

Many thanks to Theron Shreve (Publisher) and Pam Chester (Associate Editor) at Digital Press for giving me the opportunity to do this book, and for their patience and encouragement. They helped turn my technical thoughts and ideas into readable sentences and paragraphs. I would also like to thank Alan Rose, Lauralee Reinke, and Karen Tongish at Multiscience Press for their expert composition and copy editing. Their professionalism , thoroughness, and attention to detail are much appreciated.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Janice, and our sons, Patrick, Darrell, and Daniel, for their patience and understanding while the book was being written. They have grown used to my being out of town for long periods while leading projects for other companies. While writing this book, they had to endure my absence even when I was home.

Writing Monitoring and Managing Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server while continuing to manage customer projects was a challenge, but it was also rewarding .

Mike Daugherty
September 2000

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