Preparing the Windows Server

Before you actually install Exchange 2007 on your server, you have to make sure the chosen server is ready. We already covered the hardware and software requirements in previous chapters, but we'll quickly recap them here with an emphasis on the practical tasks ahead of you.

You'll need to consider the following aspects of your server before beginning the installation process:

• Operating system requirements

• Memory configuration

• Disk configuration

• Exchange prerequisites

Let's examine these in more detail.

Windows Requirements

The following Windows operating system requirements must be met before beginning Exchange 2007 installation:

• Ensure that the version of the operating system matches your intended use:

  • Production servers: Windows Server 2003 x64 Standard or Enterprise with SP1 applied, or Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Standard or Enterprise. You can't use Web Edition or Datacenter Edition.

  • Test lab and training servers, including those in a virtual machine: Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise with SP1 applied, or Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard or Enterprise. You can use either the x86 or x64 versions for test and training.

  • Clustered Mailbox servers: Windows Server 2003 x64 Enterprise with SP1 applied, or Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Enterprise.

  • Management workstations: Windows XP Professional with SP2 applied, or Windows Vista. You can use either the x86 or x64 versions.

  • Exchange 2007 will coexist with the Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) installed on Windows Server 2003.

  Warning 

  If you are installing your test or training servers into a Microsoft virtual environment, remember that Microsoft Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server only support 32-bit guest servers. This is scheduled to change sometime in the Longhorn timeframe when Microsoft makes its hypervisor technology available to support 64-bit guest servers.

  Warning 

  Exchange 2007 cannot be installed on Itanium processor-based systems. You also cannot install it on the Web or Datacenter Editions of Windows Server 2003 regardless of the platform.

  Note 

  Microsoft has said it will support Exchange 2007 on Longhorn Server in the Exchange 2007 SP1 timeframe. It will provide detailed compatibility information at that time, so be sure to check the release notes when SP1 is released.

• Ensure that you have the correct components installed:

  • You have installed the proper version of the Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0 for your operating system.

  • If this server is hosting a CAS, you the have IIS World Wide Web Service and ASP.NET components installed. You do not need any IIS components otherwise.

    Warning 

    Unlike legacy versions of Exchange, the IIS NNTP and SMTP components are not required for Exchange 2007 and must not be installed.

  • Ensure that any other applications running on the server are meant for the same platform. Do not mix 32-bit and 64-bit applications on production Exchange 2007 servers; use only 64-bit add-ons and plug-ins. Remove unnecessary software.

  • It is recommended that you at least disable any server-level antivirus software on the server. We recommend that you remove it entirely; it competes with Exchange for memory and CPU, slows down disk access, and provides questionable value. If you must have antivirus software on the server, make sure it is configured to ignore all directories that Exchange uses - the binary install directory tree, transaction logs, mailbox databases, and queue databases.

  • Disable any anti-spyware or anti-malware software you may have running, such as Windows Defender.

  • Ensure that the server is joined to the proper domain.

  • Verify that your network configuration is correct, that you can resolve DNS without any issues, and that you have no problems with your Active Directory connectivity. We recommend using the netdiag and dcdiag utilities in the Windows Server 2003 SP1 Support Tools, which can be downloaded from Microsoft Downloads.

  • If you are using the ISA Firewall Client in your environment, ensure that it is properly configured and can detect and authenticate to the proper ISA server array.

  • Ensure that you have run Windows Update or Microsoft Update and have downloaded all recommended and critical patches for your system.

Memory Configuration

The following memory configuration considerations should be addressed before beginning Exchange 2007 installation:

• The nice thing about running 64-bit Windows is that you don't have to worry about inserting arcane switches into your boot.ini configuration file.

• Ensure that you have the proper amount of RAM for your server's intended use and load. For Mailbox servers, the current sizing guideline is to have 2GB base memory plus an additional 5MB per mailbox. This ensures that you will have enough memory to cache the most frequently accessed items for all users on the server and get the full benefit of the switch to 64 bits.

Note 

Since Microsoft will be updating the Exchange 2007 documentation on a regular basis, be sure to download and review the current specific recommendations made in the Planning and Architecture guide. This guide is available from the Microsoft Exchange 2007 TechNet website: www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/e2k7help/.

Disk Configuration

The following disk configuration considerations should be addressed before beginning Exchange 2007 installation:

• All disk volumes used for Exchange must be NTFS formatted. No exceptions!

• Ensure that you have enough free disk space:

  • The system volume requires 200MB. This is above and beyond any necessary space for logs and program files (if you install Exchange on the system volume).

  • The system volume should allow Windows to create a page file that can hold a memory dump. This is the amount of physical RAM plus 100MB.

  • The disk volume you install Exchange on requires at least 1.2GB for the binaries.

  • If this server will hold the Unified Messaging role, allocate +500MB for each Unified Messaging language pack that will be installed.

• Transaction log files should be on a separate set of physical disks (spindles) from their corresponding Exchange database files.

  Tip 

  In Exchange 2007, the SMTP queue folders have been replaced by the queue database, which is an ESE database just like the message databases. As a result, you may need to provide extra spindles for the queue database and transaction logs on busy Edge Transport and Hub Transport servers.

• Allow for at least 7 to 10 days of transaction logs per storage group. One rule of thumb is 5GB of logs per day per 1,000 mailboxes.

• Allow for at least 10 to 15 percent white space estimates in the maximum size of each of your database files.

• Allow for 10 to 15 percent deleted item and deleted mailbox retention space in each mailbox database.

• Local continuous replication replica databases and transaction logs should be on separate physical disks from the originals.

• Leave sufficient free space on database disks to make an extra copy of your largest database without running out of space, such as when you're performing backups, recovering from backups, or performing troubleshooting and offline maintenance. One rule of thumb is 110 percent of the largest database you will support.

• Plan for full-text indexing to use approximately 25 percent of the total size of the mailbox database.

• Faster disks are always better than slower disks. The performance delta between 7,200RPM disks and 15,000RPM disks isn't even worth writing about.

• Try to use more reliable server-oriented disk technologies for your direct-attached storage, such as SAS and UltraSCSI over SATA or EIDE.

• Cap your maximum individual mailbox database size to allow you to backup and restore each database within the time limit specified by your service level agreement (SLA).

• Unlike with Exchange 2003, plan on creating one mailbox database per storage group. This improves your caching and gives you a separate set of transaction logs for each database, which means each database can truly be backed up (and restored) independently of the rest. We recommend that you create additional databases in a storage group only when you've used up all of your available storage groups. Note, however, that this will increase the number of spindles you require to maintain proper I/O and offset the savings you gain from Exchange 2007's architecture.

Note 

Keep in mind the number of databases and storage groups you can have for your edition of Exchange 2007. Standard Edition restricts you to a maximum of five storage groups or databases, while Enterprise Edition gives you up to 50. So in Standard Edition, you could have a single storage group with five databases, two storage groups with some combination of five databases between them, or (best) five separate storage groups each with a single database

Exchange Prerequisites

Now that you've got the server issues out of the way, it's time to take care of the specific prerequisites that Exchange requires. If you fire up the Exchange 2007 graphic-mode installer (see the section "Graphic Installer" later in this chapter), the Setup splash page will show you the prerequisites and give you links to download them if you don't have them on your system already.

MMC Update

Exchange 2007 requires the Microsoft Management Console version 3.0. This version of the MMC provides a lot of the new graphical look and feel of the EMC, but it's required because it allows Microsoft to create MMC snap-ins using managed languages in the .NET Framework.

PowerShell Update

You will also need to install the released to manufacturing (RTM) version of the Windows PowerShell 1.0. This is a separate product not only used by Exchange and other forthcoming applications, but also available as a stand-alone download for system administrators. Because of this, Microsoft may release minor version number updates to PowerShell. PowerShell requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, which you may have already installed. PowerShell is the basis of not only the EMS and EMC, but also the Exchange 2007 Setup utility.

Warning 

It's a good general rule to resist the temptation to upgrade PowerShell on your Exchange servers (to get the benefits of these future upgrades) unless the release notes specifically say it is compatible with your deployed version of Exchange 2007, or unless you are instructed to upgrade by a future Exchange 2007 update. PowerShell is completely entwined with Exchange 2007 and an untested upgrade could break not only Exchange Server, but the Exchange installer as well.