What Is New in Exchange 2000 Server

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Some of the features new to Exchange 2000 Server have already been discussed, such as administrative groups, routing groups, and policies. This section takes a look at the other important enhancements to Exchange 2000 Server.

Active Directory Integration

With each new version, Exchange Server has grown more integrated with the Windows operating system. Exchange 2000 Server integrates seamlessly with the Windows 2000 Active Directory and offers the combined and centralized management of messaging, collaboration, and network resources. Active Directory is a scalable directory service built using Internet technologies and fully integrated into Windows 2000. All Exchange Server directory information is now stored in the Active Directory. You will learn much more about the integration of Exchange 2000 Server and the Windows 2000 Active Directory in Chapter 4.

Active Directory Connector

The Active Directory Connector (ADC) is a tool designed to allow Exchange 2000 Server and 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 the Windows 2000 Active Directory. The ADC allows for multiple-master, bidirectional replication.

Multiple Message Databases

Exchange 2000 Server allows message stores to be partitioned into smaller, separately managed databases with no size limit. Previously, a message store could have only one database. A logical database can be split into separate physical databases on a server, and those databases can even be stored on different servers. You can perform administration, and even stop a database altogether, while sibling databases are still running. This is a great advance, in that it allows administrators to further localize the number of users affected by routine maintenance and recovery.

Storage Groups

Exchange Server 5.5 stores data in two main databases, Priv.edb for the mailbox store and Pub.edb for the public folder store. Exchange 2000 Server replaces the single private and public information stores with support for multiple folder stores contained in storage groups. A storage group is a collection of databases that share a single transaction log and a single point of administration, backup, and restore. You can create multiple databases per storage group and can have multiple storage groups, making it possible to have many different databases, even on the same server. You'll learn much more about storage groups in Chapter 2.

Distributed Configuration

Different pieces of the Exchange Server environment, such as protocols, connectors, and storage databases, can be hosted on separate servers in Exchange 2000 Server, making a distributed environment possible. For example, you could dedicate one server to hosting connectors, another to fielding incoming Internet mail protocol requests, and yet another to hosting messaging stores. This allows a great deal of flexibility and scalability in your Exchange deployment.

Simple Mail Transport Protocol Message Routing

With Exchange 2000 Server, Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) has become the default messaging transport protocol for routing all messages between servers. Further, a fault-tolerant implementation of SMTP has been embraced, allowing for the delivery of messages even when servers or network connections fail.

Administration Through Microsoft Management Console

The Exchange System snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) serves as the single seat for Exchange 2000 Server administration. The MMC provides a customizable framework for management utilities. Windows 2000, Exchange Server 2000, and many other Microsoft and third-party applications use MMC snap-ins to provide a common console for multiple-resource network administration.

System Monitoring

Exchange 2000 Server provides a new monitoring interface that is a simple flat view of all of the servers and connectors in an Exchange environment. All servers are monitored for disk space usage, service status, and queue trends.

Windows 2000 Security

Exchange 2000 Server is tightly integrated with the Windows 2000 security model. Administrators can use a single set of security groups to administer both Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000 Server. You'll learn more about this model in Chapter 4.

Field-Level Security

Exchange 2000 Server allows permissions to be set for individual messages and even for fields within those messages, instead of only at the folder level. This capability gives administrators greater control over workflow and message tracking.

Web Store

The Exchange 2000 Web Store is an Installable File System (IFS) that provides local and remote users access to the file systems. Drive M on the computer running Exchange Server provides direct access to all data in the Web Store and is automatically given the share name BackOfficeStorage. Each Web Store exists as a folder under the M drive on the local machine, which means that applications that save directly to disk can now store files in the Web Store from local or remote locations. Users can access all data in the Web Store, including messages, documents, and objects, by entering a URL into a Web browser. For example, a user might access his or her Inbox simply by entering http://servername/username into a browser.

The Web Store includes built-in indexing that enables speedy searching of all Web Store content. Users of Microsoft Outlook 2000 can easily search for messages, documents, and users. The Web Store is also tightly integrated with Internet Information Services (IIS) and Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, enabling developers to use known tools and skills to build powerful, high-performance Web-enabled applications that include Web-based forms, business logic, and workflow services.

Web Forms

Web forms are browser-based forms that Exchange 2000 Server transmits directly to a Web browser, using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). For example, a Web Store folder could contain a sales order form that a user accesses by typing a URL into a Web browser. Web forms can be created with Microsoft FrontPage 2000 and are used to create and modify items in a Web Store folder.

Multiple Public Folder Trees

Exchange 2000 Server supports multiple public folder trees, giving administrators a good deal of flexibility in deploying collaborative applications. In previous versions of Exchange Server, an organization could have only one public folder hierarchy that was exposed to all users. This restriction made it difficult to have public folders that were limited to certain sets of users, and it made administration of public folders a bit more complicated as there was no good way to divide up the administrative chores. Having multiple public folder trees allows system administrators to separate databases according to functional, business, geographic, or administrative requirements. For example, you could dedicate an entire public folder tree to each major department in your organization, providing a much more natural organization of resources.

Data and Voice Conferencing

Exchange 2000 Server data and voice conferencing allows dynamic, on-demand sharing of data and information using any T.120-compliant client, such as Microsoft NetMeeting. This enables users to talk and easily share visual information. Exchange 2000 Server also offers complete audio and video conferencing using Internet Protocol (IP) based multicast technology to provide audio and video teleconferencing services. This technology is based on the Telephony API (TAPI) 3.0 standard, which is included as part of Windows 2000; it allows more simultaneous participants in a videoconference than other solutions do.

Instant Messaging

You have probably seen instant messenger software such as the MSN Messenger client and AOL Instant Messenger. Instant messaging lets users send text-based messages to other users on a network. Unlike e-mail, these messages are displayed immediately to the other user's screen, and they can be received only if the other user is logged on. Instant messaging has become very popular for Internet users in recent years and is poised to play a significant role in businesses as well. Exchange 2000 Server includes an instant messaging service built on a secure architecture suited for both internal and Internet deployment. The client software for instant messaging in Exchange 2000 Server is the MSN Messenger client. Presence information is part of instant messaging; it enables one computer user to see whether another user is currently logged on to a network, a corporate LAN, or the Internet.