Virtual Servers in Exchange Server 2003


As you learned in Chapter 2, ‚“Microsoft Exchange Architecture, ‚½ Exchange Server 2003 relies heavily on Internet Information Services (IIS) to support access via Internet protocols. This integration with IIS also provides Exchange with the ability to configure virtual servers for Internet protocols. A virtual server enables you to host different protocols on the same physical server. The use of virtual servers provides added functionality and scalability. From the client perspective, there is no difference in connecting to a physical server or a virtual server. From the administrative perspective, virtual servers allow much greater flexibility and control than do individual physical servers that have to be created to support Internet protocols.

When Exchange Server 2003 is installed, a virtual server is created by default for each Internet protocol, including SMTP, NNTP, HTTP, IMAP4, and POP3. Virtual servers are managed using the System Manager snap-in, as shown in Figure 7.19.


Figure 7.19: Viewing virtual protocol servers in System Manager

For the most part, the management of each type of virtual server is the same. You can right-click a virtual server and use the Pause, Stop, and Start commands to control the state of the service. Pausing a virtual server simply prevents new connections from being made to that server while the server itself remains running. Current connections are not disconnected. This is a graceful way of shutting down a virtual server that may be in use. When all users are finished, you can stop the server. Stopping the server will forcibly disconnect all connected users. If you want to disable certain protocols on a server-wide basis, stopping the virtual server for that protocol is usually the best way to go.

Aside from these basic commands, you can also open property pages for each kind of virtual server. These pages are covered in the sections later in this chapter that deal with the individual protocols themselves .

Note ‚  

It is possible to configure virtual servers directly using IIS, but this is not recommended. When virtual servers are managed using the Exchange System Manager, the Exchange System Attendant writes the configuration information to Active Directory. From there, the information is written to the IIS metabase. If you configure virtual servers directly in IIS, it is possible that the information you configure will be overwritten by older information configured in the Exchange System Manager or Active Directory. The one exception to this rule is that the HTTP virtual server must be managed using the IIS Manager and cannot be accessed using the Exchange System Manager.




MCSA[s]MCSE
MCSA[s]MCSE
ISBN: 735621527
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 160

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