Exchange 2010 Setup and Prerequisites

Most of Exchange Administrator was waiting for this product to make their hand dirty and finally we got  Exchange Server 2010 Beta available for download. The released version is beta version which can be installed only on 64bit. 32-Bit is still on the pipeline for testing purpose, no clue when it will released on public website.

This Exchange 2010 is simply amazing one, as compare to Exchange 2007 technology lots of changes can be seen on the features and functionalities. We will be posting soon on the changes made in Exchange 2010 as compare Exchange 2007.

As a start-up we would like to share out the basic installation of Exchange 2010 like pre-requisites and guidelines on the installation of Exchange 2010.

  Installation of Exchange Server 2010 Beta

Installation of Exchange 2010 is not making any difference when we are comparing with Exchange 2007, it is still the same method. The only thing got changed is technology support version which needs to be suited for Exchange 2010.

Whenever we are thinking of Exchange 2010\ Exchange 2007 installation there are two major places which we need to focus – first one is Active Directory Preparation and second one is Local Server Preparation.

Active Directory Preparation for Exchange 2010:

Schema Master  : Windows Server 2003 either standard or enterprise edition, recommendation have “window server 2003 with sp2”, this can be either 32-bit or 64-bit.

Global Catalog Master : Windows Server 2003 either standard or enterprise edition, recommendation have “window server 2003 with sp2” this can be either 32-bit or 64-bit.

The Active Directory domain  & forest functional level must be Windows Server 2003-native or higher for all domains in the Active Directory forest where you will install Exchange 2010.

Upgrade Schema - /prepareschema Exchange Security Groups & Permission : /PrepareAD LegacyExchange Support : /PrepareLegacyExchangePermissions

Existing Exchange 2003 in the Domain:

If you have exchange 2003 in the organization then ensure that:

Exchange 2003 has Service Pack 2 Installed It should be in the native mode.

Note: Exchange 2010 Beta Upgrade – If you want to upgrade from Exchange 2007, you can’t go with in-place upgrade, and one more thing there is no direct transition from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 Beta . You need to create separate AD Site for Exchange 2010, Exchange 2007 co-existence transition will be supported after the release of Exchange 2007 sp2.

Server-level Specification:

Hardware :

Processor : Intel 64-bit Processor\ AMD64 Processor (Production) Processor supported for 32-bit : Intel Pentium or compatible 800-megahertz (MHz) or faster 32-bit

processor Memory : Depends upon the actual requirement minimum 2 GB plus 2\3.5\4 MB per mailbox and can be

support upto 64 GB for more information click here Mailbox server memory recommendations            

User Type   Mailbox server memory recommendation Light  2 GB plus 2 MB per mailbox Average  2 GB plus 3.5 MB per mailbox

 Heavy  2 GB plus 4 MB per mailbox

Source : Microsoft

Disk Space : 1.2 GB free for the drive where we are installing the Exchange, 500 MB more space if we are installing UM, 200 MB free on the system drive and 500 MB free space for Transport Server role

Drive : DVD-Rom or Network Access Software:

Operating System : Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise or just to install the console Vista is supported.

Other Software Requirement : there many other software required and actually it depends upon which roles you are installing and based on that you can select the required one. Exchange2010 Pre-requisites 

My requirement is very simple, clean installation of Exchange 2010 on windows server 2008 where I will install all the Exchange Server roles except Edge Transport Server Role.

Active Directory Preparation:

Raising the Domain Function level & Forest Functional Level  to Windows Server 2003: o Log into to the windows server 2003 domain controller => Administrative Tools => Active

Directory Domain and Trusts => Right click the domain name and select “Raise Domain Functional Level” and raise it to “Windows Server 2003”

Figure 1:

 Forest Functional Level : Right click “Active Directory Domain and Trusts and select “Raise Forest Functional Level”  as Windows Server 2003

Server – Level Configuration :

1) Install IIS 7.0 : Inorder to do this, open Server Manager Console => Roles => Add Roles and select “Web Server (IIS)” Figure2:

Under Role Services Windows select the following component:

Basic Authentication Windows Authentication Digest Authentication Dynamic Content Compression .net extensisbility

Figure 3:

2) Remote Server Administration Tools pack : It is a feature included with Windows Server 2008. You can install the Remote Server Administration Tools pack by using either the Add Features Wizard in Windows Server 2008, or by using a command line to install the feature.Command prompt : ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDSFrom GUI:

Open the Server Manager Console Click on Features and  then  Add Features and select Remote Server Administration Tools It will ask you to install IIS6 Management Compatibiltiy also select “Add Required Role Service and then

click on NEXT

Figure 4:

R

3) Install HTTP Activation:

Open the server manager console Features =>  Add Features Expand .Net Framework 3.0 Features Expand WCF activation and Select “HTTP Activation”

Figure 5:

4) For Unified Messaging Role we need to have "Windows Media Audio Voice Codec" and "windows Media Encoder" this can be installed by installing Desktop-Experience Component via server manager

Open the server manager console Features =>  Add Features Select Desktop Experience

Figure 6:

OR else you can excute the installation of Server Manager Role and Features from the command prompt by running below command:

For Client Access Server Role:ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDSServerManagerCmd -i Web-ServerServerManagerCmd -i Web-ISAPI-ExtServerManagerCmd -i Web-MetabaseServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-ConsoleServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Web-Digest-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Web-Dyn-CompressionServerManagerCmd -i NET-HTTP-ActivationServerManagerCmd -I RPC-over-HTTP-proxy

For Hub  Transport Server Role:ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDSServerManagerCmd -i Web-ServerServerManagerCmd -i Web-MetabaseServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-ConsoleServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-Auth

For Mailbox Server Role:ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDSServerManagerCmd -i Web-ServerServerManagerCmd -i Web-MetabaseServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Failover-Clustering (for Clustering)

For Unified Messaging Server Role:ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDSServerManagerCmd -i Web-ServerServerManagerCmd -i Web-MetabaseServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-ConsoleServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-AuthServerManagerCmd -i Desktop-Experience

For Edge Transport Server RoleServerManagerCmd -i ADLDS

5) Install  .netframework 3.5 Sp1

6) Install Powershell V2

7) Install Windows Remote Management

8) Install Windows6.0-KB950888

9) Install Windows6.0-KB951725

10) Install 2007 Office System Converter :

11) Run Exchange 2010 setup Figure 7:

 Click on Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange 12) Next Screen will be Introduction page, click on NEXTFigure 8:

  13) Now you will get "Language File Location" in which you can download the other languages apart from English and size of the pacakge will be 200 MB. By default I had choosed the "english"Figure 9:

 14) Next Screen will be "Language Pack Confirmation" - Click on NextFigure 10:

 15)  EULA - Select "I Agree"  and Click on Next

16) Error Reporting : It is upto you how you to set the option and click on NEXT

17) Installation Type : Select either Typical or Customize Option based on the required role to be installed, i have selected customized options Figure 11:

Note : The path of the Exchange Database "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14"

18) Server Role Selection : Depends upon your requirement, I had selected Mailbox, Clien Access, Hub Transport & Unified MessagingFigure 12:

19) Organization : If you have not ran /PrepareAd and you are running the setup from GUI it will ask you to provide Organization NameFigure 13:

20) Cusotmer Experience Improvement Program : You can select either "Join" or "I don't Want to Join"

21) Readiness Check:  In this step, Exchange 2010 will check will the required pre-requisite has been met or not like you have required schema master server, global catalog server, domain controller, schema is updated or not, domain functional level setting, all the software have been installed on this specific serve or not, in other words it will do a readiness check on the Active Directory requirement part and Server Level Requirement Part. Figure 14:

22) Click on Install as per the above figure : It will install Exchange Server Roles and then take a reboot of the serverFigure 15:

Let's take a look on the Exchange 2010 Options under program files:

If you see the above screen, there is two powershell command i) Exchange Management Shell & ii) Exchange Management Shell (Local Powershell), 

Console View:Some of the new changes (marked one) - This is just a glance view

You can see that database is in the organization level, under recipient configuration we have "mailbox migration"

There are lot more to come on the way...