Microsoft Exchange 2010

With the release somewhere on the horizon, it would be a good time to discuss the prerequisites for deployment. Those companies who are planning to be early adopters are probably already well aware of the list of requirements in order to launch it successfully.

There are two main categories of requirements for the new system. Active directory and the ones needed for Exchange itself.

For the active directory part, all the domain controllers in the organization will need to run 64 bit versions of Windows, preferably Server 2003 SP2 and above. If you use a forest, that should also be at least the same level. Exchange will only work with 64 bit architecture and has been built from the ground up to only use it. This may mean operating system upgrades before you even open the Exchange package.

The Exchange site of the migration also has its own prerequisites. The entire platform must be at a level higher than Exchange 2003 SP2. If they are running Exchange 2007, that also must have Service Pack 2 installed to work properly.

To transition effectively to Exchange 2010 it is best to build the new infrastructure beside the existing one. It is also best to start at the internet facing side, with a Client Access Server (CAS). To use Exchange 2010 you need to build new CAS servers, you can’t upgrade existing ones. The new CAS has to live alongside the existing one while the business still has mailboxes on the old system. The old CAS can be retired once the migration has completed.

To get them working, the certificate has to be propagated from the old CAS to the new one, then a new one has to be acquired for the new on and shared with the old. This will allow mail to be redirected between the two CAS servers depending on where the destination mailbox is housed. If a client connected to the Exchange 2010 CAS contacts a mailbox on the old CAS, the new CAS will redirect the data to the old to complete the transaction, and vice versa.

Next the new mailbox servers should be built and configured to sit alongside the legacy ones. Both servers will need to be running in order to move mailboxes between them. Once the mailbox transition is complete, the old mailbox server can be retired. Fortunately this once laborious task can now be automated with the new Online Move Mailbox tool. This process means the absolute minimum downtime for users as the data is replicated between servers and the active directory replication takes place.

The only server you can really replace at the outset is the edge server. Once you have subscribed it to the Exchange 2010 Hub Server it should work normally.

This is only an overview of what it to be a time consuming and complicated migration process. Proper planning should always be done before even removing the wrapping from the new hardware.

BERLIN, Nov. 9 / Today at the Microsoft Tech-Ed Europe 2009 conference in Germany, Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop announced that Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is now available worldwide to help businesses reduce costs, protect communications and delight e-mail users. Along with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010 is part of a generation of solutions designed for increased business productivity and cost savings.

In today’s challenging economic environment, innovative use of new information technologies can result in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs. The combination of cost savings coupled with improved productivity and innovation is defined as “the New Efficiency.”

Elop also announced the release of Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server, which helps Exchange Server customers further safeguard business information.

“Exchange Server 2010 customers are already reporting cost savings of up to 70 percent thanks to a simplified high-availability model and support for lower-cost storage. Customers are also seeing productivity gains of more than 20 percent with a universal inbox that delivers e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging and text messaging consistently across virtually any device,” Elop said. “Together with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the combined cost savings and improved productivity helps customers generate long-term business success.”

According to a commissioned study of technology early adopters conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft Corp., a customer can see a payback period of less than six months when upgrading to either Exchange Server 2010* or Windows Server 2008 R2.**

Customers such as Bank of America Corp., Carnival Cruise Line, Global Crossing, Lifetime Products, Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc., NEC Philips, Subaru Canada Inc. and Telekom Austria Group are deploying Exchange Server 2010 and report impressive results with the new server.

“We have increased storage eightfold at 25 percent of the cost with Exchange Server 2010 and our employees are seeing a reduction of unwanted e-mail by more than 70 percent, freeing us up to focus on more important client issues,” said Steve Derbyshire, operations director, NEC Philips.

Organizations including Automatic Data Processing Inc., BMW, Baker Tilly, the City of Miami, Energizer, Getronics and Pella Corp. are deploying Windows 7 and report gains in efficiency for both business users and IT. Customers report improved user productivity and easier information access, reduced costs with streamlined management, and reduced risk through better security and increased desktop control. Supporting detail is available in recent total cost of ownership studies and analyst survey reports at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/windows-7/default.aspx.

Businesses are seeing equally significant results from Windows Server 2008 R2, with customers including Continental Airlines Inc. (U.S.), Chester Zoo (U.K.), Combell Group NV (Belgium), FinPro (Finland), Wacom Europe GmbH (Germany) and Wortell (Netherlands) noting cost savings through server consolidation, reduced power consumption and improved service levels.

“With Windows Server 2008 R2, we’ve been able to dramatically reduce costs in our IT infrastructure while simplifying management,” said Phil Morris, IT manager, North England Zoological Society/Chester Zoo. “By virtualizing our environment with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, we have reduced the number of servers in our environment by 80 percent while maintaining the high availability our retail staff, researchers and management team need.”

“Windows Server 2008 R2 brings many efficiencies to our customers, including enabling new virtualization scenarios,” said Bill Laing, corporate vice president for the Windows Server and Solutions Division at Microsoft. “We’ve added the next generation of hypervisor and the new ability to perform Live Migration of virtual machines. Many customers are already seeing tangible results since deploying Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V.”

Elop said more than 45,000 partners are trained on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010, with several partners announcing new services and solutions today, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Avanade, Dell Inc., EMC Corp., Kaspersky Lab, Symantec Corp. and Unisys Corp.

Exchange Server 2010 and Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange are available now for trial at http://www.thenewefficiency.com, along with more information about Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and partner solutions.

Ongoing Commitment to Developers and IT Professionals
As part of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to providing developers and IT professionals with the technology to drive productivity gains within their organizations, the following announcements also were also made today at Tech-Ed Europe 2009.

• The community technology preview for SQL Server 2008 R2 will be available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2.aspx.
• For use in building multilanguage Web sites and client applications, Microsoft Translator widgets and APIs are now in beta. Many European languages are now supported by Microsoft Translator. Additional details can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9694254.
• Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group will release new guidance that extends the full Security Development Lifecycle process to a wider external software developer audience, by enabling developers using the Agile development model to integrate Microsoft’s SDL processes, tools and technologies directly into their software development environments, helping to ensure their applications are secure and their customers have a safer, more trusted computing experience.

Virtual Tech-Ed Europe Participation
There are multiple ways for those not in attendance to experience Tech-Ed Europe 2009.

• Visit the Tech-Ed global pressroom at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/teched/default.mspx for additional details regarding all announcements made at Tech-Ed Europe 2009.
• View the live stream of the executive keynote address from the Tech-Ed 2009 global pressroom today at 3:30 p.m. CET/6:30 a.m. PST.
• Participate in the post-keynote webcast Q&A today at 5 p.m. CET/8 a.m. PST, immediately following the executive keynote address. Submit questions to the executive panel by visiting the Tech-Ed global pressroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* Source: Forrester Consulting: “The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Exchange 2010,” November 2009.
** Source: Forrester Consulting: “The Total Economic Impact of Windows Server 2008 R2,” November 2009.

This information is about pre-release software and therefore is subject to change. It is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied

Microsoft Exchange 2010 officially ships today, offering enterprises a bigger, better, faster messaging platform. In April, reviewer Joel Snyder tested the beta version of Exchange 2010.

Here, he checks out a boatload of the most interesting features and upgrades associated with the shipping product and gives a thumbs up or thumbs down on whether Microsoft delivers the goods.

1. Database Availability Groups (DAG)

Joel says: Thumbs up

Exchange continues to make high-availability simple by creating DAGs, multiple servers cooperating to make a set of Exchange mailboxes highly available through continuous replication and high-availability failover. It’s not a simple feature to roll out, but it’s a lot simpler than it used to be and doesn’t take a PhD in Exchange to use.

2. Local Continuous Replication is Gone.

Joel says: Thumbs down.

If you loved the idea of having two copies of the same Exchange database on the same server in case your cheapo (or expensive) disk crashed, stick with Exchange 2007. As part of the simplification and extension of high availability, local continuous replication bit the dust. Microsoft’s answer: Go get another server instead.

3. It’s Mac friendly.

Joel says: Thumbs up

Outlook Web App, the renamed-Outlook Web Access, now works well in non-Microsoft browsers and on non-Microsoft platforms. Safari users, for example, get a great experience with Web-based e-mail, calendaring, and contacts.

4. No client needed

Joel says: Thumbs up

If you don’t want to pay for Microsoft Office to get Outlook, or if folks are just as happy reading their e-mail through a Web browser, Exchange 2010 is all about that, even down to the sound cues for alerts. That’s right, Firefox can now sound like Outlook!

5. Still a few bugs to get ironed out.

Joel says: Thumbs down

It’s new, OK, and while Microsoft tells us that thousands of people are using Exchange 2010, some of the new dark corners have a bug or two left in them. Here’s one we stumbled across, where Outlook wouldn’t let someone read their own mail — even though Outlook Web App would. Maybe wait for SP1 before giving this to everyone.

6. Bigger, Better. Faster, More

Joel says: Thumbs up, mostly

Exchange 2007 wanted 64-bits, but it could at least be tested on a 32-bit system. No more. Exchange 2010 insists on 64-bits. This makes your life easier in one sense, since everything is 64-bit through and through. But that’s as long as you have 64-bit friendly hardware and plenty of memory.

In terms of performance, Microsoft has reduced the I/O load of Exchange (they throw around numbers between 70% and 90% compared with Exchange 2000), meaning that you can use slow SATA laptop drives on that whiz-bang new 64-bit server and still get excellent results. Reducing write bursts within Exchange also makes it more compatible with SATA drives.

7. Personal archiving

Joel says: Thumbs down…for now.

With Enterprise licensing, you can enable a personal archive for any user, which creates a twin mailbox in the same message store. Users can drag-and-drop mail there, or Exchange rules can move it there automatically based on policy. Intended as a replacement for those PST files that users seem to keep creating, and losing, the archive doesn’t make much sense as long as it has to be stored in the same mailbox database as the original mailbox — which it does in this release of Exchange. When that limitation is lifted and you can give users tons of slow, cheap storage for e-mail archiving, this’ll be a thumbs-up.

8. Self-service

Joel says:Thumbs up

Exchange 2010 offers self-service through the Web interface (Outlook will redirect you to the Web interface, a harbinger of things to come), where you can change group memberships, address information, vacation settings and automatic replies, in-box rules, antispam settings, and more. If you’ve chosen Exchange as your VoIP automated attendant, you can even design your personalized answering service. Fewer help desk calls and happier users. What more could you want?

9. E-Discovery made easier

Joel says: Thumbs up

A slew of features in Exchange 2010 aimed at building in e-Discovery features can save the expensive of third-party add-ons, especially in smaller companies. Multiple mailbox search with extensive Boolean criteria is a good start, as is Legal Hold — a way to be sure that information doesn’t disappear once you’ve been notified that the scent of litigation is in the air. Microsoft packed these in haphazardly, so you have to hunt around to find all the pieces, but at least they’re there.

10. Your dictation machine

Joel says: Thumbs up

Not everyone will hook up their voice mail to Exchange Unified Messaging (this feature doesn’t work if you just forward your voice mail into Exchange), but if you do, then Exchange 2010 will try voice recognition on your voice mail and put the text in the e-mail message with the voice recording. Now, hitting delete can take even less time.

11. Exchange test tool

Joel says: Thumbs up

Microsoft now has a Web site that can test various aspects of your Exchange server from the Internet. Everything from basic incoming SMTP to ActiveSync and Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) are testable. Not strictly a part of Exchange 2010, but a welcome contribution to the world of e-mail administrators who need a better test than you get from Gmail.

12. Look Ma, no “Next” button

Joel says: Thumbs up

Exchange Web now shows all of your messages in a single window, with scroll bars (if necessary), instead of with troublesome “next” and “previous” screen buttons. Also in this version: threaded messages, which Microsoft calls Conversation View. A long-missing competitive feature, Exchange clients now can thread all messages in a conversation into a single view, helping to eliminate the all-too-common syndrome of answering a message that someone else has already answered.

13. There’s a button for that

Joel says: Thumbs down

Maybe Exchange 2010 shouldn’t be tarred with the Outlook brush, but…apparently menus and shortcuts are now so passe that every possible function anyone could do, even those you don’t do very often, is now laid out in the pane at the top of Outlook’s window. Sure, you can turn it all off, or spend a couple of hours customizing it, but how about a more sensible set of defaults that doesn’t overwhelm us with choice anxiety the first time we launch?

14. Yep, we delivered that

Joel says: Thumbs down

Microsoft calls it “Message Tracking,” and holds such promise. Unfortunately, the information you see in the tracking is so basic and so primitive that this does little to help anyone — and may confuse the issue more than it clarifies it. Come on, Microsoft. You can do better than this!