Ten Tips for Installing Exchange Server 2007

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 makes deployment easier than ever. For example, major improvements to Exchange 2007 Setup include a new look for the Setup Wizard. This is easy to use making installation relatively effortless. However, a few tips will make it even easier. If you already have your MCTS certification covering Exchange Server 2007, you'll be well on your way for success. If notMCTS training and these tips will point you in the right direction.

Exchange Server 2007 Setup is role-based making it possible to deploy based on individual server roles. Our Exchange 2007 training gives you the flexibility of being able to design a customized Exchange topology.

You can use the engine from the Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer Tool to automatically check all of the deployment prerequisites. Similarly, the Setup wizard also gives you detailed information about any of the unmet prerequisites so you can the required changes to you computer or the environment. Afterwards, you can re-do the prerequisite check or run the Setup wizard again.

The Setup wizard attempts to retrieve the latest version of the prereq.xml file from www.microsoft.com before it checks the prerequisites. This ensures that have the most up-to-date prerequisite checks before you start.

All of these improvements make setting Exchange 2007 up easier than before however you should know a few more things before you begin installing Exchange 2007. We've put together the top 10 issues encountered by Exchange 2007 users.

Top 10 Installation Issues

1. As you consider which server roles to install, understand that in order to send e-mail, you must have installed the Hub Transport server role. This Hub Transport server takes care of all mail flow. In fact, e-mail sent from one mailbox to another mailbox residing on the same Mailbox server is also processed by the Hub Transport server. It's not necessary to install the Hub Transport and Mailbox server roles on the same computer - they can be on separate computers if you want. Regardless of their location, both of these two server roles are criticial for mail flow and mail storage.

2. Are you installing Exchange on a cluster? If so, you can relax because this installation task is now much easier in Exchange 2007. Thanks to improvements, setting up clustered Mailbox servers is now integrated into the Exchange 2007 Setup. After installation, you will have less customization to deal with because numerous default values that are associated with clustered Mailbox servers have already been set to values that meet the needs of most organizations. Finally, you manage Exchange clusters with both the Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell. This version allows you to bypass Cluster Administrator for your Exchange cluster administration tasks.

If you will be installing Exchange 2007 on a cluster, here's a brief overview:

First, figure out whether you will use single copy clusters (SCCs) or cluster continuous replication (CCR). Think of SCCs as being quite similar to clusters in Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000. SCCs use shared storage of mailbox data with multiple servers. These servers are allowed to own the shared storage. CCR takes the failover features of a cluster and combines it with asynchronous log shipping and replay features.

Next, create a plan for your cluster deployment and then install the cluster. This will involve configuring the cluster network, cluster servers, and then installing Exchange 2007 on the servers. Note that you don't need to create a cluster group with an IP address resource and network name resource before running Setup. This is because the Exchange 2007 Setup for Active Clustered Mailbox Roles creates these resources as a part of the Setup process. In addition, when installing Exchange 2007 on the servers, it doesn't matter if you install the active node or the passive node first. Simply select either option.

3. If your company has numerous Exchange servers, it is possible you won't be the only person who will be installing Exchange 2007. Because of this, you might not want everyone involved to have the permissions assigned to the Exchange Organization Administrators role. This is a dilemma because that is a requirement for installing Exchange 2007.

You can work around this by delegating setup. First, you must run Setup.com from a Command Prompt window using the /NewProvisionedServer parameter. This creates a placeholder object for the server in Active Directory and adds a machine account for this particular server to the Exchange Servers group. Once done, you can add users to the Exchange Server Administrator role for the server that you just provisioned. This adds the user's account to the View-Only Administrator group. It also sets permissions on the placeholder server object so the user account is able to install and administer Exchange 2007 on that particular server. Of course, you can't delegate the first instance of each server role as you must use an account that has the Exchange Organization Administrator role.

4. Setup still runs into issues making troubleshooting necessary from time to time. You can use the log files located at %systemdrive%\ExchangeSetupLogs to troubleshoot Setup failures. Several log files reside in this directory. The ExchangeSetup.log file is the most relevant. You can discover where Setup ran into trouble by searching this file for "[ERROR]".

Some of the other files you will find in the ExchangeSetupLogs directory include:

• *.msilog files - These files contain additional logged information detailing specific parts of the failed installation.

• *.ps1 files - These files represent Exchange Management Shell scripts used by Setup during the installation. You can see where these scripts were run in the installation process by searching for the file name in the ExchangeSetup.log file.

• Prerequisites check logs - These logs are found in the PreReqs directory. This directory contains logs and data files created during the Setup prerequisite checks. Filenames all begin with "ExBPA" with the prerequisites having been checked with the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer Tool.

After troubleshooting Setup failures and making the necessary changes, you don't need to reformat the drive nor do you need to remove the copied Exchange files and start over from scratch. The new Setup picks up from where it left off. All you need to do is run Setup.com from a Command Prompt window or click on Setup.exe which will start the Setup wizard. Setup continues with the previously attempted installation. You can also click "retry" if you left the Setup wizard open on the Readiness Checks page after making the necessary changes. This will run the readiness checks one more time and continue with the installation.

If at least one server role has already been installed and then Setup fails on the next one, you will be in maintenance mode when you restart the Setup Wizard. This simply means that you have at least one component of Exchange 2007 successfully installed. You can also access maintenance mode by running the Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs and choosing either the "Change" or "Remove" options for Microsoft Exchange Server. Once in maintenance mode, you can add or remove more server roles.

5. After successfully completing the Setup wizard, your work is not done. Now, you must open the Exchange Management Console, choose Microsoft Exchange in the console tree, and select the Finalize Deployment tab. On this tab you will find various tasks and configuration options listed for each server role that you installed earlier. These tasks apply to features that are enabled by default but require additional configuration.

You should also select the End-to-End Scenarios tab. From there, you should configure the end-to-end solutions for Exchange 2007. These tasks are optional.

6. If Exchange 2007 will be coexisting with either Exchange 2003 or 2000, you will need to configure the routing group connectors correctly. When you first install the initial Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server into an existing Exchange 2003 or 2000 setup, Setup creates a new routing group for all Exchange 2007 servers by default. It also requires that you specify an Exchange 2003 or 2000 bridgehead server that it will use to connect to the new Exchange 2007 routing group. Another default Exchange 2007 routing group is created as well. This group is called the Exchange Routing Group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR). This group must not be renamed. In addition, Setup also creates two reciprocal routing group connectors between the specified bridgehead server and the new Hub Transport server that you are currently installing.

The default creates one Exchange 2007 routing group along with two reciprocal routing group connectors that connect the first Hub Transport server that you installed to one bridgehead Exchange 2003 or 2000 server.

You can also create additional routing group connectors. Connecting additional Hub Transport servers in the Exchange 2007 routing group to the Exchange 2003 or 2000 bridgehead servers provides additional redundancy. If the existing Exchange 2003 or 2000 configuration has more than one routing group, you could install the first Hub Transport server in the hub Exchange 2003 or 2000 site.

By adding more Hub Transport servers to different sites and creating create routing group connectors between these additional Hub Transport servers and the existing routing groups found in other sites, you can create a logical mail route between your new Exchange 2007 servers and the different sites' legacy servers.

Whenever Setup creates an initial routing group connector bridging the first Hub Transport server with a particular legacy bridgehead server, Setup adds the legacy bridgehead server to a Universal Security Group (USG) which is called "ExchangeLegacyInterop." USG members have the appropriate permissions for sending and receiving e-mail messages from Exchange 2007.

When you create more routing group connectors between the Exchange 2007 routing group and existing Exchange 2003 or 200 routing groups, you need to use the Exchange Management Shell and the New-RoutingGroupConnector cmdlet. When using this cmdlet, the connected Exchange 2003 or 2000 bridgehead server is added to the ExchangeLegacyInterop.

7. If Exchange 2007 is coexisting with Exchange 2003 or 2000, you must make sure you use the proper interface for managing your mailboxes and servers.

For managing Exchange 2003 and 2000 users and mailboxes, continue using the Exchange System Manager and Active Directory Users and Computers on the Exchange 2003 or 2000 servers. In addition, while you are able to modify and remove Exchange 2003 or 2000 mailboxes with the tools found in Exchange 2007, you can't create mailboxes on these servers using Exchange 2007 tools.

For managing Exchange 2007 users and mailboxes, use either the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell that comes with Exchange 2007. While you can use the Exchange 2003 or 2000 System Manager and Active Directory Users and Computers for managing your Exchange 2007 mailboxes, these mailboxes will not be fully functional.

While Exchange 2007 objects and global objects remain visible in Exchange 2003 or 2000 System Manager, don't use Exchange System Manager for managing these Exchange 2007 objects. While it's possible to mix and match management tools across the various versions of Exchange, it's best to avoid doing so.

8. Check to see if your topology has the Autodiscover service configured properly. The Autodiscover service is installed by default along with the Client Access server role. This service allows for the automatic connection to Exchange for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and supported mobile devices with no need for manually configuring profiles.

This service doesn't require additional configuration if: you have a single Exchange forest and are not using Outlook Anywhere to provide external access.

However, if you do have multiple Exchange forests or an Exchange resource forest, you must configure the service by creating an Autodiscover Service Connection Point, or SCP, object in Active Directory - in each forest.

If you are using Outlook Anywhere to provide external access to Exchange, you need to configure a valid Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, certificate on the Client Access server.

For large distributed organizations with sites separated by low-bandwidth network connectivity, you can optionally configure the Client Access server that the Outlook 2007 clients from a particular site will be connecting to.

9. You should also check to see if your topology's Availability service is configured properly. This too is installed by default with the Client Access server role. The Availability service provides consistent, secure, and current free-busy information to the computers running Outlook 2007.

This free-busy information is provided to the client computers when you have a single Exchange forest, only have Exchange 2007 servers (not Exchange 2003 or 2000 servers), and the client computers run Outlook 2007.

If these conditions are not in place, Availability's default configuration may not be able to support clients' viewing of free-busy data. You will need to verify further configurations so that the Availability service will work properly for your topology's mailboxes.

For multiple Exchange forests, you will need to install and configure the GAL Synchronization, or GALSync, feature in Microsoft Identity Integration Server, or MIIS, 2003.

Next, for client computers running Office Outlook 2003 or earlier, you will need to install and configure Microsoft Exchange Inter-Organization Replication tool.

For trusted forests, you need to use Exchange Management shell for configuring the Availability service.

For configurations that have either Exchange 2003 or 2000 servers or for client computers that run earlier versions of Outlook, the free-busy data for mailboxes are published in public folders. Because of this, you must double check to be sure that you have public folder stores on your Exchange servers.

10. Now that Exchange 2007 has been deployed, let's look at the Exchange Management Shell.

The graphical user interface in the Exchange Management Shell provides you with useful information. Whenever you use one of Exchange Management Console's wizards to perform tasks, you'll see the wizard's Completion page which provides you with a list of the Exchange Management Shell command that executed the task. As you work with common administrative task, you should become familiar with each of the common commands.

The Exchange Management Shell comes with Help files which provide you with a command's description, syntax, available parameters, permissions, examples, and more.

You can also access the full Exchange Server 2007 Help documentation. To do this, click the Start button, choose All Programs, choose Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and click on Exchange Server Help.

For help with each Exchange Management Shell cmdlet, you can find detailed help under the Technical Reference\Exchange Management Shell in the Help file.

The TAB key is helpful to use for completing cmdlets and parameters in the Exchange Management Shell.

For example, by typing "Get-Exchange" and then pressing TAB, Exchange Management Shell completes the command "Get-ExchangeAdministrator" automatically. Pressing TAB again causes Exchange Management Shell to change to the next command in the "Get-Exchange" series which is "Get-ExchangeCertificate." Continue pressing TAB and you will get the next command which is "Get-ExchangeServer."

In addition, if you have forgotten which parameters are available for a particular command, you can use the TAB to scroll through the available parameters. You can even type the beginning of a parameter and then press TAB which will fill in the rest.

Exchange Server 2007 holds much promise in that it is considerably easier to install and deploy than other versions. However, it's still tricky. Those with the appropriate MCTS certification in Exchange Server 2007 will be in high demand as more organizations upgrade to this new version. If you are considering making a technical career move in this direction, MCTS training is the first step.