Microsoft Exchange server is one of the most used commercial mail servers today. Many organizations implemented it because it can achieve highest company requirements in sense of performances and efficiency. Because there is many details in implementation of Exchange server I will use a few articles to describe process of Exchange installation and configuration.
Exchange 2007 is supported on Windows server 2003 and 2008. In these articles I’ll describe installation or Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008.
Prerequisites
To install Exchange 2007 you need at least Windows Server 2003. If you want to install Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 you need at least Exchange 2007 SP1. Exchange 2007 RTM is not supported on Windows Server 2008. Hardware system requirement are next:
- Processor – x64 based computer (Intel or AMD platform)
- System memory – minimum 2 Gigabytes of RAM
- Disk space – at least 1.2 Gb on drive where you install Exchange, 200Mb available disk space on the system drive
- Screen resolution – 800×600 pixels or higher
- File system – NTFS
After operating system and hardware requirements are met one important thing should be satisfied when installing Exchange is to have Active Directory organization implemented according to Exchange organization requirements. Because AD is widely used by Exchange it should be properly configured. Exchange server must be member of domain in which it is installed.
Active Directory organization of domain where Exchange is installed cannot be read only version because exchange does not support it. AD organization must have at least one global catalog server. Domain functional level should be Windows 2000 or higher. Forest functional level should be Windows server 2003 or higher in every forest where Exchange is installed. Also, DNS should be installed and properly configured for domain. Active Directory should be prepared for Exchange installation.
When you have AD configured properly for Exchange installation there is additional system components that should be installed to support Exchange 2007. These components are:
- IIS(Internet Information Services)
- Power Shell
- MMC (Microsoft management console)
- Net Framework 2.0 or 3.0
Above component are main components should be installed on server on which Exchange 2007 installation is performed. Because there are a few Exchange 2007 server roles that can be installed in this article I’ll describe only most used roles and its prerequisites: edge, hub transport, client access and mailbox roles. Next which will described are prerequisites installation for each of that roles.
First service that should be installed when you preparing AD for Exchange installation is Active Directory remote management tools that can be installed by running next commend in comment prompt:
ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS
Installing prerequisites for CAS (Client Access Server) Exchange 2007 role
First open commend prompt. Next run command to install power shell:
ServerManagerCmd -i PowerShell
Then, run below commands to install IIS prerequisites:
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server ServerManagerCmd -i Web-ISAPI-Ext ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Metabase ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-Auth ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Digest-Auth ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-Auth ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Dyn-Compression
Commands should be executed in order in which they are listed.
Next to install RPC over HTTP proxy feature for supporting outlook anywhere clients:
ServerManagerCmd -i RPC-over-HTTP-proxy
Prerequisites related to IIS installed by above commands can be installed through graphical interface also. To install it go to Server Manager and on navigation pane click on Roles and then Add Roles. When wizard opens click Next and select Web Server (IIS). Then click Add Required Features and Next. In the role services list next services should be checked:
- · ASP.NET
- ISAPI Extensions
- ISAPI Filters
- Server Side Includes
- .NET Extensibility
- Basic Authentication
- Windows Authentication
- Digest Authentication
- Dynamic Content Compression
- IIS 6 Management Compatibility
Above components of IIS are all needed as prerequisites for Exchange 2007 installation.
Installing prerequisites for Edge Transport Server Exchange 2007 role
First, run command to install power shell:
ServerManagerCmd -i RPC-over-HTTP-proxy
Next service that should be installed is Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), which was previously known as Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM). To install it run following command:
ServerManagerCmd -i ADLDS
ADLDS service can be installed through graphical user interface. Go to Server Manager then click Roles, Add Roles and through wizard add ADLDS role on your Windows 2008 server.
Installing prerequisites for Hub Server Exchange 2007 role
Only prerequisite needed for this exchange role that should be installed is power shell. To install run command:
ServerManagerCmd -i PowerShell
Installing prerequisites for Mailbox Server Exchange 2007 role
First open commend prompt. Next run command to install power shell:
ServerManagerCmd -i PowerShell
After that run next commands to install IIS prerequisites:
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server ServerManagerCmd -i Web-ISAPI-Ext ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Metabase ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-Auth ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-Auth
Commands should be executed in order in which they are listed.
Prerequisites related to IIS installed by above commands can be installed through graphical interface also. To install it go to Server Manager and on navigation pane click on Roles and then Add Roles. When wizard opens click Next and select Web Server (IIS). Then click Add Required Features and Next. In the role services list next services should be checked:
- ISAPI Extensions
- Basic Authentication
- Windows Authentication
- IIS 6 Management Compatibility
Above components of IIS are all needed as prerequisites for Exchange 2007 installation.
Described installations are described separate for each role installed. If you install more then one role on server prerequisite that are same should be installed only once.
With this prerequisites installed we can start Exchange installation which will be described in next article.
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