Ten Things You Should Know About Exchange Server 2010

Author: Allan Jacobs

Abstract

Microsoft is getting ready to release the first of its Wave 14 Office products, the eagerly awaited Exchange Server 2010. There are many new and improved features that are provided by the new version. This white paper outlines ten items to consider when planning and deploying an Exchange Server 2010 infrastructure, as well as some considerations that to keep in mind when making the decision to move on to the "latest and greatest" iteration.

Introduction

By the time you read this paper, Microsoft will likely have released the first of its Wave 14 Office products, the eagerly awaited Exchange Server 2010. There are many new and improved features in the new version. This white paper outlines ten items to consider when planning and deploying an Exchange Server 2010 infrastructure, as well as some considerations to keep in mind when making the decision to move on to the "latest and greatest" iteration.

1. Reorganized Administration
2. New Storage Model
3. Archiving Without a Third Party Solution
4. Self-Service Administration With the ECP
5. Server Upgrade Requires Exchange Upgrade
6. All Mail Flows Through the CAS
7. Single Item Recovery.Finally
8. OWA Premium for Firefox
9. Windows Mobile
10. Improved Performance

1. Reorganized Administration

Exchange Server 2010 employs Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), as opposed to the permission-based Access Control List model used in prior versions. While Microsoft does provide pre-defined roles, an organization will have the ability to granularly create roles to match their needs. This approach is a positive step forward, but will require careful planning to ensure that each level of administrator is provided the abilities required without overlooking the "least privilege" approach. Organizations should take the time and devote the resources necessary to identify what tasks need to be done and who should perform those tasks.

2. New Storage Model

In earlier versions of Exchange, many large enterprises used a classic clustering model, storing their mailboxes in a Storage Area Network (SAN) structure. Regardless of how redundantly a SAN is configured, it presents a single point of failure. It is also an expensive alternative.

The release of Exchange 2007 provided storage designers with several new options for providing redundancy, Local Continuous Replication (LCR), Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR), and Standby Continuous Replication (SCR). With Exchange 2010, we can forget all of those three-letter acronyms and move to a single one, the DAG, or Database Availability Group.

The DAG replaces each of the above options and provides the organization the ability to have as many as 16 replicas of the mailbox database. The replicas can be configured to automatically failover or to hold back on the replication, thus incorporating elements of the CCR and SCR technologies.

With multiple replicas, organizations might chose to forgo backups to tape altogether. Of course, that change in backup philosophy would require considerable testing and a shift in the IT philosophy for many entities.

By the way, the Public Folder store cannot be part of a DAG. Public Folder Replication will be the same as it has always been. Microsoft lets you keep the Public Folders, but it has no intention of encouraging their use by improving their functionality.

3. Archiving Without a Third Party Solution

Prior to Exchange 2010, organizations with significant archiving and retention requirements had to employ expensive and complicated third-party solutions to satisfy their statutory and compliance requirements. Exchange 2010 provides those organizations with new options to move e-mail from user mailboxes to more appropriate locations over time. The solution also includes a Personal Archive that will appear to the user in Outlook and be searchable with appropriate permissions simultaneously with other mailboxes using advanced filtering.

4. Self-Service Administration with the ECP

The new web-based Exchange Control Panel (ECP) provides administrators with a tool to manage the Exchange environment without requiring the installation of anything on the local computer. That alone makes the ECP very useful, but it gets much better. The ECP can be used to allow the end-user the ability to perform limited administrative functions concerning their messaging environment. I know that some organizations bristle at the thought of self-service administration, but it can significantly cut down the number of service and help desk calls.

5. Server Upgrade Requires Exchange Upgrade

This item is not technically an Exchange Server 2010 item, but it is important for those organizations that will be deploying Exchange Server 2008 R2. That server platform will not support any version of Exchange other than 2010. This seemingly small incompatibility could have a big impact on organizations that plan to move their server platform prior to their messaging platform.

Related Courses

Configuring, Managing, and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (M10135)