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Part I: Introductionto Exchange Server 2010
Chapter 1
Introduction to Exchange Server 2010
The following topics are discussed in this chapter:
- Brief history
- New features
- Improvements
- Discontinued features
- Comparison between 2007 and 2010
- Client benefits
Ninety trillion. That is the estimated number of emails that were sent in 2009. Staggering isnât it? While many of those emails were used to send jokes or argue sports, a large portion of them were used in business and deemed vital for the success of an organization.
It is no wonder, then, that Exchange Server administrators and messaging professionals are in high demand, and it is our goal, in this book, to get you comfortable with Exchange 2010. This chapterâs aim is to bring you up to speed on the latest versions of the Exchange administrator tools as well as help you understand the important changes sinceâand even the smallest improvements overâExchange Server 2007.
Brief History of Exchange Servers
Exchange Server 2010 is a calendaring and email solution that runs on Windows Server, and like Exchange Server 2007, it can also integrate with your phone system. This is the seventh major release of the product, and the Exchange teams continue to make improvements and add features with every version.
Exchange started out as an upgrade to Microsoft Mail in 1996. Over the next several years, releases 5.0 and 5.5 introduced Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), which was a precursor to what would become Active Directory (AD) in Windows 2000. To take advantage of AD in Windows 2000, Microsoft also included Exchange Server 2000, which was a robust platform that included chat and instant messaging (IM) services. In 2003, another version of Exchange was released, aptly named Exchange Server 2003. Features such as chat and IM were removed and they were marketed as separate services in Live Communications Server. The release of Exchange Server 2007 continued the tradition of adding more features and expanded the storage of this email server even more than its predecessors. Letâs look briefly at some of the historical milestones:
- 1996 Exchange 4.0
- Client/server architecture
- X.400 based
- 1997 Exchange 5.0 and 5.5
- Clustering introduced
- LDAP introduced
- Standard and expression versions introduced
- Connectors to allow Exchange to talk to any email server provided
- Administrative console added
- Support for stand-alone SMTP
- Outlook introduced as the preferred client
- Outlook Web Access introduced
- 2000 Exchange 2000
- Designed to work with AD
- Scheme management services for sending and receiving secure email
- Enhanced storage and administrative tools
- Chat and IM services introduced
- 2003 Exchange 2003
- Exchange ActiveSync introduced support for blacklisting addresses
- Enhanced Outlook Web Access module added
- Enhanced spam control introduced
- Management console enhanced
- 2006 Exchange 2007
- 64-bit performance
- Exchange Management Shell (EMS) added
- Maximum database size increased to 16 TB
- Maximum number of storage groups increased to 50 per server
Why use Exchange Server? Exchange is certainly not the only email server on the market. In fact, there are dozens of email servers available, and each one would have a group of individuals who would argue strongly in their favor. There are many of small and medium-sized businesses that want an in-house email system. These businesses want to be up and running in only a few steps and with only a little maintenance.
Simplicity and ease of use are the major contributors to the success of Exchange. Exchange installs and configures simply, and anyone can be trained in a relatively short period of time to use it effectively. Because it also sets up Web access automatically for all mailboxes, it makes it easy for users to check email from home or even while on vacation. Features like these have made Exchange the choice of many organizations. This rich feature set and the ability to scale has led to its dominance in the enterprise market.
While the first version of Exchange, code-named Mercury, was just a Microsoft internal release and could not scale past 25 users, Exchange 2010 has become the mode of transport for a major chunk of the 9 billion emails sent each day.
New Features in Exchange Server 2010
Exchange Server 2010 is available in three editions, Trial, Standard, and Enterprise. The installation is the same for each. In fact, the installation media are identical; itâs the license key, or the lack thereof, that will determine what functionality is enabled. For Exchange 2010, there is no 32-bit version available, even for testing purposes.
In addition, Exchange Server 2010 comes with two client access licenses (CALs). Here is a quick breakdown of these two types:
- Standard CAL will provide access to ActiveSync, email, Outlook Web App, and calendaring.
- Enterprise CAL provides unified messaging and compliance functions, functionality for Exchange hosted filtering for antispam and antivirus, and Forefront Security for Exchange Server.
Whenever new versions of software such as Exchange are released, we want to know whatâs new! Exchange 2010 includes some very nice changes and additions that will make an Exchange administratorâs job a little bit easier, as the following list shows:
Storage improvements In an effort to provide greater flexibility and higher performance, Microsoft has made some big adjustments in storage architecture. Estimates indicate that you will see an additional 50 to 70 percent reduction in database storage I/O from Exchange 2007. The benefit of this to you is that it will reduce the need for additional or more costly sto...
