When my friend and colleague, Bill English, asked if I would be interested in this project, I jumped at the chance. Ive always been passionate about Microsoft Exchange Server, and part of that passion is a strong desire to share my knowledge and thoughts with others. Yet I wasnt entirely convinced that the marketplace needed a book concentrating on just the new and improved features. It started to make more sense, however, as I began writing. Given that Exchange is more than seven years old and that many organizations have deployed Exchange Server 5.5 and Exchange 2000 Server, I realized that a book focused on what is new and different in Exchange 2003 is
exactly what is needed.
My vision for this book is to provide you with a practical, readable, hands-on guide to Exchange 2003. I think youll find the approach I have taken to be somewhat unique among technical book authors. I didnt want this to be a dry technical book (although there is a lot of deep technical information in here), so rather than just present raw technical information, I also include real-world scenarios, historical information, and best practices where appropriate.
This book does not cover every feature and function in Exchange 2003. Instead, it focuses primarily on those features that are new to Exchange 2003 or improved over its predecessors, Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000. This book is designed to provide you with fast-track yet detailed information on whats new in, whats improved in, and what has been removed from Exchange 2003.
If you are currently running Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000, this book is for you. This book will be your fastest path to getting up to speed on the enhancements and changes to Exchange found in Exchange 2003. Youll learn how to coexist with and migrate from both Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000, including how to perform in-place upgrades of Exchange 2000 and forklift migrations from Exchange 5.5.
If you are currently running Exchange 2003, this book is for you. While participating in the Exchange Server 2003 Joint Development Program (JDP), I was able to learn a lot about Exchange 2003, and I am sharing that information with you in this book. Youll find material here that you may not find elsewhere—including in Microsofts documentation—such as many of the tuning and configuration parameters detailed in Chapter 10.
If you are not running any version of Exchange, this book is for you. If youre deploying a new messaging infrastructure or migrating from an existing messaging system, youll find the planning, deployment, and best practice information in this book to be highly valuable. In addition to providing you with Microsofts best practices for deploying Exchange, I also include my own recommendations and suggestions based on my experiences as a long-time Exchange architect and administrator.
While having knowledge of Exchange will benefit you when reading this book, I have tried to provide explanations of important concepts and features so that someone with little or no Exchange experience can still understand and therefore benefit from the information presented.
In Chapter 1, youll learn that, although Exchange is a nearly eight-year-old product, Exchange 2003 is anchored in events that took place more than 30 years ago. In addition, youll learn about the history of Exchange itself, how and why it evolved the way it did, and where it is today. Chapter 1 also includes details on the various components that are included with and that comprise Exchange 2003, as well as a brief description of the new features in Exchange 2003.
Chapter 2 outlines all of the various requirements and dependencies for Exchange 2003, including software requirements, hardware requirements, and infrastructure requirements. In addition, it contains best practices for deploying and sizing Exchange 2003 servers, as well as details on free tools you can use to size an Exchange server to fit your specific environment. Chapter 2 also outlines and details client compatibility and selection criteria, enabling you to deploy the Exchange client that best suits your needs.
All of the new and improved features in Exchange 2003 are discussed in Chapter 3. Youll learn how to use the many new free deployment tools available with Exchange and how to use the new features in Exchange System Manager. Chapter 3 also includes details on the security, reliability, and availability enhancements in Exchange 2003 as well as the technologies and protocols available for use by developers who write Exchange-based applications. Because several features available in Exchange 2000 are no longer available in Exchange 2003, Chapter 3 also discusses the missing features and what options are available for replacement technologies and products.
In Chapter 4, youll dive deep into the new Exchange Deployment Tools, which guide you through deploying Exchange in your environment whether or not you are currently running a version of Exchange. In addition, the Internet Mail Wizard, which enables administrators to quickly configure Exchange for Internet messaging, is also discussed in detail in Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 covers administration and management of Exchange 2003, including all of the differences in Exchange System Manager between Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003. It also includes details on the backward compatibility of Exchange System Manager in a mixed Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003 environment. Query-based Distribution Groups, another new feature in Exchange 2003, are also detailed in Chapter 5.
Securing Exchange 2003 and the security issues related to Exchange 2003 are discussed in Chapter 6. Youll learn why Exchange 2003 was designed using a new security-oriented framework developed by Microsoft and how threat modeling was used to ensure that Exchange 2003 is secure by design. In addition, youll learn how to block unwanted e-mail using the enhanced filtering capabilities of Exchange 2003.
Chapter 7 discusses the many improvements to Exchange 2003 that increase its reliability and availability, such as improved memory management, more efficient link state routing, and support for Windows memory tuning startup switches. Clustering is also featured prominently in Chapter 7. You will learn about the improvements to and requirements for Exchange clusters and how to migrate or upgrade from existing Exchange clusters.
Chapter 8 covers backup, restore, and recovery for Exchange 2003, including details on new features in Exchange 2003 that improve these processes over prior versions of Exchange (such as Recovery Storage Groups) and support for the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service. In addition, Chapter 8 details how to implement a dial tone recovery strategy.
In Chapter 9, Exchange clients, such as Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Web Access, are discussed in detail. The new features in Outlook 2003 that enable it to work better with Exchange 2003 are highlighted, as well as the enhancements to Outlook Web Access. Two new features in Exchange 2003—Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange ActiveSync—are also detailed in Chapter 9.
Rounding out this book is Chapter 10, which provides a wide variety of tuning parameters, tips, and tricks that are useful for Exchange organizations of all sizes. Essential details on the deprecated Exchange 2000 tuning parameters are included for Exchange 2000 administrators who have upgraded or are upgrading to Exchange 2003. Chapter 10 also includes details on a wealth of free Exchange resources on the Internet, including Web sites, newsgroups, newsfeeds, and blogs.
At the end of this book I have also included two appendices: Appendix A, which is a list of mobile devices supported by ASP.NET, and Appendix B, which is a list of device emulators supported by ASP.NET.
I really hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. I think youll find this book to be fairly different from your average technical book. I welcome any and all feedback you might have for me, so please dont be shy. You can send all of your feedback directly to me at [email protected].