If you would like to read the other part in this article series please go to Installing Exchange Server 2010 (Beta) (Part 1).
Introduction
In the last article of this series we saw some of the new features added to the Exchange Server 2010 Beta installation process. Since it is a beta product, some features can be added, removed or even changed before the RTM version. In this article we are going over the process of how to install Exchange Server 2010 (beta) in two ways, the setup wizard (GUI) and the command-line.
Required Windows Updates
The best thing to do is to make sure that the server that you are going to install Exchange server on is up-to-date with the latest Microsoft updates. However, because we are using a beta product we need some extra requirements, if you go all the way through the installation process you will receive a list of each Windows Update is required. I got a list of all updates that were required during my installation to save you some time.
-
KB 951725 – An update that extends the mechanism for displaying snap-in context Help topics is available for the MMC in Windows Server 2008
-
KB 951116 – A memory leak occurs in performance counters that are used to monitor Windows Server 2008-based computers
-
KB 953290 – An application may crash when it uses legacy methods to query performance counter values in Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2008
-
KB 950888 – You cannot create multiple RMS Client sessions for one user context on a Windows Vista-based computer
-
KB 952664 – The Event Log service may stop responding because of a deadlock on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer
-
KB 958178 – A Windows Server 2008 update lets you use the RPC redirection (RDR) interface to enable or disable custom load balancing based on server name and port number
In your lab you may have something different to install but the installation process will give you a hint about missing updates and/or required utilities.
Installing Exchange Server 2010 (Beta) through command-line…
If you decide to install Exchange Server 2010 using GUI all Schema, AD and Domain changes will be done automatically, however in a large environment where we have different administrative roles for each component we may need to prepare the schema and domain using different accounts. You will also want to control the replication process. In this kind of scenario the command-line becomes a requirement.
You will notice that we are not installing Exchange Server 2010 in a current environment with legacy exchange servers (Exchange Server 2000/2003). Because of this, we are going to prepare your lab for a pure Exchange Server 2010 environment. These are the steps to prepare our Schema, AD, and domain using command-line:
-
Open Command Prompt and go to the root directory of Exchange Server 2010 installation files.
-
To prepare the Schema, we must have SchemaAdmins permissions, and run the following command: Setup /PrepareSchema, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
-
Time to create the Exchange Organization, we can accomplish that running the following command: Setup /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:<Your-Organization-Name>, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
-
The last step is to prepare the domain. The general rule to follow is to prepare the domain when we will have an Exchange Server or mailbox enabled users in the designated domain. The following command can be used to prepare the current domain: Setup /PrepareDomain, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3
Now that we created the Exchange Organization we can install a server using command line, using the following syntax:
Setup /Mode:Install /Roles:<Possible values are: Mailbox, HubTransport, ClientAccess, UnifiedMessaging, EdgeTransport, and/or ManagementTools>
Installing Exchange Server 2010…
After installing all pre-requisites we can start the installation using the setup wizard. If you are not worried about replication and your account has all required permissions such as SchemaAdmins, with Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups you can run just the GUI setup. During the first deployment, all steps that we have done in the previous section will be executed as part of the first exchange server installation process. Keep in mind that the Organization has already been created in the previous step and we would not see a page asking for the Organization name during the following setup wizard. Here are the steps required to install Exchange Server 2010 using the Setup GUI:
-
Make sure that you are in a lab environment 😉
-
Open Exchange Server 2010 installation source files and double-click on Setup.exe
-
Initial page of Exchange Server 2010 installation (Figure 4) opens. Here, we can install the pre-requisites that we already covered (.NET Framework 3.5, Windows Remote Management 2.0 and PowerShell v2), and our next step will be the Exchange Server 2010 installation. Let’s click on Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange.
Figure 4
-
Introduction page – A welcome page talking about Exchange Server 2010, click on Next.
-
Language File Locations page – We are going to use the English language, just accept default settings and click Next.
-
Language Pack Confirmation page – We have not chosen any language, click on Next.
-
License Agreement page – In order to install Exchange Server 2010 the License Agreement must be accepted. If you are okay with the license agreement click on I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next.
-
Error Reporting page – If you want the Microsoft Exchange team to send automatically generated error reports through HTTPS, click on Yes and then click Next.
-
Installation Type page – Like Exchange Server 2007 we have a decision to make: Typical installation which includes CAS/HUB and Mailbox, or Custom Exchange Server Installation where we can select which role(s) will be installed. Let us click on Custom Exchange Server Installation and click on Next (Figure 5).
Note:
We can also define where the Exchange Server installation files will be located, in this beta version, the default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14
Figure 5
-
Server Role Selection page – As we saw in the first article, we do not have the Active/Passive Clustered Mailbox Server role in the selection. Just to answer a few questions that may arise on this screen regarding the CAS/HUB in a mailbox cluster, the answer is yes, we can have the three roles installed on the same server and also have High availability through DAG (Database Availability Group) feature. After selecting the desired roles, click on Next (Figure 06).
Figure 6
-
Client Settings page – If you still have Outlook 2003 or Entourage clients (clients that use Public Folders), click on Yes and click on Next.
Note:
If you select “yes”, the Public Folder database will be created during the installation. If you select “No” and you want to enable support for Outlook 2003 and Entourage afterwards, you can easily create a Public Folder and associate it to the mailbox stores. -
Customer Experience Improvement Program – We can include our Exchange organization in the customer experience improvement program, Microsoft will collect information on how your Exchange Server 2010 servers are being used and it will help improve the product features. You can select an industry that best represents your company. When this is done, click on Next. (Figure 7).
Note:
This option can be enabled/disabled using Exchange Management Console afterwards.
Figure 7
-
Readiness Checks page – If you have forgotten any operating system requirement or any hotfix that should be applied, this is the page that is going to show you what you have to do in order to complete the pre-requisite installation before installing the actual product. As soon as you have all selected roles “green” you will be good to go. Installation will commence when Install is clicked (Figure 8).
Figure 8
-
Completion page – We can check all roles that have been installed on this machine, and we can see that the first item was Organization Preparation where the domain/forest was prepared during the setup to support Exchange Server 2010 (Figure 9).
Figure 9
Exchange Server 2010 has now been successfully installed and we now have tons of new features to test. Let us go over to the Exchange Management Console and look at: Organization, Server and Recipient information using a new feature of Exchange Server 2010.
The first difference that you may notice is when you open the Exchange Management Console is an extra item in the Microsoft Exchange and Organization Configuration. This new item is called Microsoft Exchange On-Premises. Here you will find series of articles on what this feature is about. In order to cut a long story short, the Microsoft Exchange On-Premises is a tool that will manage mailboxes in the Microsoft Online Services and other forests. For now, let us click on the Microsoft Exchange On-Premises item and click on the Gather Organization Information item located in the Toolbox Actions. In the Collect Organizational Health Data wizard, leave the default settings and click on Next (Figure 10). In the following page, click Gather, and then Finish.
Figure 10
We can now click on the Finalize Deployment tab. Here, we will be able to see a summary of our Organization, Servers and Recipients, as show in Figure 11. For each section there is a link to redirect us to the right place in the menu on the left. So, with just a few clicks you can see data from your entire organization in a single view.
Figure 11
Moving on, we will now click on Post-Installation Tasks tab and we will see three links that will open an Internet page at Microsoft.com with best practices for deployment finalization, end-to-end scenario tasks and additional post installation tasks.
Now, let us click on the last tab which is Community and Feedback (Figure 12). Here we will be able to see the recent posts on MSExchange Team blog and articles on Microsoft TechNet. We can configure the Customer experience Improvement Program where we can assign which servers from our organization are going to join the Customer Experience Improvement program.
Figure 12
Conclusion
In this second article we went through the process in order to prepare an Exchange Organization through the command-line and a server installation using the graphical setup.
If you would like to read the other part in this article series please go to Installing Exchange Server 2010 (Beta) (Part 1).
