The lab will consist of multiple Windows 2008 R2 servers:

• srv1, a domain controller and dns server
• srv2, an Exchange 2010 MB/HT/MT server
• srv3, an Exchange 2010 CAS server

The client will be my temporary laptop, with Windows 7 and Outlook 2010 beta. Also, to test OWA, I will be using FF 3.5 and IE 8. All VM’s will be created with 1GB RAM and 2x 40GB thin disks. I will not be installing the UM role anywhere, although I may install a third Exchange server as ET later on. For now, a minimal deployment is enough for studying. I also plan to configure and test the new DAG feature which no doubt will appear on the beta exam, but will install the extra MB role later and use the DC as witness.

Note: I disabled IPv6 on all servers because I couldn’t get it to work in any way with it enabled. Here’s the Microsoft how-to:

• In the Network Connections folder, obtain properties on all of your connections and adapters and clear the check box next to the Internet Protocol version 6 (TCP/IPv6) component in the list under This connection uses the following items.
  This method disables IPv6 on your LAN interfaces and connections, but does not disable IPv6 on tunnel interfaces or the IPv6 loopback interface.
• Add the following registry value (DWORD type) set to 0xFFFFFFFF:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\DisabledComponents
  This method disables IPv6 on all your LAN interfaces, connections, and tunnel interfaces but does not disable the IPv6 loopback interface. You must restart the computer for this registry value to take effect.

Right, now on to the setup.

srv1

First up is the domain controller for the test environment. I won’t detail the installation of Windows Server 2008 R2, because that is just Next Next Finish mainly. After installation I setup the server to host the vzen.local domain. Pretty basic stuff really, left everything in the default setting although I did set it to Windows 2008 R2 mode. So maybe I will do a post on recovering deleted AD items sometime in the future.

srv2

Next up was srv2. This will be the main Exchange server, running the HT, MB and MT roles. For this, several prerequisites will need to be installed. For instructional purposes, I used several different tools to install them. You an choose whichever you like best.

1. .Net framework 3.5 SP1
   I installed the .NET Framework 3.1 feature using the Server manager GUI.
2. Powershell 2.0
   This was easy. Powershell 2.0 is already installed with 2008 R2
3. RSAT-ADDS
   Depending on your setup process, you will need the RSAT-ADDS tools to update the AD schema.  If you install Exchange 2010 on a DC (not recommended of course) or run the setup schema preps on the AD schema master, they are not required but they are quite useful nonetheless. I installed the RSAT tools with the appropriate Powershell cmdlet (Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS). However, make sure you start Powershell from the startmenu so it loads with all the modules, otherwise it won’t work.
4. 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack
   Get that here. Install and move on.
5. IIS
   Exchange requires IIS for various functions. You can install the relevant role services with ServerManagerCmd or Powershell. I decided to use the precooked xml files that can be found in the scripts folder:
   servermanagercmd -ip exchange-hub.xml and servermanagercmd -ip exchange-mbx.xml
   These include the prereqs for the MT role, which are the Web-Metabase and Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console services for IIS. There is no script specifically for the MT role. They also include the previously installed .Net Framework btw.

Installation can now commence. After having selected the DVD languages only Setup was started with the GUI. Installation was of the Custom kind, and to a different folder. I always install the applications on another disk (or at least partition) than the OS. After selecting the MB/HT/MT roles, I accepted the default First Organization name. Since I have no old clients, I did not install a public folder database from setup. I will probably still create one when testing though.Next up is the CEIP. Hoping the next version will be even better and include the stuff I like, I decided to participate After that, Exchange does the prerequisite checks. Because I already installed everything, this was just peachy. Just 2 warnings about the schema updates and there being no CAS server. Both can be ignored, and the installation starts.

After a long wait (just under 10 minutes actually) setup finishes, and the first Exchange 2010 server is a fact. On to server no. 3.

srv3

The third server is just a CAS server for now. Installation is much the same as srv2, but using the exchange-cas.xml script this time. Also, you have to change the start type of the Net.Tcp Port Sharing service to Automatic. After the reboot, setup was run from the cli with setup.exe /r:c. This installs the CAS role, the MT and the languages. It does require a reboot though:

Conclusion

The above text shows how to install Exchange 2010 into a new and pristine Server 2008 R2 environment, using most of the tools and methods available in Windows 2008 R2. You can use whichever you prefer, but it shows there’s more than 1 way to do things. Please note that ServerManagerCmd is apparently deprecated in 2008 R2, so you’d probably do well to use either the GUI or the Powershell.

The configuration and use of Exchange 2010 will be the subject of later posts. I will also discuss new features then, and if I have time left maybe an upgrade/transition scenario with Exchange 2007 SP2. Stay tuned!

Luckily though, reading the book is no punishment at all. The book is very well written, concise, exhaustive and full of tips and real world examples. After reading it all the way to the end, i can tell you that despite being full of technical procedures and numbers, the book somehow keeps it all light and interesting; and keeps your focused on the details as well as the grand picture. It also features items such as VCDR, vShield Zones and VMsafe as well as a chapter on automation. This last chapter though is more of a teaser to get you into things; it does a nice job of showing what can be done without showing you everything (which is way too much and could fill a book by itself probably).

Also, it follows the objectives for the VCP410 exam very nicely and is therefore a must read if you are preparing for this exam. When used together with a nice lab environment to put things to the test, you will most definitely pass said exam. Just don’t forget to read the maximums document shortly before the exam so you know the vSphere numbers. A few questions on those will definitely show up. And also you will want to read Forbes Guthrie’s excellent vShpere Notes document (available here).

Well, bottom line is I took the VCP410 on Monday exam and passed! So now I’m a vSphere 4 VCP as well as VI3. Scott Lowe: thank you

You can order the book via Amazon.

Database Availability Groups

If you have installed multiple Exchange 2010 servers, you can easily create Database Availability Groups. These are simply collections of 2 or more mailbox database copies, providing HA by using log shipping to maintain 2 identical versions of a database. This is possible because in Exchange 2010, each database is provided with a personal set of log files, measuring 1MB each. When a MB server or database fails, the CAS will automatically fail over to another server containing a copy. You can create up to 16 copies of a single database, across 16 different Exchange servers, and databases can be replicated independently of each other, meaning that if you have a server with 2 databases, both can be replicated to a different MB server, and a server can contain copies from multiple other MB servers. The maximum number of databases on any Exchange server is still limited to 50 though.

Please note: server failover is not yet supported in the RC version of Exchange 2010.

When using DAG’s it’s important to know that a database name must be unique within the DAG. It is therefore advisable to uniquely name each database in the entire Exchange Organization. Also, the folder paths to the database need to be identical as well. So you do have to have a procedure in place to ensure a consistent Exchange Server installation across multiple servers.

Also note that a DAG only works for mailbox databases. In order to protect public folders you are still limited to public folder replication such as has been available since Exchange 2000.

Another feature of a DAG is the ability to delay log file replay on copies (also called replay lag time). This way, you can prevent things happening on your copy for minutes, hours, or even up to 14 days compared to the active database. So if something happens that corrupts, deletes or otherwise damages your data, you can fallback to the copy database. There, you could then replay log files to a specific point in time, and then use that database as the new active database by copying it to the active server or promoting the copy database. Of course recovery time greatly depends on the lag time settings, the disk subsystem and usage intensity of the database.

The main advantage of DAG’s, in my view, is the ease of use and installation. Because Exchange 2010 does it all for you without the administrator having to setup a cluster up front. Previously, you had to uninstall Exchange, create the cluster and reinstall exchange if you suddenly decided to cluster your mailbox servers. Now, you can add extra database copies on the fly, regardless of the other Exchange roles installed on the server. Obviously you will need the MB role, but you can host a DAG on a server holding other roles as well. Possible scenario’s for a DAG include using copies as backup, creating traditional backups from copies, and using copies for hot standby. Of course, you will need extra space to host everything twice (or maybe even more), and preferably in separate datacenters (note: intersite links need a latency of <250ms). And it is still no protection against database corruption (except when using replay lag time possibly), so i think a traditional backup is still required to offer adequate recovery capabilities, but they definitely enhance the options an administrator has in case of a disaster. And that is never a bad thing.

You can find it here. Installation over existing configurations is no problem, although you will need the Report Viewer 2008 in order to view reports. A reboot  is required after the installation, and you will have to walk through the initial configuration again, but luckily the earlier configuration is still in place.

And oh, Microsoft has changed the name of the administrative tool. It’s no longer Microsoft Windows Update Services 3.0, it is now found under the name Windows Update Services 3.0. To make it easier or something… Also, don’t forget to update he management station if you have one.

Over on the Directory Services Team blog, Ned “what’ll it be this time” Pyle has posted a rather exhaustive article on the workings and use of the new Recycle Bin function. I guess that saves me the trouble of much less detailed post.

My environment consists of a mixture of physical and virtual machines. The DC’s are physical machines, whereas the rest (including an Exchange 2007 MB/HT and an Exchange 2007 CAS server) is a VM hosted on VMware Workstation 6.5.1.

The first thing worth noting is that to install SP2, you need the Windows Installer 4.5. This does however require a reboot of the system, whereas the actual SP2 installation doesn’t. Not that it matters that much, considering that the SP installation shuts down most of the Exchange services, and thus effectively rendering email unusable anyway. You will need a maintenance window of at least 1 hour to upgrade the server, and more if you have the roles divided among multiple servers.

After the installation of the Installer update I installed the service pack itself. It is best to disable any antivirus software and backup agents first, but in my case there was no need to (i.e.. i have no such software running at home). The update was rather uneventful, except for the point where I accidentally rebooted the Schema Master server while setup was processing the schema updates. Oops…
Luckily i was able to resume installation after replicating the AD partitions between my 2 domain controllers. I then ran setup from the command prompt on the Schema Master for the schema updates to make sure I wouldn’t have any other problems.
After that is reran the setup on the Exchange VM and installed the sp in about 30 minutes total.

Lastly i upgraded the CAS VM, this time requiring about 20 minutes.

In conclusion: the installation of sp2 is not very difficult; repeatedly clicking next will usually get the job done.

Get Exchange Service Pack 2 here, and to see the Release Notes go here.