If you are wanting to install Exchange 2010 server from command line here is nice and easy steps for you to get the work done.

Environment:

• Single Forest & Single Domain
• Windows 2008 R2 ( domain Joined )

Log into Exchange server ( candidate) open PowerShell with administrator privileges

Step#1

Step#2

Open PS drill down to E210 install binaries ( this is either in the cd-room drive or in the folder, depending on your setup, in my case the install CD is inserted in CD room D:

From this directory move into scripts folder directory, this is inside the install CD

*** Ignore server manager depreciated etc.*** Note –restart will restart the server after install and server needs to have internet access for downloading files.

After server reboots and you get back on it open CMD on the server with administrator privileges

Now let me break this down for you guys

This is basic setup it install , hub, cas , Mailbox Server roles and Exchange tools on the server but since we did not specify WHERE to install it will use the default directories where you running the command from ( most likely it will get installed on C drive of the server)

Now We are telling setup do not use the defaults install Exchange in E drive ( I have dedicated disk and labeled as E in my scenario, it will use above path

This is telling setup to install Database file in E drive and name as DB1.edb

This is telling setup put logs for DB1 into E drive under specified directory

Finally this is telling setup to use this Org name since this is first install

If you are installing into existing environment you have to use this switch

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997281(v=exchg.141).aspx

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

will configure our laptop to run “LAB” environment and install Exchange 15 on it. The task will require Laptop with Windows 8 operation system and obviously decent CPU and memory , I have 8 GIG in my laptop and using build in Hyper-V.

• Install windows 2012 Server ( To be domain controller )
• Promote Windows 2012 to be first DC in the LAB forest/Domain
• Install Windows 2012 , join to LAB Forest/Domain as member server
• Install E15
• Install Windows 2008 Host machine to be client PC

The end goal is to connect host PC ( windows 8 in my case ) to VM host Server running on Hyper-V . Once I am able to establish TCP/IP communication I will use RDP from my host PC to connect to my Virtual hosts ( Windows 2012 etc.)

• Physical Host node ( Laptop)
• Virtual Guest node ( VM hosts )

STEP#1 Enable Hyper-V on Physical Host node

If you have not installed Hyper-V future yet go ahead and do it , Open PS and type control

• From control panel , turn Windows features on or off , tick the box says "hyper-V"

Step#2 – Create Internal Switch on Hyper-V Management console

• Open host PC , double click on Hyper-V management console

• Now we will Click on
• Virtual Switch manager

• Select "Internal"
• Click on "Create Virtual Switch"

Give it a name, I am using "internal Network Switch" here to make bit more sense and clear for those who might get confuse.

Remember the end goal is to have Physical host ( laptop) to put into same network as the Virtual guest so they can communicate as long as they have IP addresses from same network and connected to VM Switch.  (-:

Step#3 – Configure the NIC on the host machine ( Physical)

Now if you go to Network connections window on the host PC you will see this adapter "vEthernet (Internal Switch ) " you can re-name this if you like , remember this is the NIC connected to Hyper-V virtual Switch

Now we will configure Static IP on the Virtual NIC which is connected to Virtual Internal Switch in the Hyper-V

Configure Static IP Address on the Virtual NIC presented to physical host

Un-tick register this connection in DNS in advance settings

IP: 192.168.1.101 /24

Step#4 – Add a NIC on the Virtual guest machine and configure it

Now in my case I already have NIC configured for the Vm Host and I will add second NIC to communicate with Host PC NIC by using Hyper-V switch we have created earlier.

I will use fallowing Internal IP

IP: 192.168.1.100 /24

Step#5 Test the configuration and RDP Access

Ping from Host to client

Make sure RDP is allowed on the VM Host PC and try to access it and have fun with your LAB.

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

This has been a long waiting and finally here is the official calculator for Exchange 2013. Thanks for all the hard work put into getting the calculator done, for sure it is a “must” tool we could not leave without …..

Read more on Exchange team blog

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/05/14/released-exchange-2013-server-role-requirements-calculator.aspx

Some of the highlights with the calculator

• Exchange team Multi Role deployment & recommendation continues , considering remaining less server roles, this is expected and makes the most sense IMO.
• Virtualization of Exchange 2013 does it make sense ?
• Considering huge increase on the CPU and Memory requirements ( in trade the less 33% IOPS compared to Exchange 2010 , it does not make sense , utilizing hardware and investing into DAG model as far as redundancy goes makes more sense. Simply if we are not able to configure more then two hosts on the virtual hosting server,  the idea of implementing Exchange 2013 becomes obsolete and waste.
• When deploying dedicated server roles, the calculator will recommend the minimum number of Client Access processor cores and memory per server.

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Here is general guidelines along with MS best practices how to configure NIC card settings when setting up Exchange 2010 DAG servers. Use this as reference for your deployments.

Exchange 2010–Mailbox DAG Network configurations for the purpose of this document we will call

• NIC1= Production (it has DGW configured)
• NIC2=Replication (it does not have DGW, Use NetSH to configure static persistent route)

NIC Binding order = Production NIC is listed first, Replication NIC is second other NIC if available in any order….

Replication NIC Card (Private network)

• · NIC BINDINGS
• · Go to Network Connections
• · Advance
• · Advance Settings
• · Make sure the replication NIC is listed on TOP

DGW = 10.80.3.1 in this example

To delete any static route

See the Static route

Reset the Interface ( very powerful)

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

It has been long time many of us have been waiting for E13 Calculator to design upcoming  messaging deployments and and finally here are the guidelines which will be feed into Official Exchange 2013 when it is available.

I am sure after reading the guidelines your head will spin up (-: you will quickly realize how much we have spoiled to given actual E210 calculator which does all these complicated calculation for us. IMO the calculator is the bible of design and sizing , not fallowing the output or the guidelines will lead to failure in the design.

I like to highlight some of the calculation details here and let you read the read rom Exchange team blog.

First of the most whatever you do you have to consider seriously Jet stressing your predicted design to make sure what is the actual IOPS etc. At the end of the day if the required IOPS are not there , failure will occur , same goes the required amount of memory and CPU per server.

Remember  you have to decide Scale up or Scale out

scaling up (deploying fewer larger servers) and scaling out (deploying a larger number of smaller servers)

The idea behind E15 is simplicity as it was in E2010 , so combining stateless ( CAS ) role MBX not only will make servers counts less to be deployed but also will produce more servers for available services.

• Large IOPS deduction in E15 , where did it came from , the short answer is the trade More memory and CPU resource.
• Exchange 2013 high checkpoint depth on the passive copy = 100MB
• IOPS for a passive copy is about 50 percent of the active copy IOPS in Exchange 2013.
• Exchange server ESE catch plays large part in the reduction of IOPS , in trade off to actual memory, new content indexing , Exchange services also are other tenants.

Turn off CPU Hyperthreading there are potential issues if enabled,

“While modern implementations of simultaneous multithreading (SMT), also known as hyperthreading, can absolutely improve CPU throughput for most applications, the benefits to Exchange 2013 do not outweigh the negative impacts. “

lets keep our fingers crossed Exchange team will make store calculator ready for us in near time, and lets remember their hard work and give them credits they deserve for making our lives easy.

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

If you are using internal non routable FQDN names such as Server1.smtp25.local, server2.smto25.local, etc.  with in your certificate they are set to be “ not trusted” after November 1 2015.  It means you have to abandon them from your certificate. If you have these none routable internal FQDN;s within your current certificate you may wish to look into how to get them out before November1, 2015.

See more

After November1, 2015 Certificates for Internal Names Will No Longer Be Trusted

In November 2011, the CA/Browser Forum (CA/B) adopted Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and Management of Publicly-Trusted Certificates that took effect on July 1, 2012. These requirements state:

“As of the Effective Date of these Requirements, prior to the issuance of a Certificate with a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension or Subject Common Name field containing a Reserved IP Address or Internal Server Name, the CA shall notify the Applicant that the use of such Certificates has been deprecated by the CA / Browser Forum and that the practice will be eliminated by October 2016. Also as of the Effective Date, the CA shall not issue a certificate with an Expiry Date later than 1 November 2015 with a SAN or Subject Common Name field containing a Reserved IP Address or Internal Server Name. As from 1 October 2016, CAs shall revoke all unexpired Certificates.”

https://www.cabforum.org/

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

If you are unable to remove such database or in the process of trying to remove the Exchange 2013 server and receiving fallowing errors take a quick look how to deal with “Arbitration mailboxes?

See the steps listed below.

to see  the Arbitration mailboxes ,

Copy and paste the name of the A_MB into fallowing PS and confirm the deletion until you get rid of all

Finally,

Remove an Arbitration Mailbox

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298110(v=exchg.150).aspx

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Here is the link and list of stuff you need to know before kicking off CU1 on Exchange 2013 servers. Nothing is major at first look,  the order to install updates has changed, since the business logic moved into MBX role this time we start from MBX role and go to CAS server,  if CAS is sitting on separate server in your environment.

I think most of deployments in E13 will be all in one and separation will less or not make much sense when rolling the dices.

• Upgrade your Exchange 2013 server roles in the required order. First, upgrade Mailbox servers and then upgrade Client Access servers.
• After you install a cumulative update, you must restart the computer so that changes can be made to the registry and operating system.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj983803(v=exchg.150).aspx

Open CMD with administrator privileges on the E13 MBX server

run the fallowing command from CU1 binaries directory, the install will take time.

CU1

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj983803(v=exchg.150).aspx

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

If you are managing Office 365 Exchange hosted mail systems and wish to connect to PS from your PC here are simple steps to get the work done. The remote PowerShell will provide you real easy way to manage your SMTP organization.

In this Example:

Office 365 SMTP domain we will connect too is @messagetalk.onmicrosoft.com and I am going to use my User name which has administrator privileges, odedeal@l@messagetalk.onmicrosoft.com

From administrator PS

• Open PS with Administrator privileges

• Run fallowing command ( don’t make any changes ) copy and paste into PS window.

• Next run this PS

Now we are connected we can see our mailboxes etc.

If we look from GUI we have same users , we can use GUI to manage these users now as well as PS from our management PC

Once we are done we can close the PS session with fallowing PS command

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

If you like to create test mailboxes in your lab environment with Exchange 2010 here is real simple way to accomplish the task.

This PS will create users called HR , it will place them on random database see the video, if you like to change the name and number of mailboxes you need to adjust few things.

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog

We will configure Static port assignment for Exchange 2010 environment , in this example all Messaging Servers are SP1 running on Win2008 R2 and up. Static port assignment is recommended on most of the HLB deployments otherwise default behavior random ports may cause inconvenience  or may make the troubleshooting more difficult. Remember in Exchange 2013 RPC is no longer running over TCP/135 it is wrapped into HTTP packets we will get back to this and capture some of the Netstat statistic later on.

CAS SERVER & SERVERS (***RPC Client Access Service ***)

Open Register editor and drill down to below register key

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• SYSTEM
• CurrentControlSet
• Services
• MSExchangeRPC

***TCP/IP Port = 60300 ***

Create a new key named ParametersSystem & Under this KEY-> Create a REG_DWORD named TCP/IP Port

***MS Recommendation is to  set the port number in between  59531 and 60554 and use the same port  on all CAS Servers. I have chosen fallowing port numbers for each corresponding services,  change them as you wish to fit into your own preference***

***Re-Start Manages client RPC connections for Exchange Service on CAS Server***

CAS SERVER & SERVERS (***Exchange 2010 Address Book Service***)

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• SYSTEM
• CurrentControlSet
• Services
• MSExchangeAB

***RpcTcpPort =60301***

Create a new String Value called  “RpcTcpPort”  Data Value 60301

***Re-Start Microsoft Exchange Address Book Service on the CAS Server*

Exchange 2010 Public Folder Connections ( on the MBX Server & Servers )

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• SYSTEM
• CurrentControlSet
• Services
• MSExchangeRPC

Create a new key named ParametersSystem & Under this KEY-> Create a REG_DWORD named TCP/IP Port

TCP/IP Port = 60300

Here are the .reg files you can download them and run them on your CAS and MBX servers ( windows 2008 R2)

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=1C8A0DB5C88AB3D2!2369

HOW TO VERIFY STATIC PORT ASSIGNMENT

CAS SERVER

MBX SERVER

MAPI CLIENT ( outlook user workstation)

Script to configure ports

http://blogs.technet.com/b/bshukla/archive/2011/10/21/script-to-configure-static-ports-on-exchange-server-2010.aspx

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog

If you got your hands on to windows 2012 Servers and first things you will notice “DCPromo” wont work anymore (-: , so long we got used to “DCPromo” and not it has been taken away.

IF you are admin type wont like GUI and like to get things done via command line , like me you will have heart broken, perhaps you will be happy (-:, sort story let’s get the simple promoting Server to be a additional domain controller in existing Forest/Domain. Most of the general knowledge is the same, we still have NTDS folder and .DIT database and edb.chk file, with logs.

I like to add the Server to Forest/Domain before promoting them to be DC/GC/DNS etc., it is an old habit, I like the server to add A record, PTR record ( if RDNS Zone exist) reboot the server and log into domain and do the domain controller promotion from there.

after login to Server and point the server to existing DNS server run the fallowing command from PS

If you need to add windows services……

After you log in if you like to go to your C drive to verify the database etc. and having hard time to navigate in windows 2012 server (-: , just open PS and you can do everything and more from there, simply you can type “Explorer” hit enter, to get to GUI (-: or just type

Ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh472162.aspx

As you can see working from and with PS is fun once you start figuring these simple shortcuts you will love windows 2012 and working with PS

Best

ocd

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Finally SP3 for exchange 2010 has been released. The release notes for Sp3 also can be found here

Here are some highlights, it has been a long wait and I am sure many people will be very happy to see E210 Sp3 availability for download

• Exchange 2013 Coexistence support
• Sent Items Management feature
• Windows Server 2012

Have fun with SP3

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

This is one of the most frequent asked topic, and misunderstood concept in my opinion. When it comes to design and giving decisions on how to architect your environment , you need to realize the

IOPS you will get from your active and passive DB copy in Exchange 201 are the same ( almost). The misconception is the passive DB should not be required such IOPS as no user activity is expected on the passive copy and this assumption turns out not to be true. Perhaps the very aggressive pre-reading Exchanged 2010 does to maintain the passive DB integrity and low check point for fast fail over design in Exchange 2010 architecture contributes the “fact”.

In Exchange 2013 where does this falls into ? the passive copy IOPS are reduced %50 percent, Exchange 2013 is offering huge IOPS reduction over Exchange 2010. The aggressive pre-reading is no longer being done within the passive copy, due to changes have been done to ESE logging.

Exchange 2013 is looking real promising, Although the product is not fully ready IMO , “yet” once pieces put together and given little time I am pretty sure it will offer some compelling business reasons to move into Exchange 2013 version.

Resource

http://blogs.technet.com/b/scottschnoll/archive/2012/09/19/storage-high-availability-and-site-resilience-in-exchange-server-2013-part-1.aspx

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

If you have installed E2013 on windows 2012 and wondering how to open EAC ( Exchange Admin console) here is small PS will help you quickly to accomplish the mission.

See my previous post in regards to EAC

http://smtp25.blogspot.com/2012/11/exchange-administration-center-eac_26.html

Now below simple script will open ECP 14 and ECP 15 as well as MSexchange Team website, you can configure the URL as you wish

Download the script

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

I have asked recently this question , one of our costumer wanted to know what the CAS server limitations were in Exchange 2010. As the questions sounds broad to be more specific the client wanted to know how many  OWA users could continue to use the services if worst happens , in the scenario we end up losing such number of CAS 2010 Servers. Good question to be honest and here is pretty much all you need to know to get the bottom of this question.

First of all in the scenario of giving design decision, what makes the most sense? how many servers do we need for giving scenario ? Million thanks to Exchange team,  use the Calculator, it will tell you what you need and most of the leg work is being done by the calculator itself.

Calculator

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2009/11/09/3408737.aspx

Now, should you be combining roles or not? It all depends in general , as good practice the simpler design is the “Best one” keep this in mind. So this being said, most engineers have been combining at least HTS/CAS roles anyways.

Should combine MBX role as well? the answer is depends and depends but same rule applies, “ keep it simple” it really is not a brainer, if you are going to architect messaging solution for 100K users , ask yourself how may DAGS you will need ? Take a look at business model (how they are operation in current) and its logical segregation use that to align your design solution and remember the DG boundaries are 16 Servers.

Now you are going to deploy 2 DAGs and each DAG will have 10 Servers in total you end up having 20 MBX Servers. Remember the Exchange calculator will do the hard work for you and how many combined roles servers (HTS & CAS ) you would need ? to accommodate this design ? The answer is going to be , 1 to 1 ratio ( simple isn’t it ) so

E2013 Data Loss Prevention Steve Chew

Option 1 = 60 Servers

Option 2 = 40 Servers

Option 3 = 20 Server

Now remember the golden rule keep it simple, the “simple deployment” is the best one so use your logic and common sense to decide which one of these makes the most sense? You have to evaluate your own specific requirements as this fluctuates per given scenario and costumer.

Same story goes for choosing the platform, should we take advantage from virtualization technologies or deploy hardware solutions? I personally favor the virtualization deployments fir reasons I have talked about on my previous blog post.

Exchange 2010 Virtualization and Combining Server Roles?

http://smtp25.blogspot.com/2013/01/exchange-2010-virtualization-and.html

Finally Exchange 2010 CAS limits? How many OWA connections a single E 2010 CAS server can support up to? In the scenario the E 2010 CAS Server is running on top of Windows 2008 R2? The issue we will talk about is not the application limitations but remember there is no application called “limitless” there will be a point when things won’t work the way they should be. (Response time, Client end user experience etc.)

Plan your server provisioning steps and document is incase “bad” happens, this way you will know how long it will take to bring another CAS server into existing CAS ARRAY , remember once the infrastructure is set correctly adding CAS servers into existing CAS pool behind the HLB is simple work and it should be seamless to your end-users. Plan your Change control process, procurement etc. (this is why Virtual infrastructure makes a lot of sense, easy and fast server deployment.)

Each Client connection is made up of source IP Address, Source Port & Destination IP and destination port (The TCP/IP basic) as long as CAS Server does have additional IP Address , the CAS server can scale 60K outbound connections per source IP address

A CAS server is not limited to 60000 TCP connections. It is limited to 60000 unique combinations of source IP, source port, destination IP, and destination port for each IP defined on the CAS server.

This means that a CAS server with a single IP address can support more than 60000 TCP connections at the least. Remember there will be CPU and Memory issues when so many connections start hitting the single CAS Server, and this is exactly why you need to plan your infrastructure and make sure in a bad scenario the services are going to be provided to end users.

Resources

Calculator

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2009/11/09/3408737.aspx

Exchange Scale Limitations Spreadsheet

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/Exchange-Scale-Limitations-34306f77

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

One of the most frequent asked question around design and deployment scenarios , should business go for virtualization when it comes to deploying Exchange 2010 and newest versions. This has almost be the hot topic to be honest and I wanted to highlight some of the bullet point to help for those who need to give the similar decisions on your deployment project.

Before we deep dive into Virtualization we need to be clear about combined roles in Exchange 2010 deployment and talk about it how much it make sense ?

Another significant difference in between Exchange 2010 and 2013 is the simplicity, and doing things in easy and more efficient way. The server roles reduction in Exchange 2013 is one of the example, so let's take a quick look server roles so we do understand and give better decision on combining server roles.

Reduced Server Roles

I am personally favoring to go for Virtualization when it is possible and makes sense for the business and here are some of the compelling reasons why I think the Virtualization is the way to go.

The Exchange server application is more and more focusing about the idea of simplicity, getting things done in simple way while providing better services and of course this statement will expand from server perspective to end user experience.

Virtualization Benefits ( Exchange 2010 and 2013)

• Reduced server hardware costs
• Power and space saving
• Improved server utilization
• Fast Server provisioning
• Under-utilized hardware, and can reduce hardware and maintenance costs
• Virtualization provides organizations additional choice and deployment flexibility to meet business requirements and lower IT costs and complexity
• Combining Roles does it make sense?

The answer IMO to this is real short and yes, if you ever design any environment you will quickly see the reduction on the server numbers once they are combined, Remember the most reason ratio for CAS and MBX server, one to one. So if you have 10MBX Server you will need 10 CAS Servers and most probably you will combine CAS & HTS Servers , this is what most people have been doing since Exchange 2007.

Now imagine if you combine HTS, CAS and MBX roles the server count in the same example reduces 50 percent and this is why I am all for combining roles which makes the most sense.

Microsoft Official Stand for Virtualization

Does Microsoft support combining roles and Virtualizing Exchange 2010 servers ? The answer is yes , see below official support statement from MSExchange Team.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/05/16/announcing-enhanced-hardware-virtualization-support-for-exchange-2010.aspx

• Hypervisor-based clustering, high availability, or migration solutions that will move or automatically failover mailbox servers that are members of a DAG between clustered root servers, is now supported.
• The Unified Messaging server role is supported in a virtualized environment.
• Combining Exchange 2010 high availability solutions (database availability groups (DAGs)) with hypervisor-based clustering, high availability, or migration solutions that will move or automatically failover mailbox servers that are members of a DAG between clustered root servers, is now supported.

When Exchange Server roles are combined there will be additional administrative overhead managing Exchange Servers and also few things to take into considerations

• HUB transport Server and mail submission Service default behavior
• DAG implementation, FSW Consideration in DAG
• Multi Role deployment Server patching overhead and recommendations

Here is more comprehensive Information.

• Robert’s Rules of Exchange: Multi-Role Servers
• Patching Multirole Servers

Conclusion: As you can see from this short post , there are good enough reasons, why to start with multi role deployment and take advantage of Virtualization technologies when deploying Exchange 2010 and 2013 versions.Remember the more simple design is the “best” design in most of the cases. Exchange 2013 has many futures simplifies such deployment and brings on a table huge IOPS reduction.

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

EAC is web-based management console in Exchange 2013 which is replaced EMC in Exchange 2010.  The MMC base console used to be slow when it loads and new business logic in Exchange 2013 forced to have new EAC in my opinion. Most of us,  most often appreciate new futures and try to adapt them as quick as possible. When certain things are done in certain way over years and people get used to it, it could be bit disappointment to some of you out there to see brad new management interface.

So my recommendation is, forget about GUI if you are going to stay in Exchange Server business (-: , learn and use PowerShell and who knows next version we might not even get EAC (-: , pure PS to manage next generation of Exchange Server.

To get to EAC this is what you have to insert into your browser ( from your CAS Server or replace the local host with CAS Server FQDN or IP Address)

Now this will give you EAC

If you are in Co-existence with Exchange 2010 , same URL wont work for you , so need to use this one

ECP= Exchange 2013

ECP= Exchange 2010

Now if you miss old console and keep cursing things as you get used to EMC here is a nice trick might be able to lessen your pain (-: , yehh I hear you….

Create custom MMC , see the video , I have also added ADUC and ADSIEDIT into my console. I wish at the least MMC console was bit more flexible to do more with it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj150562.aspx

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

Installing Server 2012 is pretty fast and easy, what may people will be finding pretty impressive the new Metro interface.

Metro-styled Control Panel is the new era for windows, and it may strike you as it does not look like any other versions of windows you may have known.

Now here are few recommendations to get you going, get familiar with managing Windows from command line

PS is your friend , to be honest if you have not skill in command line and you are in this line of work you better get the basic down. Upcoming versions of windows and applications such as Exchange is more command line less GUI integrated.

I will show you some of the simple , basic stuff you can use to get started,

Open PS,,,,,,,,,,

You can open most of the GUI you used to have from PS

Go to Control panel type control hit enter

From PS type Start PowerShell to invoke another window ( very handy)

Use server manager to Add remove roles to your server,

DCPromo wont work from command line )-:

As you can quickly realize basic is still there , if you have promoted server to be domain controller in the past you should not have any hard time to hang up on new interface and to be honest , it looks pretty neat and useful competed to previous versions GUI presentation.

• What is new in Server 2012
• Install and Deploy Windows Server 2012
• Migrate Roles and Features to Windows Server 2012
• Secure Windows Server 2012
• Server Roles and Technologies in Windows Server 2012
• Management and Tools for Windows Server 2012
• Command-Line Reference for Windows Server 2012
• Windows PowerShell Support for Windows Server 2012

Respectfully,
Oz Casey, Dedeal ( MVP north America)
MCITP (EMA), MCITP (SA)
MCSE 2003, M+, S+, MCDST
Security+, Project +, Server +
http://smtp25.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://telnet25.wordpress.com/ (Blog)

• Add remove snap in
• Lets say pick AD snap in
• Pick Active Directory
• Pick Link to Web address