Tag: 2010

Transitioning Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 – Part 9

This post has to do with transitioning from Exchange 2007 to 2010. Essentially you will be installing Exchange 2010 on the 2007 Exchange server, setup some co-existence if necessary, transfer the mailboxes, and then uninstall Exchange 2007.

* Upgrades – There is no “In-Place” upgrade from 2007 to 2010

– You can either deploy fresh, migrate, or transition.

*Migration

From Exchange 5.5 or 2000 to Exchange 2010 – when moving over to Exchange 2010 you will not be able to move over mailboxes or use transitioning coexistence. You might have to upgrade from 5.5 or 2000 to 2003, and then transition. Quest is a good transitioning tool from older versions to 2010. Lotus Domino has a transition path to 2007.

*Transition: involves introducing an Exchange Server(s) into the environment and moving over mailboxes and public folders

– Co-Existence: the state of your Exchange environment when different versions of Exchange are running together side-by-side within the same Exchange Organization

You can run exchange 2003, 2007, and 2010 all co-existing together. Slowly move the mailboxes and public folders over.

When migrating from a single 2007 server:

1. Ensure Exchange 2007 servers are running SP2

2. Deploy Exchange 2010 Servers in this order: Client Access Server, then Hub Transport Server, Unified Messaging, and then Mailbox server

3. Configure legacy DNS host name records* and implement new certificates for CAS

*Legacy DNS host name records: only necessary if you cannot transition quickly and need to provide remote OWA/Mobile usage.

4. Move over mailboxes and public folder data to Exchange 2010.

5. Tie up loose ends and uninstall Exchange 2007

Legacy Host Names and Certificates for CAS

  • If you plan for a period of co-existence with 2007, you will need to establish a legacy host name
  • The goal is to move your primary namespace, mail.companyname.com and autodiscover.companyname.com over to Exchange 2010
  • So for example, your mail.companyname.com domain continues but a new legacy.companyname.com is put in place for 2003/2007 users of OWA, ActiveSync, etc…
  • You will need to obtain a new certificate for Exchange and you should consider a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) certificate although wildcard certificates are also supported

Some DNS Record Types Review:

  • A Record: an address record that maps a host name to an IP address
  • NS Record: a name server record that maps a domain name to a list of DNS servers that are authoritative for that domain
  • MX Record: mail exchange record – maps a domain name to a list of mail exchange servers for that record
  • CNAME Record: gives the ability to provide an alias of one name to another
  • SRV Record: links a particular service to a specific server
  • SOA: Specifies the DNS server providing authoritative service for a particular domain

Users trying to log into an Exchange 2010 server, but have not had their mailbox transitioned yet, will be re-directed to the previous server if the legacy A record is listed in DNS.

Deployment Assistant: (upgrade means transistion) -this tool can be used from the website or downloaded.

The tool can be found here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exdeploy2010/default.aspx#Index

Disjointed namespace: the FQDN of a server does not match the domain of which it is a member.

Transitioning Paths Vary

* Depending on your organization you may have the following variables in play for your transition to mold itself around:

– Exchange 2003 to 2010 (or mixed 2003/2007 to 2010)

– Public folders need to be transitioned

– Co-existence is necessary (requires legacy host name)

* Our example transition includes the following concerns:

-Public folders do, in fact, exist and need to be transitioned

-Co-existence is not necessary (we will perform the move in a minimal amount of time over a weekend of inactivity within the organization)

In a transition from Exchange 2007 to 2010 here are the following necessary items:

  1. Exchange 2007 is already running SP2
  2. The Server is 2008 and the forest functional level is already higher than the required 2003 forest functional level mode
  3. Exchange 2010 is already installed with CAS/HT/MB roles
Items to Complete:
  1. Move Offline Address Book (OAB) generation to Exchange 2010
  2. Move Exchange 2007 Mailboxes to 2010
  3. Move Public Folder data to Exchange 2010
  4. Ensure funtionality, test connectivity options, remove Exchange 2007

To check the domain functional level

  1. Go to Active Directory Computers and Users
  2. Right-click on the domain name, click “Raise Domain Functional Level”
  3. Look at Current Domain Functional Level

 

Moving the OAB generation from 2007 over to Exchange 2010

  1. Open Exchange Management Console
  2. Expand Organization Configuration node
  3. Select the Mailbox node
  4. Select Offline Address Book tab
  5. Select the Default Offline Address book, ->Actions -> Properties -> Distribution tab
  6. Make sure Enable Web-based distribution is On (checked)
  7. Enable public folder distribution (On/checked) -> ok

Warning (ok)

In the actions pane click Move

Click Browse -> Select the new Exchange 2010 server -> Move

Completed (Warning) -> Finish

Generation server should now be your new 2010 server.

Online Mailbox Moves:

  • Previous transitions called for mailboxes to be offline for a period of time while they moved to the new server
  • Exchange 2010 eliminates this issue by allowing the mailbox to be moved while still online. Note: If transitioning from Exchange 2003 to 2010 you will still need to do an offline mailbox move
  • To the user, short of a restart of Outlook, they will not know a difference or notice any loss of service
  • Need to use the wizard or new powershell cmdlet New-MoveRequest

You need to start on the new Exchange 2010 server to move mailboxes from 2007 to 2010

Start Exchange Management Console

Go to Recipient Configuration node -> Mailbox

Add a column (Database) and place next to the display name

Select multiple users -> Actions -> New Local Move Request…

Target Mailbox Database (Browse) -> Select new 2010 server DB -> ok -> Next

Move options:

If corrupted messages are found:

  • Skip the mailbox (recommended)
  • Skip the corrupted messages
Next -> New -> Finish
Move Request -> If you look at the status it should say completed
Using the exchange management shell: (more flexibility and control)
get-help new-moverequest -examples
(3 examples)
System will perform check of mailbox for readiness
>New MoveRequest Identity ‘[email protected]’ -TargetDatabase “MBEX2K10”
To test
>get move-request
-shows which move requests have been completed
For example to move just mailboxes from one organizational unit into exchange 2010

> get user organizationalunit LegalDept | New MoveRequest -TargetDatabase “MBEX2K10”

Replicating Public Folder Structure:

Once we have replicas we can remove the original copy

Go to Toolbox – Public Folder Management Console – should connect back to your 2007 exchange server.

We first need an Exchange 2010 Public Folder database:
Organization Configuration under Mailbox

Database Management Tab -> Actions -> New Public Folder Database

Give it a name (2K10PF) -> Next -> New -> Finish.

Go back to PF management console -> Right click on folder and choose properties -> Replication tab -> Add -> Select new 2K10PF database -> OK

Change “Use public folder database replication schedule” to Run Every Hour.

Now we’ve asked the public folders to replicate over. One way to check if it’s working ok is right click on the root, and choose connect to server, select 2010 server, and find the replicated folders (update Heirarchy)

Now you can remove 2007 replicas. Make sure you have complete all public folders.

2007 Exchange Pre-Removal Tasks 

  • If you are confident that your Exchange 2010 server(s) are ready to work alone – don’t uninstall the Exchange 2007 server yet…
  • In the EMC Toolbox is the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer – use it!
  • Use the Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer Tool is another option
  • When your testing is complete and you feel comfortable — Uninstall Exchange 2007 from the Programs and Features item in the control panel

Decommissioning is simply removing the Programs and Features. It will go through the process of uninstalling the various roles (MB, CAS, etc)

We have ended the period of coexistence, and have transitioned over to 2010.

 

 

 

A good majority of the content provided in my Blog’s Exchange series is derived from J. Peter Bruzzese’ excellent Train Signals Exchange Server 2010 Video Disk Series, as well as my own Exchange 2010 lab. Trainsignal.com is an invaluable source for accurate, easy to understand, IT information and training. http://www.trainsignal.com

Exchange 2010 – The Exchange Management Console and Shell – Part 7

* There are 3 tools for managing Exchange. 1. The Exchange Management Console, 2. The Exchange Management Shell, and, 3. The Exchange Control Panel, which is accessed through Outlook Web App (OWA)

* We will first look at the use of the EMC and explore its various nodes, panes, and actions we can perform

* Then we’ll look at the purpose of PowerShell and the EMS, focusing on how commands are formed using cmdlets and how they are made more complex and useful through pipe-lining.

The EMC has 4 primary interface elements:

  1. Console Tree
  2. Result Pane
  3. Work Pane
  4. Action Pane
The EMC is based on MS MMC 3.0 and the GUI version used for Exchange.
Organization Configuration
Server Configuration
Recipient Configuration
Under Server Configuration, when you click on Mailbox, Client Access or Hub Transport, you’ll notice that there are two middle panes. A results pane and a work pane.
The Actions pane can be turned off by clicking Show/Hide the action pane button on the toolbar. When you turn it off, you can still perform functions by right-clicking on objects.
One thing to note in the Console Tree is that you have by default the “Microsoft Exchange on-Premises.” It is designed so that you can manage Exchange Servers in the cloud.
The Exchange Management Shell is a requirement for Exchange Administrators (and there are questions about it in exams). Learning PowerShell is not an option, it is a necessity.
The EMS is built upon PowerShell (PS)
  • PS is both a command-line tool and a scripting platform.
  • Exchange 2010 requires PowerShell v2.
  • PowerShell commands are built using cmdlets
  • Through PowerShell commands, you can manage EVERY aspect of Exchange, whereas the EMC you can manage ALMOST every aspect of Exchange
Local Shell and Remote Shell
  • The EMC allows you to make configuration changes to the Organization or to individual Servers. In Exchange 2007, you could only run the POwerShell compone3nts on the local machine.
  • With Exchange 2010 you can connect to a remote session on a remote Exchange 2010 system.
  • When you open the EMS it connects to the closest exchange session
  • you cannot connect remotely to an Edge Transport Server
  • Remote Sessions are created using the New-PSSession and Import-PSSession cmdlets
What are CMDLETS?
  • Simple verb-noun structure
  • Common verbs are : Get, Set, Remove, Test, Enable, Disable, Install, Uninstall, New and Move
  • Pipelines | help to string cmdlets together
  • Examples:
  • Get-Mailbox
  • Get-MailboxStatistics <Mailbox>
  • Get-Mailbox -OrganizationalUnit Sales
  • Get-Mailbox | Set-Mailbox -prohibitsendquota 500MB (this will take every mailbox in the organzation and set the prohibit send quota to 500MB – manually would take forever!
The Exchange Management Shell contains modules we need. You can import them into PowerShell, but the EMS already is loaded.
Try for example:
>get-excommand – quite a number of different cmdlets! To investigate how to use one of these commands?
>get-help test-systemhealth
This outputs
Name:
Synopsis:
Syntax: (might want to port out to txt and print)
Description:
Related Links:
Remarks: (Examples)
>Get-Service -> shows all the services running on our system
>Get-Mailbox ->  shows all the mailboxes on the server – names, where they reside, quota.
To narrow down to the sales org unit use:
>get-mailbox – OrganizationalUnit Sales
>Get-MailboxStatistics jason.coltrin
shows last login time, storage stats, etc
>get-mailbox -OrganizationalUnit Sales | Set-Mailbox -ProhibitSendQuota 500MB
To give a number of users mailbox with one line of code you can do the following:
Andy Grogan created a script to create (fake) users on a domain. You can create several hundred users.
Go to UserTools, and you can see a .csv file which contains basic info for creating users. You can change these, and use your real names and create an entire domain of your users.
The script will create an Organizational Unit called “Exchange Users”
You can download the script here:
and here is a screenshot of the script and .csv files:
Click image to enlarge
Run the powershell script within powershell, and you should see the users scroll down the screen as they are created.
Now that the users have been created, go to your Mailbox server and go to Organization Configuration -> Mailbox -> “MailboxDatabase” is the database where we will be placing our new users. We will use the ExchangeUsers OU to help build mailboxes for our lab users.
Under Recipient Configuration, we do not yet have users listed. We do not have mailboxes for them.
Go to the EMS and type in the following command:
> get-user -OrganizationalUnit ExchangeUsers | where-object{$_.RecipientType -eq “User”} | Enable-Mailbox -Database “MailboxDatabase”
Now that your users have been given mailboxes, goto OWA at https://yourdomain/owa , log in as one of the users and test sending/receiving to the administrator.

Exchange 2010 Installation Considerations Part 2

More requirements for Exchange 2010:

Your Forest is required to be running at Server 2008 R2 Forest Functional Level.

x64 based hardware is required.

There is no in-place upgrade for Exchange 2007 to 2010.

It’s always important to map out your network prior to installing servers.

Consider your existing infrastructure and the needs of the company.

Discuss your design and deployment goals for using Exchange 2010.

Review the order of your deployments and consider the physical network layout and network connection speeds.

The following table shows minimum CPU core requirements for Exchange 2010 components:

Exchange2010_Cores
Click image to enlarge

The following table shows the minimum memory requirements for Exchange 2010:

Exchange2010_Memory
Click Image to Enlarge

Exchange Server 2010 is available in two different editions: Standard and Enterprise

The edition is determined by the product key, however, when installing as a trial version it will be running as Enterprise Edition.

The Exchange Management tools can run on Windows 7, Windows Vista with Service Pack 2, Server 2008 SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2.

Standard Edition – Limited to 5 Databases per server

Enterprise Edition – Can run up to 100 databases per server (previous editions both standard and enterprise allow database availability groups (High Availability) but require cluster which require Enterprise Edition of Server 2008 Enterprise.

Client Access Licensing (CAL’s) also come with both Standard and Enterprise versions. Sometimes the type of license will limit clients. For example, mobile devices without the correct license may not be able to use certain features.

Prerequisites: Use the powershell commandlet or Server Roles and Features to install prerequisites. Different Exchange roles will have certain requirements. Eg. the UM role requires the Desktop Experience feature installed.

 

More Hardware Requirements:

Processor(s): x64 Intel or AMD

Memory: can change due to different role being installed, but typically 4GB min per server. If combining roles, 8GB. Add 2-10MB memory per mailbox. The maximum memory for a Mailbox role is 64GB

Disk Space: For the Mailbox Role, you will need a minimum of 1.2GB to install Exchange.

Server OS: Server 2008 or Server 2008 R2

Prerequisites for Server 2008 SP2

  1. .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
  2. Install the .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update
  3. Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0 here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929
  4. PowerShell v2
  5. For Hub Transport and MailBox servers, install the MS Filter Pack. *Note: On Exchange 2010 RTM, you can meet the prerequisite by installing 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack. However, MS recommends that you upgrade to the Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs.
  6. From an elevated command prompt, from the Scripts folder, issue the following commands:
  • Sc config NetTCPPortSharing start auto
  • ServerMangerCmd -ip Exchange-Typical.xml -Restart

7.  With the Unified Messaging role type:

  • ServerManagerCmd -i Desktop-Experience

Some useful tools in the scoping and stress testing of Exchange are:

1. Risk and Health Assessment Program for Exchange Server (ExRAP) – Scoping Tool v1.5 http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=20857

2. Planning and deployment guide: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995902.aspx *Especially the Mailbox Server Storage Design

3. Install and run Jetstress on your hardware prior to deployment

The documentation for the Exchange Server 2010 version of Jetstress is available on TechNet at the following location.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff706601.aspx

 

Version Build Usage Link
14.01.0225.017 32 bit
  • Exchange 2003[1]
 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c9c1180-4dd8-49c4-85fe-ca1cdcb2453c&displayLang=us
14.01.0225.017 64 bit
  • Exchange 2007
  • Exchange 2010
 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=13267027-8120-48ed-931b-29eb0aa52aa6

Table 1 – Jetstress version and download table


[1] Refer to Appendix D – Exchange 2003 for information on configuring Jetstress 14.01.225.x for Exchange 2003

 

 

 

A good majority of the content provided in my Blog’s Exchange series is derived from J. Peter Bruzzese’ excellent Train Signals Exchange Server 2010 Video Disk Series as well as my own Exchange 2010 lab. Trainsignal.com is an invaluable source for accurate, easy to understand, IT information and training. http://www.trainsignal.com