Service Pack 1 Highlights

 

By Scott Schnoll

The release of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) brings a wide variety of new features and functionality to Exchange 2007. The list of features we have added, which can be reviewed at What’s New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1, is quite impressive. There are new deployment options, new features and improvements for each server role, improved integration with other applications, such as Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007, and even a new, third type of continuous replication.

You can find documentation on the new features by browsing or searching the Exchange Server 2007 Library. Having spent the last several months working on the content in the High Availability area of the product documentation, I wanted to point out and highlight some of the significant changes that have been made in that area. Below is a list of some of the topics in that area, and a description of the changes that have been made.

  • Standby Continuous Replication - This is a new content area for a new feature that was added in SP1. Standby continuous replication (SCR) is designed for scenarios that use or enable the use of standby recovery servers. SCR extends the existing continuous replication features found in the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Exchange Server 2007 and enables new data availability scenarios for Mailbox servers running SP1.

  • Upgrading Clustered Mailbox Servers to Exchange 2007 SP1 - This new area provides details on upgrading existing Exchange 2007 failover clusters to SP1, and provides critical information that you should know before you perform you upgrade to SP1. This section includes instructions for upgrading both cluster continuous replication (CCR) environments and single copy clusters (SCCs).

  • Applying Exchange 2007 Update Rollups to Clustered Mailbox Servers - This new area provides details on installing Update Rollups for Exchange 2007 in both a CCR environment and in an SCC.

  • Windows Server 2008 Support - In a variety of places, there is information on installing and managing CCR and SCC on the Windows Server 2008 platform. Although Windows Server 2008 has not yet been released, you can use the Exchange 2007 SP1 content to install CCR and SCC in your lab, using Release Candidate 0 (RC0) for Windows Server 2008. You can download RC0 from the Evaluate the Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate Web site. Then, when you’re ready to install Exchange 2007 SP1, have a look at the following topics:

  • Clustered Mailbox Servers - The instructions for installing a CCR environment and for installing an SCC have been enhanced to include command-line instructions for every step in the process, from forming the cluster and configuring network (and in the case of SCC, storage) settings, to configuring and specifying the quorum model and resource, to installing either the active or passive clustered mailbox role in a Windows failover cluster. The content also includes command-line instructions for multi-subnet failover clusters on Windows Server 2008.

  • Uninstalling Clustered Mailbox Servers - This is a new section that centralizes the uninstall instructions for all clustered mailbox servers, whether they are in an SCC or in a CCR environment. The instructions here can be used to uninstall both an active node or a passive node, using either the command-line version of Setup, or the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Setup Wizard.

  • Deployment Checklist for Cluster Continuous Replication on Windows Server 2003 - If you’ve read the release to manufacturing version of the product documentation for Exchange 2007, you may have noticed or used the Planning Checklist for Cluster Continuous Replication. A new deployment checklist has been created for CCR on Windows Server 2003. This checklist can be used along with the enhanced installation instructions to ensure that your CCR environment on Windows 2003 is being built in accordance with our recommended guidelines and best practices. Additional deployment checklists for CCR and SCC are being planned, as well.

There are also general updates to almost all of the high availability topics for SP1, as well as significant updates in other content areas, such as those related to the Mailbox server role. For example, you can review Online Maintenance Database Scanning in Exchange 2007 SP1. Other significant updates to content areas include Client Access, Hub Transport and Edge Transport, and the Unified Messaging server roles. Before jumping into SP1, I recommend that you review the Release Notes for Service Pack 1, and the updated topics, as there’s a lot of great stuff in there that you need to know.

c3bb668a-52ea-48e3-9baf-651eeeb86f99 Scott Schnoll - Principal Technical Writer, Microsoft Exchange Server