Then and Now: Comparing Management Tasks in Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007

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By Andrea Fowler

Chances are that the first time you use the new graphical user interface (GUI) that comes with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, you may not know where to find Feature A or perform Task B. After all, there's plenty of new functionality there, and a lot of existing functionality has been improved. And in come cases, moved around a bit.

Here is one of the best tips that I can give you when you are trying to figure out which feature went where: Try to think about how the task you are performing impacts your organization. For example, adding a new Exchange administrator has an overall organizational impact. So, in that case, click the Organization Configuration node and let your eyes wander to the right; there it is, over in the action pane: the Add Exchange Administrator wizard. Need more proof? OK, adding a new mailbox user impacts your recipient configuration, right? Well then, just click the Recipient Configuration node and look over in the action pane again; you guessed it: the New Mailbox wizard is just waiting for a click from you. Ta-da!

Well, as helpful as that tip is, you're probably looking for more detailed information to make the smooth transition from using Exchange Server 2003 to using Exchange 2007. So, to help you with this transition, I wrote this article to serve as your "security blanket." Each section contains a table that shows how you manage a feature or task in Exchange 2003 and how you deal with it in Exchange 2007. I also provide links to the topics that explain the Exchange 2007 tasks in detail. Now, it may be a lengthy article, but at least this blanket will cover your toes!

Organizational Settings

Feature or task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Delegating control to other administrators

In Exchange 2003, you used the Exchange Administration Delegation wizard to grant administrative permissions to a user or group.

Exchange 2007 provides the ability for Exchange administrators to delegate administrative and management responsibility for a server to an individual or group of individuals when it operates in a distributed operations management scenario.

How to Delegate Server Administration.

Public folder hierarchy replication

In Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), you used the Synchronize Hierarchy command to synchronize the public folder hierarchy on an Exchange 2003 server with the other servers in your organization.

Exchange 2007 uses the Update-PublicFolderHierarchy cmdlet to synchronize the public folder hierarchy.

How to Update a Public Folder Hierarchy.

Suspend or resume public folder content replication

In Exchange 2003, you would stop and start content replication by using the Stop Public Folder Content Replication feature and the Resume Public Folder Content Replication feature in the Exchange System Manager.

Exchange 2007 uses the Suspend-PublicFolderReplication and Resume-PublicFolderReplication cmdlets to suspend or resume public folder content replication.

Global Settings

Feature or task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Anti-spam tasks

Intelligent Message Filtering, Connection Filtering, and Sender ID were the tools that Exchange 2003 provided to eliminate spam.

Exchange 2007 offers the following tools to help you alleviate spam from flowing into your organization:

In addition, read New Anti-Spam and Antivirus Functionality for an overview of the anti-spam and antivirus functionality in Exchange 2007.

Enabling anti-spam tasks on the Hub Transport server

Not applicable

You can install the anti-spam agents on the Hub Transport server role by using the Install-AntiSpamAgents.ps1 script. This script is located in the %system drive%/Program Files/Microsoft/Exchange Server/Scripts folder.

After you run this script, all the anti-spam agents are installed and enabled, and the Anti-spam tab is available in the Exchange Management Console for Hub Transport servers. We recommend that you install the anti-spam agents if you select a topology that does not include an Edge Transport server so that the Hub Transport server can provide anti-spam protection for the Exchange organization.

How to Enable Anti-Spam Functionality on a Hub Transport Server

Message size restrictions

In Exchange 2003, you would customize the message size restrictions for the organization, a specific connector, a specific virtual server, and an individual user.

In Exchange 2007, the size limits that are available for individual messages can be divided into the following basic categories:

  • Message header size limits

  • Message size limits

  • Attachment size limits

  • Recipient limits

In Exchange 2007, the scope of the limits that are available for individual messages can be divided into the following basic categories:

  • Organizational limits   These limits apply to all Hub Transport servers that exist in the organization.

  • Connector limits   These limits apply to any messages that use the specified Send connector, Receive connector, or Foreign connector for message delivery. Connectors are defined on Hub Transport servers or Edge Transport servers.

  • Server limits   These limits apply to a specific Hub Transport server.

  • User limits   These limits apply to a specific user object, such as a mailbox, contact, distribution group, or public folder.

Managing Message Size Limits

Recipient policies

In Exchange 2003, the recipient policy object defined both the proxy addresses that are stamped onto the recipient objects and the set of domains for which e-mail is accepted into the organization for an authoritative domain.

In Exchange 2007, recipient policies are separated into e-mail address policies and accepted domains. They are completely separate settings in Exchange 2007; however, any accepted domains will be available to the e-mail address policy. In addition, there are three new concepts regarding the types of accepted domains that you can have in Exchange 2007:

  • Authoritative domain   This type of accepted domain replaces the Exchange 2003 check box: This Exchange organization is responsible for all mail delivery to this address.

  • Internal relay domain   This type of accepted domain is the equivalent of clearing the This Exchange organization is responsible for all mail delivery to this address check box in Exchange 2003 and also configuring a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connector with the Relay to these address spaces setting. The connector is not required, unless you want to specify the smart host that you will use when sending to that domain.

  • External relay domain   There isn't an Exchange 2003 equivalent for the external relay domain. In an external relay domain, messages are relayed to an e-mail server that is outside the Exchange organization and outside the organization's network perimeter. The messages are relayed by the Edge Transport server.

Managing Accepted Domains

Administrative Tasks

Feature or task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Address lists

In Exchange 2003, you created and edited address lists by using the Exchange System Manager.

In Exchange 2007, you manage address lists by using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell.

Managing Address Lists

Diagnostic logging on the server

In Exchange 2003, you would change the diagnostic logging level by using ADSI Edit or the Registry Editor.

In Exchange 2007, you can determine the logging level by running the Get-EventLogLevel cmdlet, and then configure it by using the Set-EventLogLevel cmdlet.

How to Change Logging Levels for Exchange Processes.

Mailbox Manager

Mailbox Manager was a feature in Exchange 2003 and in Exchange 2000 Server that ran as part of the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service. Exchange Mailbox Manager policies set age and size limits for messages.

In Exchange 2007, Messaging records management (MRM) is the service that helps organizations to reduce the legal risks that are associated with e-mail and other communications. In Exchange 2007, MRM is easier to use and makes it easier to keep messages that are needed to comply with company policy, government regulations, or legal needs, and to remove content that has no legal or business value.

MBConn.exe

In Exchange 2003, Mbconn.exe was used in a disaster recovery scenario to connect mailboxes to the Active Directory directory service accounts.

In Exchange 2007, you do not use MBConn.exe. You use the Exchange Management Shell scripts to gather the necessary data from disconnected mailboxes.

Offline address books (OAB)

In Exchange 2003, you created an OAB by using the Exchange System Manager. The OAB was distributed to client applications, such as Outlook by using the public folder distribution method.

In Exchange 2007, you do not need public folders to distribute OABs. You can use the new Web-based distribution method.

Understanding Offline Address Books

Public folder management

In Exchange 2003, you used public folders for free and busy data and for OAB downloads.

In Exchange 2007, public folders are optional if you only have Office Outlook 2007 clients. Exchange does not require you to use public folders to distribute OAB downloads and free and busy data. OABs can now be distributed by a Web-based method. Free and busy data is now provided by the Availability service.

Public folder permissions

In Exchange 2003, you managed public folder client permissions in the Exchange System Manager and in Outlook client applications.

In addition, public folder administrative rights were administered in both the Exchange System Manager and Active Directory.

In Exchange 2007, public folder client permissions can be administered by using Outlook and the Exchange Management Shell.

Public folder administrative rights can only be administered by using the Exchange Management Shell.

Configuring Public Folder Permissions.

Recovery storage groups

In Exchange 2003, you had the option of mounting a second copy of a database to extract data from one or more mailboxes.

In Exchange 2007, you do not create a recovery storage groups. You use the Database Recovery Management tool, which is found in the Toolbox.

Recipient Management

Feature or Task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Create a mailbox

In Exchange 2003, you created a mailbox for a user by using Active Directory Users and Computers.

In Exchange 2007, you use the Exchange Management Shell or the Exchange Management Console to create a mailbox for an existing user.

How to Create a Mailbox for a New User

How to Create a Mailbox for an Existing User

Details templates and address templates

In Exchange 2003, you would edit the appearance of object properties that are accessed by MAPI client, such as Outlook. However, you didn't have a WYSIWYG editor to add, delete, move, or modify elements.

The Exchange 2007 Details Templates Editor has a designer pane where you can view your changes as you make them.

Managing Details Templates

Active Directory Users and Computers

In Exchange 2003, you managed users using Active Directory Users and Computers. When Exchange is installed, you have specific tabs for adding Exchange -specific information.

In Exchange 2007, you do not use Active Directory Users and Computers to create Active Directory accounts. You can do all of the recipient tasks in Exchange.

Managing Recipients

ExMerge.exe

In Exchange 2003, you used Mailbox Merge to extract data from mailboxes on an Exchange server, and then merged this data into mailboxes on another Exchange server.

In Exchange 2007, you cannot use ExMerge.exe to export mailboxes. You must use the Export-Mailbox cmdlet to export all message types, including messages, calendar items, contacts, distribution lists, journal entries, tasks, notes, and documents.

How to Export Mailbox Data.

Mailbox permissions

In Exchange 2003, you used Active Directory Users and Computers to manage mailbox permissions for users.

In Exchange 2007, you use the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell to configure mailbox permissions.

Recipient filtering

In Exchange 2003, you created Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) queries to filter recipients.

In Exchange 2007, OPATH is the basis for the filtering syntax used by the Exchange Management Shell, and is therefore the filtering syntax used by Exchange 2007.

Creating Filters in Recipient Commands.

Recipient policies

In Exchange 2003, the recipient policy object defined both the proxy addresses that are stamped onto the recipient objects and the set of domains for which e-mail was accepted into the organization for an authoritative domain.

In Exchange 2007, these two concepts are separated into e-mail address policies and accepted domains. They are completely separate settings in Exchange 2007; however, any accepted domains will be available to the e-mail address policy.

Recipient Update Service (RUS)

Exchange 2003 used the RUS primarily to generate and update default and customized address lists, and to process changes made to recipient policies.

In Exchange 2007, the RUS does not exists and you will use the Update-AddressList and Update-EmailAddressPolicy Exchange Management Shell cmdlets to update e-mail address policies and address lists.

Resource scheduling

In Exchange 2003, setting up a resource involved many steps.

In Exchange 2007, the management of resource scheduling is much easier and includes creating and managing your conference room and equipment, and scheduling resources.

Managing Client Access

Feature or task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Always-up-to-date (AUTD)

In Exchange 2003, Exchange ActiveSync would be configured to synchronize your mobile device with your Exchange server mailbox at intervals as frequent as every five minutes.

By default, in Exchange 2007, Direct Push is enabled, and it is designed to keep a mobile device up to date over a cellular network connection.

Client access

In Exchange 2003, the front-end server controlled your client access.

In Exchange 2007, the Client Access server handles all of the processing for client access and provides access to mailbox data for all external clients. Client Access Server Role: Overview.

Client configuration

In Exchange 2003, client configuration changes often required local manual updates to each client computer or remote updates using a profile configuration tool.

In Exchange 2007, the Autodiscover service configures clients with only the user's e-mail address and password. Server configuration changes are reconfigured automatically and are seamless to the user. Overview of the Autodiscover Service.

Outlook Web Access

In Exchange 2003, users accessed Outlook Web Access through the following URL: https://servername/exchange

In Exchange 2007, users access Outlook Web Access through the following URL: https://servername/OWA

Managing Outlook Web Access.

In addition, in Exchange 2007, you can now disable Web beacons to minimize junk mail threats.

How to Control Web Beacon and HTML Form Filtering for Outlook Web Access.

RPC over HTTP

In Exchange 2003, setting up RPC over HTTP required many steps to successfully deploy.

In Exchange 2007, RPC over HTTP is now called Outlook Anywhere. The Outlook Anywhere feature lets your Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 clients connect to their Exchange servers over the Internet by using the RPC over HTTP Windows networking component. You can easily enable Outlook Anywhere by using the Enable Outlook Anywhere wizard.

Transport

Feature or task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Allowing anonymous relay

In Exchange 2003, you configured relay settings on the virtual server and specified the IP address of the SMTP messaging server that is allowed to relay.

In Exchange 2007, the accepted domains settings generally control which computers can relay through the Hub Transport or Edge Transport servers. However, sometimes you may need to allow specific computers to relay e-mail messages through an Exchange 2007 transport server. Typically, the computer is a trusted computer that is unable to authenticate to Exchange.

How to Allow Anonymous Relay on a Receive Connector.

Creating or managing routing group connectors

In Exchange 2003, routing group connectors enabled message transfer between two routing groups. Routing groups represented a routing boundary for Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2000.

Exchange 2007 uses Active Directory site-based routing. You cannot use the Exchange 2003 Exchange System Manager to create or manage any routing group connector that specifies an Exchange 2007 server as a source or target server. You must use the New-RoutingGroupConnector and Set-RoutingGroupConnector cmdlets in the Exchange Management Shell.

Disclaimer messages

In Exchange 2003, you needed to create a custom event sink to apply disclaimers to messages.

In Exchange 2007, you can create transport rules that will add disclaimers to messages if those messages meet conditions that you have specified. Overview of Disclaimers.

Inbound SMTP connections from other messaging servers

In Exchange 2003, SMTP virtual servers controlled the inbound mail settings.

The default SMTP virtual server accepted anonymous connections. If you required a particular authentication method or message size restriction for a specific remote domain, you would create additional virtual servers.

In Exchange 2007, Receive connectors control how mail is received. The Receive connector listens for SMTP connections. Every Hub Transport server has two default Receive connectors. One connector is configured to receive authenticated SMTP connections, the second connector is configured to receive SMTP connections from clients such as POP3 and IMAP4. Receive Connectors.

Journaling

In Exchange 2003, you configured journaling on the mailbox store that contained the mailboxes that you wanted to journal.

In Exchange 2007, you have an Exchange Enterprise Client Access License for the mailboxes you want to journal, and you can use journal rules that are configured organization wide on Hub Transport servers. The journal rules enable you to specify per-recipient journaling. Managing Journal Rules

Outbound SMTP connections to other messaging servers

In Exchange 2003, the routing group represented a communication boundary between Exchange servers that were part of the same organization. All Exchange servers that were in the same routing group were able to communicate directly with each other.

In Exchange 2007, Send connectors control outbound SMTP traffic to remote domains. By default, a Send connector is available to the entire organization. However, a Send connector can be scoped so that it is available only to other Hub Transport servers in its local Active Directory site. Send Connectors.

POP3 and IMAP4

In Exchange 2003, POP3 and IMAP4 were both receive-only protocols that enabled a client to receive e-mail. To send e-mail, these clients had to relay SMTP traffic through the Exchange organization.

In Exchange 2007, every Hub Transport server has a default client Receive connector that allows authenticated POP3 and IMAP4 users to relay SMTP e-mail through the Hub Transport server. You must specifically enable POP3 or IMAP4 access for clients.

Securing message transmission by using Transport Layer Security (TLS)

In Exchange 2003, you required TLS for inbound connections by configuring the authentication settings on a virtual server. You accessed the virtual server properties, and then selected a check box to require SSL/TLS on the Access and Authentication settings page.

In Exchange 2007, you configure TLS on a Receive connector by specifying TLS as an available authentication mechanism. However, you need to have an X.509 certificate installed on the Exchange server. Receive Connectors.

Deployment

Feature or task You did it this way in Exchange 2003 You do it this way in Exchange 2007

Preparing to deploy

In Exchange 2003, you used the following switches to prepare your forest for an Exchange installation:

  • Setup /forestprep

  • Setup /domainprep

In Exchange 2007, the switches have changed:

  • Setup /PrepareLegacyExchangePermissions

  • Setup /PrepareSchema

  • Setup /PreapareAD

  • Setup /PrepareDomain

How to Prepare Active Directory and Domains

Unattended setup

In Exchange 2003, there were many restrictions for installing Exchange with unattended setup.

In Exchange 2007, unattended setup is much easier to use. How to Install Exchange 2007 in Unattended Mode.

0f7a70fa-710d-4818-bd8b-1faeafb9cf03 Andrea Fowler - Technical Writer, Microsoft Exchange Server