System Requirements for Exchange Server 2003

System Requirements for Exchange Se...

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Topic Last Modified: 2007-12-28

Updated: March 30, 2005

Actual requirements can vary based on your system configuration and the features you choose to install.

Important:
If you are upgrading to Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), ensure that you also upgrade your computers running Exchange Server 2003 to Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). You must also follow the instructions in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 841561, "500 - Internal server error" error message when a user tries to access a clustered Exchange Server 2003 back-end server by using Outlook Web Access for all your clustered Exchange Server 2003 SP1 computers. This update ensures that HTTP requests made on the clustered Exchange Server 2003 computer do not fail.

Important:

If you are upgrading to Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), ensure that you also upgrade your computers running Exchange Server 2003 to Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). You must also follow the instructions in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 841561, "500 - Internal server error" error message when a user tries to access a clustered Exchange Server 2003 back-end server by using Outlook Web Access for all your clustered Exchange Server 2003 SP1 computers. This update ensures that HTTP requests made on the clustered Exchange Server 2003 computer do not fail.

Note:
If you plan to upgrade from Exchange 2000 Server to Exchange Server 2003, you must install Service Pack 3 for Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange 2000 Server Enterprise Edition (SP3) before installing Exchange Server 2003.

On This Page

Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition System Requirements
Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition System Requirements
For More Information

Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition System Requirements

Component	Requirement	Recommendation
Processor	133-megahertz (MHz) or higher processor	733-MHz or higher processor
Operating system	Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows 2000 Datacenter Server with SP3 or later Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition Note: Exchange Server 2003 does not run on 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2003. Exchange Server 2003 management tools for remote administration can be installed on a computer running Windows XP SP1, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2000 SP3.	Windows Server 2003
Memory	256 megabytes (MB) of RAM	512 MB of RAM
Available hard-disk space	You need: 500 MB on the hard disk where you install Exchange Server 2003 200 MB on the system drive	You need: 500 MB on the hard disk where you install Exchange Server 2003 200 MB on the system drive
Drive	CD drive	CD drive
Display	VGA or higher resolution monitor	VGA or higher resolution monitor
Input device	Microsoft Mouse or compatible input device	Microsoft Mouse or compatible input device
File format	Disk partitions must be formatted for the NTFS file system, not the file allocation table (FAT) file system. This requirement applies to: System partition Partition storing Exchange Server binaries Partitions containing transaction log files Partitions containing database files Partitions containing other Exchange Server files	Disk partitions must be formatted for the NTFS file system, not the FAT file system. This requirement applies to: System partition Partition storing Exchange Server binaries Partitions containing transaction log files Partitions containing database files Partitions containing other Exchange Server files

1	Servers running Exchange Server that are using the /3GB feature, which maximizes the performance of computers with over 1 gigabyte (GB) of physical memory, can operate only on Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, or any edition of Windows Server 2003.

Additional Software Required to Use Specific Features in Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

Microsoft Exchange Server Management Pack for MOM 2005 for automated system monitoring
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later and Windows Server 2003 for HTTP access from Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Note:
You must install the latest updates for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Outlook 2003.
For support for eight-node clusters, you need Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition.

Note:
You must install the latest updates for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Outlook 2003.

Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition System Requirements

Component	Requirement	Recommendation
Processor	133-MHz or higher processor	550-MHz or higher processor
Operating system	Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP3 or later Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition or Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition Note: Exchange Server 2003 does not run on 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2003. Exchange Server 2003 management tools for remote administration can be installed on a computer running Windows XP SP1, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2000 SP3.	Windows Server 2003
Memory	256 MB of RAM	512 MB of RAM or more
Available hard-disk space	You need: 500 MB on the hard disk where you install Exchange Server 2003 200 MB on the system drive	You need: 500 MB on the hard disk where you install Exchange Server 2003 200 MB on the system drive
Drive	CD drive	CD drive
Display	VGA or higher resolution monitor	VGA or higher resolution monitor
Input device	Microsoft Mouse or compatible input device	Microsoft Mouse or compatible input device
File format	Disk partitions must be formatted for the NTFS file system, not the FAT file system. This requirement applies to: System partition Partition storing Exchange Server binaries Partitions containing transaction log files Partitions containing database files Partitions containing other Exchange Server files	Disk partitions must be formatted for the NTFS file system, not the FAT file system. This requirement applies to: System partition Partition storing Exchange Server binaries Partitions containing transaction log files Partitions containing database files Partitions containing other Exchange Server files

Note:
Servers running Exchange Server that are using the /3GB feature, which maximizes the performance of computers with over 1 gigabyte (GB) of physical memory, can operate only on Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, or any edition of Windows Server 2003.

Additional Software Required to Use Specific Features in Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition

Microsoft Exchange Server Management Pack for MOM 2005 for automated system monitoring
Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later and Windows Server 2003 for HTTP access from Outlook 2003

Note:
You must install the latest updates for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Outlook 2003.

Note:
You must install the latest updates for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Outlook 2003.

For More Information

To learn more about requirements for Exchange Server 2003, read: