Post-Installation Steps for Exchange Server 2003

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After you complete your Microsoft® Exchange 2003 deployment, you can verify that your installation was successful by using the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 setup log and the Windows Event Viewer. After you verify your deployment, you should apply the latest service packs and security patches to your system.

Exchange 2003 Setup Log and Event Viewer

After your Exchange deployment has completed, review your installation log (Exchange Server Setup Progress.log) located on the root drive of your Exchange computer. The setup log contains information about your installation and is used to verify that your Exchange 2003 installation was successful.

For detailed instructions, see How to View Exchange Setup Events in the Application Event Log.

Exchange Setup also logs the following event in the Application Log on your computers running Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server or Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003:

"ID: 1001 "Setup [build nnnn] completed successfully."

Note

The build number will vary depending on the version of Exchange Server 2003 that you have installed.

Service Packs and Security Patches

Before your deployment is complete, be sure to apply the latest service packs and relevant security patches to your system. Keeping current on the latest service packs, in particular, is one of most important things you can do in managing the security of your system. You should not consider a deployment complete until your system is updated. Microsoft strongly recommends that your security strategy be based first on timely service pack updates, and then augmented with security patches, as appropriate to your organization's security policy. Information about the importance of service packs to your security strategy can be found in the technical article Why Service Packs are Better Than Patches.

To help determine what security patches are available for your system, you should use a tool like the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) to scan your system. Information about MBSA can be found in the article, Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer.

Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is a cumulative service pack for Exchange Server 2003. Exchange Server 2003 SP2 provides better protection, reliability, and easier administration as well as improved mobile messaging to your Exchange Server 2003 messaging environment when used with compatible devices. For information about Exchange Server 2003 SP2, see the following resources:

For information about how to install Exchange Server 2003 SP1 or Exchange Server 2003 SP2 in a clustered Exchange environment, see the following article on the Microsoft Exchange Blog Web site:

Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool

The Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool automatically examines an Exchange Server deployment and determines if the configuration is set according to Microsoft best practices. After installing or upgrading Exchange, or after making configuration changes, it is recommended that you run the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool.

For more information, see the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool Web site.

Configuring DNS

Some e-mail systems, such as Microsoft Hotmail®, will not accept e-mail from organizations that do not have reverse DNS records. If you want your users to be able to send e-mail to these systems, be sure to create a reverse DNS record. If your ISP manages your DNS records, your ISP must create this record for you. For more information about configuring DNS, see the Exchange Server 2003 Transport and Routing Guide.