Deploying a Standard Exchange Organization

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

If you are deploying a standard Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 organization, you can use this topic to guide you through the planning and deployment information you will need to deploy Exchange. This topic includes links to the relevant information for a typical standard Exchange organization.

For information about deploying a simple Exchange organization, see Deploying a Simple Exchange Organization.

For information about deploying a large Exchange organization, see Deploying a Large Exchange Organization.

For information about deploying a complex Exchange organization, see Deploying a Complex Exchange Organization.

Of the four defined organizational models for Exchange 2007, the standard Exchange organization represents the most common topology into which Exchange 2007 is deployed. As messaging service needs grow beyond the resource limits of a single computer, separation of Exchange 2007 services onto multiple computers becomes the next topological division: the standard Exchange organization. The standard Exchange organization builds upon the simple Exchange organization by deploying multiple computers running Exchange.

Note

For more information about the simple Exchange organization, see Planning for a Simple Exchange Organization.

Unlike the simple Exchange organization, in which all Exchange server roles and services (except for the Edge Transport server role) are installed on a single computer, the distinguishing characteristic of the standard Exchange organization is that Exchange services are installed on multiple computers. In this topology, Exchange Server is not installed on a directory server, and it may be installed on multiple member servers. In this case, adequate directory service resources must be available to meet the needs of the messaging system. Other distinguishing characteristics of the standard Exchange organization include:

  • The Service Delivery Location (SDL) and Client Service Location (CSL) reside on the same local area network (LAN).

  • There are more than 1,000 mailboxes in the organization.

  • There are fewer than five routing groups, and between one and five Active Directory directory service sites. Multiple locations and Active Directory sites introduce the multi-site routing protocol and role discovery algorithms, as well as a requirement to use IP site links.

    Note

    Multiple routing groups will only exist in a standard Exchange organization that includes Exchange 2007 and either Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server, or both Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2000. In a pure Exchange 2007 environment, all servers belong to a single routing group.

  • There is a single Active Directory forest. We recommend the single-forest Exchange design because it offers the richest set of mail system features and has the most streamlined administrative model. Because all resources are contained in a single forest, a single global address list (GAL) contains all users across the forest. The main disadvantage associated with this option is that administrators must determine how to share or divide responsibilities for managing Active Directory and Exchange objects. The introduction of a second or subsequent forest automatically redefines the topology as a complex Exchange organization.

For a detailed description of the standard Exchange organization, see Planning for a Standard Exchange Organization.

What's New

Before you start the actual planning phase of your deployment, you should understand the new features of Exchange 2007 so that you can choose which features to deploy in your organization. The following topics describe the new features that are important for a standard Exchange organization:

Planning

Before installing Exchange 2007, it is important that you plan your Exchange organization carefully. The following topics will guide you through the planning process for a standard Exchange organization:

Deployment

After planning your Exchange organization, you are ready to deploy. There are three phases of deployment: preparation, installation, and post-installation. The following topics will guide you through the preparation phase:

The following topics will guide you through the installation phase:

The following topics will guide you through the post-installation phase: