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The Exchange 2010 Hosting installation detects whether Active Directory has been prepared without the Hosting option

[This topic is intended to address a specific issue called out by the Exchange Server Analyzer Tool. You should apply it only to systems that have had the Exchange Server Analyzer Tool run against them and are experiencing that specific issue. The Exchange Server Analyzer Tool, available as a free download, remotely collects configuration data from each server in the topology and automatically analyzes the data. The resulting report details important configuration issues, potential problems, and nondefault product settings. By following these recommendations, you can achieve better performance, scalability, reliability, and uptime. For more information about the tool or to download the latest versions, see "Microsoft Exchange Analyzers" at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=34707.]  

Topic Last Modified: 2010-06-25

When Microsoft® Exchange 2010 Setup is started by using the /Hosting option, Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer examines the Active Directory directory service to determine whether Active Directory has been prepared for a hosting Exchange environment.

Specifically, the Analyzer tool performs the following examinations:

  • It determines whether the Microsoft Exchange container is present in the Configuration container in Active Directory. If the Microsoft Exchange container exists, Active Directory is prepared for Exchange.

  • It determines whether a ConfigurationUnits container is present in the Microsoft Exchange container. The ConfigurationUnits container appears when Active Directory is prepared for hosting.

If the ConfigurationUnits container is not present in the Microsoft Exchange container, the hosting installation is unsuccessful.

To prepare Active Directory for Exchange 2010 hosting, you must run the following command:

Setup.com /PrepareAD /Hosting

If Active Directory has been prepared for Exchange but not for hosting, you must perform the following actions:

  1. Remove any objects in the following containers:

    • CN=Microsoft Exchange/CN=Services

    • CN=Microsoft Exchange/CN=ConfigurationUnits

  2. Run the Setup.com /PrepareAD /Hosting command.

  3. Restart Setup by using the /Hosting option.

View the Microsoft Exchange container in Active Directory

  1. On a domain controller, click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.

  2. Expand the Configuration container.

  3. Expand CN=Configuration,DC=Contoso,DC=com.

  4. Expand CN=Services.

  5. Expand CN=Microsoft Exchange.

For More Information

For more information about how to prepare Active Directory, see Prepare Active Directory and Domains.