Understanding Exchange 2010 Multi-Tenancy

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP2

With the multi-tenant support built in to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1), service providers that use Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) no longer need a solution like Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) to host multiple organizations. Multi-tenant support provides the core features of Exchange in a manner that can be deployed to multiple customers in a single installation and are easily manageable to end users.

The multi-tenant solution available for Exchange 2010 SP1 includes most of the features and functionality available in Exchange 2010 SP1 Enterprise deployments. However, this solution also includes features and functionality that will allow you to create and manage tenant organizations.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1 will form part of the suite of multi-tenant capable products that will replace the Hosted Messaging and Collaboration 4.5 solution.

What's Available in Exchange 2010 SP1 Multi-Tenant Deployments

The following features and functionality are unique to multi-tenant deployments:

  • Hosting installation   When you install Exchange 2010 SP1 for multi-tenant deployments, you will run the installation from the command line and include the /hosting switch. Once installed, your servers will be running in Hosting Mode.

  • Tenant organization configuration   Because you will be creating and managing multiple organizations in a multi-tenant deployment, you can use cmdlets and parameters that aren't available to Enterprise deployments. For more information, see Checklist: Create a Tenant Organization.

  • Service plans   A service plan allows you to enable or disable certain features when deploying tenant organizations. Service plans simplify tenant administration by automatically setting up feature configuration and by providing automatic feature provisioning of mailboxes. In addition, service plans allow you to grant the correct set of RBAC permissions to tenants based on available features.

  • Mailbox plans   A mailbox plan is a template that automatically populates multiple user properties and assigns default permissions to new or existing user accounts. Use mailbox plans to provision accounts for a particular user population with a common default configuration.

For more information, see Understanding Service Plans and Mailbox Plans.

What's Not Available in Exchange 2010 SP1 Hosting Mode

Exchange 2010 SP1 doesn't support the following features when running in Hosting Mode:

  • Exchange Management Console

  • Public Folders

  • Unified Messaging server role

  • Edge Transport server role

  • GalSync 2007

  • Active Directory Federated Services (AD FS)

  • Business-to-business features such as cross-premises message tracking and calendar sharing

  • Information Rights Management (IRM)

  • Outlook 2003 support (EnableLegacyOutlook)

  • Same-forest upgrade from Exchange 2007

  • Resource forest

  • Parent-child domains

  • Discontiguous namespace

  • Disjoint namespace

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