What is Microsoft Exchange Server?

Microsoft Exchange Server is calendaring software, a mail server and contact

manager developed by Microsoft. It is a server program that runs on Windows
Server and is part of the Microsoft Servers line of products.

Exchange Server 2013 Architecture

All the emails, calendar items, contacts and task these all first store in
exchange database then they forward it to the outlook client, so exchange
needs the database and an engine to help manage that database
Exchange uses ESE (Exchange Storage Engine) also known as JetBlue as a
database engine
It denotes the database file with .edb extension. .edb file is per database i.e
if we have more than one database then .edb file is one per database.
Every database has its own process and it does not interfere with another
database process unless that process and database is hacked.
Information store process i.e. Microsoft.Exchange.Store.Services.exe and
Microsoft.Exchange.Store.Worker.exe they are being completely
rewritten in C-Sharp for greater stability and allow each process to run under
its own process. So this new rewritten Information Store Process is called
Managed Store. It has FAST search integrated to it with better search and
indexing. Previously they were in the SharePoint and some other Microsoft
application.

Path Of Email In To The Database

When mail come to the mailbox server it first goes in to the Memory and
then it is written in to the transaction logs (Transaction logs are 1mb in size i.e. if
you have an email that is of 10mb in size it means that it has 10 transaction logs)
and then it is written in to the database (.edb file) when that database is free. So if
the database is busy and it is serving a lot of other request at that time then the
written from transaction logs to database is held (means waiting in a queue) until
that database is free to accept new request.
If at some point the transaction logs are not written in to database file or if
server goes down then a checkpoint is created for this purpose and all logs will be
written there and when the back server comes online it will first check the
checkpoint file look in to it and then that transaction logs update the database
Note: It is recommended to separate transaction logs from your database
file and store it on separate disk
Figure-1 of Exchange Admin Center Serverdatabase Database ID
Figure-2
C:/programfilesMicrosoftExchange
Database ID

Server Roles 2007/2010

ServerV15MailboxMailbox

Mailbox Role: Host your users mailboxes with mailbox database, also host public
folders
Client Access Roles: It is the connection point for all the users and their mailboxes
with internally and externally.
Hub Transport Role: Manage the flow of traffic of mailbox server for both
incoming and outgoing.
Unified Messaging: Provides universal inbox for voice mail, email etc.
Edge Transport Role: It is connected at the perimeter of the network to handle
anti-spam and antivirus protection and additional transport roles. Edge Transport
Server will not be a member server.

Server Roles in 2013

Mailbox Role: It includes

Mailbox Role
Unified Messaging Services (virtualization is supported in exchange 2013)
OWA(outlook web access), ActiveSync, Outlook Anywhere, RPC over HTTP
sessions
Hub Transport Services

Client Access Server: The Client Access Server (CAS) in 2013 is a proxy
connection to the mailbox server i.e. Connection from MS Outlook, OWA, mobile
devices, POP/IMAP and SMTP.
CAS Services: There are two services

Client Access Services

o
It provides Unified Namespace, authentication and
security
o Routes request to right mailbox server
o Redirect requests for Legacy Servers (old Exchange server
2007/2010)
Front End Transport Services
o Protocol Filtering
o Network Protection
o Locates the mailbox (determines the best mailbox server
to forward)

Edge Transport Server: It is still there in exchange 2013

Exchange 2013 Deployment and Pre-requisites

Exchange server 2003 cannot be transition to Exchange Server 2013. It

means that you have to buy new hardware and start the installation from
scratch, and also there is no support for Exchange Server 2003 to move
mailboxes to Exchange Server 2013

In Exchange Server 2007/2010 you can transition to Exchange Server 2013

i.e. transfer of mailboxes etc are supported. But there is condition to it. If your
Exchange Server 2007/2010 are with SP3 and update roll-up is installed on
Exchange Sever 2007/2010, because Exchange Server 2013 comes up with
SP3.

Hardware Requirement

Processors
o X-64 architecture based with Intel (or AMD Platform)
o Intel Itanium IA64 is not supported
Memory
o Mailbox 8GB minimum
o Client Access 4GB minimum
o Combination Mailbox/Client Access 8GB minimum
Disk Space
o 30GB required on drive.

Operating System Supported

Mailbox and Client Access Role

o Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter
o Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or Later
Management Tools
o Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter
o Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1
o Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or Later
o 64-bit Edition of Windows 8
o 64-bit Edition of Windows 7
Virtualization Point to Consider
o Virtualization is supported for Exchange Server 2013.
o Mailbox and Client Access both are supported in Exchange Server
2013.
o Use of approved vendors i.e. VMware Esxi, Citrix Xen, Hyper-V
(Microsoft) etc.
o Dont use the dynamic memory, because it is not supported for
Exchange Server 2013 and make sure that you use the right hardware.
o Mailbox role works well with iSCSI disks.
o Snapshots are not supported and migration technique also not
supported

Note:
iSCSI Disks

The Internet SCSI (iSCSI) protocol provides access to disk storage

Snapshots

Migration
Technique

systems across a TCP/IP network.

It is a current state of the system at a particular point of time i.e. if you
want to save the current setting of the system you take a snapshot of
that moment of the virtual machine.
Cannot Transfer virtual machine (Exchange Server) from one server to
another server.

Active Directory Preparation

Make sure your Active Directory (AD) Forest/Domain functional levels are at
least server 2003 i.e. in your environment if your Domain Controller is
configured on Windows 2000 Server then there is no support for Windows
2000 Server schema structure.
Every Active Directory site we deploy Exchange Server in must have at least
one domain controller and Global Catalog.
You need to prepare schema before or during the installation

Note:
Global
Catalogue
Schema

Global Catalogue provides the ability to locate the objects from

any domain name.
Schema is the actual structure behind the Active Directory in
terms of where objects are placed and the various attributes
that are added to those objects.

To find out whether your domain controller is a global catalogue server.

Figure
In every Exchange Server release Microsoft update the schema so thats why we
have to update schema to prepare itself. If your organization demands that you
have to update only schema first before the installation of Exchange Server 2013
then you have no choice and the solution is the command line. Some of the
command that we will use in Power Shell are below.
For preparing schema we will use the command
setup /prepareschema
When Installing the Exchange Server 2013 through wizard, if the wizard ask for
organization name then it indicates that there is a problem between the Exchange
Server and Active Directory connection. You can prepare the schema and active
directory together using the following command
setup /prepareAD /OrgranizationName:<Name of the organization name>
i.e. atiftuts.com
For preparing the domain we use the command
setup /prepareDomain
setup /prepareDomain:<FQDN of Domain Name> i.e. pc1.atiftuts.com
setup /prepareAllDomain i.e. For preparing all domains in the organization
Now you are thinking that if all these processes are done by wizard then why we
have to go through the command line. It depends upon your organization policies,
that if they said first you will prepare schema then you have no choice to come to
the command line and if your organization is large then its better to prepare these

ahead of time. I think thats enough for theory lets install the Exchange Server 2013
server.

Installation of Exchange
Server 2013

In this scenario I have used 2GB ram for Domain controller and 4GB ram for
Exchange Server 2013. We will use Windows Server 2012 R2 for this scenario.
First of all Exchanger Sever 2013 will be a member of a domain. So we will create a
domain with a name of atiftuts.com and we will configure DNS server for that
domain. Then we will create a member server for the installation of Exchange server
2013 and we will create its DNS record in domain atiftuts1.com.
1. First we will change the name of the computer for ease of configuration. For
that press WindowsRight click of My Computersee the bottom of the
screen there is Properties click on thatclick the Change Settingschange
buttonunder the Computer name Type DC1OkcloseReset

2. Turn off all the firewall. Press Windows + R and type wf.msc. it will open
the window of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. On the top there are
three tabs Public, Private, Domain. Turn off these three firewall.
3. Now go to the second machine change the name of the computer for ease of
configuration. For that press WindowsRight click on My Computersee the
bottom of the screen there is Properties click on thatclick the Change
Settingschange buttonunder the Computer name Type exchatiftuts1OkcloseReset
4. Turn off all the firewall. Press Windows + R and type wf.msc. it will open
the window of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. On the top there are
three tabs Public, Private, Domain. Turn off these three firewall.
5. Now goto DC1 machine and Press Windows + R and type ncpa.cpl. it will
open the Network Adapters. Double click on Ethernet adapters click on
Properties Double click on Tcp/ip4 type ip address of the machine
10.1.1.1 and press tab to auto-fill the subnet mask.
6. Now goto exch-atiftuts1 machine and Press Windows + R and type
ncpa.cpl. it will open the Network Adapters. Double click on Ethernet
adapters click on Properties Double click on Tcp/ip4 type ip address of
the machine 10.1.1.2 and press tab to auto-fill the subnet mask. In preferred
DNS type 10.1.1.1.
7. Go to DC1 machine and Press Windows + R and type cmd. For checking
that exch-atiftuts1 is in communication with DC1, so type ping 10.1.1.2.

8. Now that ping is successful go to DC1 machine Server manager click

on Manage at the top of the screen click on add roles and features
Next Choose role based or feature base installation Next Choose
the Select the server from the server Pool Next Choose Active
Directory Domain Services click on Add Feature Next Leave it as

default Next Next Next Check the Restart the Server

automatically click on YES click on install.

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13
9. Now you can see there is a exclamation mark on the top right of the screen
click on it Promote this server to Domain Controller Add New
Forest Root domain name : atiftuts1.com Next Password: abc@123
Confirm Password: abc@123 Next Next Next Next Next Install
It will restart automatically.

Figure 14

Figure 15

Figure 16

Figure 17

Figure
18

Figure 19

Figure 20

Figure 21
10.After that you have to login as atiftuts1.com administrator. So when the login
page comes press Cntrl + Alt + Del Click on the Back Arrow Choose
Other user Username : administrator@atiftuts1.com Password: abc@123
Press Enter.
11.Now the domain is created. The next step is to make exch-atiftuts1 to make
a member server of atiftuts1.com. So for that go to exch-atiftuts1 press
WindowsRight click of My Computersee the bottom of the screen there is
Properties click on thatclick the Change Settingschange buttonunder
the Domain Name atiftuts1.comOk it will prompt you for Domain
username and password. Username: administrator Password: abc@123
OKok (Figure 22)

Figure 23

Figure 24
It will prompt for restart. Restart the machine and then login as atiftuts1.com
administrator.

DNS Configuration
1. Open DC1 machine and press Windows + R and write Dnsmgmt.msc to open
DNS manager right click on the Reverse Lookup Zone and click New Zone. A
wizard will appear click Next Next Next Next Next here type in
Network ID : 10.1.1 Next Check the Option Allow both nonsecure and

secure dynamic updates Next Finish

Figure 25

Figure 26

Figure
27

Figure
28

Figure 29

Figure 30

Figure
31

Figure 32
2. In Reverse Lookup Zones Right click New Point Ptr In host ip address
type 10.1.1.1 and click on browse Double click on DC1 Double click on

Forward Lookup Zone Double click on atiftuts1.com Double click on dc1

and then click OK

Figure 33
3. Now check the DNS through nslookup command. Press Windows + R and type
nslookup, make sure it will show you like this.

Figure 34

4. Now repeat the above step no 2 for exch-atiftuts1 machine. In Reverse

Lookup Zones Right click New Pointer Ptr In host ip address type
10.1.1.2 and click on browse Double click on exch-atiftuts1 Double
click on Forward Lookup Zone Double click on atiftuts1.com Double
click on exch-atiftuts1 and then click OK. Now check the DNS for exchatiftuts1 machine. Go to exch-atiftuts1 and press Windows + R and type
nslookup, it will show you the same result as mentioned in step no 3. If the
same result are appearing uncheck the IPV6 version in the network adapter
and check the preferred dns ip address.
Now our systems are ready for the Installation of Exchange Server 2013. So lets
start it.

Prerequisites and Installation of Exchanger Server 2013

1. Now run this command in Power Shell
Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS
It will prompt you for that windows update is off turn it on, ignore it.
2. In our case we want to install both mailbox and client access role, so run this

command in powershell
Install-WindowsFeature AS-HTTP-Activation, Desktop-Experience, NETFramework-45-Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSATClustering-CmdInterface, RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-ClusteringPowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, WebBasic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, WebDyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect,
Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-MgmtConsole, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-NetExt45, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, WebStatic-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation

3. Now you have to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2

4. Next install the Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 4.0, Core
Runtime 64-bit.
5. I have mounted the ISO of Exchange Server 2013 setup.
6. In Powershell go to that mounted drive and use its setup file like this
.\setup /prepareschema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Figure 35

7. Now run the command

.\setup /prepareAD /OrganizationName:atiftuts1
/IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Figure 36

8. Now run the command

.\setup /preparedomain /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Figure 37

9. Now run the setup.exe by double click in mounted drive. A wizard will open
check the option Dont Check for updates right now and click Next.
Figure 38

10.It will do some process, after that click Next.

Figure 39
11.Click I accept the license agreement and click Next.
12.Click on dont use the recommended setting and click Next.
13.Check the box of Mailbox and Client Access and click Next.

Figure 40
14.
Click Next.

15.it will ask for malware settings disable it.

Figure 41
16.Ignore the messages and click install.

Figure 42
17.Check the Launch Exchange Administration Center After Finishing
Exchange Setup and click Finish

Figure 43
18.After click finish it will prompt you to add this site for security reasons just
click add and close it and you will see Exchange Admin Center (EAC) in
front of you. Just enter the domain name \ username and password in it.
Domain Name \ Username
:
atiftuts1.com\administrator
Password
:
abc@123

Figure 44

Figure 45
19.Now restart the exch-atiftuts1 machine to take effects. You can access EAC
by typing in browser address bar https://exch-atiftuts1/ecp and put
username and password. This time when you enter in the EAC (it will take
some time to load) it will ask for language and home time zone put the
home time zone and language, but we are using the defaults and click Save.

Management Tools

Exchange Management Shell

Exchange Management Shell is built upon power shell. Power shell is both a
command line tool as well as scripting platform. Powershell in our case (Exchange
Server) it is a powerful way to accomplish so much using a little as one line of code.
Now that code is not super complicated, we dont have to become programmers or
developer in order to use the powershell. It is so easy to use in comparison with
other methods that we used to have used in the past, in order to get the same data
coming our way.

Exchange Server 2013 requires the power shell v3 which is the latest release
of power shell.
Power shell commands are built using cmdlets (pronounce as command-lets)
and it has a very simple structure
Through power shell commands you can manage every aspect of Exchange
Server 2013.

But there are certain things that can be done through the Exchange
Management Console (EMS), but not with Exchange Admin Center (EAC). EMS is
underlying behind the EAC, when you ask for the new recipient to be created
through EAC what really happen in the background is a powershell command is
run, so that new recipient can be created. So what we do in EAC it is ultimately
converted in to a powershell command, it is actually the powershell command
that performs the task you as in EAC. So logically the powershell command is
more powerful. In powershell you have more flexibility and more option. EAC is
designed to bit around the most common management task that administrator
would typically like to perform i.e. creating a recipient, creating a database,
deleting a database etc. things of that sort. So there can only be one method to
do in EAC but if you if you know the underlying powershell commands to really
then the options are limitless. Learning powershell is not an option if you are
working with exchange, it is a necessity.
Command-lets
What is command-lets? Command-lets follow a very simple verb-noun
structure. Common verbs used in cmdlets are :
Get, set , remove, test, enable, disable, install, Uninstall, New and Move
Good example of cmdlets is Get-Service

Command Line

Console Name

AdRmsAdmin.msc

Active Directory Rights Management Services

Adsiedit.msc

ADSI Edit

Azman.msc

Authorization Manager

Certmgr.msc

Certmgr (Certificates)

Certtmpl.msc

Certificates Template Console

CluAdmin.msc

Failover Cluster Management

Comexp.msc

Component Services

Compmgmt.msc

Computer Management

Devmgmt.msc

Device Manager

Dfsmgmt.msc

DFS Management

Dhcpmgmt.msc

DHCP Manager

Diskmgmt.msc

Disk Management

Dnsmgmt.msc

DNS Manager

Domain.msc

Active Directory Domains And Trusts

Dsa.msc

Active Directory Users And Computers

Dssite.msc

Active Directory Sites And Services

Eventvwr.msc

Event Viewer

Fsmgmt.msc

Shared Folders

Fsrm.msc

File Server Resource Manager

Fxsadmin.msc

Microsoft Fax Service Manager

Gpedit.msc

Local Group Policy Editor

Lusrmgr.msc

Local Users And Groups

Napclcfg.msc

NAP Client Configuration

Nfsmgmt.msc

Services For Network File System

Nps.msc

Network Policy Server

Ocsp.msc

Online Responder

Perfmon.msc

Reliability And Performance Monitor

Pkiview.msc

Enterprise PKI

Printmanagement.msc

Print Management

Remoteprograms.msc

TS RemoteApp Management

Rsop.msc

Resultant Set of Policy

Secpol.msc

Local Security Policy

ServerManager.msc

Server Manager

StorageMgmt.msc

Share And Storage Management

Services.msc

Services

StorExpl.msc

Storage Explorer

Tapimgmt.msc

Telephony

Taskschd.msc

Task Scheduler

Tmp.msc

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Management

Tsadmin.msc

Terminal Services Management

Tsconfig.msc

Terminal Services Configuration

Tsgateway.msc

TS Gateway Manager

Tsmmc.msc

Remote Desktops

Uddi.msc

UDDI Services Console

Wbadmin.msc

Windows Server Backup

Wdsmgmt.msc

Windows Deployment Services

Winsmgmt.msc

WINS Manager

WmiMgmt.msc

WMI Control