Chapter 4. Installing Exchange Server 2007

I commend those of you who have exercised great self-restraint by not installing Exchange 2007 before you read this book in its entirety, but please don't deprive yourself. Find a ×64 version of Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 and feel free to run through a default installation in your lab environment right now without further instruction. Go ahead — I'll make a cup of coffee...

You may have noticed that aside from requiring a ×64 operating system and some software prerequisites like .NET 2.0 and PowerShell 1.0, the installation is at first blush very straightforward: a dozen or so Next buttons, the name of your Exchange organization, and some client compatibility questions. And because you're reading this, you probably have also come to the conclusion that a default installation of Exchange is far different than installing Exchange correctly.

This chapter will focus on the terminology, concepts, and procedures necessary to tailor a successful Exchange 2007 installation plan for your needs. For the most part, I am going to ignore the possibility that you already have Exchange 2000/2003 in your environment and assume you are performing a clean installation. Don't worry, though, I will come back to this topic in Chapter 5, "Performing an Intra-Organization Migration." In this chapter, I will cover the following topics:

  • Steps to get started

  • Selecting server roles

  • Choosing hardware

  • Installing Exchange Server 2007

  • Post-installation ...

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