Datasheet
Evaluating and Recommending Active Directory Configuration
7
Active Directory Requirements
For Exchange Server 2007 there are several requirements that Active Directory and domains
must meet. Consider the following when evaluating your current Active Directory design:
The server on which the Schema Master role runs must have at least Windows Server
2003 SP1 installed.
You need to run Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later on global catalog servers in every
Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange Server 2007. I recommend that
you upgrade all your domain controllers to prevent any problems.
All domains that will include Exchange Server 2007 servers or recipients must have an
Active Directory domain functional level Windows 2000 Server Native or higher; Win-
dows Server 2003 functional level is recommended.
Windows Server 2008 (formerly code-named Longhorn) is supported only with
Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 or later. You cannot install Exchange
Server 2007 in any AD site that contains Windows Server 2008 domain control-
lers, nor can you install it on a Windows 2008 member server!
Preparing Your Active Directory and Domains
This section walks through the steps required to prepare your Active Directory and domains
to run Exchange Server 2007.
Preparing the Schema Only
If you need to extend the schema of your Active Directory
separately
from the Exchange
Server 2007 installation, you can run the following from a command prompt from the
Exchange Server 2007 setup directory:
Setup /PrepareSchema
. Especially in larger orga-
nizations where Active Directory and Exchange administration are separated, you will need
to plan well ahead to do this.
You must be a member of the Schema Admins group and the Enterprise Admins group and run
the
/PrepareSchema
command on the server that is in the same Active Directory domain ad site
as the Schema Master role. I strongly recommend doing this directly on your Schema Master server.
However, this command is not needed, as it is part of the Preparing Active Directory
switch
/PrepareAD
.
Preparing Your Active Directory
To prepare your Active Directory for Exchange Server 2007, you must run the following com-
mand:
Setup /PrepareAD
. Please consider the following when running this command:
You need to run it on a server in the root domain.
You must be a member of the Enterprise Admins group, and if the schema also needs to
be extended you also need to be part of the Schema Admins group.
If you have Exchange Server 2003 servers, you must have Exchange Full Administrator
permissions.
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