Datasheet
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Chapter 1
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Preparing for the Exchange Installation
Exchange organization cannot span multiple forests but can span multiple domains within
a single forest.
Domain Name Service (DNS)
For Active Directory and Exchange Server 2007 to function, DNS must be properly func-
tioning in your organization. Outlook Web Access, SMTP connectivity, and Internet con-
nectivity all rely on DNS.
Active Directory is often called a namespace, which is similar to the directory service
in earlier versions of Exchange and means any bounded area in which a given name can be
resolved. The DNS name creates a namespace for a tree or forest, such as wiley.com. All
child domains of wileypublishing.com, such as sales.wiley.com, share the root namespace.
In Exchange Server 2007, Active Directory forms a namespace in which the name of an
object in the directory can be resolved to the object. All domains that have a common root
domain form a contiguous namespace. This means the domain name of a child domain is
the child domain name appended to the name of the parent domain.
In Active Directory, a DNS domain name such as exchangeexchange.local does not
directly affect the email addresses for Exchange users created in that domain. Although
a user’s logon name might be user@exchangeexchange.local, you can control how email
addresses are generated using email-address-generation policies in the Exchange Manage-
ment Console.
Active Directory Partitions
Although you’ve examined briefly already how Exchange Server 2007 uses the different
Active Directory partitions, you’ll dig a bit deeper in this section. Recall that there can be
only one Exchange Server organization within an entire forest. Specific examples of how
Exchange Server 2007 uses these Active Directory partitions include the following:
The configuration partition stores all configuration information about the Exchange
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organization. This information includes items such as recipient policies, address lists,
and Exchange settings. The configuration partition is replicated to every domain con-
troller in the forest; therefore, this critical Exchange configuration information is avail-
able to every domain user irrespective of which domain holds their user account.
The domain partition stores information about the basic blocks of Exchange Server:
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its recipient objects. Recipient objects include the users, contacts, and groups that have
configured email addresses. We’ll go into great depth about configuring and managing
recipients in Chapter 5, “Working with Recipients, Groups, and Mailboxes.”
The schema partition is modified by the Exchange Server 2007 setup routine to add
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attributes to existing objects, such as users and groups. Additionally, the schema is
extended to include Exchange Server–specific objects that are required for Exchange
Server to function properly. We’ll cover modifying the schema to support the installa-
tion of Exchange Server 2007 in Chapter 2, “Installing Exchange Server 2007.”