Datasheet
Preparing the Infrastructure for Exchange Server 2007 Deployment
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The Active Directory domain that Exchange will be installed into or that contains Exchange
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recipients should use at least the Windows 2000 Server native domain functional level.
All Exchange Server 5.5 computers must be removed from the domain and the
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Exchange organization must be set to Exchange 2000 native mode.
Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 do not support
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renaming of the Active Directory domain. If you are considering performing a domain
rename, you must do so before deploying Exchange Server 2007.
Any Exchange 2000 servers and machines with the Exchange 2000 management tools
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installed in the environment must have the latest post–Service Pack 3 rollup applied.
Any Exchange Server 2003 computers and machines with the Exchange 2003 manage-
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ment tools installed must have Service Pack 2 applied.
Be sure that you have verified that your backup, file-level antivirus, third-party mobile
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messaging, and alert monitoring systems will support Exchange Server 2007.
Planning an Active Directory Deployment
If you are planning a completely new Active Directory deployment for your organization,
then you should be certain to place domain controllers and global catalog servers in loca-
tions that make sense for how your company is organized and how it operates. When
planning how and where to locate these key servers in your Active Directory environ-
ment, there is no absolute answer that works for all scenarios. The saying “the more, the
better” is not necessarily true, especially if replication over slow WAN links becomes too
much for those links to handle. Conversely, saying “less is more” is almost always untrue
when it comes to implementing a solid Active Directory infrastructure. Remember, this
will be the foundation of your entire network, so you should take however long you need
to get it right the first time.
These are a few general guidelines you should keep in mind as you’re working in different
scenarios:
Every domain in the Active Directory forest should have at least two domain control-
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lers. This is for both client load balancing and disaster recovery in case one domain
controller should fail.
You should place additional domain controllers in domains as organizational struc-
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tures (such as physical location or client groupings) dictate.
You should be aware that additional domain controllers will cause additional replica-
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tion traffic, which can be problematic for intersite replication across slow WAN links.
Every Active Directory site must have at least one domain controller and that one
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domain controller must be configured as a global catalog if Exchange servers or
users are in that site.