I have been messing around with the installation of Exchange 2010 RC on Windows 2008 R2.  I chose to go with Windows 2008 RC since it already has more of the things needed to install Exchange like the right version of PowerShell and the .NET framework.  To make my lab installs go faster I have been creating PowerShell scripts to automatic everything from the installation of the required roles and features to the installation of Exchange 2010 as well.  Below you will find some snippets from some of the scripts.  Of course the standard disclaimer applies.

The header:

# ----- # # Script by Gerod Serafin - gerod dot serafin at microsoft dot com # To run this script you will need to set the your execution policy to # unrestricted using: # Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted # After the reboot of the server it will be set back to RemoteSigned. # # You may want to download and run the 2007 Office System Converter: # Microsoft Filter Pack # http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123380 # -----

The installation of the link above is so that the indexer can index certain files.

The following is needed for all Exchange installs since we are not using the old way (Windows 2008) of adding roles and features and are using PowerShell instead.

#Since we are not going to use ServerManagerCmd for this #install we will need to add the Server Manager Module first on all installs. Import-module servermanager

If this is the first time you have run Exchange 2010 setup, you will need to prepare the AD.  Before you can do that you will need to install the AD tools.  After running that a reboot may be necessary.  I have commented it out as I may want to see the results of the install.

#-----------START PREPARE AD NEEDS------------------------------------ #For a server that you have not done any Exchange 2010 prep #you will need to do a /preparead.  Before you do that you #will need to install the AD remote management tools. #Uncomment below for that add-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS #Since this will probably require a reboot, you would need to run the #following: #restart-computer #-----------END PREPARE AD NEEDS------------------------------------

The next part does the AD preparation.

If your forest and domain is all prepared then you are ready to install the Hub and CAS role.  Since I wanted to get a DAG up and running I put these two roles on their own machine and put the mailbox role on two other machines.  The following will install the Features and Roles needed.

#------------START HUB and CAS INSTALL NEEDS-------------------------- #To install a Hub Transport Role on a CAS server, we would need to install #the following components: #Net-Framework #Web-Server #WEB-ISAPI-Ext #Web-Metabase #Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console #Web-Basic-Auth #Web-Digest-Auth #Web-Windows-Auth #Web-Dyn-Compression #NET-HTTP-Activation #RPC-over-HTTP-Proxy #Uncomment below for that (If not all on one line, make it so it is…) add-WindowsFeature Net-Framework,Web-Server,WEB-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Metabase,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-over-HTTP-Proxy #The following service must be set to automatic set-service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType automatic #------------------END HUB and CAS INSTALL NEEDS-----------------------------

Now that the server has what it needs, let’s install the Exchange portion for the Hub and CAS.

#------------START HUB and CAS INSTALL -------------------------- #Since I have an ISO of the #Exchange 2010 RC on the D drive I change to the that drive first d: .\setup.com /m:install /r:H,C #A restart will be required.  Uncomment below if you want this to happen #automatically. #restart-computer #------------END HUB and CAS INSTALL --------------------------

Now that we have a Hub and CAS role installed, let’s get some mailbox server installed on a different server.

#------------START MAILBOX ONLY INSTALL NEEDS-------------------------- #To install a Mailbox server, we would need to install the following #components: #Net-Framework #Web-Server #Web-Metabase #Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console #Web-Basic-Auth #Web-Windows-Auth #Uncomment below for that.  (If not all on one line, make it so it is…) #add-WindowsFeature Net-Framework,Web-Server,Web-Metabase,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth #------------END MAILBOX ONLY INSTALL NEEDS--------------------------

Now we are ready to install the Exchange portion of the mailbox role install.

#------------START MAILBOX ONLY INSTALL -------------------------- #Since I have an ISO of the #Exchange 2010 RC on the D drive I change to the that drive first d: .\setup.com /m:install /r:mailbox #A restart will be required.  Uncomment below if you want this to happen #automatically. #restart-computer #------------END MAILBOX ONLY INSTALL --------------------------

Hopefully this is useful to you. 

I mentioned in my last post that customers will be able to upgrade from the Release Candidate (RC) of Exchange Server 2010 to the final Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version.  This was taken from the Exchange team’s mention of this here.  Since then there has been some questions about what this means.  Does it mean that you can install the RC version in production and still be supported?

To answer that you need to look at the EULA included in the RC.  This is a legal document and I am not a lawyer.  Because of that I will only paste some of the key points that I found in it so that you can see the answer.  The English version of the EULA can be found at setup\serverroles\common\eula\en\license.htm.  There you will find the following in part:

So…  In short, please don’t run the RC in your production environment.  If you were to have any issues and needed support from Microsoft, you would be in a tough situation that you may not like.  We have programs such as the Technology Adoption Program (TAP) program where we support customers who run non-final code in their production environment, but those customers are early-adopters who have another agreement that permits the support of their environment.

Hopefully that answers your questions.  Now get back to playing with Exchange 2010 (in your lab)!

Today we announced that Exchange Server 2010 Release Candidate (RC) is available for download at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c6d27da1-ba2c-4570-a491-c0d7b39ede8b&displaylang=en 

(This link works...)

Some things to note:

· This version will coexist with Exchange 2003 and 2007.  In order to coexist with Exchange 2007 you will need the Exchange 2007 SP2 which will be released soon (later this month).

· You can do an in place upgrade from the RC version to the final (RTM) version.

· To see what is new in Exchange 2010 you can go here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298136(EXCHG.140).aspx

· Exchange 2010 can be installed on Windows 2008 SP2 or Windows 2008 R2.

Finally.  Exchange 14 is now officially Exchange 2010.  Learn more at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/2010/default.aspx.

To return to part 1 click here

Transport

POP3 and IMAP4

In Exchange 2003, POP3 and IMAP4 were both receive-only protocols that enabled a client to receive e-mail. To send e-mail, these clients had to relay SMTP traffic through the Exchange organization.

Below you can see that the IMAP Virtual Server is disabled.

The default properties of the IMAP4 Virtual Server…

To enable the protocol on the users you would use the Exchange Task Wizard.

In Exchange 2007, every Hub Transport server has a default client Receive connector that allows authenticated POP3 and IMAP4 users to relay SMTP e-mail through the Hub Transport server. You must specifically enable POP3 or IMAP4 access for clients.

The protocols are listed on the CAS servers.

Here are some of the default properties on IMAP4.

You can enable IMAP4 and POP3 on the mailboxes from within the Exchange Messaging Console.

More information on configuration can be found at the links below:

How to Set Connection Limits for IMAP4

How to Configure Authentication for IMAP4

How to Set Connection Limits for POP3

How to Configure Authentication for POP3

Securing message transmission by using Transport Layer Security (TLS)

In Exchange 2003, if you required TLS for inbound connections you configured the authentication settings on a virtual server. You accessed the virtual server properties, and then selected a check box to require SSL/TLS on the Access and Authentication settings page.

In Exchange 2007, you configure TLS on a Receive connector by specifying TLS as an available authentication mechanism. However, you need to have an X.509 certificate installed on the Exchange server. For more information see Receive Connectors.

You could also set this using :

Set-ReceiveConnector -Identity ReceiveConnectorId -AuthMechanism Tls

Next:  I think that is it.  Hopefully you found this useful.  It took so long to do this, I could start on Exchange 14.  Hmmm.