After
Active Directory and the physical OS has been chosen and deployed, the
Exchange Server infrastructure can be set up and optimized for the
specific needs of the organization. With these needs in mind, you can do
several things to optimize an Exchange Server 2010 setup, as detailed
in the following sections.
Determining the Exchange Server Version
When installing
Exchange Server, the choice of Exchange Server version needs to be made.
As with Windows Server 2008, there are two versions of Exchange Server,
Standard and Enterprise. The Standard Edition enables all Exchange
Server 2010 functionality except it does not enable for more than five
mailbox databases on a server.
Determining Exchange Server Database Layout
As previously
mentioned, the Enterprise Edition of Exchange Server enables the concept
of multiple databases, up to a maximum of 150. This enables a greater
amount of design freedom and gives administrators more flexibility. This
type of flexibility is even more important when designing
infrastructures that include multiple copies of a single database.
Outlining Exchange Server Recovery Options
Deploying
Exchange Server requires considerable thought about backup and recovery
solutions. Because Exchange Server is a live, active database, special
considerations need to be taken into account when designing the backup
strategy for email.
Microsoft
designed Exchange Server 2010 to use the backup application programming
interfaces (APIs) from Windows Server 2008. These APIs support the
Volume Shadow Copy Service, which enables Exchange Server databases to
be backed up through creation of a “shadow copy” of the entire disk at
the beginning of the backup. The shadow copy is then used for the
backup, so that the production disk is not affected.
Note
The Windows Server
2003/2008 backup utility can be used to back up Exchange Server using
the traditional online backup approach. Volume Shadow Copy requires a
third-party solution that has been written to support the Windows Server
2003/2008 backup and restore APIs. Microsoft also offers enterprise
Exchange Server backup using the System Center Data Protection Manager
(DPM) product.
Considering Exchange Server Antivirus and Antispam Design
Viruses are a major
problem for all organizations today. Email is especially vulnerable
because it is typically unauthenticated and insecure. Consequently,
design of an Exchange Server implementation should include consideration
for antivirus options.
Exchange
Server 2010 enhances the Virus Scanning Application Programming
Interface (VSAPI) that was introduced in Exchange 2000 Server and
improved in Exchange Server 2003 and 2007. The enhanced VSAPI engine
enables quarantine of email messages, as opposed to simply attachments,
and enables virus scanning on gateway servers. Third-party virus
products can be written to tie directly into the new VSAPI and use its
functionality.
Spam,
unsolicited email, has become another major headache for most
organizations. In response to this, Exchange Server 2010 has some
built-in antispam functionality that enables email messages to contain a
spam rating. This helps determine which emails are legitimate, and can
be used by third-party antispam products as well.
Monitoring Exchange Server
Email services are
required in many organizations. The expectations of uptime and
reliability are increasing, and end users are beginning to expect email
to be as available as phone service. Therefore, the ability to monitor
Exchange Server events, alerts, and performance data is optimal.
Exchange Server 2010
is an organism with multiple components, each busy processing tasks,
writing to event logs, and running optimization routines. You can
monitor Exchange Server using one of several methods, the most optimal
being System Center Operations Manager 2007 (previously named Microsoft
Operations Manager or MOM). SCOM 2007 is essentially a monitoring,
alerting, and reporting product that gathers event information and
performance data, and generates reports about Microsoft servers. An Exchange
Server-specific management pack for SCOM contains hundreds of
prepackaged counters and events for Exchange Server 2010. Use of the
management pack is ideal in midsize and larger environments to
proactively monitor Exchange Server.
Although close
monitoring of multiple Exchange servers is best supported through the
use of SCOM, this might not be the most ideal approach for smaller
organizations because SCOM is geared toward medium and large
organizations. Exchange Server monitoring for small organizations can be
accomplished through old-fashioned approaches, such as manual reviews
of event log information, performance counters using perfmon, and simple
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) utilities to monitor uptime.
