Learning about the services Exchange 2007 installs?

Ehlo All,

Quick question. The "Microsoft Exchange File Distribution" Service gets installed on which Exchange Server 2007 roles? The answer is Client Access and Unified Messaging server roles. This Microsoft TechNet article that explains all the services installed by Exchange setup for 2007 which can help in case of troubleshooting. If an issue occurs, you'll know where to look first which can be helpful since there are 21 services that Exchange installs depending on the server role. That's a lot services. This article can help you understand them.

-Ben

Article - Domain Controllers are critical to Exchange, Know Which DC is Used for Communication

Hello All,

A working Active Directory foundation is required for Exchange Server, so have you ever wondered which Domain Controller (DC) was being used by your Exchange Server. Now you can. Read on if you're interested.

I recently read an article about how Exchange Server knows what Active Directory servers are available. For Exchange 2000, 2003, and 2007, the answer lies with an Exchange process called "Directory Services Access", aka DSAccess. It polls all DC every 15 minutes and makes optimizations based on the results. You can read the summary article here (via SearchExchange.org) or a full detailed technical article here (via MSExchange.org) or another one from SearchExchage.org here. Start with the summary, and then the technical articles.

Tidbit - Under 2000 and 2003, DSAccess ran under the Exchange service called System Attendant. Exchange 2007 changed that, and now it runs under a separate Windows service running on your Exchange Servers called "Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology Service".

Until next time... may your email flow well.
-Ben

Virtualization and Exchange - It's Microsoft Supported and Works Well!

Ehlo All,

Sadly, there is a LOT of marketing non-truths (aka lies) being spread about Virtualization and Exchange Server (e.g. it doesn't work, Microsoft won't support it, bad performance, etc). I was so tired of hearing this, I finally decided to give a presentation at the NY Exchange Server User Group Meeting this past week that discussed an intro to virtualization and Exchange and exactly what is supported (Exchange 2003 & 2007 is VM supported, VMware ESX and Exchange 2007 SP1 is supported, and much more). My Exchange environment is fully Microsoft PSS (Professional Support Services) supported since it's Exchange 2007 SP2, Windows 2008, and VMware ESX 3.5 U2. Amazing, I know. I've included the topics presented in the evening, and feel free to spend sometime reading through PDF. I've included referenced footnotes as well.

Presentation Topics
- intro to virtualization
- pro's / con's of virtualization
- what servers work with virtualization
- Microsoft's Exchange Support Policy explained in detail
- different Exchange version support
- VM performance comparison to old school hardware deployments (and yes, it's old school)
- why virtualization is more important than performance
- what Exchange Server really needs

Review the September 8, 2009 NYExUG presentation by Ben Serebin, and post any questions you have on the blog and I'll happily answer them.

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QUIT