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Monday, March 15, 2010
Migrating to Exchange 2010 Part 1: Preparing your Exchange environment
By Ismail Mohammed
Thinking about migrating to Exchange 2010? Wondering what you need to do to get your environment prepped for the big leap? This article series will teach you everything you need to know before upgrading to 2010.
In Part 1 of this series, you will receive step-by-step instructions for utilizing the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant – a very helpful pre-installation utility from Microsoft that will ensure you are ready to migrate your messaging platform. This tool will be used during the pre-deployment phase to ensure that you are considering all necessary factors before installing Exchange 2010 Server. These points of consideration include Active Directory Prerequisite concerns, Operating System requirements, Firewall Rules, Certificate Configurations and Server side prerequisites.
Why do I need the Deployment Assistant?
The reasoning behind the use of this tool is very simple. Sometimes the implementer or designer forgets the basic requirements needed for achieving successful implementations. If such requirements are left unattended, the implementer could waste his or her time trying to identify the root cause of the problem – a process which can turn into a major task.
How does it work?
The Exchange Server 2010 Deployment Assistant is an advanced version of the Exchange 2003 setup.htm file. Exchange 2003 setup.htm file is server level html, and provides instructions for how to complete the prerequisites for the installation of Exchange 2003. By adopting this URL-based tool, you are not only taking care of prerequisites on the server side, but you are also looking into Active Directory prerequisites as well. Plus, it will teach you how to implement additional configurations based on the Exchange Server Role, like how to install Exchange Server Role, finalize Certificate configuration details and the Help file as well.
The primary advantage of this tool is that it does not force you to go through thousands of pages to cross-check the basic prerequisites. Moreover, it reduces the risks of human error. Since this is purely a URL-based tool, simple click the link below – no installation is required.
Click here
This tool has been created based on the following scenarios, including:
- Upgrade from Exchange 2003
- Upgrade from Exchange 2007
- Upgrade from Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007
- New Installation of Exchange 2010
Figure 1:
When you click on any of the options, it will take you to a series of questions. For our tutorial, let us assume that I want to do a new installation of Exchange Server 2010, so I will simply click on New Installation of Exchange 2010. Now it will display the set of questions, such as:
- Are you planning to configure HTTPS\IMAP\POP?
- Are you planning to use public folders in Exchange 2010?
- Are you planning to deploy an Edge Transport server role?
- Are you planning to deploy a Unified Messaging server role?
Figure 2:
 Once you click on Next, you will be asked another set of question based on the answers you provided above regarding your new environment’s infrastructure.
Figure 3:
As per the above screen, you will see Navigate your checklist. This option will teach you how to access the tool, how to customize your answers, and in case any failure occurs, how to return to the section where it was discontinued. When accessing this tool for the first time, it will be beneficial to go through the navigate checklist. Once you are done put a tick mark in the bottom right hand corner and click on next -> which will take you to next step: Confirm the Prerequisite steps are done. Am I finished yet?
Figure 4:
 At this step, the tool will ensure that you are installing the CAS as per the proper guidelines put forth by Microsoft. Moreover, it will contain a link for you to learn more about CAS and an additional link to connect you to the latest Exchange Server 2010 updates. When installing CAS for the first time, I would recommend you follow this step properly to ensure zero errors.
Figure 5:
Add Digital Certificate on the CAS:
This step will show you how to add the digital certificate on the CAS. After that, enable Outlook Anywhere.Once you complete the installation, you can check that post installations tasks were completed, like verifying the installation task, entering product key details, transport post deployment task, etc by referring to Post-Installation Tasks.
Figure 6:
The final step is the Checklist Complete. This will show you the completion status of each task; plus, it will help to provide additional tools like Exbpa and some performance check analyzer information.
Figure 7:
Thanks to Microsoft for releasing such a valuable, easy-to-use tool. I believe it is the perfect pre-deployment utility to ensure you are on the right track for a successful migration to Exchange server 2010.
Now that you have successfully completed all the necessary prerequisites, join us in Part 2 of this series as we introduce another valuable tool that will help you prepare for the next phase of your migration to Microsoft’s latest messaging platform.
Labels: Exchange 2010, Exchange Migration
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