Inside Exchange 2000 - A closer look at how to set up a messaging server.
As we noted in part one of this feature, Exchange 2000 is a rich environment for messaging and collaboration. In this article, we'll dig into a few of its many features with hands-on tests.
When you install Exchange, you have, as is common with Office 2000 and other Microsoft applications, a number of installation options. However, some of these options may be require your server to be reconfigured. for example, the Messaging and Collaboration feature of Exchange requires that the NNTP service be installed on Windows 2000. (This feature can be added using the Windows Component Wizard, found in the IIS configuration section of Win2000's Add/Remove Programs Control Panel.)
The setup and configuration procedure can take quite a while. In addition to the considerable requirements of Windows 2000 Advanced Server, which provides the clustering, load balancing and failover services Exchange uses, the Exchange installer may pause, as it did on our freshly formatted 9GB hard drive, to inform you that "Exchange Setup has determined that must extend your Windows 2000 Directory Schema in order to continue installing Exchange into your Windows 2000 domain." This operation can take a considerable amount of time to complete. On our 400 MHz test system with a speedy 7200 RPM Quantum KA drive, the update of the Active Directory schema took more than 30 minutes, and the rest of the Exchange installation took many additional hours to properly set up and configure.
It should come as little surprise that Windows 2000 likes to have more than 64MB of RAM. But we were surprised when, during one of our installation tests on a machine with 64MB of memory, the Exchange installer stopped with an alert dialog, citing critically low virtual memory. On a Windows NT 4.0 server, we received critical memory warnings on systems with as much as 96MB of RAM. Microsoft recommends 256MB of RAM for Exchange server installations.
In addition to connectors for databases of users from Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise and Netware and of course Microsoft's own Exchange and MS Mail products, Exchange 2000 provides installation options for Search, Messaging and Collaboration, Conferencing Services, System Management tools, Chat Services, T.120MCU conferencing, and Instant Messaging services.
Release Candidate 2 of Exchange Server, delivered May 25, 2000, included for the first time Exchange Conferencing Services (which, as noted below, is not a standard feature in the commercial release, but is instead a rather expensive option). In a demonstration for PC Buyer's Guide, the company held a "virtual press conference" from offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal and Ottawa to demonstrate the new capabilities of the email and conferencing system. Company spokespersons said the most effective use of bandwidth is achieved by configuring a multicast streaming server.
RC2 differed from previous betas in that it was capable of being upgraded to the shipping product in the field. Still, we strongly recommend implementing Exchange 2000, or any major upgrade, on a staging server, and not a "live" production box. It's not difficult to move Exchange to a new server, as detailed in a Microsoft white paper at http://www.microsoft.com/Exchange/techinfo/backuprestore.htm or a KnowledgeBase article at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q155/2/16.aspAnother change is the need for new Client Access Licenses. Exchange 4.0 users were previously able to upgrade to Exchange version 5.0 and 5.5 without purchasing new CALs. Pricing for new licenses for Exchange 2000, as of late May had not been determined, but company officials said they expected prices "to be in line with those of previous releases." The company subsequently announced official pricing that saw increases of as much as US$1300 more per server, and about US$20 per client, notes ZDNet.
Pricing
The Enterprise Edition of Exchange 2000 costs US$1,999 for upgrade customers and US$3,999 for first-time users. The add-on Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server sells for US$3,999.
The standard edition of Exchange 2000 Server is priced at US$349 for upgraders and US$699 for first-time customers. Client Access Licenses for the new releases range from US$34 for upgrades to US$67 for first-time users.
For more details, visit www.microsoft.com/exchange.
Free backup for Exchange Server. Dantz Development Corporation offers a Retrospect Exchange Agent as a free download. This software, allows unattended backups of Microsoft Exchange Server. The software does not require you to own Retrospect Backup. According to the company, the Retrospect Exchange Agent operates as a stand-alone backup application and peacefully coexists with other backup software, including VERITAS Backup Exec and Computer Associates ARCserveIT.
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