Revision as of 16:11, 22 August 2014

Microsoft Exchange 2013

Microsoft Exchange is an email server. It is one of the email systems that Retain can connect to. It is helpful to have an Exchange server handy for testing. Microsoft is pushing people toward Office 365 but it is safe to say people will continue to use Exchange for 5-20 years.

Make sure your server has the name that you want Exchange does not like having it changed once it is set up.

Installing Microsoft Exchange 2013

You need to install Exchange 2013 on a Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 system.

The most important tool to have handy is the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant. This provides a great checklist of things you must do to successfully deploy an Exchange server.

We will want an On-premise, new install, with both Mailbox and CAS roles on board. We will NOT be using disjoint namespaces. We will NOT be using Unified Messaging (but it will install it anyway). We will NOT be using an Edge server.

Save that checklist.

Make sure to do the prerequisites!

Open PowerShell and execute the commands

Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS

and

Install-WindowsFeature AS-HTTP-Activation, Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework-45-Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, 
RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface, RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console,
 WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, 
Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, 
Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45, 
Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation

Prerequisite installs

Note: .NET Framework 4.5 and Windows Management Framework 3.0 are included with Windows Server 2012 and don't need to be installed separately. .NET Framework 4.5 and Windows Management Framework 4.0 are included with Windows Server 2012 R2 and don't need to be installed separately. Just add the role/feature in Server Manager.

Download and install the Unified Communications Managed API 4.9 Runtime http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34992

The Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17062

Filter Packs SP1 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26604

Filter Packs SP2 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39671

Preparing AD

First you need to extend the schema. Open a command prompt in administrator mode, go to the directory you downloaded exchange into and run

Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Now you have to prepare Active Directory this can be done right after the previous command.

Setup.exe /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:"<organization name>" /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Now you have to prepare your AD domains and in the case of a lab you want to do all of them.

Setup.exe /PrepareAllDomains /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Install Exchange

Now we can start installing Exchange: From File Explorer you can run Setup.exe as administrator (right-click and choose Run as administrator)

It will ask you about downloading updates which is a good idea.

There will be more screens but defaults will be sufficient.

When it comes to Server Role Selection you want to choose Mailbox role and Client Access role (Client Access will appear to be greyed out but you can select it.)

Take the default location.

Turn off Malware detection.

Then it will check for the prerequisites. Warnings are okay, because this will be the first exchange server and as long as there are no errors you are good to go.

Then it will take about a hour to install and prepare all the software.

Finally, you will have to reboot.

Post-install steps

You can get to the Exchange Admin Center by browsing to https://[serverName|IP address]/ecp

You can use the Outlook Web App to send and receive mail https://[serverName|IP address]/owa

Instructions for installing the Outlook Retain Plugin