Monthly Archives: December 2012

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 – At a glance

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Before you install Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, we recommend that you review this topic to ensure that your network, hardware, software, clients, and other elements meet the requirements for Exchange 2013. Exchange Server 2013 RTM to the public release is as part of the planned release of Office 2013 products.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 enables you to maintain control, increase user productivity, and keep your organization safe:

  • Remain in control, online and on-premises. Exchange Server 2013 enables you to tailor your solution based on your unique needs and ensures your communications are always available while you remain in control, on your own terms – online, on-premises, or a hybrid of the two.
  • Do more, on any device. Exchange Server 2013 helps your users be more productive by helping them manage increasing volumes of communications across multiple devices and work together more effectively as teams.
  • Keep your organization safe. Exchange Server 2013 keeps your organization safe by enabling you to protect business communications and sensitive information to meet internal and regulatory compliance requirements.
  • Available in these languages: Arabic, English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish
  • Available in these editions: 64-bit

Understanding the coexistence scenarios that are supported for Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange

  • Exchange Server 2003 and earlier versions: Not supported
  • Exchange 2007: Supported (Requires Exchange 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) and an update rollup, to be released at a later date, on all Exchange 2007 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.)
  • Exchange 2010: Supported (Requires Exchange 2010 SP3 (to be released at a later date) on all Exchange 2010 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.)
  • Mixed Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007 organization: Supported (Requires Exchange 2007 SP3 and an update rollup, to be released at a later date, on all Exchange 2007 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers. Also requires Exchange 2010 SP3 (to be released at a later date) on all Exchange 2010 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.)
  • Hybrid Deployment: Exchange 2013 supports hybrid deployments with Office 365 tenants that have been upgrade to the latest version of Office 365.

Lists the requirements for the network and the directory servers in your Exchange 2013 organization.

Schema master: the schema master runs on the first Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 domain controller installed in a forest. The schema master must be running any of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later
  • Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Global catalog server: In each Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange 2013, you must have at least one global catalog server running any of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later
  • Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Domain controller: In each Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange 2013, you must have at least one writeable domain controller running any of the following:

  • Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later
  • Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Active Directory forest: Active Directory must be at Windows Server 2003 forest functionality mode or higher.

The Active Directory driver: Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 uses Active Directory to store and share directory information with Windows. Active Directory forest design for Exchange 2013 is similar to Exchange Server 2010, except in a few ways, which is The Active Directory driver, the core Microsoft Exchange component that allows Exchange services to create, modify, delete, and query for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) data. In Exchange 2013, all access to Active Directory is done using the Active Directory driver itself. Previously, in Exchange 2010, DSAccess provided directory lookup services for components such as SMTP, message transfer agent (MTA), and the Exchange store. The Active Directory driver also uses Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology (MSExchangeADTopology), which allows the Active Directory driver to use Directory Service Access (DSAccess) topology data. This data includes the list of available domain controllers and global catalog servers available to handle Exchange requests.

IPv6 Support: In Exchange 2013, IPv6 is fully supported, but only when IPv4 is also installed. You can disable IPv4 so only IPv6 is enabled, but uninstalling IPv4 isn’t supported. If Exchange 2013 is deployed in this configuration, all Exchange servers can send data to and receive data from devices, servers, and clients that use IPv6 addresses.

Micrososft don’t support the installation of Exchange 2013 on a computer that’s running in Windows Server Core mode. The computer must be running the full installation of Windows Server. If you want to install Exchange 2013 on a computer that’s running in Windows Server Core mode, you must convert the server to a full installation of Windows Server by doing one of the following:

  • Windows Server 2008 R2   Reinstall Windows Server and select the Full Installation option.
  • Windows Server 2012   Convert your Windows Server Core mode server to a full installation by running the following command.  Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra, Server-Gui-Shell -Restart

Supporting Client: Exchange 2013 supports the following minimum versions of Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Entourage for Mac:

  • Outlook 2013
  • Outlook 2010 SP1 with April 2012 Cumulative Update
  • Outlook 2007 SP3 with July 2012 Cumulative Update
  • Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition
  • Outlook  for Mac 2011

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • Estimated time to complete: 60 minutes
  • Make sure you’ve read the release notes prior to installing Exchange 2013.  Release Notes for Exchange 2013.
  • Each organization requires at a minimum one Client Access server and one Mailbox server in the Active Directory forest. Exchange 2013 doesn’t require you to deploy a Client Access server in each Active Directory site containing a Mailbox server. For example, you can deploy Mailbox servers to non-Internet-facing sites and then proxy communications to those Mailbox servers from Client Access servers in Internet-facing sites. If you’re separating your server roles, we recommend installing the Mailbox server role first.
  • The computer you install Exchange 2013 on must have a supported operating system (such as Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2012), have enough disk space, be a member of an Active Directory domain, and satisfy other requirements.  Exchange 2013 System Requirements.
  • To run Exchange 2013 setup, you must install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5, Windows Management Framework 3.0, and other required software. To understand the prerequisites for all server roles, see Exchange 2013 Prerequisites.
  • You must ensure the account you use is delegated membership in the Schema Admins group if you haven’t previously prepared the Active Directory schema. If you’re installing the first Exchange 2013 server in the organization, the account you use must have membership in the Enterprise Admins group. If you’ve already prepared the schema and aren’t installing the first Exchange 2013 server in the organization, the account you use must be a member of the Exchange 2013 Organization Management role group. Administrators who are members of the Delegated Setup role group can deploy Exchange 2013 servers that have been previously provisioned by a member of the Organization Management role group.
  • For information about keyboard shortcuts , see Keyboard Shortcuts in Exchange 2013.

Download Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, Click here

NOTES:

  • After you install any server roles on a computer running Exchange 2013, you can’t use the Exchange 2013 Setup wizard to add any additional server roles to this computer. If you want to add more server roles to a computer, you must either use Add or Remove Programs from Control Panel or use Setup.exe from a Command Prompt window.
  • After you install Exchange 2013 on a server, you must not change the server name. Renaming a server after you have installed an Exchange 2013 server role is not supported.
  • If you have User Access Control (UAC) enabled, you must right-click Setup.exe and select Run as administrator.
  • The organization name can’t contain more than 64 characters. The organization name can’t be blank.
  • Pre-requisites option installs only the Windows features required by Exchange. You must manually install other prerequisites manually. For more information, see Exchange 2013 Prerequisites.

Exchange Server 2013 comes with a number of new features as well as improvements on existing features that are already familiar to those who have worked with Exchange Server 2010.

List as follows:

  • Server roles to just two; Client Access server and Mailbox server
  • New Outlook 2013 and Outlook Web App user interfaces, and offline access for OWA
  • No more Exchange Management Console, all administration is now performed using the new web-based Exchange Administration Center , Exchange Management Shell (using PowerShell 3.0)
  • Improvements to high availability features and manageability
  • Public folders are now stored in mailbox databases and can take advantage of Database Availability Groups for replication and high availability
  • Data loss prevention capabilities that can be integrated into Transport Rules

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 – Mail flow

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, mail flow occurs through the transport pipeline. The transport pipeline is a collection of services, connections, components, and queues that work together to route all messages to the categorizer in the Transport service on a Mailbox server inside the organization.

The transport pipeline consists of the following services:

  • Front End Transport service   This service runs on all Client Access servers and acts as a stateless proxy for all inbound and outbound external SMTP traffic for the Exchange 2013 organization. The Front End Transport service doesn’t inspect message content, but it can filter messages based on connections, domains, senders, and recipients. The Front End Transport service only communicates with the Transport service on a Mailbox server, and doesn’t queue any messages locally.
  • Transport service   This service runs on all Mailbox servers and is virtually identical to the Hub Transport server role in previous versions of Exchange. The Transport service handles all SMTP mail flow for the organization, performs message categorization, and performs message content inspection. Unlike previous versions of Exchange, the Transport service never communicates directly with mailbox databases. That task is now handled by the Mailbox Transport service. The Transport service routes messages between the Mailbox Transport service, the Transport service, and the Front End Transport service.
  • Mailbox Transport service   This service runs on all Mailbox servers and consists of two separate services: the Mailbox Transport Submission service and Mailbox Transport Delivery service. The Mailbox Transport Delivery service receives SMTP messages from the Transport service on the local Mailbox server or on other Mailbox servers, and connects to the local mailbox database using an Exchange remote procedure call (RPC) to deliver the message. The Mailbox Transport Submission service connects to the local mailbox database using RPC to retrieve messages, and submits the messages over SMTP to the Transport service on the local Mailbox server, or on other Mailbox servers. The Mailbox Transport Submission service has access to the same routing topology information as the Transport service. Like the Front End Transport service, the Mailbox Transport service also doesn’t queue any messages locally.

Messages from outside the organization enter the transport pipeline through a Receive connector in the Front End Transport service on a Client Access server and are then routed to the Transport service on a Mailbox server.

Messages inside the organization enter the Transport service on a Mailbox server in one of the following ways:

  • Through a Receive connector.
  • From the Pickup directory or the Replay directory.
  • From the Mailbox Transport service.
  • Through agent submission.

The following figure shows the relationships among the components in the Exchange 2013 transport pipeline.

Transport pipeline overview diagram

Every message that’s sent or received in an Exchange 2013 organization must be categorized in the Transport service on a Mailbox server before it can be routed and delivered. After a message has been categorized, it’s put in a delivery queue for delivery to the destination mailbox database, the destination database availability group (DAG), Active Directory site, or Active Directory forest, or to the destination domain outside the organization.

The Transport service on a Mailbox server consists of the following components and processes:

    • SMTP Receive   When messages are received by the Transport service, message content inspection is performed, transport rules are applied, and anti-spam and anti-malware inspection is performed if they are enabled. The SMTP session has a series of events that work together in a specific order to validate the contents of a message before it’s accepted. After a message has passed completely through SMTP Receive and isn’t rejected by receive events, or by an anti-spam and anti-malware agent, it’s put in the Submission queue.
    • Submission   Submission is the process of putting messages into the Submission queue. The categorizer picks up one message at a time for categorization. Submission happens in three ways:
      • Through an SMTP Receive connector.
      • Through the Pickup directory or the Replay directory. These directories exist on the Mailbox server. Correctly formatted message files that are copied into the Pickup directory or the Replay directory are put directly into the Submission queue.
      • Through a transport agent.
    • Categorizer   The categorizer picks up one message at a time from the Submission queue. The categorizer completes the following steps:
      • Recipient resolution, which includes top-level addressing, expansion, and bifurcation.
      • Routing resolution.
      • Content conversion.

      Additionally, mail flow rules that are defined by the organization are applied. After messages have been categorized, they’re put into a delivery queue that’s based on the destination of the message. Messages are queued by the destination mailbox database, DAG, Active Directory site, Active Directory forest or external domain.

    • SMTP Send   How messages are routed from the Transport service depends on the location of the message recipients relative to the Mailbox server where categorization occurred. The message could be routed to the Mailbox Transport service on the same Mailbox server, the Mailbox Transport service on a different Mailbox server that’s part of the same DAG, the Transport service on a Mailbox server in a different DAG, Active Directory site, or Active Directory forest, or to the Front End Transport service on a Client Access server for delivery to the Internet.

Message Size Limits..Click here to know more

Configure Mail Flow and Client Access…Click here to know more

Microsoft Exchange Connectivity Analyzer Tool – Client

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The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool is a downloadable client program that is used to identify connectivity issues that occur between email clients and a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server. The tool can also be used to identify connectivity issues between email clients and Office 365. The tool can be used both by email users, to identify common problems, and by IT Administrators, to troubleshoot issues that are affecting their Exchange Server deployments.

The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool simulates several client logon and mail flow scenarios. When a test fails, many of the errors message provide troubleshooting tips to help the user or IT Administrator to resolve the problem.

This tool is a companion tool to the Remote Connectivity Analyzer website. Whereas the Remote Connectivity Analyzer website enables IT Administrators to pinpoint connectivity issues by simulating connectivity from a location outside the customer environment, the Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool lets both email users and IT administrators run the same tests within the user’s environment.

You must be running one of the following operating systems:

  • Windows 8
  • Windows 7
  • Windows Server 2008
  • 64-bit edition of Windows Vista

Download the client tool (Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer (Beta) here.

Connectivity check as follows

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Select one of the option below to continue to next screen

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Enter the credential you want to check for connectivity issues

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Enjoy!!

USB 3 – The Facts

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usb3

USB 3.0 is the second major revision of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for computer connectivity. The standard from 2008 implements a 5 Gbit/s transfer rate. In the late 1990s, the first major revision was made to the USB 1.1 specification. The revision was called USB 2.0 which added a new transfer speed called Hi-Speed (HS – 480 Mbit/s) to the earlier speeds (Low Speed (LS) – 1.5 Mbit/s and Full Speed (FS) – 12 Mbit/s).

The enhancements to Super Speed USB are not just for higher data rates, but for improving the interaction between device and host computer. While the core architectural elements are inherited from before, several changes were made to support the dual bus arrangement, and several more are notable for how users can experience the improvement that USB 3.0 makes over USB 2.0.

Major USB 3.0 improvements

  • Higher transfer rates (up to 4.8Gbps)
  • Increased maximum bus power
  • New power management features
  • Full-duplex data transfers
  • Support for new transfer types
  • Backward USB 2.0 compatibility
  • New connectors and cables

The good news is that USB 3.0 has been carefully planned from the start to peacefully co-exist with USB 2.0. First of all, while USB 3.0 specifies new physical connections and thus new cables to take advantage of the higher speed capability of the new protocol, the connector itself remains the same rectangular shape with the four USB 2.0 contacts in the exact same location as before. Five new connections to carry receive and transmitted data independently are present on USB 3.0 cables and only come into contact when mated with a proper Super Speed USB connection.

USB 3.0 achieves the much higher performance by way of a number of technical changes. Perhaps the most obvious change is an additional physical bus that is added in parallel with the existing USB 2.0 bus. This means that where USB 2.0 previously had 4 wires (power, ground, and a pair for differential data), USB 3.0 adds 4 more for two pairs of differential signals (receive and transmit) for a combined total of 8 connections in the connectors and cabling. These extra two pairs were necessary to support the Super Speed USB target bandwidth requirements, because the two wire differential signals of USB 2.0 were not enough.

The Cable circuit for USB3 shielded wire as follows

usb3a

Latest OS from Apple and Microsoft starts supporting USB3 with connector. Apple OSX Mountain Lion and Windows 8 comes with USB3 driver support.

Cool!!!