Deploying Exchange Server 2010

Before you deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, you should carefully plan the messaging architecture. Every Exchange implementation has three layers in its architecture:

• Network layer. The network layer provides the foundation for computerto-computer communications and essential name resolution features. The network layer has both physical and logical components. The physical components include the IP addresses, the IP subnets, local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) links used by messaging systems as well as the routers that connect these links, and firewalls that protect the infrastructure. The logical components are the Domain Name System (DNS) zones that define the naming boundaries and contain the essential resource records required for name resolution.

• Directory layer. The directory layer provides the foundation necessary for authentication, authorization, and replication. The directory layer is built on the Active Directory directory service and has both physical and logical components. The physical components include the domain controllers, Global Catalog servers, and site links used for authentication, authorization, and replication. The logical components include the Active Directory forests, sites, domains, and organizational units that are used to group objects for resource sharing, centralized management, and replication control. The logical components also include the users and groups that are part of the Active Directory infrastructure.

• Messaging layer. The messaging layer provides the foundation for messaging and collaboration. The messaging layer has both physical and logical components. The physical components include individual Exchange servers that determine how messages are delivered and mail connectors that determine how messages are routed outside an Exchange server’s routing boundaries. The logical components specify the organizational boundaries for messaging, mailboxes used for storing messages, public folders used for storing data, and distribution lists used for distributing messages to multiple recipients.

Whether you are deploying Exchange Server for the first time in your organization or upgrading to Exchange Server 2010 from an earlier release of Exchange Server, you need to closely review each layer of this architecture and plan for required changes. As part of your implementation planning, you also need to look closely at the roles your Exchange servers will perform and modify the hardware accordingly to meet the requirements of these roles on a per-server basis. Exchange Server is no longer the simple messaging server that it once was. It is now a complex messaging platform with many components that work together to provide a comprehensive solution for routing, delivering, and accessing e-mail messages, voicemail messages, faxes, contacts, and calendar information.

Source of Information : Microsoft Press - Exchange Server 2010 Administrators Pocket Consultant