MS Exchange Server 12 Beta 1 Messaging Software

Friday, April 14, 2006

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Exchange Server has been one of the most powerful and popular corporate messaging platforms around the world. Each recent version of Exchange has brought in at least one killer feature that made using it almost essential for organizations serious about their messaging needs. Exchange 2000 brought in Active Directory integration and Exchange 2003 introduced RPC over HTTP.

Exchange '12' is the next version of this product and Microsoft is introducing tons of new features in it. We got our hands on the first beta as soon as it was released. What follows in this article is hands-on experience as well as tidbits of news surrounding the product.

Requirements
Exchange 12 will run on ADS – Windows 2003 or LongHorn Server, that is. Windows 2000 may not be supported. Although the current beta is available for 32-bit platforms, the final version is expected to run only on 64-bit machines. This means that you will need to purchase 64-bit hardware to run Exchange. But since at the time of its release, most server level (and much of the desktop level) machines would be 64-bit, this is a welcome step.

Installation
The Exchange installation requires a Windows 2003 or Longhorn Server with Active Directory installed and configured. It also requires the .NET Framework 2.0 and the MMC 3.0 upgrade to be installed. Once these are done, you are taken into a completely revamped installation experience. Here, instead of selecting the components that you want to install, as done earlier, you are asked to select the role that this particular Exchange Server is going to perform in your messaging infrastructure. Currently, you are allowed to choose among Bridghead, Mailbox, Gateway, Client Access and Unified Messaging servers. Once the roles required are selected, the appropriate components and configurations for the server in terms of setting, performance and security are automatically done. The installation also checks each role for any prerequisites and informs you if it doesn't find it giving you a chance to back out, correct the problem and try again.

Management
Once the installation is complete, you can start up the main management interface called Exchange Management Console. This is the replacement for the erstwhile System Manager. In fact, in this beta there are many places where the name System Manager still shows up.

The management console is a cleaned up interface where you don't really need to search within a complex tree as in the earlier versions. The console is more task oriented than hierarchy oriented. This means that for any item that you select in the console a new task pane on the side shows you exactly what you can do with it. There are 4 levels in the new structure. 'Recipient Configuration' lets you manage recipients on the server-either globally or individually.

Server Configuration lets you configure the parameters for different roles assigned to the server. In this beta, the console does not automatically pick up which roles were assigned. Instead it shows all the possible roles and it's only on selecting a particular one can you find out whether it is assigned and do something with it. An example of managing server configuration would be to manage  Outlook Web Access settings in the Client Access role.

You can define a role for your Exchange Server as per your enterprise needs

A new improved Outlook web access with additional options like new themes, more configurable vacation messages, etc

The 'Call your Mailbox' feature of Unified Messaging that allows you to dial into your mail server and read your new mails

The Organization Configuration lets you setup organization level features like Unified Messaging. This is a killer new feature that lets Exchange handle even voice and fax traffic. For instance, if you are a user on Exchange and are traveling but do not have access to the Internet, you can still check your mail by calling up the phone number handled by Exchange and after a set of authentication, Exchange can actually manage your email using an IVR and even read them out to you!

 And finally the Toolbox lets you perform test and analysis of your server from one central location.

Command Line Shell
Exchange '12' is also the first MS application server to come with the new object oriented command line interface codenamed 'Monad' or Microsoft Shell.  However, this version is meant for Exchange 12 and has a number of cmdlets and functions that are pertinent to this server. You can do all the Exchange management tasks from within this shell with   features like command completion, object oriented programming and abstracted piping.

Outlook Web Access
The web mail front end for Exchange has also been significantly revamped. The interface resembles the current beta look of Outlook 12, the recommended desktop client for Exchange. Of course, a lot of features are not yet fully implemented and even the look would probably change by the final version. New  themes are also being introduced giving it a much more streamlined look.

OWA has also redesigned the options page with a set of pages offering much more functionality. A case in point is the vacation message page.  You can create different sets of vacation messages for senders within or outside your organization. You can also specify the dates and times that you want the message to be for.

So, if you are going to be out for Christmas and New Year set the date for the vacation message from Dec 24th to Jan 2nd and when you return you won't need to remember to turn it off. Of course you will be reminded about an active vacation message everytime you check your email.Overall, Exchange 12 is a fairly comprehensive messaging platform. From what can be seen of this beta, it looks to be the enterprise application for  next year.  

Vinod Unny

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