Exchange 2010 Interview Question Answers.docx

Exchange 2010 Interview Question answers Created by Aslam Kader Exchange 2010 Interview Question and Answer http://aslamkader.com/wp-content/uploads/Exchange-2010-Interview-Question-andAnswer.pdf What is Storage Group? Storage Group is a grouping of Mailbox and/or Public Folder Databases, which shares a single backup schedule anda single set of Transaction log files. Storage Groups are managed using their separate server process and theidea behind splitting databases up in Storage Groups is primarily to reduce the overhead that results from multiplesets of transaction log files. What are the storage group and database size limitations in Exchange 2007, comparedwith Exchange 2003? Exchange Server 2003 Standard edition supported 1Storage Group and 2 Stores one Mailbox and one PublicFolder Store (when excluding the Recovery Storage Group of course). Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Editionsupported a total of 4 Storage Groups each containing a maximum of 5 store databases per Storage Groups (thusmaximum 20 databases per server). The limit of a database size in Exchange Server 2003 Standard edition was16GB (although raised to 75 GB when Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 was applied). There was no limit on adatabase size when talking about Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise edition {well actually there is a 16Terabyte limitbut this limit is caused by hardware).Exchange Server 2007 comes in two flavours, a standard edition and an enterprise edition, just like previousversions of Exchange. The Mailbox Server when talking about the Exchange Server 2007 Standard edition supportsa total of 5 Storage Groups and 5 databases. Unlike Exchange 2003 and previous versions of Exchange there'sno longer a database storage limit in the standard edition. The Mailbox server in the Exchange 2007 Enterpriseedition supports up to 50 Storage groups and a maximum of 50 databases per server. Exchange 2007 allows youto create up to 5 databases in each Storage Group as is the case with Exchange 2003, but best practice is tocreate 1database per Storage Group. So why should you have a one to one relationship between storage groupsand databases? Well

primarily because you'll be up and running a lot faster considering disaster recovery scenarios,etc.No Storage Groups In Exchange 2010.•• Exchange 2010 has only mailbox databases and they are organizationalobjects in EMC. Mailbox databases no longer connected to the server object they become *Peers•. Databasemanagement has also been moved from Server configuration node in exchange console EMC. The mailboxdatabases are placed in the Organization Configuration ->Mailbox location in the console rather than the server level in exchange 2007. The database names has to be unique through out the exchange organization as well. Thismeans that we can't have duplicate mailbox database names like in 2007 (in different storage groups, of course). As there are no storage groups, this will also mean that the database will have its ow n logs aswell...One of the goals of ESE in Exchange 2010 is to reduce the cost of maintaining and managing a database. Databasemaintenance is comprised of several tasks that manage and keep the integrity of your mailbox database. Database maintenance Is divided Into thefollowing: Store mailbox maintenance

ESE database maintenance In Exchange 2007, ESE database maintenance was disk-intensive. In Exchange 2010, improvements have beenmade to increase performance. In Exchange 2010, on large or very heavy profile servers, the store mailboxmaintenance task only lasts approximately 45 minutes, while ESE database maintenance usually took from six toeight hours per night to complete on large Exchange 2007 databases (2 GB quotas). In Exchange 2010, improvements have beenmade to support both large mailboxes as well as to support JBOD storage and storage without the use of RAID. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 includes many improvements to the Exchange databasearchitecture: • Public folder reporting has been enhanced. • Databases are no longer associated with storage groups. Storage groups have been removed. • Investments in store schema and Extensible Storage Engine {ESE) optimizations have reduced lOPS by 70percent. Describe the differences in the permission model between Exchange 2003 andExchange 2010. Exchange 2003 Security and PermissionsModelTo help simplify management of permissions, Exchange Server 2003 provided predefined security roles that wereavailable in the Exchange 2003 Administrative Delegation Wizard. These roles were a collection of

standardizedpermissions that could be applied at either the organization or the administrative group level.In Exchange 2003, the following security roles were available through the Delegation Wizard in Exchange SystemManager: Exchange Full Administrator Exchange Administrator Exchange View Only Administrator Thismodelhadthefollowinglimitations: A lack of specificity. The Exchange Administrator group was too large, and some customers wanted to manage their security and permissions model at the individual serverlevel. A perception that the Exchange Server 2003 security roles only differed in subtleways.Th ere was no clear separation between administration of users and groups by the Windows (Active Directory)administrators and Exchange recipient administrators. For example, to perform Exchange recipient related tasks, youhad to grant Exchange administrators high level permissions (Account Operator permissions on Windows domains).Exchange 2007 Security and PermissionsModelTo improve the management of your Exchange administrator roles, which were called "security groups" in Exchange2003, the following new or improved features have been made to the Exchange security and permissions model: Created by Aslam Kader New administrator roles that is similar to the built-in Windows Server securitygroups.You canusetheExchangeManagementConsole(formerlyExchangeSystemManager)andtheExchangeManagement Shell to view, add, and remove members from any administrator role. What's New in Exchange Server 2007SPl? You can install Exchange 2007 SPl on a computer that is running the Windows Server 2008 operating systemImprovement in Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA)Recover Deleted ItemsLocal Distribution ListS/MIME feature Public Folder RulesMonthly viewNew themes What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP2? You can deploy Exchange Server 2010 in your organization once all of the Client Access servers in your organization have been upgraded to Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 includes a VSS plug-in for Windows Server Backup to support Exchange backups. OnceSP2 is installed, you can use Windows Server Backup to back up and restore your Exchange 2007 SP2 databases. New Exchange auditing events and audit log repository enable Exchange administrators to more easily audit theactivities occurring on their Exchange servers. What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP3? Windows Server 2008 R2 SupportExchange Server 2007 SP3 supports all Exchange 2007 roles on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operatingsystem. Windows 7 SupportExchange 2007 SP3 supports the installation of the Exchange 2007 management tools on a computer that is runningWindows 7. Additionally, Exchange 2007 SP3 provides support for the installation of the Exchange 2007Management Tools together with the Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools on the same Windows 7basedcomputer.Improved Password Reset FunctionalityExchange 2007 SP3 introduces password reset functionality for Internet Information Services (liS)7. Updated Search FunctionalityExchange 2007 SP3

includes updates to the Exchange Search (MS-Search)component. Support for Right-toLeft Disclaimer TextExchange 2007 SP3 includes support for Right-to-Left text in email message disclaimers in a right-to-left language,such as Arabic. What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2010 stores work? Name some of the changes in comparison with Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007. The following is a list of core store functionality that's included or has been changed in Exchange 2010: • Deprecated storage groups • Mailbox databases no longer connected to the server object • Improvements in Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) for high availability, performance, and database mobility • Flattened Outlook store schema • Enhanced reporting with public foldersIn Exchange 2010, the store schema has been changed to remove the dependency of mailbox databases onthe server object. In addition, the new schema has been improved to help reduce database 1/0 persecond(lOPS) by refactoring the tables used to store information. Refactoring the tables allows higher logical contiguityand locality of reference. These changes reduce the store's reliance on the secondary indexes maintained by ESE. As a result, thestore is no longer sensitive to performance issues related to the secondary indexes.Store resilience and health has also been improved by adding several features related to detecting and correctingerrors and providing alerts, such as the following: • Mailbox quarantine on rogue mailboxes •Transport cut-off to databases with less than 1GB of space • Thread time-out detection and reporting Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2007 in your existing ActiveDirectory forest. Windows Server 2003/R2 x64 SP2Windows Server 2008 x64 Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.0/Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 (with update/SP1)Microsoft Windows PowerShellMicrosoft Management Console (MMC)3.0Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) service must not be installed.Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service must not be installed.liS {forOWA) Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2010? 1GeneralPrerequisites: Make sure that the functional level of your forest is at least Windows Server 2003, and that the Schema Master isrunning Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or later.

The full installation option of Windows Server 2008 SP2-64bit or Windows Server 2008 R264bit must be used for allservers running Exchange 2010 server roles.Both Windows Server 2008 SP2-64bit or Windows Server 2008 R2-64bit Standard & Enterprise are supported and wecan use them to install Exchange 2010.DNS must configure correctly in your Active Directory forest. All servers that run Exchange Server 2010 must beable to locate Active Directory domain controllers, global catalog servers, and other Exchange servers.For all server roles other than the Edge Transport server role, you must first join the computer to the appropriateinternal Active Directory forest and domain. 2Operating System Components Prerequisites: Created by Aslam Kader Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack1(SP1) Windows Remote Management (WinRM)2.0 Windows PowerShell V2 liS 7 ASP.NET In addition to the above, we need to install the following windows components (features): RSAT-ADDS (requires a reboot)Web-Server Web-ISAPI-Ext Web-Metabase Web-L.gcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth Web-Digest-AuthWeb-Windows-Auth Web-Dyn-Compression Net-HTIP- Activation RPC-over-HTIP-Proxy3Software Prerequisites:For Hub Transport or Mailbox server role, Microsoft Filter Pack is required to be installed. You can download theMicrosoft Filter Pack from the Microsoft website. How would you easily install all the Windows Server 2008 R2 roles and featuresrequired for Exchange 2010? Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1allows us to install all Operating System prerequisites using just theExchange Setup wizard. When we use the Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Setup wizard, there is a new option called Automatically install Windows Server roles and features required for Exchange Server. Just by clicking on thatoption will be installed all prerequisites automatically.Installing Exchange Server 2010 Pre-Requisites on Windows Server 2008 First, install the following software components. 1. .NIT Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 2. .NIT Framework 3.5 Family Update

3. Windows Remote Management and Windows PowerShell 2.0 4. 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack (for Hub Transport and Mailbox Server roles only) Runthe following from an elevated command prompt.C:\>sc config NetTcpPortSharing start= autoNext we need to install the operating system components. The Exchange source files contain a series of ServerManagerCmd.exe answer files in XML format that can be used to install the operating system pre-requisitesfor each of the server roles.Each file relates to a specific Exchange 2010 deployment scenario. exchange-all.xml- all server roles exchange-base.xml- only the requirements for Forest and Domain prep operationsexchange-cadb.xmlCentral Admin Database roleexchange-cas.xml- Client Access Server roleexchange-eca.xmlCentral Admin roleexchange-edge.xml- Edge Transport Server role exchange-hub.xml- Hub Transport Server role exchange-mbx.xml -Mailbox Server roleexchange-typical.xmlTypical Exchange server (Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox Server roles) exchange-um.xml- Unified Messaging roleExecute any of the answer files using ServerManagerCmd.exe and the -inputPath parameter (that can be shortenedto ip). Here Iam installing the pre-requisites for a "Typical" Exchange 2010 server. Created by Aslam Kader servermanagercmd -ip exchange-typical.xml-restart-restart option used to restart server automatically How would you check your Exchange configurationsettings to see if they'rer i g h t ? Run MicrosoftExchange Best Practices Analyzer tool. Looking to install Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008. What SP version do youn e e d ? And for R2? ExchangeServer 2007 SPl required for installationon Windows Server 2008 and ExchangeServer 2007 SP3 requiredfor Windows Server 2008 R2. What's a Rollup Update? What's the latest RU for Exchange 2007-2010? An update rollup is a tested, cumulative set of hotfixes, security updates, critical updates, and updates that arepackaged together for easy deployment. A rollup generally targets a specific area, such as security, or a componentof a product. At the time of this writing, Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 and Update Rollup 10 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1areavailable. How can you easily integrate a RUin the Exchange 20072010 installationmedia? The Exchange installation folder includes an Updates folder. When you perform a new Exchange installation, youcan copy an update rollup to the Updates folder. In this scenario, the update rollup package is applied duringthe

installation of Exchange. The Updates folder supports only new installation of Exchange server. Name a few reasons for using 64-bit hardware and OS version for Exchange 2007-2010. 64-bit hardware provides the system architecture that is required to support the increased memory, storage, andenhanced security requirements in a more cost-effective manner. Trends indicate that demands on messagingsystems will continue to grow and 64-bit servers provide the system architecture to meet these demands whilereducing costs within organizations through server and disk storage consolidations. With a larger addressablespace, the Exchange servers can utilize more memory thereby reducing the required input/output per user (lOPS),enabling the use of larger disks as well as low cost storage such as SATA2 drives. Exchange2007 came in both 32-bitand 64-bit versions. Name a couple of reasons for ever needing the 32-bit version. You need exchange 2007 32bit to export mail box into PSTfile. Wanting to manage Exchange 2007 2010 from a remote computer, name a few of your managementoptions. There are a few options for managing Exchange 2007 servers remotely. First off, you can install the Exchange 2007management tools onto a separate machine from your Exchange server, as long as that machine is running either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1(SP1) or later, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows XP SP2 or later. Note that installing any of the server roles (client access, mailbox, edge, and so on) on32bit hardware is not supported in production environments, but is supported for installing the management toolson a Created by Aslam Kader 32-bit machine. Also note that as of the initial release of Exchange Server 2007, the management tools are notsupported on Windows Vista.In some organizations, the IT department creates a single server to be the management server, installing all thenecessary management tools for various products on this server. Then the administrators who need to use thosetools access the management server via Terminal Server so they can perform remote administration. In other settings, users install the management tools on their own desktops.From the console or shell you can perform operations on the servers in your organization. In the console, theservers are visible so you can perform operations on any of them remotely. In the shell, many of the tasks supporta filtering flag like -server if you want to scope an operation to a single server. There are a few exceptions,however, for commands that must be run locally, such as the Get-NetworkConnectionlnfo command.

Whatis the GAL? The Global Address List (GAL) also known as Microsoft Exchange Global Address Book is a directory service withinthe Microsoft Exchange email system. The GAL contains information for all email users, distribution groups, and Exchangeresources. What is the OAB? When is itu s e d ? An Offline Address Book is a container that stores a collection of Offline Address Lists. Outlook users can choosewhich offline address lists they want to download. Users who work offline connect to Exchange Server computersand download Offline Address Lists to obtain information about other users in their organization.When an Administrator creates an Offline Address Book, the address list will be converted to a separate set of filesand stored in an Exchange Public Folder. Offline Address Books typically contain at least one address list thatrepresents the global address list (GAL). Users who are working offline with their Outlook clients can use this globaladdress while they are on the road. What is PowerShell andwhy do we care? Windows PowerShell is a task-based command-line shell and scripting language designed especially for systemadministration. Built on the .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell helps IT professionals and power users controland automate the administration of the Windows operating system and applications that run on Windows. Built-inWindows PowerShell commands, called cmdlets, let you manage the computers in your enterprise from thecommand line.The Exchange Management Shell, built on Windows PowerShell technology, provides a powerful command-lineinterface for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 that enables automation of administrative tasks. With the Shell, youcan manage every aspect of Exchange. You can enable new e-mail accounts, configure SMTP connectors, storedatabase properties, store transport agents, and more. The Shell can perform every task that can be performed bythe Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Web interface in addition to tasks that can't be performed inthose interfaces. In fact, when a task is performed in the console and the Web interface, those interfaces use theShell to perform the task. Name major benefits of PowerShell v2 over Vl PowerShell Remoting : Using WS-Management, PowerShell 2.0 allows scripts and cmdlets to be invoked on aremote machine or a large set of remote machines. Bacqround Jobs : Also called a PSJob, it allows a command sequence (script) or pipeline to be invokedasynchronously. Jobs can be run on the local machine or on multiple remote machines. A PSJob cannotinclude interactive cmdlets.Transactions: Enable cmdlet and provider developers to perform transactional operations. PowerShell 2.0 includestransaction cmdlets for starting, committing, and rolling back a PSTransaction as well as features to manage anddirect the transaction to the participating cmdlet and provider operations. The PowerShell Registry provider supports transactions.ScriptCmdlets: These are cmdlets written using the PowerShell scripting language. NOTE: The preferred name for script cmdlets is now AdvancedFunctions.SteppablePipelines: This allows the user to

control when the BeginProcessing{), ProcessRecord() andEndProcessing() functions of a cmdlet are called.Modules : This allows script developers and administrators to organize and partition PowerShell scripts in self contained, reusable units. Code from a module executes in its own self-contained context and does not affect thestate outside of the module. Modules can define a restricted runspace environment by using a script. They have apersistent state as well as public and private members. Data Language : A domain-specific subset of the PowerShell scripting language, that allows data definitions tobe decoupled from the scripts and allow localized string resources to be imported into the script at runtime(Script Internationalization).Script Debugging: It allows breakpoints to be set in a PowerShell script or function. Breakpoints can be set onlines, line & columns, commands and read or write access of variables. It includes a set of cmdlets tocontrol the breakpoints via script.Eventing: This feature allows listening, forwarding, and acting on management and system events. Eventing allowsPowerShell hosts to be notified about state changes to their managed entities. It also enables PowerShell scripts tosubscribe to ObjectEvents, PSEvents, and WmiEvents and process them synchronously and asynchronously.Windows PowerShelllntegrated Scripting Environment (ISE) : PowerShell 2.0 includes a GUI-based PowerShellhost (formerly known as Graphical Windows PowerShell) that provides integrated debugger, syntax highlighting,tab completion and up to 8 PowerShell Unicode-enabled consoles (Runspaces) in a tabbed Ul, as well as the abilityto run only the selected parts in a script. Network File Transfer : Native support for prioritized, throttled, and asynchronous transfer of files between machinesusing the BackgroundIntelligentTransfer Service (BITS). New Cmdlets: Including Out-GridView, which displays tabular data inthe WPF GridView object.New Operators: -Split, -Join, and Splatting (@)operators. Exception Handling with Try-Catch-Finally : Unlike other .NET languages, this allows multiple exception types for asingle catch block.Nestable Here-Strings: PowerShell Here-Strings have been improved and can now nest.Block Comments :PowerShell2.0 supports block comments using<# and#> as delimiters.New APis: The new APis range from handing more control over the PowerShell

parser and runtime to the host, tocreating and managing collection of Runspaces (RunspacePools) as well as the ability to create RestrictedRunspaces which only allow a configured subset of PowerShell to be invoked. The new APis also supportparticipation in a Windows PowerShell managed transaction. In the installation folder root you see setup.com and setup.exe. Which would you useand when? Setup.com is used for all preparation work; basically it calls different backend procedures. Setup.com is also usedin disaster recovery to reinstall all ex2k7 roles.Setup.exe is used for GIUinstallation. What are the Exchange 2007/2010 server roles? Exchange 2007 introduces a new concept to Exchange organizations, the concept of server roles. Similar to how a Created by Aslam Kader Windows server can host one or more roles. Server roles allow an administrator to split the functions of anExchange server and place each role, or a combination of roles, on different servers in the organization. With currentExchange servers you can make a server a Front-End server, or a Back-End server and that is about it.Exchange 2007 introduces five roles to the Exchange organization.Edge Transport- The last hop of outgoing mail and first hop of incoming mail, acting as a "smart host" and usuallydeployed in a perimeter network, Edge Transport provides mail quarantine and SMTP service to enhance security.One advantage of this role is that is does not require Active Directory access, so it can function with limited accessto the corporate network for increased security.Hub Transport- The Hub Transport role handles mails by routing them to next hop: another Hub Transport server,Edge server or mailbox server. Unlike Exchange 2003 Bridgehead that needs Exchange admin defined routinggroups, Exchange 2007 Hub Transport role uses AD site info to determine the mail flow. The Hub Transportand Edge Transport servers are very similar and in fact, one can forgo the Edge Transport server andconfigure the Hub Transport to accept mail from, and send mail to, the Internet.Client Access -The Client Access server role provides the other mailbox server protocol access apart from MAPI.Similar to Exchange 2003 FrontEnd server, it enables user to use an Internet browser (OWA), 3rd party mail client(POP3/IMAP4) and mobile device (ActiveSync) to access their mailbox.Mailbox- The Mailbox server role is

responsible for hosting mailbox and public folder data. This role also providesMAPI access for Outlook clients. Note that there is also a variation of this role called Clustered Mailbox role, for usewith high-availability MSCS clustering of mailbox data. When Clustered Mailbox role is selected, other server rolescannot be combined on the same physical server.Unified Messaging- This role enables end users to access their mailbox, address book, and calendar usingtelephone and voice. IP-PBX or VoiP gateway needs to be installed and configured to facilitate much of thefunctionality of this server role. What are the benefits of using roles, vs. the way Exchange 2000/2003 worked? Server role is a logical concept used to organize Exchange2007 services and features across one or more servers.While Exchange2003 provided primitive server roles called BackEnd server and FrontEnd server,Exchange2007 hasmore granular divisions.Dividing Exchangefeatures among several server roles has advantages: More flexible deployment topology: For a small or medium company that has only hundreds of mailboxes and allusers are centralized, customer can install all required roles on one physical server. For a large enterprise wheretens of thousands of mailboxes span multiple physical locations, customer can choose to deploy each role on aseparate server or even multiple servers per role to provide better performance and fault tolerance.Better hardware utilization and scalability: Because each role only installs binaries and runs services for a specificfeature set. Unlike older versions of Exchange, configuring a server that has only one or two roles will reduceMemory, CPU and disk space requirements for this server. In addition, roles are scalable so admin can loadbalance work of one role to multiple servers.Easy to maintain: Upgrading, applying hotfix, or other server changes that could cause server outage can beisolated to one server role. This reduces maintenance down time and end user impact. Admin can also install or uninstall roles on a server as needed. What are the Exchange 2003 equivalents of the various Exchange 2007-2010roles? Created by Aslam Kader Exchange 2007Exchange2003 Edge TransportHub TransportClient Access MailboxUnifiedMessaging B r i d g e h e a d s e r v e r Front-End server Back End server The main differences between Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010. FeatureExchange 2007 xchange 2010 Database e t E D B d a t a b a s D B d a t a b a s e torageGroups Yes

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None, only data storesP u b l i c F o l d e r s A u t o m a t i c a l l y c r e a t e d M a n u a l c r e a t i o n 1Web Services E x O L E D B , C D O E X , W e b D A V , EWS ExchangeWeb Services (EWS) Desktop Clients Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010 DR TechnologiesISC C , C C R , S C R D a t a b a s e A v a i l a b i l i t y G r o u p ( D A G ) 0utlook clients connect to 1 Mailbox Server C l i e n t Access Server Why not install Exchange on the same machine as aDC? There are some major reasons behind not installing Exchange Server on Domain Controller, some of them are asbelow.•Redundancy and Stability: If both of these are running on the same system, it may reduce the performanceand stability of server. If in any case Exchange Server services fails, the whole DC will fail, which maycreate critical problems.• P o r t C o n f l i c t : D o m a i n C o n t r o l l e r & Exchange Server both uses port 389 for LDAP queries, which createsconflict.• D i s a s t e r & R e c o v e r y: D i s a s t e r & R e c o v e r y c a n n o t b e p e r f o r m e d . • DSAccess:DSAccess,DSProxy and many other services will perform well. How do you prepare the AD schema for Exchange 2007- 2010? As with Exchange 2000 and 2003, the forest and domain needs to be prepared with schema extensions.However, unlike the previous versions, Active Directory does not need to be prepped beforehand, it is doneautomatically during setup, but the option does exist to allow for manual schema upgrades. During the setupprocess the server will connect to the Schema Master in an effort to update the schema and this requires thatthe Schema Master is available and that the account you are running setup with has permissions to modify theschema.

If you wish to prep the domain manually, you can do so with the /PrepareAD switch on any server in the samedomain that the Schema Master is in but it is recommended to do this on the Schema Master. Once you havecompleted this, you will have to wait for the schema updates to replicate throughout the forest before you installany additional Exchange 2007 servers in the organization.Preparing Active Directory manually offers more options than before and there maybe more commands for you to