Exchange 2007 goes gold! What will tarnish deployments?

by Scott Lowe MCSE | Dec 15, 2006 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, Groupware, ItÂ, Scott Lowe MCSE, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, E-mail Administration Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: Exchange 2007 brings a wide array of new features--and change--to this staple e-mail system for many corporate environments. However, not all of the news is rosy for IT administrators.

In early December 2006, Microsoft announced that Exchange 2007 had gone "RTM"--corporate-speak for "Release to Manufacturing." Shortly after, Exchange 2007 downloadable images became available to volume licensing and MSDN subscribers. So, while Microsoft was pressing the "gold" Exchange 2007 DVDs, and Exchange fans were chomping at the bit waiting for the bits to download (maybe from Bittorrent?), what possible deployment problems were lurking in the shadows?

Most certainly, Exchange 2007 brings a wide array of new features--and change--to this staple e-mail system for many corporate environments. However, not all of the news is rosy for IT administrators. Admins will have to do significant planning work to make sure that users are not bitten by the law of unintended consequences.

In this tip, I'll talk about four things that can stop an upgrade to Exchange 2007 in its tracks.

Management mayhem

Gone is the good ol' Exchange System Manager. The venerable ESM has been replaced by two tools--the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell, shown below in Figure A and Figure B respectively. The Exchange Management Console provides GUI-based management of an Exchange organization while the Exchange Management Shell supports Microsoft's attempt to make all aspects of Exchange management possible from a command line.

Figure A

The Exchange 2007 Management Console

Figure B

The Exchange 2007 Management Shell

On the surface, this is a good thing. In practice, e-mail administrators will need significant time--and possibly training--to come up to speed with the new tools. While the Exchange Management Console provides some serious upside when compared to the old Exchange System Manager, Microsoft has also removed some functionality from the product, such as the capability to create a new HTTP virtual server from within the GUI. These challenges will force Exchange administrators to tread cautiously into Exchange 2007.

Public folder fiasco

It’s no secret that Microsoft wants to eventually do away with public folders in favor of a more flexible Windows SharePoint Services solution. In fact, if your clients are running Outlook 2007 across the board, you can ditch the public folder store if you like. While I agree that SharePoint is a more flexible solution, Microsoft has made what I consider to be a stupendous mistake with Exchange 2007: the initial release of Exchange 2007 will not support access to public folders via OWA. OK, if you don’t use OWA, you’re not really affected, but there are a ton of people out there (myself included) that rely on OWA to keep in touch when they are away from the office. Often that communication includes the use of public folders. Microsoft is slated to replace this functionality in Exchange 2007 SP1. However, I predict that this alone will force many organizations to delay their Exchange 2007 plans until SP1.

Of course, you can continue to maintain an Exchange 2003 server with OWA 2003 for those users that really need public folders. Or, you can get started sooner rather than later getting your people on SharePoint.

Historical hardware

Got 64-bit? If you don’t, you’re SOL (stinkin’ out of luck) when it comes to Exchange 2007, which only comes in a 64-bit flavor. As a result, there is no such thing as an "in-place upgrade" anymore, either. All upgrades really become migrations from Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003. Remember, even if you’re running Exchange 2003 on a 64-bit capable server, you can’t install Exchange 2007 over the top. Exchange 2007 also requires a 64-bit version of Windows, which Exchange 2003 does not support.

5.5 forever

Are you still running Exchange 5.5 anywhere in your Exchange organization? If so, your dreams of moving to Exchange 2007 have just been dashed--that is, until you get that old Exchange 5.5 stuff out of your organization. Unlike Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007 does not support any kind of coexistence with Exchange 5.5. To upgrade from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2007, you must first take the intermediate step of upgrading to Exchange 2003. This will result in a prolonged upgrade. Upgrading Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003, while not dangerous, does entail quite a lot of effort.

Summary

None of these problems are insurmountable, but you will have to do some significant planning to overcome them.