TPOV

Okay, here are just 10 random thoughts that I can come up with and that I had to deal with lately with regards to Exchange 2010. Could very well be I have to expand the list a little in the coming days or weeks.

1. The only high-availability Exchange 2010 is offering is through the Database Availability Group (or DAG). DAG will work on Exchange 2010 Enterprise Edition and also on the Standard Edition. It does require Windows 2008 x64 or R2 Enterprise Edition.
2. If you want to go ‘backupless’ Microsoft recommends replicating you databases to at least 2 other nodes in the DAG. You can use a JBOD ("Just-a-bunch-of-disks") configuration with cheap SATA storage in this situation.
3. Virtualizing Exchange is supported. This goes for ALL roles except the Unified Messaging, or UM, role. Remeber to use Fixed Size VHD’s, SCSI Passthrough disks or iSCSI disks from the client. Last, an Exchange DAG is not supported on a clustered Hyper-V or SVVP (support third-party) installation.
4. You can install multiple roles on a single server. But remember that you cannot use Network Load Balancing (or NLB) on Client Access Server that is installed on a mailbox server configured in a DAG.
5. Currently, you cannot access the Personal Archive from anything other then Outlook Web App (the former Outlook Web Access). Outlook 2010 will support the Personal Archive. Microsoft is considering making this available to Outlook 2007 by means of a service pack.
6. When migrating a large organisation from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010, please introduce an Exchange 2007 server first and keep that running. If you do not do this, you can never ever introduce another Exchange 2007 server into the organisation, making possible other Exchange migrations impossible (mergers or aquisitions). In a migration, keep a close look on the CAS and Mailbox servers. Keep an ‘old’ CAS server up and running to access the ‘old’ mailbox servers.
7. Use only the latest version of the Storage Calculator (currently the E2010 Mailbox Role Calculator – v1.2) to size the mailbox storage. Other versions do not take into account the new large mailboxes and the reduced I/O requirements for Exchange 2010.
8. Native IPv6 in a DAG is not supported. It does support IPv6, but it requires IPv4.
9. Don’t put your CAS servers in the DMZ or Perimeter network. Putting a firewall between a CAS and a mailbox server is not supported. In stead, put a reverse proxy (ISA?) in the perimeter network.
10. Check out the single-item recovery. See what it does, how it works, how it can help you and what the impact is on storage requirements. Single-item recovery is the most common scenario for a restore operation. Single Item Recovery prevents purging of data and provides versioning capability (the ability to retain the unaltered form of the item).

If you need more information on these point, please checkout the Exchange Team Blog at http://msexchangeteam.com or check Microsoft’s TechNet site at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=132764

Tino