What
Makes Exchange 2007 Different?
This is the first of several
parts of an article that covers why it's important to test Exchange 2007.
When I first started this document I though it would be a pretty quick document
to put together, well it's now up to 20 pages (in Word) and I guess I have 80%
of the key items covered. As I get the rest of the article cleaned up and
finished I will post Part 2, Part3, etc.
Similar
to the migration from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000 the migration to Exchange
2007 is a paradigm shift in many ways.
Exchange 2007 differs completely from previous version of Exchange on
how messages are routed, clustering and high availability options, scalability,
disaster recovery, server management, resource scheduling, and general server
placement. Besides the changes to
existing functionality E2k7 includes many new features like unified messaging,
Exchange Management Shell, calendar concierge service, transport rules, managed
folders, and others. Microsoft has also
improved upon OWA, mobile device access and management, database architecture,
management tools, and more. Behind the
scenes, Exchange 2007 is both a rewrite of some Exchange 2003 code and new
code. Most of Exchange 2007 was written
using .NET and then compiled for Windows x64 for the first time, both of which can
require significant code changes in some areas.
In addition, some APIs and other features were dropped from Exchange
2007 and other APIs and features were "deemphasized." Some of the dropped or missing features
include support for other mail systems (Exchange 5.5 and GroupWise), protocols
(x.400, NNTP, NetBIOS, Named pikes, SPX, etc), and development interfaces (ExIFS, CDOEXM, Exchange web forms, Exchange SDK workflow,
WMI, etc). A key take away point from
these changes is that any applications that currently interface with Exchange
2003 will need to be tested to ensure compatibility.
So
migrating to Exchange 2007 should not be taken lightly and should include
extensive testing and planning. All
existing documentation and processes for installing, troubleshooting,
monitoring, and daily operational procedures will need to be rewritten. In addition, the messaging teams will need
extensive hands-on time and education to get the basic skills needed to manage
the environment during and after the migration.
What's
New and What's
Changed
Back in
August 2006 I wrote an article on "What's New and Cool in Exchange 2007" and covered most of the
new features and key changes in Exchange 2007.
You can also refer to TechNet for the latest's "What's New"
information. So I won't go into complete
detail here but I wanted to cover the main things that make E2k7 so different
from Exchange 2000 and 2003. These changes
are as great as the changes from 5.5 to 2000.
1)
Infrastructure
Changes
a)
x64
(64-bit) OS required
b)
Server
roles
c)
Clustering
d)
Data
replication
e)
Database
architecture
f)
Message
routing
g)
Unified
messaging (UM) support
h)
Transport
rules
i)
Ability
to eliminate public folders
2)
End-user
Changes
a)
Calendaring
b)
Resource
management
c)
Messaging
records management
d)
Free/Busy
replacement
e)
UM
f)
Outlook
Web Access (OWA)
g)
Searching
3)
Management
Changes
a)
Exchange
Management Console (EMC)
b)
Exchange
Management Shell (EMS)
c)
E-mail
Life Cycle Management (ELC)
d)
Managed
folders
e)
Policies
f)
Calendaring
g)
Disaster
Recovery (DR) and High Availability (HA)
h)
OWA
i)
Monitoring
j)
Message
Tracking
k)
Mailbox
Recovery Center
l)
Mailbox
Management Service
m)
Migration
Wizard
4)
Development
Changes (See MS
TechNet  for the latest info)
a)
New
development functionality
i)
Exchange
Web Services
ii)
Transport
Agents
iii)
.NET
framework extensions
iv)
Management
APIs
v)
Exchange
Management Shell
vi)
Windows
Workflow Services (WWS)
b)
Discontinued
Features
c)
Deemphasize
Functionality
5)
Discontinued
Features (See MS
TechNet for the latest info and mitigation suggestions)
a)
Interoperability
i)
Connectors
for Novell GroupWise
ii)
Exchange
5.5 support
iii)
Discontinued
protocols
b)
Management
i)
Active
Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) extensions
ii)
Inter-Organization
Replication tool
iii)
ExMerge
support
iv)
Public
Folders access via IMAP4 and NNTP
v)
Routing
and Administrative Groups
vi)
Discontinued
development interfaces
c)
Protocols
i)
NNTP
ii)
X.400
support
iii)
Named
pipes, SPX, AppleTalk, VINES, UDP, and NetBIOS
d)
Development
i)
Exchange
web forms
ii)
Exchange
2003 SDK workflow designer
iii)
Event
Services and Event Sinks
iv)
Installable
Files Systems (ExIFS)
v)
WMI
classes
vi)
Collaboration
Data Objects for Exchange Management (CDOEXM)
e)
Others,
see MS
TechNet for more
6)
De-emphasize
Functionality
a)
Public
Folders
b)
Development
interfaces
i)
CDO
1.2
ii)
MAPI32
iii)
CDOEX
(CDO 3.0)
iv)
WebDAV
v)
ExOLEDB
vi)
Store
events
vii) Streaming backup APIs
c)
Exchange
2003 Virus Scanning Application Programming Interface
As you
can see from above, the list of changes in Exchange 2007 is huge, and this is a
somewhat abbreviated list, see "What's New"
in TechNet for details on new, discontinued, and deemphasized features. Microsoft has done an outstanding job with
the on-line and off-line help\documentation with Exchange 2007. So take the time to look over TechNet and the
help if you haven't lately.
A major
part of any organization's plan for their transition to Exchange 2007 should
include a significant amount of time for testing. Application testing will be critical when
planning for Exchange 2007 since every interface into Exchange 2007 has been
"touched" or modified with this version.
First off Exchange 2007 requires Windows 2003 x64 or Windows 2008 (aka Longhorn) x64
edition. This means vast parts of
the Exchange code had to be recompiled to take advantages of the x86-x64 architecture. This brings us to the first major impact of
the x64 change, drivers.
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