troubleshooting Installation of Exchange Server 2003

1. Made sure you have enough Disk Space

2. Check the Edition of Exchange Server (Enterprise is best)
3. Check Active Directory, a user's property sheet is a good place to start.
4. Check DNS.
5. LDAP port 389 in use, so cannot connect to Exchange 5.5. Solution change and synchronise port numbers.
6. If installation fails make sure you delete EXCHSRV\mbdata before trying again.
7. Why does no-one ever check the Event Viewer? If there is a problem you will see a red error dot in the
logs. Remember to check the Application log as well as the System log. If the messages are not self explanatory,
look up the error number in TechNet.
8. Check that ALL the IIS components are installed including SMTP and NNTP. Make sure that ASP.NET and
9. .NET Framework are also installed.
10. Run DCDiag or NetDiag for extra clues as to what is wrong with the server.
11.
12. Windows 2003's role in the Exchange 2003 installation
13. Before breaking out the Exchange CDs and actually installing Exchange 2003, you must decide your strategy
and tactics. If you have not done this see (Check Exchange Migration Strategy here)
14. You may already realise that Exchange 2003 needs to extend the Active Directory schema. This makes
sense when you realize that a mailbox is now an attribute of the user, hence the user object needs extra attributes
which translate to tabs in the user property sheets. Best to install Exchange 2003 in an Windows Server 2003
domain, rather than a Windows 2000 domain. (Check Exchange Compatibility here)
15. If you are migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003, then remember that the old Exchange 5.5
has its own directory database (Dir.edb). As a pre-requisite to installing Exchange 2003, this account information
must be transferred to Windows 2003's Active Directory. Incidentally, Exchange 2003 also relies on Windows 2003
for IIS, account security, Event Viewer and the SMTP service.

Exchange 2003 Dependencies

Exchange Server 2003 Requires the following Windows 200x services
16. .NET Framework
17. ASP.NET
18. Internet Information Services (IIS)
19. World Wide Web Publishing Service
20. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service
21. Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) service
22.
23. For security reasons in Windows 2003 IIS is locked down, so not only
make sure that you install the services, but also that the corresponding
services are set to Automatic. Finally start the service.

24. Beware - the two Editions of Exchange 2003

25. Just like its predecessors, Exchange 2003 comes in two editions. Always choose the Enterprise edition
because it has no limit on the mail Store database. The standard edition should come with a warning that the 16
GB limit will be insufficient for all but the smallest organization.
26. As a consultant, I have had several assignments helping people when they reach the 16 GB limit. Whilst
each job gave me work, I had this feeling that the problem should have been avoided, that Microsoft should place a
warning on that Standard Edition - ' Beware you will be in trouble when you hit the 16 GB store limit '.
27. The Enterprise edition also supports multiple mailbox stores which means that you can have different backup
strategies for different users. Naturally, you would need the Enterprise version of Exchange and Windows if you
wished to create a cluster of Exchange servers.
28. Get a test machine to install Exchange 2003, then you can practice with its quirky setup interface.

29.
30. Install Exchange Server 2003 in stages:
31. a) Setup /forestprep
32. b) Setup /domainprep
33. c) Finally plain: setup
34. If you are new to Exchange 200x, a further difficult is that the setup
menu is quirky. Exchange has several strange drop down menus which are not
seen in other Microsoft setup programs. However, once you run this setup
menu a few times, you begin to understand how its mind works and
configuration becomes easier.
35. There are two reasons why you may want to install Exchange 2003 in
stages, security and the time it takes to run the first full setup. The adage:
'The more security you have the more work there will be', applies here. To
install Exchange 2003 you must be not only an Administrator, but also a
member of the Enterprise Admins and Schema Admins. Incidentally, consider
creating a special domain account which will used in installation, and then this account will become the first
Exchange 'Full Administrator'.
36. What setup /forestprep does is create the Exchange Organisation name in Active Directory. So be very
careful with this Organization name as you cannot change your mind later. In addition /forestprep extends the
schema and modifies the users attributes to include a mailbox. In practical terms, this means that 4 new tabs will
appear on the User's property sheet as viewed in Active Directory Users and Computers.
37. Make sure that you run /forestprep on the domain controller which is also the schema master and

preferably a Global Catalog server.

38. Setup /domainprep creates two new security groups: Exchange Domain Servers and Exchange Enterprise
Servers. You can inspect the new groups in the USERS folder of Active Directory Users and Computers.
/domainprep also creates the Exchange System Objects container in Active Directory.
39. The other benefit of running /forestprep and /domainprep switches early in the deployment is that it will save
time later; allowing ordinary administrator to install the exchange binary files more quickly.
40. Now would be the time to run Exchange 2003's setup and install the binary files. Once that's completed
verify the installation by checking the services, and if it were me I would be desperately keen to send my first email
in my new Exchange Organization
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42. Here is the same content in en-us.

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55. Working with Exchange System Manager
56. Topic Last Modified: 2007-02-08
57. Exchange System Manager (Exchange System Manager.msc) is a specialized MMC console that helps you manage your Exchange
organization. When you perform a typical installation of Exchange 2003 onto a server, the installation wizard automatically installs the Exchange
System Management Tools onto that server, also.

Note:

Exchange Server 2003 does not run on 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2003. Exchange Server 2003 management tools for remote
administration can be installed on a computer running supported versions of Windows such as Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server
2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4). Exchange Server 2003 management tools cannot be installed on a computer running Windows Vista.

58. Exchange System Manager provides a consistent administrative experience for administrators who deal with all facets of Exchange
server management, including public folders, servers, routing, and policies. For detailed instructions, see How to Open Exchange System
Manager.
59. As shown in the following figure, the left pane of Exchange System Manager is the console tree.

60. Exchange System Manager hierarchy

61. The top node of this tree is the root organization node that contains all the Exchange containers. Each of these containers gives you
access to specific administrative features in Exchange. The following table describes what you can do with each of these containers.

62. Exchange System Manager containers

Container Description

Global Settings Includes features to configure system-wide settings. These settings apply to all servers and recipients in an Exchange
organization.

Recipients Includes features to manage objects and settings for recipients in your organization. You can manage address lists,
offline address lists, recipient update services, recipient policies, mailbox management settings, details templates,
and address templates.

Administrative Includes features to manage administrative groups. Each group is a collection of Active Directory objects that are
Groups grouped together for permissions management. Each administrative group can contain policies, routing groups, public
folder hierarchies, and servers.

Note:
 This container only appears if you have created administrative groups for your organization.

Servers Holds server-specific configuration objects, such as Queues, Mailbox stores, Public Folder stores, and Protocols
information.

System Policies Contains policies that affect the system's configuration settings. Policies are collections of configuration settings that
are applied to one or more Exchange objects in Active Directory.

Routing Groups Defines the physical network topology of Exchange servers. An Exchange mail system, or organization, includes one
or more servers running Exchange. Unless you plan a small Exchange installation, you will probably have more than
one Exchange server. In some organizations, these servers are connected by reliable, permanent connections.
Groups of servers that are linked in this way should be organized in the same routing group.

Note:

This container only appears if you have created routing groups for your organization.

Folders Displays public folder hierarchies. A public folder stores messages or information that can be shared with all
designated users in your organization. Public folders can contain different types of information, from simple messages
to multimedia clips and custom forms.

Tools Contains tools that help you to monitor your Exchange organization, track messages, and recover mailboxes.

63.
64.
Instructions
Make sure you have an Internet Information Server (IIS) installed and Domain Name System (DNS) setup on your
computer network before configuring Exchange.
1. Setup an Active Directory by going to the "Administrative Tools" window in your programs and clicking on the
"Configure your server" option. Click on the "Active Directory" option and then click on the "Start" button to start the
setup wizard.
2. Choose the "Domain controller for a new domain" option from the drop-down list. Enter the domain you have
registered and then enter your company name.
3. Choose the locations to store the database and then create a password for the directory. Click on the "Next" button
and allow time for the setup to complete. Click on the "Finish" button to close out of the wizard.
4. Run the Exchange Server 2003 setup wizard by inserting the setup disc. Click on the option to agree with the license
agreement.
5. Enter the serial number into the "Serial Number" field. This number is located on the packaging for the Exchange
Server 2003. Click on the "Next" button.
6. Choose the individual components you want to install based on your preferences. Click on the "Next" button again.
Click on the "Create a new Exchange Organization" option and click on the "Next" button.
7. Enter the name of your company in the "Organization Name" screen and then click on the "Next" button. Review your
setup and then press the "Next" button to begin the configuration. Allow time for the configuration to complete and
then click on the "Finish" button on the setup screen.