Exchange server 2007/2010 Interview Questions/Answers

1.What are the pre requisites to install Exchange Server 2007?

1. Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0

2. Microsoft ASP .Net

3. World Wide Web Service

4. MMC 3.0

5. Windows power shell

6. SMTP & NNTP service should not be installed

2. What’s the order to install Exchange Server 2007 Roles in a exchange Server 2003 organization?

1. Client Access Server Role

2. Hub Transport Server Role

3. Mailbox Server Role

4. Unified Messaging Server role

3. What are the versions available in Exchange Server 2007?

There are two types of Exchange Server 2007 version release

• · 64 bit – for production environment

• · 32 bit – only for non-production environment

4. What are the Operating system requirements to install Exchange Server 2007?

Exchange Server 2007 can be installed on

• · Windows Server 2003 SP2 64-bit,

• · Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 64-bit or

• · Windows Server 2008 64-bit

5. What are the Active directory requirements to install Exchange Server 2007?

1. Domain functional level at least windows server 2000 native or higher

2. Schema Master must be run on windows 2003 server with sp1

3. At least one Domain Controller, in each domain with windows server 2003 sp1

4. At least one global catalog server in Active Directory Site which hosts exchange Server 2007

5. 4:1 ratio of Exchange processor to global catalog server processors

6. What are the hardware requirements to install Exchange Server 2007?

• Processor – 64 bit processor

• RAM – 2 GB + 5 MB per Mailbox

• Disk Space – At least 1.2 GB on the drive on which you install Exchange

• - 200 MB of available disk space on the system drive

• File Format – NTFS

7. What are the Software requirements to install Exchange Server 2007?

Following are the software prerequisites to install Exchange Server 2007

1. Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0

2. IIS

3. WWW

4. MMC 3.0

5. Microsoft Windows Power Shell

8. What is Transition in Exchange Server 2007?

Transition is the scenario in which you upgrade an existing Exchange organization to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. To perform the transition, you must move data from the existing Exchange servers to new Exchange 2007 servers. For example, when upgrading from an Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server organization to an Exchange 2007 organization, you perform a transition

When transitioning to Exchange 2007, you cannot perform an in-place server upgrade on an existing Exchange server. Instead, you must install a new Exchange 2007 server into the existing organization, and then move data to the new Exchange 2007 server.

9. What is Migration in Exchange Server 2007?

Migration is the scenario in which you upgrade to Exchange 2007 by migrating data from a non-Exchange messaging system to Exchange 2007 or from an existing Exchange organization to a completely new Exchange organization, without retaining any of the Exchange configuration data in the first organization. For example, when merging with another company, you can perform a migration. In this scenario, you move mailboxes and data to the other company’s Exchange organization, without retaining any of the configuration data from your existing Exchange organization. Another example is when upgrading from Lotus Notes to Exchange 2007, you perform a migration. In this scenario, you must move mailboxes and data to the new Exchange 2007 organization, without retaining any of the data from the Lotus Notes organization.

The migration process includes installing a completely new Exchange 2007 organization, and then migrating mailboxes from the old messaging system to the new Exchange 2007 messaging system, using various tools for migration.

10. Is it possible to do in place upgrade from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007?

No in-place upgrade on existing Exchange server organization. Install new Exchange Server 2007 server into existing organization, and move data to new server.

11.  What are the transition options available in Exchange Server 2007

We can make transition in following options

Single forest to single forest – you have an existing single forest Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 topology, you can transition to a single forest Exchange 2007 organization

Single forest to cross forest – If you have an existing single forest Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 topology, you can transition to a cross-forest Exchange 2007 topology

Cross forest to cross forest – If you have an existing cross-forest Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 topology with Exchange servers and mailboxes in each forest, you can transition to an Exchange 2007 cross-forest topology.

Resource forest to resource forest -

Single forest to resource forest -

12. What are the considerations for Exchange Server 2007 to co exists with Exchange server 2000 and Exchange Server 2003?

• Exchange Organization in Exchange Native Mode· Exchange Server 2007 routing group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR) is created only for coexisting with earlier versions of Exchange.

• Routing Group Connector is required between Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 (created during setup).

• Exchange Server 2003 computers cannot interoperate with the Unified Messaging server role. Exchange 2003 mailboxes cannot be Unified Messaging–enabled.

• Exchange 2003 Front-ends cannot talk to Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Server Roles.

• No in-place upgrade on existing Exchange server. Install new Exchange Server 2007 server into existing organization, and move data to new server

13. Will Front End server talk to Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox server in an Exchange organization having both exchange 2003 and exchange Server 2007?

Exchange Server 2003 Front-end server cannot talk to Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Server Roles

14. What is the status of routing group connector in co existed of Exchange Server 2003 and 2007?

Exchange Organization in Exchange Native Mode· Exchange Server 2007 routing group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR) is created only for coexisting with earlier versions of Exchange.

Routing Group Connector is required between Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 (created during setup).

15. Which service should not be installed in Exchange Server 2007 installation?

SMTP and NNTP service should not be installed

16. What are the Exchange Server editions available?

There are two types of Exchange Server 2007 editions available

1. Standard Edition

2. Enterprise Edition

17. What is the difference between standard and Enterprise Edition?

Exchange 2007 functions

Standard Edition

Enterprise Edition

Number of Data Stores Supported

5 includes Mailbox/Public Folder

50 combination of both

Clustering support

No

Yes

OS Support

Windows 2003 64 bit

Windows 2003 64 bit

18. What to do if exchange Server 5.5 in your organization in order to upgrade to Exchange Server 2007?

You cannot upgrade an existing Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5 organization to Exchange Server 2007. You must first migrate from the Exchange Server 5.5 organization to an Exchange Server 2003 or an Exchange 2000 Server organization. Then you can transition the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 organization to Exchange 2007. 

19. What are the Planning considerations for Client Access Server Role?

The Client Access server role supports the Outlook Web Access, Outlook Anywhere, and Exchange ActiveSync client applications, in addition to the POP3 and IMAP4 protocols. The Client Access server role also hosts several key services, such as the Auto discover service and Exchange Web Services.

In order to have better client access functionality we have to perform a Planning consideration on Exchange Active Sync. Outlook web Access, outlook anywhere, POP3 and IMAP4 protocols and also securing client access

20. What are the Planning Considerations of Hub Transport Server Role?

Hub Transport server role is a required role in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 organization that provides routing within a single organizational network by using the Active Directory directory service site. Hub Transport server role installed handles all mail flow inside the organization, apply transport rules, apply journal rules, and deliver messages to recipients’ mailboxes

We have to perform a Planning Consideration on

• Topology for mail flow inside and outside the Exchange organization

• Server capacity – determine how to perform performance monitor

• Security – includes delegation of administrative roles and verification that IP connections are only enabled from authorized servers

• Transport Features – determine the transport features that you will enable at the Hub Transport server and how they will be configured

21. What are the Planning Considerations of Mailbox Server Role?

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox server role hosts mailbox databases and provides e-mail storage and advanced scheduling services for Microsoft Office Outlook users The Mailbox server role can also host a public folder database, which provides a foundation for workflow, document sharing, and other forms of collaboration

We have to perform a planning consideration on

• Sizing the database,

• Planning for public folder,

• Co hosting with other server roles and

• Planning for clustered Mailbox server

22. What are the Planning Considerations for Edge Transport Server Role?

Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport server role is designed to provide improved antivirus and anti-spam protection for the Exchange organization. Computers that have the Edge Transport server role also apply policies to messages in transport between organizations. The Edge Transport server role is deployed in an organization’s perimeter network.

• Edge Transport Should not be included in Active Directory

• Should be installed in a Standalone Server

• Edge Transport Should not be Part of the domain

• ADAM Should be Installed

• Pre requisites .Net framework , Windows Management Shell, MMC 

Difference Between Exchange Server 2007 Standard and Enterprise Edition.

• Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports up to fifty storage groups, one storage group support up to five databases.

• Exchange 2007 Standard Edition supports only five storage groups, one storage group support up to five databases.

• If You are using Continuous Replication technology Microsoft recommend use one database per storage group.

• Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports up to fifty databases per server.

• Exchange 2007 Standard Edition supports only five databases per server.

• Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition database size is limited to 16 TB.

• Exchange 2007 Standard Edition databases size is limited to 16 TB.

• Microsoft recommend limit database size to 100 GB or If You are using Continuous Replication technology database size should be limited 200 GB.

• Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports Single Copy Clusters technology (better protection mail system with two Exchange servers and one disc store).

• Exchange 2007 Standard Edition do not support Single Copy Clusters technology.

• Local Continuous Replication technology (better protection mail store with one Exchange server and two discs store) is supported by Exchange 2007 Standard Edition and Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition.

• Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports Single Copy Clusters technology (better protection mail system and mail store with two Exchange servers and two discs store)

• Exchange 2007 Standard Edition do not support Single Copy Clusters technology.

• Standby Continuous Replication technology (better protection mail store) is supported by Exchange 2007 Standard Edition SP1 and Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition SP1.

Q. How does the OAB distribution happens in Exchange 2007?Ans. The Exchange System Attendant service is responsible for the generation of oab. This service is available only on a server that has the mailbox role installed. The SA invokes a dll file called oabgen.dll.

The oab files are stored in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ExchangeOAB. This folder is shared so that it can be replicated to the CAS server for web distribution.

The oab generation server opens the oab folders and updates the file. The oabgen.dll file is responsible for connecting to the public folder.

CAS server runs a service named Microsoft Exchange File Distribution Service which copies the oab files from the mailbox server (ExchangeOAB folder) to the web distribution point in the CAS server.

The web distribution folder is a folder on CAS Server where the copied oab files are placed. The default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\OAB.

The web distribution point is updated once in 8 hours. If you want to force an oab update, restart the Exchange File Distribution Service.

Q. Is it recommended to install CAS server in perimeter network? Why?
Ans. No. Security and availability of AD attributes are two main reasons.

Q. How is the performance of Exchange 2007 better than Exchange 2003?
Ans. In Exchange 2003, the database read to write ratio was typically 2:1 or 66 percent reads. With Exchange 2007, the larger database cache decreases the number of reads to the database on disk causing the reads to shrink as a percentage of total I/O.

In Exchange 2003, a transaction log for a storage group requires roughly 10 percent as many I/Os as the databases in the storage group. For example, if the database LUN is using 1000 I/Os, the log LUN would use approximately 100 I/Os. With the reduction in database reads in Exchange 2007, combined with the smaller log file size and the ability to have more storage groups, the log-to-database write ratio is roughly 1:2. For example, if the database LUN is consuming 500 write I/Os, the log LUN will consume approximately 250 write I/Os.

Q. What is Transport Dumpster?
Ans. The transport dumpster submits recently delivered mail after an unscheduled outage MaxDumpsterSizePerStorageGroup: 1.5 times the size of the max msg that can be sent MaxDumpsterTime: How long the email can stay in the transport dumpster queue 7.00:00:00 means 7 days

Q. What is Back-Pressure?
Ans. The settings for back-pressure can be configure on Hub Transport and Edge Server. If utilization of a system resource exceeds the specified limit, the Exchange server stops accepting new connections and messages. This prevents the system resources from being completely overwhelmed and enables the Exchange server to deliver the existing messages.

Q. Exchange 2007 main Services:
Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology
Microsoft Exchange Monitoring
Microsoft Exchange IMAP4
Microsoft Exchange POP3
Microsoft Exchange Transport Log Search
Microsoft Exchange Transport: On Hub and Edge
Microsoft Exchange Service Host
Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer
Microsoft Exchange Replication Service
Microsoft Exchange Mail Submission
Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Assistants
Microsoft Exchange File Distribution: On CAS Server
Microsoft Exchange Information Store
Microsoft Exchange System Attendant
Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync: on Hub Transport Server
Microsoft Exchange Anti-spam Update