Difference Between Microsoft Exchange Server Unified Messaging (UM) role & Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

Exchange 2007 consists of a number of roles, one of which is the UM role. UM requires separate Client Access Licenses and enables the following additional functionality over standard Exchange: Unified store for email, fax, and voice messaging. The Exchange UM role controls the receipt of voicemail, configuration of answer message, fax receipt, and other functions.

Access to a unified store from both a computer and from a phone using voice commands (voice user interface) or numeric key presses (telephone user interface) which collectively are known as Outlook Voice Access. Phone access also includes the ability to search Global Address List, check calendars, accept/reject meetings, and an Auto Attendant is provided to give guidance on feature access.

Essentially, the UM role does exactly what the name suggests. It provides the ability to access your voice messages, fax, and email from a single location via computer or phone. The UM can hook directly into many IP PBX telephone systems that serve a specific business or company. Companies using traditional non-IP PBX systems must install a gateway between the PBX and the UM servers to facilitate communication.

OCS 2007 is a separate product from Exchange, but can integrate heavily with Exchange to give a complete communication solution. OCS 2007 focuses on real-time communication while Exchange is primarily a message store. OCS 2007 provides the following features: Secure and archivable IM for an organizations users with connectivity to public IM services such as Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger through Public IM Connectivity (PIC), which is a separate license. OCS can also federate with other organizations' OCS implementations to allow communication via IM with partner companies without the need to use public IM services.

Presence information showing if a contact is currently online, busy, in a meeting, or so on. This information is visible in many mediums, including Outlook and SharePoint, and can be used to initiate communication through IM, voice, or a meeting scheduling.
File Transfer capabilities.
Peer-to-peer and multiparty conferencing services, including voice and video with web accessibility. Live Meeting client is used to access the services or the web-based interface.

When you combine Exchange 2007, Exchange 2007 UM, and OCS, you have a Unified Communications solution which gives single store access to all your e-mail, fax, and voice messages. You also have a rich interface for real-time communication, whether it be voice, text, video, or meeting-based, with presence information available to help choose the best way to contact people. The traditional divide between your phone system and your computer-based solutions is removed with UC.

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Download Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Beta

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Beta is available for download via TechNet and MSDN. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 beta can be accessed through TechNet. At this point in time, MSDN users may be experiencing problems with the x86 version of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 beta.

Microsoft has made the Release Notes for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 since March. The notes will provide comprehensive guidance through the new features that SP1 will bring to the table but also on how to install the service pack, the issues that customers are most likely to face and the adjacent workarounds.

The release of the first beta for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 was announced since back in February by representatives of the Microsoft Exchange Team. It appears that the Redmond Company is right on track with the development of the first service pack. According to Microsoft, Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 will be made available in the second half of 2007.

"As far as hardware requirements are concerned, SP1 will not change the existing Exchange 2007 RTM system requirements. Regarding the operating system, SP1 for Exchange 2007 will require Windows Server 2003 SP2. This will be a hard dependency for installation, so the operating system must be upgraded to Windows Server 2003 SP2 before you upgrade the Exchange 2007 RTM installation to Exchange 2007 SP1, or before installing a fresh build of Exchange 2007 SP1," Ed Banti, Technical Product Manager on the Exchange Server marketing team, revealed.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exchange-Server-2007-Service-Pack-1-Beta-Available-for-Download-51698.shtml

Microsoft Exchange 14: Will it be a jackpot, Some Rumors?

First of all, it appears that Microsoft is making a sincere effort to make Exchange 14 more accessible to a wider user audience. Microsoft has indicated that Outlook Web Access (OWA), arguably the best Web mail product on the planet, will fully support Firefox and Safari. Until now, Microsoft has made the premium OWA experience available only to users running Internet Explorer, while users of other browsers faced limitations in the OWA Light experience.

Microsoft will also introduce Gmail-like conversation threads into OWA, helping users tame their inboxes. Finally, the new OWA will sport instant messaging capabilities with users able to see presence information for and send instant messages to other users in the organization — all from within the new Web client.

A user on the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog has also repeated a rumor that Exchange 14’s high-availability features will remove the need to use Microsoft Clustering Services. If this is true and is implemented correctly, a great level of complexity could potentially be removed from highly available configurations.

Here are some other items I’ve run across that are rumored to be included in Exchange 14:-

• User-created distribution lists.
• Users can manage some of their own information that is presented in the Global Address List.
• Public folders. I list that here because there were questions as to whether Microsoft would jettison this legacy from the product. From most indications, public folders will remain fully supported in Exchange 14. However, an astute reader on the Exchange Team Blog did notice in the new OWA some reference to SharePoint where the Public Folder link belongs, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
• The next version will be named Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

I have only listed what seems reasonably true given the information that is out there. Some people are expecting that Exchange Server 14 will move away from the Jet database to a SQL backend. Personally, I doubt this will happen, but it is another rumor out there.

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=689

Running Exchange Server 2007 in a virtual environment

With the release of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft began supporting Exchange Server 2007 in virtual environments. However, not every scenario is supported, and Microsoft only recommends and supports a virtual environment if specific conditions are met.

First of all, as I implied, only Exchange 2007 SP1 can run virtually. SP1introduced further improvements to Exchange’s I/O footprint, which, I imagine, led to Microsoft’s easing of restrictions on the installation in virtual environments. Second, your Exchange servers must be running under Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2003-based Exchange servers are out of the question.

Next, your virtual environment needs to be running on Hyper-V or a third-party virtualization provider validated by Microsoft. Validated third-party products include VMware (fortunately!) ESX 3.5 updates 2 and 3 and Citrix Xen Server, among others. Microsoft prefers that you use Hyper-V as your virtualization platform, but it’s nice to see that it isn’t excluding other major players.

One major item of note: If you intend to use unified messaging, that role is not supported in a virtual environment. In fact, it’s not recommended that you use virtualization for any services for which real-time communication is required. I have tested the unified messaging role in a virtual lab and can safely say that this role really needs to run on its own physical server.

There are a number of other items to take into consideration when it comes to running Exchange in a virtual environment. The list below is just a few of the major items. Microsoft provides a complete list of requirements and limitations on TechNet.

* Don’t forget to account for the processing and disk needs of the virtual host, particularly if you’re using Hyper-V. Under Hyper-V, the root machine needs processors assigned to it, and the root machine will consume processing resources and RAM. As you build your virtual hosts and add virtual machines, makes sure that the virtual processor-to-physical core ratio is no greater than 2:1. That is, if you have a four core machine, do not assign more than eight cores worth of processor to the running virtual machines.

* Understand that Exchange’s high-availability features, such as continuous cluster replication, don’t mix well with hypervisor-based clustering, such as Hyper-V’s quick migration or VMware’s VMotion. Microsoft doesn’t support combining these technologies. If you choose to forgo VMotion or quick migration on your root server or virtual host, then Exchange’s clustering capabilities are fully supported in a virtual environment, although you do lose a significant server availability feature. Of course, you can always run clustered mailbox servers on different virtual hosts as a way to mitigate some of this downside. This limitation would only affect the virtual machines hosting the mailbox server role. The servers housing the other roles should not be limited.

* Microsoft does not support making snapshots of full Exchange virtual servers at the virtual host level due to the fact that most hypervisor-based snapshot tools are not application aware. Snapshots could end up creating a mess if used improperly.

* Even when running in a virtual environment, you need to adhere to design recommendations when it comes to building your virtual servers. If, for example, a physical machine would require 16 GB of RAM for a particular Exchange installation, the virtual machine will too.

* Under Hyper-V, VHDs are limited to 2 TB in size. Size your mailbox stores accordingly.

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=623