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Notice: This material is excerpted from Special Edition Using Microsoft Exchange Server, ISBN: 0-7897-0687-3. The electronic version of this material has not been through the final proof reading stage that the book goes through before being published in printed form. Some errors may exist here that are corrected before the book is published. This material is provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind.

Chapter 1 - Overview of Microsoft Exchange

Microsoft Exchange Server is the next-generation messaging system from Microsoft Corporation. This highly revered, much-awaited server product, which has been in development since 1993, represents the latest trends in electronic mail, workflow, and client/server groupware technology. This integrated client/server messaging system provides e-mail, scheduling, electronic forms, document sharing, and a robust application-development framework.

Microsoft has been beta testing Exchange Server for nearly three years and has maintained a strong level of commitment to the delivery of this product. Despite the many delays, Exchange is here; it will affect the way in which we communicate and share information into the next century.

The main focus for Exchange is to provide interoperability for all key legacy systems. Legacy systems are the large mainframe or host based mail system, including PROFS, All-in-One, and MS Mail. In addition, Exchange provides integrated connectivity for Internet Mail (SMTP), cc:Mail, and X.400 standards. Microsoft has developed a robust messaging architecture that permits communication among the various e-mail systems that are in the marketplace today.

This chapter introduces the core components of the Microsoft Exchange Server and Client. The chapter presents an overview of the functions that the server and client offer, as well as examples of how the technology can be used in a variety of environments.

In addition, the chapter provides some basic definitions of terms used in Exchange. The key features of Exchange will be introduced to provide a framework for later understanding of how this technology is implemented and used in a production environment.

In this chapter, you learn the following:

The Development of Microsoft Exchange

The following sections describe some of the history of the creation of Microsoft Exchange Server for Windows NT.

Change in vision:Electronic Mail to Information Exchange

Electronic mail has been in existence for many years. The original electronic mail systems—including PROFS, SYSM, and Memo—resided on UNIX-based host computers or IBM mainframes. The single host, whether it was a mainframe or a minicomputer, was an enterprise solution. All users connected to the system to perform all facets of their online work. These systems, which are still running today, are text-based and provide centralized processing.

As local-area networks (LANs) have become more mainstream, workgroup computing has grown. Sales of personal computers have increased dramatically, leading to the widespread use of wide-area networks (WANs) to link workgroups. These systems have been growing for the past five years in conjunction with the push for PC computing. These systems are distributed and offer the end user features of a global e-mail address list and text messages with support for file attachments.

Exchange introduces client/server messaging and information exchange to the computer industry. Heterogeneous information can be distributed and managed globally so that information is at users' fingertips. Messages now incorporate electronic forms, documents in various file formats, and shared repositories of information (see fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1

E-mail has come a long way from the host-based systems of the past to the client/server solutions that are available today.

Methods of Electronic Communication

Electronic communication employs several methods of information distribution:

Fig. 1.2

Typical e-mail transactions embody one-to-one communication.

Fig. 1.3

Many-to-many communication commonly occurs in groupware environments, such as Lotus Notes and Collabra Share.

Fig. 1.4

Internet services such as the World Wide Web have popularized one-to-many communication.

Introduction to Exchange Server's Key Components

The key components of Microsoft Exchange Server include the base message transports, scheduling, group information sharing, and electronic forms design (see fig. 1.5). The following sections explain how these components interoperate or work together with Exchange Server architecture.

Fig. 1.5

Exchange's components provide a robust messaging system that provides ease of use for administrators and end users alike.

Scheduling

Exchange includes an integrated calendar and scheduler that allows users to manage their personal time, manage their contacts, organize day-to-day tasks, and coordinate group meetings.

Messaging Services

The heart of Exchange is its capability to manage client message creation and routing with Message Transfer Agents (MTAs). An MTA is the tranport system moving messages from one mail server to another. Exchange includes the feature set of the delivery, the routing, and the directory services associated with the messages.

Group Information Sharing

In addition to the one-to-one communication method used in e-mail messages, Exchange allows the serves the user with many to many communication. Exchange allows one to post information on a bulletin board, track customer accounts from a shared contact-management database, and access product information from a reference library.

Electronic Forms

Exchange provides an Electronic Forms Designer (EFD) that allows users to create simple forms quickly and to generate custom views of the information stored in Exchange Information Stores. In addition, administrators can use the forms capabilities to manage the Information Stores.

Application Design

Exchange offers an application-development environment for users who have no programming experience and for professional application designers. This environment can automate business processes within an organization, including workflow, information routing, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

The Role of Exchange in Enterprise

Exchange serves as an enterprise solution in several ways. A business enterprise consists of a corporate environment with a large electronic messaging infrastructure. An enterprise will have several thousand users on the mail systems.

The Exchange client component on the recipient's PC receives information that is pushed to it from the creator or source. (Microsoft currently provides this level of functionality with versions 3.2 and 3.5 of MS Mail.) Exchange goes beyond the push model by providing a shared repository for storing information that is on call for the user. This repository allows users to pull information down to their workstations when they need that information. By providing both push and pull technology, corporations are not constrained by the distribution mechanism. Exchange provides a complete solution.

Corporations and small businesses that have already adopted the Microsoft standards of back-office products, including Windows NT and SQL Server, are in a great position to integrate Exchange into their environments. Exchange extends the Microsoft vision for a single user ID and network logon. With Exchange, your Windows NT domain logon also is your integrated messaging logon ID and inbox.

Exchange addresses several key business issues: information overload, limited mail systems, and ease of use and integration with existing aplications. More information is available at our fingertips than ever before. The application model that Microsoft Exchange uses provides a client/server application architecture with a universal inbox that centralizes access to information. On the surface, Exchange is the next-generation mail system from Microsoft; however, it goes beyond to provide the framework for information management into the next century. Exchange is a long term messaging solution. It will impact future decisions to implement technology in the enterprise.

Universal Inbox for Information and Applications

The concept of the universal inbox has been around for years, but the capability to deliver such a product is revolutionary. The Exchange inbox is the user's gateway to information. From this inbox, the user can send and receive e-mail messages. The inbox also provides links to existing e-mail systems, fax servers, document imaging and storage applications, in-house applications, and more.

Many users have already been exposed to the Exchange interface in Windows 95. This interface provides both the universal inbox and the capability to customize forms and views. Microsoft is banking on users' acceptance of this user interface. Their business strategy is focussed on users adopting this application model.

Fig. 1.6

Exchange's universal inbox with application folders enables users to access data from several applications.

The key to the Exchange inbox is the fact that Microsoft provides the gateway to all your company information. Third-party software developers are leveraging or pursuing business opportunities on this foundation by building their applications on top of this technology; these applications appear as folders. The vision is to provide one standard location and interface for accessing information, regardless of format. Developers are even working on integrating voice-mail systems into Exchange. If you have a multimedia PC with an integrated sound system, you can access your voice mail as e-mail.

The universal inbox is not revolutionary (see fig. 1.7). Apple has had this functionality in its operating system for more than a year. Apple's PowerTalk, however, has not been very successful due to lack of developer support for the interface. Interestingly, Microsoft will provide a Macintosh client for Exchange. In addition, Microsoft will develop the functionality to allow Macintoshes to communicate with Exchange via PowerTalk.

Fig. 1.7

The universal inbox gives you access to all your data in one place.

Macintosh Exchange Client does not support the electronic forms of Exchange, due to the fact that the forms are Visual Basic executables. Microsoft does not have any immedaite plans to directly support VB on the macintosh platform.

The universal inbox is the key to the Client software component. This functionality is facilitated by Exchange's client/server architecture. Microsoft and third party developers are writing application to take advantage of the universal inbox. To the end user, they only have to have one application in order to access the information that they need.

The universal inbox provides the framework for all the application types discussed in the following sections. Microsoft Exchange does not ship with all these third-party applications; you need to purchase them separately.

Electronic Mail

Electronic mail is the basic foundation for the universal inbox. Users can send and receive e-mail; users can work online and offline, as well as over network connections or dial-up connections. Exchange Server generates a Global Address List to facilitate easy addressing of messages. The Client software provides several other functions that are discussed in the next section in this chapter.

Electronic Forms

Many businesses need to reduce the number of paper forms that they use, for many reasons. One reason is that cutting paper consumption helps the environment. In addition, the use of electronic forms cuts data entry in half, reducing the chance for errors, reducing costs, and making people more productive.

Microsoft developed a forms package to be used in conjunction with MS Mail versions 3.2 through 3.5; Exchange expands on that package. Forms now are tightly integrated into the heart of Exchange Client and Server. Forms are routed to a user's inbox as a regular e-mail message. When the user opens the message, the electronic form is executed, displaying the information captured in the package.

Exchange also provides a robust environment for form design, as well as central form-management capability.

Workflow

Workflow technology, which is derived mostly from imaging systems, seeks to establish strict steps for a business process, with limited or no choice for individuals to change the business rules. Exchange with workflow goes beyond forms routing to address several workflow-application issues, such as status tracking, work management, deadline management, ad-hoc initiation of workflow processes, negotiation of dates, and autonomous reassignment of work.

Workflow has two parts: routing and true workflow. On the routing side, Exchange offers basic routing functionality via the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI). On the workflow side, Exchange takes a modular approach, providing interfaces that enable workflow developers to design solutions that will run with their database engines. Exchange is an ideal platform for workflow applications because of its MAPI foundation, directory services, and Information Store.

Companies such as Action Technologies are extending the forms capabilities by providing workflow technology for the Exchange inbox. Users will be able to access workflow databases directly from their inboxes. Users must have the Action Technology software installed as part of their Exchange inbox.

Imaging

Imaging expands the capability to support multiple file types and provides a strong mechanism for reading, distributing, and annotating information. In the Exchange environment, you can integrate at the information viewer level in order to access public folder data objects from the client. With Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) support, you can drag and drop the actual image into the message. On the server, images are stored as objects in the Information Store.

Companies such as PC DOCS are providing solutions for electronic document distribution. Documents stored in the PC DOCS library will be accessible from the Exchange inbox via PC DOCS interchange. This way, users who do not have the PC DOCS client software can still review and edit the information in the PC DOCS library.

Document Management

Document management (which also can be referred to as document imaging) consists of scanning documents into a system, archiving the images, and creating full-text indexes of the content. Document management now extends into the realm of multimedia and OLE objects.

Information Sharing

Group discussion databases and threaded conversations are some of the growing technologies that are collectively known as groupware. Threaded discussions show the hierarchical history of the original message combining all of the subsequent replies to the original message. Exchange facilitates this "pull" technology in its public folders, which are accessible from the inbox.

Scheduling

See Chapters 29 and 30 for more detailed discussion about Schedule+.

Exchange leverages the universal inbox to manage appointments, tasks, events, and contacts. A user can arrange a team meeting by creating a message about the meeting in Schedule+ and then sending the message to the recipients via Exchange. Schedule+ is the Microsoft group calendering software application that ships with Exchange and MS Office. When a recipient opens the message, he or she can accept the meeting based on their availability. In this case, Exchange handles the integration into the recipient's online schedule and books the meeting. In addition, a note is sent back to the person who requested the meeting, confirming the addressee's attendance.

The advantage is that from one location, you can plan your meetings and maintain contacts. The contact lists are directly tied to the Exchange Personal Address Books and the corporate Global Address List.

Electronic Data Interchange

One the hottest and most-talked-about uses of messaging is Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Most corporations use EDI applications to exchange messages that contain information about orders, sales, and inventory.

Third parties are providing support for financial transactions via Exchange. Microsoft's intent is to provide support for EDI domestically (with X.12) and internationally (with EDIfac). Exchange does not provide native X.435 support, but support in MAPI will provide X.435 functionality in the client.

Exchange provides a rich architecture for use in EDI transactions. Together with the integration with Microsoft SQL Server and other Microsoft application environments, Exchange will prove to be a very solid, useful, and cost-effective EDI solution.

Information Providers

Using the universal inbox metaphor, information providers such as Dow Jones, Reuters, News Wire, and Lexis-Nexis can deliver up-to-the-minute information feeds to a user's desktop. Then the user can use this information in other inbox applications, including forms, workflow, and imaging.

You can use Fulcrum's Find for MS Exchange as a search engine. This product supports advanced full-text indexing and retrieval capabilities for folders, attachments, and data in forms. By contrast, Verity provides Topic Agents, which runs on the Exchange server to continually poll and search data within public folders, as well as external information providers. The results of these searches show up in the user's inbox as a new e-mail message.

Exchange is a great platform for information providers for a several reasons:

Fax Routing

Third-party products from Right Fax and Octel provide a gateway for DID-supported fax boards, such as Troutdale Boards. Faxes can be sent and received from a central location and routed to and from the Exchange client. This process eliminates the need to provide individual modems and phone lines at users' desktops.

Microsoft also supports its own fax gateway product for MS Mail. Moreover, the Exchange client for Windows 95 can leverage the Windows 95 Microsoft Fax software, which is bundled with the operating system. This way, a user can leverage existing aliases and contact lists in the local directory to send e-mail and faxes from one location. Microsoft Fax also supports binary attachments.

Understanding Client/server Architecture

In a shared-file mail system, the post office on the server is passive. The messaging activities are performed by a client acting on the passive file server. This type of mail system has been the extent of LAN-based e-mail systems today.

Shared-file mail systems have three inherent problems:

Every change that is made to the passive server's file structure must be followed by changes in the client component. This requirement makes it very difficult to administer and to configure additional applications to leverage the infrastructure.

The security model is a major breaking point for shared-file mail systems. Clients must have full read and write privileges on the entire file structure. All users must be able to read and write to another user's post-office box and mail files.

In a shared-file system, each client must poll the server continually to check for new messages. This application process adds a constant flow of traffic that will slow the system.

Shared-file, LAN-based e-mail equates to most v1.0 products(see fig. 1.8). Typically, the first release of a product is not the version that you really want to use; you need to let the product mature. Exchange is the incarnation of these original mail systems. Exchange addresses the issues left behind by your existing message tools. Exchange is a v1.0 product, in other words, brand new product, but it offers a legacy of five years of shared-file system e-mail.

Fig. 1.8

Historically, shared-file, LAN-based mail systems have been the standard for many organizations.

Interestingly, Microsoft did not use its own shared-file e-mail system; Microsoft used its client interface on top of a proprietary system called Xenix mail. To prove its commitment to the Exchange product, Microsoft has since moved all its internal mail systems to Exchange.

Client/server Mail Advantages

In contrast to shared-file systems, Exchange is a true client/server mail system. Exchange supports client/server standards, including Remote Procedure Calls (RPC), Distributed Computing Environment (DCE), and Open Software Foundation (OSF).

Unlike the clients in a shared-file system, the clients in client/server applications share responsibilities and tasks with the server component. This arrangement allows the application to exploit the total computing power of both client and server by splitting processing of an application between the front-end client and the back-end server. These components work together to accomplish the processing requirements of the application. This distribution of processing allows the application to be more extensible and more secure, and also decreases network traffic. Client/server mail systems effectively address the limitations of shared-file systems' mail servers.

Exchange's architecture allows for dynamic changes to the server component. The communication between client and server is not affected. In MS Mail versions 3.2 through 3.5, for example, you cannot update the Global Address List (GAL) while users are still connected to the post office and accessing the GAL. Exchange manages all the connections as it simultaneously manages the GAL. Exchange can update the GAL without any negative impact on the client.

Because Exchange runs on top of Windows NT, it maintains the C2-level security of NT. C2 is a government approved security standard for the NT operating system. The United States Department of Defense issues this certification based on criteria meet in the development of the product. With Exchange, each client no longer needs to have full read and write privileges on the file structure. When the client connects, the user is authenticated to access only those files for which he or she has rights.

Because Exchange is a process on the server, the client does not always need to be connected; Exchange can still perform scheduled tasks on the Information Store. Exchange uses Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) to reduce the network traffic. A client makes an RPC request to execute a command on the server; the server then processes the command and returns a response. A client can continually poll the server for new messages, but it is not required for the functionality of Exchange to deliver or process mail (see fig. 1.9). Each process is independent of each other.

Fig. 1.9

The client/server mail system architecture reduces network traffic by using RPCs.

Exchange's client/server architecture is very extensible with custom applications using Windows Open Systems Architecture (WOSA) development standards. Whether you are using products from third parties or developing your own applications, you can facilitate integration with Exchange by using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Object linking and embedding (OLE), Windows NT operating system, SQL server, and MAPI development standards.

Application-Development Platform

Microsoft provides several ways to develop applications for Exchange. Through its use of standard APIs or interfaces to core Exchange processes, Microsoft has positioned Exchange as a flexible application-development platform. You can leverage Exchange for developing applications on top of its messaging infrastructure.

Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) and Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) are two of the programming interfaces exposed or made available for developers. Exchange offers a wonderful framework for application development, because it has a tight integration with the Windows NT operating system. In addition, if you adhere SQL, ODBC, and OLE development, you will have Microsoft standards for development. Using all of the Microsoft standards, provides for seemless integration between applications.

Microsoft ships two developer kits for the Exchange product (see fig. 1.10): the Gateway Development Kit (GDK) and the Exchange Development Kit (EDK). The Gateway kit allows connectivity vendors to develop solutions that provide administrators a consistent look and feel for management of new integration. The Exchange kit addresses the fundamentals that cross all gateways, to ensure an acceptable level of performance.

Fig. 1.10

The GDK and EDK provide a robust application-development environment for Exchange.

Data Security

As more people depend on e-mail for communication, the need to authenticate mail increases. Exchange offers three levels of security. Exchange manages the user accounts and the Information Store activity. Exchange also builds off the NT C2 security and incorporates several additional security mechanisms to protect the data stored on the server, the data on the client PC, and data in transit.

Exchange provides for RSA digital key encryption (see fig. 1.11), which is used to authenticate the user who is sending the message. When a user "signs" a message, the signature guarantees that the name associated with the message is the actual name of the author.

Fig. 1.11

Digital signatures provide enhanced security by authenticating the identity of the author of a message.

In addition to the digital signature, you can enable digital encryption of messages. Exchange uses an algorithm called CAST, developed by Northern Telecom. Security is discussed further in Chapter 21.

Support for Remote Users

Exchange enables users to work offline. Users can use Exchange Client from their PCs via remote network access (dial-up connections) or while they are disconnected from the network. Exchange was designed to use RPC calls, which are designed to sense the line speed and optimize performance.

Exchange can be used over asynchronous connections, including ISDN, PPP, SLIP, x.25, and regular modem connections (see fig. 1.12). This form of Exchange connectivity holds true for client-to-server connections as well as server-to-server connections. Additionally, security can be implemented when using NT's Remote Access Services for dial back and challenged dial-in via the NT C2 security. This figure shows a matrix for time and speed options for connections. Ultimately, increasing time or speed, increases costs.

Fig. 1.12

Remote-access solutions enable users to work offline and enable servers to talk to each other over ISDN and related technologies.

Support for Industry Standards

Exchange supports x.400 standards via an integrated x.400 connector. In addition, Exchange supports existing MS Mail x.400 gateways. Exchange does have its own version of the x.435 standard for EDI functionality. As mentioned earlier, x.435 is supported via third-party developers. No special requirement is necessary in deploying Exchange in a x.400 environment.

See Chapter 20, “Configuring X.400 Connections,” for a detailed explanation of the Internet Connector.

Exchange ships with the Internet Mail Connector, which allows you to send and receive messages over the Internet. You also can use the connector for internal communication between Exchange sites or between Exchange and MS Mail post offices. This function alone is worth buying Exchange for; it is a huge improvement over the original MS Mail SMTP gateway.

The SMTP support in Exchange now includes full Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). The preceding version was a DOS-based system; now it is a 32-bit service running under NT.

Gateway Support

An in depth discussion of gateways and connectors can be found in Chapter 24, while an overview can be found in Chapter 3.

Microsoft guarantees that all your existing MS Mail gateways will interoperate with Exchange. Your investments in those gateways will be preserved if you want to continue using them. As more Exchange connectors are released, however, you may consider deploying them as upgrades. The existing gateways will communicate with Exchange via the Exchange to MS Mail Connector.

Exchange delivers on Microsoft's commitment to interoperate with legacy systems. Microsoft sees Exchange as an effort to migrate the 4 million users of PROFS and DEC All-in-One to its client/server mail system. Microsoft will settle for providing backbone connectivity among all these systems.

There is tremendous support from the third parties to develop gateways for Exchange. The integrated monitoring and centralized administration of Exchange offers it as a robust solution for the enterprise.

Administration of the Exchange Environment

The administrative model for Exchange centers on the standard of high availability. Exchange must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The support model is such that local site administrators can manage and control local functionality, while enterprise administration can be performed from any node.

Centralized Administration Console

Exchange provides a Microsoft Backoffice Standard Administrative interface. This includes tools to stop and start the Exchange application running on a given server. This interface enables you to manage the Exchange server from any location on site or off site. With Windows NT Remote Access Service, you can dial in remotely to monitor or configure Exchange.

Monitoring More Than Messages

Exchange provides tools that help you administer servers and all the gateways and connectors. Exchange enables you to track a message throughout the enterprise through the Link Monitor and the Server Monitor. The Link Monitor allows you, from anywhere on the network, to monitor the status of any of the links or connectors along any message route. The Server Monitor allows you to check the status of any of the multiple Exchange services that are running on one or more servers.

Automatic Routing and Directory Synchronization

Exchange is designed to provide automatic message routing. The logic for choosing the best route is built into the server components. The Exchange server looks at the destination address, compares the address with its knowledge of the site connectors, and forwards the message to the next site or connector. You can customize part of this intelligence for your environment, including route costs, bandwidth use, and overall performance. Exchange allows you to determine the route of any given message. You can configure Exchange to know the costs associated with various routes; Exchange then chooses the most cost-effective way to transfer a mail message. This feature is especially useful for budgeting and planning WAN connections.

See Chapter 17, "Using Replication and Synchronization" for more information on these topics.

In addition to routing messages, Exchange creates and updates the Global Address List. Formerly a nightmare of any MS Mail administrator, directory synchronization is completely managed by Exchange. You no longer have the problem of trying to update a global address list when someone is simultaneously accessing the file—another outstanding benefit of the client/server messaging architecture.

Migrating from MS Mail is discussed in Chapter 7.

Exchange offers some great new updates for current MS Mail administrators. In addition to providing more features, Exchange helps administrators reduce costs and plan for future architecture enhancements.

Considerations Before Installing Exchange

Exchange offers several exciting features for enterprise messaging. You need to consider several issues, however, before you actually purchase the software, hire the consultants, and order the hardware. The following sections discuss those issues.

Connectivity Issues

Chapter 5, "Designing Exchange Topology" will go into detail on planning resources.

Exchange supports a variety of wide-area networking connectivity options. Exchange does not care which protocol you use, because it runs on top of Windows NT, which supports TCP/IP (the Internet's native protocol), IPX (the Novell protocol), and Netbeui (the default Microsoft protocol). For special gateway connectivity to the Internet, you need TCP/IP; for connectivity to PROFS, you may need SNA or DLC protocols.

You can achieve connectivity between sites over asynchronous connections, including Windows NT Remote Access (RAS), 28.8-Kbps modems, ISDN connections to the Message Transfer Agents, and x.25 TP/x connections that use Exchange site connectors. These connections are available primarily because of the tight integration of Exchange with the Windows NT operating system. You also can use Exchange's x.400 support over an x.25 connection into most Value Added Networking (VAN) providers for international connections. Your choice depends on price, existing infrastructure, and corporate direction. Figure 1.12, which appears earlier in this chapter, shows the speeds and costs of various access options.

Costs and Roll-Out Issues

Chapters 4-10 will give you a better idea of exactly what to consider when rolling out various pieces of Exchange functionality.

The following sections discuss some of the most important issues that you need to review before you install Exchange.

Hardware and Software Costs

You must consider several expenses. In addition to the actual servers, you may need to purchase routers, hubs, and several other WAN-related hardware components. If you want to use Exchange to communicate with the Internet, you need a router and a dedicated high-speed line to an Internet access provider. These costs can grow quickly and may limit the effectiveness of Exchange if you don't plan ahead.

Software probably will be the cheapest part. Microsoft offers several attractive packages that enable you to acquire licenses for a minimal cost. The Microsoft Open Licensing Program (MOLP) and Select Program for volume license purchasing give you lowest cost options. In addition, Microsoft bundles Exchange Client with every copy of Windows 95.

Security Models

A key element of administration is the security model. Who will be responsible for creating user IDs? Who will moderate public folders? Who will define the configuration for replication of information? You need to address these questions.

Naming Conventions

One interesting issue is how to name things. What do you call the servers, domains, and sites? You will fight the battle to choose names that indicate the country, state, and city; the NT domain; the job function; and the like. All these names must follow a logical thought process. Be sure to get agreement and support for naming conventions, because changing them is not easy; you really get only one shot.

Consulting Services

You should seriously consider hiring a consulting firm to assist you. Many firms are part of the Microsoft Exchange Beta (Early Adopters) program and, therefore, have experience with the product. The logic is to spend the money up front to overengineer the roll out. You do not cut costs early on. This is a significant undertaking and things will not work the way you think.

The planning sections of this book will provide insight based on experience gained through working with Microsoft and the Early Adopters Program. This information will help you effectively plan your roll out. Topics ranging from the financial perspective to the architecture across the corporate WAN will be addressed.

Comparison with Lotus Notes

Many critics attempt to compare Lotus Notes and Exchange directly, but no comparison can be made; Exchange far exceeds the functionality of Notes. The two products can compete as groupware solutions, but Exchange provides an entire messaging infrastructure to connect with legacy systems and heterogeneous environments.

Exchange provides tight connectivity with Notes, so Exchange and Notes can coexist effectively in your environment.

Notes Advantages

Lotus Notes has a few advantages over Exchange when it is used as groupware. The product is mature, and Lotus has made several enhancements in it over the years. One exciting new feature is the World Wide Web gateway. From a Web browser, you can access Notes databases.

In addition to Notes' base functionality of providing groupware solutions inside any enterprise, many organizations have adopted an information distribution channel by providing Notes databases of information or direct feeds from their product support. Companies such as SAP, currently use Notes as a means to support their product.

Integration with Notes

The preceding section briefly discusses some of the advantages of Notes over Exchange as a groupware solution; no doubt, the same functions will be available in Exchange over time. Microsoft sees PROFS and All-in One as being fiercer competitors than Notes. Exchange actually interoperates quite easily with Notes.

As we have introduced the notion of the universal inbox and gateways, so too will there be a Notes gateway. Notes, as a product, has adopted MAPI as a development platform. Notes has been gradually moving away from its previous standard of Vendor Independent Messaging (VIM). Notes forms using WOSA API's will cross communicate with MAPI ODBC forms from Exchange. Both applications will share a common data source, despite different user interfaces.

Notes and Exchange can provide a complete solution today for a corporate messaging and groupware. Don't think that by migrating to Exchange, you will lose your Notes investment. The Notes gateway provides information crossover. Notes also supports MAPI, so you will gain a common development platform. These two products will be tightly integrated, thereby improving the market for groupware.

Explaining Important Exchange Concepts and Definitions

Before you use Exchange, you should understand some key concepts and definitions. Following are several terms with which you should become familiar:

Fig. 1.13

Microsoft Exchange Client gives the user access to his or her universal inbox.

Fig. 1.14

Personal Address Books contain commonly used names.

Explaining Exchange Server Administrative Features

Microsoft Exchange Server offers the following key features to the administrator:

The following sections describe these features in detail and provide practical examples of each feature to help you learn how Exchange provides a robust messaging architecture.

Exchange takes advantage of all Windows NT Server 3.51 features. Tools such as Event Viewer, Server Manager, RPC Ping, and Dr. Watson can prove very useful to the administrator for troubleshooting Exchange. In addition, Exchange takes full advantage of NT Server 3.51 C2 security. Exchange also inherits NT Server's scalability and protocol robustness. Exchange successfully leverages all the reasons you installed NT Server in the first place.

Centralized Administration

Microsoft Exchange Server administration is performed from a single location with a program called Administrator (see fig. 1.15). This program gives the server administrator a graphical representation of all directory objects on any site for which he or she has permission.

Fig. 1.15

The Exchange Administrator program provides centralized management for all your Exchange sites.

This utility is used to define the hierarchical structure of organization's messaging infrastructure. You can define and set properties for elements such as connections to other mail systems, recipients, servers, and addressing templates.

The advantage of centralized administration is that it enables you to see the entire object tree or hierarchy of information and make any addition, move, or change in an easy, straightforward manner, regardless of the location of the server. If your company merges with another company that has a Microsoft Mail messaging infrastructure in place, for example, the Exchange administrator can add the Microsoft Mail connector, and connectivity would be available to all specified users on all specified servers. The convenience of adding functionality from a central console is apparent in this case.

Connectivity

For more information about connectors, see Chapter 3 and Chapters 20-22.

Exchange offers a wide variety of connectivity features. Through its connectors and gateways, Exchange allows users to exchange mail between different e-mail topologies and different messaging protocols. This includes the hosts absed mail systems unsing SNA, internet mail systems using SMTP, foreign host systms using x.400, and between Exchange sites using TCPIP, IPX or Netbeui. The following connectors are included with Exchange:

In addition to the aforementioned connectors, gateways for Exchange extend your reach. Exchange supports its own gateways and Microsoft Mail (PC) gateways as well. Following are just a few of the gateways that are available for Exchange from third parties:

Regardless of the origin of messages, all messages in a user's mailbox look exactly the same. The addition of connectors and gateways is transparent to the user. That fact is a key advantage of Exchange. A user's data is collected and consistently formatted in a universal inbox.

Like incoming mail, outgoing mail routed through connectors and gateways is transparent to the user. The administrator creates custom recipients that reside in address books alongside regular Exchange recipients.

When a connector is installed to allow communication to the Microsoft Mail post office, for example, Exchange clients can immediately send and receive mail by addressing the message to the MS Mail user the same way that they do when they send a message to another Exchange user. When Lisa's boss says, "Please send a memo to George Roberts at the new office," Lisa can fire up her Exchange Client and send the memo directly to George Roberts, because his name is in the address book. Likewise, Lisa shows up in the MS Mail post office, and George can easily send her a message.

Environment Adaptability and Flexibility

Exchange can be used in many environments: small LANs, large WANs, and everything in between. Because Exchange integrates tightly with Windows NT Server, it has the same scalability. Exchange is a great starting point for organizations that are just establishing a messaging infrastructure, as well as for institutions that are looking for increased functionality and robustness by switching to a new product or adding a new product to the mix.

Exchange provides the functionality not only to connect to other messaging systems and protocols, but also to allow the administrator to migrate mail and user account information from other mail systems.

Exchange supports the following mail systems:

Various tools are used to move data from one system to another. These tools show Exchange's flexibility; they allow the administrator to use the tool with which he or she is most comfortable to achieve the specified task. These tools are:

Fig. 1.16

The migration tool has various options for importing data from existing systems.

As you can see, Exchange provides the flexibility to be suitable for large and small environments, and the adaptability to import data from other messaging programs to provide integration with heterogeneous environments. Exchange is capable of providing messaging solution for any size organization with any combiniationof exisiting mail systems.

Security

Exchange not only leverages all the security features of Windows NT Server, but also includes added security mechanisms that provide even more protection against unauthorized use of the system and that encrypt the data that is being transmitted. Exchange Server has the following additional security functions:

See Chapters 27 and 28 for more information on Exchange Client features.

Monitoring

Further building on a solid NT Server foundation, you can monitor Exchange processes in several ways, using such standard NT Server tools as Dr. Watson, Pview, RPC Ping, and Windows NT Server Manager. Three tools that are specific to Exchange are used to monitor a variety of Exchange information:

Fig. 1.17

Exchange adds several modules to Performance Monitor, making it very easy to monitor such counters as message traffic in real time.

This section concludes the overview of the server features. This information should make the examples used later in this book much clearer to you. Things like centralized administration, tight security, and robust monitoring tools that all take advantage of your Windows NT Server training and experience will be discussed in more detail.

Introduction to Exchange Client Components

The Microsoft Exchange Client components consist of Microsoft Exchange Viewer, Microsoft Forms Designer, and Microsoft Schedule+ (see fig. 1.18). From the client software, you can create custom applications using MAPI, giving you an unlimted client. Several sample applications are included on the Microsoft Exchange CD-ROM.

Fig. 1.18

Microsoft Exchange client components include the Client, Schedule+, and the Electronic Forms Designer.

The Exchange Viewer provides a consistent look and feel across all the supported platforms; it has the capability to arrange disparate sources of information and data types in a coherent GUI design. You can have spreadsheets, voice-mail messages, word processing documents, and expense reports all organized on one screen.

The client also allows you to place filing, printing, viewing, deleting, and other functions on convenient button bars. These button bars keep the desktop uncluttered and yet allow the desktop to contain many pieces of information.

Folder Types

When you use the Exchange Viewer, you have control of several folders that are displayed off of the Microsoft Exchange root folder tree. These folders are very similar in layout to Windows Explorer, which ships with Windows 95, and to the File Manager in Windows 3.1 and Windows NT.

The three main folder types are:

In addition, the creator of the information creates a view to standardize the look and feel of the information. For example, in many firms there exists a document on all the bulletin boards containing what jobs openings exist at the company. With Exchange, you could create an Access database that would hold standard information and simply create a form that resided in a public folder. People could then browse the information in a standard way and all data would be updated whenever the database is updated.

Organizing Information

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, Exchange enables users to organize information according to their taste. Exchange provides some features to make this process much easier. Those features are described in the following sections.

Views

A view is simply a way to order information. Information can be sorted by author, keyword, date, or subject.

Two kinds of views are available: folder views and common views. Folder views order information in individual folders. If you have a private folder called Peter which contains all mail from Peter, you can define a view that sorts all the objects in the folder by date. Then you could change the view for the folder to include a secondary sort criterion, such as subject. The data then would conform to the view only in that folder. Common views are views that can be applied to any folder. You can define a view called Date and apply it to many folders at the same time.

In addition, Exchange provides many predefined views, and Exchange is also flexible enough to allow you to create views on custom fields. If a public folder has a database element that contains a logical (Y or N) field, you can create a view that sorts all the Yes records before all the No records.

Rules and Auto-Assistants

Rules, which exist in many of today's popular mail packages, specify that certain actions be performed on certain objects if they meet certain criteria. In regard to a folder called Peter, you can establish a rule that says, "If author = Peter', put element in folder Peter'."

Auto-Assistants allow you to have rules in effect even when you aren't logged on. If you go away on vacation, you can have a message that gets sent back to the person telling him or her that you are away, or if the message contains a certain keyword in the subject you could have your mail forwarded to someone else to take care of it. These are only a couple of examples of how to use rules to make things run more smoothly.

The Finder

The Finder is a powerful search engine that allows you to specify criteria for finding items in any or all of your folders. This feature is extremely useful when you remember either the subject or a keyword but can't remember who sent the message or what the actual content was. You can have the Finder look for the message in all your folders.

The Finder runs in the background and is treated like any other running program, allowing you to continue working while the search is under way.

Once you are presented with the objects that meet the specified criteria, any action you take on those objects takes effect in the actual folders the objects reside in. For example, you can use the Finder to retrieve all messages 30 or more days old. Once they are brought up in the Finder window, you can select all of them, and click the delete button. They will all be removed from their respective folders.

Other Exchange Client Components

Three more components of the Microsoft Exchange Client environment are the Exchange Forms Designer, the Custom Application Environment, and Schedule+. These tools, combined with the Exchange Viewer, provide a solid client framework for networked messaging applications.

The Microsoft Exchange Forms Designer

The Forms Designer allows the administrator (and any other user when granted permission) to create custom forms that can replace paper forms. Most companies have standard forms for requesting vacation time, for example. Why not create this form online, store it in a public folder, and allow the user to fill out and send it to you for processing? In addition, you can create a Visual Basic program to take the data off the form and store it in an Access, FoxPro, or SQL Server database for later retrieval and manipulation.

Imagine putting office-supplies requisitions in an electronic form. You could tally the total cost of office supplies for a month quickly by using OLE to create an Excel table from the Exchange data.

You do not have to be a Visual Basic guru to use forms, but having (or acquiring) the necessary knowledge allows you to extend the functionality of Exchange beyond the transfer of information.

The Application Design Environment (ADE)

The ADE is a very flexible, non-code-based system that generates applications by using a combination of forms and custom folders. ADE is the extension to the Forms Designer, which is described in the preceding section.

Several examples of custom applications appear on the Exchange CD-ROM in the EXCHANGE\FORMS directory. You can build applications from these templates.

Schedule+

See Chapters 29 and 30 for more information regarding Schedule+.

Microsoft Schedule+ (see fig. 1.19) provides a group calendar and group scheduling and contact-management tools that take the personal information manager to the new level. The tight integration with Microsoft Exchange Server allows the user to communicate and schedule with anyone in the organization. This tight integration has not been seen before between a set of diverse applications.

Fig. 1.19

Microsoft Schedule+ provides an appointment book, event and task management, and contact-management functions.

Schedule+ functions not only as a group scheduler, but also as a personal scheduler and a contact-management system. You can group and sort information based on any criteria. You also can allow other people to view your schedule, so as to cut down on repetitive e-mail messages requesting meetings. How many times have you had to cancel a meeting just because one person couldn't make it? With Exchange, you'll know beforehand that that person can't attend, because you can see his or her schedule.

Another good application for this technology is to set up schedules for meeting rooms. Users can see whether a certain room is free at a certain time and, if so, make a reservation.

Understanding Exchange Client Components

The client side of Microsoft Exchange has three core components: Exchange Client or Viewer, Schedule+, and the Forms Designer. You can design custom applications by using the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI).

You will understand how these components fit into the Exchange architecture and what the interrelationships of the components mean to you. The Exchange Client structure will help you understand how to more effectively use all the features of Exchange to improve productivity.

The following sections discuss the following topics:

Figure 1.20 shows the various Client components and how they communicate with Exchange Server.

Fig. 1.20

The Exchange client/server architecture has MAPI acting as the glue for the integration of the client with the server.

MAPI

MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) is a set of functions that can be called by C, C++, and Visual Basic programs through Windows Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs). MAPI allows custom programs that can control and manipulate Exchange objects (see fig. 1.21). MAPI is a powerful extension to Exchange providing support for devleopers to enhance the core functionality built into Exchange.

Fig. 1.21

The MAPI framework provides the map for designing Exchange applications.

When the client application is using a function library, messaging services are processed by sMAPI or CMC. The CMC interface is an API layer defined by the X.400 API Association. CMC is similar to sMAPI but is specially designed to support cross-platform development. When MAPI objects are being accessed and manipulated, client requests are serviced by OLE messaging or MAPI itself. The OLE messaging component allows development by using such tools are Visual C, Visual C++, and Visual Basic; MAPI itself is a powerful, object-oriented C++ interface that allows complex manipulation of folders, forms, and messages. The MAPI service providers then perform the requested actions for the client and pass back action through the MAPI subsystem to the MAPI client.

In addition to the tools and sample applications provided by Microsoft, many utilities for Exchange are available from third-party companies. These utilities, which are discussed in Chapter 31, consist of gateways, connectors, Visual Basic custom controls, and administrative utilities.

Third-party developers, such as Lotus Development Corporation, have switched from proprietary messaging standards, such as Vendor Independent Messaging (VIM), to MAPI for designing messaging applications. This fact shows the strength of the MAPI standard and is a harbinger of the plethora of development tools that will emerge for designing MAPI applications.

MAPI is the glue that allows client applications to converse with the server to build a robust communications architecture.

Understanding How the Exchange Client Talks to the Server

The Exchange Client—the user interface to the Exchange Server—is where the user interacts with the server and performs all messaging functions.

Using standard MAPI calls, the Client communicates via RPCs to the public Information Store of the Exchange server to retrieve shared messages and forms; communicates via RPC to the private Information Store of the Exchange server to retrieve private folder information; and presents the information in a consistent, organized fashion.

The method of communication between the Viewer and the Exchange server is Remote Procedure Call (RPC). An RPC is a routine that transfers functions and data between client and server computers. RPCs allow users to access data on other server computers transparently, as though the data were local to a user's computer (see fig. 1.22). To a user, all data access through the user's computer looks just like local data.

Fig. 1.22

RPC transactions can operate over any protocol and allow for the "push" and "pull" features of Exchange.

RPC gives transparency to the user and provides flexibility for the administrator by supporting many network protocols and methods of communication. The supported network protocols are:

The supported methods of communication are:

When the user loads Exchange Client, it uses RPC to ask the server for all the objects to which the Client has permission. The Client knows which services to connect to by using a profile. A profile contains the configuration information about the MAPI service providers (address book, transport, and store providers) that a user wants to use when starting an application, which in this case is the Microsoft Exchange Client. The same situation holds true for Schedule+ information.

Figure 1.23 shows the profile screen where users can add services to a profile to extend functionality to an existing configuration. Multiple profiles can be used for the same Exchange client. If a user wants to keep all faxes separate, for some reason, he or she can configure a profile that connects only to his or her faxes. A user also might want more than one profile if he or she has two mailboxes: one for personal use and one for administrative use.

Fig. 1.23

Exchange allows for several profiles per user.

Clicking the Properties button brings up the dialog box shown in figure 1.24, where the user can select the information service to modify.

Fig. 1.24

The Exchange Client can have many information sources, such as a Microsoft Exchange Server, an MS Mail post office, or Microsoft Fax.

Clicking the Properties button in this dialog box displays the dialog box shown in figure 1.25. This dialog box has a series of tabs that enable the user to define properties that pertain to the selected information service.

Fig. 1.25

The Service properties dialog box is where all the recipient options are configured.

As you can see in figure 1.25, the General tab contains such information as which Exchange server to connect to, which mailbox to connect to, and whether to use local or remote mode.

The client/server nature of Exchange allows remote connections to be transparent to the user. Exchange leverages Windows NT and Windows 95 features of dial-up networking by providing the Dial-Up Networking tab. In many e-mail systems, you must use a separate client for remote access and reconcile your mailboxes. This situation is not the case with Exchange. The architecture of the client components of Exchange allow for a single client, dial-in or networked, through the use of RPC and MAPI.

Snapping Schedule+ into Exchange Server

Schedule+ is the component of the Exchange Client that allows users to plan meetings, track contacts, create to-do lists, and make appointments. Exchange enables users to share this information easily and dynamically.

A step by step guide to using this and all the functions of Schedule+ will be discussed in Chapter 30.

In addition, Schedule+ (like all other Exchange components) is tightly integrated to the server so that you can do things automatically. If you want to plan a meeting by sending an e-mail message to all the potential participants, you can use the Meeting Wizard, included with Schedule+ (see fig. 1.26).

Fig. 1.26

You can use the Microsoft Schedule+ Meeting Wizard to schedule group meetings.

All this integration comes at a price, however. To achieve this tight integration, Microsoft had to make the Windows 3.1 version incompatible with the new NT and Windows 95 versions, due to the addition of hooks needed to tie the Schedule+ software to Exchange. You must make some sacrifices to take advantage of the advanced client—server architecture of Exchange; this is one of them.

If you used a plain e-mail system, you would then have to gather all the responses and find out which people can attend and which people can't. Schedule+ automatically checks to see whether the meeting time conflicts with someone's schedule.

A hidden public folder under the Recipients container or directory service for the Exchange site, called Free/Busy Information, contains the Schedule+ information for every user who has used Schedule+. You can view this folder in the Administrator program by pulling down the View menu and choosing Hidden Recipients (see fig. 1.27).

Fig. 1.27

You can configure the Administrator program to allow the viewing of hidden folders.

When the Schedule+ Free/Busy Information folder is in the current window, you can set its related properties. Figure 1.28 shows a sample of these properties.

Fig. 1.28

You configure the Schedule+ Free/Busy information in the properties window.

In multiple-server environments, Schedule+ Free/Busy Information is propagated through the Schedule+ Free/Busy Connector. This NT service allows users from one site to schedule meetings with users at other sites transparently. When a user is inviting potential participants to a meeting, the Global Address Book provides the off-site names, while Free/Busy Connector gathers the remote site scheduling information. Figure 1.29 shows this layout. Schedule+ alerts the user even if a remote site participant is unable to attend the planned meeting due to a scheduling conflict, and will prompt the user to enter another suggested time.

Fig. 1.29

Schedule+ Free/Busy Connector Dataflow.

All replication information is controlled through the Properties windows of all relevant components. Configuring replication is described in detail in Chapter 17.

Integration of the Forms Designer

Forms can be stored in three places: the Enterprise Forms Registry, the Personal Forms Registry, and the Folder Forms Registry. The following list describes these elements:

By providing a simple graphical user interface, the Forms Designer allows users to create forms without the need for complex programming.

It may be difficult to believe, but the Forms Designer is a front end to Visual Basic. Simply drawing the fields in the form sends the proper commands to Visual Basic to create the executable form.

Like all other Exchange objects, custom forms have properties. Through these properties, the Viewer integrates with the Forms Designer. By setting event properties, the user controls which actions trigger certain events.

Custom Application Programming with MAPI

Exchange Client applications aren't limited to those that ship with Exchange. Because Exchange uses MAPI, you can design applications that take advantage of Exchange's underlying folder architecture.

Custom applications can use MAPI to perform such tasks as open a public folder and drop in data, search data, delete items, and examine the contents of folders. All actions are subject to the permission that the application has for any given object. If the program is running with a certain user's permissions, but that user doesn't have the ability to delete data, the application cannot delete any data.

MAPI also can be used to add functionality to a form created with the Forms Designer. You can write a program that takes data from a custom form, imports that data into Excel, performs some calculations, sends the user the compiled results in an e-mail message, and then faxes a copy to another recipient. .

From Here...

This chapter welcomed you to the world of Microsoft Exchange, introducing the key features of Exchange and providing an overview of the concepts of Exchange. For further information, read the following chapters:

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