Planning and Architecture

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

An increasing number of businesses today regard messaging systems as mission-critical systems. Therefore, companies have strict reliability and availability requirements for their e-mail systems. Equally important is the heightened demand for new messaging system features. An increasingly mobile work force and more geographically dispersed businesses mean that user requirements are continually evolving. These factors place demands on information technology (IT) managers and system architects, who are charged with designing highly reliable and consistently available messaging systems that meet users' needs.

Before you deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, we recommend that you review the following topics, which provide guidance on planning for the supported Exchange organization models (Simple, Standard, Large, and Complex):

• Planning Checklist

• Planning Your Server and Storage Architecture

• Planning for a Simple Exchange Organization

• Planning for a Standard Exchange Organization

• Planning for a Large Exchange Organization

• Planning for a Complex Exchange Organization

• Planning for Coexistence

• Deployment scenarios that require WINS

• Interoperating with Lotus Notes

Planning Content

In addition to the content listed above, you can use other technical content in "Planning and Architecture" to design the ideal Exchange solution to meet your business needs. You can also use this information to plan for the use of specific features, such as compliance, address rewriting, anti-spam antivirus features, and more. For more details, see the following topics:

• Planning Your Deployment

• Planning Your Server and Storage Architecture

• Planning for Compliance

• Planning Active Directory

• Planning to Use Active Directory Sites for Routing Mail

• Planning for Anti-Spam and Antivirus Features

• Planning for Domain Security

• Permission Considerations

• Planning for Address Rewriting

• Best Practices for Deploying a New Exchange Organization

• Best Practices for Transitioning an Exchange Organization

• Best Practices for Migrating from Lotus Notes to an Exchange Organization

Technical Architecture Content

Exchange 2007 introduces several architectural changes from previous versions of Exchange Server. Many features and components have been redesigned, some features have been removed, and several new features have been added.

The following topics discuss Exchange 2007 architecture from an IT professional perspective:

• Exchange Server 2007: Platforms, Editions, and Versions

• Server Roles

• Transport Architecture

• Message Routing in a Coexistence Environment

• Management Interfaces

• Topologies

Architectural information for developers is in the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SDK Documentation.

For More Information

For more information and guidance on planning a highly available and reliable messaging infrastructure based on Exchange 2007, see the following topics:

• Deployment

• Operations

• Security and Protection

• Technical Reference

• Disaster Recovery

• High Availability