In Exchange 2003, an installation checklist guided the administrator through the prerequisites and installation of the various components of Exchange. In Exchange 2007, this checklist is more intrinsic to the setup process. Whether installing anew, migrating, upgrading or transitioning, there are basic steps performed through the Exchange Setup Wizard implemented as setup.exe.

Prerequisites
Hardware – appropriately scalable 64-bit capable hardware is required for Exchange Server 2007. A minimum of 2GB of RAM plus 5MB of RAM per user is also recommended.
Operating System – Production Exchange 2007 will install on 64-bit Windows 2003 SP1 or higher or 64-bit Windows 2003 R2 servers.
Active Directory -Like Exchange 2000 and 2003, Exchange 2007 extends and employs Windows Active Directory. AD performs two functions – it stores Exchange information including address lists and configuration information, and it provides authentication services. Exchange 2007 requires a domain controller running Windows 2003 SP1 or higher, specifically the schema master. The AD Functional level must also be at least Windows 2000 Native mode.
Server Components – There are several components needed to manage and operate Exchange 2007.

Some of the prerequisite components needed for an Exchange 2007 installation are:
• Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0
• Microsoft Management Console 3.0
• Microsoft Windows PowerShell

These components can be installed and verified manually prior to Exchange 2007 setup to make deployment day a little more efficient, but if they are not already in place, Exchange setup will install them. Additionally for some server roles, especially the Mailbox Role, IIS and the World Wide Web services are also needed.

Forest and Domain Preparation
In Exchange 2000/2003, we would run a forest preparation step followed by a domain preparation step. These ‘preps’ are now executed automatically through the setup application in Exchange 2007. The downside of this is that the person who runs Exchange 2007 setup must be a schema admin.

To prepare the forest and domain(s) with the lowest permissions required by the administrator, we still have the option of running the forest and domain preparations separately

The sequence for the setup switches run from a command prompt would be:
1. Setup /PrepareLegacyExchangePermissions (or setup /pl)
2. Setup /PrepareSchema (or setup /ps)
3. Setup/ PrepareAD (or setup /p)

Setup will check for the previous steps before executing and if those steps are not validated, will assume that they are to be completed as well and process those. So if we run the setup /PrepareAD step (analogous to setup /DomainPrep in Exchange 2000/2003) and the schema has not been updated, then setup will automatically run the setup /PrepareSchema switch (analogous to setup /ForestPrep) first provided the administrator executing the commands has sufficient rights to do so.

Exchange Setup Wizard
Through the setup GUI we can select the specific roles we want to employ for an Exchange installation. At that point, setup engages a readiness check through a PowerShell cmdlet leveraging the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer engine. These checks are specific to the roles we have selected and in some cases may require that we install a Windows component before returning to Exchange setup, such as IIS or the World Wide Web services for the Mailbox role.

Readiness Checks
The readiness checks engaged in Exchange setup are executed as PowerShell cmdlets. Setup will call the Exchange Management Shell to execute, with the appropriate parameters:
Test-SetupHealth
If the wizard indicates that a prerequisite has not been met, then that deficiency must first be remedied and then Exchange 2007 setup needs to be run again. If you add a new role to an existing Exchange installation, the Setup Installation Wizard will again walk through the readiness checks.

Summary
Exdeploy.exe from Exchange 2003 has disappeared, but the preparation for Exchange 2007 has not suffered. The steps to a successful installation remain in the setup application with readiness checks. Some preparation steps are performed automatically where they are needed.

-- William Lefkovics

Great news for all Hotmail users— Microsoft will be making the Outlook connector available with all accounts, not just the paid subscriptions.

You may be asking if it's worth using the connector, especially if you are already accessing your Hotmail email in Outlook. Yes, in most cases it is well worth using the connector.

Outlook (and Outlook Express) support HTTP access to Hotmail accounts. This is similar to using an IMAP account, where the messages are stored on the server and copies are brought down into the email client. This method only supports email, not contacts or calendar and is only available with accounts created prior to Sept 2004 and Vista's Mail does not support the HTTP protocol.

The Outlook connector makes the Hotmail account act more like an Exchange server account, with copies of email, along with Calendar and Contacts, stored locally for offline access. If you use only email, then HTTP access is fine, but if you want to use your Hotmail contacts in Outlook or use the Hotmail calendar, you need to use the connector.

Note that HTTP access is limited to older accounts and is not supported by Vista's Mail. The Outlook connector will work with new accounts.

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=aa0ad3b0-e1a4-4990-a2be-dde78fed0709&displaylang=en

A reader asks: "I can't seem to print a range of pages. The only options are for All, Even, or Odd. I just want to print the first page. I'm using Outlook 2007. Is there a way to do this, besides cut/paste into Word?"

Outlook 2007 uses the outlook print options for everything - Outlook 2003 (and earlier versions) used Word's and IE's print options for RTF and HTML formatted messages. Word's print options were available for replies or forwards when you used Word as the editor.

The only workaround in Outlook 2007 is opening HTML messages in the browser and printing. To do this, open the message and click on the Other Actions button. Choose View in Browser from the menu. You can change the message format to HTML to use this method, but note that the message header won't be included in the printout.

If these workarounds don't work for you, Blueprint for Outlook by Savvisoft uses the Internet Explorer printing model and gives you many customization options, including allowing you to choose the pages to print.

Blueprint for Outlook
http://ww.savvisoft.com

The following add-ins offer enhancements to Outlook's print capabilities, giving you the ability to automatically print emails as they arrive, print attachments or use different printers for email and attachments.

Print On Demand
http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook/Print-On-Demand.asp 

Auto Print
http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook/Auto-Print.asp

Print Tools for Outlook
http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/print_tools/

MP*Print
http://www.addonmail.com/products/MPPrint.asp