Exchange 2007 and 2010 were architect with certain technology constraint that existed at that time, where CPU performance was the Key constraint when Exchange 2007 was released and to alleviate the situation Server roles were introduced. However server roles in Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 are tightly coupled
Nowadays, CPU horse power is less expensive and it is not a constrain factor, with that constraint lifted, primary goal for Exchange 2013 is simplicity of scale, hardware utilization and failure isolation. So Microsoft reduced the number of server roles to two as Client Access Server Role and Mailbox Server Role
Outlook clients no longer connect to a server FQDN as they have done in all previous versions of Exchange. Outlook uses Autodiscover to create a new connection point comprised of mailbox GUID, @ symbol, and the domain portion of the user’s primary SMTP address. This change results in a near elimination of the unwelcome message of “Your administrator has made a change to your mailbox. Please restart.” Only Outlook 2007 and higher versions are supported with Exchange 2013.
Exchange Admin Center is the new web based Exchange Management Console for Exchange Server 2013, it allows for ease of use and is optimized for management of On-Premises, Online and hybrid Exchange deployments. EAC replaces Exchange Management Console and Exchange Control Panel, but ECP is still the url for Exchange Admin Center.
New features in Exchange Admin Center:
Front end trport service does one of the following actions based on the number and type of the recipients
Exchange 2003 and Earlier versions: Not Supported
Exchange 2007: Exchange 2007 SP3 with Update Rollup 10 on all Exchange 2007 servers and Exchange 2013 CU2 and later can coexist
Exchange 2010: Exchange 2010 SP3 on all Exchange 2010 Servers and Exchange 2013 CU2 or later can coexist
In MS exchange 2013, there are two roles Client Access Server and Mailbox Server.
Front End Trport Service in Client Access Server acts as a stateless proxy for all inbound and outbound external SMTP traffic for Exchange 2013 organization. It won’t inspect message content, only communicates with the Trport Service on a Mailbox Server, and doesn’t queue any messages locally.
Trport Service in Mailbox server is identical to Hub Trport server, it handles all SMTP mail flow for the organization, perform message categorization, and performs content inspection. It won’t communicate directly with Mailbox Database that task will be handled by Mailbox Trport Service. So the Trport Service routes messages between the mailbox trport service, the trport service and the front end trport service.
Mailbox Trport Service running on Mailbox server consists of two separate services: the Mailbox Trport Submission Service and Mailbox Trport Delivery Service.
Mailbox Trport Delivery Service receives emails from Trport Service on the local or different mailbox server and connects to the local mailbox databases using Exchange RPC to deliver the message
Mailbox Trport Submission Service connects to local mailbox database using RPC to retrieve messages and submits the messages over SMTP to the Trport Service on the local Mailbox server or other Mailbox Servers.
Special type mailbox called Public folder mailbox introduced in Exchange Server 2013, which will store both the hierarchy and public folder content. This provides an advantage of the existing high availability and storage technologies of the mailbox store. Legacy Public folder database concept not in exchange 2013 and Public Folder replication now user the continuous replication model as like Mailbox Database.
Exchange 2013 available in two editions: Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition
Standard Edition allows only 5 databases to mounted (including active and passive copy) and Enterprise Edition allows 50 databases on RTM version of Exchange and 100 databases on CU2 and later versions. Recovery Database will not be counted on this.
Two server role architects changed the outlook client connectivity behaviour; RPC is no longer a supported direct access protocol. This me that all the outlook connectivity must take place using RPC over HTTP knows as Outlook Anywhere. Because of this behaviour, there is no need to have RPC client access service on CAS which reduces two name spaces that required for site-resilient solution.
Integration with Lync and SharePoint: With site mailboxes and in-place eDiscovery, it offers a greater integration with Microsoft Sharepoint and Lync
Provide a resilient solution: It built upon the exchange server 2010 and redesigned for simplicity of scale, feature isolation and hardware utilization
Supports a multigenerational workforce: From multiple sources users can merge contacts as well as smart search allows to search people in the network
Provide an engaging experience: MS web app focused on a streamlined user interface that supports the use of touch, enhancing the use of mobile devices
Meet the latest demand: With improved search and indexing, you can search across Lynch 2013, Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013, etc.
DAG system: A new evolution of exchange 2010 DAG
Below are the features that are available in previous versions but not available on Exchange Server 2013 Outlook Web APP:
Having two server roles with Mailbox Server includes all the traditional components fount in Exchange 2010: the client access protocols, trport service, mailbox databases and unified messaging and the Client Access Server role to provide authentication, limited redirection and proxy services.
New architecture provides the below benefits:
Below are the enhancements on Exchange 2013 Batch Mailbox Moves:
DAG is supported on Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter Editions or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise Edition. Windows Server 2008 R2 Sp1 standard edition won’t support DAG
Below are few features discontinued in Exchange 2013 that are available in Exchange Server 2007
Below are few features that are discontinued in Exchange 2013:
In exchange 2013, after the message reaches the target mailbox server in the destination AD site, the trport service avails SMTP to carry the message to the mailbox. After that, using RPC, Trport Service delivers the message to the local mailbox.
Below prerequisites are required to install Exchange Server 2013:
Operating System:
Additional Prerequisites:
Domain Controller:
DAG or Data Availability Group is a framework build is MS Exchange 20@ It is a group of upto 16 mailbox server that hosts a set of databases and provides automatic database level recovery due to failure of servers of databases.
It is suggested that you use Cached Exchange Mode when you are using an exchange account for your work, as it eliminates all the reason to work offline. With Cache Exchange Mode, you can keep continuing working even if you are disconnected with the network. Cache Exchange Mode uses a folder file (.ost) and manages a synchronized copy of the items in all folder in the mailbox, when you are offline. As soon as you are connected to the network, it syncs your data automatically to the server without losing any data.
Mailbox servers help in:
The Client Access Server gives connectivity to various services like:
Managed store is the name of the newly rewritten information store process, Microsoft.Exchange.Store.Service.exe and Microsoft.Exchange.Store.worker.exe, it is integrated with Microsoft Exchange replication server to provide higher availability through improve resiliency. Also the Managed store has been architected to enable more granular management of resource consumption and faster root cause analysis though improved diagnostics.
Managed Store works with replication service to manage mailbox databases, which continues to ESE as DB engine, Exchange 2013 includes change the mailbox database schema that provides many optimization over previous versions of Exchange and Replication Services is responsible for all availability related to Mailbox Servers. This change provides faster database failover and better disk failure handling.
In MS Exchange 2013, there are five types of delivery groups
Exchange 2013 functionality will not loss when trial period expires, so you can maintain lab without having to reinstall the trial version.
To track message flow in MS Exchange 2013, Delivery Reports are used. It is applicable for Outlook and Outlook web only. However, Message Tracking Logs are also helpful to know the flow of the mail.
Mailbox Trport Submission service does one of the following actions based on the number and type of recipients.
For the message having only one mailbox recipient, it chooses a mailbox server in the target delivery group and give priority to the mailbox server based on the AD site proximity
With multiple mailbox recipients, it uses first 20 recipients to choose a Mailbox server in the closest delivery group, based on the AD site proximity
If there is no mailbox recipient, select a mailbox server in the local delivery group
Managed Availability – Internal Monitoring and recovery are integrated to prevent failures, proactively restore services, and initiate failovers automatically or alert admin to take action.
Managed Store – Integrated with Microsoft Exchange Replication Service to provide higher availability
Multiple Databases per disk – Exchange 2013 supports multiple databases both active and passive on same disk.
Automatic Reseed – If a disk fails, database copy stored on that disk is copied from the active database copy to a spare disk on the same server.
Automatic recovery from storage failures
Lagged copies can now care themselves to a certain using automatic log play down
Single copy alert task is removed and included in the managed availability component
DAG networks can be automatically configuration by the system bases on the configuration settings, DAG now can distinguish between MAPI and Replication networks and configure DAG network automatically.
Trport pipeline is made up of three different services:
Front end trport service: It does basic message filtering based on domains, connectors, senders and recipients. It only connects with the trport service on a mailbox server and does not backlog any messages locally
Trport service: It runs on all mailbox servers, and it handles SMTP mail flow. It helps in message categorization and content inspection. The trport services routes messages between the Mailbox Trport service, the Trport Service and Front End Trport service. This service does not queue messages locally
Mailbox Trport: This system includes receiving and sending SMTP to the trport service from mailbox using RPC (Remote Procedure Call).
Site Mailbox is a new type of mailbox in Exchange 2013, where it improves collaboration and user productivity by allowing access to both documents in a SharePoint site and email messages in outlook 2013 using the same client interface.
Legacy versions of Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 released with 5 server roles, ie, Mailbox, Client Access, Hub Trport, Unified Messaging and Edge Trport server. Server role architecture has been changed in Exchange 2013 which released with only two server roles.
Mailbox Server role: It holds the same function of Mailbox, the client access protocols, Hub Trport and Unified Messaging server role in Exchange 2010
Client Access Server role: work as the client access server role in Exchange 2010, Exchange 2010 work as only stateless server, where it doesn’t do any data rendering, and nothing will be stored or queued in Client Access Server role. CAS offers all usual client access protocols: HTTP, POP and IMAP, and SMTP
Categorizer performs following functions
Recipient Resolution: The e-mail address of the recipient is resolved to decide whether the recipient has got a mailbox in the Exchange Organization or an external e-mail address
Routing Resolution: Once the information regarding the recipient is resolved, the ultimate destination for the mail is routed, and the next hop are determined
Content Conversion: Once the mail has reached its determined address, the SMTP is converted into readable format like HTML, rich text format or plain text
Due the architectural change, Mail flow in Exchange 2013 occurs via Trport Pipeline, it is collection of Trport services, connections, components and queues that work together to route the messages to the categorizer in the trport service on a mailbox server inside the organization.
Messages from outside organization enter the trport pipeline through a receive connector in the Front End Trport service on a client access server and then routed to the Trport Service on a Mailbox Server and the Mailbox Trport Delivery Service deliver the email to local mailbox database
Message from inside organization enter the Trport Service on a Mailbox Server in following ways, receive connector, Pick Up or Replay Directory, Mailbox Trport Service or Agent Submission. Those emails can be relayed to Front End trport service on Client Access Server using the Trport Service on Mailbox Server and sent outside