New in Exchange Server 2010
The release of Exchange Server 2010 brings a plethora of new features. In this preview,
Microsoft Exchange Server expert Brien Posey covers changes to high availability and site
resilience, an Outlook Web Access feature called the Exchange Control Panel and some
unified messaging improvements.
The Database Availability Group (DAG) feature in Exchange Server 2010 simplifies high
availability and site resilience. To use traditional clustering in Exchange 2003 or Exchange
2007 you had to implement the cluster first and then install Exchange.
When your server is initially set up, there is no longer a requirement to designate a mailbox
server as clustered or non-clustered. In fact, the clustered mailbox server does not exist any
longer. Instead, Exchange 2010 allows you to create a DAG. You can also add or remove
servers from a DAG as needed. This gives you greater flexibility as you construct high
availability and site resiliency.
One restriction you should be aware of is that database names must be unique in Exchange
2010, as mailbox databases become organization-level resources. This is because failovers
and switchovers happen at the database level. If one server volume fails, Exchange can fail
over on the database that was on that volume, rather than on the entire server. Exchange 2010
allows you to have up to 16 cluster nodes and 16 copies of each database. Failover or
switchover can also be performed at the server level.
In Exchange 2007, a clustered node could only host the Mailbox Server role. This limitation
has been removed in Exchange 2010. Additionally, mailbox servers that have multiple roles
installed can be members of a DAG.
OWA administrative controls
Outlook Web Access has been extended in Exchange 2010 to include the Exchange Control
Panel. This new feature is designed to give both users and administrators additional mailbox
control through a Web interface.
Exchange Server relies heavily on Active Directory. In a large organization, keeping user
contact information up to date can be a full-time job. Exchange 2010 gives users the ability to
edit their own directory information (phone number, address, etc.) directly through the
Exchange Control Panel. End users can also use OWA to create and manage distribution
groups.
From the administrative side, Exchange 2010 uses a new permissions model called Role-
based Access Control. An administrator can delegate common administrative tasks to end
users through the Exchange Control Panel. For example, if an administrator decided that he
was spending too much time tracking email messages, he could delegate message-tracking
capabilities to someone else.
Improvements to unified messaging
Unified messaging, which was first introduced in Exchange 2007, has also been greatly
improved in Exchange 2010. Users can now create rules that control how a call is routed --
based on things like who is calling, time of day and what they're doing when the call comes
in.
Exchange 2007 had an auto attendant feature that allowed administrators to create call-
routing menus for the organization's mail phone number (press 1 for English, Press 2 for
Spanish, etc.). The new personal call-routing rules feature give users the ability to create their
own auto attendants.
Users can implement auto attendants to route various types of calls to other people in their
departments. On the other hand, if a user needs to make sure that they get to talk to a
particular caller, they can create a rule that has Exchange server call various phone numbers,
such as the user's cell number or home number, until the user is reached.
Users can also define different call rules for different callers. The callers can be specified by
phone number or by selecting an entry in their contact list or the Global Address List. Users
can create call rules using the Exchange Control Panel.
Another new unified messaging feature is Voice Mail Preview. In unified messaging, voice
messages are appended to email messages as audio attachments. In Exchange 2010, these
audio attachments are still used, but they come with a written transcript of the voice message.
This allows the recipient to get the gist of the message without having to play the audio clip.
It also allows Microsoft Outlook to index voice messages in the same way that it indexes
email messages.
I recently saw a demonstration of this feature, and it worked really well. The person who
gave me the demonstration did, however, explain that the speech-to-text engine occasionally
makes mistakes -- usually if a caller has a thick accent, if they mumble or if they talk too fast.
If a portion of the transcript doesn't make sense, you can click on that part of the transcript
and Exchange will begin playing the voice message from that point.
Exchange is also intuitive enough to hyperlink any phone numbers that the caller leaves, so
that the recipient can just click on the phone number to return the call.
