Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2013

Download a free, fully functional 180-day evaluation of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 from Microsoft's site, sign in with a Microsoft account, and explore the interface hands-on.

Identify hardware and software requirements to run Exchange Server 2013, including Windows Server versions, 64-bit processors, memory by role, disk space, and NTFS considerations.

Prepare Active Directory for Exchange 2013 by extending the schema and adding required objects and attributes, either manually or with the setup wizard, depending on your admin approach.

Follow a step-by-step walkthrough of installing Exchange Server 2013 with screenshots, covering media setup, updates, server role selection (mailbox and client access), and readiness checks.

Proceed with installing Exchange Server 2013, part 2, by prepping Active Directory, selecting server roles, and monitoring setup progress before verifying the installation in the administration center.

Discover how Exchange provides storage and management for email, calendars, and address books, routes mail via Active Directory, and supports Outlook and Outlook Web Access through the Exchange Administration Center.

Explore how Exchange integrates with Active Directory to store and manage mailbox data across multiple databases, with 64-bit server roles and replication to 16 locations.

Navigate the core Exchange Server technologies, including Active Directory, DNS, sites, domain controllers, Outlook and Outlook Web App, mail flow, authentication, and high availability.

Clarify common Exchange terminology across versions, demystifying Outlook Web App, edge transport server, distribution groups, and the admin centers (EAC, EMC, ECP) for accurate discussions.

Explore Exchange Server 2013 server roles: mailbox server, client access server, and edge transport server, with embedded hub transport, unified messaging, and ADAM with Edge Sync for security and compliance.

Discover how Exchange Server and Active Directory rely on DNS, why Microsoft recommends DNS domain controllers and AD integrated DNS zones, and split-brain DNS with internal and external namespaces.

Dive into Active Directory and Exchange fundamentals, including Exchange Online as a cloud hosted service, its web-based administration, and the Office 365 cloud ecosystem.

Explore mail flow in Exchange Server 2013 from internal senders to destination mailboxes via hub transport, DNS, and Active Directory, and through edge transport with spam and virus filtering.

Explore the edge transport server in Exchange 2013, its migration from Exchange 2010, and how service pack 1 brings the edge role into 2013, shaping mail flow scenarios.

Explore the fundamentals of Active Directory, including domains, objects, attributes, organizational units, and how security and replication support domain administration, with an animated diagram.

Promote servers to an Active Directory domain, deploy domain controllers, and organize users and computers into organizational units. Apply group policy, manage replication, and configure sites.

Understand how domains, transitive trusts, and child domains form a tree, and how multiple trees create an Active Directory forest, with Exchange design implications.

Domain controllers run on Windows Server and host Active Directory domain services, storing domain objects and forest information, authenticating users, and replicating data for fault tolerance.

Discover how global catalog servers act as white pages for Active Directory across domains and forests, helping Exchange locate mailboxes and route messages, with a single global catalog per site.

Exchange depends on active directory; prefer a single forest and domain model. Ensure forest functional level is Windows Server 2003 or higher and a global catalog exists in each domain.

Learn how the Exchange administration center, a web-based tool in Exchange Server 2013, replaces the EMC and integrates mailboxes, public folders, and databases with up to 20,000 objects.

Master the Exchange Management Shell to script and automate remote Exchange administration. Explore PowerShell fundamentals, .NET-based tooling, and commands to inspect ECP virtual directories and server roles.

Explore how role-based access control shapes Exchange administration by defining management roles, management role groups, and scope to limit who can do what and where.

Explore journaling in Exchange Server 2013, including database, transport, and premium journaling, how journal rules capture copies of emails for compliance, and securing the journaling mailbox.

Configure journaling by creating a journal mailbox and a journal rule in the Exchange admin center. Capture all messages and route them to the journal mailbox.

Archive in Exchange Server 2013 reduces mailbox size by moving older data to a personal archive or centralized store, and enables retention policies, multi mailbox search, and retention hold.

Configure archiving in Exchange Server 2013 by creating an archive mailbox database, enabling archiving on user mailboxes, and directing archives via the Exchange admin center and Outlook Web Access.

Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 covers daily and periodic database maintenance, including continuous online defragmentation, online data compaction, contiguity maintenance, backups, mail flow checks, disk space monitoring, and performance monitoring.

Download the cumulative update file from the Microsoft Download Center, back up your Exchange servers and Active Directory, and review any customizations before running setup to apply the update.

Create and manage mailboxes in exchange using the exchange admin center and active directory. Establish new users, assign mailbox databases, enable mail flow, and use Outlook Web Access for email.

Discover how the mailbox server role in Exchange 2013 provides mailbox and public folder databases, email storage, client access, transport services, and per-database processing with encryption.

Explore nine recipient types in Exchange, from user mailboxes to room mailboxes, and learn to configure and manage mail-enabled objects within Active Directory for effective communication.

Create user mailboxes by linking Active Directory users in the Exchange administration center or via PowerShell, and learn to mail-enable thousands of accounts through a loop.

Learn how a mail user in Exchange 2013 uses an active directory account to access resources, while routing mail to an external email address instead of maintaining a separate mailbox.

Create mail contacts in Exchange to route mail to external addresses; a mail contact is an Active Directory contact with an external email, not a log-in user.

Explore how distribution groups in Exchange are mail-enabled Active Directory containers that efficiently broadcast emails to multiple recipients, with universal group rules and centralized management in the Exchange Admin Center.

Learn how to create and manage a dedicated shared mailbox in Exchange 2013, assign full access to multiple users, and secure access for reading and sending messages.

Mail enabled security groups deliver emails to all members, leveraging existing directory structures. In exchange 2013, use the exchange administration center to create mail enabled security groups, universal groups required.

Create and manage dynamic distribution groups that query Active Directory in real time to populate recipients when emails arrive, using rules based on state, province, and department.

Discover how a room mailbox functions as a location-specific resource for meetings and learn to create and manage it in the Exchange admin center using PowerShell.

Create and manage a room mailbox in Exchange Server 2013 using the Outlook web app, schedule events in training room B, add attendees, and sync responses to calendars.

Learn how to manage recipient permissions in Exchange by delegating access to mailboxes, including send as, send on behalf of, and full access, via the Exchange Admin Center.

Explore storage configuration options for Exchange 2013, comparing storage architectures and physical disk types, while ensuring Active Directory integration, database availability groups, and separate database and log disks.

Explore how Exchange generates and uses address lists, including all users, all contacts, all groups, and the Global Address List, with live updates and previews in Outlook Web App.

Create customized address lists to subdivide default and global address lists, then use Exchange admin center rules to filter by state such as Tennessee and test in Outlook Web App.

Explore address book policies in Exchange, creating global address lists, address lists, and room lists, then assign them to users via the Exchange administration center and the Exchange management shell.

Understand the offline address book as a local copy of an address list downloaded from Exchange, stored on a local share, with per-user variation and size factors.

Discover high availability concepts in Exchange 2013, including five nines uptime, Windows network load balancing, and database availability groups that replicate mailbox databases across servers.

Database availability groups replicate mailbox databases across up to 16 Exchange 2013 servers, enabling automated active database failover during hardware or network failures.

Understand how public folders in Exchange 2013 differ from 2010 and earlier. Learn how they are stored in mailbox databases and accessed via the closest physical network location.

Exchange 2013 stores public folders in special purpose mailboxes, with the hierarchy housed in a read-write primary mailbox and read-only copies in other mailboxes.

Exchange 2013 eliminates multi-master public folders and directs users to the nearest replica via Active Directory, so place heavily used folders on separate mailbox servers near users to balance load.

Create public folders in the Exchange Admin Center by provisioning a public folder mailbox and building a hierarchy. Create top-level and subfolders, view them in Outlook Web App.

Discover how the Exchange 2013 client access server acts as the front door, authenticating users and routing mail to the active mailbox database via http, pop, imap, and smtp.

Discover how the Outlook Web Application mirrors the desktop experience in Exchange 2013, and compare browser support levels—best, good, and light—with Firefox often offering smoother performance.

Learn how to manage Exchange Server certificates on client access and mailbox servers using the Exchange Administration Center and the Exchange Management Shell, including import, export, and third-party validation.

Explore configuring virtual directories in exchange server 2013: manage via EAC, the exchange management shell, and IIS manager, covering auto discover, Outlook Web application, ECP, and offline address book settings.

Explore Outlook Web App (OWA) virtual directory configuration, covering internal and external URLs, authentication options (integrated, digest, forms-based), and features like file access and web-ready document viewing via IIS manager.

Develop and document a comprehensive Exchange backup plan, assign responsibilities, and conduct test restores to ensure timely recovery across multiple servers and locations.

Plan backups for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, including mailbox and public folder databases, transaction logs, and Active Directory system state backups, plus content indexing, free/busy information, and online address book.

Learn to set up and execute an Exchange 2013 backup using Windows Server Backup, choosing a mailbox database for backup and testing restore in a lab environment.