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Home > Managing Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 in mixed mode |
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Management tool changes in Exchange 2007 Exchange Server 2007 is radically different from Exchange 2003. Routing groups and administrative groups have been removed, and two new management interfaces were added -- the Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell. Exchange System Manager, the primary administration tool in Exchange 2003 was eliminated from Exchange 2007. Another tool in Exchange 2003 that was eliminated from Exchange 2007 is the Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) console.
Exchange 2007's Exchange Management Console and Exchange Management Shell can also interact with legacy Exchange servers in your organization though. So it can get confusing when trying to figure out which management tool you should be using to execute a specific Exchange administration task. Rules for choosing a mixed-mode Exchange management tool
Using Active Directory Users and Computers in mixed mode The Active Directory Users and Computers console can be used to create or modify mailboxes on Exchange Server 2003, but shouldn't be used for this purpose in Exchange 2007 mailboxes. In reality, mailboxes aren't always created at the same time as user accounts. So you can use ADUC to create a user account, regardless of which Exchange version will host the user's mailbox. The Exchange Management Console contains a provision to create a mailbox for an existing user.
Exchange 2007 mailboxes have attributes that didn't exist in previous versions. If you create an Exchange 2007 mailbox using Active Directory Users and Computers, only the attributes that existed in Exchange Server 2003 will be created. Remaining attributes will be omitted, preventing the mailbox from fully functioning. For example, if you use the ADUC console to create an Exchange 2007 mailbox, then the user cannot use Outlook Web Access (OWA). Additionally, if this console is used to modify an Exchange 2007 mailbox that was created correctly, then the modification tends to corrupt some of Exchange 2007-specific attributes. Create mailboxes in Exchange 2007 without the RUS Neither the Exchange Management Console nor the Exchange Management Shell should be used to create Exchange 2003 mailboxes. Exchange 2007 management tools can't be used to create Exchange 2003 mailboxes because the Recipient Update Service (RUS) is missing from Exchange 2007. The RUS periodically checks the Exchange organization for changes, and writes information related to those changes to Active Directory. If you use Active Directory Users and Computers to create an Exchange mailbox, it assumes that the RUS will process the new mailbox, and will periodically be run against the mailbox to check for changes. If the mailbox is created on Exchange 2007, which doesn't use the RUS, then the assumption is incorrect and the mailbox may not be fully functional. Managing global objects in Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 As a general rule, you should manage Exchange Server 2003 objects using either the Exchange System Manager or Active Directory Users and Computers console. Exchange Server 2007 objects should be managed using the Exchange Management Console or Exchange Management Shell. But exceptions exist, and some objects aren't server-specific. All servers in an Exchange organization typically use global objects, so you can use any Exchange management tool to manage them. Keep in mind that global objects usually reside in Active Directory, and each version of Exchange applies its own set of changes to Active Directory schema.
What does this mean from a management perspective? Suppose that you install Exchange 2007 into an organization that is running Exchange 2003. In most cases, Exchange 2007 will make changes to the various global objects. Exchange 2003 will be aware of some of these changes, but the newer version of Exchange tends to use some object attributes that the previous version didn't use. Exchange 2003 may not have a problem recognizing various global objects, but if you use the Exchange System Manager to modify an object, you risk erasing any attributes Exchange 2003 is aware of. If you need to create or modify a global object, you should use any management tools that were supplied by the highest-installed version of Exchange in your organization. Configuring and editing mail-enabled groups in mixed mode A single group can contain objects from multiple Exchange servers, running multiple versions of Exchange. Therefore, it may be difficult to know which management tool to use when dealing with mail-enabled groups. I recommend using the management tool that was included with the Exchange version running on the server that stores the object. You can use either the Exchange Management Console or Exchange System Manager. Keep in mind: This assumes that you're working with a simple, static group. Be careful when managing dynamic distribution groups. Exchange 2003 is designed to "mail-enable" user accounts that reside in Active Directory. Thus, query-based distribution lists perform LDAP queries against an Active Directory to determine which users should be included in the distribution list.
In Exchange 2007, Microsoft renamed query-based distribution groups to dynamic distribution groups (DDGs), and changed the way that these groups work. DDGs no longer use LDAP queries, but instead use OPATH queries. OPATH is the filtering language that PowerShell and the Exchange Management Shell use. Exchange 2007 uses OPATH filtering for mailboxes, global address lists and email address policies. Microsoft most likely switched to OPATH queries in Exchange 2007 to maintain some consistency within the Exchange Management Shell. From a management standpoint, this difference means that if the dynamic distribution group will reside on an Exchange 2007 server, then you must create it using either the Exchange Management Console or Exchange Management Shell. A mail-enabled contact is not an Exchange mailbox, but instead points to an external mailbox. Although most organizations don't often use mail-enabled contacts, both Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 support their use. You may need to create a mail-enabled group that includes people outside of your Exchange organization. If so, you can create a mail-enabled contact for those users, and then place the contact into your mail-enabled distribution group. The mail-enabled contact doesn't have a mailbox within the Exchange organization, so there are few attributes associated it. As such, you can use the Exchange System Manager, Exchange Management Console or Exchange Management Shell to create or edit mail-enabled contacts without damaging them. Moving mailboxes between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 If you're moving an Exchange 2007 server to an Exchange 2003 environment, you may want to move some mailboxes off of an older-version server and onto the Exchange 2007 server. To do this, you should use the Exchange 2007 move mailbox tool or the MOVE-MAILBOX command in the Exchange Management Shell. Exchange 2007 knows which attributes are used in both Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003. As such, it can reliably move mailboxes from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, and vice versa. If moving a mailbox involves an Exchange 2007 server, then you should use the move mailbox tools from Exchange 2007. If you're moving mailboxes between two Exchange 2003 servers, then you can continue to use the Exchange System Manager, even if Exchange 2007 servers exist in the organization. Exchange 2007 compatibility with Exchange 2000 While Exchange Server 2007 can't exist in the same environment as Exchange 5.5, it can run alongside an Exchange 2000 server. Because Exchange 2000 is equipped with a rudimentary version of the Exchange System Manager, it can view and modify objects located on an Exchange 2007 server. Exchange 2003's System Manager is designed to use object version numbers, while Exchange 2000 is not. This means that, in some
Microsoft created the Exchange 2000 Post-service Pack 3 Update Rollup, which enables Exchange 2000 to use object-version numbers. Note: Although this patch adds support for object-version numbers, avoid using Exchange System Manager for Exchange 2007 objects.
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Brien M. Posey, MCSE
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