Exchange 2010 Server Roles

Exchange 2010 continues support for the same five server roles supported by Exchange 2007. In Exchange 2007, Outlook users connected directly to a Mailbox server while Outlook Web Access (OWA), and POP3 and IMAP4 client (such as Windows Live Mail) users connected to their mailbox through a Client Access server. In Exchange 2010, Outlook users and all other client types will connect to a Client Access server, which removes the need for them to reconnect to a different physical server if their Mailbox server changes, such as in the case of a failover.

All messages in transit are routed through one or more Hub Transport servers. Mail passing between the Internet and the organization is inspected, filtered, and relayed through an Edge Transport server that is typically situated outside the innermost firewall and is not a member of the organization’s Active Directory forest.

Unified messaging servers provide voice mail and inbound fax capabilities to users. This role handles data communications between each site’s private branch exchange (PBX) equipment and the Mailbox servers, Hub Transport servers, and Client Access servers.