Exchange 2010 Bolsters High Availability

Exchange Server 2010 offers redesigned high-availability features aimed at keeping Exchange servers running and available for client access as much as possible. The new high-availability features replace nearly all of those introduced in Exchange 2007 with features that simplify administration, support more configurations, and reduce hardware requirements. The improvements could help organizations that use Exchange cut costs and increase uptime, but the new technologies require IT training, procedural changes, and a full migration to Exchange 2010.

Mailbox Availability Gets Major Improvements

Exchange Server’s functionality is divided into five server roles: Mailbox, Client Access, Hub Transport, Edge Transport, and Unified Messaging. (For a description of each role, see the illustration “Exchange 2010 Server Roles“). Exchange’s most critical high-availability and management features focus on servers running the Mailbox database role. (For a discussion of high availability in Exchange roles other than Mailbox and Transport, see the sidebar “High Availability in Other Exchange Roles“.) A Mailbox server stores user mailboxes and public folder contents in one or more databases, so downtime will prevent users from sending, receiving, and accessing mail, appointments, voice mail (if unified messaging is used), and contact items.