Exchange Blog

Since Exchange Server 2013 beta was released yesterday I’m glad to announce that my first installation is done and here’s a complete walkthrough.

My setup is basic, using one server as domain controller, Windows 2008 R2.
Initially for Exchange I’m using 3 servers, 1 server for the CAS role and 2 servers for the Mailbox role.

There are some prerequisites that need to be installed/removed before the installation of Exchange can take place.

Note: It’s now recommended to install the Mailbox server first. So I’m starting with that server.

Step 1. Install the administration pack using the commands below, make sure to restart the server before proceeding to step 2.

Import-Module ServerManager
Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS

Step 2. Install the Windows features that Exchange uses, for Mailbox and CAS server use the command below:

Import-Module ServerManager
Add-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework, NET-HTTP-Activation, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Web-Server, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI

Step 3. When the feature is completed. Continue with the installation of the required components, use the links below to download the components.

.NET Framework 4.5 RC

Windows Management Framework 4.0

Unified Communications Managed API 4.0, Core Runtime 64-bit

Office 2010 Filterpack x64

Office 2010 Filterpack SP1 x64

KB 974405 (Windows Identity Foundation)

KB 2619234 (RPC over HTTP)

KB 2533623 (Remote code execution)

Note: Make sure to uninstall the Visual C++ 11 Beta Redistributable (x64) before starting the Exchange 2013 installation.

You can have a look at the setup.exe parameters using

setup.exe /?
setup.exe /help:install

Step 4. Start the installation using unattended installation for the Mailbox server role

setup.exe /mode:install /roles:Mailbox, ManagementTools /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms /InstallWindowsComponents /OrganizationName:Testlabs /TargetDir:"D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15"

The installation process starts up and prepare the organization for Exchange 2013, install the necessary Windows components. The schema prep can also be done manually using setup.exe /preparead, I’ve chosen to go with the default behavior.

When for the Mailbox server role installation is successfully finished it will tell you to restart the server.

Step 5. Start the installation of the Windows features for the CAS server role

Import-Module ServerManager
Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS
Add-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework, NET-HTTP-Activation, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Web-Server, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI

Make sure to restart the server after the Windows features got installed.

Step 6. Start the installation of the CAS server role

setup.exe /mode:install /roles:ClientAccess, ManagementTools /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms /InstallWindowsComponents /OrganizationName:Testlabs /TargetDir:"D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15"

Since this is the second server, the schema prep is already done so the installation will skip that step.

When it’s finished it will look like the picture below, a restart of the server is required.

The installation of both servers are now completed.

Next blog post will be around how to configure Exchange 2013.

Thanks for reading, looking forward to your comments about the post and also about Exchange 2013 in general.

More information about the prerequisites can be found here.

What’s new in Exchange 2013

Next blog post, Part 2: How to do the Basic configuration