Planning to install Exchange 2010

It’s nearly time for me to install Exchange 2010 for the first time.  Before I do, I need to make sure the server is powerful enough and has the required resources.  In reality, it will far exceed these requirements as it will be a virtual server (running on VMware ESXi 4.1) and I have plenty of CPU, disk and memory to spare.

Hardware

Hardware requirements vary depending on the roles that will be installed, so use the following as a guide:

• 64bit processor architecture
• At least 1.2GB to install Exchange, 200MB on the system drive, 500MB for each language pack and 500MB for the message queue database
• NTFS partitions

Software

In addition to making sure my hardware meets the minimum requirements I also need to ensure the following are installed before installation:

• Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1
• Windows PowerShell v2
• Internet Information Services (IIS)
• 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack

Active Directory Schema

Exchange cannot function without Active Directory.  Before I can install Exchange I need to ensure that the Active Directory Schema has been updated to include Exchange functionality.

User account

In order to install Exchange I will need to log on to the server with an administrator account that is a member of the Enterprise Admins group.