Installing Exchange Server 2010 is a pretty straight forward task unless you have taken care of everything that is required. If you follow the steps mentioned here, I promise you that you will be able to complete the installation without any hiccups.
If you get lost in the process you may or may NOT reach your destination, but even if you do, it is likely that you will take a lot longer and travel over more challenging roads.
To those who have worked with Exchange server 2007, the Exchange Server 2010 Installation wizard may seem very familiar. The Wizard walks the administrator through the installation of several of the prerequisites and allows for the selection of specific server roles for deployment. However, it does not cover many things that can lead to a very challenging roads and may seem too much to handle.
There are steps that must be taken to prepare the Active Directory environment and steps that must be taken to prepare the underlying operating system on the server you are installing on.
Therefore, I will be dividing this topic in to different sections and will focus on deploying a new Exchange Server 2010 installation from scratch. In addition, this post assumes that the supporting infrastructure and server operating system do not exist and includes step-by-step instructions on how to install Windows Server 2008 R2, Active Directory, supporting configuration settings, and the Exchange Server 2010 prerequisites from scratch.
- Understanding the Exchange Server 2010 Server Roles
- Understanding the Prerequisites for Exchange Server 2010
- Understanding the Active Directory Requirements for Exchange Server 2010
- Deploying Windows Active Directory from Scratch
- Preparing Your Environment for Exchange Server 2010
- Installing Exchange Server 2010