Exchange Development - What to read

Mishra · February 2009

Well I will be developing the Exchange environment for my work. It will be around 3000-5000 users or so. Need to have in done in 1.5-2 weeks. Shouldn't be too big of a problem.

I maintained the Exchange 5.5 environment in at my old job. I was only HELPING the migration from 5.5 to 2003 when they did it. After it was migrated I left that company. Exchange isn't the hardest thing to build, it is most of the maintaining that takes some experience. No matter the product, I'm pretty good at always thinking of the right things to do. So I think I can get back into the groove pretty quickly.

I'm reading 284 book now to get my mind back into Exchange. Are there topics in the 285 books that I should browse over? I won't have time to read both books I don't think. Any other topics I should read on technet that are a must-read? Any other comments?

Thanks for the help.

Claymoore · February 2009

When it comes to Exchange 2003, I recommend the Resource Kit so much people must think I get a kickback or something. Too bad the book is 1300 pages - I don't think even dynamik reads that much in two weeks.

I don't think there is a book specific to the 285 design exam and the MSPress 284 book gets some bad reviews. While the Sybex 284 book may be a little lite for the exam, it's probably your best bet to get you back in an Exchange frame of mind. I went through the MS official online training for 285 when I was studying because they were offerring a free training course. If you have access to that - even if you have to sign up for the exam to get the training for $35 - the course couldn't hurt.

A 5000 user Exchange deployment opportunity doesn't come around too often in internal IT so try to learn as much as you can. Have fun and good luck!

rjbarlow · February 2009

I did not understood well which topics You have in mind to deepen. If You are in charge to make a shortly coexistance between an 5.5 ambient and the new 2003 organization, keep in mind that You have to join the new Exchange 2003 servers to a 5.5 Site, so two "entities" will coexist temporary, the old 5.5 Organization and the new 2003 Organization. When You have done that, migration of mailboxes is a quite straight forward task.
Sybex is a good start for learning and presents some how to.
If You want I can send You my Favourites for that topic to deepen (English), are almost 30 link I think. P.m. me in that case.

Mishra · March 2009

Thanks for the responses by the way. This turned out to be Exchange 2007 on 2 servers and only 60 users or so. Since it is so little, I'm winging it a lot more.

HeroPsycho · March 2009

Microsoft has a deployment guide for E2K7, along with spreadsheets and utilities to help you calculate how much server resources you'll need. Just take a look at the deployment guide.

Beyond that, the hardest thing to get right is the Autodiscover service, particularly issues revolving around SSL certificates. Make sure you're fully aware of your needs. I highly recommend a SAN aka Unified Communication Certificate, even though they do cost more than traditional SSL certs.

royal · March 2009

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Beyond that, the hardest thing to get right is the Autodiscover service, particularly issues revolving around SSL certificates. Make sure you're fully aware of your needs. I highly recommend a SAN aka Unified Communication Certificate, even though they do cost more than traditional SSL certs.

What is this Autodiscover Service that you speak of? Please enlighten me.

HeroPsycho · March 2009

royal wrote: »

What is this Autodiscover Service that you speak of? Please enlighten me.

"Can you say bendejo?"

Exchange Development - What to read

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