Purpose
This KB article provides detailed information about support for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) in POA 5.4.
This KB article can be applied to:
New Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) installations
- Existing Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) installations, with or without SP1 installed
Important: This KB article is intended for Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise Mode only.
Introduction
In Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2, Microsoft introduced a new feature called Address Book Policies (ABPs). This feature provides improved Address List isolation in comparison with the existing HMC-based solution. To learn more about ABPs, refer to the Understanding Address Book Policies article.
Microsoft also provides the Multi-Tenancy and Hosting Guidance for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 document, which contains the mandatory requirements for Exchange Server 2010 hosting environments.
In POA 5.4, the Exchange hosting based on Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) meets the Microsoft requirements, and it is supported by Microsoft. Starting from version POA 5.4, Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) is only supported by POA.
In POA 5.4, the following changes are made for Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode):
ABPs are used for the Address List isolation.
The Web-Based Distribution method is only used for OABs. MS Outlook clients with versions older than 2007 are not supported.
OAB is required for each Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) organization, even if the subscription does not allow MS Outlook access to mailboxes. Therefore, capacities of the appropriate OAB servers should be planned in accordance with this requirement.
The Exchange Server 2010 API is only used to manage Exchange Server 2010 objects.
The Microsoft HMC solution previously used to manage Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) is replaced by Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine (WPE).
- The Autodiscover service's output is not rewritten, and only the one RPC proxy access point is configured (if branding is not configured for Exchange services).
Important: To conform to the Microsoft requirements for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode), branding of the Protocols (OWA, Outlook, ActiveSync) service should be turned off.
Initial Deployment of Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) in POA 5.4
The following preconditions apply to the initial Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) deployment:
WPE should be used as the provisioning engine for the initial deployment.
- The domain and forest functional levels should be set to Windows Server 2008 for the target AD. Or, you can raise the Active Directory domain and forest functional levels to Windows Server 2008. For detailed instructions, refer to the Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322692.
The following services can be provisioned through WPE in the AD domain with Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode):
- SharePoint Foundation 2010
- AD
- MS DNS
- POA UI Servers and POA Branding Servers
Note: If you need to deploy additional services in the AD domain with Exchange 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) and these services are not supported by WPE, you must deploy HMC in this AD domain. In this case, Exchange Server 2010 SP (Enterprise Mode) will be provisioned through WPE, and other services will be provisioned through HMC. These other services include the SharePoint Foundation 2010, AD, MS DNS, POA UI Servers, and POA Branding Servers.
For additional information, refer to the POA 5.4 Windows Hosting Infrastructure Deployment Guide > Deploying Windows Hosting Infrastructure and POA 5.4 > Hosted Exchange Deployment Guide > Deploying Hosted Exchange 2010.
Upgrade to POA 5.4 and Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode)
For existing POA installations with Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) installed, the following procedure should be executed to perform the upgrade to Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) and POA 5.4:
Preparing Exchange Servers
In the target AD, make sure the Active Directory domain and forest functional levels are set to Windows Server 2008. Alternatively, raise the Active Directory domain and forest functional levels to Windows Server 2008. For detailed instructions, refer to the Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322692.
Then, install Exchange Server 2010 SP2 on all Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) nodes. Use the instructions from the POA 5.4 Hosted Exchange Deployment Guide > Upgrading From Exchange 2010 (SP1) to Exchange 2010 SP2.
Preparing Host(s) for WPE
In the Active Directory domain where Exchange Server 2010 SP (Enterprise Mode) is installed, deploy the separate host(s) for Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine (WPE) using the POA 5.4 Windows Hosting Infrastructure Deployment Guide > Deploying Windows Hosting Infrastructure > Deploying Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine.
The following steps from the Deploying Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine chapter should be performed before the upgrade to POA 5.4:
Preparing Hosts
Installing MS SQL Server
Installing POA Agent on Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine Host
- Creating WPE NLB Cluster
Note: These steps do not affect the Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) provisioning.
Prepare and write down the information required for the WPE service installation. Find details in the POA 5.4 Windows Hosting Infrastructure Deployment Guide > Deploying Windows Hosting Infrastructure > Deploying Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine > Installing POA Package on Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine Host. This information will be used in the following steps.
Install the Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools on each host prepared for the WPE:
Log on to the required host using an account that is a member of the Domain Administrators group.
Open a command prompt, and navigate to the Exchange Server 2010 installation files.
Run the following command:
Setup.com /mode:install /roles:MT /InstallWindowsComponents
Important: Use the Exchange Server 2010 SP2 distribution media to install the Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools.
For the detailed instructions of preparing the host for WPE deployment, refer to Parallels Knowledgebase article https://kb.cloudblue.com/en/113933.
Upgrading to POA 5.4
In the 'Pre-upgrade Phase', the POA upgrade script validates the following aspects:
On all Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) nodes, Exchange Server 2010 SP2 is installed. If there are nodes without SP2 installed, or if the upgrade script cannot perform the validation, the update script returns the list of problematic Exchange Server 2010 (Enterprise Mode) nodes. You must manually validate the current SP version of Exchange Server 2010 on the nodes. Install Exchange Server 2010 SP2, if necessary.
- The current capacity of the existing Offline Address Books servers allows you to create an OAB for each existing Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) organization. During the upgrade to POA 5.4, the OAB is created for the Exchange Server 2010 organization for which the OAB was not created previously. Accordingly, the OAB servers' capacity must be greater than the current number of all provisioned Exchange 2010 organizations. If the upgrade script reports that the current capacity is not large enough, you must increase the current OAB server capacity settings on the existing OAB servers, or deploy new Exchange OAB servers.
In the 'Pre-upgrade Phase', the POA upgrade script does the following actions:
The upgrade script asks for the host prepared for WPE.
The upgrade script asks for the parameters to install the WPE package. The parameters are the following:
wpe.endpoint.host - Fully Qualified Domain Name of WPE service's endpoint. Examples: wpe.hosting.local, wpenlbcl.hosting.local.
wpe.endpoint.port - WPE port. You may leave the default value 48480 or specify a custom value.
wpe.sql.servername - Hostname, NETBIOS name, or IP Address of MS SQL Server or MS SQL Server Cluster. If non-default MS SQL Server instance is used, the parameter should be specified in the SERVER_NAME\INSTANCE_NAME format, where: SERVER_NAME is a hostname, NETBIOS name, or IP Address of MS SQL Server or MS SQL Server Cluster, INSTANCE_NAME is a name of MS SQL Server instance. Examples: wpedb01, wpesrvdb01\sqlexpress, 192.168.1.111
wpe.sql.dbname - WPE database name. You may leave the default value wpe or specify a custom value.
- wpe.binding.ip - BackNet IP Address which will be used for WPE IIS website binding. This parameter is optional. When the parameter is not specified, the POA Agent's communication IP Address is used.
Find details in the POA 5.4 Windows Hosting Infrastructure Deployment Guide > Deploying Windows Hosting Infrastructure > Deploying Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine > Installing POA Package on Parallels Windows Provisioning Engine Host.
Important: The list of the parameters for the WPE service installation must be prepared before running the upgrade script.
In the 'Upgrade Phase', the WPE package installation task is scheduled in POA. This task installs the WPE package on the specified host with the specified parameters.
Important: When the upgrade is completed, you must validate that the installation task is finished successfully for the WPE package.
Enable ABPs Mode for Existing Exchange Organizations
After the upgrade is finished, the ABPs mode is enabled by default for new Exchange Server 2010 organizations, while the ABPs mode must be manually enabled for existing Exchange Server 2010 organizations.
The attached script must be used to enable the ABPs for existing Exchange organizations. For a Windows-based Management Node, use the script from the Exchange2010OrgsUpgrade.zip archive. For a Linux-based Management Node, use the script from the Exchange2010OrgsUpgrade.tar archive. The script must be executed on the POA Management Node. Start the script without parameters to see the script's parameters and usage instructions. The script run with --upgrade-list parameter will generate a list of all subscriptions that are ready for upgrade.
Note: By default only 10 the Address List upgrade tasks can be executed simultaneously. To see the current upgrade task limit or set a new task limit, run the script with the --get-upgrade-limit or --set-upgrade-limit parameters.
When the script is run for an existing Exchange Server 2010 organization, the following actions are performed in POA:
The upgrade is scheduled by the "Monitor Exchange services and perform maintenance" periodic task.
When the upgrade tasks are executed, they perform the following actions:
OAB is created (if it was not created previously).
Web Distribution is configured for the OAB.
The "Upgrade Address Lists ..." task is scheduled. This task enables the ABPs mode for the Exchange organization.
- When the ABPs mode is enabled for all existing Exchange organizations in the AD domain where only Exchange Server 2010 SP2 (Enterprise Mode) is installed, the "Reset Address Lists permissions in AD domain ..." task is scheduled. This task resets permissions on Exchange Address Lists' AD objects.