Exchange 2010 DAG port


The Technet site contains a nice reference to all ports used by Exchange 2010 and its various roles, as well as an overview of the firewall rules created by Exchange 2010’s setup. Very handy when you need to provide IP and port information to the network people.

One port which stands out from the rest is the port used for DAG log shipping and seeding, which is 64327 by default. Looking back at Exchange 2007 this is good; the port is static and DAGs use regular TCP, where CCR/SCR in Exchange 2007 uses 445 for log shipping (over SMB) and a dynamic port for seeding. And if it’s two things some network people hate it’s SMB and dynamic ports. On the other hand, 64327 in the dynamic range defined by IANA; according to IANA dynamic ports cannot be registered (claimed).

Fortunately, the port can be changed when required. To change the port for a DAG use the Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup cmdlet with the ReplicationPort parameter like this, where <n> can be any number between 1 and 65535:

Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity DAGID -ReplicationPort <n>.

Note that Exchange will not adjust the Windows Firewall rules accordingly, so you need to create a firewall exception on each DAG member to make replication work. Even better, you should do this before changing the DAG port to prevent interrupting the replication longer than necessary.

BinaryTree product updates for Exchange 2010


Binary Tree’s Common Migration Tool for Exchange, a cross-platform messaging migration and coexistence tool, has been updated to support direct migration and coexistence between Lotus Domino and Exchange Server 2010.

You can register here for an online event and presentation on their upgraded products and direct migration from Domino to Exchange 2010.

(Thanks to Brettjo)

Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant updated


Today Microsoft updated their Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant.It got updated after the initial release in mid-November where you could only select upgrading from Exchange 2003. Now all scenarios work, so you can select if you’re upgrading from Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, Exchange 2003/2007 or performing a greenfield Exchange 2010 installation.

After selecting the scenario you will be asked a few questions, such as “Are you running a disjounted namespace?” or “Are you planning to to use public folders in Exchange 2010?” (nooooo). When finished you’ll be presented a checklist.

While the tool is available online-only, you can download the checklist for offline use by clicking Download Checklist (top right). This will download the checklist in PDF format. It’s a good reference for planning and can be a useful tool to keep track of where you are in the process.

Exchange virtualization


A much asked question these days, is Exchange supported in a virtualized environment? As in many cases, the answer is “it depends”. Microsoft supports virtualized Exchange under the following conditions:

  • Hardware virtualization software used is one of the following products:
    • For Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, Hyper-V Server 2008 or Hyper-V Server 2008 R2;
    • For Exchange 2003: Virtual Server 2005 R2;
    • In general, any validated 3rd party hypervisor (check for ESX, XenServer versions etc.). Click here for the list.
  • Exchange guest
    • Exchange 2003 SP2 (or later)
      • Virtual Machine Additions and Virtual Machine PCI SCSI driver required;
      • Exchange 2003 clusters aren’t supported;
    • Exchange 2007 SP1 (or later)
      • is running on Windows Server 2008;
      • support for Windows Server 2008 R2 expected with Exchange Server 2007 SP3 (no date announced yet);
      • No Unified Messaging role (due to real-time requirements by UM role);
      • Meets all of the Exchange 2007 SP1 specific requirements (here).
    • Exchange 2010
      • is running on Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2;
      • No Unified Messaging role (due to real-time requirements by UM role);
      • Meets all of the Exchange 2010 specific requirements (here);
      • HA features (DAG) aren’t supported in combination with virtualization clustering or high-available solutions.
    • Earlier versions of Exchange than Exchange 2003 are not supported