Before we jump in to installation of Exchange 2016 lets take a look at some of the System requirements and compatibility requirements.

Coexistence between exchange 2016 and earlier versions.

Please use below URL for latest information about Exchange 2016 system requirements

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719(v=exchg.160).aspx

* You must have Enterprise Admin, Schema Admin and Domain admin rights before you start the installation of Exchange 2016.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/d4f0dafe-7d16-4786-9144-e17c1e264c84/autodiscover-fails-after-mailbox-move?forum=exchangesvrclients

Lab Scenario

In this lab we are using Windows server 2012 R2 Domain controllers and no legacy exchange versions. Our AD domain name is UCtalks.local and mail domain is uctalks.com.

Installing Exchange 2016 Pre-requisites

Install Active Directory preparation pre-requisites. This will allow you to prepare AD schema during Exchange 2016 installation wizard.

1. Open Windows PowerShell.
2. Install the Remote Tools Administration Pack using the following command.

Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS

Install Mailbox Server Role Pre-requisites . Make sure to reboot the server once completing the pre-requisites installation.

Install-WindowsFeature AS-HTTP-Activation, Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework-45-Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface, RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation

Please use below url for the latest Exchange 2016 prerequisites

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.160).aspx

After you’ve installed the operating system roles and features, install the following software in the order as shown below.

1. .NET Framework 4.5.2
2. Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 4.0, Core Runtime 64-bit

Installing .NET Framework 4.5.2

Installing Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 4.0, Core Runtime 64-bit

We need to prepare ADSchema/ PrepareAD and prepareDomain. Please use fallowing Cmdlets for ran each task.

1. Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
2. Setup.exe /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:"<organization name>" /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
3. Setup.exe /PrepareDomain:uctalks.local /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Prepare AD Schema – Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Prepare AD – Setup.exe /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:"Contoso" /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

After we prepare the AD, there is no way to install Exchange 2010 or Exchange 2013 as mentioned above screenshot.

Prepare Domain – Setup.exe /PrepareDomain:uctalks.local /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Now we have prepare the Active Directory for Exchange 2016. It will take few minutes to few hours to complete AD replication.

Installing Exchange 2016 Using Setup Wizard

Now we are installing Exchange 2016 using GUI. Please bare in mind to use elevated prompt if we use UAC enable mode. Its always better to select to check internet for updates.

Once you check the available update and Setup will start to copy Exchange files to local disk.

Click Next.

Accept the Microsoft License Agreement and click next.

Select Recommended settings and click next.

Select mailbox role and windows features installation check box. management tools will select automatically.

Select the installation location and Click Next.

Keep enable the Malware protection settings and click next.

Click next to start installation process.

We have completed the exchange 2016 installation. Please restart the server to complete the installation.

There are lot of post installation tasks and you can find all the required configuration from below url.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124397(v=exchg.160).aspx

We were installing Microsoft Data Protection manager 2012 R2 for an customer they were using Exchange 2013 / SharePoint 2013 and Active directory. Everything was configured successfully even creating recovery point for protection Groups.

They issue that we got that the DPM started to showing all the Mailbox database as “ Replica is inconsistent”, Ran consistency check multiple times on DPM but problem was still there.

Exchange database shows backup has been taken correctly.

Did some research on internet and found various people had same problem. Fix was to install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 on DPM 2012 R2 server.

Download URL

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679

Then we ran another consistency check and all the replicas back to OK.

Few days back new family member (Release Preview) of Microsoft Exchange has been arrived with fantastic architectural changes and new features. This is just a preview and some features may not be in RTM .

Some of Key changes in Exchange 2013 Release Preview

1. Coexistence with Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 is supported and Exchange 2003 is not supported. So who is still dealing with Exchange 2003 now time to migrate to exchange 2010.
2. Windows 2008 R2 Operating system and Windows 8 will support as a Operating System.
3. Exchange 2013 preview use new Exchange Administration Center. That has a single unified Management console that allows to manage On-premises /online or Hybrid deployments. We cannot see Exchange management Console anymore and we don’t want to wait time to load management Console.
4. Reduced number of server roles. So we won’t be able to see HUB Transport server role as a separate server role. We can see only Client Access Server Role and Mailbox Server role. But still we can use Exchange 2010 Edge Transport Server role for Exchange 2013. See Mail flow diagram – Figure 1
5. RPC is not longer a required protocol for Exchange 2013. Exchange 2013 use RPC over HTTPS for Outlook Connectivity.
6. Exchange 2013 has introduced Data loss prevention . So you can protect sensitive data by Transport rules.
7. Exchange 2013 improved the auditing functionality so we can import and export the Administrator audit log and the audit log records whenever a mailbox accessed by someone.
8. With a new design We cannot see the separate Public folder database. Public folder uses Existing DAG functionality for high availability purpose. Replication method also change to single-master replication model form Multi-master replication model.
9. Site Mailbox is there , So user can search document and emails by one client. This can integrate with SharePoint Server.
10. Outlook WebApp has restructure. The Outlook WebApp user interface is improved and optimized for tablets and smart phones. Also user collaboration has improved. Hence users can merge contacts with social network such as Linkedin .

Figure 1

Finally, You can download Preview bits and help files:

Bits: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/fp179701

CHM Help: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30338

Description

Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 customers.

You can download it from below location.

Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack1

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26554

More info. Here

More information about Outlook 2003 with Exchange 2010. Here

KB article :- Description of Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2

Download :- Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (KB972076)

1. Upgrading from Exchange Server 2007
2. Upgrading from a mixed Exchange Server 2003/2007
3. New Exchange Server 2010 installation

Click here to enter to Exchange Deployment Assistant.

MailTips are work with the Scenarios given below.

1. If one of the recipients is out of office.
2. When the recipient’s mailbox is full
3. Message size exceeds sender’s send limit.
4. If The Message quota exceeds of the recipient.
5. When Sending email to a large number of recipients.
6. When trying to send email to restricted recipients.
7. When a booking a room with exceeded invitees.
8. When sending to External and invalid domains.
9. When trying to send to moderated recipients.
10. Attaching more attachments than allowed.

Configuring MailTips

Gather Organization wide configuration MailTips settings.

Run below CMDlets on Exchange Management Shell to gather ORG settings. See figure 1.

Get-OrganizationConfig | fl *mailtips*

Figure 1

Enable or Disable MailTips.

You must use “Set-OrganizationConfig” CmdLet to enable or disable mailTips. Mailtips are enabled by default. See figure 2.

Set-OrganizationConfig -MailTipsAllTipsEnabled $true

Figure 2

Configure the large audience size for MailTips.

You must use “Set-OrganizationConfig” Cmdlet to configure large audience size. With a fresh Exchange Server 2010 installation it would be 25 by default. If we decrease it to 15, then Mailtip would be display to sender if sender add more than 15 recipients. See figure 3.

Set-OrganizationConfig -MailTipsLargeAudienceThreshold 15

Figure 3

Large Audience Threshold MailTip will display after adding more than 15 recipients . See figure 4.

Figure 4

Enable or disable the External Recipients MailTips

We have some embarrassing experiences of sending some internal information to external parties. However company doesn’t want to restrict sending emails to outside domains. With MailTips  at least we can give a alert to the sender before click send button. See figure 5.

Set-OrganizationConfig –MailTipsExternalRecipientsTipsEnabled $True

Figure 5

External Recipients MailTips displays when trying to send to an external domains. See figure 6.

Figure 6

Enable or disable MailTips that rely on mailbox data

Mailbox based MailTips are rely on the mailbox data. There are two Mailbox based Mailtips, The Recipient Out of Office and Mailbox Full MailTips, rely on the mailbox data. See figure 7,8 and 9 .

Set-OrganizationConfig -MailTipsMailboxSourcedTipsEnabled $true

Figure 7

The Recipient Out of Office. You can get to know if whether the recipient is out of the office before you send the email. See figure 8.

Figure 8

Mailbox Full. If recipient’s Mailbox is full, you can know that before sending the email. See figure 9.

Figure 9

Configure Group Metrics

MailTIps relies on Group Metrics data to provide information on the the size of distribution groups and dynamic distribution groups. Exchange  server normally query a lot of LDAP requests to the Active Directory to get group membership information for each message.This could affect the the performance experienced by the users. To eliminate these issues Exchange server uses the Group Metric data. Group Metric data can be scheduled to run during office hours. You should use Set-MailboxServer CmdLet to configure Group metric Data. See figure 10.

Set-MailboxServer EX10-MB01 -GroupMetricsGenerationEnabled $true

With Exchange Server 2010 all protocols should go through the Client Access Server and cannot connect to Mailbox servers by MAPI clients directly. This has been done by introducing a new Client Access Server(CAS) service known as the RPC Client Access service.

To configure Exchange Server 2010 CAS array, you should follow the five steps mentioned bellow.

1. You must configure internal DNS entry for the name of the CAS array. This name must be unique for the internal network.
2. You must configure Network Load Balancing. In this case i use Windows Network Load Balancing technology.
3. Create the new Client Access Array.
4. Configure a mailbox database to use Cas Array 
5. Verify the Autodiscover services is working with CAS Array. (This step is optional, but it would be good to verify this)

Architecture of Clients connecting through a CAS array to a mailbox database

Step 1 – Configure Internal DNS

1) Open DNS services manager in Administrative tools and add new a “A Record(Host)” for the Client Access Server array. I used “Client” as CAS Array name and 200.200.201.120 as IP Address of CAS Array. See figure 1.

Figure 1

Step 2 – Configure Network Load Balancing for the Client Access Server Array.

2.1) You must install Windows Network Load balancing feature in CAS servers, where you are supposed to configure CAS array. Run below commend in Powershell. See figure 2 and 3.

Import-Module ServerManager

Add-WindowsFeature NLB

Figure 2: Running “Import-Module ServerManager”

Feature 3: Running “Add-WindowsFeature NLB”

You will see the screen below after successful NLB installation. See figure 4.

Figure 4.

2.2) Start Network Load Balancing Manager by following – Start / All Programs / Administrative Tools/ Network Load Balancing Manager. See figure 5.

Figure 5: Network Load Balancing Manager.

2.3 ) Click Cluster –> New to create a new NLB Cluster. In the Host section add Netbios name or ip address of the first Client Access Server. In this scenario first CAS Netbios name is “EX10-CAHT”. Then click Next. See figure 6.

Figure 6.

2.4) Here you can see the parameters of the NLB cluster. Leave it as default. Click Next. See figure 7.

Figure 7: New Cluster: Host Parameters

2.5) Then you should add the IP Address of the CAS array. All clients should connect via this ip address and you must give the IP Address that you added in DNS manager during A Record creation. In this scenario it was 200.200.201.120. Then click ok and next. See figure 8.

Figure 8: Adding IP Address for CAS Array.

2.6) In this screen you must add Full Internet Name and Select Cluster Operation Mode. Give the internal FQDN for the Full Internet Name and Select Multicast as shown below. See Figure 9.

Figure 9:- Adding FIN and selecting operating mode.

2.7) Then appears the Port Rules screen. Leave it as default. Click Finish. See figure 10.

Figure 10: Port Rules.

2.6) At this point we have created a new NLB cluster. Then we must add the next Client Access Server(S) to the NLB. Right click the cluster name and click Add Host to Cluster. In this scenario our second CAS server is EX10-CAHT02. Then click Next and Finish. See figure 11 and 12.

Figure 11

Figure 12: Adding Second node’s Netbios name.

Now you can see Windows NLB has been created. See Figure 13.

Figure 13: NLB Manager

Step 3 – Create Client Access Server Array

3.1) We don’t have any pre-Created CAS arrays in this Organization. But would be better to check is there are any pre-created CAS Arrays. Run below command. if you didn’t create a CAS Array before, you will get nothing .  See figure 14.

Get-ClientAccessArray

Figure 14.

3.2) Then you should create new Client Access Array. Run below Cmdlet in EMS. See Figure 15.

Figure 15: Creating new CAS Array.

Now we have finished creating an NLB and a CAS array. Then we must associate databases with this CAS Array.

Step 4 – Adding Mailbox Databases to Client Access Server Array

Now we have come to the final step, that is need to add mailbox database to the Client access server array.

4.1) Use below CMDLet to add mailbox database to CAS array. Here we can add all mailbox databases at once as shown as shown  below. See Figure 16.

Get-MailboxDatabase | Set-MailboxDatabase -RPCClientAccessServer “Client.msglab.local”

Figure 16 : Adding MailBox databases to the CAS Array.

Step 5 – Configuring Outlook 2010 using Auto Discover

Now when Outlook connects to the Exchange Server, the CAS Array name Appears as client.msglab.local. See figure 17.

Figure 17: Account Information of Outlook

You can see below actual connections made by Outlook. See figure 18.

Figure 18: Connection Status

Note- Client Access Array is only used by MAPI Clients to connect MailBox ,Public Folders and Active Directory only. You must use Windows NLB or another 3rd party NLB solution to load balance Active Sync, AutoDiscover and Availability Services.