How do i know Exchange 2007 is ready for usage by users? Is there some sort of check list i can use to verify i have not missed anything? I've been using Exchange for a few months without any issues, but i'm not a heavy email user. Would like to roll this out, but i have users who would scream if they missed 1 single email. Just a side note, coming off a unix based environment using sendmail - all users currently are using outlook 2003 or 2007. Any advise on what to double check or even a check list would be appreciated!Thanks

Is this the first and only Exchange server in the environment? If not, the answer can get more complex. Otherwise: 1- do you have an accepted domain for your internet SMTP namespace? 2- do you have a email address policy for the above mentioned namespace? 3- do you have an internet send connector ? 4- have you allowed internet mail to be accepted by your receive connector? 5- is your internet MX record accurate ? 6- is your firewall passing tcp 25 traffic from the mx record's IP to your server? 7- do users have mailboxes? :) 8- have you installed the latest exchange service pack? 9- have you run the exchange best practive analyzer and corrected issues discovered? It's hard to certify your environment without knowing anything about it, but this should put you on the right path. Mike Crowley A+, Network+, Security+, MCT, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator / Messaging Administrator

To add to Mike's answer, you can also run the tests at : https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/Putting a few test mailboxes on a system and running it through its paces is always a good idea as well.Also Check to see if the event logs are clean, etc...

Yes this is the first and only exchange server inour windows 2008 environment (please keep in mind, this is all new to us - coming off of a unix based system witha network controlled by windows NT). Seems i can answer 1-7 as "Yes".#8 - i just seen a release for exchange 2007 sp2 and also have a rollup #9 to current exhange. Guess i need to install the SP2 version for exchange. #9 - no, i have not ran the best practice analyzer - so i guess i need to do this also.As for Andy's advise, i'm currently using the exchange - does that not prove to some degree it works? Also, the event logs are clean, i check them daily to see if any issues have popped up.Thanks

If you are actually using it and it is successfully sending and receiving e-mail, then you are probably in pretty good shape. One important think I recommend you add to your checklist is to make sure that you are getting good backups PRIOR to adding any more mailboxes. Sometimes I see people forced to put a server in to production without good mailbox backups. Then, getting the backups working gets put offand put off until there is a problem (database problem or just the server running out of disk space because the transaction logs are not getting purged.)Try extending your pilot to a few more users and see if the system works for them as well. As for being 100% sure, you can NEVER be 100% sure. :-) But, certainly shoot for 99.9% sure you are ready to go. Jim McBee - Blog - http://mostlyexchange.blogspot.com

My earlier steps were just about the health of the Exchange server. Since you've mentioned you're also using a unix sendmail server, do you need advice on the sharing of the smtp namespace? Mike Crowley A+, Network+, Security+, MCT, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator / Messaging Administrator

The unix will no longer handle email once the exchange is working properly - all unix generated mail will be sent to the exchange server and sent out or to the repective mailbox. Found some issues from the analyzer which i'm addressing now - thanks for this advice.

How can i bee sure i'm getting a "good backup"? How will i know if i have enough disk space to hold all the users email? Some of them hold email for years - remember calculating one persons to be 15gb. Purge of transaction logs? is the purging done automatically? How can i check?Thanks

Here is the link to the 2007 Operations Guide. There is probably more in here than you need, but it does have sections about montoring, backups, etc... that you may find useful:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E96604B1-5332-4C4E-A0A6-2C85216147A0&displaylang=en"Operations Management and Monitoring of an Exchange Server 2007 Organization"

Thanks for the link, i'll review the material when i get back in the office on monday.

and here is a calculator that will help you anticipate the storage needs:http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/01/15/432207.aspx Mike Crowley A+, Network+, Security+, MCT, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator / Messaging Administrator