Im installing 2010 exchange std on a server my questions is should I set up the server as a app server or a DC ? also what is the best practace to install exchange should I partition the raid or make it one big drive I was going to do reid 10 are there files i should install first before installing exchange

always recommended to install apps seperate from DC's and use DC's for only DC's/DNS and maybe DHCP. best practice is seperate OS from Exchange binaries and then put DB's and Logs seperate from that. DB's and logs can go on the same spindles now without issues provided the IOPs have been calculated corrected. You need to run through the calculator. Read the following article and download the sheet and run through it: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/09/453117.aspx Exchange 2010 SP1 prereq's - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspx hthChris Morgan

Chris is right Just an additional link for new deployments that can be helpful http://technet.microsoft.com/sv-se/exdeploy2010/default%28en-us%29.aspxJonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

Ok I installed 2008 r2 as a app server for exchnage should I add AD to this server and will i need DNS installed also

No. Based on Chris’s article, it’s recommended to install AD server and DNS server in a separate machine. It’s not recommended to install them and Exchange 2010 server on the same machine. For more information, please refer to the link below: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125239.aspx Thanks.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.