Exchange Server Courses

Exchange Online is part of Microsoft 365, where Exchange is a Software as a Service solution. Large parts of the setup are maintained and handled automatically for us. This includes updates, patching and high availability. 

It is very common to have a hybrid solution with both Exchange on-premises and Exchange Online. This is especially the case when migrating to Exchange Online. 

Exchange Server 2019 is the latest version of Microsoft's email and calendar platform. It supports hybrid deployments with Office 365, so you can take advantage of the cloud while keeping control of your data in your on-premises environment.

It offers improved performance, security and management features, such as faster database failover, improved encryption and simplified administration tools.

The first version of Exchange Server was 4.0, which, along with the 2 versions that followed, had its own Directory service. Mail via the SMTP protocol arrived with an add-on for Exchange Server 5.0 called the Internet Mail Connector.

Starting with Exchange Server 2000, Exchange has used Active Directory instead of its own Directory Service.

Over the versions, Exchange Server has received significant updates to its built-in roles and high availability.  Exchange Server 2007 peaked at 5 roles and 4 modes for High Availability, each with different advantages and disadvantages. Exchange Server 2010 introduced Database Availability Groups, which is essentially what is still used in current versions.  

The roles have since been consolidated again, so there is now Edge Transport, which is the gateway for mail flow with the outside world. The other role is the Mailbox role.

The Mailbox role has 3 key parts. 

The Client Access part covers the setup and configuration of clients and how they communicate with the Exchange server. Today, client communication is mainly wrapped in HTTPS, but with a number of variations depending on the client - browser, app, Outlook. 

The Transport role covers the configuration of mail flow, including configuration and security settings.

The mailbox databases are the last, but central, part of the Mailbox role. This is where the data we see in the clients is stored.