Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Requirements : Software Requirements (part 2) - Windows Server Roles and Features

3. Windows Server Roles and Features

Windows Server 2008 breaks down the additional Windows components into roles and features. Depending on the Exchange 2010 roles, Windows Server 2008 will require additional Windows Server roles and features to be installed. These can be installed using the Windows 2008 Server Manager console, as shown in Figure 2.

Installing the server roles and features required is pretty easy to do using the Server Manager interface, but installing them is even easier using the ServerManagerCmd.exe command-line utility. You can use ServerManagerCmd with the -Query option to see which roles are already installed (see Figure 3), or you can use ServerManagerCmd -Install to install additional roles if you know the short name of the role or feature.

Figure 2. Viewing the server roles and features

Figure 3. Using ServerManagerCmd to view the roles and features that are installed

Table 1 shows the roles and features that are installed for the Exchange server roles. You should install the required roles in the order found in the table.

The ServerManagerCmd.exe program is smart enough that if you select a role that has prerequisites or additional features, it will install the required software. For example, in Figure 4 we are installing the Web Server role; notice that the required functions are automatically installed.

3.1. Preparing Windows 2008 for the Mailbox Role

If you are preparing a Windows Server 2008 SP2 server to support the Exchange 2010 Mailbox server role, here are the steps you should take:

Note that if you like "one-liners," you can install all the necessary components from a single command. For example, to install the necessary features and roles for a Hub Transport or Mailbox server, you could type this:

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console 

Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext RSAT-ADDS -restart

3.2. Preparing Windows 2008 for the Hub Transport Role

If you are preparing a Windows Server 2008 SP2 server to support the Exchange 2010 Hub Transport server role, here are the steps you should take:

These steps can all be accomplished in a single command:

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console 

Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext RSAT-ADDS -restart

3.3. Preparing Windows 2008 for the Client Access Role

If you are preparing a Windows Server 2008 SP2 server to support the Exchange 2010 Client Access server role, here are the steps you should take:

These commands can be consolidated into a single ServerManagerCmd as follows:

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console 

Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext RSAT-ADDS -restart

3.4. Preparing Windows 2008 for the Unified Messaging Role

If you are preparing a Windows Server 2008 SP2 server to support the Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging role, here are the steps you should take:

These steps can be consolidated into the following command:

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console 

Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Net-Ext Desktop-Experience RSAT-ADDS 

-restart

3.5. Preparing Windows 2008 for a Combined Function Server

If you are preparing a Windows Server 2008 SP2 server to support a combined function Exchange 2010 server role, here are the steps you should take:

3.6. Preparing Windows 2008 for the Edge Transport Role

If you are preparing a Windows Server 2008 SP2 server to support the Exchange 2010 Edge Transport server role, here are the steps you should take: