Introduction

Thank you for purchasing (or considering the purchase of) Mastering Exchange Server 2016; this is the latest in a series of Mastering Exchange Server books that have helped thousands of readers to better understand Microsoft's excellent messaging system. Along the way, we hope that this series of books has made you a better administrator and allowed you to support your organizations to the best of your abilities.

When we started planning the outline of this book more than a year before its release, Exchange Server 2016 appeared to be simply a minor series of improvements over Exchange Server 2013. Of course, the further we explored the product, the more we found that was not the case. Many of the improvements in Exchange Server 2016 were major improvements (such as Outlook on the web) and sometimes even complete rewrites (such as in the case of the Client Access services role) of how the product worked previously.

Another challenge then presented itself. The market penetration of Exchange Server 2013 was fairly dominant, but we found that many organizations still run Exchange Server 2010. Therefore, we needed to explain the differences for not only Exchange Server 2013 administrators but also for the Exchange Server 2010 administrators. On the other hand, Exchange Server 2003 reached end-of-life on April 8, 2014. As a result, Microsoft no longer provides security updates, offers free or paid support options, nor provides updated online content such as KB articles for Exchange Server 2003. Organizations with Exchange Server 2003 deployed after April 8, 2014, are responsible for their own support of the product and accept the risk associated with the deployment.

We took a step back and looked at the previous editions of the book to figure out how much of the previous material was still relevant. Some of the material from the Exchange Server 2013 book is still relevant but needed updating. Some required completely rewriting chapters to cover new technologies introduced in Exchange Server 2016 or technologies that have since taken on more importance in deployments and management. We faced the challenge of explaining two management interfaces, Exchange Management Shell and Exchange Admin Center, as well as describing the new roles and features.

We started working with the Exchange Server 2016 code more than a year before we expected to release the book. Much of the book was written using the RTM code that was first made available in October 2015, but as we continued writing the book, we made updates based on changes introduced in Cumulative Update 1 (March 2016). So, you can safely assume when reading this book that it is based on the latest bits of Exchange Server 2016 that released in late summer 2016. In writing this book, we had a few goals for the book and the knowledge we wanted to impart to the reader:

• We wanted to provide an appropriate context for the role of messaging services in an organization, outlining the primary skills required by an Exchange Server administrator.
• We wanted the reader to feel comfortable when approaching an Exchange Server environment of any size. The content in this book can assist administrators of small companies with only one server, as well as administrators who handle large Exchange Server farms.
• We wanted the skills and tasks covered in this book to be applicable to 80 percent of all organizations running Exchange Server.
• We wanted the book to educate not only "new to product" administrators but also those "new to version" administrators who are upgrading from a previous version.
• We wanted the book to familiarize administrators with Office 365 environments and the implementation of hybrid coexistence with on-premises Exchange Server deployments.
• We wanted to provide familiar references for administrators of previous versions, ensuring that Exchange Server 2010 and 2013 administrators can easily find equivalent solutions in Exchange Server 2016.

Microsoft listened to the advice of many of its customers, its internal consultants at Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs), Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), Microsoft Certified Solutions Masters (MCSMs), and Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) to find out what was missing from earlier versions of the product and what organizations' needs were. Much of this work started even before Exchange Server 2016 was released.

Major Changes in Exchange Server 2016

This book covers the many changes in Exchange Server 2016 in detail, but we thought we would give you a little sample of what is to come in the chapters. As you can imagine, the changes are once again significant, considering the tremendous effort that Microsoft sinks into the Exchange Server line of products. Exchange Server is a significant generator of revenue for Microsoft and is also a foundational service for Office 365. Microsoft has every reason to continue improving this most impressive market leader of email and collaboration services.

The primary changes in Exchange Server 2016 since the latest release (Exchange Server 2013) have come in the following areas:

• Client access services have been integrated into the Mailbox server role, and the Client Access server role has been removed.
• Outlook Web App is now known as Outlook on the web, is optimized for tablets, and provides platform-specific experiences for smart phones.
• MAPI over HTTP is now the default protocol that Outlook uses to communicate with Exchange, which allows a higher level of visibility of transport errors and enhanced recoverability.
• With SharePoint Server 2016, you can enable Outlook on the web users to link to and share documents stored in OneDrive for Business in an on-premises SharePoint server instead of attaching a file to the message.
• The Hybrid Configuration Wizard (HCW) is provided as a download to support changes in the Office 365 service and to provide a more stable deployment and consistent experience.
• Significant enhancements for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) have been added. With a DLP policy and mail flow rules, you can identify, monitor, and protect 80 different types of sensitive information.
• Public folder integration into the In-Place eDiscovery and Hold workflow enable you to search public folders in your organization and configure an In-Place Hold on public folders.
• A new eDiscovery search tool, called Compliance Search, provides improved scaling and performance capabilities so you can search very large numbers of mailboxes in a single search.

Of course, many more changes have been introduced in Exchange Server 2016, but the preceding list stands out to us as the most noteworthy improvements. Chapter 2, "Introducing the Changes in Exchange Server 2016," contains an exhaustive list of all significant changes, as well as changes since specific versions of Exchange Server (for example, Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2013).

How This Book Is Organized

This book consists of 25 chapters, divided into five broad parts. As you proceed through the book, you'll move from general concepts to increasingly detailed descriptions of hands-on implementation.

This book won't work well for practitioners of the time-worn ritual of chapter hopping. Although some readers may benefit from reading one or two chapters, we recommend that you read most of the book in order. Even if you have experience as an Exchange Server administrator, we recommend that you do not skip any chapter, because they all provide new information since the previous iterations of Exchange Server. Only if you already have considerable experience with these products should you jump to the chapter that discusses in detail the information for which you are looking.

If you are like most administrators, though, you like to get your hands on the software and actually see things working. Having a working system also helps many people as they read a book or learn about a new piece of software because this lets them test new skills as they learn them. If this sounds like you, then start with Chapter 7, "Exchange Server 2016 Quick Start Guide." This chapter will take you briefly through some of the things you need to know to get Exchange Server running, but not in a lot of detail. As long as you're not planning to put your quickie server into production immediately, there should be no harm done. Before you put it into production, though, we strongly suggest that you explore other parts of this book. Following is a guide to what's in each chapter.

Part 1: Exchange Fundamentals

This part of the book focuses on concepts and features of Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 R2, Exchange Server 2016, and some of the fundamentals of operating a modern client/server email system.

1. Chapter 1, "Putting Exchange Server 2016 in Context," is for those administrators who have been handed an Exchange Server organization but who have never managed a previous version of Exchange Server or even another mail system. This will give you some of the basic information and background to help you get started managing Exchange Server and, hopefully, provide a little history and perspective.
2. Chapter 2, "Introducing the Changes in Exchange Server 2016," introduces the new features of Exchange Server 2016 as contrasted with previous versions.
3. Chapter 3, "Understanding Availability, Recovery, and Compliance," helps even experienced administrators navigate some of the new hurdles that Exchange...