Friday, October 6

Features no longer supported by Exchange 2007

Recently, had a long chat with few customers that using Exchange 2003, planning to move to Exchange 2007. Think about few features that no longer supported.

Exchange Server 2007 no longer supports the following features:
  • OWA access to Public Folders. Windows SharePoint Services is the next answer. However, If OWA access to public folder content is important, retain a replica of all folders on an Exchange Server 2003 server and configure access to the public folders on that server.
  • IMAP and NNTP access to Public Folders. Exchange Server 2007 no longer supports Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) because Exchange Server customers very rarely used it. Public folder access through IMAP generally wasused for access to newsgroups. Because NNTP is no longer supported, IMAPaccess also is not required. To provide access to public folders, use Outlook :)
  • Outlook Mobile Access (OMA). Because of the high latency of cellular networksand the limitations of browsers, the user experience when accessing ExchangeServer mailboxes through OMA was not satisfactory. Exchange Server 2007 offers enhancements to EAS that provide a much better experience for mobile deviceusers.
  • Coexistence with Exchange 5.5 Server!! This is important thing should know. Bad news to those still stick with 5.5 now. Exchange Server 2007 does not supportcoexistence with Exchange 5.5 Server because the capabilities of Exchange Server2007 depend on Active Directory. Organizations that are still using Exchange 5.5 Server must migrate to Exchange Server 2003 before upgrading to ExchangeServer 2007. Exchange 5.5 Server can exist in a separate organization with nodirect interoperability with Exchange Server 2007.
  • GroupWise and Lotus Notes connector and migration tools.
  • Administrative groups. In Exchange Server2007, you can configure permissions at the server level as well as at the organization-wide (forest) level. To maintain backward compatibility with Exchange Server 2003, all Exchange Server 2007 servers are installed in a single administrative group defined in Active Directory.
  • Routing groups. The Exchange Server 2007 routing topology is based on ActiveDirectory sites and site connectors, not routing groups. To maintain backward compatibility with Exchange Server 2003, all Exchange Server 2007 servers are installed in a single routing group defined in Active Directory.
  • Active/active clustering. When migrating toExchange Server 2007, consider implementing to active/passive clustering orimplementing CCR.
  • Interoperability with X.400 messaging systems.

Good news and Bad news... start to plan now!