Exchange 2007 - Anyone installed / using it now?

[tosca925]

I am thinking of installing Exchnage 2007, i was wondering if anyone is currently using it now and if you have any feedback to give regarding installation.

From what i can gather it is rather different at the admin GUI compared to 2003?

Could peopel please give me advice/pitfalls what to look out for. The Exchange 2007 will only be configured fo rinternsl for the first few months until i get familiar with it.

[Geoff]

The 64bit server/OS requirement is quite a pitfall for some.

[uk101man]

I'm playing around with exchange 2007 and must say I’m very impressed by the UM/OVA and what's better it works with Trixbox thanks to SIPX and a guide I found. So there was no need to buy an expensive PBX.

[zag]

Ok here goes....

I have installed it as a second server in our domain(the main exchange 2003 server remains as the incoming SMTPfeed and all mailboxes still). I currently have no mail flow from the 2003---->2007 connectors and have had this problem since the start. Outgoing messages work great, but there is a permissions problem with the receive connector.

As far as the 2007 application goes, its nice but I prefer the 2003 interface. 64bit stuff is a pain as my anti virus did not initially work, and I had some driver issues. The new troubleshooting tools inside the app are great but don't really tell you how to fix problems properly, just that you have a problem! The best practices tool is very good at helping you configure your 2007 box for optimum performance and can also be used to analyse a current 2003 box. I have done a number of nice improvements that it suggested which have really helped the old 2003 server.

Personally I would not recommend installing exchange 2007 as a live server for a while, there are still a number of problems like my own that need to be ironed out. Not being able to receive mail to 2007 mailboxes is a pretty big problem!!! SP1 is a huge improvement especially with public folder migration but this stuff should have been in from the start.

Another thing to mention is there is not much on-line support for 2007 yet, searching google for common problems usually gets answers that only apply to 2003 and don't work for 2007. Also backup and antivirus software needs to catch up and work with 2007 which could also be a factor.

[tosca925]

Can you install 2003 under a 2007 license?

[Geoff]

Yes, a 2007 license covers you for any prior equivalent version of Exchange

[wickit]

been using it since easter of last year.
had me pulling my hair out i can tell ya during then install
mind you there was little or no users so most of it i worked out on my own.
we went from a exchange 2000 to 2007 and omg if you can avoid it i recommend you do, i don't there are many issues from 2003 to 2007.

but i can now say with almost a year in place it does work much better that the others.
there are some great features, and what they left out they have put into SP1.

[Kyle]

I was wondering this as well, I may be going on a 3 day 2007 Exchange server course if i can get the funding.

[Simcfc73]

Installed over Xmas and I'm pretty happy with it.

The GUI is nice when you get used to where everything is but I hate the Dos\Powershell crap that M$ seem to be going down these days. Only had to use it a couple of times and it worked but why should i have to type/copy a huge string of characters to accomplish the same things I did with the GUI on Ex2003.

Rant over