In part two of our Exchange 2016 lab series we:
In the third part of our Exchange lab series we will:
Let’s get started!
Install Exchange 2016
Let’s switch gears and install Exchange with the graphical setup. First, launch the SETUP.EXE from your Exchange 2016 install directory.
The first screen will ask you whether you want to check online for updates. I recommend leaving the default setting at Connect to the Internet and check for updates. Click Next.
In our case, no updates were found. Click Next.
On the Introduction page click Next.
On the License Agreement page, accept the agreement and click Next.
On the Recommended Settings page determine whether you want to send anonymous usage data back to Microsoft. Click Next.
On the Server Role Selection page select Mailbox Role. Also, I recommend selecting Automatically install Windows Server roles and features that are required to install Exchange Server. This is useful at installing Windows features we may have missed.
You will notice it automatically greys-out and selects Management Tools as well. Edge Transport is also greyed out as it cannot coexist on the same server that has the Mailbox role.
On the Installation Space and Location page specify the location you want Exchange installed. To do this click the Browse button and select the desired directory. In our lab, we will switch this to the E drive. We will keep the path the same. Click Next.
On the Malware Protection Settings page choose whether you want to enable the malware engine inside Exchange. We plan to keep this lab off the internet and will not be sending or receiving external messages. So we will select Yes to disable Malware protection (we can easily enable it later if needed). Click Next.
Exchange then performs its readiness checks and prerequisite analysis. If all checks pass click Install. If an item fails, remediate and click Retry. In some instances, you may need to restart setup or reboot the server after remediation.
Exchange is now in the process of installing. This could take some time. So grab a coffee. Check your favorite sports team. Check back in about 30 minutes.
Once complete click Finish and reboot.
Once rebooted let’s confirm we can log into the 2016 Exchange Admin Center. Point your browser to https://<servername>/ecp. In our case this is https://ex16-01/ecp.
Note: If Exchange redirects you to 2013 during log on you can force it to 2016 by appending the client version to the URL. For example https://ex16-01/ecp?ExchClientVer=15.1
You may notice a striking resemblance to the 2013 Exchange Admin Center.
Installing Exchange 2016 via command line
If you prefer to install Exchange 2016 via command line you would issue the following command. Be sure to change to the directory containing your Exchange setup files.
C:\Ex2016Setup> Setup.exe /Mode:Install /Role:Mailbox /TargetDir:"E:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15" /DisableAMFiltering /InstallWindowsComponents /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
In this command, we specify to:
- Install the mailbox role with the /Mode and /Role switches.
- Install Exchange at the specified path with /TargetDir.
- Disable Antimalware with /DisableAMFiltering.
- Install missing Windows components with /InstallWindowsComponents.
- Accept the license agreement with /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
For a full list of setup switches, check this article.
Once installed you should see an output similar to the following.
Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Unattended Setup Copying Files... File copy complete. Setup will now collect additional information needed for installation. Languages Management tools Mailbox role: Transport service Mailbox role: Client Access service Mailbox role: Unified Messaging service Mailbox role: Mailbox service Mailbox role: Front End Transport service Mailbox role: Client Access Front End service Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check Configuring Prerequisites COMPLETED Prerequisite Analysis COMPLETED Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server Preparing Setup COMPLETED Stopping Services COMPLETED Copying Exchange Files COMPLETED Language Files COMPLETED Restoring Services COMPLETED Language Configuration COMPLETED Exchange Management Tools COMPLETED Mailbox role: Transport service COMPLETED Mailbox role: Client Access service COMPLETED Mailbox role: Unified Messaging service COMPLETED Mailbox role: Mailbox service COMPLETED Mailbox role: Front End Transport service COMPLETED Mailbox role: Client Access Front End service COMPLETED Finalizing Setup COMPLETED The Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully. Setup has made changes to operating system settings that require a reboot to take effect. Please reboot this server prior to placing it into production.
You will need to reboot to complete the setup. After reboot, you can log into the Exchange Admin Center as described in the previous section.
Next Steps
In part four of our series, we begin to configure our Exchange server. First, we discuss the importance of a correctly configured namespace. Then we explore configuring those namespace URLs through Exchange Admin Center, PowerShell, and DNS.
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