Differences between Exchange 2003 and 2007

This article will explain the differences between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007. Our Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) servers are running Exchange 2007.

New Features in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

• Exchange Management Console: The Exchange Management Console is one of two new administrative interfaces for Exchange 2007 and is based on Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0. The Exchange Management Console is required to install and manage Exchange 2007. The Exchange Management Console combines all management tasks into one user interface. By using the Exchange Management Console, you can manage all Exchange servers, recipients, and organizational components in your Exchange 2007 organization.
• Exchange Management Shell: The Exchange Management Shell is a new task-based command line shell and scripting language for system administration. You can use the Exchange Management Shell to perform every task that the Exchange Management Console can perform and additional tasks that cannot be performed in the Exchange Management Console.
• Unified Messaging: Exchange 2007 includes support for Unified Messaging (UM). Unified Messaging combines multiple messaging infrastructures into a single messaging infrastructure. Therefore, Exchange 2007 users who are enabled for Unified Messaging can receive all voice mail, e-mail, and fax messages in their Exchange 2007 mailboxes and can access their mailboxes from a variety of devices. These devices include mobile devices and cellular, analog, or digital telephones.
• Performance improvements: Exchange 2007 supports deployment on a 64-bit architecture for improved performance and capacity. Because of the move from a 32-bit architecture to a 64-bit architecture, the Enterprise Edition of Exchange Server 2007 now supports a larger number of storage groups and databases per server. Exchange 2007 lets you create as many as 50 storage groups per server. Although a storage group can contain as many as 5 databases, there is a limit of 50 databases per server.
• Availability: When multiple Exchange 2007 computers that are running the Hub Transport server role are deployed in a site, mail flow between Hub Transport servers and Mailbox servers is automatically load balanced and does not require any additional configuration by the administrator. If a Hub Transport server (formerly known as a bridgehead server) is unavailable because of a failure or regularly scheduled maintenance, failover to the other Hub Transport servers is automatic.
• High availability for Mailbox servers: Exchange 2007 includes three built-in features that provide high availability for Mailbox servers: Local continuous replication (LCR), cluster continuous replication (CCR), and single copy clusters (SCC). The continuous replication features use log shipping to create a second copy of a production storage group. In an LCR environment, the second copy is located on the same server as the production storage group. In a CCR environment, the second copy is located on the passive node in the cluster.
• Messaging Policy and Compliance Features: Exchange 2007 includes many new messaging compliance features. You can use the policy and compliance features of Exchange 2007 to apply rules to messages that are sent and to enforce retention requirements for stored data. The new Messaging Records Management (MRM) feature in Exchange 2007 helps users and organizations retain the messages that they need for business or legal reasons.
• Security and Protection: Exchange 2007 includes several improvements to the suite of anti-spam and antivirus features that were introduced in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. In Exchange 2007, the anti-spam and antivirus features provide services to block viruses and spam, also known as unsolicited commercial e-mail, at the network perimeter.
• Autodiscover: To optimize bandwidth, when a remote user connects to an Exchange 2007 computer that has the Client Access server role installed, the Client Access server that accepts the initial request locates the user's mailbox. After the user's Mailbox server is located, the client request is redirected to the Client Access server that is nearest to the user's Mailbox server.
• Extensibility and Programmability: Exchange 2007 includes a new set of services, known as Exchange Web Services, which enable developers to interact with Exchange mailboxes and contents by using standard HTTP. Exchange Web Services provides access to the mailboxes of authenticated users and the items in their mailboxes.